Poultry Breeding Research Articles

Development and Evaluation of NanoPCR for the Detection of Goose Parvovirus.

Simple SummaryGosling plague (GP), an acute, virulent infectious disease caused by goose parvovirus (GPV), is a serious problem for livestock and poultry breeding. At present, there is no effective treatment available. The disease is vertically transmitted in geese, and some infected pregnant females are often recessive carriers of the virus, making it very difficult for farmers to detect GPV in the clinical setting. Although there are many clinical testing methods for GPV, some of them still suffered from shortcomings such as being time-consuming and labor-intensive. In this study, gold nanoparticles were put into a conventional PCR reaction system, and the first nanoPCR reaction was successfully established to detect infected GPV in the clinic, thus providing a practical method for the detection of GPV clinical infection.Gosling plague (GP) is an acute and hemorrhagic infectious disease caused by goose parvovirus (GPV). The goose industry suffers significant economic losses as a result of GP, which is found to be widespread worldwide, with high rates of morbidity and mortality. Our group developed a novel technique for detecting GPV nanoparticle-assisted polymerase chain reaction (nanoPCR) and the characterization of its specificity and sensitivity. It was developed by using the traditional polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and nanoparticles. The findings of this study revealed that GPV nanoPCR products were 389 bp in length, and the lower limit of the nanoPCR assay was 4.68 × 102 copies/μL, whereas that of the conventional PCR assay was 4.68 × 104 copies/μL. A total of 230 geese suspected of GPV were detected using nanoPCR, with a positive rate of 83.0% and a specificity of 73%, respectively. Overall, we present a hitherto undocumented method for identifying GPV by using nanoPCR to aid in the evaluation of subclinical illness.

Surveillance and Assessment of Risk Factors for Newcastle Disease Virus from Live Bird Retail Stalls in Lahore District of Pakistan.

Live bird markets (LBMs) in Asian countries are considered hubs for the spread of several poultry viruses. In Pakistan, there is a lack of uniformity in practices used in LBMs, which leads to the spread of poultry diseases. A cross-sectional survey was conducted in June-October 2017 to determine the circulation of Newcastle disease virus (NDV) in chickens being sold in live bird retail stalls (LBRSs) and to identify potential risk factors associated with estimated prevalence. A total of 189 stalls (n = 1134 birds) distributed in eight administrative towns of Lahore were visited. A pool of six oropharyngeal swabs was collected from each stall and tested by real-time reverse transcriptase PCR for the presence of NDV. Forty-two out of 189 swabs were found positive with an overall prevalence of 22.22% (95% confidence interval [Cl]: 16.88%-28.67%). Data for 11 potential risk factors acquired through questionnaires were analyzed by survey-weighted logistic regression and prevalence odds ratios (ORs) for associated risk factors were calculated. A final multivariable model identified three risk factors for NDV prevalence in LBRSs, including trading other poultry breeds alongside broilers (OR = 2.41; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.5-6.1), purchasing birds from mixed sources (OR = 3.12; 95% CI = 1.4-11.9), and number of birds sold per day (OR = 6.32; 95% CI = 1.9-23.5). Additionally, 24 selected samples were sequenced and phylogenetic analysis of the complete fusion gene (1662 bp) revealed that all isolates belonged to Subgenotype VII.2. This study provides important information on the epidemiology of NDV in Pakistan and highlights the importance of implementing surveillance and biosecurity practices in LBRSs.

Traditional sexing methods and external egg characteristics combination allow highly accurate early sex determination in an endangered native turkey breed.

Early sex determination methods are not only crucial in the worldwide massive poultry industry, but also for small-holder producers. The profitability of sexing techniques must be accounted for when aiming to boost management, nutrition, and conservation practices in endangered poultry breeds. This becomes pivotal when the local breed dealt with belongs to an understudied species, such as the turkey. So, the main objective of this study is to identify which method combination may report a higher likelihood of successful sex determination in poults across the three-pattern varieties of the Andalusian turkey breed. A total of 84 one to two days old Andalusian turkey poults (42 black, 28 black-roan, and 14 bronze-roan) were evaluated in this study. Sex determination was performed using 15 methods, which included testing external egg metrics and eggshell color, poult morphological appraisal and phaneroptics, and behavioral traits. Possible differences across plumage varieties and the interaction between sex and plumage were observed when external egg quality was measured. Sex determination through behavioral methods in black base feathered (black and black-roan) male sex individuals showed seven times higher sensitivity when compared to the rest of the studied individuals (χ2 = 7.14, df = 1, P < 0.01). In contrast, for the black-roan plumage females, the method based on the color of down feathers was approximately four times more sensitive (χ2 = 3.95, df = 1, P ≤ 0.05). For the bronze-roan pattern, none of the sexing techniques was reported to efficiently predict sex itself. However, the most proper method combination to determine sex, independent of plumage color, was physical external egg characteristics, the color of down feathers, and behavioral approaches (“English method” and “slap technique”). The specificity values were found to be 49.12, 93.33, and 100%, while the sensitivity values were observed to be 74.64, 91.03, and 100%, which translated into accuracy of 63.10, 92.26, and 100% in black, black-roan, and bronze-roan poults, respectively. Our results suggest that the method combination tested in this study could be considered a highly accurate, simple, and affordable alternative for sex determination in turkeys. This could mean a pivotal advance for small producers of turkeys, as early sex detection can help to plan timely conservational management strategies, which is of prominent importance in the context of endangered poultry breeds.

Integrated multi-omic data reveal the potential molecular mechanisms of the nutrition and flavor in Liancheng white duck meat.

The Liancheng white (LW) duck is one of the most valued Chinese indigenous poultry breeds. Its meat is rich in nutrients and has distinct flavors, but the molecular mechanisms behind them are unknown. To address this issue, we measured and compared multi-omic data (genome, transcriptome, and metabolome) of breast meat from LW ducks and the Mianyang Shelduck (MS) ducks. We found that the LW duck has distinct breed-specific genetic features, including numerous mutant genes with differential expressions associated with amino acid metabolism and transport activities. The metabolome driven by genetic materials was also seen to differ between the two breeds. For example, several amino acids that are beneficial for human health, such as L-Arginine, L-Ornithine, and L-lysine, were found in considerably higher concentrations in LW muscle than in MS duck muscle (p < 0.05). SLC7A6, a mutant gene, was substantially upregulated in the LW group (p < 0.05), which may lead to excessive L-arginine and L-ornithine accumulation in LW duck meat through transport regulation. Further, guanosine monophosphate (GMP), an umami-tasting molecule, was considerably higher in LW muscle (p < 0.05), while L-Aspartic acid was significantly abundant in MS duck meat (p < 0.05), showing that the LW duck has a different umami formation. Overall, this study contributed to our understanding of the molecular mechanisms driving the enriched nutrients and distinct umami of LW duck meat, which will provide a useful reference for duck breeding.

Development and environmental impacts of China's livestock and poultry breeding

With the ever-growing of livestock and poultry breeding (LPB) in China, its environmental problems have become a common concern. Pollution risk, resource potential and related policies evolution are essential to clarify, which is beneficial to better promote sustainable development of the LPB. In this study, a data-set covering the main animals of China's LPB (covering most of staple animals) and through a long period of 1996–2019 is collected. And then, the pollutants load from China's LPB is evaluated based on the new discharge coefficients adopted from recent research. The results show that China's LPB overall exhibits approximately 10-year periodic change in scale. And, the average annual wastes from China's LPB is up to 2.39 billion tons (Bt) and shows a continuing increase trend coupled with two significant declines (2006 and 2017). The mean wastes load of the LPB is 13,037 kg/ha. And, higher wastes load was found in southwestern and coastally eastern China and more attention should be paid to coastally eastern China due to dramatic increase of the LPB. Approximately 160,287 million m3 (M m3) of biogas production potential is estimated and greatest contributor of which is cattle. China's LPB has been experiencing a sharp and profound transition, converting from a traditional breeding pattern to an intensive one causing some serious environmental risks, especially in rural areas. Currently, China's government has built up scientific and sound framework, methods, regulations and laws for the LPB environmental impact assessment and management, covering pollutants disposal, productive process and environmentally monitoring system of the LPB. Considering the coexisted goals of food security, economic development and human's welfare, large-scale, organic and planting-breeding balanced LPB should be largely encouraged. This study has provided a fully-covered and exact evaluation on characteristic, role, function and environmental effects of China's LPB, furthermore raised novel and target-oriented optimizing strategies and key fields, which help to promote sustainable development of China's LPB and lowering environmental risks caused by it in the future.

Goose Astrovirus in China: A Comprehensive Review.

Goose astroviruses (GoAstVs) are small non-enveloped viruses with a genome consisting of a single-stranded positive-sense RNA molecule. A novel GoAstV was identified in Shandong in 2016 and quickly spread to other provinces in China, causing gout in goslings, with a mortality rate of approximately 50%. GoAstV can also cause gout in chickens and ducks, indicating its ability to cross the species barrier. GoAstV has only been reported in China, where it has caused serious losses to the goose-breeding industry. However, in view of its cross-species transmission ability and pathogenicity in chickens and ducks, GoAstV should be a concern to poultry breeding globally. As an emerging virus, there are few research reports concerning GoAstV. This review summarizes the current state of knowledge about GoAstV, including the epidemiology, evolution analysis, detection methods, pathogenicity, pathogenesis, and potential for cross-species transmission. We also discuss future outlooks and provide recommendations. This review can serve as a valuable reference for further research on GoAstV.

Piceatannol Alleviates Clostridium perfringens Virulence by Inhibiting Perfringolysin O.

Clostridium perfringens (C. perfringens) is an important foodborne pathogen that can cause diseases such as gas gangrene and necrotizing enteritis in a variety of economic animals, seriously affecting public health and the economic benefits and healthy development of the livestock and poultry breeding industry. Perfringolysin O (PFO) is an important virulence factor of C. perfringens and plays critical roles in necrotic enteritis and gas gangrene, rendering it an ideal target for developing new drugs against infections caused by this pathogen. In this study, based on biological activity inhibition assays, oligomerization tests and computational biology assays, we found that the foodborne natural component piceatannol reduced pore-forming activity with an inhibitory ratio of 83.84% in the concentration of 16 µg/mL (IC50 = 7.83 µg/mL) by binding with PFO directly and changing some of its secondary structures, including 3-Helix, A-helix, bend, and in turn, ultimately affecting oligomer formation. Furthermore, we confirmed that piceatannol protected human intestinal epithelial cells from the damage induced by PFO with LDH release reduced by 38.44% at 16 µg/mL, based on a cytotoxicity test. By performing an animal experiment, we found the C. perfringens clones showed an approximate 10-fold reduction in infected mice. These results suggest that piceatannol may be a candidate for anti-C. perfringens drug development.

Groundwater Pollution Source Identification by Combination of PMF Model and Stable Isotope Technology

The pollution source identification methods based on traditional water quality monitoring and pollutant discharge loading typically require a high frequency of monitoring and generate a level of uncertainty in the identification results, owing to their limitations on the accurate and quantitative assessment of pollution source identification, migration, and transformation. This study combined multivariate statistical analysis and stable isotope technology to identify groundwater pollution sources in a typical multiple land-use area of the Chengdu Plain. A positive matrix factorization (PMF) model was adopted to reduce the interference of mass environmental factors on source identification and to determine the main factors influencing groundwater quality. Subsequently, a Bayesian stable isotope mixing model was developed to quantify the apportionment of each pollution source to groundwater nitrate (NO3-) with the consideration of hydro-chemical and land-use information. The results showed that the concentrations of NO3-, NO2-, NH4+, Mn, Fe, SO42-, and Cl- in groundwater of the study area exceeded the standard to different extents, presenting spatial variation. The main form of inorganic nitrogen in groundwater was NO3-. In general, concentrations of groundwater NO3- were the highest in vegetable fields (9.29 mg·L-1 on average), followed by livestock and poultry breeding farms (7.66 mg·L-1) and arable land (7.09 mg·L-1), whereas concentrations of groundwater NO3- in industrial areas were the lowest (2.20 mg·L-1). Groundwater quality in the study area was affected by geological processes, agricultural activities, hydrogeochemical evolution, and domestic and industrial discharges. Agricultural activities were the main contributor to the increase in groundwater NO3- in the study area. Chemical fertilizer (32%) and soil nitrogen (25%) contributed greatly to groundwater NO3- in agricultural areas, whereas sewage (28%) and atmospheric precipitation (27%) contributed most groundwater NO3- in industrial areas. Thus, the combination of multivariate statistical analysis and stable isotope technology could identify groundwater pollution sources and their apportionment effectively, providing scientific support for the prevention and control of groundwater pollution.

Distribution Characteristics of Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance Genes in Manure and Surrounding Soil of Poultry Farm in Ningxia

Antibiotics and antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) in livestock and poultry manure pose potential ecological risks. In order to understand the distribution characteristic of antibiotics and ARGs in manure and surrounding soils of poultry farms in Ningxia, the poultry manure and relative soil samples were collected from 12 layers of different poultry breeding farms. The compositions of antibiotics and ARGs in the samples were analyzed using UPLC-MS/MS and HT-qPCR. The results showed that:① tetracycline, aminoglycoside, and sulfonamide were the dominant antibiotics in poultry manure. The types and contents of antibiotics in poultry manure were different in different breeding periods. There were more types of antibiotics in the brooding period, the average content was high, and the initial stage showed the opposite trend. ② A small amount of antibiotics was detected in the surrounding soil only 20 m away from the poultry farm, and the poultry farm had little effect on the distribution of antibiotics in the surrounding soil. The content of quinolone in the soils with poultry manure application was significantly higher than that in the control and surrounding soil. ③ We detected 132-168 ARGs in poultry manure, and the number of aminoglycosides and tetracycline was higher. The relative abundance of ARGs in the rearing period was highest, and the initial stage showed the opposite trend. The total relative abundance of ARGs in the brooding period was highest, but the terminal period showed the opposite. There were 110 ARGs in poultry manure during all breeding periods. ④ There were 23-105 ARGs in the soils, and the number of aminoglycoside was highest, followed by multidrug ARGs. The poultry farm had a great effect on the number and relative abundance of ARGs in the surrounding soil. For example, the number and relative abundance of ARGs in the surrounding soil of poultry farms gradually decreased with the increase in the distance from the poultry farms. The number and relative abundance of ARGs in the soil with applied poultry manure were significantly increased; however, these values were lower than those in the soil 20 m away from the poultry farm. ⑤ β-lactamases, aminoglycosides, and macrolide lincosamide-streptogramin B (MLSB) ARGs were all at risk of horizontal movement in manure, and chloramphenicol ARGs were at risk of horizontal movement in soil. Correlation analysis showed that the relative abundance of aminoglycoside, tetracycline, sulfonamide, β-lactamase, and MLSB were not significantly correlated with their contents. ⑥ Different types of ARGs had related co-occurrence phenomena, such as the positive correlation between the relative abundance of ARGs in poultry manure, and aminoglycoside and β-lactamases, MGEs, multidrugs and vancomycins. The relative abundances of ARGs in soil, aminoglycoside and tetracyclines, vancomycins, sulfonamides, and MLSBs; tetracyclines and MLSBs; etc., all showed a significant positive correlation. In short, the co-occurrence among the relative abundance of ARGs in soil was significantly stronger than that in poultry manure. These results could provide the theoretical basis for the site selection of poultry farms, the selection of antibiotic types and dosages for large-scale breeding of laying hens, and the application of poultry manure.

Molecular prevalence of Tetratrichomonas gallinarum and Trichomonas gallinae in three domestic free-range poultry breeds in Anhui Province, China.

Tetratrichomonas gallinarum and Trichomonas gallinae can colonize the alimentary tract of domestic birds. However, little information is available on the epidemiology of the two trichomonad species in domestic free-range poultry in China. In this study, the occurrence and genetic characteristic of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae among free-range chickens, ducks, and geese in Anhui Province, China, were investigated. The 1910 fecal samples collected from 18 free-range poultry farms throughout Anhui Province were examined for the presence of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae by PCR and sequence analysis of the small subunit (SSU) rRNA gene of T. gallinarum and ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequence of T. gallinae. The overall occurrence of T. gallinarum in poultry was 1.2% (22/1910), with infection rates of 2.1% (17/829) in chickens, 0.2% (1/487) in ducks, and 0.7% (4/594) in geese. The constructed phylogeny tree using the concatenated ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 region and SSU rRNA indicated the T. gallinarum isolates detected in this study were closely related to previously defined genogroups A, D, and E, respectively. Nine (0.5%) fecal samples were positive for T. gallinae, with infection rates of 0.8% (7/829) in chickens, 0.4% (2/487) in ducks, and 0% (0/594) in geese. Sequence and phylogenetic analysis showed that four T. gallinae ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 sequences obtained from chicken feces and one duck fecal sample belonged to genotype ITS-OBT-Tg-1. This is the first report of the prevalence and genetic characterization of T. gallinarum and T. gallinae in free-range chickens, ducks, and geese in China.

A Dead Broiler Inspection System for Large-Scale Breeding Farms Based on Deep Learning

Stacked cage is the main breeding method of the large-scale farm in China. In broiler farms, dead broiler inspection is a routine task in the breeding process. It refers to the manual inspection of all cages and removal of dead broilers in the broiler house by the breeders every day. However, as the total amount of broilers is huge, the inspection work is not only time-consuming but also laborious. Therefore, a dead broiler inspection system is constructed in this study to replace the manual inspection work. It mainly consists of an autonomous inspection platform and a dead broiler detection model. The automatic inspection platform performs inspections at the speed of 0.2 m/s in the broiler house aisle, and simultaneously collects images of the four-layer broilers. The images are sent to a server and processed by a dead broiler detection model, which was developed based on the YOLOv3 network. A mosaic augment, the Swish function, an spatial pyramid pooling (SPP) module, and complete intersection over union (CIoU) loss are used to improve the YOLOv3 performance. It achieves a 98.6% mean average precision (intersection of union (IoU) = 0.5) and can process images at 0.007 s per frame. The dead broiler detection model is robust to broilers of different ages and can adapt to different lighting conditions. It is deployed on the server with a human–machine interface. By observing the processing results using the human–machine interface, the breeders could directly find the cage position of dead broilers and remove them, which could reduce the workload of breeders and promote the intelligent development of poultry breeding.

Distribution of antibiotic, heavy metals and antibiotic resistance genes in livestock and poultry feces from different scale of farms in Ningxia, China

With the rapid development of livestock and poultry breeding industries, pollution problems caused by the discharge of animal feces have become increasingly severe. Nevertheless, there are limited investigations about nutrients and pollutants in animal feces from different scale of farms, especially in Northwest China. Here we investigated nutrients content, 19 antibiotics, 7 heavy metals, 329 antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and 35 mobile genetic elements (MGEs) in six main livestock and poultry feces collected from 5 coastal regions of Ningxia. Pig and chicken feces exhibited higher levels of nutrients content, but antibiotics, heavy metals, ARGs and MGEs were also more abundant than those in cattle and sheep feces. Chlortetracycline hydrochloride and doxycycline hyclate were the most commonly used antibiotic, which detected with the highest rate and concentrations, especially in broiler, layer and pig feces. Strong positive correlations were found among different ARGs or between ARGs and MGEs, indicated the risk of horizontal gene transfer of ARGs. Residual antibiotic and heavy metals significantly affect the abundance of ARGs. Feeding mode and the scales of the animal farms served little effect on the distribution of the pollutants (including residual antibiotics, heavy metals, MGEs and ARGs), which were significantly different among animal types. Use of antibiotics and heavy metals should be strictly regulated, especially in chicken and pig farms, in order to control contaminants and reduce potential risks to the environment.

Ananlysis of Characteristics and Application Features of Erythema Lamps

The characteristics of LE15 erythema fluorescent lamps manufactured by A.N. Lodygin NIIIS (Light Sources Scientific and Research Institute) are presented. The radiation characteristics of erythema lamps were analysed due to changes in the effective values and magnitudes, presented in state standards. Also matters related to aspects of application of erythema lamps in irradiators and installations for tanning beds, beauty salons, and agricultural farms were analysed. Major provisions of the interstate standard GOST IEC60335–2–27–2014 were taken into consideration. Based on the results of the analysis, it was found necessity for the manufacturer of the erythema fluorescent lamps to provide more detailed information on their parameters (in particular, irradiance) in energy and effective magnitudes, while the manufacturer of the irradiators with tanning lamps shall provide an identification code containing a corresponding UV code. It was suggested to optimise the structures of the sources of mixed radiation for specific application conditions of UV radiation sources in agriculture and to develop recommendations for application of UV radiation in cattle and poultry breeding on the basis of the existing regulations.

Difference responses of soil fungal communities to cattle and chicken manure composting application.

Cattle and poultry manure composting are often applied on agricultural lands but the fungal community composition before and after application in soils is still unclear. This study describes soil fungal diversity after manure applications contribute to the correct resource use of livestock and poultry manures. Fresh manure samples were obtained from 10 beef cow farms and 12 egg-laying poultry farms at five distinct phases of rearing. Surface soil samples were collected from vegetable plots within the farms after manure application at 15, 30 and 45 t hm-2 . Using high-throughput sequencing techniques, the ITS region was used to describe soil fungus populations. The fungal OTUs, Chao1 and ACE of cattle manure were relatively higher in the fattening stage (>12months), the OTUs and ACE of chicken manure were the highest in the initial laying stage (16-24 weeks). The fungal diversity indices of vegetable soils had no linear change after cow or chicken manure application compared with the control. Ascomycota (84.7% of total sequences), Neocallimastigomycota (9.69%) and Basidiomycota (4.6%) were the dominant phyla in cattle manure. Ascomycota (88.9%) also predominated in chicken manure followed by Basidiomycota (8.9%). Following both cattle and chicken manure applications, the abundance of Ascomycota decreased, whereas Basidiomycota and Chytridiomycota increased in the soils. None of the dominant genus increased or decreased linearly with the increase of cattle and chicken composting application rate. The fungal-dominant genera of the soils with and without manure composting application were mostly affected by soil pH and EC than manure. Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that organic matter, Cu and Hg contents were strongly linked to the fungal diversity and the abundance of specific taxa in cattle manure. In chicken manure, OM, TN and Zn were major factors controlling the fungal diversity and community composition. Soil pH, EC and Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg and As content had pronounced effects on the beneficial and pathogenic genus in soil with and without manure composting. Beneficial fungal genus such as Aspergillus, Plectosphaerella, Acremonium, Meyerozyma and fungal pathogenic such as Fusarium, Cladosporium, Verticillium were sensitive to properties (EC, pH, OM) and heavy metals (Cu, Zn, Hg) contents of the environment relatively. This study can serve as an applicable contribution helping in farms management (especially to cattle and poultry breeding) and improving their resource use of livestock and poultry manures. Soil heterogeneity rather than manure determines fungal communities in the vegetable fields, but we can encourage the sensible use of cattle and chicken manures in agroecosystems. This study will help farmers regulate the dosage of feed components which can increase the number of beneficial fungal genus or reduce the number of pathogenic fungal genus, improve their resource use of livestock and poultry manures and encourage the sensible use of cattle and chicken manures in agroecosystems.

Advanced treatment of microplastics and antibiotic-containing wastewater using integrated modified dissolved air flotation and pulsed cavitation-impinging stream processes

Livestock and poultry breeding wastewater is a major reservoir of antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) and antibiotics residues, and it is also a potential reservoir of microplastics (MPs). In this work, a novel system consisting of modified dissolved air flotation (MDAF) and self-excited oscillating pulsed cavitation-impinging (SOPC) processes was established to explore the removal performance of ARGs, antibiotics and MPs. Polydimethyldiallyl ammonium chloride (PDAC) showed better performance than cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB) in MDAF. At a saturation pressure of 0.4 MPa and 0.8 mg/L of PDAC, 88.3% of MPs was removed by MDAF. More than 97% of antibiotics and 100% ARGs were removed during the SOPC treatment, and 99.2% of antibiotics were removed by the combined system. The SOPC can stably generate hydroxyl radicals (•OH) in wide pH ranges without additional chemicals. This study demonstrates that the hybrid system has the potential to be applied for the advanced treatment of wastewater containing ARGs and MPs.

A cost-sensitive solution to livestock wellbeing in a chicken farming application

In the competitive world of poultry farming for meat or egg production, margins are tight. So when a major UK poultry breeding company needed a cost-critical solution to ensure livestock health, it turned to SEKO for a trusted, proven solution.

Socio-Economic Characteristics Analysis of Backyard Poultry Farming in Etsako Central Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria

The study analyzed the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Backyard Poultry Farming in Etsako Central Local Government Area, Edo State, Nigeria using multi-stage sampling technique to select three out of six districts in the Local Government Area with a well structure questionnaire administered to 150 randomly selected respondents while only 107 were retrieved. Data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics tools. The results revealed that majority (72%) of the respondents were female with most (65.4%) of them not older than 40 years in age. Most (86%) of them has one formal education or the other and are involved in only poultry rearing (58.9%) while 41.1% rears both poultry and small ruminants with 68.2% of them rearing local breeds of poultry. The result revealed that majority (72.9%) of the respondents practice extensive system of rearing with no fewer than 49.5% having flock size of between 1 and 10 birds. Most respondents (84.1%) engaged in backyard poultry rearing for income purpose. Inadequate funding (79.4%) and activities of predators (77.6%) remain the most reported severe constraints to backyard poultry rearing in the study area. It is recommended that Stake holders should make financial supports in terms of grants and single digit loan available to the respondents while the farmers too could group themselves into cooperative and thrift societies to enable them create avenue for soft loan among themselves.

Growth Performance and Meat Quality of Growing Pigs Fed with Black Soldier Fly (Hermetia illucens) Larvae as Alternative Protein Source

Insects have been used as animal feed protein sources in livestock and poultry breeding, and their impact on pork quality needs to be studied. This experiment mainly explores the effect of adding black soldier flies to the feed on the growth performance and meat quality of pigs. All 24 weaned piglets were randomly divided into three groups, one group was given a normal diet as the control group (C), and the other two groups were supplemented with 4% (T1) and 8% (T2) black soldier flies as an alternative protein source, respectively. Pig growth performance and carcass traits were measured at the end of the 113-day experiment. After euthanizing the pigs, we used metabolomics to detect pig dorsal muscle and qPCR to detect gene expression in dorsal muscle and adipose tissue. For the average daily gain and backfat thickness, T2 group was significantly higher than T1 group and C group (p &lt; 0.05). Intramuscular fat content was significantly elevated in the T1 and T2 groups (p &lt; 0.05). The metabolomics results showed that there were significant differences in metabolites among the three groups (p &lt; 0.05). The addition of black soldier flies could increase the content of some free amino acids, and the content of lipid metabolites also changed significantly (p &lt; 0.05). The gene expression of type 1 muscle fibers in the T1 group and the PGC-1α gene expression in the T1 and T2 groups were significantly increased in the dorsal muscle (p &lt; 0.05). The results of the present study showed that adding 4% black soldier fly instead of fish meal in the diet of growing pigs can significantly improve meat quality and supplementation of 8% black soldier flies has beneficial effects on growth performance of pigs.

Use of a complex probiotic supplement in turkey feeding

Relevance. Over the past decades, we have witnessed really big changes in the global livestock and poultry industry. Poultry feeding and breeding systems have reached high peaks of development with a significant improvement in genetic capacity. Currently, ration balancing is possible with the latest systems capable of automating feed production, as well as schemes to increase the efficiency of servings. With this approach, a balance of all nutrients is achieved, which in turn leads to a reduction in production costs. The nutritional value of compound feed is increased by adding additives of various origins. In our study, the improvement of metabolic processes in the body of a bird is achieved by introducing a feed additive based on probiotics into the diet. The article presents the results of studying and comparing indicators of meat productivity of turkeys.Methods. The object of research was the turkey cross Hybrid Converter. An additive, Prolaxim-B, was introduced into the main diet. The subjects of research were the composition and nutritional value of the diet, the dynamics of live weight, the increase in live weight, the morphological composition of the carcass, the chemical composition, morphological blood parameters, and sanitary and hygienic indicators. The biochemical composition of meat samples was studied in the laboratories of the testing center “Argus” of theFBGNU KNTsZV. The mass fraction of moisture was determined by drying the sample according to the standard method. The mass fraction of protein — by the Kjeldahl photometric method, the mass fraction of fat — using the Soxhlet extraction apparatus; mass fraction of ash — by the ashing method; the energy value was found by the Alexandrov method.Results. The experiment showed that the inclusion of a preparation containing the Prolaxim-B probiotic in the diet of a turkey helps increasing the safety of the livestock, live weight, and the intensity of their growth; there is a tendency to reduce the level of conditionally pathogenic microflora and increase that ofbeneficial microflora. It was found that the weight of the edibleoffal was significantly higher in the experimental group. In general, the productivity of the turkey, the competitiveness of the finished product and the profitability of industrial enterprises are growing, thereby attracting new sources of funding to this area of agriculture.

Evaluation of a prototype of an artisanal incubator for quail eggs (coturnix coturnix japonica) implemented with Arduino technology

Quail pups in St. Helena come from factory farms outside the province, making acquisition costs more expensive for the small producer. There are high-performance incubators for bird breeding, but their costs are not within the reach of an average poultry farmer. In this sense, to contribute to the developmentand increase the productivity of poultry breeding in small producers, Arduino technology was implemented to assemble incubators with low-cost materials for the average producer in the province. The techniques used in the research such as field notes, observation, and statistical tools yielded favorable results of 75% hatching and an efficiency of more than 83%. Observations by candling showed that the incubator system with Arduino is efficient in the formation of the chick. On the other hand, the investment costs for this equipment are attractive for the producer in the area.