A rapid increase in corn use in ethanol plants, and subsequent creation of distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) by-products, has led to an increase in the use of DDGS in the diets of livestock. DDGS has been used all over the world as a dietary ingredient and this has necessitated more research to be conducted on its quality, nutritive values, and recommendations for feeding to poultry. Currently, there have been a limited number of research publications regarding corn DDGS as an ingredient of diets for poultry. Approximately 100 scientific papers can be found which cover a variety of topics, with various degrees of depth into each. The purpose of this review is to collate the available information to date on the application of corn DDGS as an ingredient of poultry diets that can be easily accessed by researchers and nutritionists. This review presents the current state of knowledge of nutritive values of various corn DDGS ingredients, summarizes recommendations for using DDGS in diets for laying hens, broilers and turkeys, and reports the environmental ramifications when utilizing corn DDGS in poultry feed. In spite of the great amount of variation in nutritional properties of corn DDGS originating from various sources, it has been concluded that good quality corn DDGS, especially when derived from new generation plants, can be a viable ingredient in poultry diets.

The economic and social changes occurring in the former socialist and communist countries of Central and Eastern Europe point to the need for more intensive consumer-based market research. In the international research and business use the country-of-origin (COO) labelling has become one of the factors that distinguish products. The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of COO information on brand perception and the consumer evaluation of other chicken meat properties. The present article concentrates on the results of the primary quantitative research, which was carried out using a method of individual personal interviews. A sample was consisted of was 500 Slovenian poultry meat consumers aged between 18 and 65 years. Special attention was paid to the COO of chicken meat. In the research the Slovenian consumers evaluated internal and external properties of chicken meat originating from various countries. The survey showed that COO affected the brand perception and evaluation of other properties of chicken meat. A positive assessment of Slovenian chicken meat and the impact of chicken meat origin in the process of its evaluation were evident from the survey. The present study is one of the first to empirically examine and confirm the impact of COO information on brand perception and the consumer evaluation of other meat properties. This research aims to develop a better understanding of the effect of COO on brand evaluation and other product properties evaluation.

Antibodies deposited in the avian egg have been found to be a platform for the production of a diverse array of safe commercial products for improving animal health and the efficiency of their production. This review provides over 20 years of experience and comments on the production, storage, stabilisation and use of egg yolk antibodies. Host targeted immuno-therapies presented in this review provides the reader with new areas of research and discovery. Standards for vaccination protocols, methods of isolating and storing the antibodies are also presented. Areas needing to advance the commercial use of egg antibodies, including methods to improve antibody titre, methods to heat stabilise the antibody molecule, and the identification of new uses and targets are also discussed. Examples of successful uses of egg antibodies as feed additives are also presented.

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

Starch, the major source of carbohydrates in commercial avian diets, is the most abundant storage polysaccharide in plants. Native starches differ in granule size, amylose to amylopectin ratio and amylose structure. Extrusion in simple terms is a process of cooking under pressure, moisture and elevated temperature. There are several effects of extrusion processing on protein, lipid and starch by changing physical, chemical and nutritional properties. Yet, starch plays a key role during extrusion, and undergoes several significant structural changes, which include starch gelatinisation, melting and fragmentation.

Related literature gives no consensus on the impact of extrusion processing; hence this review will give an overview on factors affecting gelatinisation degree of starch and the effects of extrusion processing on performance and nutrients digestibility in poultry.

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

Poultry industries face various decisions in the production cycle that affect the profitability of an operation. Predictions of growth when the birds are ready for sale are important factors that contribute to the economy of poultry operations. Mathematical functions called ‘growth functions’ have been used to relate body weight (W) to age or cumulative feed intake. These can also be used as response functions to predict daily energy and protein dietary requirements for maintenance and growth (France et al., 1989). When describing growth versus age in poultry, a fixed point of inflexion can be a limitation with equations such as the Gompertz and logistic. Inflexion points vary depending on age, sex, breed and type of animal, so equations such as the Richards and López are generally recommended. For describing retention rate against daily intake, which generally does not exhibit an inflexion point, the monomolecular would appear the function of choice.

Village chickens can be found in all developing countries and play a vital role in the livelihood strategies of many poor rural households. The implementation of effective village poultry production programmes in Asia, Africa and Latin America has resulted in increased poultry numbers, household purchasing power, home consumption of poultry products and decision-making power for women.

The rapid and wide geographical spread of highly pathogenic avian influenza subtype H5N1 has drawn attention to the neglect of village poultry health. This crisis has presented an opportunity to invest in improved village poultry husbandry that can make a positive contribution to human development in rural areas across a range of endeavours including: empowerment of women (increased productivity, knowledge, participation in community life as vaccinators, etc); HIV/AIDS mitigation; wildlife conservation through a reduction in bushmeat consumption; improved understanding of disease transmission, prevention and control, human nutrition and hygiene; and, most importantly building trust between communities and government agencies.

Key recommendations to support technically sound and sustainable Newcastle disease control programmes in village chickens include encouraging veterinary pharmaceutical manufacturers to develop and observe a code of conduct that supports the supply of appropriate vaccine with an adequate shelf life, giving instructions in local languages, using temperature indicators in vaccine containers and discouraging the payment of commission on the purchase of vaccine. Quality assurance activities should be built into all vaccination programmes to improve cost-efficiency, and should include post-vaccination serological monitoring of a representative sample of birds, especially when a new vaccine or new disease control programme is introduced. Also required is the participation of farmers (male and female) in monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of vaccination campaigns; and active collaboration with the Ministries of Agriculture, Health and Education in village poultry improvement programmes.

In this review, the production of poultry in the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) is described. Data from field observations, published works, government and other documents are presented. Some 95% of poultry, which in Ethiopia are overwhelmingly domestic fowl, are kept in villages, mainly under scavenging, systems, and only 5% are in industrial systems. Poultry are kept by about 60% of households. Most households in the highlands keep birds whereas far fewer do so in the pastoral lowlands. ‘Average’ households own a flock comprising 6-10 birds, and genetic resources are almost entirely indigenous in the scavenging system. National poultry meat production is of the order of 76,000 tonnes and egg production approaches 80,000 tonnes. Annual production per bird is 55-80 eggs for scavenging fowl, of which about half are used for replacement and the remainder for consumption and sale. Disease is an important constraint to production. More attention should be given to smallholder producers, as this, together with interventions in housing, sanitation, nutrition and disease control would greatly increase output and have a positive impact on human health and nutrition. Smallholder producers would be the principal beneficiaries of these interventions in improvements to food security and nutritional status and in reduced production risk.

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

Poultry production is an important livestock sector in Serbia. It accounts for about 12% of the total value of country's livestock production. Providing relatively cheap food of high quality it is nowadays of particular importance due to economic transition problems and the consequent economic crisis that the country has faced since the beginning of the 1990s. However, despite the sector's importance, poultry production has actually had no institutional support for many years, and the poultry population, as well as broiler meat and table eggs production, has significantly declined over the last two decades. The sector is characterized by insufficient level of concentration, specialization, vertical integration and efficiency. It is estimated that small-scale farms and backyard poultry production in Serbia account for more than half of poultry meat production and two thirds of egg production, with a significant seasonal impact on local markets. The following paper gives an overview of both commercial and small-scale poultry production in Serbia and examine the major economic constrains to and opportunities for poultry sector improvement needed in view of Serbia's prospective EU integration.

Fusarium mycotoxins are structurally diverse chemically distinct groups of fungal metabolites which are prevalent globally. Economically important Fusarium mycotoxins include trichothecenes, zearalenone and fumonisins. Deoxynivalenol (DON, vomitoxin), and its acetylated forms, are the most commonly encountered trichothecenes in grains used for poultry feeds. Early experiments, conducted for short periods or using single purified compounds, showed that poultry were resistant to DON. More recent experiments, utilising naturally contaminated grains fed to poultry for extended durations, have shown that combinations of Fusarium mycotoxins pose significant risks to poultry performance and health. Turkeys appear to be more sensitive to Fusarium mycotoxicoses than chickens, while ducks have proven to be the most resistant poultry species. This review discusses various aspects of mycotoxicoses in poultry fed diets containing grains naturally contaminated with Fusarium mycotoxins.

Bangladesh first experienced highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in early 2007 and the National Reference Laboratory for Avian Influenza (NRL-AI) at BLRI diagnosed and confirmed the presence of H5 sub-type virus on 15 March 2007. Until May 2009, NRL-AI observed 323 H5 and three H9 positive cases. Gene sequencing of 25 isolates of 2007 and 2008 demonstrated 99.1 to 100% identical genetic structure, indicating a single introduction of the virus in Bangladesh. It also clearly demonstrated that Bangladeshi isolates belong to the sub-clade 2.2 popularly known as Qinghai lineage or Euro-Asian-African lineage with highest similarities to those from Kuwait, Mongolia, Russia and Afghanistan. The close similarities between the HPAI isolates of these countries with Bangladeshi isolates suggest that migratory birds might be responsible for initial introduction of HPAI in Bangladesh as the country has no poultry trade link with these countries. Identifying possible risk factors in the spread of HPAI in the country was examined through descriptive as well as case control studies. It was revealed that, in most cases, mortality in backyard chicken flocks preceded an outbreak on commercial farms. Poor management and breaches in biosecurity practices appeared to have significant role in the spread of HPAI. The poultry industry in Bangladesh faced a terrific financial loss in 2007 and 2008 due to the incursion of avian influenza, which was estimated to be at Taka 3858 crore (38580 million). The prices of broiler declined by about 28% while the price of eggs decreased by 26.5%, as more than one third of consumers refrained from consumption of broiler meat and eggs. As a result of this market collapse, many farm owners were compelled to abandon poultry production because of loss of capital.

In the past 20 years, broiler production has increased in hot climate countries, due to a greater potential for further growth. Thus, there is a necessity to improve thermotolerance of broilers produced in hot climates. Incubation period will become increasingly important in enhancing thermotolerance, because higher temperatures during incubation may lead to an elevation of the thermoregulatory set-point after hatch. Two recent experiments, conducted to determine the effect of high incubation temperature (INCHIGH) from d 10 to 18 on hatching performance and carcass characteristics of broilers, have been compared with broilers from incubated at control temperatures (INCCONT). INCHIGH resulted in a delay in external pipping and hatching times compared with INCCONT. There was no incubation temperature effect on the weights of bursa of fabricius, spleen and lungs, and moisture content of chicks but lowered heart and liver weights. When broilers exposed to daily cyclic high temperature from 21 to 42 d, slaughter weight of broilers from INCCONT reduced while heavier body weight and breast yield were obtained in broilers from INCHIGH. It was concluded that higher incubation temperature from d 10 to 18 for 6 h/d had no effect on chick weights and minimized the negative effect of heat stress on slaughter weight and breast meat yield.

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

Improving the fowl's natural ability to clear Salmonella from their body is important in reducing disease prevalence in poultry flocks, as recommended by a recent regulation of the European Commission. It may be efficient, as expected from estimation of heritability coefficients : 0.16 in chicks and 0.18 for global contamination of hens. The animal's age has to be considered since the genetic correlation between resistances at the two ages is negative. Selecting two series of divergent lines for increased or decreased resistance, after inoculation at one week of age (chick resistance) or at the peak of lay (adult resistance) confirmed the efficiency at least of selection for the adult resistance. In parallel, genes controlling variations to Salmonella resistance were researched and several QTLs identified in crosses between experimental lines and, for some of them, confirmed in commercial lines. Thanks to the derivation of a model of Salmonella propagation within a flock, it has been shown that a combination of vaccination and genetic selection can result in very low percentage of contamination.

The growth rate of poultry meat production is not sufficient to satisfy the per capita meat requirement in Bangladesh. Therefore ways to improve the efficiency of the existing production technologies must be investigated if these demands are to be met. This review examines ways this could be achieved. The technical, allocative and economic efficiency of poultry meat production based on farm level survey data was estimated using the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) approach. The study used 100 commercial poultry farms in Bangladesh for the calendar year of 2007. The results demonstrated that there is substantial technical, allocative and economic inefficiency in poultry production in Bangladesh. Under the constant return to scale (CRS) specification, technical, allocative and economic efficiencies were 88, 70 and 72% respectively, whereas under the variable returns to scale (VRS) specification those efficiencies were 89, 73, 66% respectively. Thus, the results indicate that efficiencies varied substantially across the sample farms. In order to attempt to explain some of these variations, the efficiency scores were regressed based on farm specific variables such as the farmer's age, education, experience, total landholdings, poultry farm size and level of training using a Tobit regression framework. The estimated DEA model identified that there is great potential for increasing poultry farm efficiency using the existing level of inputs and resources more efficiently. Specifically it showed that the level of education and training the farmer receives are two of the most important factors contributing to the variations in efficiency seen during this study. These research findings are valuable to policy makers and extension workers in order to guide policies towards increasing efficiency.

The reaction of free radicals with polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) initiates a chain-reaction process known as lipid peroxidation in living systems and oxidative rancidity in foods. PUFAs are more susceptible to oxidation, resulting in the formation of toxic products. As embryonic tissues are characterised by high concentration of PUFAs, the use of antioxidants in broiler breeder diets improves chick oxidative status. Eggs ‘in shell’ are considered resistant to oxidative rancidity, however studies showed that yolk lipids within table eggs oxidise during storage and this oxidation is influenced by time and temperature of storage and the degree of unsaturation of yolk fatty acids. Thus, experiments into supplementing laying hen diet with antioxidants have been conducted to preserve the table eggs nutritional value. The literature shows that vitamin E has antioxidant activity in the egg yolk, protecting embryonic tissues efficiently during incubation and in the first days of a chick's life. However, these studies have not considered the effect of this vitamin on incubation yield. Without this economic variable, the positive results observed in the embryo and for chick oxidative status have little value for application in the field, mainly because the concentrations recommended in studies are much higher than those used in practice. Other antioxidants, e.g. canthaxanthin, act in synergy with vitamin E, however, the high cost of these ingredients could prevent its use for broiler breeders. This review discusses the effect of vitamins (especially vitamin E) in broiler breeder's and laying hens nutrition on oxidative stability of embryonic tissues and table egg yolk lipids, respectively.

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

The concept of environmental sustainability is crucial for the development of human actions, and it is one of the most important concerns of the European Union that requires attention in all of the economic sectors. In particular, the potential environmental impact of livestock is well known and has been one of the most important constraints on the development of animal breeding in certain areas. The main aim of this paper is to compare the environmental impact of different poultry production systems: conventional, organic and organic-plus. Organic-plus has more restrictive requirements than the organic system for improving animal welfare (i.e., use of slow-growing strains and 10 m2 pasture/bird), and the quality of the product. For environmental evaluation, life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used in this review, which is a method to evaluate the environmental impact of products, activities and services, based on a 'cradle-to-grave' approach. This article provides information for improving the environmental impacts in a process of assessing the sustainability that is specific for poultry production. An important recommendation can be drawn from this study: great attention has to be paid to the feed production phase, since it contributes more to the systems than animal rearing does to the environmental impact of the overall system. With reference to the comparison among the systems, our results show that the organic system has the best environmental performance because it not only has the lowest impact values for two of the most important impact categories (i.e., respiratory inorganics and fossil fuels), but it also has the lowest values for most of the remaining categories. LCA provides important data and specific indicators that can be used in a wider process for the analysis of sustainability, and to adapt and improve production systems. Taking into account the entire life cycle, the organic system has shown a better environmental performance than the organic-plus system. On the other hand, the organic-plus system improves animal welfare and meat quality, which are not considered by LCA. Therefore, to reach an equilibrium among all of these factors (namely environment protection, animal welfare and meat quality), it would be necessary to find a production system that conciliates them into one coherent scheme.