An NFU Poultry Research Seminar gave scientific experts the chance to update the industry on their work in a range of vital areas. Michael Barker reports
The ongoing battle against poultry disease was a key focus at an NFU research seminar in March, where expert speakers also detailed their work across bird welfare, efficiency and sustainability.
Avian influenza was unsurprisingly top of the agenda at the event, and Gordon Hickman, head of exotic disease control at Defra, updated delegates on how the government is working with industry to develop a strategy to combat AI and what role vaccination could play in the response.
Issues around trade and the need for proportional surveillance to support vaccination are the main concern for the UK currently, Hickman explained. The risks to trade were perfectly exemplified late last year with the US decision to ban French poultry imports on the back of France’s duck vaccination programme.
“The World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) says that as long as you do vaccination and surveillance properly, there should be no barrier to safe trade,” Hickman said, “however that’s easier said than done, and that’s the main area that we probably need to focus on.”
The UK’s current approach to vaccination is that it is not permitted in kept birds outside of zoos, however emergency vaccination (most likely funded by government) or voluntary vaccination (funded by industry) could quickly be rolled out should it be deemed necessary.
The joint government and industry Avian Influenza Task Force was set up to work through all of these issues and make recommendations to ministers, and Hickman provided an update on its progress. The task force is taking a wide approach, looking at everything from research and legislation to defining what the industry needs, how effective the measures are, what potential vaccines are available, and issues around surveillance, trade and cost. “The first thing we did was have a look at what we want from a UK vaccine policy for it to be safe and effective,” he said. “That’s the primary takeaway, as there’s no point in rolling out a vaccine that isn’t safe or is going to cause more problems, because those birds are going to go into the food chain at some point.”
Hickman went into further detail on the pros and cons of a vaccination programme. To be effective, he said some 80% of the flock level would need to be vaccinated to gain a level of ‘herd immunity’, and that a DIVA (Differentiating Infected from Vaccinated Animals) vaccine would be required to spot the difference between vaccinated birds and any natural infection.
Ideally, the programme would be targeted at day-old chicks to avoid the birds having to be picked up several times during their lifetime. The impact of maternally-derived antibodies is another area of consideration, and any programme needs to be under the control of a competent authority, and be UK-wide and not just England going it alone.
As well as the potential impact on trade and identifying what surveillance should look like, there are issues around a shortage of vets, and cost – typically speaking, it is estimated to cost a problematic £1,500 per month per epidemiological unit to vaccinate. And then there’s the communication angle, with retailers and the public needing to be brought on board.
Hickman stressed that as the task force considers the next stages, nothing is a substitute for good biosecurity. “What we want to do now is to write this work up, get ministerial agreement, get agreement across all the administrations and then start drawing up the vaccination strategies and plans so that we can go to trading partners and say ‘we don’t currently plan to vaccinate, but if we did, this is how we would do it. How would you see it?’”
Fighting disease
Expanding the focus beyond just AI, Professor Ash Banyard, Influenza and Avian Virology Workgroup leader at APHA and head of the National Reference Laboratory for Influenza and Newcastle Disease, discussed the FluMap and the newly launched FluTrailMap. These aim to respond to the evolving nature of AI and further scientists’ understanding of the transmission and infection in different bird populations, including how the virus transmits from wild birds to farmed poultry. The projects are also examining the gaps in biosecurity that allow the virus to penetrate premises and how these may be addressed, as well as scrutinising the role of immunity in wild birds in the evolution of the virus, and how vaccination might impact upon outbreaks.
In a further development, Banyard cited a soon-to-be-launched project called iPrepare that will also seek to catch gulls, crows and other wild birds, understand what levels of antibodies they have and explore how they might be a bridge to commercial poultry.
Discussing the ongoing threat of salmonella, Dr Shaun Cawthraw, Salmonella in Poultry Research Team lead at APHA, described a rolling four-year Defra-funded study looking at salmonella incursion in the field. Responding to an outbreak of MDR S. Infantis (SI) in broilers, the project has been carrying out extensive field work to understand a problem that is both a public health concern and difficult to eliminate from poultry farms. The research is looking for applied solutions with direct relevance to the farming industry, such as improved diagnostics, vaccines, disinfectant efficacy and on-farm biosecurity.
Priorities for future work include raising awareness of SI in the industry, improving understanding of biosecurity breakdowns, looking at the efficacy of disinfectants against salmonella and examining long-term immunity relating to extended lives of laying flocks, among other things.
Better beaks and the question of manure
Dr Sarah Struthers, postdoctoral research fellow at the Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, spoke about the potential of breeding for better beaks as an alternative approach to mitigating feather pecking damage. Her work has found that hens with blunter beaks tend to have better feather cover and less mortality, and she indicated that selection of birds with naturally blunter beaks could help reduce the damage caused by severe feather pecking. Conducting both a live hen study and a study with a pecking robot, Struthers found that hens with sharp beaks removed more feathers, leading her to conclude that beak shape traits could be included in future breeding programmes. However she also warned that selection of certain beak shapes – specifically shorter and curved beaks – could lead to lower egg production. Factors beyond sharpness, such as other beak shape traits and behavioural motivation, could also play a role in the ability to cause damage.
Among the other speakers on a packed seminar programme was North Yorkshire poultry farmer David Throup, who undertook a Nuffield scholarship looking at poultry manure from the angle of storage, bi-product capabilities and the impact on environmental sustainability. Among his conclusions, he found that manure from the broiler industry is generally drier and therefore may be better suited to energy production and layers for fertiliser. Poultry manure is not a waste product and value can be added to it, but it cannot be stored outside for the long term without having an environmental impact. As every poultry enterprise manages their operation differently, a solution that works for one farm may not benefit another. Throup called for clearer guidance on legislation and said further funding should be made available for R&D, while industry collaboration is needed to further knowledge.