The end of 2010 is upon us, although it appears that the issues facing the industry continue in the same vein, and are set to do so for some time to come. Aside from the general malaise in the world economy, with some companies being more adversely affected than others, a large part of the world once again has had problem harvests. The wet weather in Northern Europe, fires in Eastern Europe and flooding in Asia and Australasia have caused major problems with arable crops. Whilst working in Northern Europe over their summer, the poor harvest was very evident. Crops standing in the fields turning brown are never a pleasant sight – especially for a nutritionist. Fears now abound regarding the nutritional value and the risk of high fungal contamination in cereals, and predictions for very high cereal costs abound. Let’s see how things pan out – but one thing is sure – costs of poultry production will inevitably increase in the next few months.

However, the poultry industry is nothing if not a survivor of harsh economic conditions. As the price of human food continues to increase, the relative affordability of chicken meat and eggs still means they are a cheap protein alternative compared to red meats on the supermarket shelf. Hopefully this will make them a more attractive proposition to consumers, if the media are right in their assertion that increasing numbers of people are budgeting for their weekly food purchases.

In this issue of the Journal, we have reached somewhat of a landmark position, as this issue contains the last of the papers that were submitted under our old, direct submission system. All papers from now on will have come through the online system via ScholarOne, which most users seem to be getting used to – and thanks to all of those who have helped us out and given feedback during the initial usage of the new system. The new submission system does allow us to process more papers in an efficient manner, and there’s little chance of papers going missing in the ether of emails now – which was always a worry. We have a good mix of disciplines being reviewed this quarter, and we continue to encourage authors to submit papers on a variety of topics in the Journal. So it only remains for me to wish all our contributors and readers seasons greeting and a prosperous 2011.

Dr Lucy Waldron

Editor

Poultry disease and its control require effective co-operation and communication between the poultry producer, their veterinary surgeon and other professional scientists and experts. The most effective way to ensure health and welfare requires a three-way dialogue between all the interested parties. This paper sets out to discuss ways in which poultry veterinarians approach disease diagnosis, treatment and control, together with the important role liaison with nutritionists can have in resolving problems and ensuring optimal flock performance.

The embryonic and immediate post-hatch developmental period represents a significant phase in attaining quality broiler performance at marketing. An efficient transition period from late term embryo to a viable independent chick is necessary to achieve such results. Immediately, post-hatch birds must undergo a shift from egg and embryonic nutrients to exogenous feed. Under practical conditions, many birds have access to feed only 36 to 48 hours after hatching, and during this time body weight decreases, and intestine and muscle development are retarded. In order to overcome these limitations, a continuous feeding process can be established which would supply nutrients to the developing embryo, feed and water to the newly hatched chick within the hatchery, and a highly digestible pre-starter diet at placement. In ovo feeding stimulates intestinal development by enhancing villi, increasing intestinal capacity to digest and absorb nutrients and provides a basis for muscle growth. Immediate access to feed (1 hour after clearing the shell) initiates uptake and growth processes some 24 hours post-ingestion compared to poultry with delayed feed intake. The enhanced growth caused by early feeding improves nutritional maturity of the bird, stimulates yolk utilisation, increases intestinal development, and has long term metabolic effects. Providing highly digestible ingredients in the pre-starter diet increases body weight performance at day seven, and through to marketing. Together, these processes provide appropriate nutrition pre- and post-hatch which can accelerate gastrointestinal development, muscle growth and therefore result in increased performance. This paper will summarise studies dealing with the different approaches to early nutritional strategies in our modern, fast growing broiler.

Currently most breeds and lines of geese in use at a commercial scale are derived from two wild species; the swan goose (Anser cygnoides L.) and the true goose-greylag (Anser anser L.). Interestingly, local selections performed for centuries from these two ancestors have resulted in strains or breeds expressing large differences for a range of phenotypic traits including size, body weight, feather colour, behaviour and physiology (including reproductive performance), along with carcass characteristics, flavour and chemical composition of the meat.

When compared with other poultry species, the main factors that have limited geese production and geese meat consumption in Europe are the seasonality of its reproduction and the low fertility of breeder flocks (e.g. egg production, fertility and hatchability rates, low male to female ratio, poor semen quality) associated with, on average, relatively high proportions of lipid tissues in the carcasses of their progeny. Some of the above problems can be eliminated or at least reduced by the application of artificial insemination procedures and by selective breeding on fertility and seasonality.

The present paper reviews the main particularities of artificial insemination techniques developed in the goose with regards to the morphology and physiology of male reproductive organs. The main characteristics of ejaculates along with some morphological aspects of sperm morphology, semen collection procedures and semen quality assessment are also described. Finally, geese insemination procedures along with their interests and limits are discussed.

Feather pecking is a major welfare problem in egg production. It may be caused by endogenous (genetic and physiological) and environmental (feeding, density and housing conditions) factors. Despite the number and variety of experiments performed over past years, it is still not possible to define a genetic background for this trait. A possible reason is the complex nature of feather pecking, but also the lack of a homogenous approach in the studies conducted. The present paper summarizes recent findings regarding genetic and physiological components of feather pecking. Furthermore, it emphasizes the need for complex study combining a selection experiment together with the power of molecular biology and bioinformatics.

The poultry industry is one of the largest and fastest growing agro-based industries in the world. This can be attributed to an increasing demand for poultry meat and egg products. However, a major problem facing the poultry industry is the large-scale accumulation of wastes including manure and litter which may pose disposal and pollution problems unless environmentally and economically sustainable management technologies are evolved. Most of the litter produced by the poultry industry is currently applied to agricultural land as a source of nutrients and soil amendment. However environmental pollution, resulting from nutrient and contaminant leaching can occur when poultry litter is applied under soil and climatic conditions that do not favour agronomic utilisation of the manure-borne nutrients. This review examines the composition of poultry litter in relation to nutrient content and environmental contaminants, its value as a nutrient source, soil amendment, animal feed and fuel source, and cost-effective innovative technologies for improving its value. Poultry litter provides a major source of nitrogen, phosphorus and trace elements for crop production and is effective in improving physical and biological fertility, indicating that land application remains as the main option for the utilisation of this valuable resource. The alternative use of poultry litter; as an animal feed and fuel source, is limited by contaminants, and high moisture content, respectively. The review proposes best management practices to mitigate environmental consequences associated with air and water quality parameters that are impacted by land application in order to maintain the continued productivity, profitability, and sustainability of the poultry industry.

The focus of the review is to show how the Box-Behnken Design (BBD) could be applied in poultry nutrition research. BBD is a multivariate experimental design which uses less treatment combinations and allows researchers to estimate and optimise processes. Box-Behnken design was used in an experiment to estimate growing broiler requirements for total sulphur amino acids (TSAA), lysine (Lys) and threonine (Thr). In the experiment BBD has shown to be a useful tool in estimating and optimizing nutrient requirements in growing broilers.

Poultry farming is very difficult in the cold arid Himalayan region of India, where the altitude is 3048-3658 m above mean sea level (MSL) and the temperature ranges from +35°C to -35°C. Poultry farming in Leh-Ladakh has been a venture that has generally taken a back seat in this cold, arid region for a number of reasons. Firstly, the Buddhist community makes up the majority of the population in this region, and, because of their largely vegetarian lifestyle; they generally avoid killing animals on principal. The second reason is the lack of availability of any specific high yielding variety of layer or broiler breed suited to such high altitude. Evaluation of the feeding value of sea buckthorn (Hippophae rhamnoides spp. sinensis) through feed analysis considered five factors; crude protein, lysine, methionine+cystine, calcium and phosphorus. The comprehensive values of sea buckthorn seeds, leaves and fruit residues rank in the fifth, sixth and ninth position among the 16 types of feed and seed reported. The leaves and fruit residues of sea buckthorn are suitable for use in livestock and poultry fodders. The weight and egg rate of poultry are increased greatly after feeding poultry with the leaves, seeds, and fruit residues of sea buckthorn. The use of leaves, seeds and fruit residues of sea buckthorn have potential as a feed material for livestock and poultry in India.

This paper reviews some important features of the chicken genome, genealogical origins and the current status of the genetic diversity of the chicken. The small chicken genome exhibits six times more single nucleotide polymorphisms (>7,000,000 SNPs) than mammalian genomes and considerable microsatellite content (375,000). An obvious debate is still dedicated to whether chicken origin is monophyletic or polyphyletic. Modern genetic analysis conducted across the world's chicken population has determined no restricted phylo-geographical centre of domestication, as has been shown for other livestock species. Wild, unselected native and some fancy and conserved chicken populations showed high microsatellite and SNP diversity. Within-population diversity was higher than between-population diversity in selected or inbred chicken populations, whereas village chickens almost showed no sub-division in clusters. There is a variable degree of mitochondrial-DNA control-region (mtDNA-CR) sequence diversity within native chicken populations. Although commercial broilers exhibited considerable diversity in all marker types, they have lost >50% of SNP alleles found in their ancestors. Moreover, the linkage disequilibrium (LD) within broiler lines extends over shorter distances than in other inbred livestock populations. Domestic chickens are still genetically diverse and further conservation efforts are warranted to maintain the large between-population diversity.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are a group of highly conserved molecules that initiate innate immune responses to pathogens by recognizing structural motifs. In response to pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs), TLRs induce the production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen intermediates (ROI and RNI), inflammatory cytokines and up regulate the expression of co-stimulatory molecules, subsequently initiating adaptive immunity. Ten chicken TLR genes have been identified and their association with various diseases has been ascertained. This review concerns chicken toll-like receptors, their structure, expression, signalling, and their role in innate and adaptive immunity and disease resistance. It is concluded that TLR genes could be used as molecular markers for genetic selection for the improvement of disease resistance and TLR agonists as potential adjuvants in future vaccines.

In spite of the large amounts of money invested in research, breeding, and the improvement of commercial egg-type strains, high environmental temperature (HET) has been identified as a major non-genetic constraint limiting expression of their full genetic potential. This environmental stressor has been implicated in adverse marked effects on egg production and eggshell quality of hens. Reports have conclusively indicated that poor performance (i.e. drop in egg production and poor eggshell quality) of layers reared in thermally-stressed environments could be adduced to a complex interplay of low feed intake, malfunctioning of the endocrine system, acid-base imbalance and poor physiological functioning of organs and mechanisms connected with the entire egg production process, via follicular recruitment and growth, ovulation, egg formation, shell formation, egg development, oviposition and oviposition interval.

Arginine is an essential amino acid for chickens due to the absence of a functional urea cycle in birds. Arginine plays critical roles in metabolic pathways associated with growth and immune-competence. Likewise, as a precursor of nitric oxide synthesis, arginine is important as the key vasodilator that opposes the onset of pulmonary hypertension in broiler (meat-type) chickens. Dietary arginine levels in commercial broiler diets meet NRC recommendations. However, this review shows that NRC recommendations may not be adequate to support maximal growth, support arginine-depleting immune responses, and prevent the onset of pulmonary hypertension in broilers reared under rigorous environmental conditions. Dietary composition is highly important and broiler performance may suffer when insufficient levels of arginine are included in the diet. Fortification of broiler diets with supplemental arginine may be necessary under such circumstances.

Goose feather and down is a renewable natural product valued for its peculiar quality properties. This material is largely obtained after the slaughter of waterfowl and on a smaller scale by harvesting from live geese at time of moulting. During the course of slaughter and processing, feather and down is exposed to various unfavourable effects which degrade its quality. Conversely, the feather and down harvested by hand from live geese is superior to the industrial feather product in several respects. However, animal rights activist groups recently began to protest vigorously against the hand-harvesting of feathers from live geese. To this end, they frequently display images of illegal live-harvesting or live-plucking in the media which differs markedly from the proper practice regulated by the law. Live-plucking is prohibited by EU legislation, and the Hungarian laws and regulations approve the live-harvesting of mature feathers at time of moulting according to the rules specified. This procedure is based on the inherent moulting characteristics of domestic geese (i.e. shorter feather maturation with more frequent moults compared to wild geese) and is technically feasible without any harm to the goose, its well-being or production, as evidenced by clinical and productivity data. Illegal hand-harvesting of feathers differing from the approved practice is strictly penalised in Hungary and cruelty to animals is defined as a crime.

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