The global demand for poultry meat and eggs continues to expand beyond the 2017 Food and Agriculture Organization’s estimates of 122 million and 87 million metric tons, respectively. Greater production potential to meet the increasing demand has been achieved, in large part, through genetic improvement of our poultry flocks. However, birds must be managed appropriately to express their genetic potential and reap these genetic gains. This includes environments that support their health and welfare. The poultry industry faces multiple challenges to maintain the balance of producing high-quality meat and eggs in an economically sustainable manner with meeting consumer expectations and the birds’ needs to ensure animal health and well-being. Furthermore, the safety, physical comfort, and efficiency of poultry workers to complete animal management-related tasks are needed to support a viable business enterprise. Recent advances in poultry science have enabled producers to address these complex issues while enhancing overall poultry production efficiency. These include engineering and technology developments for greater automation, environmental monitoring and regulation, and means to enable birds to exhibit their natural behaviors. Considerable strides also have been made in our understanding of ethology and through discovery of more reliable and quantifiable means to assess bird health and welfare.
This Research Topic will consist of a review of the current methods used by the poultry industry across the production spectrum from free-range to intensive production in terms of housing systems and their associated limitations (e.g., control of physical environment, disease transmission, biosecurity, social interaction, predation), methods to address environmental enrichment and flock management (e.g., perches, litter, automated systems, air quality, processing), and parameters used for animal health and welfare monitoring and assessment. It also will feature original research articles that highlight the latest research in each of three general areas (housing, environmental enrichment and management, and health and welfare assessment). This Research Topic aims to provide poultry producers with critical information needed to advance to the next level of sustainable meat and egg production for today’s consumers.
The global demand for poultry meat and eggs continues to expand beyond the 2017 Food and Agriculture Organization’s estimates of 122 million and 87 million metric tons, respectively. Greater production potential to meet the increasing demand has been achieved, in large part, through genetic improvement of our poultry flocks. However, birds must be managed appropriately to express their genetic potential and reap these genetic gains. This includes environments that support their health and welfare. The poultry industry faces multiple challenges to maintain the balance of producing high-quality meat and eggs in an economically sustainable manner with meeting consumer expectations and the birds’ needs to ensure animal health and well-being. Furthermore, the safety, physical comfort, and efficiency of poultry workers to complete animal management-related tasks are needed to support a viable business enterprise. Recent advances in poultry science have enabled producers to address these complex issues while enhancing overall poultry production efficiency. These include engineering and technology developments for greater automation, environmental monitoring and regulation, and means to enable birds to exhibit their natural behaviors. Considerable strides also have been made in our understanding of ethology and through discovery of more reliable and quantifiable means to assess bird health and welfare.
This Research Topic will consist of a review of the current methods used by the poultry industry across the production spectrum from free-range to intensive production in terms of housing systems and their associated limitations (e.g., control of physical environment, disease transmission, biosecurity, social interaction, predation), methods to address environmental enrichment and flock management (e.g., perches, litter, automated systems, air quality, processing), and parameters used for animal health and welfare monitoring and assessment. It also will feature original research articles that highlight the latest research in each of three general areas (housing, environmental enrichment and management, and health and welfare assessment). This Research Topic aims to provide poultry producers with critical information needed to advance to the next level of sustainable meat and egg production for today’s consumers.