The goal of the event, held 10-11 February in Dusseldorf, was to provide Novus customers the opportunity to discuss with recognized experts in the broiler industry. Over 100 Novus customers and key opinion leaders from throughout Europe attended.

Novus researchers have been evaluating solutions for meat and carcass quality in broilers for years. Subsequently, valuable information has been developed in the area of skin integrity, skeletal growth and integrity, myopathies, foot pad lesions and skin damage. Currently, Novus is working in collaboration with poultry consultants in Europe on a project aimed to analyze and better understand these challenges to help poultry producers improve their operations and their profitability.

Novus’s Dr. Vivek Kuttappan and Dr. Stanislaw Budnik shared nutritional strategies with data from research and field trials showing consistent benefits in broilers supplemented with MINTREX® bis-chelated organic trace minerals, which has been shown to reduce oxidative stress and improve tissue integrity and wound healing:

• Studies at broiler farms showed a reduction in mortality, improvement of feed conversion ratio, and increase in live weight.
• The results for meat-to-market included reduced myopathies like wooden/woody breast, increase in carcass yield, breast meat yield, and a reduction in skin defects (skin scratches, skin tears, cellulitis) and reduction of foot pad lesions.

Experts from universities, genetic companies, research companies and consultants involved in the meat production chain from the farm to the consumer included:

• Dr Pawel Konieczka (University of Warmia and Mazury, Poland) who spoke on carcass defects in European broiler production.
• Professor Massimiliano Petracci (University of Bologna, Italy) talked about muscle abnormalities in EU broiler breast meat and made an assessment of carcass/meat defects at the slaughterhouse.
• Professor Servet Yalcin (Ege University, Turkey) discussed the influence of farm management and preslaughter conditions on prevalence of deep pectoral myopathies.
• Dr Manuel Sanz (food safety specialist) presented on the influence of farm management, preslaughter conditions and processing at slaughterhouse on prevalence of carcass issues.
• Professor Shai Barbut (WUR/ University of Guelph, Canada) talked about automation in primary processing of poultry meat/carcasses at slaughter, determinants of meat quality influencing processing and human consumption.
• Associate Prof. Joanna Bogucka (University of Science and Technology of Bydgoszcz, Poland) made a presentation about histopathological changes associated with myopathies/carcass quality issues in broilers.
• Professor Giuseppe Maiorano (University of Molise, Italy) spoke on sustainable approaches to mitigate heat stress in poultry production.
• Dr Xavier Asensio (Aviagen, SAU) spoke about genetic selection to improve carcass and meat quality.

The event, sponsored by Novus Europe, is one of many scheduled globally in 2020. For more information, visit www.novusint.com.