TUCKER, Ga. – USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation announced it led a research project at The Ohio State University was recently completed that evaluated potential antibiotic alternative approaches for controlling Salmonella in poultry.

The association stated that the research was funded by Simmons Foods and proceeds from the International Poultry Expo, part of the International Production & Processing Expo (IPPE).

Kichoon Lee, PhD, Department of Animal Sciences at The Ohio State University, shared that avian defensins have potent anti-bacterial activity.

Lee shared that the study could help poultry breeders selectively breed chickens to have the most effective AvBD1 genotype. He also looked at reducing the Salmonella population with the chicken gut, which would eventually lead to a safer poultry product.

“Although variations were identified in AvBD1 proteins among chicken populations, the in vivo and in vitro data did not show differences in anti-Salmonella activities,” Lee said in his summary of the project. “This may be due to the possibility that avian defensins are more efficient against gram-positive bacteria than gram-negative ones, including Salmonella and E. coli.”

The research is part of the USPOULTRY comprehensive research program encompassing all poultry and egg production and processing phases.