Direct measurement of ventilation rate in livestock housing can be a formidable task due to uncontrollable variations in fan and system performance as caused by factors such as operation static pressure, fan belt condition, and dust accumulation on shutters and blades. Indirect, CO2-balance method offers a potentially viable, more flexible alternative to estimating ventilation rate. The reliabi...

Viral pathogens cause devastating economic losses in poultry industries worldwide. The Caribbean region, which boasts some of the highest rates of poultry consumption in the world, is no exception. This review summarizes evidence for the circulation and spread of eight high-priority, economically important poultry viruses across the Caribbean region. Avian influenza virus (AIV), infectious bron...

Endotoxins as components of organic dust may have adverse effects on the respiratory health of workers in poultry buildings. The move towards more welfare-friendly housing systems for layers may increase worker exposure to air contaminants due to the use of litter. The endotoxin concentrations in the inhalable fraction of airborne dust (below 100 µm) from cage and alternative system houses (on-...

Fractures of the keel bone in laying hens occur frequently within free-range systems and are a significant welfare concern. As poultry farmers have increasingly adopted this type of housing, it becomes more urgent to address the problem of such fractures. More than 80% of free-range birds could be affected, compared to 36% of birds in furnished-cage systems (Wilkins et al., 2011). A hen’s abili...

NEURAL NETWORKS by LIN LIU (Under the Direction of Takoi Hamrita) ABSTRACT To understand the relationships among ambient temperature (AT), relative humidity (RH) and broiler deep body temperature (DBT), controlled experiments were conducted for different RH (50 and 80%) and AT (31, 34 and 37C) combinations. The DBT measurements were collected by a radio biotelemetry system. Three types of Artif...

Decontamination of poultry or animal housing areas over the last few decades has often involved the use of formaldehyde gas which, although very effective [l, 2,3,4], is a known carcinogen [4]. Various approaches have been used to release the gas, which is usually generated by adding formalin to potassium permanganate. The process by which the gas is generated has varied over the years from man...

There is considerable global concern over the newly emergent H5N1 strain of avian influenza that has affected millions of domestic poultry flocks and resulted in 256 human cases and 152 deaths in humans. There has been little analysis of the general assumption that smallholder backyard poultry flocks are inherently at higher risk of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) than confined and com...

During the past decade, the inclusion of microbial phytase in poultry diets has increased remarkably, mainly in response to heightened concerns over phosphorus (P) pollution of the environment. The capacity of this feed enzyme to release phytate-bound P and reduce P excretion is now well documented. Effectively, phytase is an alternative, economical P source and, as global phosphate reserves ar...

Introduction Reports of bedding shortages in the poultry industry and escalating costs can be traced back more than 60 years. This situation has often occurred in the more concentrated broiler producing areas such as the Delmarva Peninsula and the Shenandoah Valley. With rising production capacity over the years the demand for bedding by poultry industry increased. At the same time there have b...