Location: Poultry Production and Product Safety Research
Project Number: 6022-32420-001-039-R
Project Type: Reimbursable Cooperative Agreement
Start Date: Oct 1, 2020
End Date: Sep 14, 2025
Objective:
The objective is to improve U.S. agriculture’s capacity to meet future protein demands through enhanced production, resiliency, environmental sustainability, and enterprise profitability based on practical, ecologically based, poultry system innovation.
Approach:
The project team assembled has a complex and complementary set of interdisciplinary scientific and practical skills necessary to do the following:
1. Identify novel alternative feed ingredients for enhanced sustainability of broiler production. We will develop novel feed ingredients to enhance gut health, weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and reduce ammonia production in chickens.
2. Develop strategies to promote bird welfare in intensive broiler production. We will develop novel non-invasive monitoring systems to control moisture and enhance air quality and litter quality in broiler houses.
3. Enhance broiler meat safety by controlling Salmonella and Campylobacter in chickens. Novel phytogenic compounds will be optimized as feed additives to reduce these pathogens in chickens. Novel nano carrier systems to improve the delivery and efficacy of phytochemicals in chicken gut will be developed. We will bird trials under controlled conditions and on-farm studies at local farms to validate the efficacy of proposed treatments in controlling foodborne pathogens.
4. Delineate the bacterial resistome in poultry production environment, and develop strategies for reducing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) spread. As part of this study we will evaluate AMR gene transfer from the animal host (the microbial production environment) to the soil environment. In addition, this work will focus on determining the feasibility of probiotics to reduce AMR gene movement from the animal host to the environment. Additionally, we will identify and characterize movement and fate of AMR genes through the production cycle of broiler chickens [antibiotic/probiotic induction—to the intestinal track—feces—pen environment (air and water)] and to manure land application.
