Dr. Ricardo M. Alesón (2002)

INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM BIOVET 2002

A deep and thorough knowledge of poultry technology is necessary in order to develop the genetic potential that the breeders currently have.

In Table 1 we can see how genetic and technological advances were before, in the year 2002 and a challenge to obtain in most of the these results.

In order to achieve these results consistently and not sporadically, it is essential to use information technology and serology, to have a real, fast and concrete knowledge of the data of the farm, and in this way take appropriate measures, according to the results that are occurring. These computerized means are a driving force of poultry companies and will increasingly have a greater weight in both decisions and results.

There are a number of critical points that we will describe with the letters A.B.U.S. (Attitude, Biosafety, Uniformity, Supervision), which a poultry company must always take into account:

– Attitude: a positive and vigilant attitude is necessary for all the people who are part of the company, so that it is a unit, not a set of watertight departments. In this way the information will be available to everyone.

– Biosecurity: farms are carried out eradication programs, with controls that reflect results. These must be collected with an order, for later interpretation and improve the marked objects.

– Uniformity: uniformity in batches, not only is the body and ovarian development involving material, food, handling, etc., but also the uniformity in the results of immune controls. In all of them, of course, informatics is developed both to determine the most efficient material (comparison of feeders and drinkers), and to be able to determine the immunity in own production and offspring.

– Supervision: it is the monitoring of the management functions, biosecurity and uniformity and needs a persistence to know and verify if the above details are being done, to achieve the proposed goals and how they can be improved. The comparison of results of different batches by the computer and the management, serve us to optimize yields.

PROGRAM FOR THE HEALTH OF THE LOTS (SEROLOGY)

The serological controls are the means that allow us to optimize the production of the poultry industry. Serological controls allow us to:

Determine if vaccination programs are most effective in batches.
Detects the outbreak of a disease
Calculate the baseline of the lots themselves by comparing them with the yields of the previous lots
Value the costs of health programs
Thanks to the computer programs applied to this field, for each of the advantages that have the serological controls, are obtained as added value and with the speed that allow us today the following conclusions:

1º Determines if vaccination programs are the most efficient in batches:

Measurement and visualization of levels of maternal antibodies in chicks.
Evaluation of vaccine responses and vaccine application practices.
Predict when maternal immunity declines, and at what age they can be vaccinated, avoiding vaccine interference.
Develops the serological trends to know the good and bad returns of the lots.
2º It detects the outbreak of a disease

Predicts for exposure to lots of disease
It diagnoses the probability of a disease by measuring the peaks in antibody levels with respect to previous analyzes.
3rd Calculates the baseline of the lot itself compared to the yields of the previous lots

Summarize batch yields by vaccination programs
It calculates the normal titles for each agent of a disease in his operation, by age groups, comparing them with previous batches
Evaluate whether your current health program should be adjusted to achieve the highest yield in your lots
4º Values ​​the costs of health programs:

Optimizes vaccination programs to maximize response and batch protection
It reduces the losses due to diseases through the control and the early detention of the diseases.
5º Facilitates the use of data:

It allows working with a large number of samples, if the calculations are very complex.
It allows you to make decisions periodically, based on saved records and reports.
Finding the causes of non-optimal performance in a batch is often a complex problem, in which a number of health factors are usually involved. In order to find the cause of the problem and make a quick decision to correct it, it is necessary to have a thorough knowledge of the current health status of the lot, as well as to have established a serological profile of the lot with the results of the serological tests prior to the appearance of the disease.

To be able to have a serological profile of the lots, starting from the baselines of their operation, it is necessary to do some periodic checks of the sera as indicated below.

(Minimum 23 samples / flock)

1.Measures the uniformity of maternal antibodies.

2.Indicate the appropriate time for the first vaccinations.

3. It measures the level and uniformity of antibodies and the response to the first live vaccine vaccinations.
Very critical period
4. It measures the level and uniformity of response to inactivated and killed vaccines.
5 .and 6. Measures the uniformity and duration of antibodies during the production period. It also detects the field infection.
(Minimum 23 samples / flock, 20% of flocks tested)

1.It measures the uniformity of titers, and the period for a first vaccination.
2.It measures the level of titers and the uniformity of vaccine response. You also detect the field infections.
Elements needed to perform the serological tests are as follows:

Elisa Kits: Currently available in the market for most diseases, they are easy to use, with short incubation times, and high standard quality.
Microplate reader: is an optical density reader that reads the 96 wells of the plates in a few seconds. It is computer controlled.
Precision pipettes: one of a single channel and another multichannel of 8 to 12 channels. They have to be of good quality for optimum results.
Washing system: currently are in the market both manual and automatic, although more automatic is recommended for more reliable results.
Computer program: it is the tool of work of the veterinarian, with it is controlled the lecto of microplates. It is in charge of reading the data of the reader, and of converting the results to titles. The data obtained are stored in a database to perform different analyzes of the data. They have the capacity to perform different analyzes of the data. They have the capacity to be able to email the results to customers.