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Moussa Diarra is evaluating every angle of broiler production to help producers improve the way they manage their barns and their birds. It’s a big project that’s taking a one health approach to look at how factors like ventilation, weather, feed and breed can influence bird performance, health and environmental impact.
“Poultry is an important protein, but global warming adds a real risk for bacteria that thrive at higher temperatures,” says Diarra, research scientist with Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada (AAFC) at the Guelph Research Development Centre. “We are looking for sustainable efforts to develop innovative new approaches to poultry production by looking at all the factors that impact poultry production together.”
Diarra wants to offer broiler producers new ways to improve farm practices, and it means getting up close with the big, complex world of tiny microorganisms. These include bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites found in the barn, bird, water and feed – and are collectively referred to as the microbiota. He’s collaborating on this research with Wen Chen, AAFC Ottawa, Xin Zhao, McGill University and Duta Animesh, University of Guelph.
Looking for links
By studying all these microorganisms in broiler barns – and comparing them to all the elements that affect broiler production – Diarra is looking for links and connections that could uncover new options for producers to manage biological and management factors.
It’s a significant undertaking. You can’t see the microorganisms that make up the microbiota in a barn, but they are everywhere, and are all affected by weather (bacteria thrive in hot temperatures), breed and feeding program.
“It’s important that we do this research on commercial broiler operations to generate farm-based data on different types of farms,” says Diarra. “By analyzing all the microorganisms we found throughout the entire production system, we are looking to connect the dots to be able to predict bird performance from every angle.”
Gathering farm-level data
To date, Diarra and his research team have collected data from nine commercial broiler farms in Ontario that cover conventional feeding programs, raised without antibiotics and raised without medically important antibiotics. They gathered on-farm weather conditions, broiler breed (Ross or Cobb), performance as well as cecal samples for microbiota to better understand their interrelationships. By characterizing microbiota they found, the researchers are also looking for bacteria that may have probiotic possibilities as an antibiotic alternative.
They are now gathering samples and production data from nine commercial broiler farms in Quebec.
Results to date
Diarra’s research has shown that poultry productivity and health are linked to the farm’s management and raising environment – key factors that shape the composition, structure and function of the bird’s gut and litter microbiome. Here are some early results of interest.
A prescription for performance
“By analyzing the microbiome in the barn – as well as in the diet, weather, feed and breed – we can come up with a prediction of how to improve key production parameters like body weight gain, feed conversion ratio and mortality rate,” says Diarra. “We will also be able to predict the impact of these activities on greenhouse gas emissions.”
What that might look like on-farm could be a “prescription” for using a certain type of feed for a certain breed during a specific season that would improve broiler productivity – all driven from an understanding of how the various microorganisms interact to impact the bird.
This research is funded by the Canadian Poultry Research Council as part of the Poultry Science Cluster which is supported by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada as part of the Sustainable Canadian Agricultural Partnership, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
