A Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care Symposium in Brazil focuses on health issues in relation to management practices and proper feed formulation regimes.

 

With the theme "Advanced pathogen and stress management in poultry production", the event in Sao Paulo happened on October 25 and attracted more than 150 attendees.

 

With the growing popularity of poultry meat around the world, poultry production is steadily on the increase. As a result, the food safety issue is receiving increased interest, as poultry health is closely related to human health.

 

Treating birds with medication to combat diseases is of course not the answer to obtaining a good health status of flocks. Specifically, this holds true for the use of antibiotics. In recent years, the use of this way of medication has come under pressure as it is well known that antibiotic resistance strongly influences human health.

 

The answer primarily lies in keeping pathogens away from the farm. This starts with understanding the physiology of the bird, specifically its intestinal tract and immune system. Based on this knowledge, well-balanced rations are required to be fed to birds in order to enhance their health status and thus allow them to be productive. Moreover, proper management of poultry, particularly under hot climate conditions, is essential to ensuring productive flocks.

 

 

 

The first speaker of the symposium was Professor Richard Ducatelle from Ghent University in Belgium. He addressed the audience with his presentation, "What   is   good   gut   health   from   microbiological   and morphological views".

 

According to Ducatelle, intestinal health is determined by several factors, including feed composition, the intestinal barrier, and the microbiota. Since feed is one of the three factors involved, it is possible to influence intestinal health by modifying the feed formula. Several substances that are present in feed have documented effects on intestinal health, either by directly acting on the intestinal barrier and the tight junctions, or indirectly by modifying the intestinal microbiota composition.

 

 

 

"When designing feed for broilers, optimal intestinal conditions should be regarded as the highest priority", said nutrition consultant Gert Hemke from The Netherlands. According to Hemke, the broilers  intestines  enable  the  absorption  of  all  essential  nutrients  on  one  hand  and  avoid  the absorption of toxic and pathogen elements on the other hand. Also, the intestines form an important part of the immune system, since 65% of the immune system is concentrated in it. When birds are born, their active immune system is not yet present. Intestinal bacterial flora is also absent, but within two days, the intestines contain a large amount and big variety of microorganisms. These bacteria are essential for the development of active immunity.

 

In recent years, feed formulation mainly focused on maximum growth. Since antibiotic usage should decrease, a balanced feeding of the intestines will become the new focus. This balance can be influenced by feed strategies, basic nutrients, ingredients, feed processing and additives.

 

 

 

Dr. Maartem de Gussem of Vetworks in Belgium looked into the European approach of antibiotic-free poultry production. "Pressure on antimicrobial use seems to be a challenge, but has already led to better understanding of why and when antimicrobials are used", he said. "In the end, reduction of use will be unavoidable, but will not lead to production problems. On the contrary, it is expected that, especially in gut health, improvements that will be made to prevent the use of antibiotics, will lead to performance that better approaches the genetic potential that modern meat-type birds present."

 

 

 

"Genetic evolution in poultry production has been tremendous in the past decades", said Dr. Alain Riggi, global poultry manager of Phileo Lesaffre Animal Care from France. "In 1960, at 42 days of age, broilers were reaching 1.7 kg of body weight. In 2013, at the same age, they were reaching 2.8 kg. This selection was based on the growth rate, but also on the feed intake capacity of the birds. Objectives for   layers   for   the   coming   years are moving towards 500 eggs at 100 weeks of age." This evolution makes the birds more sensitive to disorders which can occur during a production cycle. Depending on the circumstances, modifications in the farm management and a good observation of the birds will help to limit the predisposing factors and the different stress which can occur during a production period. As certain safeguards are put into questions, like antibiotics, a yeast product like Safmannan^®, associated with good farm management and monitoring, can be a good alternative to help the birds grow in an optimal way.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Various management practices are currently available to deal with heat stress in poultry, said Dr. José Arce Menocal, professor at the Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo   University, Mexico. Dr. Menocal extensively covered this theme for both broilers and layers. In general, these practices can be applied to both types of birds, although their differences must be understood and measures applied accordingly.

 

The measures Dr Menocal addressed were temporary feed restriction, the use of wet feed, the employment of pellets rather than mash feed, exposing birds to high temperatures in the early stage of life, early age feed restriction, careful selection of medication, accurate water consumption and avoiding vaccination during significantly hot days.

 

When birds do not have enough space to permit airflow around them, radiation is limited and heat loss is low. Thus, stocking density should be low. Dr. Menocal recommends a refrain from catching, loading, and transporting broilers during the hottest part of the day.

 

 

 

Poultry and poultry meat are susceptible to oxidative stress, Dr. Mario Estevez of the University of Extremadura, Spain, stated. "The negative impact of stress on growth performance and food quality has been studied extensively in recent years".

 

Emerging muscle abnormalities related to fast growth, such as white striping and wooden breast, are related to this oxidative stress. Lipid oxidation has been recognised as a major threat to the quality of processed poultry products.

 

"Furthermore, there is growing awareness among consumers about the impact of diet and oxidation on health and age,"said Dr. Estevez. Hence, antioxidant protection of poultry meat is unavoidable. Therefore, the application of phytochemicals and other microelements (Se, Cu, and Met) with antioxidant potential in animal feed, or directly in the meat product are significant.

 

 

 

In addition to the range of strategies and solutions, discussed by the various speakers, Dr. Alain Riggi of Phileo, focused on the benefits of commercial yeast products specifically designed for animal feeds, like Safmannan^®.

 

He summarised the effects of trials in this field and concluded that supplementation with Safmannan^® can help reduce the detrimental effects of chronic heat stress.  This was endorsed by the corticosterone level, which is considered as an indicator of heat stress. Broilers supplemented with Safmannan^® presented lower serum corticosterone concentrations than birds that were grown without this yeast product.

 

Similar results were found with the use of Selenium yeast Selsaf^®. Various stressors like heat, diet, transportation etc. can disturb the balance between the pro-oxidant and antioxidant systems, also known as oxidative stress.

 

Trials in both layer and broiler flocks, proved the benefits of feed additive Selsaf^®. Layers showed reduced mortality, as well as a better laying rate and FCR per egg, compared to the other Se sources.

 

Broilers demonstrated a higher body weight at 42 days of age (from 2.60 kg to 2.74 kg). Also, the water holding capacity and tenderness of the meat were positively influenced.

 

In conclusion, Selsaf^® is a natural source of selenomethionine and selenocysteine, offering a dual protection against both oxidative stress for the animal, but also exhibits benefits for farmers and consumers.

 

 

 

On October 26-27, the Intestinal Health Scientific Interest Group (IHSIG) group organised its fourth symposium on poultry gut health. The 2016 edition in Brazil focused on the One Health principle and implications for intestinal health management in poultry. The event gathered more than 300 attendees and Phileo was the Platinum sponsor.

 

During this session, Ruth Raspoet, poultry R&D manager at Phileo, showed that inclusion of nucleotides in the diet may have beneficial effects on gut health by improving the development of the absorptive surface of the intestine and by strengthening the intestinal barrier function due to an increased expression of tight junction proteins and mucins.