Innovative Technology and Practices Transforming India’s Poultry Farming Sector

Innovative Technology and Practices Transforming India’s Poultry Farming Sector

Ranjana Sinha¹, Ashish Ranjan², D.N. Singh³ and Manmohan Kumar¹

1- Assistant Professor, Livestock Farm Complex, Bihar Veterinary College, BASU, Patna-14

2- Touring Veterinary Officer, Animal and Fish Resources, Government of Bihar.

3- Associate Professor, Livestock Farm Complex, Bihar Veterinary College, BASU, Patna-14.

The Poultry sector is a most important segment of the livestock. Poultry production is one of the fastest growing sectors of the livestock industry in developing countries. This sector includes chicken, quail, duck, turkey, guinea fowl and goose species. It consists of many diverse level of production including breeding farms, hatcheries, feed industries, broilers and layer farms. The conventional methods of poultry rearing have poor performance in terms of growth and sustainability (C Castellini et al., 2006). Environmentally controlled sheds, automatic feeders and regular channel watering systems to automatic cups and nipples, automatic egg collection, refrigeration systems, nutraceutical and medicine manufacturing units, vaccine manufacturing units, manufacturing mechanical components to electronic gadgets are just a few examples of recently transformed innovative technology that is useful for various functions to increase productivity and lower management costs. Automation is the use of machines, control systems and information technologies to optimize productivity for the production of goods and delivery of services. Acceptance of new technologies and practices in the poultry industry has a direct impact on meat and egg productivity. The organized poultry sector in India is in good position with uses of recent advanced technology.

Modification in the farming systems

Most poultry farms in India are located in rural areas, where 37% of these farms’ flocks are raised by using backyard systems. It is difficult to enhance profitability for a backyard farming system due to inadequate utilization of resources (Chatterjee et al., 2015). The progress of poultry sector is due to the advancement of technologies in the management, nutrition and health care systems. Therefore, well-educated and knowledgeable firms currently control the poultry sector.  They always consider and implement new technology available globally for modern poultry farming.  The new farming systems are called “Smart farms, Automated farms, Mechanized farms and Digital farms

New innovation in Poultry Farming

Modern advancements in poultry farming enable farmers to fulfill consumer demand for poultry products by maximizing production, health, and welfare. These modern technologies also helped in the expansion of the sector by boosting profitability and worker efficiency. Use of MRI technology also helps to identify fertile and infertile egg. For more precise and efficient hatch rate identification, Geng et al. (2019) introduced a new technique, E-CNN network, that is a blend of convolutional neural network (CNN) with the heartbeat signal of the hatching eggs.

Proper environment control house, proper feeding and watering of poultry is essential for their optimum growth, production and reproduction.

 

Some of the new innovation in poultry Farming:

1. Breeding management system in poultry farming

The scientific breeding system in poultry is one of the most effective methods for improving poultry flock performance for desired traits. The crossbreeding and hybrid vigour programmes are used for making most efficient producer of poultry strains. Different commercial birds are developed by crossing between trait-specific pure-bred lines to produce broilers and layers. These lines come from the great-grandparents of commercial birds. Typically, a commercial chicken breeding and selling corporation would maintain purebred lineages, including great grandparents, grandparents, and parents.

• Quantitative trait loci, or QTLs, are groups of genes in avian DNA that are strongly associated with a particular trait of interest, such as body weight growth in the case of broilers. QTLs are used to select the cockerel and pullet for the generations.
• Identification of genes for desired trait through Microarray analysis, which is the examination of microscopic slides with organized series of animal sample, is used to identify the genes of interest.
• Several technologies, including transgenesis, knocking down a gene with RNAi and proteomics, nanotechnology, epigenetics, in-ovo methods, and even CRISPR gene editing technology are currently employed to add new features or characteristics to chicken strains or reduce the malfunctioning of a gene. The introduction of new traits that are not present naturally can be accompanying by these procedures.

2. Nutritional innovation in poultry farming

            Feed have a major cost on poultry farming system. It consists about 70% of total expenditure of all expense. In poultry feed, Maize is the most common feed ingredient while soybean meal is the common protein source ingredient. There are some new innovations that can be used as feed ingredients in poultry farming.

• Transgenic feed for poultry has been developed that contains higher quantity of essential proteins and amino acids. The anti-nutritional factors present in poultry feed like canola meals with erucic acid, tannins and glycosinolates are reduced by using these transgenic feed.
• In stress condition the restricted appetite, poultry birds can only consume a certain amount of feed, making make it difficult to provide the proper balance of nutrients. These transgenic feeds supplement add an additional essential element makes a balanced chickens’ diet.
• Symbiotic contain both probiotics and prebiotics, these are an alternative to antibiotics, particularly those acting on gut bacteria. Synbiotics aid in enhancing the gut’s resident good bacteria’s survival and activity.

• Amino acids, that are present in limited quantity, in feed ingredients are produced by use of recent biotechnological techniques e.g. Microbes like yeast, these are produced through the metabolic process. These microorganisms can manufacture these limited amino acids because of genome modified by inserting particular genes. These microbes may create micronutrients.
• Digital tools like artificial intelligence (AI) can help to optimize the decision-making process for managing the feed and health of gut micro-biome. AI powered technology may offer advice on how to optimize feed composition, flock performance, health and farm management techniques.

3. Innovation about health management in poultry farming

The cost of health care is second largest expense after feed for maintaining a poultry farm. The viral diseases like bird flu, fowl pox, and others can quickly spread across a whole flock and cause the loss of all the birds of a farm. Therefore, the well-being of these birds is crucial for successful farming. A fresh flock should always be brought into the farm once the previous flock’s birds have been sold or removed, which is known as the “all-in and all-out” technique in poultry production. New birds are properly quarantined before being added to breeding stock or any other stock. For the benefit of the health of birds, bio-security precautions should also be taken.

In the present, quick treatments are provided to birds for a variety of diseases, and the causes of those diseases are thoroughly investigated in order to develop effective prevention measures. Post-mortem examination of deceased birds is necessary for this, and epidemiological research on illnesses is crucial. Additionally, it is crucial to determine a previous infectious pathogenic strain or a newly developed pathogenic strain. Therefore, therapeutic or preventative measures should be implemented in poultry farms. The disease-controlling strategy of poultry farms includes infrastructure for disease diagnostics, training of farm staff, and information exchange on newly developing infections and strains. Diseases like the bird flu and others may be fought by creating disease-free zones surrounding poultry farms using a variety of tight bio-security procedures.

4. Innovation in poultry houses

Poultry housing includes the buildings, where the birds are housed, as well as the tools used in poultry farming. The equipment utilized in the poultry enterprises is also affected by mechanical advancements. Commercial poultry farms account for 62% of all poultry farms where poultry equipment plays a significant role. Backyard poultry farming is also transitioning itself to commercial farming. The extreme climatic conditions in these locations make it difficult for poultry production by lowering the daily protein intake. Understanding heat stress in birds and close attention to the sources of heat generation in a poultry house are considered to be an important ways to control the heat stress problem for those areas.

The following are some recent advancement in poultry housing:

• The use of cooling pads in poultry farms and new automatic control systems with automated showers. These are simple to clean and disinfect.
• New moving chain feeders are employed for effective feed distribution and quickly completing the circuit.
• Modern farms frequently use flicker-free fluid LED lighting systems with adjustable light levels.
• Special digital air quality monitors are used in poultry farms to track the levels of ammonia and carbon dioxide in the farm. These monitors provide real-time readings of these gases. By doing so, the toxicity of these gases is reduced, which helps to maintain the performance of birds.
• The most modern. water systems are made to keep water free of pollutants including dirt, feces, and other impurities by preventing entry through an automated drinking system. This aids also helps in reducing water waste and protecting flocks from infections spread by contaminated water.
• A specific moving belt system is utilized in layer farming to collect manure and palletization of dried manure helps in lowering agricultural dust. This aids helps in keeping the poultry farm’s conditions clean.

The new technologies that could improve the future production and processing practices:

1. Remote sensing

Real-time visibility is made possible through remote sensing for a variety of things; including poultry house conditions, bird performance, health, and welfare. When the farmer decides to check their computer, they can not only monitor the condition of the sheds and the birds, but they can also set the sensors’ readings to send “alerts” to management whenever a parameter deviates from the set standards for the particular age of birds.

• Precision poultry production may be achieved by using sensors to simplify the data collecting process for both birds and workers.
• The owner may use a smart phone application to track environmental variables including temperature, humidity, ammonia gas and water level in real time.
• This system explains a combined WSN (wireless sensor network) and GPRS network solution for smart poultry monitoring.
• Sensors may be used to evaluate flock homogeneity and estimation of body weights in poultry.
  2. Automation and Digitalization

On poultry farms, automation can take the place of physical labour for routine jobs like monitoring bird welfare, immunizing birds, and managing trash. In processing plants, robots that can remove meat from bones serve to reduce contamination by workers who are susceptible to disease.  The wireless sensors and GPRS network uses, help to control and automatic monitoring of environmental factor like ambient temperature, humidity and ammonia gas in a poultry farm. By getting an SMS on their registered cellphone number, the responsible party will be able to find out about the poultry farm’s interior environmental conditions.

3. Robotics and automation

Robotics and automation are of great interest because of their ability to reduce labour costs, provide round-the-clock coverage, and allow for remote reporting. Robotic technology can encourage layer hens and broiler breeders to walk throughout the home, which lowers the floor eggs and increases fertility, enhances the health and wellbeing of birds and requires less effort overall. Working with the robot, a farmer may save up to 50% of their time, and also reduces travel time by two third, and enhance working conditions.

A healthier, more productive growing environment could be produced from robotic equipment regarding broiler production. It uses artificial intelligence to assist farmers in making data-driven decisions. Robotics can be utilized to motivate the birds to become more physically active and build up their muscle mass, which will ultimately lead to improved gains in the feed conversion ratio.

Robots can be utilized for continuous scraping of the litter to get rid of caking and moist patches, which lowers the risk of foot burn, breast burn, and pododermatitis. It can identify and pick up floor eggs, monitor ambient temperatures, gases, and light levels, and navigate poultry house floors using image sensors and machine learning. Producers may get information about alter ventilation and take care of any local problems that can impact bird welfare or productivity using this useful information. These adjustments can prevent infections from spreading across the flock.

An autonomous ceiling-suspended robot named Chicken Boy, evaluates environmental factors, human health and wellbeing, and equipment breakdowns. Developers at Farm Robotics and Automation intend to keep developing features, such as the disposal of dead birds and the study of litter moisture.

Bird density and dispersion patterns in commercial bedding floor poultry houses are important factors for assessing the production management, health and wellbeing of the animals. The daily regular examination of the distribution of broiler flocks in commercial grow-out houses is carried out manually, which is time-consuming and labor-intensive. A technology based on machine vision can monitor the distribution of hens on the floor in areas designated for drinking, eating, and resting or activity.  In order to identify broiler chicken floor distribution patterns, behaviors, and welfare indicators in commercial production facilities, a real-time evaluation tool will be created for better production.

4. Artificial Vision: 

Artificial vision is used in poultry processing to provide real-time yield monitoring of high-value chicken parts, enabling supervisors to provide instant feedback to workers who can correct any possible deficiencies. Artificial vision also represents a uniform approach that can be used to evaluate outcomes amongst employees, shifts, and processing facilities, which is especially useful for large businesses that operate across numerous sites. Intelligent automation and artificial vision may also be used together to maximize efficiency e.g. the automated sorting of broiler parts following inspection. For processors, AI enables faster processing and precise packaging of high-value items, which results in increased earnings and fewer customer complaints. For some specific jobs that are supposed to be uncomfortable or difficult to complete effectively and consistently, researchers are currently looking at ways to completely replace human interaction.

5. Artificial Intelligence (AI)

In broiler and egg production unit farm, artificial intelligence, not only increase productivity but also assist farmers in overcoming certain difficulties. In order to monitor the well-being of birds, scientists are currently training robots to identify sound that can indicate pain or discomfort. AI can also used to diagnose a disease as early as possible. It has the potential to help producers immediately to stop the spread of illnesses within a flock by assisting in the detection of infections during their incubation phase (Kumar et al., 2023). By using AI and/or collaborative intelligence, we may be able to identify diseases more quickly and accurately. Optimization of feed composition, genetic selection, and hatchery management are further applications for AI. Applications utilizing AI will be beneficial to all facets of the poultry industry. By aiding research and decision-making, new artificial intelligence technologies can assist integrators in generating savings and obtaining improved flock performance.

6. Gene Editing Technology (egg XYT CRISPR )

Generates an optical signal in embryos that may be detected during the breeding/hatching time by inserting a biomarker into the DNA of male chicks at the parent stock level (Corion et al., 2022). Upon inspection, eggs are redirected to food production if they contain male embryos. Developers are reportedly in talks to include the technology in the stock of a significant breeding business.

7. Collaborative robotic technology

Cobots, commonly referred to as collaborative robots, are made to operate securely alongside human employees. The robot often does any monotonous chores, allowing the human employee to handle more complicated, thought-intensive jobs. Robots can be used to streamline operations by freeing up human workers to carry out more difficult, mentally tough activities.

Benefits of Cobots

• Ability to integrate functions with limited space
• Cost-effective approach
• Improved ROI (Return on investment) calculation
• Shorter programming time
• Quicker deployment

 

Conclusion

As a result of the adoption of few innovative technologies and environmentally friendly techniques, India’s poultry farming industry is undergoing a significant shift. These developments indicate a revolution, i.e., changing the sector’s environment, rather than just little adjustments. Increased production, economic growth, better farmer livelihoods and greater nutritional security have all resulted from these transitions. Recent data and references show how much the industry affects India’s agriculture and economy. These innovative technologies have supported sustainability and economic viability by overcoming long-standing obstacles of the poultry sector.

References

Castellini, C., Bastianoni, S., Granai, C., Bosco A.D. and Brunetti, M. (2006). Sustainability of poultry production using the energy approach: Comparison of conventional and organic rearing systems. Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment., 114: 343–350.

Chatterjee, U. and Rajkumar, R.N. (2015). an overview of poultry production in india Indian J. Anim. Hlth., 54(2) : 89-108

Corion, M., Keresztes, J., Ketelaere, B.D. and Saeys, W. (2022).  In ovo sexing of eggs from brown breeds with a gender-specific colour using visible-near-infrared spectroscopy: effect of incubation day and measurement configuration. Poult Sci., 101(5): 101782

Geng, L., Hu, Y., Xiao, Z. and Xi, J. (2019). Fertility detection of hatching eggs based on a convolutional neural network. Appl. Sci., 9: 1408.

Kumar, Y. Koul, A. Singla, R and Fazallaz, M. (2023). Artificial intelligence in disease diagnosis: a systematic literature review, synthesizing framework and future research agenda, J. Ambient Intell Humaniz Comput, 14(7): 8459-8486

Innovative technology and practices transforming India’s poultry farming sectors