Enhancing Microbial Safety and Production Efficiency in Organic Poultry Farming: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of Innovative Strategies

The long-term goals of this multi-regional, multi-institutional proposal integrating research, extension, and education is to provide organic poultry producers with innovative, economical, effective and easy to implement strategies for improving the microbial safety, production efficiency, quality, economics and consumer perception in organic poultry farming. The proposal has a total of 11 objectives (6 research, 3 outreach, 2 education). Specific research objectives based on the 4 stakeholder needs are presented below:Stakeholders need 1: Microbial safety of organic poultry and poultry products.Objective 1. Reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni colonization in organic poultry by in-ovo vaccination of developing embryos.Objective 2. Reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni in farm and processing environment by application of phytochemical emulsions and encapsulated probiotics.Objective 3. Reduce Salmonella and Campylobacter jejuni colonization in organic poultry by supplementation of drinking water with phytochemical emulsions and encapsulated probiotics.Stakeholders need 2: Gut health and production efficiency in organic poultry.Objective 4. Improve gut health and production efficiency in organic poultry by supplementation of drinking water with phytochemical emulsions and encapsulated probiotics (Lab and field trials).Stakeholders need 3: Product quality and consumer acceptability.Objective 5. Study quality, and consumer acceptability of eggs and broiler carcass obtained from organic poultry supplemented with phytochemical emulsions and encapsulated probiotics.Stakeholders need 4: Consumer perception and cost-benefit analysis.Objective 6. Cost/benefit and consumer perception analysis on the research, extension and education efforts of the project.We will develop a comprehensive outreach program to disseminate the findings of the proposal to avian health professionals, organic poultry farmers and other stakeholders. The project results will be disseminated by a team of young and experienced poultry outreach specialists (4 participating faculty) and stakeholders who have been involved in organic poultry production. The outreach/extension objectives of this proposal are presented below. Please note that the objective numbers are a continuation from research objectives above to maintain continuity and clarity.Objective 7. Disseminate project results to scientific community through conferences, symposia and webinars.Objective 8. Conduct outreach to the organic poultry community, extension specialists and interested stakeholders through focus group meetings, social media, and workshops.Objective 9. Measure the impact of outreach efforts through surveys and post-program evaluations.Objective 10. Develop instructional materials and incorporate into existing university curriculum.Objective 11. Develop an online certificate program focusing on organic poultry production.