Page 11 - National Poultry Newspaper

Infectious bursal disease
Barriers to implementation
of max-profit and stochastic
models to poultry industry
FEED is a significant cost to egg farmers.
ings by Dr Amy Moss of the University of New England, Aus- tralian Eggs will seek to develop tools and resources for nutri- tionists be able to use these strategies for layer diet formulation.
Australian Eggs is investing in research that will help farmers to reduce feed wast- age or make layer diets more efficient.
Most livestock diets in Australia are creat- ed with the ‘least-cost’ model, which provides the farmer with all the required nutrients at the least cost.
• Better
more education are needed for nutrition- ists to be able to confi- dently use these tech- niques.
But animal nutrition- ists can use the max- profit feed formulation to develop an animal diet that maximises profits or the stochas- tic feed formulation to create diets that take into account variabil- ity in feed.
Based on the find-
Visit australianeggs. org.au for more infor- mation.
tools
and
A farmer interested in utilising these tech- niques should discuss with their nutritionist.
This project was conducted to figure out why these promis- ing alternate feed for- mulation strategies are not widely adopted by in the layer industry.
The project found that:
• These alternate feed formulation strat- egies can help farmers and nutritionists better adapt diets to chang- ing market conditions
• Among farmers and nutritionists, there is an interest to use these alternative techniques
Dr Amy Moss of the University of New England.
* from P10
syndrome due to sulfa drug toxicity or other causes.
of fabricius and muscu- lature tissue, with rapid atrophy of the bursa and thymus.
potentially loss of interna- tional market access. Control
Infection with both vvIB- DV and exotic strains of varIBDV are reportable throughout Australia.
Preliminary diagnosis for IBD can be achieved by ob- servations of clinical signs and gross lesions in the bursa of fabricius located in the cloaca.
Chickens that have recov- ered from the disease will have a small atrophied bur- sa of fabricius due to lack of regeneration of affected bursal follicles.
If exotic strains of IBD virus including vvIBDV were to occur in Australia, the policy as described in AUSVETPLAN is to eradi- cate the disease through ac- tivities such as destruction of poultry, quarantine and movement controls, decon- tamination, product recall, tracing and surveillance.
For further information, see the national list of noti- fiable animal diseases. How Australian veteri- narians can help
Laboratory testing is re- quired for isolation and identification of IBDV.
Risk to Australia of in- troduction of vvIBDV
Under Australia’s current quarantine protocols and importation restrictions, the risk of vvIBDV introduc- tion is regarded as low.
Laboratory tests per- formed for IBD diagnosis depend on the presence of specific antibodies to the virus, or on the presence of the virus in tissues, using immunological or molecu- lar methods.
Exotic strains of IBDV in- cluding vvIBDV are found in many countries, includ- ing neighbouring Asian countries.
The implementation of control measures takes into account the highly resistant nature of the pathogen, the ease of spread on fomites and that early detection of certain strains can be dif- ficult.
However, it is important that Australian veterinar- ians maintain current knowledge and remain alert to the possibility of emer- gency disease incursions, as early detection and labora- tory confirmation are criti- cal for a rapid and effective response.
Where IBD is suspected, samples should be collected from both live, clinically diseased chickens and re- cently deceased birds.
This poses a threat to the Australian poultry industry as the virus could be intro- duced to Australia through illegal importation of in- fected birds, contaminated poultry products or con- taminated fomites trans- ported unintentionally by farm workers.
For further details on Australia’s response policy, see the AUSVETPLAN in- fectious bursal disease re- sponse strategy located on Animal Health Australia’s website animalhealthau stralia.com.au/ausvetplan/ Keeping Australia free from vvIBDV
Veterinarians can also en- courage clients with poul- try to practise good farm biosecurity.
Lesions seen on post- mortem will depend on the strain of the IBDV.
If an outbreak of vvIBDV occurred in Australia, the economic impact would be significant for Australia’s poultry industry.
Unusual cases of dis- ease, particularly when an emergency animal disease is suspected, should be re- ported directly to state or territory government vet- erinarians or through the Emergency Animal Dis- ease Watch Hotline 1800 675 888.
For pathogenic strains of the virus, the bursa of fab- ricius is swollen, oedema- tous, yellow in colour and occasionally haemorrhagic.
The outbreak would cause significant losses from death of birds, the cost of control or eradication, and
Australia has robust farm biosecurity and quarantine measures in place to sup- port the early detection and response of new strains of IBDV.
Lesions seen in vvIBDV are more obvious with haemorrhage in the bursa
IBD is an acute highly contagious viral infection in chickens manifested by inflammation and sub- sequent atrophy of the bursa of fabricius, various degrees of nephroso-nephritis and immunosuppres- sion. The feathers around the vent are usually stained with faeces containing plenty of urates.
Stringent biosecurity pol- icies and border controls further reduce the risk of introducing exotic strains of IBDV into the country, and strict import regula- tions exist for poultry and poultry products.
If your case is approved, costs will be subsidised by government as part of en- suring Australia maintains disease freedom and rap- idly detects any incursion of an EAD.
These include mandatory disease notification proce- dures, emergency animal disease preparedness and response procedures, and animal disease surveillance programs.
If you see clinical signs that indicate an EAD such as vvIBD, contact your state or territory government vet- erinarian who will tell you if the investigation could be pursued as a significant disease investigation.
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National Poultry Newspaper, March 2022 – Page 11