Skip to main content
ARS Home » Southeast Area » Athens, Georgia » U.S. National Poultry Research Center » Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #360404
Research Project: Evaluation of Management of Laying Hens and Housing Systems to Control Salmonella and Other Pathogenic Infections, Egg Contamination, and Product Quality

Location: Egg and Poultry Production Safety Research Unit

Title: Salmonella Enteritidis invasion of internal organs and contamination of eggs from experimentally infected laying hens of four commercial genetic lines.

Author
item Gast, Richard
item REGMI, PRAFULLA - North Carolina State University
item Guraya, Rupinder - Rupa
item Jones, Deana
item ANDERSON, KENNETH - North Carolina State University
item KARCHER, DARRIN - Indiana University-Purdue University

Submitted to: American Association of Avian Pathologists
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/28/2019
Publication Date: 8/2/2019
Citation: Gast, R.K., Regmi, P., Guraya, R., Jones, D.R., Anderson, K.E., Karcher, D.M. 2019. Salmonella Enteritidis invasion of internal organs and contamination of eggs from experimentally infected laying hens of four commercial genetic lines. American Association of Avian Pathologists. p. 55.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: The prevalence of Salmonella Enteritidis in commercial egg-laying flocks is a public health concern because reproductive organ colonization in infected hens causes deposition inside eggs. Flock housing conditions can influence avian Salmonella infections, but the food safety implications are unclear. The present study assessed internal organ invasion and egg contamination by Salmonella Enteritidis (SE) in experimentally infected laying hens of 4 commercial genetic lines (2 white egg and 2 brown egg lines). Groups of hens from each line were housed at similar stocking densities in both conventional cages and enriched colonies. All hens were orally inoculated with 10e7 cfu of SE. In 2 trials, portions of 5 internal tissues were removed at 1 wk post-inoculation and cultured to detect SE. In 2 other trials, eggs laid 5-24 d post-inoculation were cultured for the pathogen. Significant (P < 0.05) differences in SE isolation from intestinal samples and eggs were seen between individual hen lines. The overall SE recovery frequencies from intestinal samples (69.5% vs. 43.8%) and eggs (3.4% vs. 1.6%) were significantly greater for the white lines combined than for the brown lines. No line or housing differences were seen for other organs. One brown line yielded greater intestinal SE isolation in conventional cages than in enriched colonies, but housing did not affect egg contamination frequencies for any line. These results demonstrate that SE colonization of the intestinal tract and deposition in eggs can vary between genetic lines of egg-laying hens. However, egg contamination was not influenced by different housing systems.