ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA, U.S. — The American Feed Industry Association (AFIA) honored Peter Ferket with the AFIA-Poultry Science Association (PSA) Poultry Nutrition Award at the PSA annual meeting.

“Dr. Ferket’s efforts on poultry growth and health have made a tremendous impact on the feed industry, and it really shows his dedication to animal nutrition,” said Paul Davis, director of quality, animal food safety and education at the AFIA. “He is incredibly deserving of this award.”

Ferket, the extension poultry nutritionist for the department of poultry science at North Carolina State University, is responsible for research, extension education and teaching related to nutrition and feed manufacturing. He also serves as the director of the Animal Food and Nutrition Consortium and associate head of the Prestage Family Department of Poultry Science.

He is recognized for his work on how pro-nutrient feed additives, feed formulation, feed manufacturing and co-product feed ingredients affect digestibility and nutrient utilization, skeletal development and immune function, enteric health and the yield and quality of meat.

Ferket has devoted much of his extension and research efforts on nutritional factors that affect the growth and health of meat poultry and has authored over 600 publications, 9 patents and invention disclosures. He has a doctorate in animal nutrition from Iowa State University and received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in animal and poultry science from the University of Guelph in Canada.

Raj Murugesan, of Biomin, presented the award on behalf of the AFIA. The award is sponsored by the AFIA as part of its ongoing awards program that dates back to 1948.