Two students of the University of Arkansas poultry science department received prestigious awards at the 2021 International Poultry Scientific Forum and the International Production and Processing Expo held virtually, Jan. 26-28, in Atlanta, Ga.

IPSF, held in conjunction with IPPE, had 600 attendees. IPSF is sponsored by the Southern Poultry Science Society, the Southern Conference on Avian Diseases, and 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. Graduate student presentations totaled 47 and 7 undergraduate students gave oral or poster presentations.

IPPE is hailed as the largest annual trade show for the poultry, meat and feed industries.

Oral presentation winner

Jared Ruff received the Don R. Sloan Undergraduate Award. He conducted his research under the direction of Billy Hargis, professor of poultry science and director of the John Kirkpatrick Skeeles Poultry Health Laboratory.

"The majority of my research has been in heat stress and studying ways to mitigate the negative effects of heat stress in poultry," Ruff said. His project was titled, "An evaluation of essential oils products on a heat stress model that induces inflammation and gastrointestinal leakage in broiler chickens."

Poster presentation winner

Graduate student Makenly Coles received the C.S. Eidson Student Award for Research Excellence. For her master's degree research, she conducts Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station research with Hargis.

"My M.S. research is looking at the effects of different essential oil combinations in the feed on necrotic enteritis in broilers; specifically, essential oils from the plant Lippa organoides and clove bud oil," said Coles. The title of her poster was "Assessment of essential oil formulations on growth performance, intestinal barrier integrity, and lesions in broiler chickens using a necrotic enteritis laboratory challenge model." 

Twenty-six students from the poultry science department and other departments of the Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences participated virtually in the College Student Career Program that is held in conjunction with IPPE. The College Student Career Program allows seniors and graduate students to interview with potential employers and underclass students to interview for internships. In addition to interviews, students had the opportunity to learn about the many career opportunities in the poultry industry and allied industries around the world.

To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uark.edu. Follow us on Twitter at @ArkAgResearch and Instagram at ArkAgResearch.