From February 13th to 15th, 2023, Dr. Michèle Tixier Boichard, the co-coordinator of the SCALA MEDI project, visited Algeria. The visit was to take note of ITELV’s work program progress and the finalization of upgrades to the rearing infrastructure at Tlemcen station for the local chicken project. Before heading to Tlemcen, which is over 500 km away from the capital, Dr. Boichard visited Algiers ITELV station. During this visit, an agreement was reached regarding the distribution of the selected future chicken population across two ITELV stations. This measure aims to mitigate any potential health incidents, particularly considering that the chickens will be housed in open-air aviaries.

Leveraging the existing local poultry farming at ITELV, which has been in operation for many years, 105 samples were collected from ITELV’s chickens, along with additional sampling at Algiers and Tlemcen stations.

Furthermore, a coordination meeting was convened at ITELV Tlemcen, where Dr. Michèle Boichard engaged with all Algerian partners, she introduced the project and the selection program, followed by a discussion on the project’s financial aspects at Tlemcen University. The visit was to see the preparations for the construction of a building intended for the breeding system of WP7 and to provide an overview of the breeding system of the project in Algeria.