ISA Focus 3. 01-2010

ISA FOCUS
International magazine for all the relations of Institut de Sélection Animale
3 - January 2010
INCUBADORA MEXICANA
AN EXAMPLE OF A SUCCESS STORY
Some 60 years ago in Tehuacán, Puebla (central Mexico), the Romero family started a humble, one
thousand layer farm with the goal to locally produce and market table eggs. This simple beginning was
the base of the unprecedented success that the Romero consortium has today in Mexico.
From left to right: Ing. Alejandro Romero
(IMSA - CEO), Dr. Miguel Romero Sánchez
(IMSA Founder)
CONTENT
THE EGG DESIGNED BY NATURE MODIFIED BY MAN
LEADING JAPANESE HATCHERIES
CONFER WITH ISA
KEY TO SUCCESS,
HISEX FROM CRIMEA
A FOCUS ON QUALITY
Incubadora Mexicana SA (IMSA), began operations
in 1968 in order to provide day-old-chicks to the
family farms, and has become a leading poultry
company in the distribution of commercial and
parent stock layers in Mexico, with a production
capacity of 30 million chicks per year.
IMSA is one of the various enterprises belonging to
the IDISA Group (www.grupoidisa.com) founded by
Dr. Miguel Romero Sanchez in 1963. His vision was
to establish integrated operations to expand the
family´s businesses, and this paid huge dividends.
These companies and the products and services
provided are: IASA, animal health and nutrition;
ALPES, specific pathogen free eggs and embryos;
NUTEK, feed additives and chemical quality control;
IDISA, management services. Today, under the
direction of Alejandro Romero, these companies
have a base in the order of 980 employees and a
combined annual revenue of over US$75 million.
Market share
In a market surpassing 135 million layers (115
million in first cycle) of which 92% are white and 8%
brown layers, IMSA through its distributors holds a
market share of 55 % for the white chick market
with the Bovans White and close to 50% of the
brown chick market with the ISA Brown.
Leadership
IMSA is the only company in Mexico and Central
America with Leghorn type Grandparent Stock,
which in turn supplies Bovans Parent Stock for its
own operations, as well as distributing throughout
the main poultry producing areas in Mexico, giving
the Bovans White line indisputable leadership.
Current production of Leghorn white breeders is
600,000 birds per year, 60% of which are for the
company’s own use, while the balance is sold in the
states of Sonora, Durango, Puebla, Nuevo Leon
and Yucatan.
Services
The role of IMSA towards the poultry farmers does not
end with the delivery of replacement flocks; on the
contrary, it is only the beginning of its commitment. With
the help of its associated companies, and also that of
ISA, it offers the most complete array of services from
technical assistance in poultry management and
production to chemical and biological diagnostic support;
all this backed-up by the most complete sales and
support department that exists in Mexico’s Poultry
Industry. IMSA is constantly reemphasizing its mission
to work with the poultry farmers in producing animal
protein of the highest quality at the lowest cost.
From left to right: Arian Groot (ISA - Director Dales & Marketing),
Gregorio |Lopez (ISA - Area Manager Mexico & Central America),
Jose Luis Aviles (IMSA - COO), Ignacio Cuautle (IMSA - Sales),
Raul Ferzuli (IMSA - Technical & Sales Manager)
The IMSA-ISA relationship dates for over 45 years,
shortly after the beginning of these companies and we
continue maintaining an excellent commercial and
friendly partnership at all level, with IMSA’s directive
team consisting of Alejandro Romero as CEO, Jose
Luis Aviles as COO, Hugo Garrido as Hatchery Manager
and Raul Ferzuli as Technical and Sales Manager.
BY PROFESSOR SALLY E. SOLOMON, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW
GLASGOW UNIVERSITY
THE EGG
DESIGNED BY NATURE - MODIFIED BY MAN
Mother hen to freshly laid egg – “in three weeks time
you will hatch as a chick”.
Consumer to box of six medium sized eggs –
“tonight you will be an omelette, soufflé, hard
boiled, scrambled, poached, separated and made
into meringues, mayonnaise etc.”
Professor Sally E. Solomon
Culinary dreams - packaged first by the hen then
mechanically sorted and packaged in a variety of light
weight containers before being examined finally by the
consumer prior to purchase. But do colour, size and
texture accurately predict the ability of the contents to
foam and set in that most demanding of laboratories –
THE KITCHEN? The answer is no.
Albumen Quality
A thick egg white is a symbol of freshness. During
storage, however the consistency of egg white changes
and it becomes more liquid. It also loses its foaming
capacity and so storage conditions must be addressed
before and after purchase – BUT thick egg white has a
more fundamental role to play in egg formation, it
physically supports the membrane fibres which retain
the egg contents prior to shell deposition.
The egg is the end product of the complex interaction
between a variety of biological systems, shells will break
before use, yolks do occasionally leak into the egg white
and the latter despite critical examination in the packing
station will often contain a variety of inclusions (blood
and meat spots). Can they be avoided? Is the perfect
egg achievable?
Shell structure
From the point of view of shell structure, variability is to
be anticipated. Over a period of twenty hours, calcium
salts, derived from feed and bone turnover and assisted
by a protein framework, grow onto the paired shell
membranes to form the multilayered testa. In brown egg
layers, the pigment component is added during the final
stages of shell formation and occurs in greatest
concentration in the cuticular layer. Absence of this final
protective layer, a common phenomenon in both breeder
and layer birds, robs the egg of its first line of
antibacterial defence and leaves the gas exchange
pores, which penetrate the entire thickness of the shell,
patent and so a portal of entry to a variety of micro
organisms from the environment. That any egg will
break if it is hit hard enough goes without saying but
many eggs break without undue force and cases such
as these demonstrate the fact that all shells are
structurally flawed to some extent. Most of these flaws
initiate within the basal layer of the shell (the mammillary
layer) giving rise to micro-cracks which when further
impacted become unstable and migrate through the
thickness of the shell. So how do the flaws originate? It
is probably true to say that in a well formulated diet,
calcium is rarely the limiting factor, although external
conditions may reduce the bird’s appetite in which case
supplementation with oyster shell may be advised.
Other features of egg formation should however also be
considered. Prime amongst these is ALBUMEN
QUALITY as influenced by disease and environmental
stress and the effects of both on the physiological status
of the oviduct.
The normal cuticle with a patent gas exchange pore.
In the absence of such support the fibres fail to form a
regular interlacing network and the nucleation sites
which are of membrane origin and serve to attract
calcium salts from the oviducal fluid become irregular in
their distribution – the result – a wrinkled shell. Under
conditions of stress the oviduct sheds patches of surface
epithelium i.e. the cells partially responsible for the
production of many of the proteins necessary for shell
formation. Stress often encourages the bird to retain the
egg in the shell gland pouch past the normal time of
oviposition. When laid, the egg will display a variety of
surface defects – calcium dusting, rough concretions
and will inevitably be down graded. The contents,
however, could still be perfectly acceptable.
Meat and Blood Spots
If patches of epithelium are sloughed off from the
magnum as the result of a stress event, the fragments
can become incorporated in the egg white. These so
called meat spots vary in their appearance under the
microscope and have been classified into three types a.)
soft tissue, b.) tissue plus blood cells and c.) calcium
salts. The latter derive from a precise sequence of
events beginning with a failure in the organisation of the
interlacing network of membrane fibres. The latter are
normally laid down in such a way as to physically inhibit
the inward migration of calcium salts, but if the egg white
onto which the fibres are depositing is of a fluid
consistency then the continuum of the inner membrane
can be breached and calcium ions once they have
reached the egg white, will in the presence of calcium
binding proteins precipitate out in crystalline form.
Technological advances in on-line quality control
mechanisms select against most eggs with blood spots.
Located as they normally are between yolk and
albumen, they originate at ovulation when some of the
fine blood vessels surrounding the yolk mass
►
haemorrhage.
Normal mammillae. The spaces in the caps were formerly
occupied by the membrane fibres.
Yolk Quality
The lipid rich yolk mass does not escape criticism.
Yolk colour, mottling and the fragility of the
perivitelline membrane all give cause for concern
at some point, normally after purchase. Colour is
easily manipulated by diet and indeed is used to
satisfy specific regional demands. As for mottling
and the strength of the membrane containing the
yolk mass, a two way transfer of contents must be
considered i.e. fluid from egg white entering the
yolk and yolk leaking into the egg white usually
when the egg is broken for the purpose of food
preparation.
Environmental and Nutritional Influences
It must be stated that rarely do all these failures in
construction and composition of contents occur
simultaneously but that they do occur underlines
the need for the use of stringent quality control
measures. In terms of environment, the
identification of potential stress factors ranks
number one. Analysis has shown that high
temperatures and noise (e.g. overflights) can have
a negative effect on egg production. The literature
regarding bird housing and product quality is
prodigious, but to summarise, an environment
which permits the bird to express its full range of
behaviours is preferred i.e. free range with access
to shelter or an enriched cage system with access
to perches and nest boxes are the preferred
options. Even in these ‘ideal’ situations however,
the bird will occasionally lay a poor quality egg
demonstrating the fundamental fact that no two
birds are the same and the conditions that favour
the reproductive stability of one will not necessarily
favour its neighbour. Within the flock situation it is
impossible to treat birds individually; thus when a
disease situation presents itself, all birds are
treated and if the percentage of poor quality shells
increases then dietary intervention is inclusive –
such is the nature of the operation.
The pressure to lay on average 300 eggs per
annum puts a strain on reproductive performance.
In general terms egg quality peaks at 30 week of
bird age and slowly declines after 40 weeks. The
question is can age be defied, can the effect of
increasing egg size with its attendant shell thinning
be offset by genetic manipulation or dietary
intervention? Fewer eggs per bird per laying year
would initially go some way to addressing the
poorer quality at the end of lay but the financial
loss might mitigate against such drastic measures.
As for diet, the market place offers many solutions.
Of particular interest is the use of organic
selenium. It appears to have a broad spectrum
effect on egg quality viz. enhanced yolk membrane
strength, improved albumen height and more
recently has been shown to decrease the range of
structural defects in the egg shell at the end of lay.
Trace minerals perform a variety of functional roles
in many biological systems. In its role as an
antioxidant selenium is known to mop up free
radicals. In a healthier oviducal environment, cell
function will be enabled and the protein expression
required of the cells lining the oviduct facilitated.
In The Supermarket
At the point of sale, no space is created for the
normal vagaries associated with the process of
egg formation. In the language of the
supermarket, apples are round and shiny, carrots
clean and regular in shape and eggs are intact and
free of external blemishes. With reference to the
egg, intactness is a must but downgrading on
cosmetic grounds should be discouraged. ‘Variety’
as they say ‘is the spice of life’ and the contents
should not be judged on external appearance.
Informed choice requires education and with
education comes a degree of freedom for the
consumer to select from the extensive range of
shell textures and colours which the bird will lay
during its short but prolific reproductive life.
VIV EUROPE 2010
The Netherlands
April 20 - 22, 2010
Hall 11, booth B 014
We look forward to seeing
you in Utrecht, The
Netherlands.
For registration please
visit our website
www.isapoultry.com
DUTCH MINISTER OF AGRICULTURE
VISITS SOUTH-EAST ASIA
Mrs. Gerda Verburg, Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of The Netherlands
visited South-East Asia to strenghten the relation with the key players in the market.
On July 3-4, 2009 she visited Thailand and on July 5-6 Vietnam.
The Ambassador of the Kingdom of The Netherlands in Bangkok, Mr. Tjaco van den Hout
invited 80 VIP’s from the Food and Agricultural industries to meet with Minister Gerda Verburg.
The leading companies with strong positions in Thailand were represented. ISA / Hendrix
Genetics was invited, and was represented by Dr. Pornsak Hirunpatawong.
ISA is the main supplier of PS for layers to Thailand with a market share of 78%.
Minister Verburg appreciated the conversation she had with Dr. Pornsak Hirunpatawong and
was clearly impressed with the position of ISA in not only Thailand but also in all surrounding
countries.
From left to right: Minister Gerda Verburg
(Minister of Agriculture, Nature and Food
Quality of the Netherlands), Dr. Pornsak
Hirunpatawong (ISA - Area Manager SouthEast Asia)
KEY TO SUCCESS - HISEX FROM CRIMEA
The biggest Ukrainian breeding company “Imeni
Frunze” celebrated its 80th anniversary and halfcentury in poultry. The company’s good name is
well known in Ukraine and beyond its borders.
“Frunze” Holds Annual Conference
Recently, the breeding company held the annual
conference for its clients in the Crimean resort of
Alushta, which attracted representatives from 38
farms in Ukraine, Russia and Moldova. In his opening
remarks, the Director of “Frunze”, Mr. Boris
Yakimchik thanked the clientele for their trust, and
pointed out that in the last year, the company sold 8
million Hisex White and Brown day-old chicks. This
was almost half of the total volume in the country; and
orders for 2009 may be even higher.
Parent Stock Imports and Disease Control
Twice a year, “Frunze” imports Hisex parent stock
from Hendrix Genetics. Hisex is highly productive,
robust and docile layer, which is perfectly adjusted
for long production cycles and gives eggs with
strong shell and ideal weight until the end of laying
cycle. In order for the commercial farm to realize
the genetic potential, the birds must be absolutely
healthy. That is why “Frunze” exerts its maximum
efforts to housing and transport sanitation, and to
disease control. Sanitation and immunity are
regularly monitored, according to Chief Veterinarian
Alexey Kotov. Incidentally, the “Frunze” farms are
locasted just a few hundred meters from the Black
Sea, providing birds with natural iodine in the air
they breathe.
Clients appreciate the efforts of the company. The
director of “Nikolaevskaya” farm Mrs. Tatiana
Illarionova is happy with its supplier of chicks: “Last
year was difficult to our company but despite these,
let’s call them sub-optimal conditions, Hisex
pleasantly surprised us with its livability and
production higher then standards. We worked with
different breeding farms and I can say without
doubt, that “Frunze” provides not only an excellent
bird, but the best service in the industry.
From left to right: Mrs. Marina Gudima (PPZ Frunze-Ukraine Chief of Breeding Department), Mr. Boris Yakimchik (PPZ
Frunze-Ukaine - director), Pavel Kolnik (ISA - Technical
Manager North & Central Europe), Yaroslav Nemirovsky (ISA Area Manager CIS Russia & CIS countries)
Having two hatcheries, special chick trucks and the
biggest breeding flock in the Republic, the company
can deliver more then a hundred thousand vaccinated
day-old females at once for distances up to 2,000 km.
This is very beneficial since today many farms after
the reconstruction have vast flocks and the factor of
uniformity became crucial.
Hendrix Genetics to acquire Joice & Hill Poultry Ltd.
The Shareholders of Joice and Hill
have completed the acquisition of
100% of the shares of Joice and Hill
by Hendrix Genetics. Hendrix
Genetics held via its affiliate Institut
de Sélection Animale B.V. already
40% of Joice and Hill. Joice and Hill,
with Nick Bailey as Managing
Director, produces and sells around
5.5 million day-old chicks per year.
Together with Tom Barron hatchery,
the other ISA distributor in the United
Kingdom and Northern Ireland, they
hold more than 40% of the market.
Standing from left to right: John Tully, Nick Bailey, Peter Cumbers
Sitting: Robert Haynes, Thijs Hendrix
From left to right:
Cees van Rijn - CFO Nutreco
Thijs Hendrix - President Hendrix Genetics
Hendrix Genetics
acquires Integra A.S.
and its subsidiary
Avigen, S.R.O. from
Trouw Nutrition
Biofaktory S.R.O.
Hendrix Genetics (already owning
34% in Integra) has completed the
acquisition of the majority
shareholding of Trouw Nutrition
Biofaktory in Integra in Zabcice,
Czech Republic.
Integra, with Petr Krul as General
Manager, produces and sells around
7.5 million day-old chicks. The
chicks are delivered to many Central
-European countries. The market
share of Integra in Czech Republic
is over 60%.
LEADING JAPANESE HATCHERIES
CONFER WITH ISA
From September 15 to 24 the Presidents and the
CEO's of the leading Japanese layer hatcheries
visited the USA, France and The Netherlands to
have a closer look at the Hendrix Genetics / ISA
company and to learn more about the
performance of the ISA products in some of the
leading egg markets in the world.
Visit of Portuguese
Egg Producers
in ISA France
Meetings were organized with the top management
of Hendrix Genetics and ISA to talk about the
specific needs of the Japanese market and to
explain what ISA has done the past several years to
further professionalize its company and to breed
layers that are designed to meet the requirements of
the Japanese layer industry.
The Japanese delegation was very impressed with
what they saw and heard.
ISA, together with Nutroton Multiaves organized a visit of
the Portugese egg producers
in ISA France.
Nutroton-Multiaves is our
Iberian exclusive distributor
of ISA Brown and Dekalb
White - under the leadership
of Mr. Joâo Rebello Cotta.
Visits to large poultry operations with over 2 million
layers were made and also visits to farms with cagefree production systems to see the performance of
the products.
Also visits were made to hatchery Ter Heerdt in The
Netherlands and SFPA in France, ISA's distributors
that successfully supply around 50% of the layers in
both markets.
The most important conclusions drawn after the visit
were:
• ISA/Hendrix is a very professional multispecies
breeding company with top positions in all species
they are active in.
• ISA has excellent health control programs in Pure
Line, GGPS and GPS, and will match all quality
standards set by the Japanese poultry industry
• ISA understands the specific needs of the
Japanese market and has developed products
that fit to these requirements.
• ISA’s products are more than competitive, and in
many cases better those of the competition.
• All ISA's products have superior HH egg
production, and show excellent performance in
internal and external egg quality.
Or, as shortly summarized by 1 of the participants:
"ISA, the right products and the right company !"
1st row from left to right: Nobuyuki Ohata, Thijs Hendrix, Takashi Tomaru, Osamu Niinobe, Chuei Iwamura,
2nd and 3rd row from left to right: Andy Hansen, Osamu Morioka, Yukimitsu Sakakura,Yasuo Akagi,
Frans van Sambeek, Arian Groot, Kazutoshi Ueno, Servé Hermans
BY DR. PETER HUNTON, POULTRY CONSULTANT AND PAST PRESIDENT,
WORLD’S POULTRY SCIENCE ASSOCIATION
QUALITY
Firm, thick albumen is a feature of the freshly laid
egg, but Prof. Solomon emphasizes its role in
shell formation as well. Lower quality albumen,
resulting from age, disease, or other factors may
result in imperfect shell formation.. While
producers may have limited ability to control
albumen quality, the link between it and shell
quality is important. When both decline, there will
be increasing incentive to divert eggs to further
processing, while the eggs from younger hens
exhibiting better albumen and shells are used for
shell egg sales.
Dr. Peter Hunton
There are two types of quality attributes
associated with eggs. Firstly, those that have
negative connotations for consumers, such as
cracked or dirty shells, internal faults like blood
and meat spots, or very thin white. Then there
are the positive attributes, which would include
"perfect" shell colour and texture, and superior
internal quality associated with freshness.
The Perfect Shell?
As Prof. Solomon emphasizes in her feature article
in this issue of ISA Focus, we must never forget that
the laying hen thinks she is creating an egg that will
be incubated and hatch into a perfectly formed
chick. Our use of the egg as a food item is
incidental, but nevertheless, many of the quality
factors that contribute to hatching success are also
beneficial in terms of the consumer's concept of
quality.
The goal of the perfectly formed shell is one shared
by hatching egg and commercial egg producers.
For many years, researchers and farmers
concentrated on nutritional factors like calcium,
vitamin D and other nutrients. While it is clear that
nutritional deficiencies can cause havoc in terms of
shell quality, it is also obvious that not all flocks that
receive adequate or even better nutrition produce
good shells. Some of the environmental factors
involved are highlighted by Prof. Solomon. While it
appears from research that free-range conditions
may be optimal, from a practical point of view the
majority of the world's layers are still kept in
conventional cages. In these circumstances, factors
like floor and feeder space allowance, cage design
and environmental stability, and the absence of
obvious stress conditions all contribute to the ability
of the hen to form an acceptable egg shell. Dr.
Solomon also refers to the use of organic selenium
and trace minerals to enhance shell formation.
Cool Chain Needed For Optimum Quality
It has long been known that the most important
influence on albumen quality among eggs at
retail is the time and temperature of storage.
Modern egg production and marketing channels
permit passage of eggs from the hen to the
grocery store in 3-7 days. If eggs are held in a
suitable temperature during this period, (no
greater than 12ºC) they should show minimal
decline in albumen quality by the time they reach
the consumer. However, outside of North
America, many countries still fail to manage egg
storage temperatures in this way. Holding,
transporting and selling eggs at room
temperature, often 20ºC or higher, can seriously
affect albumen quality, to say nothing of
encouraging microbial growth if eggs are
contaminated. Unfortunately, the producer alone
cannot be responsible for all the stages in the
marketing chain. But cooling eggs immediately
after gathering (and grading in in-line operations),
is a good start, and may provide the producer
with some leverage to insist on extending the
cool chain further along the marketing process.
Egg quality is important to everyone in the
production chain. ISA has always included shell
and internal quality as important selection traits in
its breeding programs.
Producers are often paid on the basis of quality
in terms of downgrading faults, but bonuses for
superior quality are also a way of improving
overall quality in table eggs. Attention to all of
the factors affecting shell and albumen quality,
both those detailed in this issue of Focus, and
others we may deal with in the future, are mustdo parts of management.
Egg marketers have an important role to play in
terms of handling and storage (even short-term)
to preserve the excellence that the producer has
placed in the product. The development of coolchain procedures where they don't already exist
could be the egg industry's greatest contribution
to consumer satisfaction with egg quality in the
next decade.