During recent decades there has been significant improvement in genetic selection of broilers and turkeys for growth rate, which has coincided with dramatic increases in metabolic rate. A similar pattern is observed in the rate of egg production by laying hens. However, this selection has not been accompanied by comparable development of visceral systems, causing inferior thermotolerance response. In parallel, scientists expect that the average global surface temperature will rise by 0.6-2.5°C during the next 50 years. This situation, in which, from year to year, growth rate especially, but also egg production, improve (accompanied by increased heat production), and global surface temperature increases, demands an efficient means to improve the acquisition of thermotolerance by domestic fowl exposed to hot climatic conditions, and to do so economically. To develop thermotolerance three direct responses are employed: the rapid thermal stress response (RTSR), acclimation/acclimatization, and epigenetic temperature adaptation. This review will focus on the advantages and disadvantages of the different strategies used to reach the conflicting goals of production on the one hand and thermotolerance on the other hand.

This paper reviews the existing body of scientific literature relevant to organic poultry production, in order to assess, and where possible quantify, the key issues affecting welfare. The review consists of three parts, covering health-related welfare issues in organic poultry production systems (breed suitability; nutrition; feed contribution from the range, range use and group size), health-related welfare issues for organic laying hens (feather pecking; endo-parasites and ecto-parasites), and health-related welfare issues for organic broilers (foot, hock and breast health). The evidence suggests that most health-related welfare issues are not specific to organic farms, but maintaining good health and welfare on organic farms can be challenging. There are many organic farms that do not have major problems, suggesting that husbandry (knowledge and technical skills) is crucial in managing welfare issues. There is also considerable variation in farming systems within the organic sector (ranging in farm size, housing and range quality, capacity to produce home grown feed, opportunities for pasture rotation etc.) which can be a constraint to solving welfare problems, particularly where managerial input has to be spread across a diversity of enterprises. It is recommended that efforts should be made to make existing knowledge more accessible to those involved in organic livestock production. This should include mechanisms for regular updating, and take account of the fact that data from published research may lag behind the levels of performance being achieved by the most able producers. Topics for further research were identified including subjects that have had little previous research, such as the catching and disposal of spent organic laying hens, management of parent flocks and keel bone breakages.

As the simultaneous use of carbohydrases and phytases gains momentum it is imperative that formulators understand the magnitude of additivity of effect to allow for appropriate modification to diet nutrient balance. Though carbohydrases and phytases are often thought of as pronutrients with energy, calcium and phosphorus value, within the scientific literature there are dozens of papers on the effect of these enzymes on ileal amino acid digestibility coefficients. The effect of enzymes on ileal amino acid digestibility is instructive as patterns of response allow speculation as to mode of action and likely additivity of admixtures. A review of the scientific literature has revealed that whilst xylanases and phytases may be considered to be broadly additive in effect, on an individual amino acid basis this effect ranges from sub-additive (e.g. threonine) to synergistic (e.g. arginine). Importantly, the mean response to both xylanase and phytase for ileal amino acid digestibility can be predicted (R2=0.65 and 0.56 respectively) by polynomial equations based only on the nutritional value of the control diet. The fact that control diets with an inherently high digestibility respond poorly to enzymes explains why the use of a second enzyme will likely yield a lesser response when used on top of another, since the former has already improved digestibility characteristics. The implications of these responses, as well as suggested mechanisms of action, are discussed within practical diet formulation constraints.

Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI) Type A subtype H5N1 is a viral zoonotic disease that has infected and killed birds and humans since late 2003. Cambodia's experience with HPAI since the disease was discovered on a farm outside Phnom Penh in January 2004 reveals important aspects of how a developing country, with limited resources and capabilities, has responded to a crisis that has global public health implications and, vice-versa, how this global response in turn affected Cambodia. Qualitative research methodologies consisting of mostly one-on-one semi-structured interviews by Sophal Ear across various government offices, the private sector and the non-governmental sectors, and online surveys sent to individuals deeply involved in HPAI work in Cambodia can render interesting insights related to livelihood issues. Results from these methodologies suggest there is a non-alignment of interests among the government, donors, implementing agencies and rural smallholder farmers that have important implications for effectiveness of disease mitigation measures and livelihood impacts.

In this study, laying hen welfare is taken into account as part of an overall ‘egg safety and quality concept’. A holistic approach is adopted that encompasses the whole food chain in which responsibility for the production of safe and high quality eggs is shared along the entire food chain. Scientific data on egg quality traits in relation to laying hen welfare in different housing systems are presented. Public concern to improve laying hen welfare and egg quality is widely discussed, partly because it is an area of potential added value for producers, retailers, processors, manufacturers, producer cooperatives. Legislation and legal requirements for the labelling of eggs are described in order to demonstrate the ability to provide sound and scientifically based information on the welfare status of laying hens used to supply particular eggs. The study concludes by highlighting achievements and future aspects on the relationship between hens’ welfare and egg quality.

Well, it’s the end of another year of ups and downs in the agricultural industry – including poultry production. In the USA several companies have had some tough times, although there has been some good news in other parts of the world.

In terms of the WPSA, we have had a varied year, with a special edition in June devoted to the INFPD (FAO) papers, which was organised by our new president, Bob Pym. We have also seen a rise in the rating of the journal, and an increase in the number of papers being processed. As a result, there has been somewhat of a backlog from time to time – so apologies to any authors who have been caught in this.

As regarding conferences, the major conference in 2009 was probably the ESPN in Scotland, which was well attended, although overshadowed by the sad death of the key organiser, Dr Tom Acamovic, who passed away two weeks prior to the event. Our condolences go to his family. Conferences that were initiated last year went on to be repeated in 2009, and have been reported as successful. Long this may continue.

It appears that the poultry industry is going to continue in a state of transformation for the foreseeable future, due to various financial crises as well as problems with harvest quality in some parts of the world, increased legislation and so on. However, the industry is used to adapting to circumstances well, and, in many cases, is better placed to adapt and survive compared to other sectors.

An area where there are issues is in attracting young scientists into poultry science – as in general the levels of agricultural students is dwindling at universities across the world. A concerted effort to encourage students to come in poultry science and take it into the future is required, in all areas. This is something the WPSA is dedicated to achieving.

All that remains is to wish our membership success in 2010. The WPSA continues to go from strength to strength, and some excellent seminars and conferences are eagerly anticipated in the coming year.

Lucy Tucker

Editor

In this paper the dynamics of global egg production between 1990 and 2007 and patterns of trade in 2006 are analysed. This time period was chosen, as the political landscape has changed considerably since the early 1990s. The dynamics of the global poultry industry over the past 17 years has been remarkable. No other branch of animal production has shown comparable growth rates. Global egg production increased from 35.2 million tons to 62.6 million tons or by 78%. The report shows that the growth has not been homogeneous but that regional shifts occurred which have changed the spatial pattern of egg production and of egg trade considerably. Whereas Asia has become the most dynamic growth centre and is dominating global egg production, Europe and North America have lost importance. More than 75% of the absolute growth of global egg production between 1990 and 2007 were contributed by China and India. The paper also presents a detailed analysis of global and regional trade patterns. In addition to a global overview, regions with the highest egg surplus and egg deficit are identified and characterised. In 2006, Western Europe was the region with the highest egg deficit. It was the most attractive market for shell eggs, with Germany in a leading position. The second major market for shell eggs was Western Asia. In this region, the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Kuwait and Oman were the main egg importing countries. Other important egg deficit regions were Northern Europe, in particular the United Kingdom, Middle Africa with Angola as the leading importer, and Central Asia with Tajikistan and Kazakhstan. The highest egg surplus showed Southern Europe with Spain as the leading egg exporting country. Southern Asia ranked second with India and Iran as major exporters. Another egg surplus region was Eastern Europe with Poland and Belarus as leading egg exporting countries. In North America, the USA had the highest surplus, in South-East Asia Malaysia and Thailand. It can be expected that the recent spatial pattern of egg trade will not change very much in the near future. Egg trade will be dominated by European countries, most of the trade will, however, be intra-EU trade. The banning of cages in the EU could even make higher imports from adjacent non-EU countries necessary. A second cluster of egg trade will be located in Asia with Southern and South-Eastern Asia as surplus and Western as well as Central Asia as deficit regions. The third cluster will be the NAFTA member countries with the USA as exporting and Canada and Mexico as importing countries.

Japanese quail are minor production birds when compared to chickens which have become a leading animal model due to recent breakthroughs in chicken research, such as genome sequence and genetically modified primordial germ cells. It might seem, therefore, that the quail has little to offer that the chicken could not provide, both commercially and scientifically. With examples drawn from recent genetic studies on the quail at INRA, this paper shows that, on the contrary, research on quail may not only bring results which are chicken-complementary, but also provide new knowledge because of the proximity of the two genera Coturnix and Gallus.

Aggressive (i.e. over-) feeding of broiler breeder females in the period preceding onset of lay results in higher mortality and subsequent deleterious effects on egg and chick production (the ‘over-feeding complex’). An intriguing aspect of the over-feeding complex is its close parallel, albeit at a lower level, to the well known ‘Erratic Oviposition and Defective Egg Syndrome’ (EODES) obtained when feeding female broiler breeders ad libitum. This is consistent with many studies showing that partial restriction (quasi-ad libitum feeding) results in partial expression of EODES (quasi-EODES). To explain the strong deleterious effects caused by rather minor over-feeding during this critical transition period, we propose that the very severe feed restriction of the growing pullet needed to prevent the onset of EODES, combined with the genetic increase in breast meat proportion achieved by intense selection over the past two decades, results in a situation where, during the critical weeks of maturation leading up to the first egg, the body lean mass must increase greatly at the same time that the ovary is maturing. During pullet maturation, empirically determined recommended feeding plans optimally balance the need to provide the rapid increase in muscle mass needed to achieve body lean mass threshold for entry into lay, with the need to maintain the ovary in a state of sufficient restriction to avoid appearance of quasi-EODES. With feed intake delicately balanced in this manner, even minor over-feeding tips the balance in the direction of quasi-EODES resulting in the appearance of the over-feeding complex. This may have been exacerbated in the past decade by a shift in the physiological control of EODES from body weight to feed intake.

Chicken heterophils are major components of the innate immune system and constitute the first guard of defence against invading microorganisms. Heterophils in contrast to mammalian neutrophils, lack myeloperoxidase, an essential enzyme of oxidative antimicrobial activity and their antimicrobial activity depends mainly on the non–oxidative mechanism. Heterophils are equipped with very efficient non–oxidative mechanism against microorganisms where the cationic antimicrobial peptides are the most powerful molecules of this killing activity with their broad spectrum activity and the ability to kill microorganisms even with very small concentrations may constitute a new antibiotic class and the basis for new feed additives. These polymorphonuclar cells are the best model for killing activity based on oxygen independent mechanisms. Disorders in the non-oxidative antimicrobial activity induced either by genetic mutations or immunomodulation diseases have direct effect on the killing capacity of heterophils. This review focuses on the heterophils main activity, cationic antimicrobial peptides isolated from chicken heterophils with their remarkable antimicrobial activity and the protective effect of heterophils in different states.

This paper reports the results of a seminar on poultry red mite (PRM), Dermanyssus gallinae. Eighteen researchers from eight European countries discussed life cycle issues of the mite, effects of mites on hens and egg production, and monitoring and control methods for PRM in poultry facilities. It was determined that PRM probably causes more damage than envisaged, with the cost in The Netherlands alone reaching 11 million euro per annum. However a great deal is still unknown about PRM (e.g. reproduction, survival methods, etc.) and that PRM monitoring is an important instrument in recognising and admitting the problem and in taking timely measures. Currently, the most promising control method combines heating the hen house in combination with chemical treatments. Future areas of development which show promise include the use of entomopathogenic fungi, vaccination and predatory mites. The final aim is to solve the problem of D. gallinae in housing systems for laying hens.