As poultry genetics have shifted from pure growth performance toward welfare, meat quality and robustness, the immune system has become a central focus for nutritionists and producers alike.
In this Feed Strategy Chat, sponsored by Zinpro, Technical Account Manager Dr. Raquel Conrad Burin discusses how trace minerals such as zinc, manganese and copper support the innate and adaptive immune responses, and shares research showing that Zinpro zinc amino acid complex reduces Salmonella colonization in broilers primarily by triggering immune activation rather than direct antimicrobial action. Her takeaway for integrators: immune support works best as a long-term nutritional strategy, not a reaction to disease outbreaks.
Interview with Dr. Raquel Konrad Burin, technical account manager, Zinpro
Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief of WATT Feed Brands and Feed Strategy: Hi everyone, welcome to Feed Strategy Chat. I'm your host, Jackie Roembke, editor-in-chief of WATT’s Feed Brands and Feed Strategy.
This Feed Strategy Chat is brought to you by Zinpro. For more than 55 years, Zinpro has improved the health and well-being of animals and people as a pioneer in the research and development of performance trace minerals and innovative nutritional solutions.
For more information, visit www.zinpro.com/poultry.
Today, we're joined by Zinpro Technical Account Manager Dr. Raquel Conrad Burin. She's here to talk about how optimal immunity drives bird health and performance.
Hi, Raquel. How are you today?
Dr. Raquel Konrad Burin, technical account manager, Zinpro: Hello, I'm doing good. Thanks for having me here today.
Roembke: Excellent. Thank you so much for taking the time to be here. Let's get right into it. So when you look at today's production challenges, why is immune function such an important area of focus?
Burin: I would say it's important because of a combination of reasons. If we think about poultry production and how it's really evolved in terms of genetic improvement, we see that different genetic selections, or traits, have changed over the past years depending on customers' preferences or production objectives.
If we think about the 1970s, for instance, the main selection criteria used at that time was to maximize growth, because we were trying to send the whole chicken to the consumer. Nowadays, with changing customer preferences, further processing, and customers looking more into meat quality, we see that these selection traits have also changed.
So people are looking more into the health and welfare of this poultry, meat quality and robustness. We can see that birds need to be much more resilient to the production challenges they face, and also more prepared to really exert their full potential in terms of health and productivity.
And all of this is happening at a time when efforts are being made to reduce the use of antibiotics. Disease pressure has increased significantly, and the mass production of food worldwide is also facilitating the spread of pathogens more rapidly and easily. So we see that vets, nutritionists and producers need to pay more attention to detail when trying to raise a bird nowadays.
The immune system is part of that — how they can support it. And there's a clear understanding now that supporting the immune system really helps maintain health and productivity of the birds, and provides more economic return to that production, too.
Roembke: And you mentioned nutritional support. What kinds of support can be provided to build a stronger immune system?
Burin: Right. I'd say poultry nutrition as a whole had to be reassessed because of these genetic improvements we've seen. We have a bird nowadays that probably has different nutritional requirements, too.
At Zinpro, we've been putting a lot of effort into advancing the trace mineral nutrition space specifically. For instance, we've been exploring the new trace mineral requirements for zinc, manganese and copper across the different avian species — broilers, layers, turkeys, breeders, et cetera.
But not only that — we're also looking at how these trace mineral requirements may change depending on the production objectives you have, or the challenges you face in the system. We were able to gather all of these information through research and trials, and combine it into a global mineral guide that we offer to customers as a support when they're formulating trace minerals in the diet.
When we look at the role of trace minerals in the immune system specifically, we need to go back to the basics of immunology and molecular biology. There's a lot of information out there showing how they have an essential impact, or role, in the two different branches of immune response — adaptive and innate.
They work either as cofactors for different enzymes that participate in these metabolic pathways, or as essential elements needed during the nutritional immunity that occurs in the body when birds are going through an infectious process, for instance.
Roembke: Looking a little closer at the research, what does it show about the relationship between trace minerals and immune performance?
Burin: To answer that question, I'd like to share a quick story about the impact of zinc amino acid complex, which is one of the technologies we have at Zinpro — a much more bioavailable source of this trace mineral — and its capacity to immunomodulate the system of these birds and help reduce infections, for instance.
In challenge studies where broilers were challenged with Salmonella Typhimurium and also supplemented with the zinc amino acid complex technology at a high level — 60 to 80 ppm, as the sole source — we were able to see a significant reduction in Salmonella colonization in the ceca, as well as a reduction in fecal shedding of Salmonella into the environment.
At that time, the main mode of action behind the zinc amino acid complex was attributed to induction of the birds' immune system. We saw induction of cytokines and chemokines, β-defensins, and better intestinal integrity. But we wanted to go further and understand what else could be happening.
To do that, we ran in vitro assays in which we exposed different types of Salmonella serotypes directly to different sources of zinc, including the zinc amino acid complex from Zinpro. We saw that this type of zinc has only a minimal direct antimicrobial effect against Salmonella.
Taking these two data sets together, we were able to conclude that the main reason we were seeing a reduction in Salmonella when birds were fed the zinc amino acid complex was the induction of the immune system, rather than a direct antimicrobial effect against the pathogen.
To add to that story, we also saw that when laying hens were inoculated with a Salmonella antigen — LPS, in this case — and also supplemented with zinc amino acid complex, this intervention rapidly induced pro-inflammatory cytokines, which then rapidly returned to baseline levels.
So we concluded that the zinc amino acid complex, in this case, promotes a rapid, strong immune response without too much metabolic cost to the birds — so they can keep performing normally while still fighting the infection they're facing.
Roembke: If you could leave poultry integrators with one key takeaway about immune health, what would it be?
Burin: I'd say that supporting the immune system has to be seen as a long-term investment, rather than something you act on only when a disease outbreak happens. We now have a clear understanding that supporting the immune system is an essential factor in maintaining bird health and productivity, and that it provides a stronger economic return for producers.
Roembke: Excellent. Well, thank you so much for your time today. And if you'd like more information about Zinpro, its products and services, please visit zinpro.com/poultry.
Thanks again, Raquel, and thanks to you for tuning in.
Burin: Thank you.