Folate carrying peptides to improve innate immunity of laying hens

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The bacterial outbreaks in food products (poultry products, salads) are frequently reported in Canada and are grave threat to consumer's health and wellbeing. These outbreaks often cause hospitalization and lead to severe economic losses due to waste of food and health resources. Poultry products (eggs and meat) are one of the most consumed products in Canada and health of chicken flocks are critical and are directly linked to the production of healthy food products. With recent ban in antibiotics use for animal growth, Canadian poultry farmers are struggling to find alternative methods to ensure animal health and hence the quality of poultry products. One simple and effective method to achieve this is to improve the diet of chickens by providing nutrient rich feed. However, the research shows that simple increase in nutrient (such as folate) in chicken feed does not improve the folate levels in chicken blood and has no significant effect on chicken immunity, possibly due to the loss of vitamins overtime in chicken diet or due to their poor adsorption in the gut. Folate is one of the key vitamins that is not only important for chicken immune support but is also key nutrient for human health. Folate rich diet is especially important for growing kids and pregnant females and plays key role in neural development. In this project, we intend to improve the stability of folate in chicken diet and its absorption in chicken intestines usingsmall peptides as carriers. The absorption of folate in chicken intestine is expected to improve the immunity of birds against microbial infections and will provide folate rich diet for human consumption.