Newsletter March 2011

President’s Report

President, Bob Pym

I am writing this report from South Africa on my return to Australia from a productive and enjoyable visit to Nigeria where I attended the 1st African International Poultry Summit. The change of name to the summit from the biennial “Nigerian International Poultry Summit” was made to signify and celebrate the first meeting of the African Poultry Network on African soil, following the inaugural workshop in Nouzilly, France in September 2010 at the time of the European Poultry Conference. I will report on the meeting below, but would first like to say something about the possible impact of recent global events on our members in a number of countries.

You are all no doubt very aware of the recent natural disasters with floods, earthquakes, landslides, tsunamis, forest fires, cyclones, hurricanes tornadoes and the like in so many countries around the world, and the recent major social upheavals sweeping across a number of countries in the North African/ Mediterranean region. The severity and frequency of the former events would appear to be linked to climate change, and the latter to the strong desire by people to live in a more equitable, fair and free society. It is my sincere hope that none of our members or their families have been directly and severely affected by these events. I would like to extend my sincere sympathy and support to those who have.

African Poultry Network

As reported in the last Newsletter, a workshop was held at INRA Nouzilly, France, on Friday 27 August 2010, following EPC, to discuss the formation of a WPSA (sub-Saharan) African Poultry Network. Attendees at the workshop included African delegates to EPC and others interested in the development of poultry science and of the poultry industry in Africa. There were in excess of 40 participants. The aim of the workshop was to bring together those involved and interested in the poultry industry in sub-Saharan Africa, to discuss the aims, goals, structure and modus operandi of the network and the ways in which the network might operate to assist in strengthening poultry education & training and research capability, and overcoming the constraints to poultry production throughout Africa.
Following lengthy discussion and debate, five “champions” from across the region were elected to progress the establishment of the Network. These were: Thomas Kaudia from Kenya, Jean Claude Fotsa from Cameroon, Jakob Tona from Togo, Rosa Costa from Mozambique, and Harry Swatson from South Africa. Subsequent to the workshop, a Steering Committee was established which included the above five “Champions” plus three members from established WPSA branches in Africa: Professor Daisy Eruvbetine from Nigeria, Comfort Acheampong from Ghana and Professor Ushwega from Tanzania. There have been prolific communications and activity since the workshop. A “road map” and draft Constitution describing the proposed Network and listing its aims, structure and proposed activities has been developed.
At the African International Poultry Summit in Abeokuta, Nigeria, there was further discussion and debate in two sessions on the development of the Network. There was broad general support for the Network and its aims. Shortly, each of the WPSA branches in the region will be approached to be part of specified activities associated with the development of the Network. One very important step will be the establishment of a Network website, as this will be fundamental to the operation of the Network. I look forward very much to further developments concerning this new Network.

I also look forward to attending the 9th Asian Pacific Poultry Conference in Taipei, Taiwan from 20-23 March 2011 and the 7th International Poultry Show and Seminar in Dhaka, Bangladesh from 25-28 March 2011. We will be looking to further develop a closer relationship between WPSA and the International Network for Family Poultry Development at both of these meetings.

I would like to take this opportunity to send my very best wishes to all of our members for a happy, safe, productive and prosperous 2011.

Report from the Office of the Secretary General

General Secretary, Roel Mulder

Board meeting: The next meeting of the WPSA Board will be held, in conjunction with the 9th Asian Pacific Poultry Conference APPC, 20 March 2011 in Taipei, Taiwan. Among others, discussion will be on the results and consequences of the voting for the revision of the Constitution and By-Laws, and activities for the celebration of 100th anniversary of WPSA in 2012.

Branches and membership: A new branch has been formed in Guinea Conakry. At the end of 2010, WPSA had 7529 members.

Visits meetings/exhibitions: Agreements were established on 2011 advertisements and sponsorships with existing and new companies during the International Poultry
Exhibition in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. In March 2011 we will attend VIV Asia in Bangkok, Thailand, the 9th Asian Pacific Poultry Conference in Taipei, Taiwan and the 7th International Poultry Show and Seminar, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, to promote WPSA and the large events sponsored by WPSA such as the 2012 World’s Poultry Congress that will be held in Salvador, Brazil.

A new leaflet with info on our WPSA goals and programmes, as well as on the printed and on-line versions of the World’s Poultry Science journal has been produced and will be distributed at exhibitions, symposia, conferences and congresses. A WPSA PowerPoint presentation is also now available in Spanish, thanks to the translation provided by the Argentina Branch.

During the coming year more conferences, symposia and exhibitions, including the Victam Europe Conference to be held in Cologne, Germany, and VIV Russia, Moscow, Russia, will be attended.

Travel grants: One application for attending the Australian Poultry Science Symposium, 14-16 February 2011, was accepted. Twenty-one travel grant applications were received requesting funding to attend the Asian Pacific Poultry Congress to be held in Taipei, Taiwan (21-24 March 2011). Seven of those requests have been accepted for funding. One travel grant was accepted for attending the 9th Avian French Research Days in Tours, 29-30 March 2011.

Report from the Office of the Treasurer

Treasurer,
Francine Bradley

I am pleased to report that the WPSA portfolio performed very well in 2010. Reports are being prepared for our upcoming March Board meeting in Taipei. This is early in the year for our meeting, but a wonderful opportunity to join the Taiwan Branch of WPSA for the Asia Pacific Poultry Conference. As year-end financial statements continue to arrive, I am busily assembling as much information as possible to present to my colleagues and your representatives on the WPSA Board. The complete and final statements of WPSA’s finances will be available this summer, after the government filing date for organizations such as ours.

Also at the meeting in Taipei, it will be my pleasure to present Travel Grants to the applicants selected from a large and competitive pool. While we are very happy with our current recipients, we would like to see participation from more branches. Please make sure that the young scientists in your Branch are aware of the programme.

Dr. Mulder and Mrs. Kleverwal have assembled the list of 2011 sponsors and advertisers for the World’s Poultry Science Journal. In the coming days, invoices will be sent to those individuals and companies. The income we received from our Journal advertisers and sponsors is crucial for the Association’s financial health.

In the spirit of Chinese New Year, my wish is that the WPSA funds, and yours as well, multiple like rabbits.

Dr. Francine A. Bradley, Treasurer

DSM Nutrition Award 2011 for research on Poultry Nutrition

Call for Nominations

Royal DSM, the global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, is pleased to invite nominations for the DSM Nutrition Award 2011 for research on Poultry Nutrition. The Award – which carries a cash prize of EUR 50,000 – has been established to recognize and reward excellence in innovative research in the nutritional sciences.

The DSM Nutrition Award 2011 will be granted for outstanding achievements in research related to Poultry Nutrition. Scientists who have made major contributions to fundamental or applied research in this field can be nominated for the award. A prime requirement is that the candidate’s research must have significantly advanced the world’s understanding and knowledge of key questions in the field of Poultry Nutrition. An international judging committee will review the nominations and select the winner. Candidates* for the award can be put forward by nomination only. Candidates cannot nominate themselves.

Nominations must be made using the nomination form on DSM’s awards website at www.innovationawards.dsm.com. Supporting documents should be submitted in electronic form to Samia Bouhabila (samia.bouhabila@dsm.com), who can also be contacted for further information regarding the DSM Nutrition Award 2011.

Closing date: May 31, 2011

The award will be presented at a major Poultry conference in 2011. The award recipient must be present to accept the award and present a paper on his/her research achievements.

More information about DSM can be found at: www.dsm.com.

* Employees of DSM and DSM’s subsidiaries and joint ventures, members
of DSM’s scientific advisory boards and members of the DSM Nutrition Award
committees cannot be nominated for the award.

World's Poultry Science Journal

Online submission of papers for the World's Poultry Science Journal

As Editor of the WPSJ, I am proud to announce that, from March 2010 onwards, all submissions to the journal will be through ScholarOne Manuscripts at http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/wpsj or via the WPSA website. Authors must log in and follow the instructions on screen in order to ensure their paper will be processed quickly and efficiently. This system is advantageous in many respects, as it allows quicker processing, easy access to check the progress of each paper, regular automatic reminders for reviewers (to which we are always most grateful for their efforts) and rapid communications with authors. I’m sure some authors will miss the current ‘personal touch’ involved in submitting papers to me, however with ever increasing numbers of papers coming in, and very limited staff capacity, the only way to facilitate processing so many papers is via such a system.
Although most authors are familiar with this kind of submission system, for those who aren’t, please make sure your manuscript strictly adheres to the guidelines given in the instructions. The WPSJ does not charge for publishing papers (except if colour pictures are required), and continues to make every effort to keep the costs of publication to a minimum. However, please be aware that papers which are not reviews or are incorrectly formatted may incur costs that will be charged back to the submitting author (approximately US$20).

Dr Lucy Waldron (previously Tucker), Editor WPSJ

24-hour online access to World's Poultry Science Journal

If you wish to have an online subscription instead of receiving the printed Journal please go to www.wpsa.com and click on the button “online journal” or go directly to www.wpsa.com/journal/online_members.html. You will need your membership number which is printed on every label of the Journal, or you can contact your Branch Secretary.

This online subscription means you get access to World's Poultry Science Journal from the current day right back to Volume 1, Issue 1!
At Cambridge Journals Online you can also:

search the contents of the current issue or across the journal's back content
save searches
export citations
view the top-10 most read articles
view the top-10 most cited articles

European Federation of WPSA

The European Federation has planned a number of conferences between now and the end of 2011. The conferences are listed at the end of this Newsletter and contact information is available on the WPSA website (www.wpsa.com). News from a number of the Federation’s working groups are provided below.

WPSA European Working Group News

WG1: The European Federation’s Working Group 1 on Poultry Economics and Marketing will hold its 3rd round-table on Poultry Economics and Marketing on 27-28 October, 2011, in Barcelona, Spain. For information contact the chairman of WG1 Peter van Horne at peter.vanhorne@wur.nl.

WG2: The European Federation’s Working Group 2 will co-host the 18th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition with the Turkish Branch in Cesme, Turkey in 2011. See the Turkey Branch report for further details.

WG3: We are pleased to announce the 7th European Symposium on Poultry Genetics. The Symposium will be held from 5-7 October 2011 at Peebles Hydro, near Edinburgh, in Scotland (contact address: Dr. Paul Hocking: paul.hocking@roslin.ed.ac.uk). The scientific programme will contain sessions on genomic selection, genetic selection and welfare traits, genetic diversity and disease genetics in poultry. Contributions from invited speakers and poster presentation will be significant. We are looking forward to welcoming you at the next Poultry Genetics Symposium in 2011.

WG5: The meeting of the working group “WG 5: Poultry Meat Quality” took place during EPC2010 in Tours (France), on August, 25th. Prof. Michael Grashorn made a review of eight years of chairmanship (since 2002) and presented his decision to step back from this position. An important achievement concerned the “Harmonization of methodologies for the assessment of poultry meat quality features.” A Working Group report will soon appear on the subject, in the form of a paper by M. Petracci and E. Baeza which will be published in the March 2011 issue of the World's Poultry Science Journal.

Dr Michel J. Duclos (director of INRA UR83 Recherches Avicoles, F-3780 Nouzilly) was elected as the new chairman of WG5 for the next 4 years. The group and the new chairman thanked Prof. Michael Grashorn for his job as WG5 chairman. The next WG meeting will take place in Leipzig (Germany) during the Eggmeat 2011 meeting (August, 4th to 8th, 2011). The venue of the conference will be at the Congress Centre in Leipzig. Details are presented on the official homepage (www.eggmeat-2011.de). Deadlines for Abstract submission are March, 31st and for early-bird registration May, 31st, 2011.

The XX European Symposium on the Quality of Poultry Meat organized by the European Federation’s Working Group 5 will take place in parallel with Working Group 4’s XIV European Symposium on the Quality of Eggs and Egg Products. Both will be held on September 4 to 8, 2011 in Leipzig, Germany. Scientific sessions will take place during the first three days, and excursions will be held on the last day.

Michael Grashorn, Chairperson WG5

WG6: We would like to invite you to the 2011 meeting of the Incubation and Fertility Research Group {WPSA Working Group 6 (Reproduction)} which will be held in Ede, The Netherlands on 30th – 31st August, 2011. Please put the dates in your diary.

On the 31st August – 3rd September there will also be the “5th Workshop on Fundamental Physiology and Perinatal Development in Poultry” organised by WPSA Working Group 12 held nearby in Wageningen, The Netherlands.
This meeting is for all those with an interest in incubation and fertility in all avian species. Previous meetings have covered a wide range of topics.

Further updates and information about the meeting will be posted on the website: http://www.ifrg.org.

For information about the 5th Workshop on Fundamental Physiology and Perinatal Development in Poultry, please visit the website: www.pdpworkshop2011.com or send an email to info.pdpworkshop2011@wur.nl.

If you would like to register your interest in attending this meeting please contact Dr. Nick French at: nfrench@aviagen.com

WG9: European Working Group 9 on Poultry Welfare and Management will meet in Berne, Switzerland for this year’s main meeting. Twenty-three members of WG9 will gather in Berne on the evening of 21st March and will have a full day meeting at the nearby Zollikofen Poultry Research Centre on the 22nd of March. At this meeting we will receive and discuss reports on poultry welfare activities and research developments from over 20 European countries. A major item on our agenda will be the programme and arrangements for the 9th European Symposium on Poultry Welfare to be held in Sweden during June 2013 – see the Working Group’s website for details: www-conference.slu.se/poultrywelfare2013.

The Working Group members will return to Aviforum, Zollikofen on 23rd March to view the new broiler and laying hen houses and research facilities there and to receive an update on recent and planned poultry welfare studies in them.

Arnold Elson, Chairperson

WG10: The European Federation’s Working Group 10 on Turkey Production will host the 6th International Symposium on Turkey Production in Berlin, Germany, on June 16-18, 2011. We hope to see you in Berlin.
For information on the programme and registration contact: Prof Dr H.M. Hafez, Institute for Poultry Diseases, Free University Berlin, Königsweg, 63, 14163 Berlin, Germany, Phone: +49 30 83862677; Fax: +49 30 83862690; E-mail: hafez@vetmed.fu-berlin.de.

WG12: The European Federation’s Working Group 12 will host the “5th Workshop on Fundamental Physiology and Perinatal Development in Poultry on the 31 August – 3 September, 2011 in Wageningen, The Netherlands. For additional information about the Workshop please visit the website: www.pdpworkshop2011.com or send an email to info.pdpworkshop2011@wur.nl.

Dr. Henry van den Brand, Adaptation Physiology Group, Wageningen

Asian Pacific Federation

9th Asian Pacific Poultry Conference: This event will be held in Taipei, Taiwan from 20 – 23 March this year. Registrations are still open and if you have not registered, you should have a good think about doing so. This is perhaps the most value for money international conference ever. Fees have purposely been kept low to help make it easier for people to attend. Taipei is a vibrant city, and the conference organisers have planned a good time for you during your stay.
The programme for the 9th APPC has been designed with the theme “Sustainable Poultry Production in the Modern Era”. This is very pertinent since the poultry industry is on the threshold of major expansion, particularly in Asian countries. Much of the predicted growth in both poultry product demand and poultry production will occur here. Africa is in a similar position. These two regions will see big increases in population as well as increases in consumption levels as their countries move from (in many cases) less developed economies through to more developed economies.
By 2050, it is predicted that over 5.2 billion people will be living in Asia, and 99.9% of them will want to eat poultry meat and eggs. A major challenge faces our poultry industries as they go all-out to continue as major food providers in the future.
Asia is where most of the action will be, so you should join in at APPC to get a taste of the future. For more information, visit the conference web site at: www.appc2011.tw. See you there.

Family Poultry Symposium: Because small scale family poultry farming is still a very significant contributor to poultry production throughout Asia, the Federation ensures that the small poultry enterprise sector is well served at its poultry conferences. Accordingly, during the APPC in Taipei a Small Scale Family Poultry Farming Symposium has been arranged. This will take place on 21 March, the first day of the APPC, from 12.00 – 1800 hours. The programme is a mix of oral presentations and workshop sessions. The Meeting of the Asian/Pacific federations new Working Group 1 or SSFPF will be held as part of one of the workshop sessions. Anyone with an interest in this very important sector of the poultry industry should attend. There is no special registration for the WG1 session; as it has been covered by general conference registration for APPC.

APF Meeting: The meeting of the Asian Pacific Federation will also be held during the APPC. Time for the APF meeting has been allocated during the coffee and poster session on 22 March, from 15.30 – 17.30 hrs. One of the important decisions to be made at the APF meeting is where will the next APPC be held. Already two APF branches have indicated their desire to be the 10th APPC host Any other branch wishing to do the same should notify the APF President at: avianag@infogen.net.nz or the APF Secretary at: D.V.Thomas@massey.ac.nz as soon as possible, preferably by no later than 12th March. Branches bidding for the right to host the next APPC should also prepare a presentation for the APF meeting. All bidding branches will be allocated an equal time to make their presentation. If on the day there is more than one bid, selection will be made by secret ballot.

V World Waterfowl Conference: The APF formally established its second working group, WG2 on Waterfowl at the 4th World Waterfowl Conference (WWC) in Kerala, India, just over a year ago in November 2009. Our WG2 will meet during APPC at a time yet to be determined. It will be publicised at the start of APPC. Decisions that need to be made during this meeting include the election of officers for WG2, and a decision as to who will host the next WWC. Any branch wishing to host the 5th WWC should follow the same procedure as outlined in the previous section. To date one branch has indicated it would like to host this conference.

Mediterranean Poultry Network (MPN)

The first announcement for the 3rd Mediterranean Summit of WPSA which will be held 26-29 March 2012. at Porto-Mariena, Alexandria, Egypt, can be found on http://www.wpsa.com/downloads/3MPS-6IPC_2012_first_ann.pdf.

At the MPN meetings in Antalya and Tours, members agreed to prepare a constitution for the MPN. Prof. Nuhad Daghir, of the Lebanon Branch prepared a first draft which was introduced to the members after the meeting held in Tours. The constitution was then revised in accordance with the suggestions from the Tours meeting. Members have now agreed on the final draft constitution which will now be sent to the WPSA Board for their approval.

The Steering Committee of the MPN has also been looking at the possibility of producing its own Newsletter.

Servet Yalçın, on behalf of the Steering Committee of MPN

WPSA Programmes

Providing 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 development of more efficient poultry production, whether it is in an intensive technological industry or in smallscale, family production systems. WPSA offers a Travel Scholarship scheme of open competition to facilitate this. It should be stressed that any travel assistance WPSA provides under the scheme is independent of and in addition to that currently provided by the World Poultry Congresses, by Regional Conferences and/or by individual Branches. Its aim is to target and benefit students and young members, including young poultry producers from developing countries and students from developed countries. Because of budgetary constraints and the high cost of international travel, the grant is not intended to cover the full cost of attendance at meetings, but rather to facilitate such attendance The maximum age of applicants at time of application is 40 years and applicants must be a member of WPSA for at least six months before they can apply for a Travel Grant. Applications must be accompanied by a short CV.
Deadline: Applicants must submit their applications at least 3 months prior to the meeting.
Application form: Full details and the application forms can be obtained from the WPSA General Secretary’s Office or you can download the application form from the WPSA website (www.wpsa.com).

Send the application form (preferably by e-mail) to the General Secretary of WPSA, Dr Roel Mulder, PO Box 31, 7360 AA Beekbergen, The Netherlands, e-mail: roel.mulder@wpsa.com or wpsa@xs4all.nl, fax: +31 207508941.

Speakers' Bureau: Fostering local and regional conferences in the poultry sciences

During the 34th meeting of the Board of WPSA on August 20, 2000 in Montreal, Canada it was recognised that expertise in several areas of poultry science and production in low income countries is often very limited, and WPSA branches in these countries often do not have sufficient financial resources to fund overseas speakers.
To address this problem, the Board created a Speakers’ Bureau to assist branches in low income countries to cover the travel costs of expert international speakers. This measure is consistent with the key objective of WPSA to encourage and facilitate liaison among research scientists and educators, and between those in research and education and those working in the many diverse sectors of the poultry industry. Under the Speakers’ Bureau scheme, WPSA will pay only the cost of air travel (lowest economy class). All other expenses such as local travel and accommodation are to be paid by the organizing Branch(es). WPSA will not pay any honorarium to speakers.
Given the high cost of international air travel it is important that optimum value be obtained from this expenditure by WPSA. This can be achieved by insisting that the visiting speaker provides more than just one paper at a conference. The visiting speaker could contribute in a variety of ways, e.g., present a second paper on a related topic, conduct a workshop for graduate students, have small group or one-on-one interaction, especially with students, visit industry groups, visit university groups, etc.
Unless the Branch (or group of Branches) can pay all the speakers’ costs itself, a speaker should NOT be invited until approval of Speakers’ Bureau funds is made by the WPSA Executive Committee. The Branch(es) should not assume that approval will be given until so advised by the WPSA Secretary.
Where a Branch or a group of Branches wish to apply for Speakers Bureau assistance, there are certain conditions which must be met.

Full details and the application forms can be obtained from the WPSA General Secretary’s Office or you can download the application forms from the WPSA website (www.wpsa.com).

Congresses / Symposia

Asian Pacific Poultry Conference, 20-23 March, Taipei, Taiwan

See Asian Pacific Federation news.

Update on the planning for the 24th World's Poultry Congress to be held on 5-8 August 2012, Salvador, Bahia, Brazil

The planning of the 24th World’s Poultry Congress and EXPO continues. The WPSA-Brazilian Branch has already booked the venue, defined the scientific subcommittees and has negotiated more than 80% of the first EXPO pavilion. The core structure of the scientific programme and the general framework of the Congress is presently being finalized.

The Brazilian Branch is working intensively on the organization of the Congress! In late January, members of the organizing committee including the President and Marketing Director of WPSA-BR/FACTA, attended the Poultry Expo in Atlanta, Georgia, USA during late January, where they promoted the 2012 WPC. The same team will travel to Thailand at the VIV- Bangkok to be held on March 2011 to promote the 2012 WPC.

More news will be released continuously through the WPSA Newsletter in order to keep the global WPSA family well informed about the Branch’s progress on organizing the 24th WPC. Additional information is also available on the WPC2012 website http://wpc2012.com/.

WPSA Branch News

Argentina

Members of The Argentinean Branch of WPSA are participating in several different commissions of the Scientific Committee for the XXII Latin American Poultry Congress (www.avicultura2011.com). This meeting will take place in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on September 6-9, 2011. This extraordinary event will carry the slogan: “Latin America: an environmentally-friendly world food reservoir,” and it will be held at the premises of La Rural, the largest convention centre in the country. The WPSA will provide one expert speaker, supported by the “WPSA Speakers Bureau” programme. Dr. Roel Mulder (Secretary General WPSA and Spelderholt® Poultry Consulting and Research) will present a lecture about “European regulations for slaughter houses”.
The Latin American Poultry Conference will feature first-class conferences for an expected audience of 3500 attendants. Five conference rooms seating 1000, 600 and 400 persons will simultaneously present top international speakers who will provide new information on poultry Health, Nutrition, Farm Practices, Genetics and Incubation, Business and Management, and the Environment. Conference participants will be able to choose between Spanish, Portuguese and English to follow the speakers.
The Poster area will cover more than 400 m2. Papers presented at the Congress will be included in a competition that will lead to several different prizes. As in all other Latin American Poultry Meetings, the papers accepted for the conference will take part in the Lauriston Von Schmidt Scientific Merit competition award. Mr. Von Schmidt was one of the founders and Honorary President of the Latin American Poultry Association (ALA). On the other hand, beginning with the XXII Latin American Poultry Congress, all papers authored by research groups coming from two or more Latin American countries will take part in the Dr. Arnaldo Colusi ALA competition award. Dr. Arnaldo Colusi was a respected international scholar, professional and consultant in the poultry field. Paper submissions will be closed on April, 1st. Please check the above website to conference details.

Bangladesh

The Bangladesh Branch is in the process of arranging several activities including: The 7th International Poultry Show and Seminar to be held on 25-27 March 2011 at the Bangabandhu International Convention Center, Sher-e-Bangla Nagar, Agargaon, Dhaka, Bangladesh. In addition, based on a decision that was made during the 6th International Poultry Show and Seminar that was held during 2009, the Honourable Minister, Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries, has announced that Bangladesh will observe “Poultry Week” during March of each year in the future. Following his declaration, the Branch is in the process of organizing the 1st “National Poultry Week” that will be held during the first week of March 2011. This is a great achievement for the Branch.

Dr. Md. A. Saleque, Secretary, Bangladesh Branch

Brazil

The Brazilian branch of WPSA is fully committed to organizing the XXIV World’s Poultry Congress that will be held 2012 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil on 5-8 August, 2012. Several organizational sub-committees are well underway in working out the details of the scientific programme. Invitations to speakers are currently being sent out.
More than 80% of the available fair booth space has been reserved and/or sold to a number of national and international companies involved in Poultry Production & the Poultry Industry worldwide.
The team of WPSA-BR was represented at the Poultry Congress in Atlanta, Georgia, USA during late January, including the President and Marketing Director of WPSA-BR/FACTA where they promoted the 2012 WPC. The same team will travel to Thailand at the VIV- Bangkok to be held on March 2011 to promote the 2012 WPC.
The Organizing Committee is also preparing social programmes for the participants and spectators who will attend the 2012 World’s Poultry Congress.
The "Latin American Seminar on Poultry Slaughter and Processing" that will be held in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil this coming March (29-31) is receiving registrations. A total of 18 technical presentations will be given by scientists and university researchers from Brazil and other Latin America countries. An estimated attendance of 200 professionals is expected.
We have also completed the scientific programme of the annual “2011 WPSA-BR/FACTA Conference” that will take place from May 31 to June 2, 2011 in Santos, São Paulo, Brazil. Registrations are well underway. This event is regarded by the scientific/industrial community of the poultry industry as the most important scientific event in South America with an estimated 1000 attendees in 2011.

Carla Palermo, FACTA/WPSA Brazilian Branch

Egypt

The Egyptian Branch will be hosting WPSA's 3rd Mediterranean Poultry Summit in conjunction with its 6th International Poultry Conference on "Poultry production for better human health and a safer environment” on 26-29 March 2012, at Porto-Mariena, Alexandria, Egypt.
For information please contact: Prof. Dr. M.A. Kosba, Poultry Science Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Alexandria University, Alexandria, El shatby Egypt 21545. Tel.(002)0106446339 or 002035421631; Fax: 002035231939 or 002035922780; E-mail: mkosba@ hotmail.com.

France

The European Poultry Congress (EPC 2010) that was held in Tours on August 23-27 was planned to provide a comprehensive description of lots of novel information related to poultry science. The French Branch of WPSA would like to express their sincere thanks to the experts who presented stimulating reviews in their areas of expertise, and to the numerous speakers who presented innovative information. Without their input such synthesis of novel information in various poultry disciplines would not have been possible. The scientific and local organizing committees and the Professional Congress Organizer (Paragon) deserve special thanks for their active contributions to the success of the congress.
The abstracts/papers from EPC2010 will soon be available on the WPSA website. Meanwhile, WPSA members can freely access those papers trough the EPC2010 website (http://www.epc2010.org/) using password: epc_proceedings_2010.

The 9th Avian French Research Days (9èmes Journées de la Recherche Avicole [JRA]) will gather researchers and professionals from the poultry sector on March 29th and 30th, 2011 in Tours, France. This meeting has been organized by ITAVI, INRA and AFSSA, with support of the French branches of WPSA and WVPA. The official language of the JRA is French but simultaneous translation in English will be available during plenary sessions and workshops in nutrition. The programme and registration information were published in the June, 2010 WPSA Newsletter that is available on the WPSA Websites www.wpsa.com and www.wpsa.fr.

Italy

The Italian branch of WPSA will hold its annual meeting in Forlì, on 7 April, 2011. The meeting will be organized around the following programme.

Poultry Gut Microbiota: An Unknown Universe

9.30	A. Zambianchi, President of Camera di Commercio Forlì-Cesena G. Grazioso, President of Fiera di Forlì Greeting to the participants A. Franchini, President of Associazione Scientifica di Avicoltura Opening remarks
10:00	P. Brigidi, University of Bologna. An introduction to gut microbiota
10:15	H. Smidt, University of Wageningen, The Netherlands. Relationship between gut microbiota and animal health
11:00	R. Ducatelle, University of Ghent, Belgium. Nutritional factors controlling intestinal immunity in poultry
11:45	J. Brufau, Institute of Research and Food Technology (IRTA), Spain. The role of prebiotics and probiotics in poultry gut health.
12:30	G. Manfreda, University of Bologna. Effects of rearing system on broiler gut microbiota
12:50	Discussion and Conclusions
13:30	Buffet
14:30	Assembly of WPSA members

Simultaneous translation will be provided for the meeting.

Malaysia

The Malaysian Branch of WPSA will be involved in the Livestock Asia Expo & Forum, Asia's international feed, livestock & meat industry show that will be entitled: "Transforming the Feed & Livestock Industry in Asia." The Expo will be held at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Center on 4-6 October 2011. Members of the Malaysian Branch will be involved with chairing sessions, and with paper presentations. See http://www.livestockasia.com/ for conference registration and details.

The Malaysian Branch of WPSA along with MAFAV have organized a seminar on Newcastle Disease. Prof Kang-Seuk Choi, OIE Expert in ND, will speak on “Newcastle Disease in Asia: Latest Finding and Prevention of ND.” The seminar will be held from 9 a.m. until noon on 17 March at the Holiday Villa in Kuala Lumpur.

Dr. Teo Kim Lai, Secretary

Mali

The Mali Branch conducted the following growth performance test with a batch of 1000 broilers in a farm at Bamako, Mali.
Livestock contributes up to 20% of exports from Mali, ranking third behind gold and cotton. In 2004, official statistics showed 30 million birds produced for meat production and, approximately 72 million eggs. Meat consumption is still below the FAO recommendation of 100 g/person/day. Family poultry farming is still practised in Mali, with low inputs and low production (carcass weight is below 1.5 kg after 3 months of age).
For the past 20 years, periurban poultry production has been developing in Mali, with batches of 3000 to 4000 broilers. The purpose of this study was to provide guidelines for broiler production in Mali and to assess the economic sustainability of a production unit of 1000 broilers.
Performance is dependent upon the strain of chickens, feed quality, and the climatic conditions under which the birds are raised. It is recommended to weight a sample of 10 to 20 birds, randomly chosen, every week in order to monitor growth. At 6 weeks of age, the mean body weight was 1.9 kg with a cumulative feed consumption of 3.6 kg. At 8 weeks of age, mean body weight reached 2 .4 kg on 5 kg feed. The total production cost was calculated considering the cost of the chicks, feed, veterinary products, manpower, equipment (drinkers, feeders, heater, lights, containers, gas, litter) and reached 2164 FCFA per broiler ready to slaughter. Mean carcass weight at 60 days of age was 1.7 kg for a mean live weight of 2.2 kg, a rather satisfactory result in spite of difficult conditions. The price per sold broiler was 2700 FCFA, corresponding to a price per kg of 1800 FCFA. As a consequence, the net income per chicken was close to 500 FCFA, with a range of variation between 400 and 500 FCFA, representing approximately 1 US $ and between 0.6 and 0.76 Euro cents. The total income is close to 1000 US $ per batch of 1000 broilers. Such a positive result requires a total engagement of the farmer in broiler production. Technical support from a veterinarian is necessary to succeed.
The full report (in French) can be downloaded here.

Norway

The Norwegian Branch will be holding its Annual Meeting on the 7th of April, 2011. There will also be a seminar that will discuss various aspects of the Norwegian poultry industry - such as health and hygiene, animal welfare, economy - and how these pertain to the productivity and sustainability of poultry production in Norway. We are honoured to announce that a Member of Parliament will be attending and giving a presentation of a politician's opinion of Norway’s poultry production.

David Bruce

Papua New Guinea

Members of the Papua New Guinea Branch assisted efforts in containment and eradication of a New Castle Disease outbreak in a coastal district and they helped provide the measures taken to contain the spread of the disease.
After three years of regular disease surveillance and eradication campaigns to contain and eradicate the NCD virus from the affected districts of East New Britain province of Papua New Guinea (PNG), results of the last comprehensive round of blood samples taken from 15 sites and investigated in Australia indicated that all affected areas returned negative laboratory results and the province as well as the country were declared free of the disease in November 2010. As a result, poultry movement restrictions which had been imposed since the disease outbreak in that province have now been lifted by the Government. Until the first detection of the disease in the East New Britain province late in 2006, PNG had been free of NCD. Urgent disease containment procedures were put in place as soon as the laboratory results confirmed the presence of the virus. In addition to strict bird movement restrictions, local authorities implemented controlled stamping out of affected chicken populations, and they maintained the contaminated areas free of domestic birds until proven disease-free breeding stocks were distributed from research institutions in a coordinated re-stocking programme. Local authorities, including quarantine and inspection services, livestock extension offices, law enforcement agencies and researchers, were involved in this concerted action.
Three members of the PNG branch of WPSA have since been supported by the branch to be trained as para-veterinarians with the idea that they could support the limited capacity of public animal health services in disease outbreak incidences like this. One of these individuals has been directly involved in surveillance and monitoring missions, and re-stocking of these villages. Other members coming from several public research, extension and academic institutions have also been involved in on-going public awareness activities and in supporting affected communities to revive their smallholder family chicken operations.
Molecular genetic analysis of the original disease samples revealed that the virus is of North Asian origin, suggesting that disease incursion might have occurred through the movement of logging shipments that are common sight in the affected province. Disease surveillance and monitoring activities are still continuing in the same area, and the branch will keep on alerting its members facilitate essential support services.

Workneh Ayalew, Secretary, PNG Branch of the WPSA

Russia

A new study year has begun at the All-Russian Scientific Research and Technological Poultry Industry Institute (VNITIP) in Sergiev-Posad. This Institute celebrated its 80th year Jubilee last year and is the flagman of Russian poultry science. Poultry specialists come to the Institute for courses to keep their qualification level rising.. They receive information on poultry industry tendencies, news in poultry feeding, managing, egg incubation and so on. Many famous scientists and members of WPSA are the lectors for these courses, including: V. Fisinin, E. Egorov, Ja. Roiter, V. Lukashenko, A. Egorova, A. Kavtarashvili, V. Schol, L. Tuchemsky, V. Gustchin, V. Volik, V. Lisenko, T. Okolelova, B. Kulishev, A. Agaphonichev, E. Javadov, R. Karapetyan, T. Lenkova, I. Saleeva, V. Titov, V. Gonotskiy, A. Osmanyan, I. Draganov, G. Afanasyev. Other specialists and representatives of leading Russian and foreign firms also contribute to the courses. Students exchange their experience with each other including their own enterprise achievements. The courses offered are well recognized and are popular, not only among Russian specialists, but with foreign specialists who come to VNITIP to receive new knowledge. The following theme seminars will be provided during the coming year:

March 14-19. Innovative resource-saving technologies and equipment for egg production, for food and incubation (for technologists, zoo engineers, veterinary specialists, department managers and poultry industry enterprise team-leaders).

March 21-26. New technologies and raising ways for broiler meat production (for technologists and poultry meat production and processing specialists).

March 28-April 1. Selection work with high producing poultry crosses (for breeding farms leaders and specialists).

April 11-16. Modern approaches to high producing poultry crosses feeding, feeds and biologic active additions quality control, feed production new technologies (for poultry farms and feed production enterprises technologists, veterinary specialists, zoo- and veterinary laboratory leaders, zoo engineers in feeds).

May 16-21. Economic aspects of poultry enterprises functioning results guarantees (for financial-and-economic service leaders and specialists, poultry enterprise technologists).

September 12-17. Modern approaches to high production poultry crosses feeding, feeds and biologically active additions quality control, new technologies in feed production (for poultry and feed production enterprises, veterinary specialists, zoo- and veterinary laboratory leaders, zoo engineers in feeds).

September 26-October 1. Some actual problems of poultry products processing, quality and standardization (for eggs and poultry meat production and processing specialists).

October 10-15. New technologies and raising ways for broiler meat producing (for technologists and poultry meat production and processing specialists).

October 24-29. Selection work with high producing poultry crosses (for breeding farms leaders and specialists).

November 7-12. Innovative and resource-saving technologies and equipment for hen eggs production for food and incubation (for technologists, zoo engineers, veterinary specialists, department managers and poultry industry enterprises team leaders).

November 14-19. Some modern approaches to poultry egg incubation technology, poultry embryo diseases (for zoo engineers, veterinary specialists, incubation department managers and mechanicians).

November 28-December 3. Perspective technological decisions and equipment for poultry products production and processing resource-saving technologies (for poultry industry enterprises engineers, energy managers, technologists).

For information on these courses: Phone: +7 (49654) 77070, 61351; Fax: +7 (49654) 61138

The Alltech Exchange - Its Experience: The Alltech biotech company has recently celebrated its 30 anniversary. During those years Alltech has created some highly effective preparations and feed additives for animal and poultry rations, and they have passed along their experience in animal and poultry feeding and management. Alltech has also organized many lecture tours, conferences, seminars around the world during that time. Those tours and lectures have become popular in Russia too. The Russian “Alltech” company’s seminars and conferences are attended with pleasure by leaders and specialists of different enterprises and firms, not only from Russia, but also from Ukraine, Belarus, the Baltic countries, Kazakhstan, Armenia and other countries who understand that a level of professionalism is one of the primary conditions for surviving in difficult economic situations.
“The modern poultry industry; How to make new possibilities from the current difficulties” was the title one of Alltech’s recent seminars recently held near Moscow. Russian Alltech Company director, T. Papasyan indicated that it’s necessary to understand feed ingredient choices for producers and scientific personnel in order to confirm new ingredients effectiveness. Alltech’s main purpose is to bring the newest scientific information from scientific laboratories to practical usage. That’s why topics such as mycotoxins, salmonellosis, antibiotic usage, feed usage effectiveness, mineral nutrition, and others were discussed at the seminar.
Prof. Smith, a mycotoxin specialist from Guelph University, Guelph, Ontario, Canada talked about the advantages of one of the most effective and safe products for controlling mycotoxins, “Microsorb,” an adsorbent that has been created by the “Alltech” company. This unique preparation’s advantage is its ability to neutralize a broad assortment of mycotoxins. The preparation has already been used in many enterprises in Russia and has proved its effectiveness in practice.
A great deal of interest was generated by the presentation by Alltech’s European poultry department director, A. Sacranie. His talk was on the importance of a balanced nutrition programme for parent stock. This is an important topic because the parent flock’s nutrition affects both embryonic development as well as the flock’s health during the first ten days of the chick’s life (prestarter nutrition). Alltech’s organic mineral complexes (Bioplex) and Sel-Plex its yeast preparation that contains organic selenium that are being sold by Alltech are widely used at many Russian enterprises.
Doctor P. Spring, from the Swiss Agricultural College, and the K. Berg a veterinarian from Sweden discussed antibiotic usage problems and non-pharmaceutical alternatives potential such as Bio-Mos and a recent antigen created by Alltech and the effectiveness of these preparations against salmonellosis.
Interest in the Alltech seminars has been substantial. It is a round table where the seminar participants can discuss many painful problems, exchange opinions, tell of their enterprises practical experience, and receive exhaustive answers to their questions..

Tatiana Vasilieva, Branch Secretary

Turkey

The 18th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition (ESPN’2011) is being organised by the Turkish Branch of WPSA and is scheduled for 31 October – 4 November, 2011 at the Altın Yunus Resort Hotel, Çeşme, İzmir. You are invited to participate in this Symposium which offers numerous opportunities to explore the latest research and developments related to poultry nutrition. Preparations for the Symposium are going well and we are looking forward to a successful meeting.
There will be 6 main sessions during the Symposium, including; early nutrition, feed quality and food safety, nutrigenomics, poultry nutrition and animal welfare, poultry nutrition and animal health, and new approaches in poultry feed production and technology. A total of 16 keynote speakers have been invited to present at ESPN’2011. Abstract submission is currently open, and will be ended on 31 of March. For additional scientific information contact: Prof. Dr. Necmettin Ceylan at: necmettin.ceylan@agri.ankara.edu.tr.
First of July is the deadline for the early registration for the Symposium. Please take advantage of the early registration discount. For abstract submission, registration and accommodations, please visit our web page www.espn2011.org. For Sponsorship Packages contact: servet@saltur.com.tr

WPSA’s Turkish branch extends a very warm welcome to everyone with interests in poultry nutrition. We hope that Congress days will be fruitful and enjoyable for all of you!

Prof. Dr. Servet Yalçın., Secretary of the WPSA Turkish Branch

United Kingdom

The UK Branch would like to invite you to the 30th Poultry Science Symposium on Alternative Systems for Poultry – Health Welfare and Productivity that will take place on 9 – 11 September, 2011, at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, Scotland. For more details, please see our website at http://www.wpsa-uk.com/newSite/meetings/30thPoultryScienceSymposium.html.
This conference will investigate how methods of housing poultry affect health, welfare, nutritional requirements, the environment, and economics of poultry production. This exciting meeting proposes to cover a wide range of poultry (e.g. laying hens, meat chickens, turkeys, breeding stock, waterfowl, and gamebirds) and their various housing systems (e.g. barn, free range, organic, aviary, furnished cages).
The programme will consist of invited speakers from around Europe, plus submitted papers and poster presentations. Invited speakers’ papers will contribute to a book to be published by CABI.
The Destination: Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, is one of the liveliest and most cosmopolitan destinations in Europe. Glasgow has a strong academic and scientific heritage with three excellent universities. From Glasgow, delegates can extend their stay to either enjoy more of the city or to travel further afield to explore Edinburgh, Loch Lomond, world-class golf courses, whisky distilleries or the majestic scenery of the Scottish Highlands.

Register online at the Symposium website www.wpsa-uk.com or download, complete and return the registration form to Congrex UK Ltd.

USA

The officers and Committee members of the USA Branch met in Atlanta, Georgia in January. The USA Branch’s new officers include President Sarge Bilgili (Auburn University), Vice President Paul Patterson (Penn State University), and Secretary Bob Buresh (Novus International). New Committee members include Walter Bottje (University of Arkansas), Edgar Oviedo (North Carolina State University), and Bob Taylor (University of New Hampshire).

Some of the actions of the USA Branch Committee included:

WPSA-USA and Canadian Branch of WPSA will be again host the joint WPSA Lecture at the annual Poultry Science Association Meeting that will be held in conjunction with the meetings of the American Association of Avian Pathologists, and the American Veterinary Medical Association. The WPSA Lecture will be given by Dr. Greg Mathis of Southern Poultry Research, Inc. and the title will be “History of the Poultry Industry: Scientific Breakthroughs”.
The USA and Canadian Branches, along with the PSA, will again be hosting a Student Mixer one evening during the PSA Annual Meeting. Check the PSA website for details.
The annual travel grant programme for the USA Branch has been suspended indefinitely in order to accumulate sufficient funds to support travel grants to the XXIV World’s Poultry Congress, to be held on 5-8 August 2012, in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil.

A joint WPSA-USA/PSA bid for the 2020 World’s Poultry Congress (WPC) in the US is being explored. If found feasible, a complete bid for the 2020 WPC will have to be prepared and finalized for presentation to the WPSA Board in December 2011. The vote for the WPC will take place during the 2012 WPC in Brazil.

A change in Section 7 of Article 10 of the PSA Constitution is proposed to streamline the continuity in the terms officers. This change, if approved by the membership, will call for the election of WPSA-USA Committee members every 2 years rather than every 4 years.

The procedure by which the WPSA Lecture speaker is selected by the WPSA-USA Committee and Canadian Branch of the WPSA will be revised. It basically places the identification and selection responsibility for the WPSA Lecture speaker back on the two branches, where it typically has been. The role of the PSA Board will be to make the final approval as it does for most symposia speakers.

WPSA sponsored and other poultry related symposia and conferences

A number of WPSA sponsored and other poultry meetings have been planned for 2009 and 2010 (see the WPSA Website Calendar for contact and registration information), including:

2011
20 March 2011	American College of Poultry Veterinarians Workshop "From basics to field applications: poultry vaccination and immunity", Sacramento, California, USA Contact: Dr. Agnes Agunos
21-23 March 2011	9th Asia Pacific Poultry Conference, Taipei, Taiwan Contact: appc@talab.org.tw
25-27 March 2011	7th International Poultry Show and Seminar, Dhaka, Bangladesh Contact: ma_saleque05@yahoo.com
29-30 March 2011	9th Avian French Research Days (9 èmes Journées de la Recherche Avicole), Tours, France Contact: secretariatJRA@journees-de-la-recherche.org
17-19 May 2011	VIV Russia 2011, Moscow, Russia
26-28 May 2011	Aviana 2011 Poultry and Livestock Expo, Kathmandu, Nepal
9-11 June 2011	VIV Turkey 2011, Istanbul, Turkey
16-18 June, 2011	6th International Symposium on Turkey ProductionBerlin, Germany Contact: Prof Dr H.M. Hafez
7-9 July 2011	Aviana 2011 Poultry and Livestock Expo, Colombo, Sri Lanka
16-19 July 2011	2011 Joint Meetings of the Poultry Science Association, the American Association of Avian Pathologists, and the American Veterinary Medical Association, The America’s Center, St. Louis, Missouri, USA (see www.poultryscience.org for registration and programme details),
30-31 August 2011	2011 Meeting of the European Federation’s WG 6 Incubation and Fertility Research Group, Ede, The Netherlands Contact: Nick French
31 August - 3 September 2011	5th Workshop on Fundamental Physiology and Perinatal Development in Poultry, Wageningen, The Netherlands Contact: Dr Henry van den Brand
4-8 September 2011	XX European Symposium on the Quality of Poultry Meat and XIV European Symposium on the Quality of Eggs and Egg Products, Leipzig, Germany Contact: Michael Grashorn
6-9 September 2011	Latin-American Poultry Congress, Buenos Aires, Argentina
7-9 September 2011	30th Poultry Science Symposium, Glasgow, Scotland Contact: info@pss2011.com
5-7 October 2011	7th European Symposium on Poultry Genetics, Edinburgh, Scotland Contact: Paul Hocking
20-22 October 2011	Aviana 2011 Poultry and Livestock Expo, Accra, Ghana
31 October - 4 November 2011	18th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition, Cesme, Turkey Contact: kongre@saltur.com.tr

2012
22-24 February 2012	VIV India 2012, Bangalore, India
26-29 March 2012	3rd Mediterranean Summit of WPSA, Alexandria, Egypt Contact: Dr Yahya Eid
5-9 August 2012	XXIV World's Poultry Congress, Bahia, Brazil

2013
17-20 June 2013	IX European Symposium on Poultry Welfare, Uppsala, Sweden Contact: Prof Ragnar Tauson

We hope that many of you will consider participating in one or more of these poultry educational meetings. See the WPSA website Calendar for further details and registration information.

Volume 15, March 2011	Newsletter Editor: Dr G.B. Havenstein gerald_havenstein@ncsu.edu