Yorkshire graduate wins award for poultry study

RECENT GRADUATE Lucy Berriman of Beverley has received prestigious agricultural industry recognition for her in-depth study into a prevalent poultry disease.

The 23-year-old is to be presented with a British Poultry Council Scholarship Award for her project, which studied the effects of two dietary chemicals produced by plants, as well as vaccinations against parasite infection coccidiosis, on the health and performance of broiler chickens.

For the study, Ms Berriman raised 480 male broilers – fowl raised specifically for meat production – over one month, with the animals split into eight different treatment groups.

The research formed her finalyear project at Harper Adams University in Shropshire which contributed towards her achieving first-class honours in BSc Bioveterinary Science.

Such was the quality of her research, her dissertation supervisor nominated her for the British Poultry Council (BPS) award and she has already presented her findings to the World Poultry Science Association.

Ms Berriman, who has gone on to work for Kilco International as a poultry biosecurity field technician for the South-West of England, said: “I was shocked and excited to hear I had won; I didn’t think I’d be chosen out of everyone in the UK.

“The scholarship will enable me to carry on with poultry research and my aim is to complete a Nuffield Scholarship in the future. The area of research I’m really interested in is coccidiosis, as this disease will always be present in the poultry environment.”

Ms Berriman will be presented with a medal and £1,000 to further her research career at the House of Commons next month.