The BEMB Research and Education Trust has announced new funding aimed at tackling three key poultry health problems – red mite, E coli and spirochaetosis.

BEMB is putting more money into an existing three-year project at Moredun Research Institute looking to develop a vaccine effective against red mite. Red mite continues to be one of the most costly problems in the free range egg sector.

Another vaccine that could eventually rise from BEMB funding is an inactivated form against E coli. BEMB is to sponsor initial work at the University of Nottingham School of Veterinary Medicine and Science. 

Finally, the Trustees also decided to sponsor a four-year PhD project to be headed by Roberto La Ragione at  Veterinary Laboratories Agency looking at intervention strategies for avian spirochaetosis. 

This is a disease that is becoming increasingly important to free range and barn egg producers and a solution is desperately needed. Currently little is known but producers are struggling to tackle the problem, which seems to reappear in treated flocks. The latest theory is that bare soil may have a role in re-infecting flocks.

• The BEMB Trust is the largest independent research funding body for the egg production industry.