What’s in a
name?
Not poultry
at the University of Guelph.
The
Department of Animal and Poultry Science is now the Department of Animal
Biosciences.
New department chair Prof. Jim Squires wants everyone
to know researchers are not abandoning their emphasis on poultry studies, by
any means. They remain committed to poultry, one of Canada’s most important
protein sources, reports Owen Roberts, an on-campus journalist.
In 1971 the Department of Poultry Science and the
Department of Animal Science were merged.
Roberts says “the smoothest way to accommodate the
merger, and to recognize the significance of Guelph poultry research to the
university and to the agricultural sector, was to simply merge the names.”
In recent years, welfare has come to dominate poultry
research, such as alternatives to caging laying hens.
It’s a major change from the decades of focus on
productivity via improvements in nutrition, genetics and health.
