WPSA Newsletter

Newsletter Editor: Dr G.B. Havenstein
gerald_havenstein@ncsu.edu

Message from President Rüveyde Akbay
As my term is coming to an end I was asked to write a personal note for the Newsletter and I thought it was best to give a brief summary of the last four years.
The busy days before the WPC in Istanbul come to my mind. The many travels to various countries for promotional work, gathering sponsors, forging new friendships and meeting old friends and the exciting days of the congress marked the beginning of my term as President. This was only the beginning of an unforgettable journey for me.............Read more

Message from the Secretary
New Branches: WPSA is working on the formation of two new Branches: one in Tanzania and another in Papua New Guinea. When these two branches are brought on board, this will bring the total number of WPSA Branches to 78. We hope to inaugurate these new Branches soon.

Visit to Taiwan: The General Secretary and the President of the Asian Pacific Federation, Mr Alan Gibbins visited Taiwan in the beginning of December 2007. The Taiwan Branch had a well organized Annual Meeting at that time and an excellent unforgettable programme for the two Board members of WPSA.

Report from the Treasurer
The financial records for the 2007 calendar year have been compiled. My thanks to Kelvin McCracken for his report on the WPSA satellite account in the UK and to Piet Simons for the companion report on the WPSA satellite accounts in The Netherlands. These reports along with the larger reports on the accounts maintained in the USA and on our entire portfolio, have been forwarded to our Certified Public Accounts............. Read more

WPSA Travel Grant Programme
It is generally agreed that enhancing the educational, research and experience opportunities of young poultry science professional and technical people is critical to the pace of development of more efficient poultry production, regardless of whether they are part of an intensive technological industry or they are involved in small-scale, family production systems.......... Read more

1st Mediterranean Summit of WPSA: Advances and Challenges in Poultry Science,
May 7-10, Porto Carras, Chalkidiki, Greece
 

WPSA Branch News

Benin France

Germany Italy

Sweden Taiwan

Turkey Zimbabwe

WPSA Sponsored and other poultry related Symposia and Conferences

The countdown to WPC2008 continues! It is now only a little over three months away from commencement on June 30, 2008. The early-bird registration date of 29 February has come and gone, but the standard registration expires on May 29, after which there are additional charges for late registration- so get in and register before this date! Registrations can be made on-line at www.wpc2008.com.

The scientific and technical programme is nearing its final form, with some minor adjustments. We will shortly put the draft programme with topics and invited speakers on the above website, and in May we will include a draft programme with all of the oral presentations. Authors have been contacted to advise on the type of presentation selected for their papers. The deadline for receipt of full papers was 29 February, but some authors have had difficulty in meeting this date and have been given extensions. The very latest date for receipt of full papers is 31 March 2008. Full papers are required for all presentations, plenary, invited and contributed oral presentations in concurrent sessions, and posters. Paper length varies according to category and is described in the appropriate section on the website.

Posters will be allocated to three sessions and there will be special wine and cheese poster viewing sessions immediately following the technical sessions at 1730 on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Additional to this, to facilitate poster viewing, there will be a catering station serving morning and afternoon teas as well as lunch in the poster display area.

There are ten main themes under which the concurrent sessions are arranged. These are: 1) Welfare, husbandry and the environment, 2) Nutrition and feed technologies, 3) Processing and product safety, 4) Economics, marketing, education and extension, 5) Genetics and breeding, 6) Other species and alternative management systems, 7) Physiology and endocrinology, 8) Poultry production in developing countries, 9) 6^th Asian Pacific Poultry Health Conference, 10) 4^th International Ratite Science Symposium. Additional to this, the producer-focused Poultry Information Exchange (PIX) meeting runs concurrently on the Tuesday and Wednesday. On Thursday and/or Friday there are workshops for Turkey producers and poultry fanciers.

There will be in excess of 200 booths in the 5000 m² Exhibition Hall immediately adjacent to and under the same roof as the Congress lecture theatres. This will be by far the largest poultry trade exhibition ever staged in Australia. To facilitate attendance at the exhibition by Congress delegates, catering stations serving morning and afternoon teas as well as lunch, will be located within the Exhibition Hall. The normally large biennial Australian Poultry Information Exchange (PIX) exhibition, will form part of the main exhibition, but will close one day earlier than the main exhibition.

WPSA branches have been active in their support of the Youth programme by providing travel support for applicants from the respective countries. We have selected 60 participants from the 100 or so applicants for the Youth Programme which provides registration and accommodation as well as a 4-day post-Congress tour for the participants. Support for Congress participants from developing countries has been obtained through the conduct of the Young Scientist Programme (a WPC initiative with full travel, registration and accommodation support for 16 participants), WPSA World body – travel grants for 40 participants, Aus AID- travel and accommodation for 16 participants, FAO- travel registration and accommodation for 6 participants from Africa. British Poultry Science has also made a significant contribution to the youth programme and support for young people from developing countries. The support of all these bodies is greatly appreciated.

As mentioned in earlier newsletters, the timing of the Congress has been intentionally set for the northern hemisphere summer break to facilitate attendance by European, North American and Asian academics. Whilst it will then be early winter in Brisbane, being sub-tropical, the daily temperature normally ranges from a mild 12 to 23^OC. For pre- or post-Congress touring, this is an excellent time to visit the Great Barrier Reef in Northern Queensland or the “Red Centre” of Australia. Bring the family and either come early or stay on to make the most of your Australian adventure.

On behalf of the Congress Organising Committee it’s my very great pleasure to invite you to join us in Brisbane from 30 June to 4 July 2008.

Bob Pym, Chair WPC2008

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The Awards Committee received 15 applications for the WPSA Scholarship Awards: 6 for Research, 5 for Education and 4 for Industry/Organization. The selection committee members (Dr Peter Hunton, Past President; Mr. David Martin, past Editor of the WPSJ; Dr Piet Simons, Secretary General (Chair); Dr Edir Silva, Senior Vice President; and Professor Servet Yalcin (Turkish Branch) are in the process of evaluating the awards. One winner will be selected for each category.

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As was indicated in the last Newsletter, four initial bids were received and accepted by the WPSA Executive Committee for the hosting of the XXV World’s Poultry Congress that will be held in mid-2016. The four branches involved, i.e. the United Kingdom, Spain, China and Singapore, had to submit their formal bids to the WPSA Secretary by December 31, 2007. Spain has since decided to withdraw its bid, and the site visits for the other three locations will be conducted this month.

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In January, all Branch Secretaries were sent a request to appoint a number of official Congress Delegates for their Branch. The numbers to be appointed by each individual branch are determined by the Branch’s membership. The official Delegates or Councillors will be the official representatives of the Branch to the XXIII World’s Poultry Congress Council Meeting. Those official Delegates or Councillors will be officially recognized as the voting representatives for their Branch, and will be expected to participate in a brief training session, and in the WPSA Council Meeting that will be held from 17:00 to 19:00 p.m. on Thursday July 3, 2008 during the Brisbane Congress. They will be asked to cast ballots on behalf of the Branch for the election of five WPSA Vice Presidents who will serve during the period of 2008-2012, on any business items that are brought before the Council, and on the location of the 2016 World Congress.
Those Branch Secretaries who have not yet responded to the request are kindly asked to send the names of their Councillors to wpsa@xs4all.nl as soon as possible.

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Dear friends,

As my term is coming to an end I was asked to write a personal note for the Newsletter and I thought it was best to give a brief summary of the last four years.
The busy days before the WPC in Istanbul come to my mind. The many travels to various countries for promotional work, gathering sponsors, forging new friendships and meeting old friends and the exciting days of the congress marked the beginning of my term as President. This was only the beginning of an unforgettable journey for me.
In almost all the meetings I attended within the last four years I had the privilege of introducing our association and explaining our aims and activities to a wider audience in my opening and closing speeches. Since not all participants in these meetings were WPSA members it was an important opportunity for me to invite them to join WPSA. After each meeting I could observe a noticeable increase in our membership numbers.
Immediately after I became President, I wrote to all Branch Presidents and Secretaries of my desire to work hand in hand with them, which was received quite positively. I made good friendships all over the world. I always made sure that they could share their frustrations and problems without any hesitation. For example I tried to find funding for a family poultry project prepared by our newly established DR Congo Branch. I resolved problems between the members of some branches and I felt very satisfied whenever I could reconcile differences.
I tried to do my best to open new branches in the Middle East and revitalise existing ones. It is my fervent hope that the work done in this aspect will yield good results in the coming period.
It gives me great satisfaction to be a part of and a witness to the reactivation of such a branch, namely our Malaysian branch. After I became President, I made one of my first visits to Malaysia. My constant support and encouragement and the subsequent correspondence with the members of WPSA Malaysia turned around the branch. What was previously a dormant branch has today become one of the most active and successful branches of the WPSA.
An issue which lies close to my heart and which will finally come to realisation is the “1^st Mediterranean Summit” which will be held in Chalkidiki, Greece from 7-10 May, 2008. I had made this proposal in our Board meeting, which was accepted and our Greek branch volunteered to host this event. This will be a good boost for the countries of the Mediterranean region and I’m confident that it will become one of the landmark events of the WPSA calendar, which will be held on a biannual basis.
In these 4 years I experienced all that entails of belonging to such a large family. We shared both happy and sad days. When the Tsunami disaster struck in late December 2006 our Board came together in a brainstorming session to assess how best we could help our members in need. We felt the loss of each of our departed members, most recently with the passing of dear Nina Selina, the Secretary of the WPSA Russian Branch. We shared joyful days with the news of a marriage or a newborn.
Dear Bob, I wish you all the best. You will do a fantastic job, I’m sure. These coming four years will be a wonderful experience for you, which will be both exciting and demanding.

My time here ends but our friendships will continue.

Prof. Dr. Rüveyde Akbay
President of WPSA

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The financial records for the 2007 calendar year have been compiled. My thanks to Kelvin McCracken for his report on the WPSA satellite account in the UK and to Piet Simons for the companion report on the WPSA satellite accounts in The Netherlands. These reports along with the larger reports on the accounts maintained in the USA and on our entire portfolio, have been forwarded to our Certified Public Accounts.
I have worked with fellow Executive Committee Members, Rüveyde Akbay and Piet Simons, in evaluating the travel grant proposals for upcoming WPSA meetings, including our World Poultry Congress. We are all pleased with the number of quality applications. In addition, on your behalf, we are excited to be able to fund the travel of so many young, worthy scientists.
I look forward to seeing many of you in Brisbane. It will be my honour to present a full financial report at that time. This report will include not only the 2007 financials, but a review of the financial trends since the last World Poultry Congress that was held in Istanbul.

Francine A. Bradley, Treasurer

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The digital archive for the World’s Poultry Science journal provides access from the first issue in 1945 until 2003 online - a total of 240 issues!

Volumes 1 - 59 of World's Poultry Science Journal are now available on Cambridge Journals Online. The archive is fully searchable by keyword and author; abstracts can be saved and emailed, full text articles printed and bibliographic details exported into reference management software. Perpetual Access is available for a one-off fee of just £500/$995*.

For further information, or to purchase the WPSJ Digital Archive, please email jnlsales@cambridge.org.

*For those who do not subscribe to the current volume, there is an additional annual maintenance fee of £45/$85, payable from the second year of the deal. www.journals.cambridge.org/WPS.

The Digital Archive is primarily designed for University libraries, companies etc. (not for individual WPSA members, unless they are willing to pay the subscription price!). Individual members located at universities or companies, if their library or company has subscribed, may access it through their organization. .

WPSA has a programme to provide travel assistance for young WPSA members and students to participate in regional and global WPSA Conferences

It is generally agreed that enhancing the educational, research and experience opportunities of young poultry science professional and technical people is critical to the pace of development of more efficient poultry production, regardless of whether they are part of an intensive technological industry or they are involved in small-scale, family production systems. It is stressed that any travel assistance that WPSA does provide, however, must be independent of and in addition to that currently provided by World's Poultry Congresses, Regional Conferences or individual Branches. That is, the travel assistance will target and benefit additional STUDENTS and YOUNG MEMBERS (both scientists and poultry producers) from developing countries and STUDENTS from developed countries. A scheme of open competition for such WPSA Travel Scholarships is now available, and information about the programme can be found on the WPSA website, i.e. www.wpsa.com. Application forms are available on the website.

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• Egg/meat production and farm management
• Egg production and quality
• Meat production and quality
• Poultry production economy and social impact in the Mediterranean area
• Cruising for new poultry markets in the Mediterranean area
• Participants presentation on their own experience in their countries
• Challenges to the Mediterranean poultry industry
• The development of poultry products protecting the health and the environment in the Mediterranean region
• Poultry industry: a strategic sector in the Mediterranean area

For the full programme, registration and accommodation information, go to: www.mcps2008.gr

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WPSA Branch News

Benin Branch: The Benin Branch is gathering information on poultry and associated research from all over the world for use by its membership. It is also working on plans for the 1st Poultry Conference to be held in Benin, and is designing a branch Newsletter. Development of a summary on the scope of poultry integration in Benin is underway, and the development of modules of information on poultry practices that can be brought to the attention of poultry producers is also being considered. Development of a workshop on the diagnosis and treatment of the principal avian diseases is also being considered.

Félicien Prosper Durand, Branch Secretary Benin

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France Branch: The French WPSA branch hosted the 16th European Symposium of Poultry Nutrition in Strasbourg on August 26 - 30, 2007. Over 450 individuals from 53 countries attended. Sixty percent of the attendees came from the professional sector, which meets the WPSA mandate of connecting science and education with poultry production. The programme featured 5 scientific sessions and a roundtable, and the programme was jointly arranged by the French branch and Working Group 2 ‘Nutrition’ of the European Federation of WPSA branches. Each session included 3 invited review papers, 5 short oral presentations and posters. According to the usual practise of this meeting, review papers were analysed by 18 discussion groups of 20-45 participants, who prepared questions for the final discussion of each session.

Session 1 concerned the interactions between diet composition and animal genotype: Indeed, different broiler genotypes may react differently to a same diet. J.D. van der Klis and J. Fledderus (NL) discussed methods to assess nutrient value, illustrating interactions between nutrients in the case of calcium and phosphorus, lipids and glucids. Animal response to feed was then discussed by B. Carré (F) from the viewpoint of the impact of selection criteria, such as body composition or wheat digestibility, and by M. Duclos (F) who presented the approach of nutrigenomics, including the modulation of gene expression by nutrients and the effect of selection on this modulation. Chicken genomics has greatly progressed in the recent years and provides tools and methods that should help resolve questions related to diet x genotype interactions.

Session 2 was related to the need to adapt diet composition to animal performance: H. Rostagno (BR) presented prediction equations for broiler needs for amino-acids based on weight gain, feed efficiency and body composition. One important limitation for the improvement of these prediction equations is the variability of production parameters. H. Enting (S) illustrated the need to take into account welfare issues as they relate to layer nutrition. For instance, amino-acid supplementation may be used to reduce feather pecking and cannibalism. P. Hocking (UK) discussed the importance of dam nutrition for broiler productivity, particularly regarding vitamins or oligo-elements (Zn, Mn, Se). He also mentioned the alternative method of using in ovo injections of nutrients.

Session 3 covered the interactions between nutrition and animal health: This was a timely topic, considering the current and potential future bans on feed additives. R. Ducatelle (B) and M. de Gussem (B) discussed the issues raised by Campylobacter infection and coccidiosis, respectively. In any case, a preventive approach will be preferred to a therapeutic one, but specific molecules are still needed for coccidiosis. The third review paper prepared by C. Burel (F) dealt with the interactions between the digestive flora and host, a large topic currently investigated by the European project PoultryFlorGut. Molecular biology is expected to greatly improve our knowledge of gut microflora.

Session 4 involved technological issues related to the role of feed additives for improving feed quality: F. Putier (F) addressed the issue of bacteriological quality, including granulation process and temperature parameters. High conditioning temperatures will improve bacteriological quality but may alter nutritional quality. B. Sivhus (N) showed how technological processes may affect gut physiology, showing for instance that the same diet is better used with pellets than a mash. T. Scott (B) discussed the role of transit, which will limit ingestion when it is too slow. The speed of feed hydration in the gut was presented as a major limiting factor, it which may be resolved by water addition which was shown to increase feed intake and broiler growth.

Session 5 involved a discussion of poultry nutrition from the viewpoint of consumer needs: L. De Luca (I) presented the risk approach and consumer perceptions from the viewpoint of the European Food Safety Agency. Buying decisions are influenced by quality and price rather than by risk perception. S. Fujimura (Japan) considered the dietary factors that could modify sensorial quality of poultry meat. For instance, feed restriction was shown to decrease free glutamic acid levels in muscle, which results in a deteriorated meat quality. P. Surai (UK) illustrated the role of anti-oxidant agents, such as Vitamin E, selenium, and carotenoids. For instance, selenium was shown to influence the morphology of the gut epithelium.

A round-table was held on the role of nutrition in sustainable poultry production: P. van Horne (NL) presented a comparative analysis of production costs between Europe and Brazil. The impact of future European regulations for poultry production was also discussed: will the EEC restrict the sector to niche markets? M. Rodehutscord (G) reviewed current research on environmental impact of poultry production, underlining the need for fitting feed to needs more tightly, which assumes a better harmonisation of methods to assess diet value. From a citizen’s viewpoint, welfare issues are a major component of sustainable production, particularly for layers. M. van Krimpen (NL) presented dietary solutions to limit the negative impact on survival of the new production systems for layers that will be imposed in Europe in 2012.

The symposium covered important current issues for poultry nutrition, and opened the way to new approaches. The success of this meeting was made possible by the support of several sponsors which are acknowledged (Alpharma, DSM, Pancosma, Phytosynthèse, Proviad, Adisseo, Ajinomoto-Eurolysine, Alltech, Danisco, Elanco, Evialis, Huvepharma, Schering-Plough, CCPA, Degussa, Novus, Taylor & Francis, Trouw Nutrition, Vetagro, Vitamex).

Next on the agenda : On March 27, 2008, the French branch is organising a one-day meeting that will be held in Le Mans, in the frame of its ‘WPSA Thursdays’. The programme will be built on issues raised by the adaptation of the poultry sector to economic, societal and environmental issues of sustainable development. (more on www.wpsa.fr)

WPC2008 in Brisbane: The French branch will support the participation of 4 PhD students and 3 senior scientists who have papers that have been accepted by the congress committee.

Michèle Boichard, Secretary French Branch

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Germany Branch: The German Branch held its annual Spring Conference on March 11-12, 2008, in attractive new facilities at the University Halle/Saale. The business meeting was used to promote national and international WPSA events, focusing on the WPC in Brisbane. So far, 40 members from Germany have registered, 15 of which are supported by travel grants from the German Branch. The scientific programme included 8 invited papers and poster presentations on a wide range of topics. Almost 100 members and guests attended the meeting, and many of them participated in one of two excursions which were organized following the Conference. They had the option of visiting the former East German breeding center in Deersheim (which has been converted to 100% production of bio-eggs) or attending a cultural programme in Halle.

Dr Anke Förster, Branch Secretary Germany

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Italy Branch: Working Group 9 on “Welfare” held its annual meeting in Cervia (Italy) on March 12. During the meeting, the scientific programme and the organising aspects of the next symposium on poultry welfare was discussed. A symposium on poultry welfare will be held from May 18–22, 2009 in the Hotel Dante in Cervia, and the following website has been established: www.newteam.it/WPSA2009/index.htm. This schedule will be as follows:

1st Announcement: July 2007;
2nd Announcement and call for papers: April 2008;
Deadline for abstract submission on web site: November 1, 2008;
Deadline for acceptance of the abstracts: January 15, 2009;
Deadline for early registration: February 15, 2009
Final deadline for registration payment: March 30, 2009

The main topics of the symposium include:

1. Welfare of meat producing poultry (broilers, turkeys, waterfowl, game birds)
2. Welfare of pullets and laying hens
3. Welfare of reproducing poultry (parent stock, breeders)
4. Welfare of organic poultry
5. Welfare and poultry nutrition
6. Welfare of poultry during transport
7. Welfare problems related to potential/actual outbreaks of Avian Influenza and other diseases
8. Welfare related to endo- and ectoparasites
9. Free papers

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Sweden Branch: The Swedish Branch of WPSA was founded in 1955 with its first Chairman being Professor Nils Olsson. It is a rather small branch that by the end of 2006 comprised 55 members which however, is an increase by about 10% from the year before. The composition of members is at present 14 affiliates (industry/organisations), 40 individuals and one honorary member.

The Board presently consists of Professor Ragnar Tauson (Chairman), Dr Annsofie Wahlström (Secretary), Dr Lotta Waldenstedt (Treasurer) and Ingemar Ulinder and Thomas Carlsson from the general membership. The Board represents knowledge both from research and the industry and also from important general fields of interests like nutrition, egg and bird meat production, bird welfare and management and parent stock keeping. Former Chairman of the Swedish Branch has been Prof. Nils Olof Lindgren and Mr. Olle Winfridsson and Secretaries Mr. Sven Söderberg and Dr Klas Elwinger. Internationally Prof. Lindgren created the WG 9 “Poultry Welfare” in the early 1970´s and was also Senior Vice president of the WPSA from 1980-1990, and thereafter became a honorary life member. Mr. Winfridsson was one main initiator and later Chairman of the European WG 1 on “Economics and Marketing”. Prof. Ragnar Tauson served as the Chairman for WG 9 between 1986 and 1995.

The activities within the branch consist of about four Board meetings each year and one annual meeting for all members. The annual membership meeting is normally held together with the Swedish Egg Association (Svenska Ägg) or the Swedish Poultry Meat Association (Svensk Fågel) meetings in order to attract as many people as possible.  

The Board encourages members to take part in both World WPSA Congresses and in the European meetings. We also encourage and try to economically contribute to costs for young people and scientists at PhD-levels to participate in international WPSA events and for the latter category at the Youth Programmes especially. Special emphasis has been given to participation in Working Group Symposia where the Nutrition, Egg quality and Meat quality and Bird Welfare and Management symposia, especially those in which Sweden has had active member participation for many years. The Swedish Branch has hosted several working group meetings in the past, and is planning to host the 2008 annual WG 2 “Nutrition” meeting in Uppsala.

The industry: The Swedish poultry sector consists mainly of egg and meat production, the latter mainly broilers. Egg consumption is rather stable and about 197 pcs/capita i.e. kg/person/year. The national production of broilers is 72.5 million birds annually. Broiler meat consumption in 2006 was 12.9 kg/capita and 42% of the broiler meat was imported. It is interesting to note that broiler meat consumption in Sweden rose by 4% during the avian influenza period. In 2006 the EFSA salmonella survey in the EU countries showed that Swedish poultry production – eggs and meat – was free from salmonella. The salmonella programme in our country has very long tradition in fact, since the 1960´s. There are also quite a number of pharmaceutical companies involved in the production of products like hyaluronic acid (“Healon”) from cockerel combs and other medical products from phospholipids from eggs.

The size of the national layer flock (self sufficiency) is about 6 million birds whereof 90% are white genotypes. Being the first country within the EU to convert all their housing systems (2002) to furnished cages (40%), traditional litter floor systems (25%), aviaries (25%) or free range organic systems (<10%) implied considerably higher investments costs but also very modern production facilities and skilful producers for these systems. The ban against beak trimming is an example of an individual Swedish directive being more strict than the EU minimum directive of 1999, and hence, requires extra attention in order to minimize outbreaks and spreading of feather pecking and cannibalism. Thus, focus is laid on avoiding certain genotypes, on careful consideration of feed composition,. and - so far – on keeping group size moderate in furnished cages (max.16 birds/cage).

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Taiwan Branch: The 9th Cross Strait Taiwan, Mainland China and Hong Kong Tri-Regional Symposium on Quality Chicken’s Improvement and Development will be held at National Chiayi University from 31 October to 2 November, 2008. More than three hundred individuals from universities, research institutes, and from the poultry industry are expected to attend this symposium. Eight experts from Cross Strait Tri-region will be invited to make presentations related to: “The production of avian influenza-free and healthy high quality poultry”.

In addition, papers are being invited for the following six topics:

• Breeding and Genetics
• Management and Behaviour
• Nutrition
• Physiology
• Processing Techniques
• Poultry Disease.

Papers can be reports from both academic research studies or practical poultry farming experiences. Please visit the web at http://www.wpsa-taiwan.org.tw for further information about registration and submission. Updates will be provided on our website.

Dr C.Y. Yu, Branch Secretary Taiwan

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Turkey Branch: The Turkish branch will organise a seminar on “Current Issues in Poultry Nutrition” given by Prof. Dr Steve Lesson. This meeting will be held at the Kaya Ramada Otel Beylikduzu in Istanbul on May 2, 2008. The Seminar will mainly focus on nutrition of broiler breeders and broilers. We expect more than 200 participants.

International Symposium - The Return of the Good Egg: An international symposium on “The Return of the Good Egg” will be held at the Kaya Ramada Otel Beylikduzu in Istanbul on November 26 - 27, 2008. The Symposium will mainly focus on the nutritional value of eggs and egg consumption. Our aim is to exchange ideas among scientists, industry, consumers and the health community around the world. There will be 5 invited speakers and leading egg researchers will share their research findings on egg-related topics during the symposium. The WPSA Turkish branch is pleased to accept all abstracts (one page max.) by June 30, 2008. For more detailed information please contact the secretary of the WPSA Turkish branch, Prof. Dr Servet Yalçın at servet.yalcin@ege.edu.tr.

Cooperation with the Turkish Poultry Industry: Our WPSA Branch has a good working relationship with other local poultry associations and members of the poultry industry. Most of our board members act as advisors to the “Healthy Chicken Meat Platform”, which serves as a platform between the poultry industry and government agencies to address issues and problems concerning poultry.

Prof.Dr Servet Yalçın, Branch Secretary Turkey

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Zimbabwe Branch: The following officers for the Zimbabwe Branch assumed their duties in January, 2008:

• Mr. Tizai Faranisi, President;
• Loyce Ngonyamo, Secretary;
• Hope Pachena, Committee member.
• One more committee member will be elected at the next Branch meeting.

The new Board has pledged to increase the membership to 100 or more members, and it has already started to implement measures that will help attract more membership. The measures include educating prospective members on the benefits of being a member of the WPSA.

Tizai Faranisi, Branch President Zimbabwe
E-mail- tizai@vetco.co.zw

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WPSA Sponsored and other poultry related Symposia and Conferences

A number of WPSA sponsored and other poultry meetings have been planned for 2008 and 2009
(See the WPSA Website for contact and registration information), including:

We hope that many of you will consider participating in one or more of these poultry educational meetings. See the WPSA website (www.wpsa.com ) for details and registration information.

WPSA Secretariat: Dr Piet Simons, PO Box 31, 7360 AA  Beekbergen, The Netherlands
Phone: +31 55 506 3250, Fax: +31 55 506 4858, E-mail: piet.simons@wur.nl or wpsa@xs4all.nl
Website: www.wpsa.com