Page 26 – Poultry TRENDS

Articles Management
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8 min read

Winter management in Poultry Farming

Poultry rearing is an art as well as a science and management plays most crucial role in deciding profitability of this business. It has been observed in past several years that high market rates of broiler meat & eggs are observed only in those times when rearing is very difficult due to harsh climate and thus, demand is more than supply. Therefore, it is very important to understand and implement the best management practices in such harsh climate.

Author: Dr Milind Rainchwar — Dr Milind Rainchwar,
Technical Service Manager – South Central Asia,
Novus International

Every region in India has different climatic challenges and variable climate extremes and thus management practices differ between different parts of country. But almost all parts of India experience three to five distinct seasons across the year.

Winter is one of the seasons which presents very harsh temperature extremes and maintaining liveability and production becomes very difficult without taking extra measures. Management in winter is very difficult and often described as double edges sword, as a very perfect balance is required between climate management and ventilation management. Similarly, a very careful decision making is required to reduce cost of production and to provide healthy environment at the same time. It requires ample of experience to understand the economic feasibility of cost involving management practices.

Chickens are unable to maintain body temperature in young age and although they improve their tolerance to cold with age, they cannot perform well when ambient temperature drops below 20 degrees Celsius and start exhibiting stress and drop in productivity. Failure to provide optimum temperature very frequently results in high mortality, high disease incidence and drop in performance.

Although ways of practicing the management in harsh climate may differ slightly across region, the basic principles remain same. Below listed are few basic principles which may guide proper decision making.

Proper temperature and humidity suitable for the age is always required
Proper ventilation to provide fresh air and removing gases inside house is always required
The rearing surface and bedding material should be always warm and dry
The drinking water should be maintained at suitable temperature to promote water intake
The feed & feeding practice should help bird to maintain their body temperature, metabolism, and osmo-regulation

To achieve these goals, following practices are implemented across country

External heat source is provided to keep the poultry shed warm and dry
False ceiling is often used to reduce the volume of shed
Various types and layers of curtains and jute bags are used to insulate the farm
Round brooding is often practiced when spot heating is done

As stopping the air flow becomes necessary to maintain temperature, it is very difficult to remove the gases like ammonia and to keep bedding material dry in winter. These challenges affect the respiratory, hepatic, and gut health directly.

The wet litter and humid conditions provide a very suitable environment for gut pathogens like Coccidiosis and Clostridium. The stressed and immunosuppressed birds become easy target for these gut pathogens and therefore, very high-performance losses are observed due to poor gut health. It is a well-known fact that body only gets that part of nutrition, which gut retains. An unhealthy gut loses a lot of nutrients which are necessary for weight gain and egg production. The major part of poultry immune system is also situated in gut. Thus, healthy gut is key to a developed immune system.

While managing good managemental practices, essential needs such as Proper feed and water is an utmost need to optimise performance during this difficult time. Gut health compromise always leads to poor performance and thus loss in business. Different feed additives play crucial role in maintaining and improving gut health such as Protease, NSPase Enzyme, Probiotics, Essential oils, Organic Acids, etc.

Serine Protease, A broad spectrum protease when added in the feed improves the digestibility and absorption of Amino acids which otherwise are the food for pathogens in the hind gut like Clostridium, Salmonella, etc. This Protease thus enables the improved digestion of Nutrients and reduces the pathogenic load and helps to improve litter condition.

Serine protease has other benefits as well. It has good impact on neutralisation of trypsin inhibitor, an Antinutritional factor in Soybean. Use of Serine Protease also helps to reduce the allergen proteins like Lectins, B Conglycinin by significant amount which otherwise causes the gut irritation. Hence, Proper use of Protease in winter leads to improved litter quality with better absorption of nutrients.

NSPase when added in the feed improves the absorption of nutrients and helps to reduce wet litter condition. Improvement in litter quality leads to the less damage by pathogens.

Organic Copper has the strong impact on litter quality in winter (copper is antifungal in nature). It helps to improve the Clostridium cluster IV & XIVA which are responsible to increase the Lactobacillus count in the gut and maintains or improve microflora through competitive expulsion. This, then enables to improve the litter quality.

Organic Acids such as Coated Benzoic acids helps not only to reduce pathogenic bacteria such Clostridium, Salmonella as well they help to improve Lactobacillus count in gut through increase in Clostridium clusters IV and XIVA which are responsible for Increase in Lactobacillus count.

Essential oils are considered primarily Digestive enhancers apart from their immune function. They help to digest the nutrients in early stages effectively where endogenous enzyme is not active fully. Also, they impede quorum sensing, thus acts as Antibacterial in nature too.

Addition of God organic Acids such as formic Acids, Propionic acids in water to keep water acidification at par is key to improve water quality. Water intake is always a concern in winter. Thus, Effective use of Organic acids along with water Sanitisers to improve water quality and intake should always be considered in winter season.

Below are some pics showing the brooding in Winter and Impact of Winter on gut Health if not managed well…

Articles Nutrition
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Inclusion of cocktail enzymes – key to unlock hidden nutrients in poultry diets

The major cost in any system of poultry production is feed which accounts for up to 70 % of total cost per bird. The upsurge feed cost has been a major constraint in profitable poultry production in most of the developing countries. In order to cut down the feed cost, cheaper and non-conventional feed ingredients are sometimes in use which contain a higher percentage of Non-Starch Polysaccharides (soluble and insoluble/crude fiber) along with starch. Non Starch Polysaccharides (NSPs) are polymeric carbohydrates that differ in composition and structure from starch with beta linkage (Morgan et al., 1995) and possess chemical cross-linking among them therefore, are not easily digested by poultry (Adams and Pough, 1993).

Impact of NSP and Phosphorous:

A portion of NSPs is water-soluble which is the culprit for forming a gel-like viscous consistency in the intestinal tract (Ward, 1995) and reduces gut performance. Predominantly water-soluble NSP like arabinoxylans,ß-glucan,ß-galactoside which belong to the pentosan group, are assumed to be the factor responsible for the increase in viscosity of ingesta. These pentosans also critically increase the water intake by the birds leading to unmanageable litter problems caused due to wet and sticky droppings. This deteriorates the hygienic conditions and carcass quality of birds.

Impact on Environment:

In areas with intensive poultry production, the phosphorus output is terribly high, leading to environmental issues like eutrophication. This happens as most of the phosphorus contained in typical feedstuffs is in the form of plant storage phytate, which is not digested by birds.

In order to overcome this problem, use of enzymes in poultry is a growing trend and is going to be established as an inevitable resource in formulating and making balanced and nutritious diets. Enzymes are proteins in nature in biological systems. Their function is to catalyze and accelerate the rate of a reaction but are not themselves altered during the process. Enzymes are non-living organisms and are not concerned about viability or cross-infection/cross-contamination. They are stable at 80-85 degrees centigrade for a short period of time.

Another vital function of enzymes is that the rate of an enzyme catalyzed reaction increases with increasing substrate concentration, to the point where there is no more response and the enzyme is said to be saturated. So, we need to match the amount of enzyme with the quantity of substrate present in the feed grain (Acamovic and McCleary, 1996).

Enzymes are classified into 2 types based on their production site ie., inside the body and from an external source:

Source of enzyme :

Enzymes are produced in large scale in a controlled fermentation process where either yeast or specific bacteria strains are used. While these microbes grow and multiply in media, release enzymes. Bacteria like Bacillus subtilis, Bacillus lentus and Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, Bacillus niger are commonly used to produce enzymes.

Mode of action:

Enzymes are substrate-specific and work with the basis of lock and key methods. Once lock and key matches it releases the nutrients and searches the other substrate to release nutrients.

Some enzymes and substrate present in feed grain

Scope for cocktail enzyme:

The cell wall of cereal or legume grain provide tensile strength, protect them against mechanical and osmotic stress .The main substance responsible for rigidity is non-starch polysaccharides (NSPs) like cellulose microfibrils, hemicellulose and pectins. Some of the commonly used ingredients in poultry feed are corn which have NSP level of 9.7%-10.3% of DM and is 91% insoluble (Bach et al., 1997),wheat have NSP of 10.2%-11.9% of dry matter and in which 19.5%-21% soluble fiber(Simon et al., 2015) and Soybean meal (SBM) have 19.6%-21.7% NSP of DM, with 29% soluble fibre (Dierick et al., 1994).

Due to the presence of this substance, they form a dense, flexible and sometimes rigid matrix which may deplete nutrient digestion of ingredients. Effect of cocktail enzyme will have better effect on such feed formulation:

Zanella et al., (1999) reported better ileal N digestibility which may be due to improved solubility and digestibility of dietary protein, reduced secretion of endogenous proteins and also a reduction in ileal microbial load.
Morgan et al., (1995) reported that use of enzyme supplementation of wheat-based diets significantly reduced foregut digesta viscosity of birds.
Partridge and Wyatt 1995 stated that increased availability of carbohydrates for energy utilization in birds with association with increased energy digestibility.

Conclusion:

The use of exogenous enzymes as a feed additive has hastily expanded. In the last two decades, extensive studies have been conducted to study the effects of feeding exogenous enzymes on the performance of poultry. The economic and social advantages of enzymes are well established and therefore the way forward for feed enzymes could be a bright one. However additionally the right enzyme cocktail for a selected batch of a feed ingredient will permit the formulation of better rations using an extensive range of ingredients. Any developments in this field must eventually improve the welfare of chickens, reduce the production of wastes and preserve resources.

References:
1. Acamovic, T. and B. McCleary. (1996). Enzyme Special Series-Optimising the response. Feed Mix 4: 14- 19.
2. Adams, E.A. and R. Pough.(1993). Non-starch polysaccharides and their digestion in poultry. Feed Compounder 13: 19-21.
3. Bach Knudsen, K. E. 1997. “Carbohydrate and Lignin Contents of Plant Materials Used in Animal Feeding.” Anim. Feed Sci. Technol. 67: 319-38
4. Dierick, N. A., and Decuypere, J. A. 1994. “Enzyme and Growth in Pigs.” In Principles of Pig Science, edited by D. Cole, J. Wiseman and M. Varley. Notthingham: Notthingham University Press, 169-95
5. Khattak, F.M., Pasha, T.N., Hayat, Z. and Mahmud, A., 2006. Enzymes in poultry nutrition. J. Anim. Pl. Sci, 16(1-2), pp.1-7.
6. Morgan, A.J. and M. R.Bedford. (1995). Advances in the development and application of feed
enzymes. Australian Poultry Science Symposium 7: 109– 115.
7. Partridge, G. and C. Wyatt(1995). More flexibility with new generation of enzymes. World Poultry 11(4),17–21.
8. Simon, K., Vries Reilingh, G. De, Bolhuis, J. E., Kemp, B., and Lammers, A. 2015. “Early Feeding and Early Life Housing Conditions Influence the Response towards a Noninfectious Lung Challenge in Broilers.” Poult Sci. 94: 2041-8
9. Zanella, I., Sakomura, N.K., Silversides, F.G., Fiqueirdo, A. & Pack, M.(1999) Effect of enzyme supplementation of broiler diets based on maize and soybeans. Poultry Science, 78: 561–568.

Event News Update
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1 min read

Webinar on Decorticated Cottonseed Meal

CLFMA OF INDIA in association with AICOSCA is organizing a Webinar on the “Decorticated Cottonseed Meal (A Rich Source of Protein) for Milch Cattle, Poultry & Aqua”

DATE: 18 Feb 2022
TIME : 2:00 PM – 4:30 PM

SPEAKERS :

1) Mr. Neeraj Kumar Srivastava (Chairman – CLFMA OF INDIA) – Opening Remark
2) Shri Sandeep Bajoria (Chairman – AICOSCA) – Opening Remark
3) Shri R. D. Bohra (Hon. Treasurer – AICOSCA)
4) Dr. S. V. Rama Rao (Directorate of Poultry Research)
5) Dr. R. H. Balasubramanya (Principal Scientist (Retd.) – CIRCOT – ICAR)
6) Dr. D. Srinivas Kumar (Professor & Head – Sri Venkateswara Veterinary University)
7) Dr. Devender Hooda (Zonal President – North – CLFMA OF INDIA) – Moderator
8) Mr. Suresh Deora (Honorary Secretary – CLFMA OF INDIA) – Concluding Remarks
9) Mr. Peravali Kotirao, Hon. Secretary, AICOSCA – Vote of Thanks

Please fill up the registration form below to get the joining information.

https://bit.ly/3GJEI1Y

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.

Best Regards,
Chandrika Venkatesh
Executive Director
CLFMA of India
Ph: +91-22 – 2202 6103

Articles
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4 min read

Food Safety Impacts Animal and Human lives

If animals aren’t vaccinated, or they face health difficulty, they will turn into unsafe food and they will produce disease filled products. Thus, this will have a major impact and influence on our wellbeing and safety, which is why its highly important to protect poultry and livestock health, to secure their well-being and ours in return.

Unsafe food poses global health threats, endangering everyone. Infants, young children, pregnant women, the elderly and those with an underlying illness are particularly vulnerable. According to the world health organization: “Every year 220 million children contract diarrheal diseases and 96 000 die. Unsafe food creates a vicious cycle of diarrhea and malnutrition, threatening the nutritional status of the most vulnerable.”

On this note, Mr. Ahmed Aufy the Marketing Manager at Elanco, a global health company that work to improve the health of animals through innovative products and services for pets and farm animals around the world, has shared some valuable intel when it comes to food safety and its impact.

When we asked Mr. Ahmed Aufy about his standpoint and expertise on how Food Safety impacts animal and human lives, he mentioned:

“Food safety is an intact approach which is designed to protect consumers from any hazards related to Salmonella infection and/or contamination in their food.”

He added on his answer, a brief about Human salmonellosis disease by saying that:

“Food-borne Salmonella poses a significant risk to human health where at global level impact millions of people’s lives.” He continues: “Data shows that 94 million humans get infected every year with about 155 thousand death.”

This brought us to ask him a very important question revolving around the Regulations impact and their Poultry disease’s management system, which he graciously answered as follows:

“It varies from country to another one. In some countries in EU, regulations are there and even advanced at all production and supply chain levels just to minimize the risk of infection. Regarding MENAGSE, regulators and authorities are giving special focus these days on the subject, we see a trend of ongoing investigations/discussions from several countries in the gulf region and even outside.”

Mr. Ahmed also continued to mention about the importance of live vaccines on counteracting Salmonella disease, by saying:
“Live salmonella vaccines represent more powerful solution as they work at the level of cell-mediated immunity where it can be used from day 0 which means earlier protection.”

Have you heard of the Lion Code? Perhaps you’ve read about its impact on Salmonella’s control History in the United Kingdom. Mr. Ahmed discussed with us the terminolody and he identified it as follows: “Lion code is a Britain’s specific method to stamp the eggs where it gives the message to the end users that the stamped eggs are safe for consumption.”

He continues:

“It is kind of regulations that were created at breeders, hatcheries, layers, packaging, feed mills and retailers with very extensive protocols just to avoid or minimize any kind of Salmonella infection or contamination. By other meaning protecting the entire production, supply and market chain to provide healthy and safe food.”

In addition of being the gold sponsors for MEVMAS 2022, Elanco will be discussing Food Safety and Dr. Ahmed Aufy will be there as a speaker where he will be having an in-depth speaking slot followed by participating in panel discussion where answers will be provided to all of the questions of the attendees at the Middle East Veterinary Medicine and Animal Science Conference, which will be from February 7-10, 2022; online.

For more information about MEVMAS and to register for FREE, please visit: www.mevmas.com

Articles General Spotlight
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Leveraging EC Houses for Bird Performance & Energy Efficiency

An Exclusive Interview with Poultry TRENDS magazine, Mr. Akshay Dhumal, Managing Director, Dhumal Industries shares why adoption of Environmentally Controlled ( EC) houses is a must for the industry and how this changes production levels and increases efficiency.

Excerpts of the interview is as under:

Q. How do you see the trend of environmentally controlled sheds in India?

There is widespread awareness about EC Houses all across India now. Majority of the Breeders are upgrading to Environment Control.

The medium & large farmers will plan their own farms where along with enhanced bird performance they will also get better uniformity & biosecurity. These kinds of houses are also very well suited for processing.

Q. The initial investment for EC sheds is high, how do companies like yours help producers move towards EC houses?

It’s a myth that Initial Investment in EC Sheds is high with changing modern poultry scenario and land cost. The two most important parameters about rearing a bird in EC and Farming generally as well is the volume of birds one can grow & the initial investment in terms of COST PER BIRD. Both of these parameters are only viable in EC and modern farming, the cost per bird is well justified in terms of the ROI and enhanced bird performance that we achieve in these kinds of houses.

Dhumal Industries is the only company in India and among few in the world that has developed technical expertise in structures as well as the equipment inside which enables our team to design & execute complex EC houses end to end. Our integrated approach means we can integrate the structure and housing equipment in such a way that it optimises bird performance, improves bio-security, and helps the producers transition towards EC Houses in an efficient & effective way.

The work that companies like us have put in over the years have ensured that the Initial Investment in EC Sheds is kept to an optimal and the farmers reap the benefits in terms of a faster payback on their investment.

Q. Is it possible to design an EC house according to the budget and needs of the poultry farmer?

It is possible to design and economise an EC house according to the budget and needs of the poultry farmer without compromising on the quality of the product. An example is our Ecolite series of houses, wherein we have developed a high tensile pre galvanised EC compatible steel structure along with curtains or panels especially for the individual farmer who grows chicken for an integrator on a fixed growing charge. Considering a standard fixed charge growing scenario in India, the grower can payback his investment in 3.5 years & establish a stable income source and means of sustainability for years to come.

Similarly, it is possible to build our Ecolite EC Houses for Layers farmers within a budget and also incorporate our unique plastic metal composite cages which makes it more ergonomic for the birds & farmers, and facilitates improved operational and automation levels.

Q. How important is the adoption of EC houses for the industry at the moment? Will this dramatically change production levels?

Efficiency, Bio security & Green Technology with animal welfare will be key for our poultry Industry going forward. Poultry – chicken & eggs is one of the best, cleanest and most difficult to adulterate kind of protein source available to us. Dhumal takes immense pride to work in an Industry where we are solving a real problem and playing our part to make proteins available to the masses at a competitive price comparable to other protein sources.

Adoption of EC Houses is already a trend for the poultry industry at the moment and it has dramatically changed production levels and brought in efficiency. Now we move on to the next phase wherein we focus on Operating efficiency and economics inside EC Houses, making sure we consume the lowest per capita of energy and resources per bird inside the poultry house and ensuring it comes from green and sustainable mediums.

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6 min read

Breeding Sustainability – Aviagen Illustrates CO2 Reduction Contribution to Global Poultry Industry

January 24, 2022 – HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – How can the food production chain meet the needs of the world’s ever-growing communities without overwhelming the planet? Aviagen® addresses this question through “Breeding Sustainability.” Sustainable poultry breeding contributes to a decrease in carbon emissions through a continuous improvement in biological efficiency, fitness and welfare traits. Feed Conversion Ratio (FCR) or the rate at which feed is converted to body weight is a key indicator of biological efficiency and has the greatest direct impact on the industry’s carbon footprint.

Due to an FCR improvement of 1.5-2.0 points per year, Aviagen contributes to a 1% year-on-year carbon footprint reduction. This video tells the story of the “FCR Advantage” through a balanced breeding approach, resulting in a yearly reduction in the poultry industry’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

Feeding the world, preserving the planet – The FCR advantage

The global population is growing. The United Nations (UN) estimates just over 8.5 billion people by 2030, and the world will face the challenge of providing food for everyone. The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2021-2030 predicts that meat production will need to rise by 44 million metric tonnes by 2030, with half of the increase supplied by poultry. The food industry currently contributes close to 25% of the world’s annual GHG emissions, and of this amount, poultry meat is responsible for about 6%.

As a result of FCR improvements, the modern broiler generates 50% less carbon footprint than the bird in 1970, and fast forwarding to 2030, the bird of the future will create a 15% lower carbon footprint than the bird of today.

In 2020, 133.3 million metric tonnes of poultry meat were produced globally, at a carbon cost of 6 kilograms CO2 for every kilogram of meat. That translates to 800 million tonnes of CO2.

“To illustrate the impact with a hypothetical example, based on our FCR gains, if every bird were an Aviagen bird, this amount would be reduced by 8 million metric tonnes per year. To put it in perspective, this is the carbon equivalent of flying around the world on a Boeing 747-400 5,906 times,” explained Aviagen’s Director of Global Genetics Dr. Santiago Avendaño. “As a poultry breeder, we are at the beginning of the food production chain, and we take our responsibility of contributing to the sustainability of the entire industry seriously. We have worked for years to breed efficiencies that make poultry production more sustainable, while at the same time advancing bird health, welfare and performance. Because we care about the planet, our customers and the communities they serve, we are committed to continually breeding for sustainability for decades to come.”

Breeding a greener future

Aviagen has made Balanced Breeding one of its top 5 corporate commitments. Balanced Breeding simultaneously promotes the Environmental, Economic and Social pillars of sustainability, helping farmers around the world feed their communities with a healthy, affordable and sustainable source of protein, while breeding efficiencies that help to preserve our planet for today and for generations to come.

Learn more here.

Join in the conversation at IPPE

This year at the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE), which takes place Jan. 25-27 in Atlanta, Ga., US, Santiago will delve into this topic in his presentation entitled, “Poultry breeding’s contribution to the environmental sustainability of the meat sector.” You may join him in this discussion on Jan. 26 11:30 am in booth B3649. To talk “Breeding Sustainability” with the Aviagen team, IPPE visitors can stop by booth B4225.

About Aviagen

Since 1923, Aviagen® has been a preferred global poultry breeding company with a mission to help its customers — the world’s chicken meat producers — supply sustainable, affordable and nutritious protein to their growing communities. Putting into practice its corporate value of “Breeding Sustainability,” Aviagen implements efficiencies that make commercial chicken production environmentally and socially responsible and economically beneficial to producers, while at the same time promoting bird performance, health and welfare.

To meet varied market demands, Aviagen offers a full portfolio of breeding stock under the Arbor Acres®, Indian River® and Ross® brand names. The Rowan Range® and Specialty Males® target slower-growing and other niche market needs. Aviagen is based in Huntsville, Alabama, US., with operations across the UK, Europe, Turkey, Latin America, India, Australia, New Zealand, Africa and the US, and joint ventures in Asia. The company employs close to 8,000 people, and serves customers in 100 countries.

For more information, please visit Aviagen.com, or follow Aviagen on LinkedIn.

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3 min read

IPDL Expo 2021 – A great success

After a gap of almost 2 years due to pandemic restrictions, the 2nd edition of IPDL Expo – North India’s biggest Poultry Exhibition was successfully organised from 17 to 19 December 2021 at New Grain Market, Karnal, HARYANA (India).

Organised by ADAMAS Events Pvt. Ltd., IPDL 2021 was supported by Broiler Breeders Association North (BBAN), Poultry Federation of INDIA (PFI), Poultry Farmers (Broilers) Welfare Federation (PFBWF), NSIC and MSME. Poultry TRENDS was the official media partner of the event.

The event was sponsored by Aastha Group of Companies while Aghi Group was the “Lanyard Sponsor”.

Spread over an area of about 2800 sqm, the exhibition was dominated by exhibitors from poultry farm equipment companies Like Quality Systems, Keyul Enterprises, Dhiman & Sons, Pollex Equipment, S.V Industries and many more followed by processing equipment manufacturers like Deccan Automation, Qumach Industries and allied industries.

Few Veterinary / Pharmaceutical companies like Cadila Healthcare, Varsha Group, Shukla Homeo Pharmacy participated while majority opted to play safe and abstain from participation. However, large number of seniors from the pharma and veterinary companies visited the event and commended with the outcome of the event.

A total of 95 exhibitors showcased their products and services.

Unprecedentedly, the IPDL Expo was inaugurated by the very first trade visitor on day 1. The 3 days exhibition attracted over 5000 plus trade visitors from Haryana, Punjab, Jammu, Himachal, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat as well as visitors from Nepal, who took the opportunity to network and update on latest available technologies.

Ensuring proper visitor safety issues, the organiser distributed free masks as well as hand sanitized every visitor on entry. Hand sanitizers were also available at each booth, and at the end of each day, the entire exhibition area was re- sanitized. The efforts were appreciated by one and all.

Mr. Ranpal Dandha (now President of PFI) was very enthusiastic about the event and shared that IPDL Expo was a very good initiative by organizers, especially for the North India’s market, which will support the industry to grow their business.

Mr. Gurwinder Bisla, President (BBAN) and Mr. F.M Sheikh, President (PFBWF) shared their happiness and excitement on the exhibition success.

The dates of next edition of IPDL Expo will be announced shortly. For participation queries, contact Mr. Yogesh Kaushik (Project Director) at +91 90343 66069. Website: www.ipdlexpo.com.

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Novus to Debut new Booth, Research at IPPE

SAINT CHARLES, MO (January 20, 2022) – Novus International, Inc., is bringing new research and a new look to the International Production and Processing Expo (IPPE), January 25-27, at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia.

As a global leader in health and nutrition solutions for the animal agriculture industry, Novus has been a long-time supporter of IPPE. The event in 2021 was held virtually due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Ed Galo, Novus vice president and chief commercial officer for Americas & EMEA said he and his colleagues are excited about this year’s in-person show.

“This is an industry built on relationships. There’s something about face-to-face conversation that fosters relationship-building in a way that a computer screen cannot match. We’re very excited to be back in Atlanta for IPPE,” Galo said.

IPPE attendees can meet with company representatives at the revamped Novus booth, #8139 in Hall B, during the Expo. Representatives will be on-hand to share how Novus trace mineral, eubiotics, enzyme, and methionine solutions can positively impact animal protein production.

Researchers will showcase Novus solutions during the International Poultry Scientific Forum (IPSF), held in conjunction with IPPE. These posters will be on display from 1:00 p.m. EST, January 24 to noon on January 25 in Room B313 Foyer at the Georgia World Congress Center.

Effect of Zn Methionine-Hydroxy-Analogue Chelate supplementation on performance and carcass quality of broiler chickens from Dr. Liris Kindlein of the Department of Preventive Veterinary Medicine at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul.
Effect of an essential oil blend on growth performance of broilers under different coccidiosis control programs from Dr. Frances Yan, senior research scientist at Novus.

A carryover from the virtual IPPE in 2021, the TECHTalk session are short, informative live presentations where attendees can gain quick knowledge that can directly impact their business. Held at booth #8579 in Hall B, Novus is presenting a TECHTalk session titled Understanding Mixer Coefficient of Variation and Troubleshooting by Application Systems Manager Dr. Jonathan Wilson at 3:00 p.m. EST on Tuesday, January 25.

For more information on Novus at IPPE, visit https://www.novusint.com/Events/novusatippe2022

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Aviagen Applies Latest Technology to Give Best of Both Worlds

Aviagen Applies Latest Technology to Give Customers and Internal Teams Best of Both Worlds for In-Person and Remote Support

New remote support high-technology solution is perfect complement to local personal support

Jan. 4, 2021 – HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Aviagen^® teams in Asia Pacific, Latin America and North America have combined their talents to create a new hybrid platform for heightened customer service and internal flock management. The new solution is made possible by a combined package of the latest in bonded cellular networking, mesh Wi-Fi, Augmented Reality (AR) headsets, specialist software and other technology. Thus, through live-streaming capabilities, for example, customers will be able to bring Aviagen experts virtually to the farm, hatchery, or any area of their facility where they need help on a pressing issue.

“Being there for our customers to ensure their continual success is our number one priority, and this new suite of tools is meant as a complement to the world-class support our customers get from their local teams. Thus, they could have immediate remote access to our array of specialists, both local and global, in addition to regular face-to-face personal support,” explained Aviagen CEO Jan Henriksen.

The end goal — Strengthening customer service

As a result of the new virtual solution, no matter where they are located on the globe, poultry producers can have the opportunity to receive rapid advice on performance improvements and solutions to their daily challenges, directly from Aviagen’s team of global specialists in genetics, veterinary service, nutrition, flock management, incubation and hatching, and more. This solution optimizes organizational efficiency by providing on-the-spot answers to pressing issues within a poultry operation.

“Aviagen is passionate about continually improving our service to customers,” explained Aviagen President of North America Marc de Beer. “While AR and Virtual Reality (VR) headsets are largely associated with gaming and entertainment, we have found an ideal application in business, which will elevate our support efforts by providing the perfect complement to one-on-one care and collaboration from our local Aviagen customer teams.”

“We are committed to leveraging the latest and most advanced technology to champion the success of our customers,” added Rafael Monleon, Business Manager for Asia Pacific. “Our new solution will enable our Aviagen experts opportunities to collaborate with customers in remote locations, resulting in faster solutions to challenges and best-practice advice to optimize their operations.”

“We are happy to maximize the effectiveness of our customer service team by putting to use technology to further expand their abilities. These advanced tools demonstrate our innovation, not just as a breeding company, but also as a technology business,” concluded Ivan Lauandos, President of Aviagen Latin America.

An added bonus – Increasing internal efficiency and collaboration

Aviagen will also use this technology to improve information and idea sharing, as well as training for its internal teams located in Asia Pacific, Latin America and North America. In fact, the company has already started applying this innovation internally, and will introduce it to customers in early 2022 based on a structured region by region roll-out.

About Aviagen

Since 1923, Aviagen^® has been a preferred global poultry breeding company with a mission to help its customers — the world’s chicken meat producers — supply sustainable, affordable and nutritious protein to their growing communities. Putting into practice its corporate value of “Breeding Sustainability,” Aviagen implements efficiencies that make commercial chicken production environmentally and socially responsible and economically beneficial to producers, while at the same time promoting bird performance, health and welfare.

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Introducing Water Activity as a Measure for Feed Quality Control (Part 1)

Food safety is one of the main buzz in the present time. As of now food safety was limited to only human and pet food with little concern of livestock feed. But with time now consumers are not only becoming more aware of the quality aspects of livestock rearing but also on the quality of inputs being fed to reared poultry & cattle. One important aspect of prepared feed quality is the stability of the final product.

Changes in physical, chemical or microbiological properties of feed can be considered loss of stability. Water activity (A_w) is one of several important parameters that affect stability of livestock feed. Water activity is a measure of the free moisture in a foodstuff. It is also defined as the quotient of the water vapor pressure of the substance divided by the vapor pressure of pure water at the same temperature.

The water activity scale extends from 0 (bone dry) to 1.0 (pure water) but most foods have a water activity level in the range of 0.2 for very dry foods to 0.99 for moist fresh foods.

Water activity need not to be confused with moisture content. Moisture content is the combination of free and bound moisture. Free moisture can be explained as water that is available to participate in physical, chemical and biological reactions.

Water activity plays a vital role in the microbial stability of ingredients and final livestock feeds. Bacteria, molds and yeast require water for growth; and every microorganism has a minimum water activity below, which it will not grow.

Mold can grow at water activity levels as low as 0.61. Types of mold, temperature and water activity play important role in determining growth characteristics like Penicillium roqueforti germinated at 0.82 A_w at 25°C, 0.86 A_w at 30°C and was unable to germinate at 37°C.

Formation of mycotoxins also depends on the type of mold, substrate and storage conditions, which include pH, temperature and water activity. Mycotoxins can be formed on cereal grains such as corn and wheat. Processing temperatures can kill the mold but will not remove toxins that are already formed.

Mold contamination can also occur during storage and transport of raw material. Development of mold during milling or in storage or in transit in raw material/final product can be avoided by maintaining the final water activity under safe level.

Moisture content has been used as a gauge to control spoilage in grain, feedstuffs, and feed stability for many years. Moisture content is, simply, the quantitative amount of water present in a substance or material. It affects the physical properties of the product, for example, density, weight, conductivity, viscosity and others (Jung, Lee and Yoon, 2018). The method to measure water content includes chemical (Karl Fischer titration), spectroscopic, conductivity and thermogravimetric analysis (Zambrana et al., 2019). In this industry, thermogravimetric analysis is commonly used to measure the moisture content, which is generally determined by weight loss upon drying (LOD). However, in this feed industry, a general practice of LOD is to set higher oven temperature of 120ºC – 130ºC which rendered this method to be inaccurate by 1-2% (Ahn at al., 2014). This is another topic which I will not discuss here.

The reason why we need to introduce water activity as a measure is because the moisture content in the system is not a reliable indicator of chemical reactions and microbial responses in feed pellets as it is only a quantitative analysis that determines the total amount of moisture present in the feed. For example, one safe product may contain 12% of moisture while the other containing just 10.5% of moisture may be more susceptible to spoilage.

Water activity (a_w) is a reliable measure for quality control in feed. Water activity was once defined as the amount of “free” or “available” water in a product as opposed to “bound” water. It was easier to conceptualize but failed to define the concept of water activity. The issue is not whether the water is “bound” or “free” but rather how tightly it is “bound” within the system. The correct definition of aw would be the measure of energy status or the escaping tendency of water in a sample. It indicates how tightly water is bound either chemically or structurally. A portion of the total water content in a product is strongly bound to specific sites such as hydroxyl groups of polysaccharides or carboxyl and amino groups of proteins (Mathlouthi, 2001). Water activity (a_w) is expressed as:

It is the ratio of vapor pressure of water in a material (p), in a completely undisturbed balance with the surrounding air, to that of vapor pressure of pure water under identical conditions (po). Equilibrium relative humidity (%ERH) is the relative humidity of the surrounding where material neither loses or gains moisture at a particular temperature (Mathlouthi, 2001). For example, if we assume that the pellets reached an equilibrium with the surrounding air, then it can be said that the a_w of the pellets will be larger or equal to the ERH(%)/100 of air drawn to the cooler. a_w range extends from 0 (bone dry) to 1.0 (pure water).

The commonly used equipment to measure aw is a water activity meter in which can be a benchtop equipment to be used in a lab or a portable equipment to be used in the feed mill. In a pellet feed production, feed samples from the mixer, cooler and the final bagging are collected and the a_w is measured to determine the safety and quality of the feed.

There are several factors influencing the a_w such as temperature, presence of solutes or a combination of both. Water activity is temperature dependent. As the temperature lowers, most products will have a lower a_w. Therefore, it is crucial to measure the water activity of the pellets in an area where there are no temperature fluctuations in the surroundings. Solutes such as sugar or salt present in the system will also affects the aw as they tightly bind with water, reducing the energy status or the escaping tendency of water in a sample (Reid, 2007).

Water activity is one of the most critical parameters in determining the quality and safety of feed. This is because water solubilizes the reactants and increases their mobility in the system, both of which can leads to faster deterioration in terms of feed safety, shelf life, flavor, texture and smell. Being aware of aw in feed is very beneficial in predicting the stability and safety with respect microbial growth, chemical and biochemical reaction rates, physical properties and etcetera. By controlling the water activity, it is possible to predict potential sources of spoilage and infections, maintain chemical stability, Control non-enzymatic and enzymatic reactions rate, optimize physical properties such as moisture migration, texture and etcetera.

Water activity - stability diagram — Figure 1. Stability in terms of degradative reactions rates and microbial growth limits as a function of water activity. Adapted from Labuza at al. (1972).

While pH, temperature and other factors can affect if and how fast organisms will grow in a product, water activity maybe the most significant factor in controlling spoilage. Microorganisms have a limiting aw level below which they will not grow and aw is the one that determines the lower limit of available water for microbial growth. Even at high moisture content, if the energy status of water is sufficiently low, microorganisms cannot utilize the water to support their own growth (Tapia et al., 2020).

Figure 2. Water activity limits for microbial growth examples of products in those ranges. Adapted from Tapia et al. (2020).

Different scenario of damages due to uncontrolled water activity

The “availability” of water in the system affects the rate of biochemical reaction such as nonenzymatic browning, enzymatic reactions, lipid oxidization, nutrients degradation, protein denaturation, starch gelatinization, starch retrogradation and supports microorganism growth (Figure 1). In general, when water activity decreases, the rate of biochemical reactions decreases. Therefore, controlling water activity is crucial in every stage of this industry, starting from grain storage, feed production to animals’ performance.

Feed stored under hot and high/low humidity

In a hot and high humid environment scenario, escaping water molecules gets trapped in the bag of feed increase the aw above 0.70 As the free water molecules condenses on the surface of the feed, the feed will grow moldy, badly degrading the entire bag of feed.

In a hot and low humid environment, the water molecules evaporate from the feed and escape out of the bag. Even though aw will not increase up to 0.70 sufficiently for microbial growth, the loss of moisture in feed will result in feed shrinkage. During this process, the free water molecules also contribute as a solvent to biochemically degrade essential micronutrients and lipids, compromising the chemical stability.

It is not about whether the feed will get moldy that dictates quality and shelf life. It is much more to a moldy problem.

Feed stored under hot and high/low humidity — Figure 3. Picture on the Left shows 50kg bag of feed stored under hot and high humidity environment while picture on the Right shows 50kg bag of feed stored under hot and low humidity environment.

Extruded fish feed stored in humid and poorly ventilated store

Double liner bag does not necessarily offer better protection to feed quality and better shelf life. The heat evaporates water molecules from extruded feed and now the free moisture gets trapped inside the bag. These moving free water molecules act as a solvent to biochemically degrade the micronutrients and lipids, compromising the nutrient and feeding value. The continue releasing of moisture from extruded feed increases the aw above 0.70, in which supports microbial growth, resulting in moldy feed.

Layer mash feed

Minerals and vitamins are highly reactive in heat and humidity. In hot tropical weather condition, once the premix portion (various essential micro-nutrients) is mixed with other raw materials in the production of mash feed, the compounded mash feed becomes a ticking time bomb. Due to activated water activities, essential micro-nutrient starts to degrade the moment it comes off the mixer. Chemical stability of the mash feed has been compromised. Why!

Many do not realize that compounded mash feed after the mixer has aw level ranging 0.70 – 0.75. As the compounded mash feed transit to the farm bin, the hot pounding tropical sun in just one afternoon can greatly instigate more moisture movement from within the feed. This increases in free moisture constantly increase aw, which can usually reach 0.85 by the time the feed reaches the feeding trough, even within 24 hours of transitioning from the mixer, farm silo bin, and to the layer house see Figure 5. Increasing aw first causes bio-degradation of essential micronutrients, life mold proliferation, and activates microbial growth once aw reaches 0.80.

This problem greatly impacts the overall egg quality (shell thickness, shell cuticle, egg yolk, egg white) and layers gut integrity (gut microbiota, digestibility of protein, ammonia/wet droppings issue)

Due to the uncontrolled moisture movement, the rate of biochemical reactions increases, degrading the essential micro-nutrients such as vitamins, trace minerals and amino acids present in the feed. There are many factors which affect the stability of vitamins such as temperature, moisture, pH, oxygen, light, catalyst, inhibitors, interactions with other component, energy and time, shown in Figure 6 (Gadient, 1986). Most vitamins are stable up to three months if they are stored properly, however, once they are mixed with other components such as oxidative trace minerals in the mash feed, they start to lose their potency rapidly when exposed to moisture, air and temperature. Some of the major deficiency symptoms of water-soluble vitamins found in layer is that it affects the egg production, quality and hatchability as well as the growth and quality of chick (Leeson, 2015). Since the effect of deficiency of vitamins in hens are detrimental and vitamins are prone to destruction, quite often than exception, over formulation is a practice in poultry nutrition. Poultry breeder have put in their best recommendations based on genetics requirement with different scenarios. It did not cost much to be over-generous in the past. However, the cost of these essential micronutrients supplements has been increasing over the years. Over-formulation does not guarantee the bioavailability of vitamins to the animals.

Figure 6. Factors causing the loss of vitamin during storage and processing in feed (Gadient, 1986).

To be continued…..

Water activity is a critical parameter not only in controlling the quality of feed but also in preservation and handling of various feed ingredients. Keep watching this space for some interesting stuff next month on raw materials preservation & handling and use of water activity as a measure.

References:
Ahn, J. Y., Kil, D. Y., Kong, C. and Kim, B. G. (2014). Comparison of Oven-drying Methods for Determination of Moisture Content in Feed Ingredients. Asian-Australasian journal of animal sciences. 27(11). 1615–1622. 10.5713/ajas.2014.14305

Airaksinen, Sari. (2005). Role of Excipients in Moisture Sorption and Physical Stability of Solid Pharmaceutical Formulations.

Araba, M. and Dale, N. (1990). Evaluation of Protein Solubility as an Indicator of Overprocessing
Soybean Meal. Poultry Science. 69. 76-83. 10.3382/ps.0690076.

Gadient, M. (1986). Effect of Pelleting on Nutritional Quality of Feed. Proceedings of 1986 Maryland Nutrition Conference for Feed Manufacturers (USA). 73-79

Jung, H. B., Lee, Y. J. and Yoon, W. (2018). Effect of Moisture Content on the Grinding Process and Powder Properties in Food: A Review. Processes. 6. 69. 10.3390/pr6060069

Labuza, T.P., McNally, L., Gallagher, D., Hawkes, J. and Hurtado, F. (1972). Stability of Intermediate Moisture Foods. 1. Lipid Oxidation. Journal of Food Science. 37. 154-159.10.1111/j.1365-2621.1972.tb03408.x

Leeson, S. (2015). Vitamin Deficiencies in Poultry. MSD Manual Veterinary Manual.

Mathlouthi, M. (2001). Water Content, Water Activity, Water Structure and the Stability of Foodstuffs. Food Control. 12. 409-417. 10.1016/S0956-7135(01)00032-9

Ibáñez M.A., de Blas, C., Cámara, L., Mateos, G.G. (2020). Chemical Composition, Protein Quality and Nutritive Value of Commercial Soybean Meals Produced from Beans from Different Countries: A Meta-analytical Study. Animal Feed Science and Technology. 267, 114531

o'Connor, L., Favreau-Farhadi, N. and Barrett, A. (2017). Use of edible barriers in intermediate moisture food systems to inhibit moisture migration. Journal of Food Processing and Preservation. 42. e13512. 10.1111/jfpp.13512.

Reid, D.S. (2007). Water Activity: Fundamentals and Relationships. In Water Activity in Foods (eds G.V. Barbosa-Cánovas, A.J. Fontana, S.J. Schmidt and T.P. Labuza). 10.1002/9780470376454.ch2

Tanaka M., Kimiagar M., Lee TC., Chichester C.O. (1977). Effect of Maillard Browning Reaction on Nutritional Quality of Protein. In: Friedman M. (eds) Protein Crosslinking. Advances in Experimental Medicine and Biology. 86. Springer, Boston, MA. 10.1007/978-1-4757-9113-6_22

Tapia, M.S., Alzamora, S.M. and Chirife, J. (2020). Effects of Water Activity (a w ) on Microbial Stability as a Hurdle in Food Preservation. In Water Activity in Foods (eds G.V. Barbosa-Cánovas,
A.J. Fontana, S.J. Schmidt and T.P. Labuza). 1002/9781118765982.ch14

Zambrano, M., Dutta, B., Mercer, D., Maclean, H. and Touchie, M. (2019). Assessment of Moisture Content Measurement Methods of Dried Food Products in Small-scale Operations in Developing Countries: A Review. Trends in Food Science & Technology. 88. 10.1016/j.tifs.2019.04.006

Previous article by Dr. Naveen Sharma:

Grain Storage Challenges In Hot Weather Conditions

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