The World’s Poultry Science Journal is indebted to Prof J.A. Castello, Prof D.K. Flock, Dr D. Grastilleur, Dr S. Cherepanov and Prof N. Yang for the translations of these summaries.

On November 20, 2015, Irina G. Moiseyeva passed away in Moscow, Russia, at age of83 years. She was a well known leading researcher of the Laboratory of AnimalComparative Genetics, N. I. Vavilov Institute of General Genetics.

Her whole life was devoted to the science and the Institute of General Genetics,where she worked after graduating from the Moscow State University in 1955.

In 1966, as a member of the Laboratory of Immunogenetics, she participated in theXIII World Poultry Congress in Kiev, USSR, being responsible for arranging theSoviet exposition, for which she was awarded a commemorative medal by theMinistry of Agriculture of the USSR.

In 1971, under the supervision of Kh. F. Kushner, Irina defended her thesis forthe degree of Candidate of Biological Sciences on ‘Phenotypic andgenotypic variability of the egg quality traits in chickens’.Afterwards, Irina worked in the Laboratory of Comparative Genetics at theInstitute of General Genetics, where she led research on the genetics ofdomestic fowl and their primary wild ancestor Gallus gallus.Over the 60 years of her career, she published more than 150 articles on theorigin, evolution, distribution, qualitative and quantitative genetics,biochemical and molecular polymorphisms and morphological characteristics ofchickens. Irina gave particular attention to the issues of conservation ofgenetic resources, firstly for Russian breeds as well as their history andorigins. A number of her studies were devoted to the principles ofclassification of chicken breeds from which she set up a data bank describingover 230 chicken breeds. Important aspects of Irina scientific work included thepopularising activities for the public, teachers and fanciers, aimed at creatingawareness for conservation of genetic resources of domestic animals.

Irina participated in the writing of several fundamental books published inRussian, and in particular, the summarising work ‘Farm Animal GeneticResources: Rare and Endangered Breeds’ (1992), and a chapter entitled‘Chicken breeds and their gene pool’ in the book‘The Gene Pool of Farm Animals: Genetic Resources of LivestockProduction’ (2006).

Irina was a principled person, with an active lifestyle, a member of theAll-Russian Society of Geneticists and Breeders (VOGIS). As a scientificadviser, she was often involved in the activities of the All-Russian Society ofPoultry Fanciers. She took part in many meetings under the auspices of the WorldPoultry Science Association and presented research both within Russia and abroad(England, the Czech Republic, and Israel). It is thanks to her efforts thatRussia became a participant of the international research project AVIANDIV(1999–2000), in which investigators from 21 countries tested 52chicken populations at 25 microsatellite loci, including two Russian breeds.

She was an intelligent and keen conversationalist, distinguished by modesty andtact, combined with kindness. The Russian poultry science community has lost oneof the patriarchs of farm animal genetics, and we will miss a friend andcolleague.

First of all, happy 2016 to all, even through by the time this is published we will be three months into the New Year. The world of poultry science continues to be challenged with various issues, competition for feed raw materials with the human population, the changes in weather due to El Niňo, and so research has to continue into finding novel solutions to evolving problems. The current issue covers various topics including immunity, alternative raw materials for feed, welfare, behaviour, disease, genetics and breeding. 2015 saw a backlog of papers cleared where we were waiting for author revisions, allowing us to increase our turnaround time, although we still sometimes struggle to find suitable reviewers for more obscure topics – so please consider reviewer suggestions carefully if you’re submitting such as paper.

This year is a World Poultry Congress year - this time hosted by the Chinese Branch in Beijing. I am reliably informed that preparations are well under way – so I look forward to seeing a lot of new information and having the opportunity to get more review papers published from this event. Check out the WPSA.com website for details in submitting papers for this key event. I shall also be attending the WPSA UK event in Chester England in April, as part of my annual end of tax year meetings with publishers and hope to see various poultry scientists there.

So here’s to a productive and informative 2016, and do submit your reviews on any topic related to poultry. If you have any queries regarding publishing – do get in contact as we are happy to help!

Dr Lucy Waldron

Editor

This review discusses the different duck species and their feeding management used in meat production in various countries. The initial review describes the requirements of meat type ducks for energy, proteins and amino acids and minerals, vitamins and trace-elements. Other areas discussed include recommendations regarding feed management (feed presentation, feed restriction, use of enzymes and feedstuffs, fatty acid composition of diets). The main breeds used for meat production in the world are Pekin, Muscovy and mule ducks. As growth rate, efficiency and body composition of these three genotypes are different, the specific features of each type of duck are examined when reared under intensive production systems.

The housing and management of laying hens and their productivity has gone through enormous developments in the last century. Housing has changed from free-range systems, via battery cages to a variety of loose housing and different types of battery cages, and back to outdoor access systems. Although battery cages are still the main system used worldwide, the number of hens housed in aviaries and free-range systems has increased in Europe, Australasia and some parts of the USA, but aviaries and free-range systems are still considered a niche sector compared to caged housing. The following paper reviews how breeding and selection have responded to changes in housing and management and whether different types of housing require different breeding programmes and, more specifically, whether a dedicated breeding programme should be developed for aviary and free-range systems.

From the available literature it was concluded that broadening the selection goal in existing lines is the best option for breeding programmes to provide genotypes that are suitable for a range of housing systems.

Propolis is a resinous hive product collected by honeybees from various sources of plants. Numerous scientific investigations have been focused on the biological activities of propolis and its functions as a health supplement in humans. It could have similar function in other animals, such as in poultry. This review is focused on the recent findings concerning the effects of propolis, as an antioxidant, on performance, carcass characteristics, behaviour, immunity, and physiological homeostasis in domesticated poultry species (broiler chickens, laying hens, quail, and duck); and the needs in future poultry research.

The emergence and evolution of viral pathogens cause a major problem in the poultry industry. Mutation and recombination processes are involved in the genetic and phenotypic variations of infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) in chickens, leading to the emergence of new variant strains, and give rise to virus population diversity to be modelled by the host, particularly by the immune system. The consequence is the continuous emergence of new variants with regard to pathotypes, serotypes, and protectotypes. The viral genes encoding the spike, replicase and nucleocapsid proteins can be considered the main genomic regions, which indicate the evolution processes of IBV. Despite the use of vaccination, new IBV variants are evolving and circulating in the field and should be considered as initial candidates for vaccine development. The new generation vaccines developed against locally prevailing IBV strains may be more helpful and avoid the reversion of virulence in live vaccine viruses. Understanding the mechanisms underlying the evolution of IBV has basic relevance and, without doubt, is essential to appropriately control and prevention of the disease.

In the field of animal nutrition, butyrate is used as a zootechnical ingredient and can be used as an unprotected salt or in the form of protected derivatives such as butyrate glycerides or butyrate-loaded matrices. Dietary butyrate supplementation has been shown to improve growth performance and resilience of broiler chickens through distinct mechanisms, operating on both eukaryotic and prokaryotic cells. Firstly, butyrate influences endogenous avian cells in multiple ways: it is an agonist of free-fatty acid receptors, an inhibitor of pro-inflammatory pathways, an epigenetic modulating agent and acts as an energy source. Secondly, butyrate influences the microbiota residing in the avian gastrointestinal tract (GIT) as a result of its bacteriostatic properties. The responses, e.g. changes in growth performance, gut morphology, carcass traits or nutrient digestibility of chickens, to dietary butyrate supplementation are inconsistent with factors such as additive inclusion level, diet composition, age and health status of the bird modulating the effects of butyrate and its derivatives. For many derivatives, the precise GIT segment wherein butyrate is released is unclear. Release location may affect the observed responses to butyrate given the diversity of cell types and pH conditions encountered throughout the gastrointestinal tract of poultry, and the differences in microbiota composition in the different gut segments. As a consequence, our understanding of the mode of action of butyrate is hampered. Characterisation of existing derivatives and development of targeted-release formulations are, therefore, important to gain insight in the different physiological effects butyrate can elicit in broiler chickens.

In the early 21st century, genetic modification of chicken primordial germ cells (PGCs) had not been possible before their transfer and recovery through germ line. Chicken PGCs resist deliberate genetic modification, probably by silencing the transgenes in the genome. The use of mobile genetic elements (transposons) in genetic modification and germ-line transmission of PGCs has recently overcome this problem, so that PGCs can be used for further chicken genome modelling in order to study developmental biology, non-coding RNA (ncRNA) functions, viral DNA-RNA hybridisation, silencing of transgene expression, together with epigenetic modification, and gene function. Application of the transposons, viral integrase, zinc-finger nuclease and site-specific recombinase in whole genome elucidation is not sufficient. The chicken PGCs can be used as a model of choice to establish a new generation of methodology for genome modelling. For this purpose the livesome vectors are proposed.

Protein is the main limiting factor and the second most expensive feed component of poultry ration after energy. In many developing countries, poultry feed prices are consistently increasing because of the dependency on imported soybean meal. In order to decrease the dependency of the poultry feed sector on soybean meal it is necessary to find sustainable alternative protein sources. This review summarises recent findings on the nutritive value of maggot meal, earth worm meal, meal worms and silkworm meal and discusses their potential as an alternative protein source for poultry feed sector.

Severe feather-pecking (SFP), whereby birds vigorously peck at and pull out the feathers of conspecifics, is an extremely injurious, highly prevalent behaviour. It has acute negative impacts on the egg industry worldwide, in terms of both animal welfare and production efficiency. A large volume of research has been conducted to investigate the underlying causes. However, although many contributing factors have been identified, it remains largely unpredictable, and very difficult to control. Environmental influences during the rearing period, feeding behaviour, feather-eating and individual bird differences play important roles in the expression of SFP. This paper provides a review of some of the literature on the aforementioned causes of SFP in laying hens.

Infectious diseases are major constraint that hinders the poultry industry. Among them parasitic diseases are very common and Ascaridia galli is one of the most common parasitic roundworms found in poultry. Haemorrhages, diarrhoea and listlessness are signs of infection. Parasitic infections such as A. galli are treated with chemical anthelmintics (piperazine, albendazole, levamisole, Ivermectin, benzimidazoles and fenbendazole). These synthetic chemicals can promote resistance, so there is need for alternative ways to treat the disease. Medicinal plants have the potential to combat such parasitism and the development of anthelmintic resistance appears to be very slow against such treatment. This review covers the studies related to the screening of plant materials having in vitro and in vivo anthelmintic activities against A. galli throughout the world. Medicinal plants showing in vitro anthelmintic activity include Anacardium occidentale, Allium sativum, Tribulus terrestris, Bassia latifolia, Piper betle, Morinda citrifolia L.I, Cassia occidentalis L. and Aloe secundiflora while in vivo studies include the use of Psorelia corylifolia, Piper betle, Pilostigma thonningi, Caesalpinia crista, Ocimum gratissimum and Anacardium occidentale. In conclusion, medicinal plants appear to have good anthelmintic activities in poultry and may substitute conventionally used synthetic drugs, and their use may moderate drug resistance in endemic pathogen populations and drug residues in poultry meat.

Low pathogenic avian influenza virus (LPAI) subtype H9N2 in poultry has occurredin many countries since the mid-1990s. Outbreaks due to H9N2 have occurred inKorea, Germany, Italy, Ireland, South Africa and the USA. Most recently, H9N2infections have been reported in several Asian countries, the Middle East andAfrica, causing widespread outbreaks in commercial chickens. In these countries,vaccine has been distributed with the aim of controlling the disease. However,H9N2 infections have become endemic in commercial poultry in a significantnumber of countries. This review is aimed to shed light on the current situationof the LPAI world-wide.