Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NE 1442 Poultry Production Systems and Well-being: Sustainability for Tomorrow

Meeting Minutes

August 8-10, 2016

The meeting was held at the Center for Proper Housing Poultry and Rabbits (ZTHZ) within the Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Bern and the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, Bern, Switzerland.

Dr. Michael Toscano served as the meeting coordinator and host.

NE-1442 members attending: Tayo Adedokum, KY; Kenneth Anderson, NC; Michael Darre, CT; Cameron Faustman (Advisor), CT; Angela Green, IL; Kenneth Koelkebeck, IL; Hong Li, DE; Anthony Pescatore, KY; Jody Purswell, USDA-ARS; Janice Swanson, MI; Harshavardhan Thippareddi, GA; Michael Toscano, CH; Jorge Vizcarra, AL; Tom Vukina, NC; Kelley Wamsley, MS; Hongwei Xin, IA; Wei Zhai, MS. European visitors and collaborators: Christoph Ahrens, Anicon GmbH; Sabine Gebhardt, U of Bern; Christph Gerpe, U of Bern; Richard Hoop, U of Zurich; Karin Kreyenbühl, Geflugel and Vogelpraxis; Sarah Lambton, U of Bristol; Bas Liebregts and Harry Luimes, Vencomatic Group; Franz Renggli, Frifag Marwil AG; Nadine Ringgenberg, FSVO; Christina Rufener, U of Bern; Lars Schrader, Friedrich Loeffler Institute; Markus Schwab, U of Bern; Janja Sirovnik, U of Bern; Ari Stratmann, U of Bern; John Tarlton, U of Bristol; Teun van de Braak, Hendrix Genetics; Sabine Vögeli U of Bern; Claire Weeks, U of Bristol; Ruedi Zweifel, Aviforum.

Monday, August 8, 2016

Ken Koelkebeck is sitting in as Senior Exec and meeting chair and called the meeting to order at 9:00 am. Mike Darre is secretary and will be taking minutes. All those present introduced themselves. Then he asked our USDA advisor, Dr. Cameron Faustman to speak.

1. Dr. Cameron Faustman spoke about the project, said our project is doing well, the experiment station directors feel this is a good project and are very supportive of the work being done.

Updates: Keep up with reports and submissions. Personnel changes have occurred in the NE office. Steve Rossie stepped down as regional office manager and Rick Rhodes is now in the office. Ruby Maize, who was the administrative secretary retired July 1 and is with University of Maryland, so we are now looking for her replacement. All NE schools contribute funds to maintain a central office of the NE projects where the website is maintained and reports are consolidated.

He said there is a new NC project about microbial resistance.

Some funds are available through USDA education grants program, but there is not a lot of competition for them. He felt we might try to develop some educational based projects, perhaps with internships. Since there are not many Industry/Academic partnerships apply there is funding available. These grants are for practical hands-on type learning projects.

Hatch/Smith lever funding is flat with more overhead taken out prior to getting to states. More funding in future will probably be for Microbiome research from USDA/NIFA.

From now on, any equipment from Multistate funds costing more than $5K will need special approval from the feds. This will add some time and paperwork to equipment funding.  

The NIMMS website is relatively new and still has some bugs to work out so have patience when reviewing or submitting to the site.  

Food waste is becoming a bigger issue in the US and worldwide. We waste almost 40% of our food in US. Ad council is now doing ads about this. So research on utilization of food waste might be of value and may get funding in the future.  

      2. Ken asked for the approval of the minutes of last year’s meeting. Moved by Ken Andersons, second by Mike Persia. The minutes were approved by unanimous vote.

      3. The Nominating Committee was appointed as follows: Ken Andeson, Hongwei Xin, Mike Toscano and Ken Koelkebeck. They will nominate the Junior Executive. 

      4. Next year’s NE 1442 meeting will be in Athens GA where Deana Jones will be our host.   Deana suggested, either Aug 3-5 (arriving Aug 3 and departing afternoon Aug 5) or 10-         12 would be the dates we may want to target. Our mid-year meeting will be in Atlanta at IPPE in January. Ken Anderson will notify of the time and room at the IPPE.

      5. We deed to submit a NIMMS report 60 days after the end of this meeting, Oct 10, 2016 is due date. We need to submit a short paragraph summary of work and     a list of publications to Ken Koelkebeck by Sept 23. The full station reports will be due prior to January 1, 2017.

      6. Our project needs some new industry advisors. Hank Engster retired and Bob Buresh is also off the project as well as the person from Aviagen. We will ask Ryn Devine, Cal-Maine Foods, food safety (Kelly will contact), Phil Smith, broiler nutrition (Tony will contact). It was also suggested to ask Derek Emmerson (broiler Genetics) from Aviagen to join, Jorge will ask him. Also would like to invite Neal O’Sullivan (Hy-Line Intl) layer behavior and genetics (Ken Koelkebeck to contact), and Vernon Felts, nutrition and production (Turkeys, Butterball) (Mike Persia will contact).

Cameron noted that Texas A&M had funding to summarize project info into a short PDF publication. Optimization of Poultry Welfare and Production Systems NE-1042 (2009-2014) was a PDF as is attached to this report. We still have an old website at UConn that Mike Darre set up. It will remain as is for historical reference.

We need to get a re-write committee together. We will need to start the rewrite at next year’s meeting in Athens.

There was a short break at 10:28 am and return to business at 10:40 am.

The nominating committee put forth the following slate of officers:

Senior Executive – Anup Koolanoor-Johny (MN)

Junior Executive – Kelly Wamsley (MS)

Secretary – Mike Darre (CT)

Meeting Chair for 2017 – Deana Jones

Meeting Chair for 2018 – Mike Persia (Virginia Tech)

Ken Anderson Moved and Janice Swanson seconded. The slate was approved by unanimous vote.

• NE-1442 Station Reports:

1. NC State: Ken Anderson – Overview of Piedmont Research Station and Layer test. Three missions, Extension and Outreach, Research and Instruction. Layer Test under the NCLP&MT (North Carolina Layer Production and Management Test). They have the ability to test conventional, enriched, colony, free range and organic poultry. This test has been ongoing since 1958.

They are working on building an Aviary system, and currently have $1.6 million, need an additional $1.6 million to finish the project.

One of their projects is on humane mass depopulation with ventilation shut down (VSD), feed ingredients, feed products to reduce SE in gut, and molting systems and food safety and organic eggs. For VSD they are using brain wave activity (EEG) to see when they are brain dead relative to the shutdown.

Tom Vukina – Economist. Looking at integrator-grower relationships and contracts. What will happen if AI hit NC? He did an impact study. Hongwei said that they studied the impact of cage free on the layer industry and it is estimated that it would be about $8.5 billion.

1. University of Bristol, UK John Tarlton. He is studying sustainable production in laying hens. He is looking forward to US/UK collaborations. Talked about production systems and banning of conventional battery cages by different countries, starting with Switzerland and Europe. Still some problems with alternative systems. Particularly keel bone fractures in free range systems. Perching/roosting systems affect the frequency of fractures. Higher up, more fractures. Used some accelerometers to monitor impact force, but also gets some behavior data. They found that during mid lay, at 46-52 weeks, there is a peak in fractures. The key is to reduce energy and frequency of collisions. There is a Hazard Paradox - the more work or stress on the keel the more bone is formed and increased stiffness, but also more fractures. Less activity, less fractures. Wing flapping without obstruction seems to be a good activity. They are now testing range birds, some with enhancement, some without. They are using accelerometers and light monitors to tell where the birds are and how much movement is occurring. They are also looking at nutritional issues and skeletal development. In extensive systems bone strength continues to increase during the laying period compared to intensive systems. N3 Linolenic acid vs N6 linoleic acid ratios affect bone, more N3 in diet is better. With genetics, diet, rearing and housing we are able to reduce keel bone fractures.

Virginia Tech – Mike Persia. He is studying acute and chronic effects of heat stress on performance and blood gas parameters in laying hens. They have two heat chambers with individual cages for birds. They heat stress birds by putting them into a chamber at 35^oC for an acute exposure or chronic for 2 or 4 weeks. After two and four weeks of stress, body temps came down to almost normal during heat exposure. Heat stress reduced egg production and feed intake. Probiotics help reduce effects of heat stress. Added coccidiosis to see how probiotics help with negative effects of cocci on birds. Coccidial infection with Acervulina resulted in a 6.7% reduction in lean tissue and a 17.3% reduction in fatty tissue.

Break for lunch at the Rutti cafeteria at noon.

1. University of Bern – Michael Toscano. At the research facility they have a small scale commercial aviary system (Vencomatic) for research projects. Projects include: Optimizing layer feeder space, especially in aviary. EU and Swiss specified 8 and 10 cm/bird. Studied 5 spaces ranging from 3.8 cm to 10 cm/bird.   They found decreased aggression with more feeder space, but interestingly they found that the rate of change decreases as you increase space, the diminishing returns principle.  With more feeder space, birds consume more feed with same egg production. Another study is on differential ranging. Most birds (>70%) of birds stay inside the house by choice. In Australia, they want 50% of the birds outside 50% of the time. Real data needs to be generated on bird behavior in range systems. Using RFID systems they are tracking up to 150 birds per range pen. Another project is looking at genetic variation of keel bone damage, found some strains with high resistance to fractures. Additionally they looked at productivity of the layer birds with keel bone damage. Birds with fractures had fewer eggs. Egg mass and shell quality were also affected. Future projects are on early detection of disease states in broilers and how hen removal from an aviary affects bird damage. Mike has a grant for 440,000$ EU over 4 years to create a CH/EU-wide network of researchers and stakeholders interested in keel bone damage, members outside are welcome to join, e.g. US. 
2. Iowa State University – Hongwei Xin. One of their projects is assessing light intensity choice of layers using CFL lamps at different intensities, but with the same spectral output. They designed a light tunnel so birds had a choice of where they wanted to be. Birds spent 45% of time in 5 lux and 22% of time in 15 and 30 lux. The spent about 25 min per hour in dark and the rest of their time in light throughout the day. About 62% of eggs were laid in the dark. The total daily light and dark hours were 14L:10D. They also looked at lighting preference of birds reared under incandescent light for either CFL or LED lamps during the production period. Birds spent more time in CFL than LED. Another study looked at feeding and nesting behaviors of individual hens in enriched colony systems using an RFID system. Not all birds wanted to feed at same time, but on average they spent about 320 minutes (22% of time) per day at feeder. They are also looking at the effects of acidified electrolyzed water on particulate matter on ammonia levels in cage-free housing. The more water on the litter the lower the PM level, and the more acidic the lower the ammonia level. Another project is on barn environment after Ventilation Shut Down (VSD) and time to achieve 104^oF. Looking to achieve in no more than 30 min and determine the amount of supplemental heat needed to achieve the target environment, which depends on number of birds and outside temp. CO₂ never went over 1,600 ppm, so it is temperature and humidity, not CO₂ that kills birds. In another study they studied HPAI movement by attaching to dust particles. One approach is filtering the air entering the henhouse. An electrostatic filtering system coupled with less expensive particle filters works well. 
3. Michigan State University – Janice Swanson is reporting for Darren Karcher. The studies they have done and are doing include the impact of Bio-D on layer performance from 17 to 84 weeks of age, causes of keel abnormalities in laying hens housed in enriched colony cages, egg quality and safety, impact of hen strains in an aviary housing system, and space and resource use of 4 strains of laying hens. 
4. University of Kentucky – Tony Pescatore and Tayo Adedokun. One study was on endogenous amino acids in broilers and layers to determine loses and the effect of dietary electrolyte balances. They also looked at the cost of analysis for feed samples comparing regular drying ovens vs freeze drying. They found that how samples are handled may affect final analysis. Some ingredients are adversely affected by drying method and other analyses and may alter the results. Another project is looking at how dietary fiber affects feeding time. They are also developing a database on production characteristics of various breeds, including heritage breeds of meat birds. Heritage birds were much slower growing and less efficient than the Cornish cross broiler. Use of Red Rangers vs Cornish cross will require more inputs, more birds, etc. Much more use of energy and facilities for using these types of slow growing broiler birds. However, some retail food companies are looking to purchase the slower growing broilers.
5. University of CT - Michael Darre. At UConn there is a lot of research on the use of natural plant derived antimicrobials (PDA) to reduce the incidence of Salmonella (both Enteritidis and Heidelberg). It was found that carvacrol, eugenol, and beta-resorcylic acid when mixed with either pectin or gum arabic and used to coat shell eggs reduced the incidence of SE, with carvacrol being the most effective. In another study, it was found that feed supplementation of beta-resorcylic acid and trans-cinnamaldehyde for 21 day old broilers significantly reduced Salmonella Heidelberg colonization in the cecum, liver, and crop. In another study the PDA carvacrol was used to determine antiviral activity against the Avian Influenza virus in an in ovo infection model. Carvacrol at both 0.2% amd 0.1% significantly reduced the virus titer, suggesting potent antiviral activity of the phytochemical against the AI virus. The researchers also studied the efficacy of Octenidine hydrochloride (OH) in reducing SE on chicken meat. Octenidine is a new generation disinfectant use in human mouth rinses. For this study chicken wings were used and were spot inoculated with 5 log CFU of a five strain mixture of SE per wing. It was found that OH is an effective disinfectant against SE on chicken meat. Energy efficient lighting has been the subject of research for many years at UConn and it is continuing with a study of using LED lamps to individually illuminate each cage in a commercial layer facility. A string of 2700K LED’s were placed in the bottom level of a four tier cage system prior to placing 18 week old pullets. The light levels were about 16 lx (1.5 fc) in the middle of the cage and about 7 lx (0.6 fc) at the feeder. Data will be accumulated over the life of the flock on HD and HH egg production as well as mortality. Some data from 26 and 27 weeks post housing indicated a slight increase in egg production in the LED birds compared to the corresponding cage tier on either side of the cage row with the LED lamps. Complete statistical analysis will be forthcoming.
6. University of Illinois – Ken Koelkebeck and Angela Green. One project is focused on assessing ventilation using intelligent portable monitoring units in a layer barn. They have six units for measuring ammonia, CO₂, temp, and static pressure. They are collecting data on ammonia levels, temperature, CO₂, and static pressure within cages and between cages in a tunnel ventilated, 12 deck, 425k bird house. They found higher temps at the fan end of the house vs inlet end. Also more ammonia within the cages compared to between cages. Lower outside temps, with lower ventilation rate resulted in higher ammonia levels compared to during hot weather with max ventilation. Angela Green is involved in a “Systems thinking approach to animal housing and husbandry”. This means looking at all factors involved in the animals environment and the ability of the animal to adapt to changes. Housing is a “system” and one needs to focus on animal needs within that system. The current project is on decision support in managing ammonia in the laying hen environment. They looked at long term exposure to 5 or less ppm, 30 ppm for one year and 60 and 90 ppm for a few weeks. They also tested bird preference for ammonia levels. IgM and C4 were reduced at 25 weeks of exposure to 30 ppm but by 45 weeks there were no differences from the control. Birds appear to be adapting to ammonia. Preference testing showed some aversion to 40 ppm. In another study they ran a preference study for door covering type, for their preference chamber. The birds like the hanging chain type covering the best. Maybe because of the novelty of the movement. They also tested the effect of ammonia level on learning and memory. High ammonia levels appeared to increase the learning time and decreased memory.
7. Alabama A&M University – Jorge Vizcarra. They are doing research on broilers and broiler breeder reproduction. Compared testis weight and body weight and found no direct relationship. However there is a direct relationship between testis weight and sperm per gram of testis weight. Also found that testis weight peaks at about 28 weeks and then starts to decrease. Testis weight was positively correlated to FSH. The size of the testis will affect the pulses of FSH per 12 hours, such that testis less than 10 g do not produce any pulses.   In a study of Ghrelin (a 28 AA hormone with Ser-3 modification and is produced in the proventriculus), it was found that it is produced when the proventriculus is empty. In pigs when Ghrelin was blocked, they lost appetite and weight. Passive immunization of turkeys with pig serum from pigs immunized against Ghrelin had an opposite effect, the turkeys ate more. Another project was the effect of Ghrelin on hypertension and acities in broilers.
8. USDA-ARS Mississippi State – Jody Purswell. They are studying the performance of an automated whole house vaccination system. A system was developed to spray both cage and non-cage house systems. They vaccinated for IBV and NDV and found that the pulsed spray along with a light pulsed on and off results in much higher sero-conversion than manual spray. Works well for pullets and broilers. They are also looking at white striping in broilers. A myopathy in breast tissue. As body weight goes up and age goes up more white striping is found. Also evaluated light intensity sensitivity for chickens and compared to human sensitivity curves. Adjusted to CIE curve for humans. Birds and human are essentially similar. Also looked at how light leakage though fans affects broiler performance. Data still being collected.
9. University of Delaware – Hong Li. They are studying air emissions from broiler houses through the use of a litter amendment, PLT, at 50lb/1000ft² and 200lb/1000ft², and in the feed and on the floor. They found that there was no difference between the 50 and 200 lb rates in controlling ammonia. They also looked at comparing PL Biochar or PLT on litter surface. It took twice as much of Biochar to get the same level of ammonia control as PLT. Another approach was using seasonal vegetative buffers in addition to the acid scrubber to reduce outside emissions to neighbors.   Another area of study was looking at perching behavior and choices of broilers, such as height and shape of the perches. Birds spent more time on square perch at 4 inches than round perch at 4 inches.

Meeting adjourned for the day at 5:14 pm. The group went to Restaurant Kirchenfeld for dinner and enjoyed a delicious meal.

Tuesday, August 9, 2016, 8:30 am – Meeting resumed.

1. Remarks from Dean. Dr. Hans Wyss, Director, Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office. Dr. Wyss officially welcomed us to Switzerland and the research station. They became both Vet and Food Safety two years ago. They have had a strong collaboration with research and animal welfare for the last thirty years because of the size of the country and the poultry industry.
2. Remarks from Dr. Gertraud Schupbach, Head, Veterinary Public Health Institute, University of Bern. Her group does work on diseases, welfare and economics. The fact that they are collaborators with and funded by the Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office they are able to do a lot of good work. All housing systems for animals must be approved by the animal welfare arm of the government (FSVO). They do a lot of work on the subject of housing, welfare, humane impact and economics. They banned cages in 1992 and antimicrobial growth promoters in 1999. 
3. Remarks from Dr. Nadine Ringgenberg, Scientific Collaborator, FSVO. The ZTHZ (Center for proper housing of poultry and rabbits) is a joint venture between the University of Bern and FSVO. They have facilities for both layers and broilers that mimic commercial conditions. One of two areas of research is animal behavior and welfare and the second is testing of farm animal housing systems and equipment for laying hens, broilers and turkeys. In particular they are working on aviary systems, and perches for broilers. They also work with Gallo Suisse, the farmers organization. The authorization procedure for farm animal housing systems must be approved by the FSVO. If a company wants to sell new equipment they must apply, then it is determined if the minimal animal welfare requirements are met, then it is determined if enough info is available on the product and if on farm visits or further testing needs to be done. The switch away for battery cages started in 1981 with the Animal Welfare Ordinance of 1981. Then they had a 10 year phase in period to switch out. Pressure came from major retailers such as Migros and COOP that from 1989 on they would not purchase eggs from hens in battery cage systems. 

• Special Presentation of Poultry Science Animal Welfare Award. 

Since Michael Toscano could not be at the Poultry Science Meetings in New Orleans, LA a few weeks ago, his award was presented by Hongwei Xin and Kenneth Anderson. He received a plaque and a check in recognition of his outstanding research in the field of poultry welfare.

• Alternatives to battery cages: Problems and Solutions.

1. Dr. Lars Schrader, Director, Friedrich Loeffler InstituteThe aviary systems are now required to provide 1,111 cm^2/hen. Some aviary systems still have high feather pecking and skin lesions and keel bone damage. Air emissions are much higher in the Aviary compared to the colony cage. Mortality is also much higher in the Aviary compared to the colony. Ramps might be good for reducing keel bone damage, but might encourage more floor eggs due to hiding under the ramps, and possible competition for ramp space, It is also suggested to use about 45 minutes of “dusk” (light transition from light to dark) to help birds settle. It is better to keep the litter area brighter than the tiers to encourage foraging and reduce floor eggs. Nest area should be larger than 1 m² for 120 birds. Pullets should be reared in aviary systems before going to the aviary laying systems. It is critical that chicks and pullets be reared under the same conditions as they will experience as layers, making the transition to the layers house less of a problem, especially for them learning to jump or fly up and down an aviary system.

2. In Germany battery cages were banned in 2010, two years prior to the rest of the EU. There was a legal regulation for use of the colony systems but it was repealed in 2010. A voluntary ban on beak trimming has been in place since 2013. Now there will be a ban on colony cages starting in 2025. So all housing systems for layers must be aviary or other floor or free range type systems. In Germany they must have 800 cm² per hen, which is 50 cm² more than in the EU. The nest must be 90 cm² /hen with perches at two different heights with 15 cm/hen and feed troughs with 12 cm per hen and a litter area of 90 cm²/hen. They found that feather pecking and keel bone damage is relatively high in colony systems. Not many used the litter area (12%). There were low levels of ammonia and particulate matter due to running the manure belts regularly. In a study of commercial farms, the smaller farms (<3,000 birds) had higher mortality and higher feed consumption. The colony cage systems have a high incidence of feather pecking, skin lesions, keel bone damage and requires a higher management effort than battery cages. They also found that having two smaller nest areas is better than one large nest area.

1. Janice said we need to get Canada involved and also obtain grants for education involving non-cage systems. Mike Toscano will attempt continue funding options with US colleagues (Janice Siegford, MSU) and his existing EU-COST grant. Ken A. said it is more animal husbandry than just technical. It is hard to find people with a good background and understanding of poultry and how they behave and their biological needs. Must get people that train their own replacement. The number of skilled and knowledgeable people is very low compared to the need and the value of the world’s poultry industry.  Tom asked if anyone knows the time movement, how long it takes for prices to change from a niche market to a general commodity? Economics is a big part of the transition. Teun van der Braak said that the genetics of layers is there in Europe to use in the cage free systems. Will they be used in the US or other breeds be developed for that market is a big question. 
2. 11:50 am. The group went to lunch at the Rutti Cafeteria, and then took a tour of the Aviforum poultry research facilities. We saw the aviary, free-range/WG barn, pullet growing, and egg processing facilities. Mike Toscano and his graduate students led the tours. They showed the RFID systems used to track bird movement and behavior. The group was impressed with the facilities and funding to maintain research.
3. The meeting resumed at about 14:30.
4. Discussion Session: Mike Toscano started the discussion with a question of “Why is the cost of labor so high for non-cage systems in the U.S.?” Is training of workers an issue? Janice Swanson noted that part of the labor costs is training time for the workers.   Plus lots of time to collect floor eggs. Harry said we must consider that we are comparing a mature system in Switzerland and the EU with a new system in the U.S. that will take time to work out the kinks. We have a lack of experience and training for these systems, but can learn from the EU experience and move forward much faster. Do we have some suggestions for action plan:   
5. Ken Anderson – North Carolina State University. Talked about the economics of the various production systems. Predation was a large problem in their range system until the put netting over the top. All the studies from the NCLPMT have been made available at their website. (https://poultry.ces.ncsu.edu/layer-performance/).  
6. Ken Koelkebeck – University of Illinois. Talked about the history of animal rights and pressure on the poultry industry in the US. From banning battery cages to using colony systems and now to cage-free. Many food companies are committed to cage-free by 2025. It is estimated that the cost to go to cage-free is about 8 billion dollars. He also presented the CSES data from their three year study. This can be found at the CSES website (http://www2.sustainableeggcoalition.org/).
7. Harry Luimes VP Sales North America and Mexico and Bas Liebregts product manager from Vencomatic Group. Vencomatic is the world’s number one in sustainable poultry friendly systems. Now they are in the US and Mexico as well as the rest of the world. Pullet management is the weak link in the system at this point. Pullets should be reared in the same manner as they will be in production. A good pullet must be able to jump, use perches, sleep away from litter, and use nest boxes. They found that about 83% of flocks in EU have red mites (chicken mite) and with banning of pesticides, it is a real problem. How to cope with this problem is one of the issues facing aviary system management. One solution is to create an electrical barrier between resting and feeding. They have invented a perch with an electrical shock system under the perching surface so when the mites crawl up to get to the birds, they must cross this barrier and get shocked and killed. This is currently under testing.

• Restricted antibiotic use: Problems and solutions
• Richard Hoop – Institute for Veterinary Bacteriology, University of Zurich.   In Western Europe the ban of antibiotic growth promoters (AGP) started in Switzerland in 1999, Denmark in 1998, Sweden in 1986 the EU in general in 2006. Now 35 EU countries have a veterinary prescription requirement for limited use of critical antibiotics (AB). Prudent Use (or optimal use) means less AB by avoiding unnecessary use and appropriateness. In Denmark the vet must purchase the AB used from a pharmacy or company for use on the farm. In Denmark they are now down to only .15 treatment days per year. Lower numbers of resistant bacteria are found in broilers reared in Denmark. In the Netherlands they also monitor AB use through vets. In 2014 there was an average of 19.9 treatment days per year. www.abcheck.ugent.be or www.antibiotawijzer.nl are sites vets can check for antibiotic resistance information. StAR in Switzerland is available for similar info. Swiss poultry is about 750 units, small broiler flocks, mandatory salmonella control program. Now have only 1.5 to 2 treatment days/year. No reduction in resistance between 2006 and 2014 in Switzerland (CH). New definition of prudent use of AB must be integrated into the concept of good management. This includes all husbandry, vet, vaccine, hygene, etc. If we don’t use AB it will cost more, so must be careful in use of AB. Must start with the eggs and chicks. In Europe there are some vaccines for Ecoli and Clostridium perfringens (netB). No current SE vaccine in CH. What about feed additives? Probiotics, new one are available that produce butyrate-producing bacteria. Pre-biotics and PDA’s are most effective in sub-optimal production systems. Future methods: Probiotics, bacteriophages, quorum sensing. 
• Dr. Franz Renggli – Frifag foods/Head of Swiss Poultry Vet Association. There is a cost to every change we make in antibiotic use in food animals. He feels most problems are human made because we want good, cheap production. Some resistances to AB was there prior to AB use. Public view is that farm use is less important than efficacy of antibiotics in humans. Most decisions about AB is by human doctors, the press and politicians. Public is influenced by Activists, the press and politicians and human doctors. What will be most important? Price, welfare, food to eat, biosecurity, and human health are major concerns. Will there be availability of AB, AGP, vaccines, coccidiostats, and anti-parasitic agents? What to do to prepare? Good general health situation, good organization, everyone with same concern, good biosecurity and hygiene, more education for farmers, good parent stock, use AB only when needed are all things to set as goals to achieve. The big problem is animal welfare vs animal health vs food cost vs human health.
• BREAK at 15:30 with chocolate, cookies, tea, coffee, and apples. 
• Dr. Kelly Wamsley – Mississippi State Univ. Antibiotic use for poultry in the US. Some report antibiotic resistance (ABR) as a global healthcare crisis. Most people feel this is from misuse in agriculture. More than 50% of US broiler flocks are currently AB free. What is an acceptable level of mortality? To go AB free producers must start at the breeder level through the hatchery and on to production birds. In-feed disease control – three legged stool – 3-Nitro, antibiotics and coccidiostats. Take one leg away, stool sways, take away more, it topples. What are the replacements? Probiotics, prebiotics, essential oils, etc? Other nutritional approaches such as through proteins, CHO, and other ingredients such as exogenous feed enzymes. Early nutritional strategies are also important. What about litter management as it relates to bird health? Biosecurity? Flock down time? In MS they have done some research on in-ovo injections of probiotics. Used Gallipro Hatch. No negative affect on Marek’s vaccine. Tried some pre-biotics (saccharomyces cerevisiae) also. So there are some research hurdles to AB and NAE free production such as regional issues, different management schemes, funding, etc. 
• Discussion: Much was discussed about the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) that goes into effect on Jan 1, 2017 in the USA. No antibiotics but can use anticoccidial in Switzerland and EU. Talked about genetics and resistance, and early feeding and water on broiler health. Harry Luimes discussed moving 18 day old embryo eggs to the actual broiler farm and hatching the eggs at the broiler growing farm. He felt the birds do much better since they are placed quickly and have access to water almost immediately which helps birds adapt to the facility and are healthier. This is a new management strategy that may help. Action Points: What next? React to the situation as best we can. Must be honest to consumer. Need to coordinate. The poultry health conference is a good venue to discuss this issue. US Poultry and Egg is also putting out information for producers. Other?? At 17:40 we ended discussion and adjourned for the day. We met at the Restaurant Volkhaus for dinner and afterword retired to Kornhauskeller for social time. Wednesday, August 10, 2016, 8:30 am

• HPAI Preparedness

1. Christoph Ahrens, M.Sc. (For Dr. Peter Behr – Managing Director (Vaccines) Anicon) GESEVO (Pest preparedness) Gesellschaft fur Seuchenvorsorge.  
2. AI in Northern Italy since 1999, Netherlands 2003. They learned it was too slow to respond and combat, it was spread by crews and it resulted in spike in prices. Depopulation must be done quickly and efficiently and not spread the disease. Depends on quick diagnostics. Then must have a generous indemnity for the birds that were killed. Accepted methods allowed in EU and Germany are CO₂ and CO₂ plus argon. Cannot use foam or ventilation shutdown. One problem is that the farm owner is not expert in depopulation and not always psychologically prepared to kill their own flock.   GESEVO was founded by local farmer organizations and was set up for depopulation of flocks and help with indemnity. They develop systems and do training. There are standards for worker protection, animal welfare, hygiene, and protection against spread of disease. Set up is done with few staff members, no touching of live animals and proper disposal of the dead. The have small, portable truck disinfection units. They have a mobile shower truck for personnel. They use whole house gassing with CO₂. Then they disinfect dead birds prior to picking up and loading. For gassing using containers they use a mix of CO2 and Argon gas. (www.anicon.eu)
3. Hongwei Xin – Iowa State University. Egg Industry Center. US Egg Industry during and after 2015 HPAI outbreak.

First talked about the 2015 HPAI outbreak and the loss of 48 million birds, most of which were layers (34,358,140, or 71%). The start was in a backyard flock in December 2014 and not until April 2015 was the first commercial layer farm hit.   Disposal was burial for layers, composting in the barn for turkeys or outside for layers and turkeys. Some incineration and landfills were also used. The impact on bird inventory was significant. We had about 312 million layers to start and it dropped to 278 million. Now we are starting to recover and in July 2016 we were up to about 300 million layers. The export market was at about 12 million eggs per day, and after the outbreak went to about 6 million per day.   We are still importing 2 million eggs per day right now. US egg prices went to about $2.75 per dozen during the outbreak and now it is about $0.8 per dozen, way below the 10 year average. We are consuming about 230 million eggs per day now.

Then vs Future procedures/actions. Now: talking about vaccine, better communication, movement in control zones, depopulation and disposal methods, and new cleaning and disinfecting methods. Now want to depopulate flocks within 24 hrs of outbreak. May use whole house foam or gas, or CO₂ carts or VSD. Now looking at enhancing biosecurity entries into facilities – such as two zone entry – dirty vs clean side. Also looking at a three zone where you have dirty then wash hands then change clothes. Also looking at better truck and equipment washing and disinfecting systems. Cost is about $1 per bird for all the enhanced biosecurity systems.

Other research has shown that the AI virus can be airborne in the dust. Filtering air going out of house may be one option. Also assessing movement of air from one facility to another or across larger areas to other farms.

Ventilation shut down (VSD) has been studied to determine best way to use this and how much additional heat is needed.

Also looking at heat treatment of egg flats to disinfect. Another project was determining if AI can be transmitted via feedstuffs. The role of terrestrial wild birds, rodents and insects in virus transmission is also being determined. Other projects are looking for a genetic basis for resistance to AI in commercial egg layers. In Alabama they are studying the role of litter beetles, water and rodents in AI transmission. At UC Davis they are looking a persistence of virus under different environmental conditions.

Most of these studies are funded by Egg Industry Center at Iowa State University.

1. General Discussion: Mike T. asked if depopulation was being considered in the structures being built for aviaries and cage systems.   Some new swine facilities are going to positive pressure systems, which can filter incoming air. How are costs offset for depopulation? Now thinking that use of government funds to pay owners to do their own C&D after depopulation might be the best way. This is because the U.S. government hired a crew that was good at industrial disinfection, but had no idea how to handle dead poultry and their facilities. One question is “Who declares it is HPAI?” in each country. What about movement of un-infected product in and out of a quarantine zone? In Germany and EU no movement at all within a 3 km radius zone. In US there are some allowances for product movement. How should farms be placed relative to bird migration patterns. Most farms are now built with reference to existing housing and living areas. How is monitoring being done in US? In the US we have NPIP and NAHMS labs for regular testing. In Germany, if an outbreak occurs, the CO₂ suppliers (Linde) must bring gas, even if on their way to another customer. Where is the HPAI protocol? Now USDA has the REDBOOK. In US one can get funding once every 3 years to do a drill on depopulation. 
2. Closing Comments: None. Thanks to Mike for setting up and the format of the meeting. What about the format of meeting here? Works well for this meeting, but in the U.S. we need more industry presentations in the future, also need time for station report discussion and collaborations. The industry/research/outreach combination makes this a good project. Sometimes in U.S. the public perception is that if scientists are funded by private industry then the scientist is in the pocket of industry. It was proposed that people bring a draft of their full station report to the meeting for all to use during the presentations (like we used to do) and then the presentation can just be highlights of their work with more time for discussion and building collaborations. We still want industry collaborations. Thanks to Chris and Hongwei. 
3. Break – Coffee, Tea, Chocolate, Cookies, Apples, etc. 
4. Ruedi Zweifel – Director Aviforum. Foundation for enhancement of Swiss poultry production and housing. A facility for testing Swiss egg and broiler production. This is a non-profit foundation, tax free entity. All funding goes to research and supporting the poultry industry. They are a combination public/private entity. Co-financed by the Swiss confederation, Cantons, and private organizations, since 2002. They have 10 full time employees, and get 50% of funding from products and services, 35% from government, and 15% contract funded. They have three branches of Aviforum-Activities. Education, Service (outreach) and research. For education they have specialized training for poultry, vegetables, fruits, grapes and wine and general Ag. Two years on farms and one day a week in classes. Third year mostly interning full time. Producer organizations are Gallo Suisse for eggs and SGP ASPV for broilers.  They also gather stats for evaluation on the industry, do media response and provide contacts for Swiss and foreign industry. They produce a monthly journal of about 38 pages. The research is mostly applied research on management, feeding, and housing. They have 7,200 layers, 7,815 pullets and 46,700 total broilers each year.

Facts and Figures about Swiss egg and poultry production. No more than 18,000 birds can be reared on any one farm. Animal welfare is the number one factor in housing and production. There are three levels of welfare in Switzerland, lowest is the basic federal law. The regulations include enclosure size, proper conditions and lighting for each species type, with outdoor access and provision of bathing water as appropriate. Then there is the PAS level. At first it was difficult for Swiss egg producers and broiler producers, but now 90% of layers are in the PAS with 73% on free range. Welfare laws say must have 16 hrs light/8 dark for all chickens. No less than 5 lux. Layers under the PAS system must in addition to the federal law have pastures with structures. Also have intermediate outside access with cover for rainy days so birds do not destroy pasture. Generally this is called a Winter Garden. Broilers, 16L/8D, 5 lux, 30 kg/m² is rule. PAS for broilers is they must have outside area, pasture. Min age at slaughter is 56 days. Labeling laws have country of origin listed. The third level is organic which has even more strict rules for space and outside access.

Production value of poultry is 2.8% for eggs and 3.4% for broilers of the ag economy. Egg consumption per person is about 175 and meat is growing at about 12 kilos per year.  They have about 44% of eggs imported. The organic eggs are 15.3%. No more than 2,000 per building are allowed under organic production rules. About 33% of all eggs are sold directly from farm. Imported poultry is mostly from Brazil (Frozen) and France, Hungary and Spain for fresh poultry. Migros and Coop no longer do turkey. But they are the largest owners for poultry meat and eggs. Consumer is in control of what they buy based on country of origin (COO) labels. They produce TV and radio commercials for support of Swiss poultry and eggs. 50% Code 2, 50% code 1, no code 3 in Swiss.

If you construct a building to rear more than 150 birds, you need to have specialized education before you can rear the birds.

Contract research at the Aviforum facility is for companies to gain information of how it will work under the Swiss system.

• Lunch at Rutti Cafeteria.

• At 13:20 we bussed to a commercial poultry farm.The farm was managed by Rolf Jaussacher and was located just outside of Lyss. The farm has a pullet barn as well as an aviary with a winter porch as well as outside access for the layers.

1. Meeting ended at 17:50. A hearty thanks to Michael Toscano for all his efforts and those of his secretary and graduate students for hosting a most successful meeting.
2. The farm visit was excellent and was conducted by the farm owners and Mike Toscano and his graduate students and other members of the Swiss and European group.

Objective 1. Energy/resource efficiency.  This will include collaborative efforts on feed and fuel energy sources for poultry and facilities by geographical region; facility design, equipment efficiency, management, and modeling energy use in poultry systems.

Environmental Lighting. IA has built two new facilities.  One of them is a 5-compartment light tunnel that is instrumented to allow quantitative assessment of light intensity or light type preference of poultry when given free choice.  The work that IA did demonstrated that when given choice, Hy-Line W-36 hens prefer 5 lux over 15 or 30 lux, with 100 lux chosen the least.  More feed intake occurred in < 1 lux (28% daily FI) without feeding light and in 5 lux (33% daily FI) with 30 lux feeding light as compared to other three higher light intensities.  Hens preferred to lay eggs in dark (

Feed Sources for Poultry. KY conducted a series of experiments to evaluate the nutrient strategies and the impact of dietary electrolyte balance, mineral sources and fatty acid profile on nutrient excretion. High sodium levels increased the loss of amino acids from endogenous origin resulting in increased nitrogen excretion. Organ minerals can be fed at lower levels in the diet with no effects on growth or egg production and less heavy metal excretion. Algae as a source of DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) was effective in increasing the DHA content of tissue and eggs. Dietary enzymes increased nutrient utilization.

Objective 2. Evaluating commercial poultry production systems.  This will include collaborative efforts on the characterization of the performance of conventional, alternative, and organic poultry production systems relative to air and water quality, nutrient management, acoustic environment, and animal health and welfare.

Air Quality and NH₃ emissions.  IL used an Intelligent Portable Monitoring Unit (PMU) to measure NH₃ and CO₂ concentrations and emissions from animal buildings. Using the iPMU technology to monitor NH₃ and CO₂ concentrations and air temperature at multiple-points, and the building static pressure with the ventilation performance of a modern stacked cage layer barn in cold weather was assessed. Field measurements were conducted in a new large-scale modern caged layer barn with manure belts located in the Midwest USA.  Data measured during February 2016 are summarized and presented in this paper.  The layer barn (164.6 m long × 27.8 m wide) has 2 floors (12 tiers of cages) and houses about 425,000 laying hens.  During February, cold fresh air entered the barn through evenly distributed ceiling air inlets above the top of cages, while barn air exhausted through the fans placed in sidewalls.  The cooling pad and fans placed in the end walls are for hot weather operation, and were not employed.  The NH₃ and CO₂ concentrations, air temperature, and building static pressure were simultaneously monitored at 4 sampling points in the barn.  The 4 sampling points were: inside cages, between cages, and above two continuously running minimum ventilation exhaust fans.  Each sampling point was at the same height, i.e. the top of the 6^th tier cage.  One iPMU was measured the building static pressure.  A temperature sensor (H08-032-08, Onset Computer Corp., Mass., USA) measured the ambient temperature.  The monitoring results showed that gasses generated in the barn accumulated and reached high concentrations near the end of the building at a sampling point where a ventilation fan was located.  This location revealed a higher NH₃ concentration compared to the other sampling points.  The NH₃ reached as high as 40 ppm when ambient temperature < 0 ℃.  This was likely caused by high pressure (backpressure) in the manure drying room creating leakage back into the barn.  In cold weather, the minimum ventilation rate deployed by the producer was not enough to remove NH₃ leaking back into the barn from the manure drying room.

IA worked on experimenting with the effect of spraying acidic electrolyzed water (AEW) on litter to reduce the PM levels of dust and air ammonia generation. These results showed that a significant reduction in PM levels (71-89% immediately after spray, 57-83% 24 h after spray) occurred.  A higher dosage of 50 or 75 ml/kg dry litter/d (D500 or D75) led to greater PM reduction than lower dosage of 25 ml/kg dry litter/d (D25).  Higher dosages led to significantly higher ammonia emissions.  The spray dosage of D25-pH3 regimen showed the lowest ammonia emissions while reducing PM by 60-70%.  The next step is to conduct field verification test based on the lab-scale study findings. 

Lighting and Indoor Air Quality. CT evaluated LED lamps in a commercial cage laying house. A string of LED lamps were placed such that one lamp containing two diodes were placed in the back of the cages (in between cages facing different cage rows) on the bottom row of a commercial layer facility.  Thus two back to back cages were being illuminated by a single lamp.

Bird Health and Welfare. CT investigated the effect of two GRAS plant-derived compounds, namely carvacrol (CR) and trans-cinnamaldehyde (TC), on A. flavus and A. parasiticus effect on hepatic trancriptome in chickens fed with AF.

IA investigated the incidence of HPAI virus, though not viable, in dust particles of affected hen houses. A low-grade air filter coupled with an electrostatic particle ionization system was shown to reduce PM concentrations (PM1 to TSP) in ventilation air of a commercial laying hen house by 40-80%.  The filtration system remained quite effective after 18 weeks of use covering the period of March to July. Additional data collection is continuing.  Risk modeling of potential HPAI spread by airborne transmission is ongoing.  Computer models were established to estimate the indoor environmental conditions for quick depopulation of HPAI-inflected layer and turkey flocks through ventilation shutdown (VSD), and to determine the supplemental heat needs to achieve the target thermal conditions for various housing and weather conditions.

MI investigated laying hen performance, health, and welfare as it relates to alternative housing systems with focus areas including skeletal development, maintenance and health as it relates to hen genetics and housing (enriched colony and aviary) with special emphasis on the keel bone; hen genetic strain differences in egg production, safety and quality, and space and resource use in aviary housing; and the general performance of hens of different strains in an aviary system. Results from work completed on the Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply project regarding trade-offs between three types of laying hen housing systems (aviary, conventional and enriched) have been published during the last year.

Antimicrobial Alternatives. VA conducted and experiment was completed to understand the effects of antimicrobial alternatives on the effective control of avian pathogenic E coli in broiler chickens as a result of questions around the continued use of antibiotics in poultry production.  This research in collaboration with Drs. Nick Evens and Rami Dalloul demonstrated that Lactobacillus plantarum can have positive effects for the increased performance of broiler chickens exposed to APEC and that this organism may have positive effects on controlling food borne pathogens as total Salmonella counts were also reduced.  Additional nutritional work completed this past year included the evaluation of the mode of action of phytase supplementation in broiler chickens and determination of the valine and tryptophan requirements for first cycle laying hens.  Additional industry relevant work was completed in collaboration with Hy-Line as the venous blood gas and chemistry profiles of commercial birds were determined and archived.

Objective 3. Establishing parameters influenced by the production system and strains utilized within the poultry industry.  This collaborative research will encompass the areas of poultry nutrition, physiology, behavior, well-being, food safety and quality, and economic evaluation of poultry production systems.

Nutrition. KY investigated how dietary calcium levels influence endogenous loss of amino acid as well as its effects on ileal and standardized ileal amino acid digestibility values of feed ingredients in broilers and laying hens. The effect of dietary calcium level on ileal endogenous amino acid losses in broiler and laying hens was different with high dietary calcium resulting in higher ileal endogenous amino acid losses in broilers and lower ileal endogenous amino acid losses in laying hens. Results from these studies shows that nitrogen excretion in broilers and laying hens could be reduced by careful control of dietary nutrients during diet formulation.

KY conducted a series of experiments to evaluate pasture systems for the raising of chickens for meat production. The effect of pastures on the nutritional needs of the birds and the impact on meat quality and sensory evaluation were determined. The effects of heritage breeds and strains were evaluated for pasture systems. Seasonal insect populations were determined on various pasture systems. The results of these studies indicated that heritage breeds were slower growing, had poorer feed efficiency and poor breast meat yield. However, the nutrient requirements were less for these birds. In addition, the wide variance and seasonal variation of insects in pastures make insects an unreliable source of nutrients.

NC conducted several studies to determine the optimum dietary inclusion of ground course corn in pelleted feed for broilers.  We also evaluated the effect of grinding particle size of grain co-products (soybean meal and distillers dried grains.  Feed manufacturing efficiency was determined as well as the resultant effects on the growth performance and nutrient utilization of broilers.  In general, we determined that about 8-15% of the complete feed should contain coarse ground corn (1500 to 2000 microns in diameter), and fine ground grain co-products, resulted in the optimum feed conversion ratio without adversely affecting growth performance. We observed improvements in nutrient digestibility and reduction in excess ammonia and mineral emissions.  We also observed some indications that the enteric microflora of broilers fed pelleted diets with coarse ground corn was more resistant to the colonization of enteric pathogens.

NC also conducted several studies to demonstrate the efficacy and mode of action of the dietary supplementation of nutraceutical on enteric development and health of poultry.  Dietary supplementation of glycine, butyrate, essential oils, mannanoligosaccharides, direct-fed microbials, organic trace minerals, and enzymes have been demonstrated to influence enteric mucosal development, which contribute to better resistance to enteric pathogens that risk animal and human health.  These studies elucidate the mechanisms of action of these nutraceutical feed additives and how they can be strategically used as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters.

NC worked on a research and extension project to evaluate the dietary inclusion of organic trace minerals at levels that ranged from 12 to 50% of conventional supplementation levels form inorganic sources.  The results demonstrate that the dietary supplementation of organic complexed trace minerals can reduce the emissions of zinc, copper, and manganese by over 75% and still result in equal or superior growth performance, animal welfare, and production profitability.

Physiology. AL worked on developing physiological strategies to control the incidence of ascites in broilers.  Poultry is a common domestic species that plays an important role in agriculture by generating over 35 billion dollars per year.  However, rapid growth rate in broilers is known to be associated with pulmonary hypertension syndrome (ascites).  Ascites causes substantial economic losses due to mortality and condemnation in poultry.  Most economical feasible treatments used to reverse ascites are in direct conflict with normal management practices (i.e. feed restriction).  Thus, there is a need to develop new methods to prevent ascites. In the absence of such methods, the developments of effective interventions strategies to address this health problem will likely remain problematic.  The long-term goal in our research program is to develop and implement effective interventions that will improve the health of poultry, especially those that are susceptible to ascites.  Our central hypothesis is that ghrelin is a key hormone involved in feed intake, energy homeostasis, and cardiovascular function in birds.  Using complementary experimental strategies that have been validated in our laboratory, we intend to down- and up-regulate the activity of ghrelin.  We also propose to use non-invasive method, such as mild hypothermia, and feed restriction to modify the incidence of ascites in broilers.  Results from our preliminary data will be presented next year.

Food Safety. CT reported research on the use of octenidine hydrochloride as a surface disinfectant against SE for raw poultry products and the use of carvacrol (CR), eugenol (EG) and β-resorcylic acid (BR) applied as pectin or gum arabic based coatings in reducing SE on shell eggs.

Behavior. IA has a unique poultry housing and behavior research facility which is able to track feeding and nesting behaviors of individual hens in alternative group-housing systems (e.g., enriched colony housing).  The facility employs UHF RFID and load-cell scales to realize the monitoring.  The newly developed, automated tracking system showed good performance as compared to human labeling (manual observation).  There exist considerable variations in feeding and nesting behaviors among the individual hens.  Not all hens feed at the same time, with a maximum of 70% observed.  Data collection is in progress that assesses the effect of feeder space on feeding behaviors and daily feed and water intake.

MI also collaborated with other institutions and completed research on turkeys relating to fearfulness and its impact on meat quality and mitigation of PSE meat.   Cooperators on these projects include UC Davis (Makagon, Mench, Blatchford), Purdue (Makagon, Erasmus), USDA-ARS (Jones), NC State (Anderson) and the University of Bern (Toscano).

Laying Hen Performance and Economic Returns. NC is conducting the 40th North Carolina Layer Performance and Management Test (NCLP&MT) with the current flock in its 13th week of the grow period. To date the Hatch report has been published the, Hatch report 40th NCLP&MT Vol40, No. 1. The NCDA&CS Piedmont Research Station-Poultry Unit Layer facilities continues to remodel to remain relevant through a complete laying cycles, conventional cage, enrichable cage, enriched environmental housing system, cage-free and free-range production environments that are used in the US.  Currently, the US egg industry practice to molt over 80% of the caged, enrichable and enriched egg-type hens continues.  Molting remains a viable management tool used to extend the productive life of the hen and enhance the production planning needed by the producers.  Molting practices are expanding into the  Cage-free, and Free-Range production systems both here in the US and in Europe.  A small pilot study was conducted looking at molting in alternative cage systems which was presented at PSA Annual meeting 2016. In the 39th NCLP&MT the non-feed-withdrawal program developed in conjunction with the NCLP&MT at the Piedmont Station, was completed in the alternative cage system.  The hens experienced a cessation of egg production in the flock, and the birds experience a respite from egg production with a 20% body weight loss.  This study showed that the documented method for molting extensive production systems was effective in alternative cage systems in White Egg Strains.  The hen livability and subsequent productivity of the hens having undergoing the non-anorexic molt are the key aspects along with taking into account the costs of feed and management.  These costs may be more than compensated for by the expected reduction in mortality and increased salable eggs produced under the non-anorexic program which would provide additional monetary returns.

AL

Lents, CA., Looper, ML., Ojeda, AJ., Vizcarra, JA, and Wettemann, RP. 2015.  Removal of ruminal contents followed by restricted feeding does not affect the frequency of luteinizing hormone pulses in steers.  The Professional Animal Scientist 31:349-353.

Kirby, J. and Vizcarra, J. 2015.  Regulation of FSH secretion in broiler breeders. Rev. Bras. Reprod. Anim. 39(1) 91:96.

Mutai, E., Sunkara, R., Vizcarra, J., Walker, L. and Verghese, M. 2015.  Antioxidant, Enzyme Inhibitory and Anti-Obesity Potential of Sorrel Calyx Extracts in 3T3-L1 Adipocytes. Food and Nutrition Sciences, 6, 452-465.

Vizcarra, J., Alan, R., and Kirby, J. 2015.  Chapter 29 - Reproduction in Male Birds. In C. G. Scanes (Ed.), Sturkie's Avian Physiology (Sixth Edition) (pp. 667-693). San Diego: Academic Press.

CT

Indu Upadhyaya, H.-B. Yin, M. Surendran Nair, C.-H. Chen, R. Lang, M. J. Darre, and K. Venkitanarayanan (2016) Inactivation of Salmonella Enteritidis on shell eggs by coating with phytochemicals. Poultry Science (September 2016) 95 (9): 2106-2111 first published online June 1, 2016 doi:10.3382/ps/pew152.

Hsin-Bai Yin, Chi-Hung Chen, Anup Kollanoor-Johny, Michael J. Darre and Kumar Venkitanarayanan (2015) Controlling Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus growth and aflatoxin production in poultry feed using carvacrol and trans-cinnamaldehyde Poultry Science 4 (9): 2183-2190.

IL

Ji, B., W. Zheng, R. S. Gates, and A. R. Green. 2016.  Design and performance evaluation of the upgraded portable monitoring unit for air quality in animal housing. Comput. Electron. Agric. 124:132-140.

Koelkebeck, K.W. 2016.  Quick molt diets and programs.  Proc. of Midwest Poultry Federation Convention, St. Paul, MN.

Koelkebeck, K.W. 2016.  Hen Housing – A Holistic Approach.  Proc. of 23^rd Annual National Egg Quality School, Indianapolis, IN.

IA

Hansen, H., T. Wang, D. Dolde, and H. Xin. 2015. Tocopherol and annatto tocotrienols distribution in laying-hen body. Poultry Science 94(10):2421-2433. 

Hansen, H., T. Wang, D. Dolde, H. Xin, and K. Prusa. 2015. Supplementation of laying-hen feed with annatto tocotrienols and impact of α-tocopherol on tocotrienol transfer to egg yolk. J. Agric. Food Chem. 63(9):2537-2544. DOI: 10.1021/jf505536u

Karcher, D.M., D.R. Jones, Z. Abdo, Y. Zhao, T.A. Shepherd, and H. Xin. 2015. Impact of commercial housing system and nutrition and energy intake on laying hen performance and egg quality parameters. Poultry Science 94(3):485-501.

Li, H., C. Zhang and H. Xin. 2015. Performance of an infrared photoacoustic single gas analyzer in measuring ammonia from poultry houses. Applied Engineering in Agriculture 31(3):471-477.

Long, H., Y. Zhao, T. Wang, Z. Ning, and H. Xin. 2015. Effect of light-emitting diode (LED) vs. fluorescent lighting (Fl) on laying hens in aviary hen houses: Part 1 – Operational characteristics of lights and production traits of hens. Poultry Science 95(1):1-11. doi.org/10.3382/ps/pev121 10.

Long, H., Y. Zhao, H. Xin, H. Hansen, Z. Ning, and T. Wang. 2015. Effect of light-emitting diode (LED) vs. fluorescent (FL) lighting on laying hens in aviary hen houses: Part 2 – Egg quality, shelf life and lipid composition. Poultry Science 95(1):115-124, doi.org/10.3382/ps/pev306 11.

Ma, H., H. Xin, Y. Zhao, B. Li, T.A. Shepherd, and I. Alvarez. 2015. Assessment of lighting needs by W-36 laying hens via preference test. Animal, doi:10.1017/S1751731115002384

Shepherd, T.A., Y. Zhao, H. Li, J.P. Stinn, M.D. Hayes, and H. Xin. 2015. Environmental assessment of three laying-hen housing systems– Part II: ammonia, greenhouse gas, and particulate matter emissions. Poultry Science 94(3):534-543. 13.

Zhao, Y., T. A. Shepherd, J. Swanson, J. A. Mench, D.M. Karcher, and H. Xin. 2015. Comparative evaluation of three laying-hen housing systems: description of the production systems and management practices. Poultry Science 94(3): 475-484. 15.

Zhao, Y., T.A. Shepherd, T.A., H. Li, J.P. Stinn, M.D. Hayes, and H. Xin. 2015. Environmental assessment of three laying-hen housing systems–Part I: monitoring system and indoor air quality. Poultry Science 94(3): 518-533.

KY

Adedokun, Sunday A., Anthony J. Pescatore, Michael J. Ford, Jacqueline P. Jacob, and Tuoying Ao. 2016. Examining the effect of high dietary calcium on ileal endogenous amino acid losses and standardized ileal amino acid digestibility in broilers. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):91.

Adedokun, Sunday A., Anthony J. Pescatore, Michael J. Ford, Jacqueline P. Jacob, and Tuoying Ao. 2016. Evaluating the effect of dietary calcium levels on ileal endogenous amino acid losses and standardized ileal amino acid digestibility in laying hen. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):136.

Dudley, Megan M., Ryan S. Samuel, Michael J. Ford, Anthony J. Pescatore, and Kristen M. Brennan. 2016. Interaction of dietary microalgae and trace mineral source in 14-day old broiler chicks. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):133.

Ao, Tuoying, Marquisha A. Paul, Lizza M. Macalintal, Anthony J. Pescatore, Austin H. Cantor, Ryan S. Samuel, Mike J. Ford, and Karl A. Dawson. 2016. Total replacement of inorganic micro minerals with reduced levels of proteinates in laying hen diets: Effect on productive performance, egg characteristics, and bone quality. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):155.

Ao, Tuoying, Lizza Macalintal, Marquisha Paul, Anthony Pescatore, Austin Cantor, Mike Ford, and Karl Dawson. 2016. Effects of dietary supplementation of Actigen® and Allzyme SSF® on the performance and carcass yield of broiler chicks. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):290.

Fisher, Tatijana, Anthony J. Pescatore, Jacqueline P. Jacob, Austin Cantor, Michael Ford and Tuoying Ao. 2016. Effect of sex and feed ingredients on carcass yields of commercial broilers and Rhode Island Reds. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):7.

Fisher, Tatijana, Anthony Pescatore, Jacquie Jacob, Austin Cantor, Mike Ford, and Tuoying Ao. 2016. Effect of feed ingredients and breed of chicken on meat quality. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):172.

Jacob, Jacqueline P., Anthony J. Pescatore, Michael J. Ford, Tatijana M. Fisher, Sunday A. Adedokun, and Tuoying Ao. 2016. Growth performance of broiler chickens and heritage breeds raised on pasture. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):125.

Jacob, Jacqueline P., Anthony J. Pescatore, Michael J. Ford, Tatijana M. Fisher, Sunday A. Adedokun, and Tuoying Ao. Carcass yield of broiler chickens and heritage breeds raised on pasture. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1): 125.

Jacob, Jacqueline P., Anthony J. Pescatore, Michael J. Ford, Tatijana M. Fisher, Harold D. Gillespie, Sunday A. Adedokun, and Tuoying Ao. 2016. Effect of raising different breeds of chicken on pasture on skeletal development. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):126.

Bear, McKenzie, Gregg Rentfrow, Jacqueline Jacob, Anthony Pescatore, Tatijana Fisher, Marquisha Paul, and Michael Ford. 2016. The effect of pasture vs indoor rearing on the breast filet shelf life of commercial-meat chickens and alternative breeds. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):198.

Jacob, Jacqueline, Blake Newton, Anthony Pescatore, H. David Gillespie, and Siddhartha Dasgupta. 2016. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: Insect populations on mixed grasses versus alfalfa pastures. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):272.

Jacob, Jacqueline, Blake Newton, Anthony Pescatore, H Gillespie, and Siddhartha Dasgupta. 2016. FIELD OBSERVATIONS: Effect of pasture crop selection on insect population. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1): 276.

Fisher, Tatijana, Anthony Pescatore, Jacquie Jacob, Austin Cantor, Mike Ford, and Tuoying Ao. 2016. Carcass traits of heritage chicken breeds using sorghum and field peas to replace corn and soybean meal in diets. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):280.

Macalintal, Lizza, Tuoying Ao, Anthony Pescatore, Austin Cantor, P. Glenney, Michael Ford, and Karl Dawson. 2016. Maternal dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids and antioxidant compound affect levels of trace minerals in eggs and docosahexaenoic acid content in progeny tissues. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):297.

Adedokun, Sunday, Anthony Pescatore, Austin Cantor, Michael Ford, Jacqueline Jacob, Tuoying Ao, and Ariane Helmbrecht. 2016. Energy source and not dietary electrolyte balance influenced ileal endogenous amino acid losses in 21 d-old broilers fed nitrogen-free diets. Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):287.

Adedokun, Sunday, Anthony Pescatore, Austin Cantor, Jacqueline Jacob, Michael Ford, Tuoying Ao, and Ariane Helmbrecht. 2016. Examining the effect of dietary electrolyte balance, energy source, and length of feeding of nitrogen-free diets on ileal endogenous amino acid losses in broilers Poult. Sci. 95(E-Suppl. 1):242.

MI

Campbell, DLM, MM Makagon, JC Swanson and JM Siegford. 2016. Perch use by laying hens in a commercial aviary. Poultry Science. 95:1736-1742. DOI: 10.3382/ps/pew111.

Mench, JA, JC Swanson and C. Arnot. 2016. The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply: A unique public-private partnership for conducting research on the sustainability of animal housing systems using a multi-stakeholder approach. J. Animal Science. DOI: 10.2527/jas.2015-9680.

Lee, HC, MA. Erasmus, I Kang, and JC Swanson. 2016. Mitigation of Pale, Soft, Exudative (PSE) turkey using hot-boning, quarter sectioning, and crust-freeze-air-chilling of breast fillets. Poultry Science 95:138-143.

Campbell, DLM, SL Goodwin, MM Makagon JC Swanson, and JM Siegford. 2016. Failed landings after laying hen flight in a commercial aviary over two flock cycles. Poultry Science, 95:188-197.

Campbell DLM, MM Makagon, JC Swanson, and JM Siegford. 2016. Laying hen movement in a commercial aviary: enclosure to floor and back again. Poultry Science, 95:176-187.

Campbell, DLM, MM Makagon, JC Swanson and JM Siegford. 2016. Litter use by laying hens in a commercial aviary: Dust-bathing and piling. Poultry Science, 95:164-175.

Vaughan, PE, MW Orth, RC Haut, and DM Karcher. 2016. A method of determining bending properties of poultry long bones using beam analysis and micro-CT data." Poultry Science 95: 207-212.

Gast, RK., R Guraya, DR Jones, KE Anderson, and DM Karcher. 2016. Colonization of internal organs by Salmonella Enteritidis in experimentally infected laying hens housed in enriched colony cages at different stocking densities. Poultry Science 95: 1363-1369.

Regmi, P, N Smith, N Nelson, RC Haut, MW Orth, and DM Karcher. Housing conditions alter properties of the tibia and humerus during the laying phase in Lohmann white Leghorn hens. Poultry Science 95: 198-206.

Regmi, P, N Nelson, JP Steibel, KE Anderson, and DM Karcher. 2016. Comparisons of bone properties and keel deformities between strains and housing systems in end-of-lay hens. Poultry Science 95: 2225-2234.

Jones, DR, Jean Guard, RK Gast, RJ Buhr, PJ Fedorka-Cray, Z Abdo, JR Plumblee et al. 2016. Influence of commercial laying hen housing systems on the incidence and identification of Salmonella and Campylobacter. Poultry Science: pew036.

Ali, ABA, DLM Campbell, DM Karcher, and JM Siegford. 2016. Influence of genetic strain and access to litter on spatial distribution of 4 strains of laying hens in an aviary system. Poultry Science, DOI: 10.3382/ps/pew236.

Blatchford, R A, RM Fulton, and JA Mench. 2016. The utilization of the Welfare Quality® assessment for determining laying hen condition across three housing systems. Poultry Science 95: 154-163.

Campbell, DLM, DM Karcher, and JM Siegford. 2016. Location tracking of individual laying hens housed in aviaries with different litter substrates. Applied Animal Behaviour Science (2016). DOI: 10.1016/j.applanim.2016.09.001.

Villanueva S, A Ali, D Campbell, and J Siegford. 2016. Effect of different laying hen strains on daily egg laying patterns and egg damage in an aviary system. Proceedings of the 50^th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology. 50:285.

Newsome N, A Ali, D Campbell, J Siegford. 2016. Open or Under? Occupancy and dust bathing in different litter areas by 4 strains of laying hen. Proceedings of the 50^th Congress of the Society for Applied Ethology. 50:86.

Hunniford, ME, J Siegford, and TM Widowski. 2016. The devil is in the details: How a simple design feature might affect laying hens’ perception of nest sites in furnished cages. 9^th Annual Campbell Centre for the Study of Animal Welfare Research Symposium. 9:18.

Chargo, N, CI Robison, SL Baker, MJ Toscano, MM Makagon, and DM Karcher. 2016. Keel bone measurement consistency in enriched colony laying hens. Poult Sci. 95 (E-Suppl. 1):39.

Mutch, VQ, P Regmi, CI Robison, and DM Karcher. 2016. Influence of different housing systems on laying hen keel bones. Poult. Sci. 95 (E-Suppl. 1):167.

Robison, CI, P Regmi, and DM Karcher. 2016. Turkey gait analysis: Calibrating a pressure-sensing walkway. Poult. Sci. 95 (E-Suppl. 1):126.

Jones, DR, and DM Karcher. 2016. Influence of aviary forage substrate on environmental and egg microbial indicator organisms and pathogen prevalence. Poult. Sci. 95 (E-Suppl. 1):24.

Karcher, DM and DR Jones. 2016. Laying hen performance and well-being over two flock cycles on different litter substrates in an aviary housing. 95 (E-Suppl. 1):71.

Gast, RK, R Guraya, DR Jones, J Guard, KE Anderson, and DM Karcher. 2016. Colonization of internal organs by Salmonella serovars Heidelberg and Typhimurium in experimentally infected laying hens housed in enriched colony cages at different stocking densities. Poult. Sci. 95 (E-Suppl. 1):24.

Swanson, JC and JA Mench. 2016. Can animal welfare science have a role in creating a sustainable future for animal agriculture? Proceedings of the 50^th Congress of the International Society for Applied Ethology. 50:427.

NC

Gast, R. K., R. Guraya, D. R. Jones, K. E. Anderson, and D. M. Karcher. 2016. Colonization of internal organs by Salmonella Enteritidis in experimentally infected laying hens housed in enriched colony cages at different stocking densities. Poultry Science 95:1363–1369.

Burley, H. K., K. E. Anderson, P. H. Patterson, and P. B. Tillman. 2016. Formulation challenges of organic poultry diets with readily available ingredients and limited synthetic methionine. J. Appl. Poultry Res. 25: 1-12.

Burley, H. K., P. H. Patterson, and K. E. Anderson, 2016. Alternative feeding strategies and genetics for providing adequate methionine in organic poultry diets with limited use of synthetic amino acids. World’s Poultry Sci. J. 72(1): 1-10. World's Poultry Science Journal, available on CJO2016. doi:10.1017/S0043933915002688.

Shen, Y.B., Ferket, P.R., Park, I., Malheiros, R.D., Kim, S.W., 2015. Effects of feed grade l-methionine on intestinal redox status, intestinal development, and growth performance of young chickens compared with conventional dl-methionine. J. Anim. Sci., 93:1-10.

Xu, Y., Stark, C.R., Ferket, P.R., Williams, C.M., and Brake, J., 2015. Effects of feed form and dietary coarse ground corn on broiler live performance, body weight uniformity, relative gizzard weight, excreta nitrogen, and particle size preference behaviors. Poultry Science 94(7):1549-1556.

Xu, Y., Stark, C.R., Ferket, P.R., Williams, C.M., Auttawong, S., and Brake, J., 2015. Effects of dietary coarsely ground corn and litter type on broiler live performance, litter characteristics, gastrointestinal tract development, apparent ileal digestibility of energy and nitrogen, and intestinal morphology. Poultry Science 94(3):353-361.

Xu, Y., Stark, C.R., Ferket, P.R., Williams, C.M., Nusairat, B., and Brake, J., 2015. Evaluation of litter type and dietary coarse ground corn inclusion on broiler live performance, gastrointestinal tract development, and litter characteristics. Poultry Science 94(3):362-370.

Ayoola, A.A., Malheiros, R.D., Grimes, J.L., Ferket, P.R., 2015. Effect of dietary exogenous enzyme supplementation on enteric mucosal morphological development and adherent mucin thickness in turkeys. Front. Vet. Sci. 2:45-33.

Xu, Y., Stark, C.R., Ferket, P.R., Williams, C.M., Pacheco, W.J., and Brake, J., 2015. Effect of dietary coarsely ground corn on broiler live performance, gastrointestinal tract development, apparent ileal digestibility of energy and nitrogen, and digesta particle size distribution and retention time. Poultry Science 94:53-60.

Ferket, P.R., 2015. Finding alternatives to growth promotors.  Poultry Nutrition and Milling Seminar, Guntersville, AL 4/15-16, 2015.

Ferket, P.R., 2015. Influences of feed manufacturing on animal performance.  Alltech REBELation Symposium.  Lexington KY. 5/16/2015.

Ferket, P.R., 2015. The role of feed and the feed mill in the transition to an antibiotic free production system.  Novus Advantage Conference, Naples, FL 5/12-13/2015.

Ferket, P.R., 2015. The many faces of trace mineral nutrition.  Trace Mineral symposium, Poultry Science Association Annual Meeting, Louisville, KY 7/30/2015.

Ferket, P.R., 2015. Prestage Department of Poultry Science Education, Extension, and Research Update. Carolina Feed Industry Association Annual Convension. Myrtle Beach, SC, 7/23/2015.

Ferket, P.R., Korver, D., Leeson, S., Viera, S., and Salah, N., 2015. Moving towards the future rational use of antibiotics.  III symposium on Emerging Issues in Poultry Nutrition and Meat Production. Raleigh, NC 8/13/2015.

Ferket, P.R., 2015. The great potential of perinatal nutrition.  III symposium on Emerging Issues in Poultry Nutrition and Meat Production. Raleigh, NC 8/14/2015.

Ferket, P.R. 2015. Influence of feed manufacturing on poultry performance.  NCSU Feed Manufacturing Shortcourse, Raleigh, NC 8/21/2015.

Ferket., P.R., 2015. Xylanase supplementation of feed to optimize the gut ecosystem for peak performance and profitability.  BRI-Ilender Technical Training Seminar.  Raleigh, NC 8/11/2015.

Ferket, P.R., 2015. Nutrient Requirements of Poultry.  In Feedstuffs Reference Issue, Vol 87, Number 35, pages 42-49. Publisher Sarah Muirhead, ed., Tim Linden.

Anderson, K. E., 2016. Hatch and Serology Report of the Fortieth North Carolina Layer Performance and Management Test: Summary. Vol. 40, No. 1, July 2016.

VA

Barrett, N.W., M.M. Ritzi, R.A. Dalloul, N. Evans, J. Sewell, and M.E. Persia. Effects of a direct-fed microbial on live performance of broilers challenged with an avian pathogenic Escherichia coli.  Presented at the PSA Annual meeting, New Orleans, LA July 11-14, 2016.

Omara, I.I., C.T. Mou, M.E. Persia, and E.A. Wong. Effects of available phosphorus source and concentration on sodium phosphate type IIb co-transporter, vitamin D-1α-hydroxylase, and vitamin D-24-hydroxylase mRNA gene expression in broiler chicks. Presented at the PSA Annual meeting, New Orleans, LA July 11-14, 2016.

Schaal, T., J. Arango, A. Wolc, J. Brady, J. Fulton, I. Rubinoff, I. Ehr, M.E. Persia, and N. O'Sullivan. 2016.  Commercial Hy-Line W-36 pullet and laying hen venous blood gas and chemistry profiles utilizing the portable i-STAT®1 analyzer.  Poult. Sci. 95:466–471.

Wen, J., A. Helmbrecht, M. Elloit, J. E. Thomson, and M.E. Persia. Evaluation of the tryptophan requirement of small-framed first cycle laying hens. Presented at the PSA Annual meeting, New Orleans, LA July 11-14, 2016.

Wen, J., A. Helmbrecht, M. Elloit, J. E. Thomson, and M.E. Persia. Evaluation of the valine requirement of small-framed first cycle laying hens. Presented at the PSA Annual meeting, New Orleans, LA July 11-14, 2016.