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27 sep 2006
Onderdeel:
Wageningen Business School
Great success
annual international post graduate seminar
Advances in Feed Evaluation Science
“impression of a high quality seminar”
 
Reception Participants
Seminar leaders:
Prof. J.L. Black , University of Sydney, Australia
Prof. W.H. Hendriks, Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands
Prof. Moughan, Massey University, New Zealand
Prof. W.A. Verstegen (emeritus), Wageningen University and Research Centre, the Netherlands
Introduction
The annual international post graduate seminar on Advances in Feed Evaluation Science was organised by Wageningen Business School, part of the Wageningen University and Research Centre, from 11th to 15th of September 2006. The seminar covered all (new achievements of) areas in the science of feed evaluation. Lectures were presented by international experts from various fields of study. The 27 participants worked in the feed industry and companies, representing 12 nationalities.
The seminar owes its success to the organisation of Wageningen Business School: was well advertised and invitations to the seminar were sent to the feed industry and universities via electronic media.
Arrival of participants and reception
The first day of the event included the arrival of participants and reception. Participants were welcomed by the organiser and the host-university course leader, Professor Wouter Hendriks. Dickey Stolp, manager of the course, is a well-organised and enthusiastic lady. During the reception, participants introduced themselves. It is nice to know each other before working together. During the welcome dinner, participants talked and exchanged their experiences as well as their expectations of the seminar.
Participants 
Intensive reviews
The content of the seminar looks like intensive reviews. The lecturers deal with all the main important areas in animal nutrition such as ruminant, swine, poultry, companion and aquaculture. In each area, the lecturers are concerned with both conventional and newly-developed methods in feed evaluation. During or at the end of each lecture, questions and discussion made the concepts clear and more comprehensive. For each method, the advantages, disadvantages as well as caution were all mentioned to the seminar participant nutritionists/researchers for being noted if applied.
The seminar was rather intensive. Besides the interest of the seminar topics, the helpfulness of the organisers also played a crucial role in answering questions.
Guest and key note speakers
The guest and key note speakers came from academic institutions, practically oriented institutes and industry. The lecture material was, therefore, not only theoretical but also practical. The lecturers from academic institutions gave theoretical and systematic lectures and ones from the more practically oriented institutes gave practical and detailed lectures that are easy to be followed. This is really useful for the participants because practical knowledge is based on theoretical principles and backgrounds. The diversity of the participants and experts indeed complemented each other during the seminar and led to interesting discussions.
Feed processing
On the third day, a new area, feed processing was introduced. The lecture on new developments in feed technology was given in a scholarly and humorous way.
Inaugural ceremony
At the end of the third day, all participants were invited to attend the inaugural ceremony of the new professor of Animal Nutrition, Department of Animal Sciences, Wageningen University - the host-university of the seminar. This provided an excellent opportunity to meet with colleagues from either the feed industry or universities.
Companion animal nutrition
Beside lectures on modelling of rumen function, fish feed and poultry feed the last day introduced companion animal nutrition. This area is totally different from the others as it covered topics such as differences between cat and dog nutrition, requirements, formulations, processing and evaluation of cat and dog feeds. The lectures were so interesting that it was 15 minutes extended even though it was the last day.
 
Evaluation Break
Evaluation section
The seminar concluded with an evaluation section. Besides positive comments, suggestions for further improvement were made. One of the suggestions was that equine nutrition should be included next time. All in all, the seminar was successful: the organisation was impeccable and the information and lecture material shared were of a very high quality. This international seminar should be organised every year as suggested by the participants during the closure section.
Contacts and farewell drinks
The seminar closed with farewell drinks where people shared their impression of the seminar to each other. As well as a week of useful information, many contacts with colleagues in the industry were made.
Farewell drinks
Report: Quang Tran, participant - Photos: Guido Bosch, participant
Wageningen Business School, 21st of September 2006
Dickey J. Stolp-Diepeveen, Programme manager Advances in Feed Evaluation Science
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