POULTRY VALUE CHAIN: LESSONS FROM INDIA.

Broiler production in India is projected to increase by approximately 8% to 4.2 million tonnes in 2016 on rising demand from the growing middle class.Local estimates believe that demand for processed chicken meat is growing between 15-20% per year, according to a recent USDA GAINS report.The organised sector produces an estimated 80% of total chicken meat production, and is mainly concentrated in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and West Bengal. The live poultry market constitutes 90 to 95% of total sales since most consumers prefer freshly culled chicken meat. Within the last ten years, many broiler enterprises have vertically integrated their operations, especially in southern and western India. Approximately 60-70% of all operations use the integrator model, while the remaining are smaller backyard operations. Integrator' s own all the hatcheries, feed mills, and slaughter facilities, and contract with multiple smaller farmers who raise the chicks to slaughter weight primarily in open air sheds. One integrator may have as many as 20,000 contracted farms, however, in a few cases integrator's may sell chicks or feed without requiring a contract. Some integrator's also provide credit, extension services, and veterinary medicine. At the end of the production cycle, the live birds either are purchased by the integrator's for slaughter and further processing, or by a middle man/wholesaler, eventually arriving at a live bird wet market for local sale. For 2016, egg production is forecast at 80 billion eggs, up 5% from last year. In order to mitigate rising transportation costs and better maintain quality control, poultry companies are reportedly establishing more layer farms near highly urbanised areas. The processed chicken meat sector is growing at a rate between 15-20% per year due to the growing middle class, which reportedly has positively affected sales not only in retail, but quick service restaurants and the hotel, restaurant, and institutional sector. A few major poultry companies have started expanding their slaughtering and processing facilities, and are beginning to offer a wider range of processed chicken meat products for the retail sector like frozen chicken burgers, salamis, nuggets, sausages, and tikkas. India's per capital consumption of poultry meat is estimated at around 3.1 kg per year, which is low compared to the world average of around 17 kg per year. India's per capital consumption of eggs is estimated at about 62 eggs per year. More and more people are shifting to poultry and poultry by-products,as a means of livelihood, employment opportunities and providing more protein for the nation.The sector provide various points of investment opportunities,which are very profitable. portions of story from world poultry.

NEW INSIGHTS ABOUT INSECT INCLUSION IN ANIMAL DIET.

The EC-funded PROteINSECT project has today released an up-to-date review and analysis of the current status of insects as a viable, sustainable, additional source of protein for use in animal feed in Europe. 

 In 2015, fish, poultry, and pig feeding trials are being conducted in 2015 in Europe (Belgium and UK) based on PROteINSECT UK derived insect protein whereas, fish and chicken feeding trials will be conducted in China, Mali and Ghana with insect protein being sourced from PROteINSECT partners within each country. 

 According to PROteINSECT, consumers are willing to consume food from animals that received insects in the feed, as long it is mentioned on the food label, according to the majority. The contribution that insects can make to addressing the protein deficit and to help address the global challenge of future food security.

 Insects are rich in protein and are a natural component of the diets of carnivorous fish and freerange poultry. Fly larvae can be reared on a wide range of wastes and by-products and offer a potential way of recovering value from materials that may be disposed of by agriculture and food industries. 

 House fly and black soldier fly production systems have showed favourable results in terms of their space requirements but considerable improvement within the systems that PROteINSECT has evaluated is required to improve the heating related energy usage and water consumption.

The supply of organic waste is increasing along with demand for animal products; production of insect protein presents an opportunity to produce low value waste and produce high value products for inclusion in animal feed. read more ; world poultry.

Insects as protein source for animal feed.

Insect Farming Is taking Shape as demand for animal feed rises;As the world grows hungrier for animal protein, insects could be the new way to feed livestock. However, food producers are likely to feel the pinch as the world’s population climbs to nine billion by 2050, while rising incomes in large countries like China and India lead to greater demand for meat-rich diets. So entrepreneurs, researchers, and even the United Nations are looking for an animal feed less expensive than the soybeans and fish meal typically used today. Insects like mealworms and fly larvae, a natural food for wild birds and fish, could be a near-perfect replacement. With several startups planning industrial-scale operations, it may not be long before some poultry or fish entrées are raised on a regular diet of bugs. 15 % of all wild-caught fish goes to feeding farmed fish, pigs, or poultry. Soybean production, about 95 percent of which goes into animal feed, has seen a significant spike since the 1990s and will reach record highs this year. But unless yields can be significantly increased, continuing this surge would mean gobbling up additional land and water. Not only do insects use far less of these resources than soy, but they also feed on food waste. Furthermore, they’re comparable to soy in protein content. Breeding trials conducted by the E.U. initiative PROteINSECT have found that one hectare of land could produce at least 150 tons of insect protein per year. By comparison, soy planted over the same area yields just under a ton of protein per year. Feeding trials also suggest that a bug-based diet will produce bigger, stronger livestock. In its 2013 report on edible insects, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. pointed to several studies on fish and Japanese quail in which ground crickets replaced up to 50 percent of the fish meal in their feed. The fish outperformed counterparts fed traditional diets on every growth parameter, and the cricket-fed quail laid more eggs than the control group. story credit; http://www.technologyreview.com/news/529756/insect-farming-is-taking-shape-as-demand-for-animal-feed-rises/

PORCINE EPIDEMIC DIARRHOEA VIRUS .(PEDV)

PED is to become a notifiable disease in England from Friday December 18,2015 and pig-keepers and vets will be legally required to inform the Animal and Plant Health Agency of any suspicion of the disease. PED remains a significant threat to British pig-keepers. Outbreaks of high-impact strains caused up to 100% mortality in young pigs in the United States, knocking out around 10% of pig production in 2013-2014. The disease has since spread to Ukraine. Even with milder European Union strains, piglet mortality as high as 70% has been reported.The aim will be to prevent spread of PED and to eliminate the disease from the pig unit. There will be no requirement to slaughter affected animals. story credit; pig process.

MANAGING COCCIDIOSIS..

The critical control points for coccidiosis vaccination; effective way of preventing coccidiosis is vaccination at the hatchery. This only works out well if critical points are taken into account, both at the hatchery as well as in a later stage at the farm. Vaccination against coccidiosis in poultry is used mainly in broiler, turkey and layer breeder flocks; commercial layer flocks reared on the floor; antibiotic free broiler operations and some commercial turkey grower operations. Vaccinating with a coccidiosis vaccine in conventional broiler operations is increasing rapidly, mainly in a rotational programme with anticoccidials, aiming at restoring the sensitivity of the anticoccidials. Whatever the reason for vaccinating with a coccidiosis vaccine, attention to some critical factors will determine the level of success of establishing immunity against coccidiosis. The Eimeria parasites given during the vaccination, infects the intestinal cells and continues its life cycle inside the gut. Un sporulated oocysts are excreted after 5-7 days, time depending on the species; the oocysts then sporulate outside the bird, given suitable environmental conditions exists, and after re-ingestion of these sporulated oocysts, infection and another cycle starts. Immunity development is dependent on successful excretion of oocysts and then re-ingestion of these sporulated, shed oocysts. Depending on the species, 2-3 infection – excretion – re-ingestion – re-infection – excretion cycles are needed to acquire a protective immunity. The vaccination process and the subsequent development of immunity, irrespective of the application method, can thus be divided in two distinct areas:Vaccine application – ensuring uptake of the vaccine . Post vaccination management include ; ensuring suitable environmental conditions for sporulation exists and recycling of the sporulated oocysts takes place. The necessary procedures to actually check the vaccine uptake by the birds must be implemented. Adding a suitable dye to the vaccine makes this possible by randomly checking boxes/crates of chicks/poults and see if they actually did ingest the vaccine by counting the number of chicks/poults in the box/crate with a dye colored tongue . . Recycling of oocysts and monitoring Oocyst shedding can be measured by sending faecal samples to a lab that is capable of doing an Oocyst Per Gram (OPG) count. Faecal material (NOT bedding) is collected at specific intervals post vaccination: Chickens at days 7/14/21/28 post vaccination Turkeys at days 6/13/20/27 post vaccination. The first count should be positive. This is a very good indicator of the effectiveness of the vaccine application done in the hatchery as well as an indicator that the vaccine that was used was still infective. The second count should show a significant increase. This is used as an indicator that the shed oocysts sporulated and re-ingestion of these shed oocysts have taken place. Read more ;world poultry.

BACTERIAL ENTERITIS.(BE)

Elanco Animal Health recently released findings from its fourth Bacterial Enteritis Global Impact Assessment (BEGIA), providing interesting insights into ongoing trends of a disease that continues to have important impact on our industry. Diarrhoea and wet litter continue to be the signs most often associated with emerging cases of Bacterial enteritis. The 15 years of survey data shows that prevalence and economic loss continue, while early intervention becomes a more favored strategy as the years progress.This year's results confirm those from past surveys: BE continues to be very prevalent and affect productivity and profitability. However, the 2015 survey also found some interesting new trends in treatment initiation, perhaps as a way to mitigate these effects. Diarrhea and wet litter continue to be the signs most often associated with emerging cases of BE (as found in 2005 and 2010), and necropsy and clinical observation are still the preferred methods for diagnosing BE. High percentages of respondents associate coccidiosis with increased prevalence and severity of BE . Most respondents agree that preventing coccidiosis reduces issues at processing .The vast majority of respondents agree that BE prevalence and severity increase when coccidiosis is present. The respondents were asked to look at photos of intestinal lesions and assess at what stage of illness they believe economic damage was likely to occur. About half of respondents said they believe economic losses begin at the earliest stage, an increase of nearly 5% compared to 2010 .Survey participants also seem to be trending toward earlier flock treatment, with most indicating they would initiate treatment when 5-20% of the flock is infected (Figure 8). In 2010, respondents favoured treatment when 20-30% of the flock was infected. Treatment options remain the same;More than 75% of the survey participants indicated that their end-customers (retailers, slaughterhouses, exporters, etc.) preferred a preventive approach to managing disease. When it comes to preventing BE, respondents find water treatment and growth-promoting feed additives the most effective options, this trend that hasn't changed since 2010 . story credit; World poultry.

DDGS AND POULTRY FEED.

Distillers Dried Grain with Solubles (DDGS) is the result of extracting ethanol from grains through dry milling.The corn kernel, which is a source of food for humans and animals, its also a source of ethanol, a fuel source. Dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) offer nutrients and energy, DDGS can be sourced from corn, rice, wheat, sorghum and are highly useful for livestock and poultry. Ethanol producers only use the carbohydrate fraction of the corn kernel. The protein, fiber, minerals, and vitamins are returned to the animal food system in the form of distillers’ grains which are fed to beef cows and swine.This results in millions of tons of high protein animal feed and although 40% of the crop is often cited as the amount of corn used for making ethanol . DDGS derived from corn is an excellent feed ingredient for use in layer, broiler, duck and turkey diets and contains approximately 85% of the energy value in corn, has moderate levels of protein and essential amino acids, and is high in available phosphorus. DDGS from corn in the ethanol industry are considered to be waste,(distillers) but can still have a use as a feed ingredient. It is a very cheap source of crude protein, crude fibre, available phosphorous, unsaturated fatty acids and essential amino acids. This is an effective alternative to soya and corn in the poultry diet with the added benefit that it reduces feed costs by replacing soya in the diet as the price of soya is very high . The inclusion of DDGS in poultry diet has many advantages; birds fed with DDGS have a better feed intake, feed conversion ratio, body weight gain. The DDGS inclusion improves meat and egg quality by enriching it with omega-3 fatty acids (Linoleic acid) which is good for heart patients. There is improved phosphorous availability and therefore there is less phosphorous excretion.This prevents environmental pollution due to high phosphorous bio availability and less exogenous phosphorous is supplemented and this reduces the feed cost.