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 Vol. 46 (2), October 2011
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Editorial
People in affluent countries may feel better if they reduce their own food intake and/or throw away less food with marginal “best before date”, but this will not help people in Third World countries, where poor education and limited job opportunities encourage people to migrate from villages to cities, hoping to find a better life. After reading the book “Poor Economics – A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty”*), you will probably agree with the authors that better education of boys and girls will be necessary to fight hunger due to poverty. It sounds simple, but is naïve to think that hunger could be completely eliminated across the world if all people who currently eat more than is good for their own health (and throw away edible food) could save the money and donate it so that the surplus could be shipped to the people who suffer from hunger (an estimated 1billion people at both ends of the “normal distribution” of individual food consumption). Hungry people in the Third World may have other priorities than buying eggs or poultry meat if they had more money. Nevertheless, transmitting knowledge how to produce eggs and poultry meat sustainably, i.e. with minimal use of resources (feed and energy) and minimal burden on the environment, is a contribution to better human nutrition. In a future issue, we plan to include a paper on the benefits of egg consumption for brain development of infants and learning ability of school children. Similar beneficial effects may exist in slowing down mental aging in seniors.
As we are approaching the end of 2011, when egg production in conventional cages is supposed to stop in all EU countries, not only egg producers are wondering how the change to alternative systems will be handled in different countries, how this will affect import/export and how consumers, egg producers and – last but not least – laying hens will respond to various alternative management systems. Some farms who followed expert advice from the very beginning of pullet rearing are reporting excellent results in multitier floor systems, but risks of feather pecking and cannibalism remain in all systems unless beak treatment and/or control of light intensity are optimized according to farm-specific experience. If conventional cages were a “fool-proof” system to produce eggs at least cost, the alternative systems will require expert management, with due attention to technical details and the ability of chickens to get oriented in complex systems. Egg production will certainly be more expensive than from conventional cages, and producers have to pay more attention to marketing while minimizing feed and energy cost. While European consumers don’t need to worry about a possible shortage of eggs or exploding egg prices next year, egg producers need a realistic assessment of demand before investing in expensive free range and organic systems, hoping to benefit from these niche markets.
*) A. Banerjee and E. Duflo (2011). ISBN 978-1-58648-798-0
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This issue offers the following topics as food for thought:
1. We start with a look at developments in the global egg market. Prof. Dr. Hans-Wilhelm Windhorst, University of Vechta, Germany, reviews “The Changing Global Egg Industry” and shows that threshold countries account for the largest share of the increasing global production, whereas Europe is barely holding its own in total volume.
2. Dr. Donald Bell, University of California, Riverside, USA, analyzed a large sample of field data to demonstrate the variation in egg production and egg size between flocks of the same strain (LSL LITE). “The Challenges of Management for Today’s High Performing Laying Hens” calls attention to the large differences due to farm management and non-genetic effects in realizing the genetic potential.
3. At a time when Europe is terminating conventional cages, we should remember how the egg industry developed before speculating where it will go in Europe and other parts of the world. Mr.Arnold Elson, ADAS Gleadthorpe, UK, reviews “Housing and Husbandry of Laying Hens: past, present and future”, with reference to extensive scientific publications which have accompanied the developments.
4. Thea van Niekerk and Berry Reuvekamp, WUR Livestock Research, Lelystad, The Netherlands, describe “The Rondeel™ - a new housing design for laying hens”. The concept has been developed to meet higher standards of bird welfare and ecological efficiency than other floor systems and has found positive attention from visitors and the media. Time will tell whether the higher production cost can be recovered and whether beak treatment is not necessary in this system.
5. Most people in Europe are familiar with duck and goose meat as seasonal food in winter months, and this is an interesting niche market. Prof. Dr. Heinz Pingel, Landsberg, Germany, is recognized as an authority in waterfowl on the basis of his research and teaching at the University of Leipzig before reunification of Germany. In his paper “Waterfowl Production for Food Security”, he reviews trends in regional production and consumption between 1991 and 2009 and discusses opportunities for future developments.
6. The EU Court has recently ruled that bee keepers can sue growers of GM plants if their honey is contaminated, and many consumers in Europe are opposed to GM food or feed in animal nutrition. Prof. Dr. Gerhard Flachowsky, Institute of Animal Nutrition, FLI, Braunschweig, Germany, looks at “Poultry Feed from Genetically Modified Plants” on the basis of the results of long-term experiments.
7. Recommendations for optimal nutrition have been a recurrent subject in this publication since the 1950s, when Lohmann got involved in poultry nutrition and promoted feed additives. Over the years, recommendations have been refined, based on new research results. Prof. Dr. Heinz Jeroch, currently at Warmia and Mazury University Olsztyn, Poland, reviews ”Recommendations for energy and nutrients of layers” and suggests specific needs for new research projects to provide a sound scientific basis for feed formulation under different management and climate conditions.
With kind regards,
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