Poultry intensive production

The nature of the conditions of intensive production, however, can increase the risk of diseases and infections which can spread very rapidly and devastate large numbers of animals." Thus it is common practice for producers of poultry to add coccidiostats to their diets and vaccines to their drinking water in order to prevent coccidiosis and other infectious diseases such as bronchitis and Newcastle disease. A similar problem exists for intensively reared fish, where it is necessary to add antibiotics to their diets. A problem with intensively reared fish is that their diet is added directly into the water in which they live thus drugs and other additives in the diet are relatively easily dispersed into the local environment of fish farms, where they can increase bacterial resistance and also cause problems such as algal blooms. 

Coccidia are intracellular protazoal parasites that are frequently found in the intestinal epithelial cells of animals they are also found in other tissues (liver), and are usually transmitted by faecal infection. The potential for infection is at its highest when young animals are brought together in intensive housing systems (e.g. poultry-broiler production). As a result coccidiosis is a major issue for the poultry industry throughout the world. 

From the 175 analysed samples of different cereals, 139 (74.3%) samples contained at least one of the trichothecenes listed above. Most often, samples contained DON it was present in 121 samples (69.1% of all samples). 15-AcDON and nivalenol were found in 16.0% and 5.1% of investigated samples, respectively. In Table 10, the concentrations of trichothecenes determined in samples of maize, wheat, barley, oats, and triticale are given. Further, 7 samples of fodder pea, one sample of rye and one sample of millet were analysed, but none of them contained any trichothecene. It is obvious, that most often DON was present in wheat, maize, triticale, oats, and barley, which represent the largest part of the meal in the intensive production of poultry and pigs in Slovenia and worldwide (Binder et al., 2007). 

Clancy, Kate. Greener Eggs and Ham The Benefits of Pasture-Raised Swine, Poultry, and Egg Production. Cambridge, Mass. Union of Concerned Scientists, 2006. The Union of Concerned Scientists looks at e production, poultry, and pigs and presents an alternative to the intensive production methods in predominant use. 

However, as the negative animal welfare impact associated with caged and other intensive indoor production systems became apparent, animal welfare became a primary driver for consumer demand and product differentiation in the poultry sector. As a result, both organic and conventional free range products have achieved significant market shares and price premiums compared to products from intensive indoor production in most European countries (Hamm et al., 2002). 

Renema R.A., Robinson F.E., Feddes J.J., Fasenko G.M. and Zuidhoft M.J. (2001). Effects of light intensity from photostimulation in four strains of commercial egg layers 2. Egg production parameters , Poultry Science, 80, 1121-1131. 

Birds are especially sensitive to biotin deficiency, at least partly because their intestinal flora make little or no contribution to biotin intake. This is of considerable commercial importance with intensively reared poultry. In adult birds, biotin deficiency does not affect egg production, but does reduce the amount of biotin in the eggs, thus impairing embryonic development. In severe deficiency, the hatchability of the eggs can fall to near zero. 

Hayes, E.T., Curran, T.P., Dodd, V.A. A dispersion modelling approach to determine the odour impact of intensive poultry production units in Ireland. Bioresource Technology 97(15), 1773-1779 (2006)... 

There are reports from several countries that the types of farms converting were skewed towards moderate to low intensity livestock farms, particularly milk production in marginal areas, and farms with mixed cropping (Schneeberger et ai, 1997 Schulze Pals et al., 1994). Specialist cropping farms (arable and horticulture) as well as intensive pig and poultry producers, seemed to be less attracted by the available payment rates. To address this problem, Denmark introduced in 1997 a supplement of 230-266 ECU/ha/year for three years for arable farms without milk quota and pig farms. 

Halofuginone is of particular interest as a dmg orphan candidate to treat scleroderma [130, 131]. It has been intensively investigated for control of diseases involving collagen biosynthesis and some cancer types [131, 132]. The main application of its hydrobromide salt is as a curative and prophylactic agent, used to treat protozoan veterinary infections, mainly in commercial poultry and cattle production [131]. 

In relating nutrition and infection, two areas of Importance must be considered (1) public health, i.e., the prevention and treatment of human disease and metabolic disorders and (2) livestock and poultry production. The production of meat, fibre, and animal materials continues to be a more intensive operation in the agricultural system of this country and the world. The number of high density systems or confinement operations will continue to increase. With the expansion of these operations, new and more severe problems of disease control have appeared. The nutritionists that develop diets for these confinement operations are responsible not only for providing the basic nutrient requirements, but are also called upon to optimize the health of the animals through diet to reduce the impact of infection and other stresses We hope the information presented here will be a step in that direction. 

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