Factors Affecting Poultry Producers' Attitudes towards Biosecurity.

Poultry producers' attitudes towards biosecurity practices were assessed by using the ADKAR® (Awareness, Desire, Knowledge, Ability, and Reinforcement) behavioral change model. Conventional poultry producers (n = 155) from different production types including broilers (n = 35), layers (n = 22), breeders (n = 24), turkeys (n = 19), ducks (n = 23), free-range broilers (n = 11), free-range layers (n = 11), and hatcheries (n = 10) from seven European countries were scored for each ADKAR element (1 = total absence to 5 = perfect fulfilment). Each country performed selected interventions (e.g., coaching, participatory meetings, etc.) to improve biosecurity compliance. After the interventions, significant change was observed in three of the four attitude elements. The overall mean scores (x¯ ± SD) obtained during the initial assessment (n = 130) were 4.2 ± 0.6 for Awareness, 4.1 ± 0.7 for Desire, 3.8 ± 0.8 for Knowledge, and 4.0 ± 0.7 for Ability, whereas after intervention, the scores were A = 4.3 ± 0.6, D = 4.2 ± 0.7, K = 4.1 ± 0.7, and Ab = 4.1 ± 0.7. The Reinforcement component was only evaluated after the change and obtained a score of 3.7 ± 0.7 on average. Identifying the elements influencing poultry producers and their behavior related to farm management decisions was useful in guiding our educational interventions to effectively change their behavior.

A systematic review and meta-analysis on the efficacy of vaccination against colibacillosis in broiler production.

Colibacillosis, a disease caused by Escherichia coli in broiler chickens has serious implications on food safety, security, and economic sustainability. Antibiotics are required for treating the disease, while vaccination and biosecurity are used for its prevention. This systematic review and meta-analysis, conducted under the COST Action CA18217-European Network for Optimization of Veterinary Antimicrobial Treatment (ENOVAT), aimed to assess the efficacy of E. coli vaccination in broiler production and provide evidence-based recommendations. A comprehensive search of bibliographic databases, including, PubMed, CAB Abstracts, Web of Science and Agricola, yielded 2,722 articles. Following a defined protocol, 39 studies were selected for data extraction. Most of the studies were experimental infection trials, with only three field studies identified, underscoring the need for more field-based research. The selected studies reported various types of vaccines, including killed (n = 5), subunit (n = 8), outer membrane vesicles/protein-based (n = 4), live/live-attenuated (n = 16), and CpG oligodeoxynucleotides (ODN) (n = 6) vaccines. The risk of bias assessment revealed that a significant proportion of studies reporting mortality (92.3%) or feed conversion ratio (94.8%) as outcomes, had "unclear" regarding bias. The meta-analysis, focused on live-attenuated and CpG ODN vaccines, demonstrated a significant trend favoring both vaccination types in reducing mortality. However, the review also highlighted the challenges in reproducing colibacillosis in experimental setups, due to considerable variation in challenge models involving different routes of infection, predisposing factors, and challenge doses. This highlights the need for standardizing the challenge model to facilitate comparisons between studies and ensure consistent evaluation of vaccine candidates. While progress has been made in the development of E. coli vaccines for broilers, further research is needed to address concerns such as limited heterologous protection, practicability for application, evaluation of efficacy in field conditions and adoption of novel approaches.

Stakeholders' Perceptions of Biosecurity Implementation in Italian Poultry Farms.

The level of implementation of biosecurity measures (BMs), the reasons for not implementing BMs and the effectiveness of BMs were assessed according to the perceptions of stakeholders (i.e., farmers and advisors) in Italian poultry farms. For this purpose, data were collected using a questionnaire administered to advisors (n = 37) and farmers (n = 30) of conventional broiler (n = 13) and layer (n = 13), free-range broiler (n = 8) and layer (n = 10), turkey (n = 13), duck (n = 3) and breeder (n = 7) farms between April and September 2021. The frequency of the implementation of BMs was 66.97% and 81.14% according to the answers provided by the advisors and farmers, respectively, with the breeder sector showing the highest level of implementation (85.71%). "Not knowing advantages" (21.49% for advisors) and "other/specific reasons" (21.49% for advisors and 38.32% for farmers) were the most common answers regarding the lack of implementation of BMs for all poultry sectors. Only 31.09% of farmers acknowledged the effectiveness of not-implemented BMs in contrast to 61.02% of advisors, with the layers' stakeholders being the most aware. The findings of this study may be useful for identifying failures in biosecurity and failures to develop intervention strategies to fulfil the biosecurity gaps still present in Italian poultry farms.

Monitoring biosecurity in poultry production: an overview of databases reporting biosecurity compliance from seven European countries.

Compliance with required on-farm biosecurity practices reduces the risk of contamination and spread of zoonotic and economically important diseases. With repeating avian influenza epidemics in the poultry industry, the need to monitor and improve the overall level of biosecurity is increasing. In practice, biosecurity compliance is assessed by various actors (e.g., academic, private and public institutions), and the results of such assessments may be recorded and gathered in databases which are seldom shared or thoroughly analyzed. This study aimed to provide an inventory of databases related to the assessment of biosecurity in poultry farms in seven major poultry-producing European countries to highlight challenges and opportunities associated with biosecurity data collection, sharing, and use. The institutions in charge of these databases were contacted and interviewed using a structured questionnaire to gather information on the main characteristics of the databases and the context of their implementation. A total of 20 databases were identified, covering the gamut of poultry species and production types. Most databases were linked to veterinary health authorities or academia, and to a lesser extent interbranch organizations. Depending on the institutions in charge, the databases serve various purposes, from providing advice to enforcing regulations. The quality of the biosecurity data collected is believed to be quite reliable, as biosecurity is mostly assessed by trained farm advisors or official veterinarians and during a farm visit. Some of the databases are difficult to analyze and/or do not offer information concerning which biosecurity measures are most or least respected. Moreover, some key biosecurity practices are sometimes absent from certain databases. Although the databases serve a variety of purposes and cover different production types, each with specific biosecurity features, their analysis should help to improve the surveillance of biosecurity in the poultry sector and provide evidence on the benefits of biosecurity.

Assessing Biosecurity Compliance in Poultry Farms: A Survey in a Densely Populated Poultry Area in North East Italy.

Biosecurity in poultry farms represents the first line of defense against the entry and spread of pathogens that may have animal health, food safety, and economic consequences. The aim of this study was to assess biosecurity compliance in poultry farms located in a densely populated poultry area in North East Italy. A total of 259 poultry farms (i.e., broilers, turkeys, and layers) were surveyed between 2018 and 2019 using standardized checklists, and differences in biosecurity compliance between the poultry sectors and years (only for turkey farms) were tested for significance. Among the three sectors, turkey farms showed the highest compliance. Farm hygiene, infrastructure condition, cleaning and disinfection tools, and procedures were the biosecurity measures most complied with. Some deficiencies were observed in the cleanliness of the farm hygiene lock in broiler farms, as well as the presence of the house hygiene lock in broiler and layer farms and an adequate coverage of built-up litter in turkey and broiler farms. In conclusion, this study highlighted a generally high level of biosecurity in the visited poultry farms (probably due to the stringent national regulation and the integration of the poultry industry) and identified some measures that still need to be improved.