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Research Priorities |
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Research Priorities |
Poultry production impacts the environment in many ways such as dust, odors, flies, and manure/litter accumulation. These factors affect the quality of air, soil, and water. While most methods have focused on disposal methods, newer concepts such as precision nutrition are directed at prevention. More precise nutrient management and utilization will focus on the bird to reduce the production of problematic waste components. A more attractive approach to environmental impact will be to develop alternate uses for the waste products produced by the poultry industry. This will make a potentially negative issue into a positive, value-added product. In addition to the potential descharge of excess nutrients into the environment, the fate and characteristics of bacterial, viral, and protozoal organisms in animal wastes are an important consideration of environmental stewardship. In addition to avoiding surface water contamination, water availability and its efficient use are becoming increasingly important to the poultry industry.
Dr. John Carey Dr. Suresh Pillai Dr. Chris Bailey
Collaborative Units: Biological and Agricultural Engineering Department Soil and Crop Sciences Department Animal Science Department Overton Research and Extension Center Amarillo Research and Extension Center El Paso Research and Extension Center Institute of Food Science and Engineering Water Resources Institute
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Food safety will continue to be an issue as we strive to understand the many factors affecting it. While the most immediate solution is to focus on interventions on the farm, at the processing plant and at the consumer level; a more effective plan needs to include a focus on the role of the live production factors that contribute to the initial contamination. Factors being studied include antibiotic resistance, bacterial molecular virulence, transmission vectors, and gut ecology influences on pathogens. Another area is to develop a more complete understanding of the risks involved from specific hazards so that procedures, policies and legislation can be based on science.
Dr. Allen Byrd Dr. Michael Hume Dr. Suresh Pillai Dr. Toni Poole
Collaborative Units: Veterinary Pathobiology Department Animal Science Department Institute of Food Science and Engineering USDA Food and Food Safety Research Unit Prairie View A&M University
As the sciences of genomics and proteomics continue to provide increasing knowledge and technology about biological processes, we are presented with opportunities to improve poultry production and products. Our areas of activity include production of biologically active compounds from poultry systems, customized foods for human consumption, preservation of endangered species, and acceleration of genetic improvement for commercial poultry (disease resistance, reproductive efficiency, growth, stress susceptibility, etc.). Using transgenics for the molecular manipulation of animal systems is one of the fastest developing fields in biology. Due to the unique anatomy of the avian egg and embryonic development, avian species present unique opportunities and challenges in the field of transgenics.
Dr. Michael Bailey Dr. Luc Berghman Dr. David Caldwell Dr. Lee Cartwright Dr. Suresh Pillai Dr. Rosemary Walzem Dr. Huaijun Zhou
Collaborative Units: Veterinary Pathobiology Department Biology Department Biochemestry and Biophysics Department Institute of Food Science and Engineering USDA Food and Food Safety Research Unit TAMU Center for Animal Biotechnology and Genomics TAMU Health Science Center
Human/animal diseases and poultry welfare are important to poultry companies and the general public. Controlling animal diseases is critical to efficient commercial production, but also impacts food safety and international trade. Transport of birds and people across the US-Mexico border continues to be a poultry health concern for the Texas poultry industry. Our programs focus both on controlling disease vectors and transmission, as well as understanding the bird's immunology to improve disease resistance.
Animal welfare is also a growing concern of both the public and the poultry industry. Whether the issue is perceived or real, we need to provide objective information about the treatment and conditions of the animals upon which we depend. We seek to gain a better understanding of the effects of production systems and the environment on the well-being and performance of the bird. This is being achieved through the use of classical behavior and performance indicators but also through the use of more sophisticated cellular and molecular methods.
Dr. Michael Bailey Dr. Luc Berghman Dr. Allen Byrd Dr. David Caldwell Dr. Lee Cartwright Dr. Blanca Lupiani Dr. Sanjay Reddy
Collaborative Units: Veterinary Pathobiology Department Texas Veterinary Medical Diagnostic Laboratory
Process and Ingredient TechnologiesThe processing sector is the largest employer in the poultry industry. It also imparts the greatest modifications to the product and is the product's last point of contact with the company before it reaches the retail market. The processing plant is the focus of the industry's effort for increased efficiency to reduce labor costs and for meeting the ever-changing demands of consumers for variety, nutrition, safety, and value. Our current programs focus on innovative processing technologies and their effect on product quality and safety. A future additional focus area will be the relationship of poultry products in the human diet to human health and how this relationship can be improved through functional products and ingredients. Another focus area will be the use of remote sensors and intelligent technologies in poultry processing for monitoring, sorting, product manipulation and other operations.
Dr. Marcos Sanchez Dr. Rosemary Walzem
Collaborative Units: Animal Science Department Institute of Food Science and Engineering