As I sit at my desk, I am admiring the first proper day of rain seen in the UK for quite a while. Hopefully this will increase grain fill, if it’s not already too late, and improve the European grain harvests that otherwise look as though they may be pretty poor. This of course will have a major impact on costs for the poultry industry. So fingers crossed, things will come right in the weather this harvest time to ensure the economics of product remain favourable in an increasingly unfavourable time for all businesses.

Sadly the global economy is still very uncertain. Even though the media has been talking up the situation in many countries, it now increasingly appears we will have a ‘double dip’ recession, looking at current received wisdom for those in the know. Fortunately this seems to have improved the lot of poultry production where it relates to the sales of cheaper meat products and eggs, at least so many of my commercial contacts are telling me. This would make sense, as people in recession-hit communities’ look for cheaper protein sources and cut back on red meat purchases for the dinner table. So maybe the poultry sector will survive this furore in rather better shape than other parts of agriculture, although we may still suffer with higher prices due to competition for feedstuffs with the human food markets, for example. Whatever the outcome, the poultry industry in general is very efficient and highly adaptable to meet market forces, so we have the best chance of success in tough times.

Recently we’ve had some very good news regarding the WPSJ – our citation rating is once again, on the up! We now have an Impact Factor which has grown by 15.4% to 1.613 from the 2008 level of 1.398. This means that, on average, each review paper published by the WPSJ is cited 1.6 times per year in other journals. Since 2008, the WPSJ has grown from 14th out of 47 in its category (Agriculture, Dairy and Animal Science) to reach 10th out of 49. So not only have we increased our standing, we are now in a more competitive market with higher number of journals in our sector. This makes our rather small journal very important in terms of the readership and usage by other authors. I hope this translates as the WPSJ being the first choice for review papers in the poultry world! The new online system is also going well. We’ve had some transitional issues to deal with, as expected, but we now have papers that are ready for publishing in 2011 (we already have full issues until year end). Apologies for any authors who were expecting a faster turnaround for their publications, but I guess this is a sign of pour success in that we have more papers to process now than before. Never complain about being busy – it’s a good sign and long may it continue for our journal and poultry science.

Dr Lucy Waldron (previously Tucker)

Editor

Benefits from probiotic micro-organisms have been recognised for over 100 years, and as being useful in poultry for 50 years. Fuller (1989) redefined probiotics as ‘a live microbial feed supplement which beneficially affects the host animal by improving its intestinal microbial balance’. Benefits derived from this improved intestinal microbial balance could be reflected in performance or prevention of pathogen colonisation. Probiotic micro-organisms use in poultry production has been widely accepted and new opportunities arose from the 2006 EU ban on antimicrobial growth promoters. The majority of microbial products for compound feeds are made up from a relatively small number of micro-organisms that are normally present in the GI tract. They include non-sporulated bacteria, sporulated bacteria, fungi or yeasts; and presented from single to multi-strain products. A review on the proposed modes of action is presented including recent approaches to quorum sensing interference.

The following review aims to gain more insight into farm management in European poultry farms, to identify prevalent risk factors for the introduction of avian influenza (AI) and to develop a procedure to assess a farms risk status. Data on farm management were gathered by using questionnaires and visitor books in 343 farms in Austria, Germany, and The Netherlands. In addition, the farmers documented private and production related visitors for 30 days in a logbook. To evaluate the results, an international expert panel defined and weighted the most important risk factors for AI introduction at farm level within a three-stage Delphi study. Based on this evaluation, all farms were assigned to three classes of risk. To communicate the results to the farmers as comprehensible as possible, a traffic-light scheme was used. The highest risk class represented poultry farms with a high potential for AIV introduction.

The poultry industry has seen significant changes in the methods used to harvest fresh poultry meat over the past four decades. Some of the major changes include a more than four-fold increase in line speed (new plants are designed to process 12,000 broilers per hour), a large increase in the proportion of cut up and deboned meat produced, as well as substantial improvements in sanitation. These advancements have been possible by gaining knowledge in areas such as computer science (e.g. image analysis, on line weighing and tracking), live bird handling (transportation, unloading, stunning), muscle biology (post mortem processes), heat and mass transfer (scalding, chilling), and engineering (machine building, metallurgy). This article includes a general overview of the different steps involved in primary poultry processing and focuses on some of the principles that have been used to achieve greater efficiencies in mechanising the whole process. The focus areas include stunning, electrical stimulation, chilling, and mechanical filleting. These topics will be used to demonstrate the importance of obtaining high meat quality (e.g. fewer downgrades, high water holding, acceptable tenderness and colour) currently demanded by processors as well as consumers. The advantages of in-line-processing will also be highlighted, where improved efficiencies have been achieved by incorporating real-time computerised monitoring and tracking systems.

Overall, a comprehensive understanding of the whole process and the integration of the different steps is a challenge that must be met by both the equipment manufacturer and processing plant personnel. Because of the increased complexity of the whole integrated process, it is highly recommended that the processor team up with a very knowledgeable equipment manufacturer who has the technical understanding and experience within all stages of the process (farm gate to fork), to effectively optimise quality, yield, and speed.

A rapid increase in corn use in ethanol plants, and subsequent creation of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) by-products, has led to an increase in the use of DDGS in the diets of livestock. DDGS has been used all over the world as a dietary ingredient and this has necessitated more research to be conducted on its quality, nutritive values, and recommendations for feeding to poultry. Currently, there have been a limited number of research publications regarding corn DDGS as an ingredient of diets for poultry. Approximately 100 scientific papers can be found which cover a variety of topics, with various degrees of depth into each. The purpose of this review is to collate the available information to date on the application of corn DDGS as an ingredient of poultry diets that can be easily accessed by researchers and nutritionists. This review presents the current state of knowledge of nutritive values of various corn DDGS ingredients, summarizes recommendations for using DDGS in diets for laying hens, broilers and turkeys, and reports the environmental ramifications when utilizing corn DDGS in poultry feed. In spite of the great amount of variation in nutritional properties of corn DDGS originating from various sources, it has been concluded that good quality corn DDGS, especially when derived from new generation plants, can be a viable ingredient in poultry diets.

Village chickens can be found in all developing countries and play a vital role in the livelihood strategies of many poor rural households. The implementation of effective village poultry production programmes in Asia, Africa and Latin America has resulted in increased poultry numbers, household purchasing power, home consumption of poultry products and decision-making power for women.

The rapid and wide geographical spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 has drawn attention to the neglect of village poultry health. This crisis has presented an opportunity to invest in improved village poultry husbandry that can make a positive contribution to human development in rural areas across a range of endeavours including: empowerment of women (increased productivity, knowledge, participation in community life as vaccinators, etc); HIV/AIDS mitigation; wildlife conservation through a reduction in bushmeat consumption; improved understanding of disease transmission, prevention and control, human nutrition and hygiene; and, most importantly building trust between communities and government agencies.

Key recommendations to support technically sound and sustainable Newcastle disease control programmes in village chickens include encouraging veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop and observe a code of conduct that supports the supply of appropriate vaccine with an adequate shelf life, giving instructions in local languages, using temperature indicators in vaccine containers and discouraging the payment of commission on the purchase of vaccine. Quality assurance activities should be built into all vaccination programmes to improve cost-efficiency, and should include post-vaccination serological monitoring of a representative sample of birds, especially when a new vaccine or new disease control programme is introduced. Also required is the participation of farmers (male and female) in monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns; and active collaboration with the Ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education in village poultry improvement programmes.

In this review, the production of poultry in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) is described. Data from field observations, published works, government and other documents are presented. Some 95% of poultry, which in Ethiopia are overwhelmingly domestic fowl, are kept in villages, mainly under scavenging, systems, and only 5% are in industrial systems. Poultry are kept by about 60% of households. Most households in the highlands keep birds whereas far fewer do so in the pastoral lowlands. ‘Average’ households own a flock comprising 6-10 birds, and genetic resources are almost entirely indigenous in the scavenging system. National poultry meat production is of the order of 76,000 tonnes and egg production approaches 80,000 tonnes. Annual production per bird is 55-80 eggs for scavenging fowl, of which about half are used for replacement and the remainder for consumption and sale. Disease is an important constraint to production. More attention should be given to smallholder producers, as this, together with interventions in housing, sanitation, nutrition and disease control would greatly increase output and have a positive impact on human health and nutrition. Smallholder producers would be the principal beneficiaries of these interventions in improvements to food security and nutritional status and in reduced production risk.

Bangladesh first experienced highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in early 2007 and the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza (NRL-AI) at BLRI diagnosed and confirmed the presence of H5 sub-type virus on 15 March 2007. Until May 2009, NRL-AI observed 323 H5 and three H9 positive cases. Gene sequencing of 25 isolates of 2007 and 2008 demonstrated 99.1 to 100% identical genetic structure, indicating a single introduction of the virus in Bangladesh. It also clearly demonstrated that Bangladeshi isolates belong to the sub-clade 2.2 popularly known as Qinghai lineage or Euro-Asian-African lineage with highest similarities to those from Kuwait, Mongolia, Russia and Afghanistan. The close similarities between the HPAI isolates of these countries with Bangladeshi isolates suggest that migratory birds might be responsible for initial introduction of HPAI in Bangladesh as the country has no poultry trade link with these countries. Identifying possible risk factors in the spread of HPAI in the country was examined through descriptive as well as case control studies. It was revealed that, in most cases, mortality in backyard chicken flocks preceded an outbreak on commercial farms. Poor management and breaches in biosecurity practices appeared to have significant role in the spread of HPAI. The poultry industry in Bangladesh faced a terrific financial loss in 2007 and 2008 due to the incursion of avian influenza, which was estimated to be at Taka 3858 crore (38580 million). The prices of broiler declined by about 28% while the price of eggs decreased by 26.5%, as more than one third of consumers refrained from consumption of broiler meat and eggs. As a result of this market collapse, many farm owners were compelled to abandon poultry production because of loss of capital.

The growth rate of poultry meat production is not sufficient to satisfy the per capita meat requirement in Bangladesh. Therefore ways to improve the efficiency of the existing production technologies must be investigated if these demands are to be met. This review examines ways this could be achieved. The technical, allocative and economic efficiency of poultry meat production based on farm level survey data was estimated using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. The study used 100 commercial poultry farms in Bangladesh for the calendar year of 2007. The results demonstrated that there is substantial technical, allocative and economic inefficiency in poultry production in Bangladesh. Under the constant return to scale (CRS) specification, technical, allocative and economic efficiencies were 88, 70 and 72% respectively, whereas under the variable returns to scale (VRS) specification those efficiencies were 89, 73, 66% respectively. Thus, the results indicate that efficiencies varied substantially across the sample farms. In order to attempt to explain some of these variations, the efficiency scores were regressed based on farm specific variables such as the farmer's age, education, experience, total landholdings, poultry farm size and level of training using a Tobit regression framework. The estimated DEA model identified that there is great potential for increasing poultry farm efficiency using the existing level of inputs and resources more efficiently. Specifically it showed that the level of education and training the farmer receives are two of the most important factors contributing to the variations in efficiency seen during this study. These research findings are valuable to policy makers and extension workers in order to guide policies towards increasing efficiency.

Layer breeding companies apply selection criteria to improve over 30 traits important for commercial egg production. Intensive selection for egg production over the decades has resulted in a significant reduction in genetic and phenotypic variations in egg production, however the decrease in genetic variation observed in commercial lines are not yet critical. Peak production now approaches the biological limit of one egg a day, but in early production (at sexual maturity) and late production (persistency) genetic variation is still high. Including these traits in the selection criteria will improve the egg production in commercial birds. Due to high heritability and the absence of any significant negative effects on production parameters, residual feed consumption is used as selection criteria to improve the feed efficiency. Considerable research has been carried out on egg weight, eggshell strength and internal quality of the eggs and improvements have been made as a result of selection. With the reintroduction of floor system and increased consumer interest in processed eggs, in future more emphases have to be given to the eggshell strength and internal quality of the eggs. Poultry production in the unfavourable environmental conditions of the tropics is hindered by direct and indirect heat stress leading to a general depression in performance. Results on the utilisation of naked-neck and frizzle gene in high-ambient temperatures is encouraging, and, in future, will play an important role in production of layer lines suitable for overcoming such genotype-environment interaction. Feather pecking is an undesirable behaviour, which causes major problems in non-cage systems. Several authors have identified a hereditary basis of feather pecking behaviour, which is suggested by strain differences. Hence, selection of birds with no or very low tendency to perform feather pecking should reduce the incidence. Recent molecular genetic studies resulted in identification of QTL affecting different economic traits and identification of candidate genes causing variation in performance among birds. In future these findings will play a major role in further genetic improvement of layers without any negative effect.

Fowl typhoid caused by Salmonella enterica serovar Gallinarum is one of the most important bacterial diseases of poultry. The present study was undertaken to ascertain the epidemiological status of fowl typhoid in broilers in Haryana for the past four years (2005-2008) and to establish the role of hatcheries in spreading the Salmonella infection. A total of 227 outbreaks of fowl typhoid were recorded in chickens during the period from January 2005 to December 2008. The maximum number of outbreaks (96) was recorded in the age group of 7-9 days during the past four years. Maximum mortality and case fatality rate were found in chickens of 1-2 weeks of age. Temporal distribution of the disease indicates more outbreaks in extreme weather conditions. From spatial distribution of the disease, it was evident that the disease was prevalent in nine districts of Haryana out of 20. By analysing the data regarding the prevalence of Salmonella infection in hatcheries, more than one third (37.8%) of hatcheries were found to be infected with Salmonella, which is an alarming situation for the region.

Currently broiler chickens are genetically selected for improved feed conversion ratio and rapid growth rate. This rapid growth rate is generally based on a high rate of feed intake and not due to an increased nutrient digestibility. Increased body weight gain, in turn, is found to be negatively correlated with antibody response (total antibody response and specific anti-sheep red blood cell (SRBC)) in broilers. The interactions between commensal bacteria and GALT immune systems are considered to be the basic mechanism of the host against invading pathogens; achieved by forming bio films and by binding to the intestinal epithelium and therefore effectively blocking the sites from pathogens. Apart from the fact that NSP may shift microbial populations toward beneficial micro-organisms to stimulate the immune system, recent evidence has assumed that exogenous xylanase majorly degraded NSP to oligosaccharides and released more phenolics to act as anti-oxidants. Furthermore, it has been suggested that the dietary fibre anti-oxidants existing in insoluble NSP may actually quench the soluble radicals that are continuously formed in intestinal tracts. During the first week post-hatch, the intestinal immune system may be developed by colonization with beneficial bacteria and enhanced competition with invading pathogens. NSP and associate substrates might not only provide substrates for beneficial bacteria but play an important part in removing free radicals.

Growth promoters are feed additives used to improve the rate and uniformity of broiler growth whilst increasing feed efficiency. Low, prophylactic doses of antibiotics have been standard practice. The development of direct antibiotic resistance of pathogens in the species receiving the feed, as well as the indirect resistance to similar antibiotics used in human medicine as the result of food chain residues, led to the suspension of the licenses for several major antibiotics in the European Union since 1971, and in 2006 licenses for all sub-therapeutic levels for growth promotion were withdrawn. Therefore, there is great interest in developing natural alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters in order to maintain both bird performance and health. Nigella sativa (black cumin) has been used – in herbal medicine- for centuries for treatment of various disorders including infections. The following review details recent studies on the potential benefits of black cumin in broilers and laying hens performance.

A survey was carried out, involving layer chicken farmers to identify and inventory the different feed components and to determine their rates of incorporation in poultry feed rations, as well as to inventory different layer lines or commercial crosses raised in Togo and finally to determine their production performances. During the survey, samples of feed ingredients and complete layer diets were collected for crude protein (CP) and gross energy (GE) levels determination. The survey indicated that 15 different feed components were used in the formulation of layer feed rations. Among these components, corn was the most important component (52.60±2.58%) followed by wheat bran (16.11±2.72%), roasted soya (11.40±1.91%), fish meal (8.29±1.64%) and cotton seed (7.57±1.58%). Rates of incorporation of these components in the feed ration varied according to the producer and the age of chickens, as there are no established standard requirements for layer feed in Togo currently. The survey revealed that average layer numbers per farm increased from 329 to 520 chickens between 2001 and 2005. Several layers strains or commercial crosses are present in Togo, however, only Isa Brown (IB), Harco and Hisex White (HW) were considered important. Productive performances were comparable between these three strains. It was concluded that promotion of the local egg industry in Togo should focus on the establishment of hatchery, proficient feed mill units, providing information about management practices and training those involved in the sector on appropriate technologies.

The task of efficient utilisation of poultry farm excreta is a global problem and technologies that are developed towards this objective are protected into patents. Strategic mining of globally available open access patent databases using a wide range of keywords related to poultry farm excreta yielded 341 relevant patents. The information contained in patents are analysed and compiled into seven groups. Poultry farm excreta are converted into fertiliser, feed, energy/fuel and also used for certain non-conventional applications too. Further, methods for reducing odour/ammonia volatilization from poultry farm excreta and development of microbial consortia for rapid degradation of excreta are presented. A search on commercial utilisation of poultry farm excreta reveals it utility as a fertiliser. It is either used as a sole component of fertiliser or used in combination with other plant and animal wastes. The article highlights the technological details involved in patents falling into various groups and provides an analysis of strategies employed in processing and utilisation of poultry farm excreta.

The World’s Poultry Science Journal is indebted to Prof J.A. Castello, Prof D.K. Flock, Dr D. Grastilleur, Dr S. Cherepanov and Prof N. Yang for the translations of these summaries.