Review of the Food-borne Zoonoses Research ... - ARCHIVE: Defra

Project code: LK0665
Project title: Improving gut health and nutrient capture of broiler
chickens through selection for innate immune function
Start date (dd/mm/yy): 01/01/2006
End date (dd/mm/yy): 31/12/2008
Total cost:
£351, 814 ( Defra: £174,813, Other funders:
£177,001)
Affiliation: Institute for Animal Health, Compton
Sub-contractor(s):
Abstract of research
The UK poultry industry faces numerous challenges in order to remain sustainable.
These include the imminent move to more extensive rearing systems; the withdrawal of
prophylactic and many therapeutic antibiotics, and other drugs such as anti-coccidials;
resistance and residue problems with anti-helminthics. These challenges will all have an
impact on poultry health, but also have the potential to impact on human health, as
increased incidence of food-borne zoonotic pathogens in chickens, for example, has the
potential to lead to an increase in these diseases in man, It is important that poultry
breeders are able to select for genetic improvement in performance when birds are
reared in such environments, which should also lead to improvements in nutrient capture.
This programme will seek to
- provide a bridge between conventional positional (QTL) and physiological candidate
gene approaches to identify genes controlling variation in innate immune responses
- define the extent of genetic variability in loci that influence the innate immune response
of the chicken and relate this to resistance/susceptibility to Salmonella and
Campylobacter, and also the impact of these variations on nutrient capture
- determine the relevance in commercial broiler populations of genetic variation in
immune response found in inbred research lines
- provide new opportunities for selective breeding of commercial broilers for improved
innate resistance to enteric disease and hence improved nutrient capture and food safety
Review summary
The main aim of this project is to increase innate immunity in broilers, and thus increase
resistance to low-level pathogens in the environment. This supports the sustainable
approach to disease control. If commercial lines of chickens which are resistant to
salmonella and/or campylobacter infection become available it could have a major impact
on this reservoir of infection.
It is too early to say whether this approach will be a success. At the time of review this
project was only 50% completed and had suffered some delays, however, access to new
equipment should enable the time to be recovered.
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