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Rosemary WhittlePosition/Title: Ph.D. Student email: rwhittle@uoguelph.ca Phone: Office: ANNU 045
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Academic History
Originating from the United Kingdom, I began my animal sciences journey at Swansea University (Wales), where I completed my BSc in Zoology. On the cusp of the UK's first area of natural outstanding beauty, the Gower Peninsula, Swansea University provided ample opportunities to experience sampling methods in multitudes of environments including sand dunes, salt marshes, ancient woodlands, different grasslands, and urban green spaces. Focusing predominantly on wildlife; we sampled moths, bats and mammal tracks. My undergraduate thesis focused on native mosquito species. I tested plant infusions for their attractiveness as oviposition sites. The research on native species was then applied in a laboratory to a non-native species. The application of this research was to use plant infusions to encourage oviposition in specific sites to enable more targeted population control.
After my undergraduate degree, I moved to Sweden to pursue my Master's Degree in Applied Ethology and Animal Biology at Linköping University. This Master's programme included a year of taught courses with group-based research projects, including handedness in chimpanzees, olfactory enrichment in chimpanzees, and play behaviour in weaned piglets. This was followed by a year of personal research culminating in a written thesis. I conducted my research project on 'The effects of hatchery routines on commercial leghorn chickens' under the supervision of Professor Per Jensen. The main research question for this project was "Do commercial hatcheries have immediate, short- and long-term effects on laying hen pullets?" I specifically looked at behavioural and hormonal stress responses, gonadal hormones and the reaction to novel environments of laying hen pullets (pre-laying chickens). The results of this project were published in Scientific Reports, for access to this paper CLICK HERE.
Current Studies
My PhD research at the University of Guelph, under the supervision of Dr Tina Widowski, looks into the effect of a maternal diet of omega-3 fatty acids on the behaviour of laying hens and broiler (meat) chickens. This project is a fusion of poultry nutrition and behaviour science, working in partnership with Dr Elijah Kiarie.
Background
Omega-3 fatty acids are phospholipids obtained from dietary sources such as oily fish, algae and plant-derived ooils such as flaxseed or linseed. These dietary fatty acids can be transferred from a chicken to their offspring through the egg yolk. Egg yolks are rich in phospholipids, ~95% of which are absorbed by the developing chick during incubation. Fatty acids accumulate in the brain of the developing chick, potentially altering embryonic brain development and therefore behaviour of the offspring post-hatching. Looking at two types of commercial chickens, layers and broilers, we hope that this project will give a broader scope of the effect of omega-3 supplementation. Currently, lots of research is looking at chickens as a conduit for increasing human omega-3 consumption in western societies. Laying hens are fed omega-3s so they produced enriched eggs and broiler chickens so they produce enriched meat for human consumption. However, very little research is looking at the effect of omega-3s on the behaviour of the chickens being fed them. This is an unknown I would like to explore during my PhD, looking at the effect of omega-3s on fearfulness, cognition and activity.
Application
Fearfulness in commecial poultry is a large problem to producers of both laying hens and broilers. High levels of fearfulness by attribute to higher mortality levels within flocks of both layer and broiler chickens, decreased egg production in laying hens, and increased prevalence of bruised and blemished meat in broilers. If omega-3s alter fearfulness in any way this will be of particular interest to producers, previous research suggests that feeding chickens with omega-3s may increase fearfulness.
Cognition in laying hens - Canadian egg farms are currently undergoing a change from caged systems to complex-aviaries in order to meet consumer demands for increased opportunities for laying hens to perform natural behaviours. Due to the move into complex-aviaries with multiple levels, perches, platforms and litter chickens now need to be able to navigate through these aviaries in order to access resources and nest boxes. Omega-3s supplementation in has been shown to increase cognition and improve performance in maze tasks, attention tests and learning speed. Deficiency in omega-3s are linked with learning and memory issues, attention deficits and stereotypic behaviours. Therefore maternal supplementation of omega-3s may improve laying hens abilty to navigate complex housing systems.
Omega-3s may also have an epigenetic or direct effect on gene expression related to inflammation. This would have useful applications in broiler chickens, a relatively high proportion of broiler chickens have leg problems due to fast growth rates and large size relative to leg strength. Reducing the rate of lameness in broiler chickens by supplementing parental birds would not only improve the welfare of broiler chickens, it could decrease euthanasia due to lameness and meat blemishes.