A team from the HAWK University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hildesheim/Holzminden/Göttingen has developed an innovative solution to combat poultry parasites. With their approach of eliminating parasites using plasma, the scientists from the Faculty of Engineering and Health at the Göttingen site have now won a gold medal at the DLG Innovation Awards at EuroTier 2024 for their research. EuroTier is the world's largest trade fair for animal husbandry and animal management.
Specifically, a plasma-based trap was developed that specifically targets the behavior of mites. These often retreat into cavities in the poultry house. The award-winning technology integrates a plasma source on the perch, which specifically eliminates the parasites without using chemicals. The plasma trap, which is installed underneath the poultry perches, is designed like a mite shelter. In the trap, the arachnids are exposed to cold atmospheric pressure plasma and are thus killed. The traps are equipped with an automatic cleaning system that pushes out the killed mites. Further applications of plasmas in animal husbandry are to be researched and developed in the future. The aim is to sustainably improve animal health.
