17 Sept 2020
Grant will help Moredun researchers establish a laboratory colony of red mites to help reduce the need for infested hens in further studies.
Vet Times
Job Title
A grant of almost £500,000 has been awarded to the Moredun Research Institute near Edinburgh to develop a novel way of studying poultry red mites that greatly reduces the number of hens required.
Infestation of hen houses with poultry red mites is a major animal welfare and economic problem for the egg-producing industry internationally, and multiple groups worldwide are working to develop new control methods.
To supply mites for any research programme, donor hens must be infested with the parasite to provide sufficient numbers of mites for subsequent laboratory or field studies.
The aim of the research – funded by a £483,000 grant from the National Centre for the Replacement, Refinement and Reduction of Animals in Research (NC3Rs) – is to establish a laboratory colony of red mites and develop a novel feeding method that removes the need to use infested hens.
Through a series of preliminary experiments, researchers have established that poultry red mites will feed on goose blood through a disposable synthetic skin-like membrane.
Live geese are particularly suited to be blood donors for this task as they can supply approximately 30 times more blood than hens in a single donation. The donor geese are looked after and cared for under very high welfare standards in a dedicated blood-donor flock.
By using this system, it has been deduced that the number of hens used for the maintenance of poultry red mites could be reduced by 90% per year.
In addition, welfare standards will be increased by removing the need for hens to be continuously infested with the parasites for prolonged periods.
Moredun researcher Francesca Nunn received the International 3Rs Prize from the NC3Rs earlier this year for work related to this study.
She said:“This is an exciting project that not only has the potential to seriously reduce the numbers of experimental hens used in poultry red mite colony maintenance, but also increase our understanding of the feeding behaviour and population dynamics that will be greatly useful in future control strategies against this important parasite.
“I am thrilled to be working with the NC3Rs once more.”
