WATT PoultryUSA - October 2011

phases of development. For this reason, the industry may see an increase in single-stage incubation.

and abroad in a safe and ef;cient manner. So, even though challenges do exist, the outlook is for a pro;table, safe and ef;cient poultry industry. ■

Bird health through immune
modulation, coccidiosis control

The ;nal speakers in the symposium dedicated time to other important support areas, including bird health through immune modulation, coccidiosis control and antibiotic use.

Lillehoj focused on the future of using immune modulation. The concept is to provide birds with nutritional ingredients that interact with immune cells to initiate a defense response. By improving immune response, the bird will be able to have better health and respond to its genetic predisposition through good nutrition and management. In this regard, current research is focusing on the use of probiotics and prebiotics, bacteriophages, essential oils and herbs, and bioactive phytochemicals.

The recent withdrawal from the market of 3-Nitro (Roxarsone) as a coccidiosis control by P;zer was a response to consumer concerns about using an arsenic compound in poultry feed. This loss will drive future studies for coccidiosis control in the poultry industry.

Coccidiosis control is a $90 million industry in the USA and a $3 billion industry worldwide. According to Mathis, there can be greater than 700 trillion oocytes in a 40-ft. by 400-ft. house at one time. With those numbers in mind, we can see how the industry’s future will be focused on continued coccidiosis control.

Dunham also indicated that ingredient additives will have to be the future of the poultry industry to control health. Even though some of these replacements will not be as good as 3-Nitro and antibiotics, the response to consumer groups is clear and research to de;ne replacements will be important to the future of the industry.

that the poultry industry has been very successful in all aspects discussed above. The industry is now able to produce a 2. 5 kg male broiler at 35 days of age, a 20 kg turkey at 20 weeks of age and 335 eggs in 365 days.