Seminar highlights advances in research

The seminar brought together poultry industry specialists from throughout Northern Ireland to hear about and discuss the latest advances taking place in the AFBI poultry research Programme.

Professor Trevor Gilliland from AFBI Hillsborough, welcomed the 50 plus delegates to the seminar and set the scene for the programme which was chaired by Claire Anderson from the College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE).

Dr Elizabeth Ball (AFBI Hillsborough) began the technical proceedings with a presentation entitled “Sustainable Poultry Research”. Elizabeth summarised her recent work on determining the nutrient content of poultry litter and manure, the results of which are currently being used to inform revisions to the Nitrates Action Programme. Elizabeth also presented research findings on sustainable protein nutrition, the enrichment of eggs with folate and outlined newly initiated large-scale studies on ammonia and phosphorus.

Professor Nicolae Corcionivoschi, one of AFBI’s Food Microbiologists, presented “Antimicrobials and the Poultry Gut Microbiome”. Nicolae introduced his topic by providing a comprehensive background of the relevance of his work to the poultry industry. He outlined some of the work of his team in the area and discussed how a better understanding of how to manipulate the gut microbiome is key to operating within the constraints of reduced antibiotic usage.

AFBI’s recently appointed welfare specialist, Dr Stephanie Buijs, also gave an informative presentation entitled “Monitoring Poultry Welfare and Behaviour”. Stephanie summarized her work on laying hens and broilers throughout her career in Europe and at the University of Bristol and presented interesting behavioral studies which highlighted the need for sound science to inform welfare decisions.

The seminar concluded with a key-note presentation on “Electronic feeding systems for poultry” by Professor Martin Zuidhof from the University of Alberta, Canada. Martin, along with his colleague, Mark Fedorak (Xanantec Technologies Inc), presented a summary of the challenges and many benefits of offering feed at an individual bird level to meet production targets and provide optimum nutrition. This topic proved of great interest to the industry delegates and AFBI will be collaborating with Martin and Mark going forward to ensure the Northern Ireland poultry industry can avail of this ‘next generation’ technology to advance productivity in an environmentally sustainable manner.