healthy chooks on the way, page-3

new product to launch Alternative therapeutics such as cytokines and bacteriocins are currently being assessed as safe,
naturally occurring alternatives to in-feed antibiotics. Cytokines offer a two pronged attack. They can
strengthen and control immune responses resulting in the increase in the general health of animals.
Secondly, they can improve the efficacy of vaccines, resulting in improved long term protection
against specific pathogens. In this project we have made some very significant steps forward in the
evaluation of chicken cytokines as alternative therapeutics. We have established proof-of-principal by
showing that ChIFN-ã is a growth promoter and immunoenhancer under commercial conditions. The
introduction of cytokines as commercial therapeutics should compensate for the reduction in the use
of in-feed growth promotants. As a measure of the successful outcome of this project, it is anticipated
that ChIFN-ã technology will be implemented in the Australian market in the near future.