US & Russia help keep chickens immune
develop healthier means of raising battery hens has produced a
probiotic feed which is said to protect the poultry from various
strains of bacteria.
A joint project between US and Russian scientists to try and develop healthier means of raising battery hens has produced a probiotic feed which is said to protect the poultry from various strains of bacteria.
The project, which has been running since 2000, has involved the United States Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service (USDA/ARS) and the Scientific Research Center of Applied Microbiology (SRCAM) in Obolensk, Russia. The two organisations have been working on identifying and developing naturally occurring probiotic feed additives, which can protect chickens from pathogenic bacteria such as Campilobacter, Salmonella, Staphylococcus, and E. coli. These pathogens cause huge losses in the US and Russian poultry industries, and are the same bacteria responsible for food borne disease and even death in humans.
The basic principles of probiotic feed are to utilise naturally occurring antagonist bacteria, which are nonpathogenic for both chickens and humans, to inhibit the growth of dangerous pathogenic bacteria. These so called antagonist bacteria act as a natural, cost effective and humane way to protect chickens and possibly other animals by improving the overall health of the chicken and eliciting infection fighting probiotic compounds; a 1-2 punch which appears to significantly reduce poultry losses due to infection and may prevent passage to humans.
SRCAM scientist Dr. Eduard Svetoch is leading this research effort, reporting to USDA scientist Dr. Norman Stern in Athens, Georgia US. A recent message from Dr. Stern stated: "I have completed my very favorable review of Dr. Svetoch''s report for ISTC #1720 [the code for the project]. Dr. Svetoch and his colleagues should be highly commended and supported for the intensity and quality of work being conducted on this project. The importance of the work has been recently recognised by a cooperative research contract with a US poultry company who is interested in the commercialisation of the end products that are being developed. Additionally, ARS is in the process of applying for the initial patent coming from these studies and we intend to present two posters at an upcoming international meeting in September."
In addition, Dr. Patrick Russo, the ISTC Partner Project Manager for project 1720 and coordinator for all USDA/ARS projects at ISTC stated: "Project 1720 is a model partner project with both Russian scientists and US scientific collaborator taking very active part in technology development, testing and commercialisation of the project results. The end result is a potentially valuable way to decrease poultry disease with a natural, cost effective method, which can benefit the multi-billion dollar poultry industry while impacting food safety."
The ISTC is an intergovernmental organisation dedicated to the nonproliferation of weapons technology of mass destruction. The Center coordinates the efforts of numerous governments, international organizations, and private sector industries to provide weapons scientists from Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries with opportunities to redirect their talents to peaceful science.
