Poultry Gut Health

This project is designed to test the feasibility of using e-nose technology as a real time monitoring tool for changes in poultry Gastro-Intestinal Tract (GIT) microflora, specifically Clostridium Perfringens (CP) - the causative bacterium of Necrotic Enteritis (NE). NE can have a dramatic impact on poultry growth and mortality, compromising both animal welfare and profitability. Currently diagnosis is complex and requires the monitoring of a wide range of parameters, often arriving too late to allow effective intervention. The development of e-nose technology to specifically detect CP would allow the easy, inexpensive, and real time monitoring of CP - providing the opportunity for early treatment with preventative medicine such as Probiotics/Prebiotics, allowing stabilisation of the gut before the onset of NE and avoiding the use of unnecessary prophylactic antibiotics. This would lead to improved animal welfare, reduced mortality, lower & targeted use of antibiotics, improved feed conversion, greater productivity, and higher profits to the grower.