SPECIAL REPORT:
Poultry drinking water: Quality and quantity
From the Kemin 2023 Intestinal Health Symposium
By Sarah Muirhead
The success of an on-farm water program starts with the leader, manager and organization; they are the decisionmakers and drivers of change, Dr. Susan Watkins, professor emeritus of the University of Arkansas Center of Excellence for Poultry Science, said during the 2023 Kemin Intestinal Health Symposium.
“In your operations, make it important. Make it important to you and your people. They'll buy into it, and those are the ones who are there day-to-day with those animals. They're going to be your front line in making your water programs the best they can be,” Watkins said.
In addition to the role leaders and managers play in driving water quality, it is critical to:
Accept that water creates risks. Pathogens can and will invade water systems.
Know what is in your water – minerals, pH, bacteria, yeast, mold and more.
Verify that your water program promotes quality.
Monitor for quantity challenges to make sure the water is flowing properly.
Watkins has spent nearly 30 years assisting the poultry industry across the U.S. and around the world with identifying, quantifying and correcting drinking water challenges. She also has conducted nutritional supplement research and evaluated bedding materials for floors.
In Watkin’s opinion, good-quality water is among the most important nutrients of any production system.
When it comes to nutrient input, water is significant in terms of the being the perfect vector for pathogens. “Water supplies are like flies and rodents: They can literally be a source of so many pathogenic challenges,” Watkins said. She added that even with municipal water and reverse osmosis water, there is no guarantee that water is pathogen-free.
Quite simply, the nature of poultry operations invites contamination. Plus, there is never a guarantee that water will remain pathogen free even if it starts out that way, she noted.
In any operation the “home of challenges,” according to Watkins, is that of biofilm. Biofilm lives on very little nutrients, builds a protective wall, can be composed of multi-species bacteria, algae and fungi and can even develop resistance to antibiotics, antimicrobials and disinfectants.
She explained that biofilm has five stages of development, from reversible attachment to dispersal, and it can be affected by temperature, carbon dioxide levels and other nutrients. Line cleaning can be made 10 to 1,000 times more difficult when biofilm in present in a water system.
The effect of biofilm on the production of poultry has been documented, with the research showing that biofilm can rebuild in clean pipes in three to five days if poor quality water is reintroduced. Likewise, if Escherichia coli is introduced into the water system, it can become introduced into the biofilm and, therefore, be introduced and spread throughout the flock. Watkins noted that pathogens can be introduced into a water system by something as simple as a sick bird taking a drink.
Water systems need line cleaning and daily sanitation. That is a proven fact, Watkins said, noting that one unit of E. coli can multiply to trillions when held at a temperature of 90 degrees F for as short of a time as 24 hours. “Many pathogens have a short window between negligible to infective dose,” she said.
Another important consideration when it comes to water is how best to sample to get the most accurate reading of the situation. However, Watkins noted that a water sample still may not identify a challenge situation. Established biofilm changes the rules for determining water challenges.
A better diagnostic tool, she said, is swabbing the system. This is done by inserting a sponge into the water line approximately 8-10 cm and returning the sponge to 25 mL BPD or sterile water.
While line cleaning is important, a critical step post-cleaning is maintaining the water sanitation pressure. Watkins explained that flushing the water system with sanitizer at a level safe for the birds keeps biofilm from forming and rebuilding.
Always monitor and document what is going on within a system. “Consistent monitoring assures sanitizer residual is present. Documentation is essential for correlating performance with water sanitation,” she said.
Watch the full presentation from Dr. Watkins and access all 2023 Kemin Intestinal Health Symposium content at kemin.com/symposium
