Nutrition (WG2)
This Working Group held a meeting during the WPC in Istanbul. The main item discussed was the programme for the 15th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition to be held in Balatonfured, Hungary, 25-29th September 2005. The Organising Committee presented proposals for the scientific programme. There will be 5 sessions, covering the topics of interactions between nutrition and genotype, waterfowl nutrition, nutrition in alternative housing, macro- and microelements and strategies to improve gut performance. The Working Group discussed the programme and made comments and suggestions on titles and speakers to the Organising Committee. The final programme is likely to be very exciting and stimulating, with a wide range of authoritative speakers. The good conference facilities and the attractive location at the side of one of Europe's largest lakes should contribute to a memorable event.
The venue of the 16th Symposium in 2007 was discussed. Good presentations were made on behalf of France and UK. It was decided to hold the 16th Symposium in Strasbourg, with the 17th Symposium likely to be held in Edinburgh in 2009.
The Working Group also discussed contributing an input to the planning of the nutrition sessions at the European Poultry Conference in Verona in 2006 and the publication of tables of feedstuff energy values in the WPSA website.
Egg Quality (WG 4)
This Group met in Istanbul on 9 June 2004. Prof Sally Solomon notified the Group of her resignation as Chairperson and Dr Maureen Bain took over as Acting Chairperson until this issue can be addressed at the next meeting in May. The meeting concentrated mainly on the scientific program for the forthcoming meeting: "XVII European Symposium on the quality of poultry meat and the XI Symposium on the quality of eggs and egg products". This will be held in Doorwerth, The Netherlands on 23-26 May 2005.
It was also agreed that the 2007 Joint Symposia will be held in Prague, Czech Republic, on 2-5 September 2007.
Poultry Meat Quality (WG 5)
This Group also met on 9 June in Istanbul.
The date for the next joint symposia on the quality of eggs and meat will be
on 23-26 May 2005 in Doorwerth, The Netherlands.
Both general and specific topics were being considered and the choice of excursions and technical visits was under review.
The US Poultry Science Association was planning an international meat-quality symposium to be held in Auburn, Alabama, USA, from 31 July to 5 August 2005. Members of the Working Group would be invited - no further details were available.
The EU Framework 6 Research Programme would be published in July 2004, would be of interest to meat-quality scientists and would be seeking project proposals on specific rather than broad topics.
Progress was reviewed on the work of the sub-groups, which were currently covering the measurement of meat tenderness, harmonisation of analytical methods and ossification of the sternum in broilers. On the latter, a Turkish study was examining dietary effects, while that in Germany was concerned with fast- and slow-growing strains of birds. Preliminary data would be presented at the Doorwerth meeting.
Reproduction (WG 6)
The Incubation and Fertility Research Group (IFRG) continues to attract delegates from a wide range of backgrounds with an interest in avian reproduction. The 29th meeting of the IFRG was attended by over 60 delegates from 13 countries who met at the University of Lincoln. A total of 20 oral papers and 12 posters were presented over the two-day meeting covering a wide range of subjects.
At the heart of the meeting were two very successful workshops on 'Factors affecting egg quality' and 'Factors affecting development for 7-days post-hatch'. The egg quality workshop consisted of papers discussing shell quality, maternal nutrition and egg-borne salmonella infections, each giving a different perspective on what constitutes egg quality. The second workshop was equally diverse in its subject matter with papers on the development of the intestine, thermoregulation and the immune system.
In addition to the invited workshop papers, submitted papers were presented covering a very wide range of topics. Abstracts of all the papers presented at the meeting will be published in Avian and Poultry Biology Reviews.
For those who wish to know more about the IFRG and obtain information on future meetings, visit the website www.ifrg.org. The website contains details of all the papers presented at the 2004 and previous meetings. A new feature of the website is the IFRG Discussion List, a forum for those interested in either avian fertility or incubation.
Many thanks to the contributors of these reports which have been edited due to a shortage of space.