Aflatoxins (AFs) are among the most harmful fungal secondary metabolites imposing serious health risks on both household animals and humans. The more frequent occurrence of aflatoxins in the feed and food chain is clearly foreseeable as a consequence of the extreme weather conditions recorded most recently worldwide. Furthermore, production parameters, such as unadjusted variety use and improper cultural practices, can also increase the incidence of contamination. In current aflatoxin control measures, emphasis is put on prevention including a plethora of pre-harvest methods, introduced to control Aspergillus infestations and to avoid the deleterious effects of aflatoxins on public health. Nevertheless, the continuous evaluation and improvement of post-harvest methods to combat these hazardous secondary metabolites are also required. Already in-use and emerging physical methods, such as pulsed electric fields and other nonthermal treatments as well as interventions with chemical agents such as acids, enzymes, gases, and absorbents in animal husbandry have been demonstrated as effective in reducing mycotoxins in feed and food. Although most of them have no disadvantageous effect either on nutritional properties or food safety, further research is needed to ensure the expected efficacy. Nevertheless, we can envisage the rapid spread of these easy-to-use, cost-effective, and safe post-harvest tools during storage and food processing.

The increasing level of poultry meat production, the lack of human workforce, and the rapid development of information technology have led to the application of precision livestock farming (PLF) systems in the poultry sector, as in other livestock sectors. This review aimed to gather information on the function, applicability, advantages, and limitations of a wide range of precision technologies applicable to broiler production to help farms and researchers in choosing the right methods in practice or creating the basis for further development. Studies as the basis of this review were extracted from more than a hundred peer-reviewed articles including mainly publications of recognised journals and conference proceedings. The results showed that most precision tools are currently undergoing testing and focus on some parameters or a group of parameters which are closely related. Information on the prevalence of PLF systems on broiler farms is not available in the literature. The accessible technologies of different purposes should be combined and connected to enable communication with each other and create a complex, reliable, and precise background for farming. This also facilitates management decisions and the treatment of so-called “Big Data”.

Ostrich has been reared in Hungary for decades, but we have limited information on this species. The aim of this review was to provide a concise description of the ostrich (Struthio camelus) based on international studies. We were to investigate some of the most relevant parameters, such as egg, meat and skin production. In this critical review we managed to sum up the most significant features and productivity parameters of ostrich and effecting factors. So as to make an accurate description of the species we have to know its morphological, behavioural and physiological characteristics. Ostrich is a very special bird with special nutritional and environmental requirements. Ostrich products, regarding egg, meat and skin are considered luxury products not only in Hungary but also abroad. Though egg has a significant nutritional value, it is mainly used for hatching chicks. In Europe we can expect roughly 40–50 eggs from a hen yearly. Ostrich has a lean meat with high protein and low fat and sodium content, moreover it is rich in minerals and polyunsaturated fatty acids. Having these advantageous qualities, ostrich meat should be part of our healthy diet. Skin production is not important in our country, but there is a special demand for high quality ostrich leather globally. In the future our aim is to conduct a research on some of the parameters. As low production rate and embryo mortality is a great deal of problem in ostrich industry, we need to investigate the incubation environment. There is an apparent disagreement among researchers on optimal slaughter age. This is also an area for further investigation. The value of skin and effecting factors on our climate as well as adaptability of the species are also worth for further investigation together with the nutrition what differs from other ostrich breeding countries. Nowadays, there is a great emphasis placed on animal welfare too.

The increasing level of poultry meat production, the lack of human workforce, and the rapid development of information technology have led to the application of precision livestock farming (PLF) systems in the poultry sector, as in other livestock sectors. PLF tools provide continuous, real-time, accurate, and non-invasive data acquisition regarding environmental and production parameters, animal health and behaviour. PLF technologies include sensors, cameras, and microphones for data collection, as well as networks, software, and computer systems for data processing and analysis. Most precision tools focus on some parameters or a group of parameters which are closely related and only a few provides a more complex view (i.e. multi-purpose robots). Besides the advantages, limitations of the systems should also be considered before the application. Limitations include technical failures and breakdowns, pathogen transmission, problems with the reliability of results, the reduction of human-animal contacts and animal welfare. Combination of the accessible technologies of different purposes should be applied on each farm to provide a complete, reliable technological background for farming. Tools should be connected to enable communication with each other and create a complex, reliable, precise background for farming. This also facilitates management decisions and the treatment of so-called “Big Data”

The study aimed to evaluate the slaughter value and meat characteristics of ten ostrich females reared and slaughtered at the age of 18 months in Hungary. The ratio of selected body parts, the main organs and the lean meat parts were examined. The nutritive composition, the colour, the technological and organoleptic characteristics of five valuable meat parts (outside strip—M. flexor cruris lateralis, oyster—M. iliofemoralis externus, tip—M. femorotibialis medius, outside leg—M. gastrocnemius pars externa, medal—M. ambiens) and the amino acid, fatty acid and mineral composition of outside strip (M. flexor cruris lateralis) were also evaluated. The ratio of body parts and the main organs as the percentage of live weight, and the lean meat part as the percentage of carcass weight showed 16.74 ± 0.01%, 6.16 ± 0.01% and 57.29 ± 0.59%, respectively. The dry matter content of the examined valuable meat parts ranged between 24.89 ± 0.08 and 26.23 ± 0.13%, the protein ratio took on values between 18.40 ± 0.09 and 20.62 ± 0.16%, the fat content showed values between 2.36 ± 0.07 and 4.50 ± 1.09% and the hydroxyproline content ranged between 0.01 ± 0.001 and 0.08 ± 0.001%. The amino acid content of the outside strip showed a range between 0.15 and 3.33%. The ratio of SFA, MUFA and PUFA was 35.10 ± 0.53, 37.37 ± 1.52 and 27.54 ± 1.01. The n-6/n-3 ratio showed 3.91 ± 0.43 and the SFA/UFA ratio was 0.54 ± 0.02. Among the examined minerals, the content of Ca, K, Mg, Na and P was the highest in the meat. In the case of the colour, regarding L* value, we could reveal no significant difference between the examined meat parts. For a* and b* values, the outside leg had the lowest data of all. We could not reveal a significant difference between the pH values of the meat parts. Regarding technological parameters, meat differed only in thawing loss. The significantly lowest thawing loss could be detected in the outside leg (2.72 ± 0.01%) and in the medal (2.32 ± 0.01%). The results of the organoleptic evaluation showed that the outside strip and the tip had the best flavour and tenderness. In comparison with the younger birds (10–14 months of age) in the literature, the 18-month-old ostriches in our study showed similar or slightly lower slaughter weight, skin weight and head ratio, greater liver weight, lighter meat, lower protein and higher fat content, higher essential amino acid and lower non-essential amino acid content and higher SFA content in some cases. However, data on nutrition and population size were not always available. In comparison with other ratites (emu and rhea), ostrich meat has lower dry matter and protein, but higher fat, SFA, MUFA and PUFA content and lower n-6/n-3 ratio.

The study aimed to investigate the effect of the combination of year and season of breeding period, egg weight, the annual hatching order of chicks and the hatchability of eggs on the relative risk of total loss for chicks during their 48-week life period. The examination was conducted on one of the largest farms in Hungary working with sixty breeding birds, kept in trios (one male and two females). The research covered the growing information of 1606 chicks hatched in 2019, 2020 and 2021. The highest relative risk of total loss was revealed in autumn 2020 and 2021. In comparison with the reference group (2021 summer), the relative risk of total loss was significantly lower in summer 2019 (p < 0.05) and spring 2020 (p = 0.0049) 2020 (p = 0.0000) and 2021 (p = 0.0348) spring. Both between years and between seasons the tendency of relative risk was the same. The relative risk of total loss increased until the end of the third quart of the incubation period, then remained unchanged. Chicks from groups having weak hatchability (≤50%) had the highest relative risk (p < 0.05).