Microbiological Hygiene of the AIAO and Multi-age Laying Hen Management Practices: A Case Report
蛋雞統進統出飼養模式與分批飼養模式在微生物安全分析之個案報告
Journal
Taiwanese Journal of Agricultural Chemistry and Food Science
Journal Volume
60
Journal Issue
2
Pages
60
Date Issued
2022-06-01
Author(s)
Abstract
The operation of the all-in and all-out (AIAO) practice of laying hen farms have achieved excellent management efficiency, which has become a global trend in the egg production industry. It can reduce the chance of pathogen contamination in chickens and eggs and reduce the risk of food poisoning to ensure food safety. However, Taiwan has not fully implemented the AIAO housing practice for laying hens, and the average breeder does not know how to correctly implement this management system, which also diminished the expected benefits. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the differences between the AIAO and multi-age laying hen management practices from the microbiological hygiene perspective and to clarify whether the farmers operate under the AIAO housing practice can get the benefits from this housing practice by lowering the death rate of laying hens and increase the production rate of eggs. This research took place at two laying hen houses located in the southern part of Taiwan owned by the same business manager. However, one of the buildings was operated under the AIAO system, and the other was the multi-age housing practice. Microorganisms in two buildings were collected from the feed trough, the drinking fountain, the bottom of the laying cages, the chicken cloaca, the throat, and the eggs in the building. Samples were analyzed for the amount of total bacterial and the prevalence of Salmonella sp. and Shigella sp. Salmonella sp. was constantly being detected in two laying hen management systems (prevalence 10~60%). The results also showed that in the AIAO laying hen house, the microbiological hygiene indicators of the old laying hens (135 weeks old) and their living environment were inferior to those young laying hens (68 weeks old), which scheduled to replace the old laying hens three months before the time of sampling (p < 0.05). In addition, there was no statistical difference between the samples collected from two different time points of the multi-age farming practice in terms of the microbiological hygiene indicators (p < 0.05). The microbiological hygiene indicators of the multi-age practice were also better than those of the old chickens raised under the AIAO housing system (p < 0.05). Besides, the egg production rate and death rate of laying hens were extremely unstable in two of the farm management systems. In summary, the AIAO housing system for laying hens should not only focus on what so-called "chickens into the farm simultaneously and removed at the same time." It is necessary to regularly implement biosafety prevention and control measures to comply with the AIAO management conditions and maintain good microbial health and safety.
Subjects
All-in and all-out (AIAO) practice | Egg | Laying hen | Microbiological hygiene indicator | Salmonella sp.
Publisher
Chinese Agricultural Chemical Society
Type
journal article