Avian Science Research Centre

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Research Interests

I researched the mechanisms by which Salmonella contamination of the hens’ egg was prevented while studying for my PhD and then, after a short period studying magnetotatic bacteria, moved on to my current interest in the role of bacteria in poultry production and, more specifically, my current focus on Campylobacter and Clostridium perfringens.  Where possible, I prefer to use a multidisciplinary approach to my research and encourage this within my team, the Avian Science Research Centre (ASRC).  Much of our research is designed to be of relevance to the end-user in the immediate or short term.  Consequently, we work closely with stakeholders, in particular poultry producers, but also government agencies and departments as well as NGOs. 

Veterinary support is a key component to many of the projects that I manage as, increasingly, is input from economists, a discipline that is highly relevant across a range of issues that I research.  Examples of the latter include work funded by DfID to improve the productivity of scavenging poultry in India, LINK-funded work to examine the role of methionine in diets for replacement pullets and, most recently, an FSA-funded study of Campylobacter contamination of water supply systems in poultry units.

Research Projects

• Scottish Government: Necrotic enteritis of poultry (NE)
• FSA: An investigation of water treatment as in intervention to reduce campylobacter on the poultry farm
• Defra: Survival and persistence of campylobacters in poultry farm environments and identification of control measures
• Defra: Development of a vaccine to control the poultry red mite and improve laying hen welfare
• Defra: Further development of a method for objective and reliable assessment of broiler leg health under commercial conditions

Teaching

I teach into a range of undergraduate animal science and poultry courses and, in particular, to SAC’s MSc in Applied Poultry Production.  Short courses for end-users are an important mechanism for transferring the knowledge that we generate in the ASRC and, with my colleagues, I contribute to a number of these courses each year.  Example of a course devised and delivered recently was an update for catching crews in Northern Ireland and Scotland on biosecurity, funded as part of the FSA’s ‘Cleaner Flocks’ campaign.  Similarly courses for the SME sector on avian influenza have been delivered on behalf of the Scottish Government.

Selected Publications

• Acamovic, T., Sandilands, V, Kyriazakis, I., and Sparks, N. H. C. (2008). The effect of organic diets on the performance of pullets maintained under semi-organic conditions.  Animal, 2, 117-124
• Sparks, N. H. C., Conroy, M. A., and Sandilands, V (2008).  Socio-economic drivers for UK organic pullet rearers and the implications for poultry health.  British Poultry Science, 49, 525-532
• Allen, V.M., Weaver, H., Ridley, A.M., Harris, J.A., Sharma, M., Emery, J., Sparks, N., Lewis, M. and Edge, S. (2008). Sources and spread of thermophilic Campylobacter spp. during partial depopulation of broiler chicken flocks.  Journal of Food Protection, 71 (2), 264-270.
• Ridley, A.M., Morris, V.K., Atterbury, R.J., Sparks, N., Deans, L., Harris, J.A., Sharma, M. and Allen, VM (2007). Identification of reservoirs of Campylobacter strains surviving or recycling within the broiler farm environment.  Zoonoses and Public Health, 54, 142.
• McDevitt, R. M., Brooker, J., Acamovic, T., and Sparks, N. H. C. (2006). Necrotic enteritis; a continuing challenge for the poultry industry. World's Poultry Science Journal, 62, 221-247
• Sparks, N. H. C. (2006). Enhanced nutritional value of the egg.  World's Poultry Science Journal, 2006, 62, 152
• Sparks, N. H. C. (2006). Can poor people benefit from India's poultry revolution? Communicating Development Research
• Raj, A. B. M., Sandilands, V, and Sparks, N. H. C. (2006).  Review of gaseous methods of killing poultry on-farm for disease control purposes. Veterinary Record, 159, 229-235