Understanding supply chain and quality of ingredients in the modern era 

Chair: Roshan Adhikari, CJ Bio America, Downers Grove, Illinois 

Ingredients and diets make 70% of the cost of any poultry operation. With political, economic, and environmental pressure, the dynamics of the supply chain are changing every day. Price, quality, and availability of ingredients for feed change constantly. In this changing scenario, how would a nutritionist, live production manager, or ingredient purchasing team for any animal production team hedge against its uncertainty? How would a feed mill and nutritionist react to the changes in formula, ingredient availability? How does the market analysis see the changing scenario of crops, food demand to make wiser decisions based on the predictions. This symposium from AFIA will bring experts in the field of production, supply chain, nutritionists, and market insight analyst to understand the current dynamics of feed ingredients and supply chain.

Methodology Matters

Chair: Roselina Angel, University of Maryland

Appropriate and validated methodologies are the principal backbone of any research. Physiology of poultry dictates the need for methods that consider physiological and metabolic principles in poultry. Vertebrate animals have tight calcium homeostasis that occurs in hours after a deficient or excess diet is fed. Some current methods disregard physiological principles. Validation and applicability of methods. used for microbiome and physiological research need to be correct and applicable to poultry. Use of incorrect methods lead to conflicting results making applicability questionable. Contrasting conclusions based on methodology difference slows the application of new concepts as well as making new information questionable and difficult to apply. 

Poultry Meat - Global Quality Issues

Chair: Shai Barbut, University of Guelph

Poultry meat production is increasing all over the world, and this presents many challenges to the entire industry including the meat processing sector. In the symposium we will take a look at the challenges facing the industry in Europe, Asia, North and South America. In addition, we will hear about advances in balance selection of meat type broilers and progress in employing omics techniques to address. myopathies in fast growing birds.Topics to be covered will also address contamination from pathogens like Salmonella and Campylobacter, intensification of production, and development in animal welfare regulations. 

Advancing the Frontier: Integrated research approaches to address foodborne pathogen contamination across the poultry supply chain  

Chair: Kim Cook (USDA-ARS) and Caitlin Harris (USDA-ARS)

The symposium will highlight novel, integrated strategies for tackling food borne pathogen contamination in the poultry supply chain, from pre-harvest to post-harvest. Speakers will share how collaborative research is overcoming longstanding barriers to controlling pathogens. By integrating insights from on-farm practices to processing innovations, the session will showcase practical, science driven solutions that strengthen the poultry supply chain and improve food safety. 

Informal Nutrition Symposium 2026: Care and feeding of modern broiler and layer breeders 

Chairs: Doug Korver, Alpine Poultry Nutrition, Inc. 

Advances in broiler chicken and laying hen productivity have been accomplished through genetic selection over many generations. The achievement of 500 eggs per laying hen to 100 weeks of age is an amazing feat, but what are the impacts on how modern layer breeders should be fed and managed? In broilers, the primary focus has been on growth rate, breast muscle yield and feed efficiency. Although other traits such as overall health, welfare and reproduction are also part of breeding decisions, the consequences for broiler breeders have been dramatic. A reduction in body fat prior to sexual maturation, the increased degree of feed restriction relative to ad libitum consumption, and a reduction in fertility have created new challenges for breeder managers and nutritionists. 

Poultry in Pet Food: Meeting market demands though science and innovation

Chair: J.P. Caldas, Fresh Pet and Casey M. Owens, University of Arkansas

The pet food market continues to expand at a rapid pace, driven by rising pet ownership, the humanization of pets, and increasing consumer demand for high-quality, safe, and nutritionally balance products. Poultry - derived ingredients remain foundational components of pet food formulations due to their nutritional value, palatability, and functional properties. As such, the poultry science community is uniquely positioned to contribute to advancements in pet food research and development. Key areas of impact include ingredient innovation, nutrient digestibility, food safety, sustainability, and processing technologies that influence product quality and animal health.  

Poultry Litter Management and the Environment – Where have we been and where are we going?

Chairs: Steven C. Ricke, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Brett Hale, AgriGro, Elana Olson, University of Wisconsin

Litter management plays a critical role in broiler production, affecting bird health, performance and environmental impact. In addition to providing bedding material in poultry houses, poultry litter is considered a high-quality fertilizer for pastures and row crop productions. Litter is a biologically complex substrate composed of fecal matter, feed residues, bedding material and diverse microbial populations that interact dynamically with environmental an management factors in poultry houses as well as during land application. Litter quality is shaped by variables such as stocking density, litter age, and the application of chemical or biological amendments. As the poultry industry shifts toward environmental stewardship and more efficient production strategies, broiler litter quality has gained prominence. However, numerous issues remain with litter management including when to replace litter int he poultry house and what determines optimal value for fertilizer applications versus minimizing environmental impact. This symposium will explore historical and current poultry litter management strategies, ongoing environmental issues with land application and development of novel analytical tools for assessing litter quality. 

Inter-generational nutrition and gut health

Chair: Eugeni Roura, The University of Queensland Australia

The resilience of the one-day-old chick continues to be one of the main conundrums in chicken meat production with impacts on the rest of the life of a chicken. The inter-generational transition from breeders to progeny not only showcases some of the most critical periods but also includes some of the least understood physiological processes in chickens. We nourish breeders to nourish embryos to nourish the microbiota of the chick. This Symposium proposal brings together our state-of-the-art understanding on the nutrition of broiler breeders, embryonic development, and the nourishment of the post-hatched chick embedded in the vertical transmission of microbiota and pathogens underpinning the early life of the chick and beyond.

Precision Poultry: Balancing Efficiency & Resilience: The technologies and nutritional strategies that are making precision nutrition an affordable reality

Chairs: Maria C. Walsh, Biofractal

Precision Poultry: Balancing efficiency & resilience addresses a core challenge in broiler production: driving efficiency without losing resilience. Genetic and nutritional progress has delivered record performance but also exposed birds to trade-offs-between muscle gain, immunity, bone, and metabolic balance. This symposium brings industry and academic leaders together to confront these realities and explore solutions. The focus is on how precision nutrition, supported by better diagnostics, can reveal hidden stressors, anticipate bottlenecks, and guide smarter use of functional nutrients and additives. The goal: making precision nutrition an affordable, practical tool that helps integrators achieve consistent performance, healthier flocks, and a more sustainable poultry future.

Nutrition and management strategies for extended laying cycle

Chairs:

Pratima Acharya Adhikari, Mississippi State University

Elijah G. Kiarie, University of Guelph

Extending the life of hens in the first cycle of production is viewed as a strategy for the sustainable provision of the expected surge in food demand. However, lay persistence cannot be achieved without consideration of hen health, welfare, and egg quality. Specifically, the risks of keeping laying hens in production longer include 1) controlling egg weight, 2) declining eggshell quality, 3) declining nutrient (Ca) absorption capacity, 4) liver dysfunction manifested in fatty liver hemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS), and 5) osteoporosis, among others. The symposium will discuss recent advances in genetics, nutrition, physiology, health, and management in the context of a "long life" layer capable of producing 500 eggs over a 100-week laying cycle.

The Role of Generative AI and LLMs in Poultry Education, Extension, and Operations

Chair: Steve Lerch (Story Arc Consulting), Drew Benson (University of Georgia, PSA member), Mark Locklear (Extension.org), Rozita Dara (University of Guelph)

Poultry education, consultation, research, and workflows are being revolutionized by generative AI and large language models. This symposium surveys practical deployments across education, Cooperative Extension, and smart farming, concluding with a hands-on build-your-own GPT workshop. Keynote speaker Steve Lerch will demystify generative AI for non-technical audiences and share an adoption playbook grounded in real use cases. Extension Foundation leaders will present ExtensionBot, a retrieval-augmented LLM that delivers trustworthy, cited answers from curated Extension publications. Prof. Rozita Dara will frame responsible AI adoption in agri-food systems—efficiency gains alongside governance, privacy, and model-risk controls. The workshop, led by Drew Benson, equips attendees to build a custom GPT using vetted poultry/Extension materials and basic guardrails. Participants leave with realistic expectations, replicable workflows, and a working prototype aligned to teaching, advisory, or operational needs.

The Future Is Already Here: Applications of Technology to Poultry Health and Welfare

Chairs: Karen Christensen, Tyson Foods

This symposium will not only focus on welfare, but how new technologies can be used to gather and interpret information in ways never before available to us. In addition, this information can now be readily available to improve the welfare status of poultry around the world.

Presidential Symposium: The State of the Art in Poultry Bone Biology

Chair: Doug Korver

Bone metabolism is critical to efficient and profitable growth and egg production in modern poultry. The unintended consequences of genetic selection for production traits have led indirectly to a high incidence of skeletal deformities in the past, and in the present, increased risk of bone fractures and infections. Bone issues in poultry, the impact of genetic selection on bone metabolism and selection for a healthy skeletal system will be reviewed, in addition to the current state of knowledge in vitamin D nutrition and metabolism and bone biology.