Three Poultry Science Graduate Students Win Competition at International Forum

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Three graduate students from the University of Arkansas poultry science department won awards during the International Poultry Scientific Forum held during the 2013 International Production and Processing Expo Jan. 28-30 at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta.

The recipient of the Alltech Student Manuscript Award was Anita Menconi. She was awarded with a plaque and a $500 check. Her article was entitled “Foodborne Pathogens and Disease.” Menconi also won the Southern Conference on Avian Diseases best oral presentation for “Histopathological and morphometric changes induced by a dextran sodium sulfate (DSS) model in broilers.” Menconi is a student of Billy Hargis, director of the Poultry Health Lab and veterinarian with the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science.
 
In the Southern Poultry Science Society category of Environment and Management, Juan Latorre, also a student of Hargis, received an award for his poster “Evaluation of enzyme production, biofilm synthesis, viscosity, and germination/sporulation rate of a Bacillus spp. based commercial DFM product in different poultry diets using an in vitro digestive model.”
 
In the SPSS category of Metabolism and Nutrition, Karen Vignale won for her oral presentation called “The effect of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 on broiler muscular protein synthesis.” Vignale is a student of Craig Coon, poultry nutritionist.

More than 15 students from the poultry science department presented posters and gave oral presentations.

Department Head Mike Kidd said, “The International Poultry Scientific Forum is a great venue for our students to present their latest research to both academic and industry scientists. We are proud of our students from the Center of Excellence for Poultry Science who presented abstracts and we are especially proud of our award winners.”

The International Poultry Scientific Forum is sponsored by the Southern Poultry Science Society, the Southern Conference on Avian Diseases and the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association. The forum presents information on industry topics such as environmental management, nutrition, physiology, pathology, processing and products and avian diseases.