Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

The following is a summation of the accomplishments from 2009-2012. Objective 1. Investigation and development of poultry production systems to improve energy and resource use efficiency. This will include collaborative efforts on feed energy sources for poultry by geographical region, ventilation systems, lighting systems, animal welfare and modeling energy use in poultry systems. Feed and fuel prices reached historical highs in 2007/2008. The volatility in corn and fuel prices has brought into focus the need to improve energy utilization in the production of poultry meat and eggs. Project participants will examine different ventilation and lighting systems relative to energy consumption, flock productivity and welfare. Ventilation Manipulations. GA conducted a study to determine what factors affect cross-sectional air velocity distribution in a tunnel-ventilated broiler house. The air velocity profiles that have been studied thus far in poultry housing measures air at one level in the house (sometimes at bird level and sometimes 3-4 ft off the floor). The unique aspect of the current study is to use a cross-sectional air velocity profile to study air movement in tunnel-ventilated poultry houses using a grid of 15 anemometers (ceiling to floor  wall to wall). Air velocity profiles were be taken at the tunnel fan end. The anemometers were connected to a computer so that wind speed could be continuously monitored as the number of fans operating were changed. The airspeed and static pressure were monitored for 15 minute periods for each configuration of fans. This new method of evaluating air velocity profiles in a house has the potential to give an estimate of the total air movement capacity of the fans in a house. Currently, this can only be achieved using a FANS unit that has to measure one fan at a time taking about one hour per fan. Total air movement capacity could be used to evaluate fan and shutter maintenance as well as differences in fans in commercial settings. If the array provides air movement information comparable to the FANS unit, it is hoped that more research can be accomplished on ventilation in poultry facilities. The information from the current study would be used to educate broiler producers on possible broiler house improvements and management practices that will maximize bird cooling during hot weather. The results will also provide better understanding of the relationship between air movement and static pressure which will allow producers to make informed decisions on future upgrades o new construction. IN conducted a study that used 90 28-week-old White Leghorns of two strains were used; DXL line individually-selected hens for high productivity and KGB line selected from White Leghorn birds for high group survivability and productivity (kind gentle bird). Hens were randomly paired within the line, and assigned to control (21-25ÚC) or hot (32.-34ÚC) treatment for 14 days. Room humidity was at about 40%. Feed and water was provided at ad libitum and the lighting was 16:8 (L:D) for the whole time. Physical and physiological measures were collected at day 8 and 14 post-treatment. The tissue samples were analyzed using HPLC (High-performance liquid chromatography), RT-PCR (Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction), and western blot, respectively. Behavior data was collected at day 1, 2, 6, 11, and 13. Compared to the control birds, the stressed birds 1) had significantly higher core temperature at both week 1 and 2 post-treatment; 2) showed significantly greater amount of open-wing behavior; but KGB birds exhibited greater percent time of panting at day 2, 11 and 13 than DXL birds; 3) had a reduced body weight in DXL birds at both week 1 and 2 but at week 2 only in KGB birds; 4) reduced relative liver weight without genetic differences at both week 1 and 2; 5) reduced relative spleen weight in DXL birds at both week 1 and 2 but at week 1 only in KGB birds; 6) had a greater. Heterophil:Lymphocyte ratio at week 2; 7) increased Toll-like receptor 2 in KGB birds but not DXL birds at week 2; 8) reduced norepinephrine concentrations in both DXL and KGB birds but significant was found in DXL birds only; and 9) reduced concentrations of epinephrine in DXL birds at both week 1 and 2 but increased in KGB birds at week 1. There results indicate that heat stress causes behavioral, physical, and physiological changes in birds. There are genetic variations in heat stress response in the current strains. Genetic selection could be a useful tool in reducing heat stress response in chickens. Vocalizations as a Welfare Assessment Tool. CT studied vocalizations as an indicator of bird welfare. Psychological stress in the form of fear results when birds are exposed to the presence of unknown herdsman or stockman, predators or other abrupt intrusions, be they visual or auditory in nature. Chickens straining against mental stressors are liable to be affected health-wise, and will also have a lower hen-day production. Age and breed of the hen influences their responses to stressors and our results indicate that in general the White Leghorn emits a more distinct vocal response to stressors than the ISA red breed. Stress vocalizations can be elicited from chickens under commercial conditions and may be used as an early warning system to alert the producer that something is amiss in the poultry facility, and allowing them to attend to the situation before it leads to a drop in production of loss of animals. A modified Hidden Markov Model can be used to identify and classify these vocalizations with a fairly high accuracy. This model algorithm could be adapted for use as a means of monitoring vocalizations in a commercial poultry facility to notify the producer when a stressful situation is occurring in the chicken house. Dietary Manipulations. IL conducted a study to determine the effects of feeding low-density diets to Hy-Line W-36 laying hens on production performance. For this study, four hundred and eighty Hy-Line W-36 pullets (18 wk of age) were placed in cages (61 cm wide x 58.4 cm deep; 445.3 cm2/hen) and housed 8 hens per cage; with two adjacent cages of 16 hens equaling one replicate. Each replicate (2 side by side cages) was randomly assigned one of five dietary treatments (6 reps/treatment) with the control diet formulated to meet or exceed the recommended energy and nutrient levels in the 2009 Hy-Line W-36 management guide. The dietary treatments (Diets 1-5) were formulated by changing the nutrient densities of the control diet (100% of recommended nutrient density) to 85, 90, 95, 100, and 105% of recommendations, respectively. The experimental diets were fed in three phases to maximize egg production and egg weights to equal that which is published in the 2009 Hy-Line W-36 management guide. Egg production and mortality were recorded daily and feed consumption was measured every 2 wk. Eggs were collected over a 48-hr period and weighed every 2 wk for determination of egg weight. At 31 wk of age, egg production of hens fed Diet 1 (85% of control) dropped greatly to 57.6%. Due to production being too low, Diet 1 was discontinued and hens were switched to the control diet (Diet 4). Egg production was stable by 34 wk of age. From 18 to 31 wk of age, diet density had significant linear and quadratic effects on egg production and egg weight. Egg production and weight increased with an increase in diet density for Diets 1 through 4. Hens fed Diet 5 showed a decrease in egg production. Egg mass and feed efficiency increased with an increase in diet density across all diets. Feed intake showed a significant quadratic response with intake increasing over Diets 1 and 2 and decreasing for Diet 5. From 32 to 55 wk of age, diet density had significant linear and cubic effects on egg production. Egg production increased with an increase in diet density for Diets 2 through 4 but decreased when hens were fed a diet with 5% more density than the control. A diet of 85% nutrient density was unable to provide hens with enough nutrients to support egg production, showing that feeding Hy-Line W-36 hens diets formulated to contain lower nutrient density (85% of the control) than recommended may compromise production performance. Light Turkey Syndrome in Market Turkey. MN examined this phenomenon. Light weight turkey syndrome (LTS) was recognized in the previous five years by Minnesota turkey farmers as flocks with low body weights at market. Examination of producer records indicated body weights were less than expected near the end of brooding. Poor growth may be attributed to intestinal damage, loss of gut function and therefore decreased nutrient absorption. The objective of this study was to determine if differences existed between groups of poults that were 1015% below (light) or above (heavy) average flock body weight. Enteritis has widely impacted poultry performance and it was thought that this could be a possible cause of LTS. The prevalence of Campylobacter, Salmonella, E. coli, reovirus, rotavirus and astrovirus in gut contents were examined due to their involvement in previous cases of enteritis (Barnes et al., 2000; Jindal et al., 2009). Intestinal tissue samples were collected and subjectively scored to determine if intestinal damage, specifically acute or chronic infiltrates differed between heavy and light weight poults. Six commercial and two research flocks were sampled at 1, 2 and 3 weeks of age. Gut contents from five poults were pooled and two to four pools per weight group were collected and analyzed for the presence of viruses and bacteria previously mentioned via PCR/RT-PCR and culture, respectively. Tissue samples were collected from the duodenum, jejunum, ileum and ceca from the same poults and scored for severity (normal to severe) and distribution (absent to generalized) of lymphocytes and heterophils. Tissue samples were also scored for presence of coccidia. Presence of selected pathogens in gut contents and gut tissue histopathology scores were analyzed using Proc Glimmix and Logistic respectively (SAS 9.2) with factors of weight group, flock and age. Average sample flock body weights at one week were within 10% of genetic potential performance. However at two weeks, weights were 11% lower in the research flocks and one commercial flock and 32% lower in the other five commercial flocks. At three weeks, weights averaged 17% lower in the research flocks and one commercial flock and 40% lower in the other five commercial flocks. Tissue score differences were primarily found for age and flock with a few differences related to weight group. Lymphocytic severity and distribution scores increased with age in the duodenum (P<0.09, P<0.0001) and jejunum (P<0.002, P<0.0001). Lymphocytic scores also increased with age in severity in the ceca (P<0.001) and distribution in the ileum (P<0.0001). Heterophilic distribution differed among age groups scores peaking at 2 weeks in the ileum and 3 weeks in the ceca (P<0.07, P<0.005). In the jejunum distribution of heterophilic infiltrates differed among age groups in three of the eight flocks (P<0.05). In the ileum heavy poults had higher lymphocytic distribution and severity scores than light weight poults (P<0.09, P<0.1). In the ceca heavy weight poults had more severe lymphocytic infiltrates than light weight poults (P<0.005). In the jejunum light weight poults in two commercial flocks had significantly higher heterophilic distribution scores than heavy poults (P<0.1, P<0.05). Significant flock differences were seen in the small intestinal tissues but not in the ceca. Objective 2. Alternative systems. This collaborative research will encompass characterization and mitigation of air emissions, manure nutrient management, animal welfare, and economic evaluation of alternative poultry production systems. NE conducted a study to 1) determine the effects of broiler chick addition on the reduction of early mortality due to starve-outs and 2) determine the effects of providing environmental complexity in the form of ramps, platforms, perches and pecking objects on leg strength of turkey toms. This experiment was conducted in two phases. Phase one consisted of 248 one-day-old turkey poults and 8 three-day old broiler chicks. Four pens of thirty two turkey poults were set using industry standard techniques for the control groups. Four pens of thirty 1-day-old turkey poults and two 3-day-old broiler chicks were set with no human intervention for the treatment groups. Body weights were taken at placement, 1 and 2 weeks of age. Feed intake was calculated daily. Behavioral analysis was conducted on days 2, 4, 8, and 14 days of age. Behaviors were determining using an instantaneous time sampling technique. The birds were recorded for eight consecutive hours, videos were stopped and observations were recorded at 15 min intervals. All visible birds were recorded as to what behavior they were performing at the time the video was stopped. Behavior categories were eating, drinking, active and resting. Definitions of each category were as follows: eating- time spent within one inch of feeder and standing; drinking- time spent within one inch of waterer and standing; active-a bird that was standing, moving or interacting with a pen mate while standing; resting-a bird that was laying down with no discernable movement. No significant treatment differences were observed for feed intake and mortality during phase I. Body weights tended to be greater at 7 days of age for the broiler enriched groups (P<.1097). Preliminary behavioral results suggest that with broiler addition, poults spend equal time eating, drinking, active and resting as traditionally raised birds. It could be concluded from these results that broiler addition to a flock of poults could minimize human intervention in the setting process saving time and money for the producers. Accomplishments for 2013 Objectives 1. Investigation and development of poultry production systems to improve energy and resource use efficiency. This will include collaborative efforts on feed energy sources for poultry by geographical region, ventilation systems, lighting systems, animal welfare and modeling energy use in poultry systems. A. Lighting manipulations CA continued to study the effects of lighting programs on broiler health and welfare by conducting a study of light intensity on activity and fearfulness. Cobb x Cobb broilers (N = 273) were reared under either a 20 lux or 10 lux photophase, with a 0.5 lux scotophase and a 12L:12D photoperiod. Activity was automatically measured continuously for 48 hours on days 22 - 24 and 31 - 33 of age using a passive infrared detection system. Tonic immobility (TI) fear responses were measured at 26 - 30 days of age, with half of the birds tested just after the dawn transition and half just after the dusk transition, the times when minimal and maximal responses should occur. The 20 lux treatment group was more active during the photophase than the scotophase, and also had a significant difference in TI responses between these time periods, indicating the presence of an activity rhythm as well as a TI rhythm. In contrast, 10 lux birds only showed a non-significant trend towards a photophase-scotophase activity difference, and no TI rhythm. The 20 lux birds were more active overall than the 10 lux birds, and also had a longer TI latency to turn their heads, required a greater number of inductions and tended to have longer latencies to right, than 10 lux. These results indicate that 20 lux was sufficient to entrain behavioral rhythms and promoted more activity than 10 lux, but was also associated with increased fear responses as measured by the TI test. CA also continued to collaborate with MI in collecting behavioral data from laying hens housed in three commercial systems: conventional cages, enriched colonies, and cage-free, to evaluate resource use in these systems. B. Identifying stress in poultry IN conducted work on osteoporosis. This problem is widespread in todays commercial laying hens and contributes to approximately 20 to 35% of all mortalities during the egg production cycle of caged hens. Bone fractures during production are a huge welfare issue because of the chronic pain these hens may experience. The objective of this study was to examine if perch availability during all or part of the life cycle of White Leghorns affects skeletal mineralization and physiological homeostasis involved in bone development. The outcomes of this study indicate that, due to endocrine response to exercise, pullets using perches during the growing phase have increased bone mineralization as compared to pullets not using perches, with benefits in improving bone integrity. IN conducted work on feather pecking (FP) and beak trimming (BT). Feather pecking and cannibalism occur in all the current egg production systems including cage and free range, which is an eminent cause of mortality in untrimmed chickens. Beak trimming is a common practice to prevent FP and cannibalism. However, BT causes tissue damage, exposing billions of chickens to pain (acute, chronic, or both) annually. Serotonin and its receptors appear early during prenatal development. It, acting as a morphogen, influences brain development and, acting as a neurotransmitter, regulates multiple biological functions including aggression. We hypothesize that serotonin treatment immediately before egg incubation will affect brain development in chickens and prevent FP and cannibalism. The outcomes of this study indicate that serotonin can be used in laying hens to replace BT for controlling feather packing and cannibalism. C. Dietary manipulations MN did work on Light Turkey Syndrome (LTS). This is indicated by decreased market BW of tom turkeys that begins during brooding and could be due to presence of undesired bacteria in the digestive system. Naïve poults were gavaged with microbial contents from poults that experienced LTS and compared to controls without LTS. In comparison to the control, body weights were reduced but feed intake was similar. The decreased BW of the inoculated poults but with similar feed intake suggested that the immune system in poults receiving LTS contents were diverting nutrients to the immune system instead of growth. Litter moisture can negatively affect well-being of poultry with development of foot pad lesions and/or difficulties in gait. Phytase addition, chloride level and dietary electrolyte balance were examined in market turkey diets containing dried distillers grains with solubles and canola meal. Increasing dietary chloride level reduced body weight and increased litter moisture. Dietary chloride at levels of 0.4 and 0.5% Cl significantly increased the foot pad score in comparison to 0.3% Cl with no affect on the gait score. The findings emphasized the importance of considering the level of chloride and associated dietary electrolyte balance in growing turkey diets containing high levels of alternative by-products. CT evaluated reducing eggborne transmission of Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in layer chickens by in-feed supplementation of trans-cinnamaldehyde. Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) is a major foodborne pathogen in the United States, largely transmitted to humans by consumption of contaminated eggs. The pathogen colonizes the chicken intestinal tract, and migrates to reproductive organs via systemic route, or invades the oviduct epithelial cells via ascending infection from the cloaca. Previous studies in our lab have shown that adhesion to- and invasion of- chicken oviduct epithelial cells (COEC) are critical steps in SE colonization of chicken reproductive tract and subsequent yolk contamination, and that trans-cinnamaldehyde (TC) is effective in reducing these virulence attributes. The present study was designed to determine the effectiveness of TC in the feed of laying hens for controlling egg-borne transmission of SE. We also studied how TC affects oviduct colonization and macrophage survival genes. One hundred twenty White Leghorn layers at either 25 or 40 weeks of age were randomly assigned to one of six treatment groups. The birds with feed supplemented with TC at both 1 and 1.5% showed significant reductions in SE in both the yolk material and the shell for each week tested for both 25 and 40 week old hens. There were no differences in egg production between the TC treated and non-treated hens at either age group. There was a significant reduction in SE levels in the cloacal contents of both the 1 and 1.5% TC treated hens. This reduction was also found in the liver, cecum and oviduct of both the 25 and 40 week old hens. Eggs from all groups and ages showed no differences in sensory analysis. TC significantly down-regulated the expression of SE virulence genes fimD, flgG, hflK, invH, IrpF, Mrt1, ompR, orf245, pipB and prot6E. CT also examined the effect of plant-derived molecules, carvacrol and trans-cinnamaldehyde, on Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus growth and aflatoxin production. In general, aflatoxins are highly immune-suppressive compared with other mycotoxins. This may make the host more susceptible to infection from bacteria, viruses and parasites. Aflatoxins have been linked to an increased infection rate of HIV/AIDS. Aflatoxin is a carcinogenic agent in both humans and animals resulting in liver cancer and is synergistic with hepatitis B and C virus. Because of its hepatotoxic effects it has been placed in the list of group 1 carcinogens by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). Carvacrol (CR) and trans-cinnamaldehyde (TC) were tested in a model broth system and also in contaminated chicken feed. For the nutrient broth system, 106 CFU/ml of either A. flavus or A. parasiticus were added to 10 ml of potato dextrose broth, to which either 0%, 0.02%, 0.04% or 0.08% CR or 0% 0.005%, 0.01% or 0.2% TC was added. The tubes were then incubated at 25oC for 7 days, during which mold counts and aflatoxin concentrations (total and B1) were determined at days 0, 1, 3, 5, and 7. Aflatoxin was measured using an ELISA kit (Romer labs AgraQuant-ELISA-Aflatoxin). The data was analyzed as a 2x2x4x5 factorial using proc-mixed from SAS. For the feed trial, 106 CFU/ml of either A. flavus or A. parasiticus were added to 200 g of layer feed to which either 0%, 0.4%, 0.8% and 1% of CR or TC were added to the mix and incubated at 25oC for 7 days. Mold counts and aflatoxin concentrations were measured at 0, 1, 5, and 7 days. The data was analyzed as a 2x2x4x4 factorial using proc-mixed from SAS. CR and TC significantly decreased A. flavus and A. parasiticus growth and aflatoxin production in both a model nutrient broth system and in layer feed. Objective 2. Alternative systems. This collaborative research will encompass characterization and mitigation of air emissions, manure nutrient management, animal welfare, and economic evaluation of alternative production systems. A. Hen behavior MI worked on objectives 1 and 2. This was achieved with data collection by Drs. Swanson and Siegford related to hen behavior in aviary systems at a commercial site for a multidisciplinary project assessing hen health and welfare, economics, food safety, environment, and worker health. Dr. Karcher is working with Dr. Maja Makgon, Purdue University, conducting a trial to look at various densities in the enriched colony housing for laying hens evaluating productivity measures, hen well-being, behavior. Additionally, egg quality measures are being evaluated by Dr. Deana Jones, USDA-ARS. Drs. Karcher, Jones, and Siegford are engaged in an aviary project evaluating alternative litter substrates on hen productivity, well-being, behavior, microbiology, and egg quality. The aviary and enriched colony projects are both on-going. Dr. Karcher and graduate student Prafulla Regmi collaborated with Dr. Ken Anderson, North Carolina State University, to investigate the housing impact on different genetic lines in different housing environments. The results of these studies showed that laying hens in different environments had an average keel deformity score not significantly different among the groups. However, each housing system was associated with high prevalence (>90%) of keel deformities. Dr. Karcher and Dr. Makagon additionally completed gait scoring studies on meat ducks with manuscripts being prepared for submission. The results of this work documented that duck femur and tibia bone ash displayed a negative linear correlation as gait score increased (P < 0.01) such that the lowest percent ash was found in ducks with the worse gait score. B. Conventional vs organic egg production NC worked on evaluating conventional vs. organic egg production systems. This project estimated the costs and benefits of implementing the proposed rule for laying hens, compared with alternatives. For the regulatory proposals under Option 2 the regulatory cost will be zero as most of producers are already in compliance with the proposed regulation. The anticipated benefits of this regulation will be zero as well because the current market prices already reflect the consumers willingness to pay for the existing animal welfare conditions. For the regulatory proposals under Option 3, prior to market adjustments, the average regulatory burden for the entire organic egg industry will amount to $0.09 per dozen eggs, with extreme variations between $0 for small operations and $2.30 per dozen for large operations. If we rely on the average price of organic eggs of $2.69 per dozen and assume the maximum estimated benefits associated with improved animal welfare conditions that consumers would be willing to pay of about 30% above the current market price, the estimated benefits of regulation amount to $0.81 per dozen eggs. Based on the findings we conclude that Option 2 is welfare neutral and could be easily adopted as it is already adopted by representative producers. For Option 3, the benefit-cost ratio is larger than 1 which indicates that the proposal passes the benefit-cost ratio test. The obtained result, however, has to be interpreted with serious reservation because of the differential impact that the proposed regulation would have on different industry participants. Under Option 3, the impact of the proposed changes on small organic egg producers is negligible because most small producers are operating under conditions similar to the proposed living standards. However, costs will increase substantially for large organic egg producers and likely cause a substantial number of producers to exit organic production and switch to conventional production which would cause a substantial decline in the prices of conventional eggs and organic feed in the short run. The following impact statements are related to accomplishments for the entire project.

The publications in the attachment are from October 2012 to September 2013. The prior 4-year annual reports have each year's publications included.