Dr Yves Nys recognised for poultry nutrition research

Dr Yves Nys of INRA, the French National Institute for Agricultural Research has been granted the DSM Nutrition Award 2011 for research on Animal Nutrition, in recognition of his outstanding contributions to research in the field of poultry nutrition.

In the course of a career spanning several decades, Dr Nys has pushed the frontiers of poultry nutrition science to develop several novel approaches to enhancing the quality of poultry products, such as poultry meat and eggs, which are a major source of relatively cheap and nutritious animal derived proteins.

An international judging committee, chaired by Dr. Georg Kau, Vice President Research & Development at DSM Nutritional Products, unanimously selected Dr Nys from among several candidates shortlisted by an international pre-selection committee. The award –- which carries a cash prize of €50,000 –- was presented to Dr Nys in the presence of a large audience at the 18th European Symposium on Poultry Nutrition 2011 in Cesme (Izmir), Turkey, on 2 November.

Dr Nys studied general agronomy and received his PhD in animal nutrition from University Paris 6. With the exception of several research assignments at various European and Canadian universities, he has spent most of his working life at the Tours (France) branch of INRA, a unique institution entirely dedicated to poultry research, of which Dr Nys was a director from 2002 to 2007. He is currently Director of Research at INRA.

A physiologist and nutritionist, Dr Nys specialises in the study of the poultry egg in terms of its formation, structure and quality as well as its natural defenses. In the course of several decades of research activity, he has also addressed topics such as the mineral metabolism of poultry, the fabric of the eggshell, the nutrition and physiology of laying hens, the assessment of feedstuffs for their specific utility in birds’ feeding, and the development of sustainable ways of poultry production with a lower impact on the environment.