Dataset Information

HENNOVATION: Learnings from Promoting Practice-Led Multi-Actor Innovation Networks to Address Complex Animal Welfare Challenges within the Laying Hen Industry.

ABSTRACT: The Hennovation project, an EU H2020 funded thematic network, aimed to explore the potential value of practice-led multi-actor innovation networks within the laying hen industry. The project proposed that husbandry solutions can be practice-led and effectively supported to achieve durable gains in sustainability and animal welfare. It encouraged a move away from the traditional model of science providing solutions for practice, towards a collaborative approach where expertise from science and practice were equally valued. During the 32-month project, the team facilitated 19 multi-actor networks in five countries through six critical steps in the innovation process: problem identification, generation of ideas, planning, small scale trials, implementation and sharing with others. The networks included farmers, processors, veterinarians, technical advisors, market representatives and scientists. The interaction between the farmers and the other network actors, including scientists, was essential for farmer innovation. New relationships emerged between the scientists and farmers, based on experimental learning and the co-production of knowledge for improving laying hen welfare. The project demonstrated that a practice-led approach can be a major stimulus for innovation with several networks generating novel ideas and testing them in their commercial context. The Hennovation innovation networks not only contributed to bridging the science-practice gap by application of existing scientific solutions in practice but more so by jointly finding new solutions. Successful multi-actor, practice-led innovation networks appeared to depend upon the following key factors: active participation from relevant actors, professional facilitation, moderate resource support and access to relevant expertise. Farmers and processors involved in the project were often very enthusiastic about the approach, committing significant time to the network's activities. It is suggested that the agricultural research community and funding agencies should place greater value on practice-led multi-actor innovation networks alongside technology and advisor focused initiatives to improve animal welfare and embed best practices.

SUBMITTER: van Dijk L

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6356511 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

HENNOVATION: Learnings from Promoting Practice-Led Multi-Actor Innovation Networks to Address Complex Animal Welfare Challenges within the Laying Hen Industry.

van Dijk Lisa L Buller Henry J HJ Blokhuis Harry J HJ van Niekerk Thea T Voslarova Eva E Manteca Xavier X Weeks Claire A CA Main David C J DCJ

Animals : an open access journal from MDPI 20190111 1

The Hennovation project, an EU H2020 funded thematic network, aimed to explore the potential value of practice-led multi-actor innovation networks within the laying hen industry. The project proposed that husbandry solutions can be practice-led and effectively supported to achieve durable gains in sustainability and animal welfare. It encouraged a move away from the traditional model of science providing solutions for practice, towards a collaborative approach where expertise from science and pr ...[more]

PMID: 30641970

Similar Datasets

Project description:Enrichments during pullet rearing may improve adaptation and welfare of hens as they move from indoor rearing to a free-range system. Individual variation in outdoor ranging may also affect welfare. This study assessed the effects of rearing enrichments and an imposed environmental stressor on hen welfare and egg quality along with the association of welfare with ranging. Hy-Line Brown® chicks (n = 1,386) were reared indoors until 16 weeks with 3 enrichment treatments including a "control" group with standard floor litter, a "novelty" group that received novel objects that were changed weekly, and a "structural" group with H-shaped perching structures. Pullets were then moved to a free-range system with three replicates of each rearing treatment. Daily ranging was individually tracked from 25 to 64 weeks via radiofrequency identification technology. Individual hen welfare assessments were performed at 25, 33, 43, 56, and 64 weeks and correlated with ranging time prior to these dates. At 44 weeks, the range area was reduced by 80% for 11 days to induce stress. Changes in ranging behavior, albumen corticosterone concentrations and egg quality were evaluated. GLMMs showed significant interactions between hen age and rearing treatment for live weight, number of comb wounds, plumage coverage, and toenail length (all P ? 0.003), with the enriched hens showing more consistent live weight at the later ages, fewer comb wounds at 33 weeks, and better plumage coverage at the later ages, whereas the structural hens had shorter toenails as age increased. Plumage coverage showed a positive relationship with range use across most age points (P < 0.0001). Hens reduced ranging time following the imposed stressor but increased their number of visits with the lowest increase by the structural hens (P = 0.03). Significant interactions between rearing treatment and stressor for albumen corticosterone concentrations showed the structural hens decreased concentrations immediately post-stress, but the control and novelty groups increased (P < 0.006). The stressor increased or decreased values of most egg quality parameters across all rearing groups (all P ? 0.02). Overall, provision of rearing enrichments and greater range use may have positive impacts on hen welfare.

Project description:Dual-purpose strains, with hens housed for egg laying and roosters kept for meat production are one alternative to the killing of male day-old chickens. However, dual-purpose hens seem to have additional advantages compared to conventional layers, for instance, a lower tendency to develop behavioral disorders, such as feather pecking and cannibalism. In the present study, three batches of about 1850 conventional layers (Lohmann Brown plus, LB+) and 1850 dual-purpose hens (Lohmann Dual, LD) each, all of them with untrimmed beaks, were observed during production (20-71 (56) weeks of life) in a semi-commercial aviary system. The aim was to investigate whether the hybrid and batch affected the occurrence of injurious pecking, and to identify a detailed time course of the damage caused by this behavior. Therefore, the hens' plumage and skin condition were assessed as an indicator by means of a visual scoring method. The LB+ hens had higher production performances and higher mortality rates compared to the LD hens. Plumage loss in the LB+ flocks started at 23 to 25 weeks of age, and deteriorated continuously. The LD hens showed only moderate feather loss on the head/neck region, which started at 34 to 41 weeks and remained almost constant until the end of the observations. Compared to feather loss, injuries occurred in the LB+ hens with a delay of several weeks, with a maximum of 8% to 12% of hens affected. In contrast, skin injuries were observed only sporadically in single LD hens. In all batches, hybrid had an effect on the occurrence of feather loss (p < 0.05). Within the LB+ strain, the proportions of hens affected by plumage loss and injuries differed among batches (p < 0.05), whereas this was not the case in the LD flocks. Thus, severe feather pecking and cannibalism seemed to occur in the conventional layer hybrids but not in the dual-purpose hens, though both genetic strains were raised and managed under the same semi-commercial conditions. Therefore, keeping dual-purpose hens should also be considered as an alternative approach to avoid injurious pecking in laying hen husbandry.

Project description:Odour is one of the main environmental concerns in the laying hen industry and may also influence animal health and production performance. Previous studies showed that odours from the laying hen body are primarily produced from the microbial fermentation (breakdown) of organic materials in the caecum, and different laying hen species may have different odour production potentials. This study was conducted to evaluate the emissions of two primary odorous gases, ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S), from six different laying hen species (Hyline, Lohmann, Nongda, Jingfen, Xinghua and Zhusi). An in vitro fermentation technique was adopted in this study, which has been reported to be an appropriate method for simulating gas production from the microbial fermentation of organic materials in the caecum. The results of this study show that Jingfen produced the greatest volume of gas after 12 h of fermentation (p < 0.05). Hyline had the highest, while Lohmann had the lowest, total NH3 emissions (p < 0.05). The total H2S emissions of Zhusi and Hyline were higher than those of Lohmann, Jingfen and Xinghua (p < 0.05), while Xinghua exhibited the lowest total H2S emissions (p < 0.05). Of the six laying hen species, Xinghua was identified as the best species because it produced the lowest total amount of NH3 + H2S (39.94 µg). The results for the biochemical indicators showed that the concentration of volatile fatty acids (VFAs) from Zhusi was higher than that for the other five species, while the pH in Zhusi was lower (p < 0.01), and the concentrations of ammonium nitrogen (NH4+), uric acid and urea in Xinghua were lower than those in the other species (p < 0.01). Hyline had the highest change in SO42- concentration during the fermentation processes (p < 0.05). In addition, the results of the correlation analysis suggested that NH3 emission is positively related to urease activities but is not significantly related to the ureC gene number. Furthermore, H2S emission was observed to be significantly related to the reduction of SO42- but showed no connection with the aprA gene number. Overall, our findings provide a reference for future feeding programmes attempting to reduce odour pollution in the laying hen industry.

Dataset Information

HENNOVATION: Learnings from Promoting Practice-Led Multi-Actor Innovation Networks to Address Complex Animal Welfare Challenges within the Laying Hen Industry.

Publications

HENNOVATION: Learnings from Promoting Practice-Led Multi-Actor Innovation Networks to Address Complex Animal Welfare Challenges within the Laying Hen Industry.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets