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March 2020 Newsletter

Volume 50, March 2020  Newsletter Editor: Dr G.B. Havenstein,  

 

2020 wpc  

World's Poultry Congres 2020

16-20 August, Paris, France

Scholarship Awards

During the XXVI World’s Poultry Congress in Paris, France in 2020 Scholarship Awards for respectively the WPSA Paul B. Siegel Research Award and the WPSA Education Award are going to be presented. Deadline for submissions was 1st March 2020.
To show how awards are utilized, those nominated must, if successful, undertake to present a report of their work at the next World’s Poultry Congress following the one at which the award was made.

International Poultry Hall of Fame

Selection of candidates for the International Poultry Hall of Fame have been finalised. The new inductees will be presented during the Opening Ceremony.

Cliff D. Carpenter International Essay Competition

At the latest Board meeting, held during the Poultry Science Association (PSA) meeting in Montréal, Canada, it was decided to start the Cliff D. Carpenter International Essay competition.
Five travel awards ($2000 each) will be made available on a competitive basis to full time graduate students for attendance at the XXVI World’s Poultry Congress in Paris, France, 16-20 August 2020. The original essay of up to 2000 words should address the topic ‘The possible role of the World’s Poultry Science Association in education’. The 5 winners should come from different continents, they have to be a member in 2019 and must be between the ages of 18-30.
The applications for the International Cliff D. Carpenter Essay competition are currently being evaluated.

Nominating Advisory Committee (NAC)

Preparations are underway for the formation of a Nominating Advisory Committee (NAC), which committee is in charge of seeking candidates for the WPSA Board 2020-2024. The NAC will be chaired by Dr Mamduh Sifri. Branches and members can propose candidates for the offices of President, five Vice-Presidents, Secretary and Treasurer.
Further information can be found in the WPSA Constitution and By-laws (Constitution article IV-5 and By-Laws article II-8 through 11).

Council Meeting

During the Council meeting the city and country for the next World’s Poultry Congress in 2024 will be selected. The candidate cities are: Cape Town proposed by the South Africa branch and Toronto proposed by the Canada, Mexico and USA branches.
Also a new Board will be selected during the Council Meeting. Each Branch, in good financial standing, is eligible to vote. The number of votes per branch depends on the number of members on December 1st of the year preceding the vote (see the Constutition and By-Laws).
All members are invited to attend the Council Meeting.

Updates on the above mentioned topics will be publsihed on the WPSA website under the heading !! WPC2020 !!.

   

Registration for WPC2020

Registration for WPC2020 are open. Click here for details.

 

Executive Committee

Secretary's Report

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World’s Poultry Congress, Palais de Congrès, August 16 – 20, 2020, Paris, France

Information on the programme of WPC2020 can be found on www.wpcparis2020.com
Preparations are underway for the Council meeting during the next WPC.
During the Council meeting the city and country for the next World’s Poultry Congress in 2024 will be selected. The candidate cities are: Cape Town proposed by the South Africa branch and Toronto proposed by the Canada, Mexico and USA branches.
Selection of candidates for the International Poultry Hall of Fame have been finalised. The applications for the International Cliff D. Carpenter Essay competition are currently being evaluated.
Deadlines for application for the WPSA Paul B. Siegel Research Award and the WPSA Education Award are approaching.
The Nominating Advisory Committee (NAS), which is in charge of seeking candidates for WPSA’s 2020-2024 Board of Directors has started its activities. Branches and members can now propose candidates for the 2020-2024 Board of directors.

WPSA presence at exhibitions and conferences

WPSA leadership members were present at IPPE, Atlanta, USA, during January 2020. Other events that will have WPSA presence include VIV MEA, Abu Dhabi, UAE and Victam Asia, and Animal Health and Nutrition, Bangkok, Thailand, as well as the Mediterranean Poultry Summit, 25-27 March 2020, Cordoba, Spain. Information on the programme for the Mediterranean Summit can be found on www.mpn-wpsa.org/spain2020 and www.wpsa.com 
The 1st Poultry Nutrition symposium 25-26 March 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand has been postponed because of the Covid-19 virus.
During the above listed symposia and conferences, promotional materials for WPSA, the World’s Poultry Science Journal, WPC 2020 in Paris, France, and other upcoming conferences and events will be on display.
WPSA members and any other interested individuals are invited to attend the above events where they meet many other WPSA members and leadership representatives.

WPSA World’s Poultry Science Journal

The March 2020 issue of the World’s Poultry Science Journal, is being hosted and produced by Taylor & Francis Publishers, and is on track.

WPSA programmes

WPSA has several programmes to support members and branches. Details on the Travel Grant programmes, the Speakers’ Bureau programme, and on proposals for Branch Development can be found on the WPSA website. Criteria for eligibility for these programmes are published together with the (different) deadlines for the individual programmes. Please follow the instructions, as inaccurate, incomplete and late applications have to be rejected.

Cooperation with the organization on World Veterinary Education in Production Animal Health (WVEPAH)

The WVEPAH, a non-profit organization organises training courses on poultry (for 3 à 4 weeks) in several countries. Additional details are provided on www.wvepah.org. All joint activities with WVEPAH will also be announced on our WPSA website and in the WPS Journal.

Dr Roel Mulder, General Secretary

Treasurer's Report

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Since my last report, I had the pleasure of attending the International Production and Processing Exposition (IPPE) in Atlanta, Georgia. IPPE redesigned two of the exhibition floors this year and WPSA was lucky to be given a booth near the extremely popular food court. The proximity to food, plus the neighbouring booths of other scientific societies and institutions, brought us excellent foot traffic. The other members of the Executive Committee (EC): Drs. Ning Yang, Roel Mulder, and Bob Buresh, joined me in the booth. We greeted WPSA members, officers, as well as financial supporters of our Journal, from around the globe.
The EC held a productive meeting in Atlanta and discussed time sensitive topics, including WPC2020-Paris. We were delighted to learn of the large number of applications for the Young Scientist Programme in Paris. The EC decided that in addition to the support already pledged by the global body, WPSA would match the French Branch in funding an additional 10 Young Scientists.

I am pleased to report that I have forwarded all of the 2019 financial records and tax information to WPSA’s Certified Public Accountant (CPA). I will be working with the CPA and his staff in the coming months to finalise the WPSA tax returns.

As I close this report, I will start packing for a USA west coast trade association meeting in Hawaii. At that event I coordinated the programmes for the poultry students, and their programmes are generously sponsored by the United States Branch of WPSA.

Dr Francine Bradley, Treasurer

26th World's Poultry Congress

Palais de Congrès,

August 16-20, 2020, Paris, France

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It is with great pleasure that the French branch of WPSA invites you to attend the 26th World Poultry Congress in Paris, from 16-20 August 2020. We have prepared an attractive Congress for the benefit of the large number of participants that are coming from all over the world. The scientific programme will be highly interactive and interdisciplinary, with the objective of ‘Integrating knowledge for sustainable and diversified poultry productions’. The Mediterranean and African Poultry Networks will hold specific sessions, and a symposium will take place under the auspices of FAO. As usual for a WPC, Youth and Young Scientist programmes will be held.

Exhibition and sponsoring: the programme includes an exhibition that allows companies to display their company information and products within the Congress Centre, and the Congress programme will include a number of technical symposia as well.

Registration: We received nearly 1000 early bird registrations before December 31st, 2019. Registration will continue at the regular price until March 31st, 2020, and at an increased price thereafter.

Abstracts: The submission of abstracts closed on January 5th, 2020. More than 1400 abstracts were received and are currently under evaluation. Acceptance results and notifications for the abstracts are expected to occur sometime during March 2020.

Sessions and Invited speakers: Sessions will last from Sunday afternoon, 16th of August, to Thursday morning, the 20th of August. Renowned speakers from all over the world will be involved in both the plenary lectures and in the parallel sessions. Their addresses have been assigned to one of the following topic sessions: Nutrition, Breeding and Genetics, Egg Quality, Poultry Meat Quality, Reproduction, Hygiene and Pathology, Poultry Welfare and Management, Physiology, Education and Information, Waterfowl, and Turkeys. For detailed information about the WPC registration and programme, see the Congresses website: http://www.wpcparis2020.com/.

Christophe Bostvironnois, President French Branch
Michael Duclos, Secretary, French Branch
Michèle Tixier Boichard, WPC2020, Programme Coordinator

 

Newly Compiled List of Poultry Educational Resources

In her role as one of the Vice Presidents of the WPSA, Julie Roberts from the Australian Branch has compiled a list of Poultry Educational Resources which are available free of charge via the internet. Some of the web sites listed also have resources for sale. However, the focus of this list is resources which are free and therefore available to all members.

The list is posted on the WPSA website, and will always be a ‘work in progress’ as some resources become available and added, or others, if they are out of date or no longer available, will be removed from the internet list.

If members are aware of other resources that are available that could be added to the list, please contact Mrs Dorien Velner at the main office by email: with the title of the resource, how to access it and a short description.

All entries will be checked on a regular basis to make sure that they continue to be available, however if you find any irregularities, please contact us at

 

European Federation

The next European Poultry Conference will be held in Valencia, Spain in 2022.

The European Federation has numerous conferences planned between now and on into 2021. A list of most of our upcoming conferences may be found on the WPSA Calendar at www.wpsa.com
News from several European Federation Working Groups are provided below.

WPSA European Working Group News

WG2

2021 espnThe Italian Branch will host the 23rd edition of European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition (ESPN) which will be held at the Palacongressi of Rimini (Italy) from September 20-23, 2021. The city of Rimini, is an ideal place for the European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition and the modern as well as eco-friendly venue is the perfect stage for the event. Many attendees including both poultry research scientists and practitioners, leading speakers from across the world joining together to explore the past, share the present and helping to forge the future of poultry meat science. More details are already available at the symposium website: https://www.espn2021.eu/.

WG3

Breeding and Genetics

The 11th European Symposium on Poultry Genetics was held in Prague from 23 to 25 October 2019. The symposium was hosted by the Czech branch of WPSA and organised together with Working Group 3 'Breeding and Genetics' of the European Federation of WPSA. The 3-day symposium was very well attended, and 141 scientists from 30 countries participated. The scientific programme included sessions on new breeding technologies, genomic selection, current topics on dual-purpose chickens, genetic diversity, microbiota, new breeding targets for poultry species and the breeding of other bird species. A total of 25 invited speakers presented the latest results of their current research, which were discussed in various ways. Furthermore, scientists presented their work in 46 posters.
A particular highlight of the Symposium was a special session in which four young scientists had the opportunity to present their work in a short oral presentation. Working Group 3 endeavours to support young scientists in this way by covering the registration fees for the selected presenters. The symposium took place in a very pleasant and productive atmosphere and gave the participants the opportunity for an intensive exchange of ideas in a variety of ways. On behalf of the working group, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all participants, colleagues and helpers involved in preparing the symposium as well as our sponsors, who made a significant contribution to the success of the symposium.

The 12th symposium is already being planned. It will take place in Hannover from 26 - 28 October 2021, and will be hosted by the German Branch. We would be pleased if you saved this date and planned your participation. Further information will follow in due course.

Steffen Weigend, Chairman of the European Federations Working Group 3

WG5

Poultry Meat Quality

2021 Eggmeat logo EMQ

The XXV European Symposium on the Quality of Poultry Meat will be conjointly held with the XIX European Symposium on the Quality of Eggs and Egg Products from June 21 to 23, 2021, in Kraków, Poland. Please visit http://www.eggmeat2021.com/ to keep yourself updated. Special reduced registration fees will be available for WPSA members and students. We will look forward to seeing many of you there. Prominent invited speakers from American and European Institutions will address emerging issues on poultry meat and egg production. A new website will be developed and registration information will be provided in the near future.

Most WG5 members will also be participating in the 2020 World's Poultry Congress in Paris, France on August 16-20, and the scientific programme of the two parallel sessions dealing with 'Meat Quality' is almost defined under supervision of the WG5 group in connection with the Scientific Committee of which WG5 chairperson is a part. During the Paris Congress, a meeting of Working Group 5 has also been planned during WPC2020, and it will take place on Wednesday, August 19th. See the Congress Programme for the meeting time and location.


Asia Pacific Federation

2020 apf poultry nutrition symposium

Postponing the Asia Pacific Federation (APF) Poultry Nutrition Symposium

Because of the COVID-19 (Corona Virus) outbreak, which is a great concern worldwide, travelling to mass gatherings can be a risk for travellers, including the spread of an infection.
After discussions with the Organising Committee of the APF Poultry Nutrition Symposium and the Thai Government, the President of the Asia Pacific Federation, Dr Sakchai Sriboonsue, has decided to postpone the meeting, which was scheduled for 25-26 March 2020 in Bangkok, Thailand, until further notice.

The Organising Committee would like to apologize for any inconvenience this causes to the sponsors and attendees.

WPSA Asian-Pacific Working Group News

A/P WG3

Ratites

The Ratite Working Group will hold a general meeting on the 18th of March at 10:00 on the Oudtshoorn Research Farm, Oudtshoorn, South Africa. All are welcome to attend.

The next meeting is scheduled to take place at the World Poultry Congress in Paris, France that is being held 16-20 August 2020. Please let us know if you are planning to attend the meeting and Congress, as well as any topics that you would like to have considered, by sending an email to .

Anel Engelbrecht, Chair

7th Mediterranean Poulty Summit

The Mediterranean Poultry Network will host the 7th Mediterranean Poultry Summit at the University of Cordoba in Cordoba, Spain, on March 25-27, 2020. Details for the conference are shown on the website summit’s website: www.mpn-wpsa.org. The Registration Deadline for the Summit is March 25 2020.

 

World's Poultry Science Journal

From 2020 the World’s Poultry Science Journal will be published by Taylor & Francis. If you have requested an online subscription as part of your membership, you have received an email from Taylor & Francis with instructions how to access WPSJ online from the new website www.tandfonline.com/TWPS. Please ensure that you add '@tandfonline.com' to your safe senders list to ensure these types of emails are not sent to your spam folder or blocked by your service provider. Should you have any questions about your online access please contact ”.

Upcoming articles

Articles in upcoming Journal(s)

  • M. Tixier-Boichard - From the jungle fowl to highly-performing chickens: are we reaching limits?
  • A. Salamon - The double-yolked egg: from the 'miracle of packaging' to nature's 'mistake'
  • L. Sarmiento-Franco - Do free-range systems have potential to improve broiler welfare in the tropics?
  • S.S. Elnesr - Impact of green tea (Camellia sinensis) and epigallocatechin gallate on poultry
  • O. Olgun - Evaluation of dietary presence or use of cadmium in poultry
  • S.U. Mahfuz - Role of certain mushrooms on growth performance and physiological responses in broiler chickens
  • T.R. Kannaki - Marek's disease: Time to review the emerging threat in Indian poultry
  • J.L. Angove - The avian maternal environment: exploring the physiological mechanisms driving progeny performance
  • J.-J. Chen - Chromolaena odorata as a potential feed additive bioresource to alleviate heat strss in chickens in the humid tropics
  • O. Olgun - Use of alfalfa meal in layer diets – a review
  • H. Hamadani - Characteristics of the Kashmir Anz geese breed
  • K.M. Hartcher - Genetic selection of broilers and welfare consequences: a review

Summaries

From the jungle fowl to highly-performing chickens: are we reaching limits?

M. TIXIER-BOICHARD

The cumulated effects of domestication and subsequent selection by humans have led to an impressive diversification of the chicken, at the phenotypic level as well as the genome level. In theory, selection may reach a plateau when all favourable alleles have reached fixation. Yet, current data in poultry show that selection response can still take place after 50 generations of selection or more. The mechanisms maintaining selection response in closed populations may involve recombination, mutation and epistatic interactions. Furthermore, the continuous addition of new selection criteria can delay the possible limit associated to single trait selection. Thus, selection response is mainly threatened by inbreeding which occurs as a consequence of a narrow genetic base and/or a poor management of genetic variability within the population. Biological limits are encountered when selection is degrading fitness traits to a point that the survival of individuals is affected. Biological limits induced by extreme performance can be by-passed by adapting the breeding programme, introducing new selection criteria, changing the management or developing remedial technologies. Extreme situations affecting bird welfare raise ethical issues. Lameness in broilers or spontaneous bone breakage in layers are painful and one may question whether such pain is justified by the human need for protein consumption. Regulations or market requirements may be set up to limit the performance at a level which is compatible with animal welfare, resulting in a voluntary limit to selection. Furthermore, highly performing animals need a very well controlled environment with high quality diets, which may divert food resources from humans and may not be sustainable. Breeding objectives have to integrate environmental impact and robustness towards the use of alternative feed sources, in addition to production level, product quality, health and welfare status.

The double-yolked egg: from the ‘miracle of packaging’ to nature’s ‘mistake’

A. SALAMON and J.P. KENT

Double-yolked (DY) eggs were mostly described in domestic prosocial species, and are rarely found in nature. It is estimated that 1-3% of domestic hen and duck eggs are DY.

DY eggs occur when two yolks are encapsulated in a single shell and therefore differ from SY eggs in their external and internal characteristics. In previous decades DY eggs were distinguished from SY eggs only by their external characteristics, and this proved to be wrong, as over 40% of DY eggs have similar external characteristics in terms of size and shape to SY eggs. The internal characteristics of DY eggs constrain their fertility. Yolks in DY eggs tend to be smaller, probably ovulated early and are thus immature, having a significant negative impact on their reproductive potential with lower fertility levels. Further, the presence of a second yolk facilitates additional albumen secretion with the size of each yolk determining the additional amount secreted. This creates a primacy effect, i.e. the first yolk in the oviduct could be fertilized, but the second may not be. The unique yolk and embryo positioning is associated with low hatchability. These factors reduce the reproductive potential of DY egg yolks individually or cumulatively. Thus the above supports the view that DY eggs are nature’s ‘mistake’ and are viewed here as an extreme end of a normal distribution of variation and is unlikely to evolve further in avian species. However, there is still potential for further non-invasive research using DY eggs, especially in studies of factors affecting fertility.

Do free-range systems have potential to improve broiler welfare in the tropics?

R. SÁNCHEZ-CASANOVA, L. SARMIENTO-FRANCO, C. PHILLIPS and Z. IDRUS

An insight into the impact of free-range systems on the main welfare problems for commercial-line broiler chicken production in tropical regions is provided. Much research has been conducted to mitigate the impact of conventional production systems on broilers welfare, but nearly all of these studies are based on the development of strategies to improve performance parameters in temperate regions, making it difficult to implement such approaches in tropical environments. Stocking density is one of the main housing variables that influences the birds’ development. Optimal stocking density ranges from 25 kg to 40 kg liveweight per m2, with no less than 1 m2 of outdoor area per bird in some cases, for a minimum of 8 hours of free-range access per day, according to welfare legislations in different jurisdictions worldwide. Several studies with commercial-line broiler chickens have shown that they are adapted to the environmental characteristics of tropical regions if temperature is below 30°C, relative humidity levels below 80% inside the housing and stocking density does not exceed 30 kg/m2. Therefore, Latin America has great potential for the implementation of free-range production system. The use of local resources, like forage plants for feed and natural materials with good thermal insulation properties for housing construction could be a good alternative to make this system feasible. C4 plants present in tropical ecosystems have a very high rate of water-use efficiency in temperatures between 30-35°C, which may increase the productivity of crops, fodder and pastures. Those plants are a good option to stimulate ranging in chickens, due to both their abilities as covering crop and fast growing. The review concludes that outdoor access has potential to improve broiler welfare in tropical regions, but it is still necessary to develop standards and regulations that ensure its proper functioning and, consequently, chickens’ welfare.

Impact of green tea (Camellia sinensis) and epigallocatechin gallate on poultry

M.E. ABD EL-HACK, S.S. ELNESR, M. ALAGAWANY, A. GADO, A.E. NORELDIN and A.A. GABR

Green tea is of interest due to its high content of pharmacologically active ingredients such as catechins, flavanols, flavadiols, flavonoids and phenolic acids. Green tea contains many polyphenolic compounds such as epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, and epigallocatechin gallate. The inclusion of green tea as a feed additive has been shown to improve growth performance and overall health of poultry. Previous studies have shown different results in the rate of improvement in body weight (between 1-10%) with the use of different doses of green tea (0.5, 1, 1.5, 2 and 3 mg/kg) in the diet. Using 1-2 mg green tea per kg in the broiler diet improved feed conversion ratio (FCR) by approximately 8%. Abdominal fat was decreased by 10-20% using 0.2-1.0% green tea extract in broiler diets. Improvements in egg production, egg mass and feed conversion values with inclusion rates of 1% green tea in feed, compared to a negative control, have been reported to be 5.6%, 6.8% and 7.8%, respectively. Green tea may improve the antioxidant status of poultry. Epigallocatechin gallate has been found to be over 100 times more effective in neutralising free radicals than vitamin C and 25 times more powerful than vitamin E.

Evaluation of dietary presence or use of cadmium in poultry

O.OLGUN, A.Ö. YILDIZ and A. ŞAHIN

Cadmium is a heavy metal and non-essential for animals. In practice, cadmium toxicity is quite rare in farm animals because the level of cadmium in commercial diets is very low. However, cadmium-contaminated feedstuffs in the diet may cause toxicity. The cadmium, which is absorbed from digestive system, accumulates in the body tissues, primarily kidney and liver, and causes metabolic and physiological inconveniences in the body. Hereby, economic losses occur due to the decrease in feed intake and egg production. It will cause mortality depending on the level and duration of exposure to cadmium. The toxic level of cadmium varies according to the bird species and their ages. Chickens are more sensitive to cadmium toxicity than quails. Lower dietary cadmium doses (<10 mg/kg) have positive effects on production performance and eggshell quality, but higher doses of cadmium (>10 mg/kg) cause economic losses due to worsening productive performance and eggshell quality in poultry. Dietary zinc, selenium, vitamins and plant extracts will help to eliminate the negative consequences of cadmium contamination in feedstuff. However, further studies are needed to determine the toxic level of cadmium, and the possible positive effects of cadmium on performance and product quality when used at lower doses in poultry.

Role of certain mushrooms on growth performance and physiological responses in broiler chickens

S.U. MAHFUZ, S.F. LONG and X.S. PIAO

Supplementing broiler diets with medicinal mushrooms is considered an effective alternative to prophylactic antibiotics. Feeding certain mushrooms may have beneficial effects on gut health in broilers, whereby trials have shown weight gain was increased about 5.2% when feeding 5% of the Hericium caput-medusae mushrooms in the diet. Both Salmonella spp. and E. coli numbers in the caecum were significantly lowered from 5.036 to 3.031 log10 CFU/g and from 5.405 to 4.759 log10 CFU/g when 50 g/kg or 30 g/kg of Flammulina velutipes mushrooms were included in feed, respectively, compared to an unsupplemented control group. Beneficial bacteria (Lactobacilli spp.) were found in significantly higher numbers (increased from 6.45 to 8.05 log10 CFU/g) and Bifidobacter spp. (increased from 6.28 to 7.77 log10 CFU/g of content) in the caecum of broilers fed 20 g/kg mushrooms (Agaricus biosporus) in feed. However, there is still disagreement in published articles on the dosages and mode of action of medicinal mushrooms in broilers. The following review covered the published trials investigating the uses of medicinal fungi on growth performance, meat quality and health status in broiler to date, and showed. that supplementation with medicinal fungi may have a role on the immunity, health and growth performance in broiler.

Marek’s disease: Time to review the emerging threat in Indian Poultry

T.R. KANNAKI and V. GOWTHAMAN

Marek’s disease (MD) is one of the re-emerging diseases in Indian poultry. MD outbreaks are reported from different parts of the country in spite of vaccination, causing major economic losses. Flock mortality of 10-40% was observed in vaccinated flocks during outbreaks, although MD is well controlled with vaccination. Almost 100% of the commercial poultry flocks are vaccinated at hatchery level. Bivalent (HVT+SB1 or HVT+301B/1) or monovalent (HVT) vaccines are used in India. In spite of the intensive vaccination practice, outbreaks are being reported from different parts of the world including India. MD virus (MDV) Indian field isolates from different outbreaks during last decade are categorised into virulent (vMDV) and very virulent (vvMDV) pathotypes based on different serotype 1 specific gene sequencing and in vivo pathotyping. The emergence of virulence in MDV is attributed to compromised bio-security, concurrent immunosuppressive diseases and vaccination failure. MD outbreaks in vaccinated flocks of Indian poultry flocks cause annual loss of approximately 4 crore Indian rupees. Country-wide surveillance and reporting of MD outbreaks and further characterization of the Indian field isolate should be taken as a priority. Reviewing the current vaccination strategy, and examining the need for the introduction of more effective vaccines that give better protection against the more virulent strains should be considered with equal importance along with improved bio-security measures, management practices and more effective control of immunosuppressive diseases.

The avian maternal environment: exploring the physiological mechanisms driving progeny performance

J.L. ANGOVE and R.E.A. FORDER

Environmental factors, both positive and negative, experienced by breeder hens during their reproductive life, can have a significant influence on the productive efficiency and health of their progeny. This is particularly important considering that commercial broilers spend a significant proportion of their life in ovo, and alterations to the in ovo environment can permanently ‘programme’ progeny endocrine pathways. The maternal environment is greatly influenced by factors, such as nutrition and stress, both of which play a significant role in the broiler breeder industry, due to feed restriction practices, ranging from 25-80% of the ad libitum intake. The effects of nutrition and stress on the maternal environment have been extensively investigated in mammalian literature, primarily focusing on the development and function of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in offspring, including exposure to the stress hormone cortisol. Disruption of the HPA axis can inadvertently disrupt other important endocrine pathways, involved in growth and metabolism, including the growth hormone-insulin-like growth factor I axis (GH/IGF-I) and the hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis (HPT). Any disruption or ‘reprogramming’ of the metabolic endocrine axes through maternal influences has been linked to variations in progeny performance, including growth rate and body composition. However, the underlying physiological mechanisms responsible for these phenotypic differences remain unclear, especially in poultry.

Chromolaena odorata as a potential feed additive bioresource to alleviate heat stress in chickens in the humid tropics

K.A. LARTEY, D.-J. KANG, Q.-H. ZHANG, C.-Q. SHI, F. YANG, H.-Y. LIN, R. GOONERATNE and J.-J. CHEN

Chromolaena odorata contains polyphenols and antioxidant enzymes that activate biology defence mechanisms and stress-sensing transcription factors to prevent oxidative damage and heat stress in chicken. Dietary inclusions of C. odorata leaf meal at 12%, and C. odorata crude flavonoids at 400 mg/kg/d exerted competitive exclusion to enhance gut eubiosis, humoral immunity, hypoglycaemia and metabolic functions, necessary to attenuate oxidative stress in chickens. Ethanol extract of the herbal plant at 25 – 400 µg/mL showed a strong antioxidant capacity in vitro, similar to 10- 80 µg/mL standard ascorbic acid. Chromomoric acid C- 1 from C. odorata methanol extract, at 10 µg also demonstrated anti-inflammatory potential by activating Nrf2 and suppressing NF-κB in a luciferase reporter assay at inhibition capacity (IC50) of 6.9 µM. These biological defence properties of the obnoxious weed have potential to maintain gut microbial homeostasis and gut integrity, enhance antioxidative physiologies for cellular oxidative balance, and mitigate oxidative damage required to alleviate heat stress. The invading nature of the plant in the humid tropics makes it a readily available and cheap bioresource. Hepatotoxic, mutagenic and cytotoxic evaluations suggest the aerial parts of the herbal plant is a safe bioresource for animal nutrition and sub-therapeutical uses.

Use of alfalfa meal in layer diets – a review

A.Ö. YILDIZ, E.T. ŞENTÜRK and O. OLGUN

Alfalfa meal is used in poultry diets because of its content of pigments and secondary metabolites. On average, alfalfa meal contains 17-20% crude protein, 1650 kcal/kg metabolisable energy, 20-25% crude cellulose, 1.50% calcium, 0.25% total phosphorus, 0.70% lysine, and 0.25% methionine, depending on the quality of the alfalfa meal. Alfalfa meal with a high content of beta carotene and xanthophyll is used to supplement poultry diets in order to obtain good yolk and skin pigmentation. In addition to producing good pigmentation, it is low in cholesterol because of the high cellulose content and anti-nutritional factors.

Although alfalfa meal is high in protein with moderate quality, its use is restricted because of the high cellulose content. The use of alfalfa meal in layer bird diets can reduce feed intake and egg production. On the other hand, it is very effective in reducing the cholesterol content of eggs and increasing the colour score of the yolk. The current recommendation is to restrict the use of alfalfa meal to 10% of the diet, although further research is needed on the use of additives to alfalfa-meal containing diets.

Characteristics of the Kashmir Anz geese breed

H. HAMADANI, A.A. KHAN and M.T. BANDAY

The local domestic geese breed of Kashmir Valley has now been registered as a recognized breed named ‘Kashmir Anz’, making it the first and the only recognized domestic geese breed in India as of now. Geese rearing in the Valley dates back to ancient times. They are reared for meat, eggs, and as a hobby in areas located around the water bodies. Kashmir Anz are cinnamon, white, and a mixture of cinnamon and white coloured geese with beak colour varying from black to yellow through all intermediates. Shanks are orange, and eyes are either grey or brown. Peculiarities like knob, dewlap and paunch is also present in some of these geese. Two Strains (or within breed types) of ‘Kashmir Anz’ breed include ‘Safed Anz’ and ‘Katchur Anz’. Sexual dimorphism on the basis of plumage and eye colour is absent. Vent sexing or vocalization method are the most accurate and practical methods of gender identification respectively. Adult body weight of the gander is 3.82 kg and that of the goose is 3.34 kg. The average body temperature, respiration rate and heart-rate is 40.05±0.15°C, 17.16±0.75 breaths min−1 and 60.57±5.09 beats min−1, respectively. The goose lays about 12 white-shelled eggs in a year, each weighing about 137 g on an average. Dressing percentage of a Kashmir Anz geese is 67.7%. The acceptability of its meat is good and significant proportion of consumers have rated it better than chicken meat as well as mutton in terms of appearance, texture, taste and overall acceptability.

Genetic selection of broilers and welfare consequences: a review

K.M. HARTCHER and H.K. LUM

The genetic selection of broilers over the past 60 years has focused narrowly and intensely on production traits, namely growth rate and feed efficiency. This has led to significant welfare problems in birds grown for meat, including leg disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and resulting high mortality rates, while the breeder birds are subjected to severe feed restriction. Bone problems such as bacterial chondronecrosis and tibia dyschondroplasia are prevalent, and recent studies have reported the prevalence of birds with moderate to severe gait impairment to be between 5.5 and 48.8%. Worldwide, over 66 billion broilers are slaughtered annually. This huge scale of meat chicken production means that welfare problems are widespread and are likely to increase in severity due to the increasing global human population, increasing demand for meat, and a continued focus on efficiency of production in the agricultural sector. The commercial broiler industry therefore represents some of the most serious animal welfare issues in agriculture. There is an urgent need to address these problems by making welfare traits high priorities in breeding programmes and integrating these with other breeding goals. Many studies recommend the use of slower-growing breeds that do not have the same welfare problems. Addressing these welfare issues is essential to improve bird welfare and for social acceptability and sustainability of the broiler industry worldwide.

 

Branch News

France

World's Poultry Congress 2020

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The French branch is in the process of finalizing the World's Poultry Congress (WPC2020), that will take place at the Palais de Congrès in Paris on August, 16-20, 2020. The objective of the Congress is: ‘Integrating knowledge for sustainable and diversified poultry productions’. On days 1 and 4, plenary lectures will address global challenges. On day 2 and 3, parallel sessions will feature at least four multidisciplinary ‘object oriented’ sessions in the morning and up to seven specialised sessions in the afternoon. Several early sponsors are already supporting the event and further applications are welcome.

Abstract submission closed on January 5th, 2020 with the reception of 1400 abstracts, currently under evaluation. The organising committee received nearly 1000 early bird registrations by December 31st, 2019. Regular registrations will continue at the regular price through March 31st, 2020, and at la higher price after. See https://www.wpcparis2020.com for detailed information about registration and the programme for WPC2020.

Christophe Bostvironnois, President, and Michel Duclos, secretary WPSA FranceChristophe Bostvironnois, President, WPSA France 

Germany

The German Branch proudly presents the speakers for the Spring Conference of the German Branch, which will be held at the University of Rostock on March 10-11, 2020. Registration is open until March 1st, 2020, and can be made by replying to ).

The programme will include:
Michael Oste et al., Dummerstorf: P-FOWL: Effects of differential phosphorus supply for poultry.
Gürbüz Daş et al., Dummerstorf: Does a dual purpose genotype differ from meat and layer type genotypes in terms of response to experimental nematode infections?
Vivian Goerlich-Jansson, Utrecht: The importance of the prenatal and early postnatal environment for the behavioural and physiological development of chickens.
Uwe Rösler, Berlin: ESBL and AmpC colonization of broilers - influence of hygiene and management.
Volker Siemers, Visbek: Exhaust air treatment in poultry farming - procedure, services, costs.
Susanne Rothstein, Göttingen: Larval meal produced from the black soldier fly as a potential protein supplier for broilers.

The German Branch will also host the 12th European Symposium on Poultry Genetics in Hannover, October 26th to 28th, 2021! More information to follow….

Inga Tiemann, Secretary, Germany Branch

Italy

The Italian Branch of WPSA is organizing the 56th edition of its annual meeting that will be held on April 24th, 2020 at the Palacongressi of Rimini (Italy), and it will deal with the topic: ‘Are We Pushing Broilers to Their Biological Limits?’ This emerging topic will be explored thanks to the contributions of a number of prestigious international speakers.

PROGRAMME

09:45   Opening Address, Martino Cassandro, President of Italian Branch of World’s Poultry Science Association
10:00  Applying Energy Balance Modelling to Assess the Limit of Efficiency of Broiler Chickens, Ilkka Leinonen, Natural Resources Institute (Finland)
10:30   Is gut functionality a limitation for maximizing growth, Birger Svihus, Norwegian University of Life Sciences (Norway)
11:00  Rapid Growth and Leg Weakness in Broilers, Bob Wideman, Jr., University of Arkansas (USA)
11:30  Fast Muscle Growth in Meat Quality Issues, Massimiliano Petracci, University of Bologna (Italy)
12:00   Consequences of the Breeding of Broilers for Rapid Growth and High Breast Meat Yield, and Their Genetic Mitigation, Avigdor Cahaner, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem (Israel)
12:30  Discussion and Conclusions
13:30  Lunch Break
14:30  Meeting of WPSA Members


On the day b2021 espnefore the meeting, WG2 members will visit the ‘Rimini Conference Centre’ where the 23rd edition of European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition (ESPN) will be hosted from September 20th to 23rd, 2021. The city of Rimini, is an ideal place for the European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition and the modern as well as eco-friendly venue is the perfect stage for the event. Many attendees including both poultry research scientists and practitioners, leading speakers from across the world joining together to explore the past, share the present and helping to forge the future of poultry meat science. More details are already available at the Symposia website: https://www.espn2021.eu/.

Massimiliano Petracci, Secretary, Italian Branch of WPSA
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Japan

The Journal of Poultry Science (JPS), the official scientific journal published by the Japan Poultry Science Association (JPSA), became a member of PubMed Central (PMC), and the articles of the journal can be accessed through the PubMed search engine. We welcome the contribution of original research articles and reviews to the JPS using the following web site: https://jpn-psa.jp/en/jps-en/.

The 2020 Spring Meeting of JPSA will be held at Kyoto University in Kyoto during 27–28 March where presentations of original research findings, a symposium, a general meeting and a council meeting will be organised. The council meeting will be held on March 27, and the presentations of research findings as well as the general meeting will be organised on March 28.

The presentations of original research findings will include 48 titles, 17 titles of which will be candidates for the Presentation Award of young researchers. The theme of the symposium is: ‘The needs of a Ph.D. status in the industries’. It will be a joint symposium with the Japan Animal Science Association. For The detailed information please see the JPSA website (http://jpn-psa.jp/oshirase/?lang=en).

The best paper award for young researchers will be announced, 2019 of the JPS will be announced during the general meeting. The General meeting members will also involve the election of new board members and the Secretary for the JPSA, including Japan’s councillor members for the World Poultry Science Association (WPSA) assembly in Paris. The officers will be elected to serve for the next two years.

The JPS (the official journal of JPSA, IF: 0.670) always welcomes the submission of reviews and original papers. Free access to download the full-published articles in JPS is available on J-Stage (https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/browse/jpsa), which provides an excellent opportunity for all to access the published articles.

JPSA wants to contribute to poultry science, not only in Japan, but all over the globe by enhancing its international activities with JPSA members from different countries. Thus, JPSA has a membership category for foreign citizens residing abroad as ‘Special International Member’. The page charges to publish such member’s papers in the JPS are set the regular membership price. JPSA invariably welcomes new members from all over the world. Please visit our JPSA website (http://jpn-psa.jp/?lang=en) for further information.

Naoki Goto, Secretary of WPSA Japan Branch

New Zealand

The 2020 New Zealand Poultry Industry Conference will be held on 6-7 October 2020, in Nelson, New Zealand

IReza Abdollahi, Secretary, New Zealand Branch

Russia

Scientific communication with industry: The VNITIP Federal Scientific Centre of the Russian Science Academy in Serguiev Posad, Moscow Region, recognises the importance of scientific communication with the industry and has a programme to encourage this effort. Every year more than 1000 experts from Russia and abroad attend lectures from leading scientists in poultry industry areas, exchange experiences and discuss innovations from local and foreign poultry science efforts in Ptitsegrad. All are welcome to attend the courses in Serguiev Posad.

Tatiana Vasilieva, Secretary

 

Spain

The Spanish branch of WPSA organises the 7th Mediterranean Poultry Summit that will be held from March 25-27, 2020 in the city of Córdoba. More than 250 attendees are expected at this meeting from more than 30 countries. Scientists will present about 100 scientific communications covering many topics of poultry science, especially on topics important for the Mediterranean area.
In addition, 15 guest speakers will provide keynote presentations during the sessions. Several workshops will also be held. Speakers such as Michael Czarick, who will chair a workshop on ventilation or Wim Tondeur, who will chair a workshop on slaughtering problems, will be among the guest stars for the event. All information on the Mediterranean Poultry Summit is available at: www.mpn-wpsa.org

Carlos Garcés Narro, Secretary, Spain Branch

Turkey

The General Assembly of the WPSA Turkish Branch, which is held every three years, met on 21 January 2020. After the approval of the activity report, elections were held for new board members. The following members were elected:

President: Prof. Dr Rüveyde Akbay
Vice-President: Dr Kemal Akman
Secretary: Prof. Dr Kâzım Şahin
Treasurer: Assoc. Prof. Dr Cengizhan Mızrak
Board Member: Mr. Gülbenk Yalçın
Board Member: Mr. Yüce Canoler
Board Member: Prof. Dr Sezen Özkan

In the first board meeting held after the General Assembly, it was decided to organise a symposium with the title ‘Hormones, Antibiotics and GDO in Poultry Meat.’ That symposium will be held on 19 March in Ankara to inform the general public about the status of these factors, and to dispel misconceptions regarding the occurrence of these items in poultry products.
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Prof. Dr Sezen Özkan, Secretary, WPSA Turkish Branch

United Kingdom

New Opportunity: The GD Rosen Academic Career Advancement Award

The UK branch is pleased to announce a new Academic Career Advancement Award in memory of Professor Gordon D Rosen. Gordon contributed a highly logical and very descriptive approach to animal nutrition from the 1960s through to just a few years before his death in 2015. A full obituary for him is available in volume 71 of World’s Poultry Science Journal. He was an inspirational person whose curiosity and gently framed yet penetrating questions made him a legend. There is a generation of scientists influenced by his presence – always in the front row – of scientific meetings, and now his wife Vanda would like to encourage other scientists to develop their own inquisitiveness through this new award.

The GD Rosen Academic Career Advancement Award provides £2000 each year to fund an academic adventure. With this aim, the award is open in nature, while particularly encouraging people to become multidisciplinary in their approach to research. The award is open to UK branch members who are within their early career spanning from 2 years to 5 years post PhD viva. Examples of proposals might include a request to attend an academic conference (particularly one outside your core field), support for an educational tour of another country or global region, support to visit another institution to learn a new technique or approach, or support to publish a major research output in a journal requiring publication fees.

Proposal forms and conditions of the GD Rosen Award can be found on the WPSA-UK website.
The DEADLINE for this years APPLICATIONS was 30th January 2020.

Dr Emily Burton, UK Branch Secretary

USA

The coalition of North American branches of WPSA (USA, Canada and Mexico) is excited to announce that the coalition is in the process of developing a bid to host the XXVII World’s Poultry Congress in 2024. We have selected Toronto, Canada, as our proposed site for this event and look forward to sharing more bid information with our WPSA colleagues over the next few months leading up to the World’s Poultry Congress this summer in Paris.

Bob Buresh, WPSA Senior Vice President, and Secretary USA Branch

 

WPSA Calendar

For all WPSA meetings see the WPSA Calendar

Travel Grant Programme

For information about the Travel Grant Programmes click here.

 

Travel Grants can only be requested for WPSA events.

Only WPSA members can apply.

 

Travel Grant application forms

Speakers' Bureau Programme

For information about the Speakers' Bureau Programme click here.

 

Branch Development Proposal

In the Board meeting held during WPC2016 in Beijing, China, the Board decided to increase the funds available for Branch Development by making a formal call for Branch Development Proposals.
The maximum budget for a proposal is US$4,000.

Deadlines for submission are January 1st and July 1st.

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