Poultry research targets environmental footprint, vaccines

Friday, February 21, 2014

by Matt McIntosh

Creating new poultry vaccines, reducing the environmental footprint of poultry farms, and providing farmers with access to high-calibre training are among the many research projects that a new Canadian poultry industry research cluster will undertake over the next five years.

The cluster has been granted $4 million by the federal government.

An additional $1.6 million is also being invested by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food, as well as other poultry industry partners.

“The money is being used to fund 17 different poultry research projects, and will be released over a five-year period that started in April of 2013,” says Bruce Robertson, executive director of the Canadian Poultry Research Council. The council is responsible for administering the funding.
 
“The government’s funding comes as part of its Ag-Innovation program, under Growing Forward 2,” he adds.

According to a Feb. 19 news release from the University of Guelph, one of the projects receiving funding is focused on developing low-energy LED bulbs that enhance egg production in laying hens. Another is working towards a commercially-available vaccine for necrotic enteritis – a dangerous disease seen in chickens.

The research projects, says the press release, are just two of the seven Ontario Agricultural College and Ontario Veterinary College initiatives that are receiving funding. More specifically, those seven projects are receiving almost 60 per cent of the $5.6 million available.

In a Feb. 18 news release, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada noted that some of the funding will also be used to find “viable alternatives to the use of dietary antibiotics in chicken production.” BF