8 research outputs found
How can incubation conditions improve the resilience of chicken production in Africa and Europe in the context of global warming?
International audienceGlobal warming affects livestock and especially poultry production, due to a higher variability of environmental conditions and average global temperatures, heat waves, risks for feed supply chains and sanitary issues. Considering chicken meat production that is still growing worldwide, high environmental temperatures decrease poultry growth performance and can even induce mortality. In this context innovative incubation programs were experimentally explored in order to improve the thermotolerance of broilers in the long term. They were aimed at re-introducing thermal variability during the embryogenesis of the bird, when its thermoregulatory system is still immature and plastic, in order to facilitate the later thermotolerance capacities of the bird. Cyclical increases in incubation temperatures, tested with different programs on slow growing birds in Africa, or fast-growing birds in Europe and Israel, have proved their efficacy to decrease mortality at slaughter age with very limited or no effects on performance. The biological basis of these improvements lies in long term physiological, metabolic and epigenetic changes in peripheral and/or central tissues controlling heat production, heat loss and stress response. Research in quails used as a model animal also showed that effects induced by changes in temperature during early incubation could be transferred to next generations with a partial reversibility of effects when the incubation treatment is not applied any more. The application of lower incubation temperatures during the late embryogenesis was also tested in fast growing broilers in order to improve cold tolerance, especially in chick when energy use and costs at start are high. This research could lead to applications in hatcheries for improving the adaptation of chickens in the long term to the foreseen increasingly varying environmental conditions
Combined strategies for adapting poultry production to climate change
International audienc
Effects of cold embryo acclimation for improving adaptive capacities in meat-type chicken
Face au changement climatique, quelles stratĂ©gies dâattĂ©nuation et dâadaptation pour les productions avicoles ?
Cet article a pour origine une synthĂšse rĂ©alisĂ©e dans le cadre du Worldâs Poultry Congress (Collinet al., 2022).International audiencePoultry meat and eggs are major sources of animal protein for human consumption worldwide. Their production has increased rapidly in recent decades. However, poultry production is vulnerable to climate change, in particular to global warming and its direct and indirect consequences. To cope with this, it is necessary to implement adaptation strategies at the animal level, in particular by improving the resilience of the animals; these strategies require, on the one hand, a better understanding of the physiology of the birds (thermoregulation, efficiency for meat and egg production, etc.) and, on the other hand, the search for innovations in relation to nutrition, health, early reprogramming or genetics (integration of new adaptive traits in selection strategies). Solutions also need to be found at the production systems level to take into account the changes in the geographical distribution of diseases linked to climate change and to introduce mitigation practices to reduce energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. Interdisciplinary research focusing on genetics, technical methods (such as early thermal programming), engineering solutions, nutritional innovations and new breeding strategies is being developed. These strategies consider the growing social demand for ethical animal production in the perspectives of the âOne Healthâ and âOne Welfareâ concepts and limit the feed-food competition in the context of climate change. This review illustrates through a few examples the levers of improvement and combined adaptive strategies that can be considered to make poultry production systems more resilient in the context of climate change.La viande de volaille et les Ćufs sont des sources principales de protĂ©ines animales pour lâalimentation humaine dans le monde. Leur pro-duction a augmentĂ© rapidement au cours des derniĂšres dĂ©cennies. Cependant, les productions avicoles sont vulnĂ©rables au changement climatique, en particulier au rĂ©chauffement de la planĂšte et Ă ses consĂ©quences directes et indirectes. Pour y faire face, il est nĂ©cessaire de mettre en place des stratĂ©gies dâadaptation des animaux, en particulier en amĂ©liorant leur rĂ©silience. Ces stratĂ©gies nĂ©cessitent dâune part de mieux comprendre la physiologie des oiseaux (thermorĂ©gulation, efficacitĂ© pour la production de viande et dâĆufs...) et dâautre part de rechercher des innovations en lien avec la nutrition, la santĂ©, la reprogrammation prĂ©coce ou encore la gĂ©nĂ©tique (intĂ©gration de nouveaux caractĂšres adaptatifs dans les stratĂ©gies de sĂ©lection). Il faut Ă©galement trouver des solutions au niveau des systĂšmes de production, par exemple en prenant en compte les aires de rĂ©partition gĂ©ographique des maladies liĂ©es au changement climatique et en introduisant des pratiques dâattĂ©nuation pour rĂ©duire les consommations dâĂ©nergie et les Ă©missions de gaz Ă effet de serre. Des recherches interdiscipli-naires axĂ©es sur la gĂ©nĂ©tique, les mĂ©thodes techniques (telles que la programmation thermique prĂ©coce), les solutions dâingĂ©nierie, des innovations nutritionnelles et de nouvelles stratĂ©gies dâĂ©levage agroĂ©cologiques sont ainsi dĂ©veloppĂ©es. Ces stratĂ©gies tiennent compte de la demande sociale croissante en faveur de productions animales Ă©thiques dans les perspectives dâune seule santĂ© (« One Health ») et dâun seul bien-ĂȘtre (« One Welfare ») et visent Ă limiter la concurrence entre lâhomme et les animaux pour les ressources alimentaires. Cette revue illustre par quelques exemples les leviers dâamĂ©lioration et de stratĂ©gies adaptatives envisageables pour rendre les animaux et les systĂšmes de production avicole plus rĂ©silients dans le contexte du changement climatique
Multigenerational effects of heat manipulation during embryogenesis on body temperature and growth in broiler chickens
International audienc
Epigenetics for heat tolerance
Epigenetics for heat tolerance. Symposium CERSA Poultry Production under ho and humid climate condition
Short cold exposures during incubation and postnatal cold temperature affect performance, breast meat quality, and welfare parameters in broiler chickens
International audienceCold stimulations during egg incubation were reported to limit the occurrence of ascites in broilers subjected to cold temperature after 14 d of age. However, data are lacking on the impacts of such strategy in case of cold temperature conditions at start. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of incubation and posthatch cold challenge on performance, breast muscle integrity, and meat processing quality in broiler chickens. Ross 308 eggs were incubated under control temperature (I0, 37.6°C) or subjected to 15°C during 30 min on day 18 and 19 of incubation (I1). Chicks from each group were reared in floor pens either at standard rearing temperature (T0), from 32°C at 0 d to 21°C at 21 d of age, or exposed to colder rearing temperature (T1), from 29°C at 0 to 21°C at 21 d of age. All birds were then kept at 21°C until slaughter (day 40), when body weights (BW), feed conversion ratio (FCR), breast muscle yield, meat processing quality, and the occurrences of meat defects, hock burns, and pododermatitis were recorded. No significant impact of incubation conditions on hatchability was observed. At day 40, BW was more under T1 than under T0 conditions, with T0 females (but not males) presenting more BW after I1 than after I0 conditions. In the whole period, T1 chickens presented lower FCR than T0 chickens and higher breast meat yields at day 40. The occurrence of white striping was more in I1T1 males than in all other groups, except for the I0T1 males. Hock burns were more frequent in I1T1 males than in all females and I0T0 males, whereas the occurrence of pododermatitis was lower in T0 males than in other groups. Despite some positive effects of I1 incubation on growth after starting under low ambient temperature, this study reveals the limits of such strategy concerning chicken health and welfare, demonstrating that early thermal environment is a major component of the quality and sustainability of chicken meat production
Comment amĂ©liorer les capacitĂ©s dâadaptation des oiseaux dâĂ©levage aux variations de tempĂ©rature ? Analyse multicritĂšre de techniques dâacclimatation embryonnaire et Ă©tude des mĂ©canismes impliquĂ©s
AmĂ©liorer la durabilitĂ© des systĂšmes dâĂ©levage nĂ©cessite Ă la fois de maintenir voire renforcer leur rentabilitĂ©, tout en prĂ©servant lâenvironnement et en rĂ©pondant aux attentes de la sociĂ©tĂ©, notamment en termes de bien-ĂȘtre animal et dâacceptabilitĂ© des pratiques dâĂ©levage. La production de volailles en rĂ©gions chaudes (BrĂ©sil, Asie, AfriqueâŠ) sâest accrue ces derniĂšres annĂ©es, et les gĂ©notypes de poulets de chair utilisĂ©s y sont souvent les mĂȘmes quâen zone tempĂ©rĂ©e. Dans ces rĂ©gions comme en Europe surviennent de plus en plus frĂ©quemment des conditions climatiques extrĂȘmes. Or les oiseaux dâĂ©levage Ă croissance rapide sont particuliĂšrement sensibles aux variations de tempĂ©ratures, notamment au froid lors des premiers jours de vie du poussin et Ă la chaleur en fin dâĂ©levage. Dans ce contexte, notre objectif est dâamĂ©liorer les capacitĂ©s dâadaptation des poulets de chair face aux variations de leur environnement thermique pour amĂ©liorer leur bien-ĂȘtre, leur santĂ© et leurs performances. Ce renforcement des capacitĂ©s dâadaptation pourrait Ă©galement limiter la consommation dâĂ©nergie non-renouvelable pour la rĂ©gulation thermique des bĂątiments (chauffage, ventilation, climatisationâŠ), et donc rĂ©duire la contribution des Ă©levages au changement climatique. Notre stratĂ©gie pour amĂ©liorer les capacitĂ©s dâadaptation des volailles aux variations de tempĂ©rature ambiante est de les exposer pendant lâembryogenĂšse Ă des changements de tempĂ©rature et dâhygromĂ©trie dâincubation spĂ©cifiques. Au cours du projet ANR THERMOCHICK (2009-2013), nous avons Ă©tudiĂ© les effets Ă long terme de variations de tempĂ©rature dâincubation des oeufs sur la physiologie et le mĂ©tabolisme du poulet pour comprendre les mĂ©canismes mis en jeu dans lâacclimatation prĂ©coce du poulet de chair. Nos recherches visent Ă©galement Ă explorer les mĂ©canismes Ă©pigĂ©nĂ©tiques impliquĂ©s dans les modifications dâexpression de gĂšnes observĂ©es suite Ă lâacclimatation embryonnaire chez le poulet et la caille. Enfin, pour Ă©valuer le potentiel dâapplication des techniques dâacclimatation embryonnaire au chaud et au froid, des Ă©valuations multicritĂšres sont rĂ©alisĂ©es en condition dâĂ©levage tempĂ©rĂ©es ou tropicales avec nos partenaires de lâUnitĂ© Mixte Technologique « Biologie et Innovation en Recherches et DĂ©veloppement pour lâaviculture - Aviculture, SystĂšme et Territoire » (UMT BIRD) et du Centre dâExcellence RĂ©gional en Sciences Aviaires (CERSA, UniversitĂ© de LomĂ©) au Togo