RESEARCH ▶▶▶
Feather analysis to monitor antibiotic usage
Researchers at the Polish national veterinary research institute evaluated feather analysis as a non-invasive alternative to tissue sampling for the surveillance of doxycycline use on poultry farms. It seems that bird exposure to antibiotics is best indicated by testing feathers, as antimicrobials have the potential to accumulate in poultry feathers.
BY A. GAJDA, E. NOWACKA-KOZAK, M. GBYLIK-SIKORSKA AND A. POSYNIAK, POULTRY SCIENCE.
A
ntibacterials are commonly used in poultry to treat microbial diseases and to ensure the health and welfare of birds. In intensive poultry produc- tion medicines are often administered excessively
which, in intensive breeding conditions, may result in the po- tential spread of bacterial infections and the development of resistant bacteria in animals and humans. In EU countries an- tibiotic use is mandatorily monitored in order to ensure safe food production for consumers. Poultry monitoring pro- grammes test sample materials collected post mortem, such as muscle, liver, skin and fat. Maximum residue levels have been established mainly for antibiotics used in broiler production. No levels have been set for layers.
Accumulation in feathers The postmortem analysis of antibiotic content as it is currently conducted does not reflect treatment during a chicken’s life. As a result attention has increasingly turned towards finding alternative methods to tissue sampling to determine the con- sequences of the use of (possibly illegal) medication. It seems that bird exposure to antibiotics is best indicated by testing feathers, as antimicrobials have the potential to accumulate in poultry feathers. Feathers used as a high-protein ingredient in feed for poultry and as a source of protein in the diets of many animals, may act as a re-entry path by which antibiotics can get into the human food supply chain. Analysing feathers is
regarded as a non-invasive and non-destructive method for the biomonitoring of many substances and has many advan- tages. Feathers can be collected without harming the animals, transported and stored regardless of the time of year, age and gender of the birds. In previous work the transfer and deposi- tion of antibiotics to feathers focused on the use of enrofloxa- cin, oxytetracycline, sulfachlorpiridazine, flumequine, and ty- losin. Doxycycline is a broad specrum antibiotic that is currently widely used in the EU. Therefore further study is needed to establish doxycycline displacement to feathers after administration to broiler chickens.
Non-invasive The main goal of this study was to investigate whether feath- ers offer a suitable alternative non-invasive method to tissue sampling for the detection of doxycycline use in poultry pro- duction. The antibiotic was administered in three different ways: therapeutically, as a spray and subtherapeutically. A vali- dated ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry method was used for the quantitative de- termination of doxycycline in the feathers. High concentra- tions of doxycycline in feathers were detectable for 22 days post treatment in each experimental group, and were much higher than those found in muscle and liver. Large amounts of doxycycline were found to be deposited in the upper part of the feathers in each treatment group. The study results showed that chicken feathers provide a suitable material for the non-invasive surveillance and detection of doxycycline.
▶ POULTRY WORLD | No. 1, 2020 33
It seems that bird exposure to antibiotics is best indicated by testing feath- ers, as antimi- crobials have the potential to accumulate in poultry feathers.
PHOTO: PETER ROEK
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