After recently completing the end of tax year reviews for the journal, it’s interesting to reflect how things have changed in the years I’ve been involved. Some things haven’t – we still try to help authors as much as we can, especially those who have less experience and more of a helping hand in getting final papers organised. Some problems still remain, mostly because some people have a basic lack of being able to read instructions, no matter how big and red we make the letters on the submission information! However, the aspects that have changed, such as the online submission system, have proven very successful in terms of the numbers and variety of papers we now receive. So much so, that we are processing papers for issues six months ahead. That means that, at the time of writing (April) I am pulling together the last of the papers for September, and starting to line up the December issue. A result of this success is that it will cause delays in the appearance of the final paper online and in the print version. Apologies to the authors for that, but we do try as much as we can to make it equitable for all, and go by submission number to keep things moving along in the editorial office.

Readers will also notice more centennial papers in this issue – thanks to the various working groups for organising these, as they are quite in-depth, considering one hundred years for many scientific fields covers a great amount of progress. We’re hoping to have the rest in the September and December issues, and may even have a guest paper from our ‘sister’ organisation, the WVPA, via its president Trevor Bagust. Many thanks to Bob Pym for helping organise this paper.

One issue that has arisen again is the subscription matter relating to print copy. I know I’ve made this plea before, but please, can all those who do not want or require a print copy make sure they register this with their local secretaries and online, so we can reduce the amount of paper we currently ship around the world. If your department has more than one WPSA member, we can arrange for a single departmental copy and for everyone to have online personal access. From an environmental point of view, we need to reduce print copies that are posted out.

Some personal news – my assistant Dr Shay Hill has recently given birth to a lovely baby boy, and is currently on maternity leave. Many of our authors have had correspondence with Shay and I’m sure would like to congratulate her.

Looking forward to seeing you all in Brazil in August at the World Poultry Congress!

Dr Lucy Waldron

Editor

Coccidiosis is recognized as the major parasitic disease of poultry and is caused by the apicomplexan protozoan Eimeria. In the past, conventional disease control strategies have depended mainly on anticoccidial drugs and, to a certain extent, live vaccines. Anticoccidial drugs have played a major role in the effective control of avian coccidiosis, but, their extensive use has resulted in the emergence of drug resistant coccidian strains. In such situations, new drugs should be available to replace the older ones against which resistance has developed, however it takes a long time to develop any new compounds. Because of the high cost of developing new drugs and vaccines, development of drug resistance and concerns over drug residues associated with the continuous use of these chemicals, there is a renewed interest in the use of botanicals for safe, effective and cheap control of avian coccidiosis. Several poultry scientists all over the world are now actively engaged in research into the use of plants and plant derived products to fight and reduce the heavy economic losses in poultry industry caused by coccidiosis. This paper reviews the research on botanicals, herbal complexes and commercially available botanical products having anticoccidial properties against avian coccidiosis. Information regarding active compounds, doses and mechanism of action of plants provided in this paper may serve as a guideline for the use of botanical anticoccidial agents as a part of integrated control strategies for the effective control of resistant coccidian parasites.

Poultry rearing systems have been the focus of scientific research for many years as a result of consumer demand for high-quality products and legal poultry welfare requirements. Given these requirements, the following study was carried out as a comparative review of the results obtained by different authors on the effect of rearing systems on productive traits (growth, feed conversion and mortality) and meat quality traits (dressing percentage, yield and percentage of primal cuts, and chemical composition of meat) in broilers.

Most authors reported a lower final body weight and poorer feed conversion efficiency in free-range systems compared to intensive rearing. Conversely, better meat quality traits, most notably in terms of chemical composition of meat, were observed in non-intensive and organic broilers. The above traits showed differences within the same rearing system, due to the effect of a range of genetic and non-genetic factors.

In view of the above, it is hoped that the following review on the use of different rearing systems in broiler meat production can serve as a tool in determining the future direction of research as well as an indicator of its practical applications.

Egg producers in the EU had more than a decade to adapt to Directive 1999/74/EC which prohibits keeping laying hens in battery cages after 2012. Meanwhile, numerous studies have been conducted in order to assess the socio-economic implications of this ban and to evaluate consumers’ willingness to support improvement in layer welfare by paying a higher price for eggs produced in alternative systems. The adoption of such regulations in Serbia with the implementation timeframe of less than two years, and without any assessment of consumers’ willingness to pay a higher price for eggs from alternative systems, places the burden of animal welfare on producers. Considering the overall difficult financial situation of egg producers, this poses a risk that a large number of egg producers in Serbia will leave the sector after 2012.

The aim of this work was to perform a review of the bibliographic data regarding the spreading of rickets, as well as of its associations with certain pathological conditions in broiler chickens that had been exposed to rickets. The literature suggests that the occurrence of subclinical and clinical rickets within broiler flocks are a possible prerequisite for a number of pathological conditions such as femoral head necrosis (FHN), osteomyelitis, fractures, tibial dyschondroplasia (TD), vertebral column deformations with clinical expressions indistinguishable from spondylolisthesis, chronic respiratory disease (CCRD), ascites syndrome and other conditions related to morbidity within flocks. The gross lesions in the proximal tibiotarsus can be used for differentiation of clinical hypocalcaemic and hypophosphataemic rickets in broiler chickens. Macroscopically, hypocalcaemic rickets are hardly distinguished from tibial dyschondroplasia because the latter condition may be a consequence of the former in its etiological aspect.

In the last decade, there has been growing interest in the use of natural herbs and medicinal plants as feed additives in poultry diets to maximise their potential output. Ginger is one such potential rhizome with a wide range of medicinal effects. In broilers and layers, this plant has been used in different forms, doses and durations. In this review, documented effects of ginger in poultry feed on feed intake and feed conversion ratio, growth and weight gain, carcass yield, egg production and quality, antioxidants and blood biochemistry, with their possible mechanisms of action, are discussed.

With a growing population, feeding competition between human and animals is increasing. Because major ingredients used in animal feeds, especially in poultry diets are now being used in human nutrition, there is a decreased availability of quality feed resources and poultry feeds are becoming costly. Guar meal is an easily available and economical feed ingredient and may be helpful in alleviating this problem. A large quantity of guar is processed in the world for gum extraction and residue left over from processing is converted into guar meal. It has a good amino acid profile with crude protein contents of about 33-45%. However, anti-nutritional components like guar gum (β-mannan), saponins and trypsin inhibitors limit the use of guar meal in broiler diets. These anti-nutritional factors have been reported to depress growth in birds but at lower levels some of these (β-mannan and saponins) have positive effects on bird health and performance. β-mannan is considered a major anti-nutritional factor when higher levels of guar meal are used in poultry. To improve the utilisation of such feeds, β-mannanases are used. This paper reviews some benefits and drawbacks regarding the use of guar meal in poultry diets and how to improve its feeding value.

Mineral availability is one of the most important concerns in poultry nutrition. In modern, high-producing, meat and laying poultry, mineral metabolism disorders often lead to decreased eggshell quality and osteoporosis in laying hens and bone weakness in broiler chickens. This has negative effects not only on the economic profitability of production but also on the welfare of the birds. The article discusses the results of studies on the effect of chosen feed additives, namely organic acids and prebiotic fructans, on mineral utilisation in poultry. The results of some of the experiments presented in the article indicate that the use of these additives may have a positive impact on mineral metabolism in poultry.

During outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Cambodia, local non-governmental organizations managed to strategically influence decision making processes in inter-governmental organizations by highlighting human death tolls, public health, and rural livelihoods. This was accomplished through active participation in conferences, consultations, meetings, and workshops as well as disseminating messages via articles, papers, reports, studies, and websites.

The objective of this review was to identify the general condition of goose feeding by breeders in Kars province. For this survey villages in Kars, where goose breeding was carried out intensively, were identified and family enterprises that bred geese were interviewed face to face. A total of 64 questionnaires were obtained out of these interviews. As a result, it was determined that the number of eggs obtained from those stock which were fed on barley and forage before laying eggs was higher than the number of those which were fed on barley and bread (P<0.01); however, feed which was fed during the laying period did not have a significant impact on the number of eggs that were laid (P>0.05). It was also determined that 36% of the breeders grazed their goslings from the age of 10 days and 53% of the breeders grazed their goslings in meadows until November. Most of the breeders (45%) applied additional feeding to the stock 30 days before slaughter, and mean slaughter weight of geese at the end of the growing period (November) was 4.84 kg. Geese production by conventional methods in Kars uses a more specific feeding program for goslings, while feeding mature geese was not given much attention, and they were only subjected to an additional feeding program based on barley just before slaughter to increase attain desired live weight. It was concluded that by eliminating these shortcomings could improve egg productivity, live weight and slaughter weight.

This paper reviews related research results, chicken production scenarios and intervention options with the aim of delivering synthesized and summarized information for the beneficiaries. The majority of chickens in Ethiopia are indigenous breeds and the production systems employed are traditional. The sector in Ethiopia is characterised by low performances, insufficient levels of coordination, specialisation, vertical-integration and efficiency. Over the years, poultry populations and per capita consumption of eggs and poultry meat has been declining in the country. This decline is to the contrary of a high demand for poultry products and the growth of the human population. Various constraints hinder the productivity of chickens in Ethiopia however; there are many opportunities, headway experiences and options that could be implemented to improve the production of chickens. Poultry production is growing more quickly than any of the other major agricultural sectors in the world; therefore this sector will be expected to satisfy the future demands for protein in Ethiopia. It is therefore concluded that all producers should contribute to implementing such headway experiences and options for the improved production of chickens in the country.

The 20th Century saw an astonishing advance in our understanding of genetics and the scientific basis of the genetic improvement of farm animals. The application of genetic principles to chickens in the 1950s and 1960s led to a rapid change in the productivity and efficiency of laying hens and broiler chickens, turkeys and ducks. Subsequently, the application of increasingly powerful computers and sophisticated mathematical algorithms has increased the range of traits that could be successfully incorporated into breeding programs. Random sample tests of the performance of laying hens enjoyed a period of popularity and more recently the few remaining tests included husbandry systems in addition to strain evaluation. Characterisation of avian blood groups has led to the identification of the B21 haplotype that confers resistance to Marek's disease and to selection for this locus in commercial lines. The decade following the millennium saw the publication of the genome sequence of the chicken and the identification of millions of single nucleotide polymorphisms that, coupled with technological advances, made the application of whole genome selection practical in poultry. In parallel, the molecular basis for some Mendelian traits described a century ago is now being deciphered. Similar technologies have been applied to study genetic diversity in chickens and have provided insights into the evolution and domestication of chicken breeds. Finally, in this review, the recent development of the European Poultry Genetics Symposia coordinated by Working Group 3 ‘Genetics and Breeding’ that was based on combining the British Poultry Breeders Round Table and AVIAGEN from West and Eastern Europe, is discussed.

This paper summarises research on farmed ratites and their industries over the past 100 years. Commercial ratite products include meat, skins, feathers and oil. Research on ratites has attempted to enhance the quantity and quality of these products by focusing on the disciplines of breeding and genetics, reproduction and incubation, assisted reproduction, nutrition and animal welfare. Advances in these disciplines are discussed, and directions for future research are provided.

The World’s Poultry Science Journal is indebted to Prof J.A. Castello, Prof D.K. Flock, Dr D. Grastilleur, Dr S. Cherepanov and Prof N. Yang for the translations of these summaries.

This article briefly reviews the nature and purpose of the Temperton Fellowship, which was established in 1989 to commemorate the late Dr Harold Temperton. The Fellowship was administered under the aegis of the Harper Adams University College and involves an annual presentation and written report by an invited contributor. The reports cover a wide range of topics that are intended to be of strategic value to the UK Poultry Industry. Previous reports are listed and their potential to influence the future direction of the Industry and to sustain its success is recognised.