Professor Todd Applegate is Head of the Department of Poultry Science at the University of Georgia, USA. He was formerly Professor of Animal Sciences at Purdue University, USA. Professor Applegate is a former President of the Poultry Science Association (PSA). Amongst other honours, he is a recipient of the PSA’s Evonik Degussa Award for Achievement in Poultry Science, American Feed Industry Association’s Poultry Nutrition Research Award, and the Mapleleaf Farms Duck Research Award. Dr Samuel E. Aggrey is a Richard B. Russell Professor of Genetics, NutriGenomics and Bioinformatics at the University of Georgia, with an international reputation for his work on the genetics of feed utilization efficiency and genome selection in poultry.