1. Research papers use a variety of methods for evaluating experiments designed to determine nutritional requirements of poultry. Growth trials result in a set of ordered pairs of data. Often, point-by-point comparisons are made between treatments using analysis of variance. This approach ignores that response variables (body weight, feed efficiency, bone ash, etc.) are continuous rather than discrete. Point-by-point analyses harvest much less than the total amount of information from the data. Regression models are more effective at gleaning information from data, but the concept of "requirements" is poorly defined by many regression models. 2. Response data from a study of the lysine requirements of young broilers was used to compare methods of determining requirements. In this study, multiple range tests were compared with quadratic polynomials (QP), broken line models with linear (BLL) or quadratic (BLQ) ascending portions, the saturation kinetics model (SK) a logistic model (LM) and a compartmental (CM) model. 3. The sum of total residuals squared was used to compare the models. The SK and LM were the best fit models, followed by the CM, BLL, BLQ, and QP models. A plot of the residuals versus nutrient intake showed clearly that the BLQ and SK models fitted the data best in the important region where the ascending portion meets the plateau. 4. The BLQ model clearly defines the technical concept of nutritional requirements as typically defined by nutritionists. However, the SK, LM and CM models better depict the relationship typically defined by economists as the "law of diminishing marginal productivity". The SK model was used to demonstrate how the law of diminishing marginal productivity can be applied to poultry nutrition, and how the "most economical feeding level" may replace the concept of "requirements".
Three sets of experiments were conducted to explore the increase in recovery of Campylobacter from broiler carcasses after defeathering. In the first set of experiments, live broilers obtained from a commercial processor were transported to a pilot plant, and breast skin was sampled by a sponge wipe method before and after defeathering. One of 120 broiler breast skin samples was positive for Campylobacter before defeathering, and 95 of 120 were positive after defeathering. In the second set of experiments, Campylobacter-free flocks were identified, subjected to feed withdrawal, and transported to the pilot plant. Carcasses were intracloacally inoculated with Campylobacter (10(7) CFU) just prior to entering the scald tank. Breast skin sponge samples were negative for Campylobacter before carcasses entered the picker (0 of 120 samples). After defeathering, 69 of 120 samples were positive for Campylobacter, with an average of log10 2.7 CFU per sample (approximately 30 cm2). The third set of experiments was conducted using Campylobacter-positive broilers obtained at a commercial processing plant and transported live to the pilot plant. Just prior to scalding, the cloacae were plugged with tampons and sutured shut on half of the carcasses. Plugged carcasses were scalded, and breast skin samples taken before and after defeathering were compared with those collected from control broilers from the same flock. Prior to defeathering, 1 of 120 breast skin sponge samples were positive for the control carcasses, and 0 of 120 were positive for the plugged carcasses. After passing through the picker, 120 of 120 control carcasses had positive breast skin sponge samples, with an average of log10 4.2 CFU per sample (approximately 30 cm2). Only 13 of 120 plugged carcasses had detectable numbers of Campylobacter on the breast skin sponge, with an average of log10 2.5 CFU per sample. These data indicate that an increase in the recovery of Campylobacter after defeathering can be related to the escape of contaminated feces from the cloaca during defeathering.
The presence of salmonellae in fertile broiler hatching eggs has been clearly identified as a critical control point in the salmonellae contamination of broiler chickens. This paper reviews the published research studies on a) the penetration and proliferation of salmonellae in hatching eggs, b) the consequences of this contamination on the contamination of the final product, and c) the egg's defenses against invading salmonellae. A better understanding of the material in this review paper will assist poultry researchers and the poultry industry in continuing to make progress in reducing and eliminating salmonellae from fertile hatching eggs, hatcheries, and breeder flocks.
Horizontal spread of Salmonella during hatching of broiler chicks was studied in three experiments. In each experiment, 120 unincubated, fertile hatching eggs were inoculated by immersion for 15 min in a 16 C physiological saline solution containing 1 x 10(8) colony-forming units per ml of a nalidixic-acid-resistant strain of S. typhimurium. When inoculated eggs were transferred to hatchers after 17 to 18 days of incubation, control eggs at the same stage of incubation were added to the same tray and to trays above and below the tray containing inoculated eggs. Fertile inoculated eggs hatched at a rate of 86%, despite the high level of Salmonella contamination, indicating that chicks in eggs contaminated with salmonellae are likely to hatch and may contaminate other chicks in the same hatcher cabinet. Air samples showed a sharp increase in contamination in the hatcher at 20 days of incubation. Approximately 58% of mouth swabs and 90% of chick rinses were Salmonella-positive, in both inoculated and control eggs. In samples from inoculated eggs, Salmonella was detected in the digestive tract of 8% of embryos at transfer from incubator to hatcher and in 55% of chicks at hatch. From control eggs, 44% of digestive tracts of hatched chicks were positive, indicating that Salmonella in a contaminated hatcher can reach the gut of chicks hatching from Salmonella-free eggs before they are removed from the hatcher.
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