During the 2024 International Production & Processing Expo, six researchers presented their findings from recently completed research projects funded by the U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and its foundation as part of the TECHTalks sessions offered during the expo. All the researchers’ presentations have been made available on USPOULTRY’s YouTube channel.

Mitsu Suyemoto, research specialist, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University, presented research findings on “Competitive Inhibition of Pathogenic Enterococcus Cecorum (EC) by Avirulent Strains.” She gave an overview of the disease and its history, noting that the disease attacks the gut, spleen and spine of birds with variable field mortality — between 2% and 15%. Suyemoto said that “the normal EC strains may be useful as probiotics to competitively exclude pathogenic EC during the critical first stage of gut colonization in EC infections.”

As part of his research findings on “Enhancing Immunogenicity and Protective Efficacy of Recombinant Infectious Laryngotracheitis (ILT) Vaccines in Broiler Chickens,” Dr. Ravi Kulkarni, assistant professor, population health and pathobiology, North Carolina State University, explained that ILT is a very contagious respiratory disease of chickens that can lead to significant economic losses. The goal of his project was to design a vaccine with optimal immune priming, enhanced immunogenicity and anti-ILT protection. Kulkarni concluded that “results provided two significant value-added findings which may lead to the development of a more effective ILT vaccine for the industry.”

Dr. Prafulla Regmi, assistant professor, Department of Poultry Science, University of Georgia, provided information on a research project titled “Automated Tracking of Laying Hens in Cage-free Aviary Environment Using Affordable Radio-Frequency Identification (RFID) Chips.” The objective of the study was to track space utilization in cage-free aviary hens through RFID chips. Regmi said that “hens were tracked from 29 to 40 weeks of age, and their daily activity within the bottom, middle and top tier of the aviary were quantified.” Findings showed that incidences of keel fractures significantly corresponded to hen’s activity level, where low-activity birds show evidence of less fractures than high-activity birds.

The findings of the study “Evaluation of Egg Wash Sanitizers to Reduce Salmonella Contamination on and in Turkey Eggs” was presented by Ted Brown, senior food scientist, Cargill Food Safety and Scientific Services. The purpose of this study was to determine the most effective hatch egg sanitizers to reduce Salmonella contamination on the external egg surface and to determine if hatch rates are impacted by the egg surface sanitizers tested. Hatching eggs were treated with quaternary ammonia, chlorine, thymol, peroxide, peracetic acid and bromine. Brown concluded that “the peroxide product proved to be the most effective egg sanitizer at reducing Salmonella prevalence on the egg surface by more than 73%.”

During his presentation on “Identification of Genetic Determinants That Facilitate Campylobacter jejuni Survival During Poultry Processing,” Dr. Jeremiah Johnson, associate professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee, said that Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a leading cause of bacterial-derived gastroenteritis in the United States due to its ability to asymptomatically reside within the intestinal tracts of poultry. His project aimed to construct C. jejuni mutants to see if they can survive in aerobic and/or refrigerated temperatures and if they are able to colonize chickens. Results revealed that mutation of only one specific gene significantly reduced aerobic, refrigerated survival. Moreover, that mutant was unable to colonize chickens. 

Dr. Brian Jordan, associate professor, Department of Population Health, University of Georgia, gave a presentation on the results of his investigation into the “Cause and Prevention of False Layer Syndrome.” He explained that false layer syndrome (cystic oviduct) has been documented but is not a frequent presentation of most layers that appear to be outwardly normal but never come into egg production. Jordan reviewed the two experiments conducted for his project. The first study evaluated variables that influence the development of cystic oviducts in specific-pathogen-free chickens. The second study evaluated how adding infectious bronchitis virus vaccines influenced the development of disease after IBV challenge. Jordan concluded that the data demonstrates that vaccines alone may influence the severity of lesions after challenge but are not sufficient to prevent the oviduct from being affected from a pathogenic early challenge.

Source: U.S. Poultry & Egg Association