It is interesting watching how papers and topics come and go with a journal, as this issue especially shows. We have many similar topics covered this time – which is unusual and something we try to avoid as much as possible. However, this time several papers ready to go were covering similar topics. Although all our papers have to be peer reviewed to be accepted into the journal in the first place, the reviewers of these latest publications all deemed them to have merit as reviews of that area of interest – so when we get topics in a bunch, they are published. Review topics can be an indicator of what’s important out there in the world of poultry science, and from this month’s list, probiotic reviews from Asian authors predominate. Does this mean that antibiotic alternatives are now gaining commercial importance in sectors that have previously had little or no legal controls? I’m sure commercial companies will find it an interesting development if so, as the poultry markets in those regions are substantial.

In September 2013 the WPSA Board is meeting at the Meat and Egg Conference in Bergamo, Italy, where we will also be meeting about the association’s role in family poultry production. We will be discussing how best to continue the publication of INFPD papers via the journal – as we now have increasing numbers of papers to process. In addition, we will look at how we can increase the speed of turnover of papers, as currently we are running about six months, or two issues, ahead of ourselves, due to limits of numbers of papers per issue. In my next editorial, we may have some new and exciting changes to report!

Otherwise, the world of poultry (especially in New Zealand) continues to change and grow, with increasing numbers of mouths to feed and novel human foods to generate, along with increasing awareness of biosecurity and environmental pressures. The recent Massey University Poultry Technical conference again showed how poultry was important, and showcased its research projects in terms of nutrition and related topics. One paper discussed designing environmentally-friendly, carbon zero intensive poultry farms – how the world changes – we could soon see (or not as the case may be) chicken sheds with gardens on their roofs.

Hope to see many of you at the Bergamo conference.

Dr Lucy Waldron

Editor

Thirty-seven layer performance tests have been conducted at North Carolina State University during the past 53 years. Originally established as the North Carolina Random Sample Layer Test (NCRSLT), all of the test flocks have been hatched and housed at the Poultry Unit of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Service's Piedmont Research Station at Salisbury, North Carolina. In 1988, the NCRSLT name was changed to the North Carolina Layer Performance and Management Test (NCLP&MT) reflecting changes in the testing procedures to include the evaluation of management practices used by commercial egg producers. Strain testing and evaluating the relative egg production of commercially available egg production stocks began in 1911, and the number of such Random Sample Tests in North America peaked at 23 in approximately 1968. The mission for the NCRSLT to provide an unbiased evaluation of the overall performance of strains, evolved to include the effects of various housing and husbandry practices on the performance of the genetic stocks entered into the test. Test results have been distributed to the industry throughout the USA as well as to producers in 22 other countries throughout the world. In addition, the internet site for the NCLP&MT http://poultry.ces.ncsu.edu/layer-performance/ allows the distribution of the results to many other interested university and government officials. This review of the first 37 North Carolina layer tests shows continuing improvements in egg production, reduction in body weight and feed consumption, increases in egg weight and feed conversion, improvements in liveability, and an improvement in egg quality from the commercially available white and brown egg strains. These changes have continued throughout the 50+ year history of the tests, and the changes observed have been brought about primarily by poultry breeding companies applying quantitative genetics for the improvement of the layer stocks used worldwide.

Flavour, one of the most important factors affecting consumers’ meat-buying behaviour and preferences, comprises mainly of taste and aroma. The cooked meat flavour, that is important from the producer and consumer point of view, is affected by several pre- and post-slaughter factors, including breed, diet, post-mortem ageing, and method of cooking. Moreover, chicken meat is prone to the development of off-flavours through lipid oxidation, which reduce the quality of the chicken meat. The aim of this review is to discuss the main factors affecting cooked chicken meat flavour which helps producers and consumers to produce the most flavoured and consistent product possible. Cooked chicken meat flavour is thermally derived via the Maillard reaction, the degradation of lipids, and interaction between these two reactions. Factors affecting the flavour of cooked chicken meat were identified as breed/strain of the chicken, diet of the bird, presence of free amino acids and nucleotides, irradiation, high pressure treatment, cooking, antioxidants, pH, and ageing.

The organic meat market in West Balkan Countries (WBC) is quite young, but steadily growing. The aim of this paper is to better enable understanding of WBC consumers' awareness, attitude and perception towards organically produced meat, i.e. to gain insight into consumers’ preferences, motives, attitudes and interest to buy such products in selected WBC (Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia). This paper provides a comparison to the results obtained by researchers in other countries. A questionnaire was completed by 900 respondents, which were representative of the WBC population. The data were subject to univariate analysis, chi-square tests, ANOVA and correlation analysis. Result indicated that the definition of ‘organic’ is not yet clearly installed in consumers’ perceptions. Consumers perceive organic meat as healthy, safe, natural, tasty, expensive, environmental friendly and of good quality. WBC consumers express a positive attitude towards organic meat. These results are particularly useful for product marketing and future product development in the organic food sector, as they provide an indication as how it can better reach and satisfy existing organic food consumers, and possibly, adapt organic food consumers in order to attract new segments and a new generation of consumers.

Avian intestinal spirochaetosis (AIS) is primarily a disease of layer and broiler breeder chickens exhibited by delayed and/or reduced egg production, increased mortality, weight loss, and chronic diarrhoea. This disease is of concern to the egg industry because of the economic impact of reduced production and down grading of eggs due to faecal-stained shells. Avian intestinal spirochaetosis is caused by pathogenic Brachyspira spp. This review summarises the species of Brachyspira that have been associated with AIS and provides an overview of epidemiological studies that have investigated prevalence, risk factors, and preventive measures for Brachyspira spp.

Meat colour and tenderness are considered as two of the most important quality attributes influencing consumer's purchasing and repurchasing decisions respectively. This review discusses the importance of poultry meat quality with reference to texture/tenderness. The manuscript includes different factors affecting poultry meat texture, methods for improving tenderness, ultra structural changes, and comparison of up-to-date tenderisation methodologies available in the literature are discussed. The tenderising efficacy, advantages and disadvantages of various physical, chemical, enzymatic characteristics and their synergistic effects in poultry meat is narrated. This review provides comprehensive information for poultry processors, retailers and consumers and gives an overall view to researchers.

The variability of phosphorus (P) availability in poultry feeds is large, primarily caused by differences in the contents of phytate and intrinsic or exogenous phytase and by differences between non-phytate sources of P. Attempts to consider this variability in feed formulations has led to the development of different approaches to determine P availability. In the past seventy years, different response criteria and descriptive terms for available P have been used. In this review, response criteria that are often used will be described, including their development over time. Focus is be given to growing poultry and to quantitative approaches based on P retention and precaecal digestibility, relative bioavailability based on bone data, and in vitro solubility tests. In conclusion, precaecal digestibility and retention are the most appropriate criteria for evaluating P sources in poultry. The use of blood inorganic phosphorus (Pi) concentrations and performance data is discouraged for the purpose of evaluation. Bone response data can provide relative availability values for P sources. More research is needed to explore whether P retention data can be re-calculated from existing bone response data. Improvements in in vitro approaches for estimating P availability are suggested.

This review paper delineates how vitamin D3 and its metabolites produce beneficial effects on the performance of both broiler and egg laying chickens. This review provides information on the evaluation of cholecalciferol sources, metabolites, requirements for cholecalciferol in birds, its effect on hatchability of fertile eggs and its impact on immunity. Notable beneficial effects have been seen on body weight gain, feed intake and feed efficiency in both broilers and laying hens. Cholecalciferol can provide beneficial effects on egg quality by increasing egg production, egg and shell weight, and shell strength by increasing thickness. It has a significant effect on the immune system and can help in the suppression of certain autoimmune diseases. The possible mechanisms contributing to these effects and the factors thought to explain the variability in these responses are discussed. Overall, cholecalciferol and its metabolites have been shown to greatly improve the performance of both types of commercial chickens, which can lead to enhanced production and a reduction in feed costs. The authors recommend a modified feeding programme containing higher levels of vitamin D3 supplementation than the NRC (1994) requirements in order to allow for sufficient skeletal growth in the starter and finisher diets of broilers.

The increase in the productivity of the poultry industry has been accompanied by various impacts, including the emergence of a large variety of pathogens and bacterial resistance to antibiotics. These impacts are in part due to the haphazard use of chemotherapeutic agents as a result of management practices during the rearing period. Probiotic bacteria are defined as live microorganisms that, when administered in adequate amounts, confer a health benefit on the host. This paper provides a review of the use of probiotics for the prevention of enteric disease in poultry, probiotic selection, isolation, colonisation and attachment within gastrointestinal tract, and the potential role of probiotics in nutrient metabolism. Understanding how probiotic bacteria exert their beneficial effect is crucial for the establishment of definitive selection criteria.

The Algerian poultry industry produces annually on average 340,000 tons of white meat and more than 4.8 billion eggs. The industry consists of 20,000 farmers employing about 500,000 people. Most feed and other inputs are imported and correspond to 80% of 2,500,000 tons of feed (which is typically based on corn and soybean meal), three million breeder birds, veterinary products and equipment. The current structure of the Algerian poultry industry is derived from government development policies initiated in the 1980's. Currently the high dependence on external markets for feed materials remains the main limiting factor in the development of the Algerian poultry, especially for corn and soybean meal which represent over 75% of the content of poultry feed. Difficulties encountered by producers, particularly in terms of supply, increased expenses, disengagement of the State and problems in commercialisation of their products, has caused many skilled farmers to leave the poultry industry, creating a net loss in experience within the sector. In addition, the industry is also going through a period of modernisation and adaptation of this sector to meet the new world standards, including imminent integration of Algeria to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and partnership with the European Union, which involves free movement of goods, resulting in more competition and requires more integration with different partners (professional organisations, inter-professional associations) and various state structures and competent authorities (industry, agriculture and trade) with the establishment of an institutional framework for the development, implementation and monitoring of development policies in the poultry meat and egg sector.

The use of antibiotics in poultry feed as a growth promoter has been restricted in many countries around the world. Consequently, there is a growing interest in finding viable alternatives for growth enhancement and disease prevention in the poultry sector. Probiotics are considered alternative feed additives to antibiotics and can be defined as microbial food supplements which beneficially affect the host by improving its intestinal microbial balance. In this review, the special characteristics of probiotics and their mechanisms of action have been described. Probiotics enhance the growth and production of poultry birds, protect the host against pathogens, enhance the immune system, improve bone strength and fight parasitism. In the following paragraphs the available literature on the uses of probiotics in poultry production is reviewed.

The conventional method of feeding broilers, using high density diets has been found to be associated with increases in fatness and a number of metabolic disorders. The adverse effect of high density diets on the performance of broilers was found to be more pronounced under a tropical environment. Allowing broilers free access to feed using low density diets (quantitative nutrition) has been suggested as a strategy to improve the performance of the broilers within the prevailing environmental conditions in the tropics. A specific approach had been evaluated as suitable for reducing the available metabolisable energy (AME) intakes of the broiler and increasing feed intake. This involves diet dilution with high fibre feedstuffs to reduce the available metabolisable energy (AME) value of the diet.

The present article summarises the effect of dietary supplements viz., dietary organic acid (OA) supplements, mannan-oligosaccharide (MOS) and β-glucan supplementation on poultry. The article focuses on the effects on immunity, and the follow on benefits to gut development and performance in growing poultry.

Family poultry (FP) production in Bangladesh comprises the production of free range scavenging chickens and ducks of indigenous origin with or without feed supplementation, various crossbreeds, particularly F1 of Rhode Island Red male X Fayoumi female and small-scale commercial broilers, cockerels from layer strains and commercial layers reared in confinement and provided commercial feeds. This paper reviews the current status of such a FP production, examines the way it is practiced and identifies its constraints and future prospects in Bangladesh. Finally, the paper concludes whether such a production system is worthwhile or an aimless journey for a developing country like Bangladesh. Family poultry works as a ‘standby generator’ in the poultry sector, particularly at times of disaster, such as a fall in the demand for beef and mutton. Rearing a fewer number (e.g. 5-10) of FP in a free range system, as in the case of indigenous birds under low input and low output systems, is economical since such birds derive most of their feed from scavenging. Interventions in terms of nutritional and/or management to augment productivity must be justified economically. Since the crossbreeds and commercial hybrids are more productive, rearing such birds as FP (100 or less) must be justified by the benefit cost ratio. It may be concluded that FP production in Bangladesh with indigenous or commercial breeds or hybrids in fewer numbers, could be made meaningful if monetary benefit supersedes the cost of production. Otherwise, it would be an aimless practise. More research is needed in Bangladesh to explore the profitability of FP of different flock sizes under different systems of management. FP with commercial hybrids is more challenging because of their small flock size which needs continuous technical support and a well planned biosecured environment.

The potentials, problems and prospects of utilizing alternative feedstuffs in Nigerian poultry industry were reviewed. Research findings showed that alternative feed resources, particularly novel feed resources, were available and could be safely used in poultry nutrition. Several researchers indicated their suitability, a few envisaged the limitations to their effectiveness and some attempted to offer hints on their improvement. Generally, there was seemingly little scientific documentation about Nigerian cases that would have created the awareness for immediate adoption by prospective poultry farmers. This review therefore puts together the classifications of these feed resources with examples, their accessibility and safety to serve as a reorientation strategy to achieve research and value-addition plans of transforming the Nigerian livestock industry.

The socio-economic profile of small-scale broiler farmers was studied, the factors influencing profitability were analysed and constraints to broiler farming under rural conditions were identified in Bangladesh. Primary data were collected from November 2009 to February 2010 from a total of 77 broiler farmers by direct interviewing using a semi-structured questionnaire, of which 40 were located in the Mymensingh, 22 in the Sherpur and 15 in the Kishorgonj districts of Bangladesh. Data were edited and categorised into different farm sizes (100, 200, 300, 400, 500 & 600 flock sizes). Among the 77 farms, three had 100 birds, 12 had 200 birds, four had 300 birds, 17 had 400 birds, 30 had 500 birds and 11 had 600 birds each. Data for productive performance and cost and returns were used to determine benefit cost ratios (BCR) and correlated between the selected factors. The most important factor affecting profit in this study appeared to be feed conversion ratio which resulted from quality of feed and chicks and the management techniques of the farm. It was also found that the farm size, training, education, farming experience and extension contact were significant factors affecting profitability of small-scale broiler farms. Lack of quality chicks appeared as a major complaint of the farmers and this constraint ranked highest. Price instability of both chicks and live broilers was a problem for the farmers, and ranked second among the constraints. Low price of finishing broilers, high feed cost and interruption in feed supply ranked in third, fourth and fifth places respectively. Other constraints reported by the farmers included lack of technical knowledge, biosecurity, variation in feed quality, lack of access to credit, influence of middlemen, power failure and lack of technical support or extension for farming. Finally, some conclusions and recommendations are made in order to promote small-scale broiler farming in Bangladesh.

Optimising the supply of dietary phosphorus (P) to animals requires sound knowledge regarding the availability of P from feed raw materials. Different definitions of available P have been proposed and various approaches are in use to determine P availability. These differences make it difficult to compare published data and to compile comprehensive feeding tables for use in the industry. This is disadvantageous in regard to feeding costs and sustainable handling of the limited global phosphate reserves. Working Group No 2 (Nutrition) of the European Federation of Branches of WPSA has developed a standard protocol for determination of available P in broilers. It is based on precaecal P digestibility and the details of this proposed protocol are explained in the following paper. Unresolved questions in regard to the determination of available P are also addressed. Researchers are encouraged to implement this standard protocol in future P availability studies and to contribute to its further improvement.

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.