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 Vol. 45, (1) April 2010
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Editorial
The editorial board of Lohmann Information meets every six months close to the time when the current issue is being published. Typically, several topics are suggested from Lohmann Tierzucht and Lohmann Animal Health colleagues for the next issue, based on recent symposia or internal developments. It is then the pleasure of the editor to persuade authors to translate excellent power point slide presentations into publishable text versions. In 2009, Lohmann Tierzucht celebrated “50 years layer breeding in Cuxhaven” and the Solutions Department of Lohmann Animal Health organized a workshop „Water supply in poultry farming – a key factor for health and performance“. We decided to include one paper from each meeting, supplemented with a related general paper from external authors.
It so happened that National Geographic just published an excellent special issue (April 2010) “Water– our thirsty world”, which we recommend to our readers for more general information on world water resources.
This issue of Lohmann Information includes 9 contributions as „food for thought“:
1. Harm Specht, former board member of Lohmann & Co. AG and acting president of the Heinz Lohmann Foundation, presented a portrait of Heinz Lohmann in the first online edition of Lohmann Information (2006).
In this issue, he presents “The Heinz Lohmann Foundation – honoring a pioneer in modern agriculture”, based on an address given on the occasion of a reception 14th April 2010 before unveiling a memorial on the Lohmann Campus in Cuxhaven. The non-profit Foundation was established in 1997 as a subsidiary of Lohmann & Co. AG.
2. Prof. Dr. Heiner Niemann, Director of the Friedrich Löffler Institute for Farm Animal Genetics in Mariensee (formerly Max-Planck and later FAL Institute) recently published a short perspective on “Animal Production and Research in Germany” in the Journal Züchtungskunde, which may also be of interest for our international readers and was therefore translated from the original publication.
3. Prof. Dr. Dorian Garrick, Jay Lush Chair of Animal Breeding at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa, USA, presents the theoretical basis for modern methods of breed improvement in his article “The Revolution in Genetic Improvement”, which combines traditional quantitative genetics with DNA information. This is an excellent general introduction to the next paper.
4. Prof. Dr. Rudolf Preisinger, Lohmann Tierzucht GmbH, Cuxhaven, looks at the same topic from a more practical angle of current application and future potential for breed improvement in his paper “Genome-wide Selection in Poultry”. Laboratory techniques to identify individual genes are being refined to analyze genetic variation in each line in order to select more accurately for complex traits.
5. Dr. Wiebke Icken and co-workers, Lohmann Tierzucht GmbH, Cuxhaven, present a new technique developed in cooperation between Lohmann Tierzucht and the Institute for Agricultural Engineering and Animal Husbandry of the Bavarian State Research Centre for Agriculture of the
Technical University Munich-Weihenstephan. In the article “New selection traits from group housing systems” the authors describe how pedigreed hens are being tested under floor conditions as a basis to improve adaptability to non-cage management systems:
6. Dr. Barbara Tzschentke, Institute of Biology, Perinatal Adaptation, Humboldt-University Berlin, and Dr. Ingrid Halle, Friedrich-Loeffler-Institute, Federal Research Institute for Animal Health, Institute of Animal Nutrition, Braunschweig, Germany present results of a series of trials with heat treatment of broiler hatching eggs on hatchability, chick quality and broiler performance in their paper “Temperature training” during the last days of incubation: a new method to improve poultry performance”.
7. Dr. A.M. Manschadi and co-workers, Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany, describe a project focused on efficient use of water resources. In the article “White Gold” and Aral Sea disaster – Towards more efficient use of water resources in the Khorezm region, Uzbekistan”, the authors analyze the effects of irrigating cotton fields and related factors contributing to one of the world’s most dramatic losses of water resources. Possible actions to minimize further deterioration are identified. Political support and incentives to use resources more sustainably are required to benefit fully from the recommendations.
8. Prof. Dr. G. Schlenker, emeritus of the department of animal and environmental hygiene of the Veterinary Faculty of the Free University in Berlin, Dr. Ina Bräunig and D. Windhorst, Lohmann Animal Health GmbH & Co. KG, Cuxhaven, review water as the most important nutrient in poultry nutrition in their paper “Technological and health aspects of drinking water for broiler chickens”. The review is based on papers presented at a workshop of the Lohmann Animal Health division “Solutions” held in Cuxhaven, 20-21 October 2009 „Water supply in poultry farming – a key factor for health and performance“.
9. Attila von Hankó contributed an introduction to “Autogenous Vaccines” in the October 2009 issue of Lohmann Information.
In this issue, Dr. Wiebke Icken and co-workers present first encouraging field results in their paper “Use of different autogenous vaccines in commercial layers to reduce E. coli infection”.
Readers of Lohmann Information are free to copy individual papers for own use.
For reproduction in other Journals, permission from the editor and author(s) is required. Please feel free to pass this issue of Lohmann Information to colleagues and send their name and address to the editor for future direct mailing.
The editor also appreciates comments re. contents of this issue and suggestions for future topics.
With kind regards,
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