Wendy Attuquayefio, a doctoral graduate in food and agricultural sciences at UMES, recently defended her thesis, “Effects of Heat Stress and Oxidized Diet on Productivity, Oxidative Stress, Postmortem Muscle Metabolism and Meat Quality of Broilers.”
“High environmental temperatures that occur during the summer months may cause heat stress in broilers and oxidation of fats in their feed,” Attuquayefio said. “This can lead to increased oxidative stress in live broilers, causing changes in the muscle after slaughter and affecting the meat quality of chicken.”
Her research at UMES explored the use of vitamin E supplementation to alleviate the negative effects of heat stress in broilers. Attuquayefio’s advisor is Dr. Byungrok Min, associate professor, food science and technology.
“The results suggested that both high environmental temperature (chronic heat stress) and heat waves (acute heat stress) during broiler production adversely affected chicken productivity,” Attuquayefio said. “The oxidative stress conditions induced by heat stress, oxidized diet alone and in combination may also cause adverse changes in energy metabolisms in the breast muscle of broilers and deteriorate oxidative stability in breast meat.”
She also found that dietary vitamin E supplementation could be “a good strategy to mitigate the adverse effects of oxidative stress and improve the oxidative stability of chicken breast meat.”
“Wendy is a smart, hard-working researcher who is committed to continuous learning and making a difference,” Min said. “Her research suggested the mechanisms of how environmental heat stress caused by climate change affect chicken productivity and meat quality, and shed light on that the antioxidant supplementation to chicken feed could be one of the effective mitigation strategies against heat stress for the chicken industry.”
Attuquayefio came to the U.S. from Accra, Ghana, to pursue a master’s degree in food science from Pennsylvania University. She holds a bachelor’s degree in nutrition and food science from the University of Ghana, Accra. She is a member of the Poultry Science Association, the American Society of Animal Science and the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. While at UMES, Attuquayefio won a second place award for outstanding achievement in the graduate poster presentation in animal products and production at the 1890 Association of Research Directors Conference.
Attuguayefio’s future plans are to work in the food and agricultural industry as a food research scientist or food technologist.
