The feed–microbiota–host interactions are extremely complex, but expertise on how to steer this relationship is growing rapidly.
FeedNavigator’s webinar on Thursday, 2 March will hear from US and European experts about the latest insights they have gleaned through their varied approaches to poultry gut health research.
You can follow this link to register for the free event.
Included in the line-up of speakers is Dr Michael Kogut, lead scientist and research microbiologist at the Agriculture Research Center at the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Dr Kogut has been exploring ways to harness the ability of the microbiome to influence broiler immunity as an immunotherapeutic alternative to antibiotic strategies.
He is increasingly focused on the impact of immune modulation at the local, rather than the systemic level in poultry.
Dr Kogut will be joined by Professor Filip Van Immerseel, research professor at the Department of Pathology, Bacteriology and Avian Diseases at the University of Ghent, where he heads up a group studying intestinal host-microbiota interactions, mainly focussing on poultry.
We will ask him if the scientific community is any clearer now on what is needed to reduce the inflammation of the gut in birds?
Prof Van Immerseel will also talk about the potential risk that exists for animals to develop bacteria resistance to so-called alternative products to antibiotics.
He has been studying compounds that do not induce such resistance.
The academic has also been looking at how deficiencies in butyrate production by the microbiota in poultry can lead inflammation in the intestinal tract and what potential feeding strategies can counter that.
Question time
Our interactive portal allows you to send through, in advance, any questions you might have for our speakers. Check it out here
Dr Kimberly Livingston, assistant professor at North Carolina State University, is also on our expert panel. She is a nutritional immunologist and works in the area of nutritional means to modulate immunity and gut health.
She is currently weighing up the factors that may influence the expression of host defense peptides (HDPs) in the gut of the bird, and looking further at the role HDPs play in poultry immunity and productivity.
We will ask her what kind of feed additives typically influence the expression of HDPs.
We will also hear about the latest research insights from Dr Ellen van Eerden, senior researcher at the Netherlands based, Schothorst Feed Research Center. She has been evaluating the feed components and feed additives that can positively influence the microflora in the chicken’s gut and in turn boost intestinal health.
You can register for the free online event here. It starts at 10.30am ET (New York) / 4.30pm CET (Paris) on Thursday 2 March.