ORLANDO, Fla. — The National Chicken Council, American Feed Industry Association and Alltech presented individual research awards during this year’s Poultry Science Association annual meeting held in Orlando, Fla.
NCC
Dr. Jason T. Lee was awarded the National Chicken Council Broiler Research Award. NCC awards leading researchers’ accomplishments in the fields of broiler chicken health, nutrition, management and processing. The research performed by recipients often has, or will have, a strong economic impact on the broiler chicken industry.
Lee currently serves as an associate professor at Texas A&M University in the Department of Poultry Science and conducts research in the field of poultry nutrition. He received his bachelor of science degree in poultry science from Texas A&M in 2001, as well as a master of science in nutrition and a doctorate in poultry science in 2006. He joined the faculty of the university’s Poultry Science Department in 2007.
Lee’s research focuses on improving the efficiency and nutrient utilization of poultry through dietary modifications such as exogenous enzymes, vaccinations, and probiotics and prebiotics. His laboratory has conducted over 100 sponsored research projects over the past five years. In addition to his many scientific accomplishments, Lee is a dedicated mentor and currently advises a laboratory group composed of seven doctoral students, three master’s students, and 11 undergraduate students.
AFIA
Dr. Markus Rodehutscord, a professor of animal nutrition at the University of Hohenheim, Germany, was presented with the Poultry Nutrition Research. The award is sponsored by the American Feed Industry Association, in partnership with PSA, as part of its ongoing awards program, which dates back to 1948.
“Markus has made great strides in poultry nutrition research,” said Dr. Preston Buff, AFIA director of regulatory affairs. “AFIA is proud to present him with this award.”
Rodehutscord’s research focuses on minimizing the excretion of nitrogen and phosphorous and improving the efficiency of amino acid and phosphorous utilization by poultry. He coordinated the 2.1 Mio Euro GrainUp project.
Rodehutscord has published more than 86 peer-reviewed articles on poultry nutrition, served as the Metabolism and Nutrition section editor for Poultry Science and serves on multiple committees and working groups dealing with poultry science. He earned his degrees from the University of Bonn, Germany.
Alltech
Alltech presented the 34th Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award to Matthew Aardsma of Purdue University. The award is given to a student who is the senior author of an outstanding research manuscript in Poultry Science or The Journal of Applied Poultry Research.
Aardsma’s winning paper titled, Relative metabolizable energy values for fats and oils in young broilers and adult roosters, focused on developing a bio-assay where feed-grade fats and oils were evaluated for their relative metabolizable energy content quickly and accurately. The paper showed results for several fats and oils that are commonly fed in the poultry industry, and that the results obtained for adult roosters are the same with young broiler chickens.
“Research is an integral part of Alltech and the poultry industry’s success to date,” said Dr. Ted Sefton, director of poultry for Alltech Canada. “Alltech is proud to sponsor the Alltech Student Research Manuscript Award to encourage students to publish their research in peer-reviewed journals and communicate new technologies and discoveries being made in the lab that can have a direct impact on the farm.”
Aardsma received his bachelor’s degree in animal sciences from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign in 2013 and his master’s degree in animal sciences with an emphasis in poultry nutrition in 2015, working with Dr. Carl Parsons. After a summer internship at Southern Illinois University working in aquaculture nutrition, he began a doctoral program in animal nutrition at Purdue University. Aardsma is currently studying with Jay Johnson and focusing on nutrition-based stress physiology in poultry and swine.
