Posted: February 10, 2021
Alyssa Lyons received a "Certificate of Excellence" for her research findings presented at the International Poultry Scientific Forum (IPSF)
Alyssa Lyons, Louisa, VA, received a "Certificate of Excellence" for her research findings presented at the International Poultry Scientific Forum (IPSF) sponsored by the Southern Poultry Science Society, the Southern Conference on Avian Diseases and U.S. Poultry & Egg Association and held virtually on January 25-26.
Lyons, a Master's Degree candidate in Penn State's Department of Animal Science, was recognized for her abstract presentation, "The impact of soybean meal particle size on milling efficiency, broiler digestibility and subsequent performance." Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the abstracts were presented online and reviewed by a committee.
Lyons said, "I am very proud of this achievement. I have worked hard towards this and have put in a lot of time and dedication in both my undergraduate and graduate years." She has an undergraduate degree in Animal and Poultry Sciences from Virginia Tech University.
John Boney, Ph. D., Assistant Professor of Poultry Science, who advises Lyons along with Professor of Poultry Science Paul Patterson, said, "The Metabolism and Nutrition section of the competition has the highest number of graduate student presentations, so there is greater competition for awards. Winning this award showcases the quality of work and efforts put forth by Alyssa and other Animal Science graduate students at Penn State." He noted that presentations are scored based on relevance to the industry, quality of science, student performance, slide quality, and ability to answer questions from the audience.
Lyons' research will be beneficial to both poultry producers and soybean processors. She said, "The work that I presented demonstrates how using a larger hammermill screen to manufacture soybeans cuts down on energy use at the soybean processing facility which also cuts down the overall cost (feed represents approximately 70% of total costs). In turn, birds can efficiently utilize the larger soybean meal and have improved amino acid digestibility." She added that this improvement is beneficial because producers can incorporate larger particles in the diet without decreasing bird performance while also saving on feed manufacture costs.
The IPSF forum presents information on industry topics such as environmental management, nutrition, physiology, pathology, processing and products, and avian diseases.
