Dr. Mária Kovács-Weber - MATE Research
Overview
Dr. Maria Kovács-Weber is an associate professor in Poultry Technologies and Product Quality at the Department of Animal Husbandry Technologies and Welfare, in the Institute of Animal Sciences of the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences (Hungary). Her research interests and activities include development of technological properties of housing technologies in poultry production. In this context, her research is related to poultry products: she examines the quantitative and qualitative issues of meat, eggs and fatty liver. By introducing innovative methods (AI-supported systems, imaging diagnostics), she examines the frontier areas of poultry product production in her research, such as disease control and prevention, device developments (smart nests for goose parent stocks), in order to increase production efficiency. Without exception, his research aims to increase production efficiency on a new or novel scientific basis. In his studies, he tries to detect production efficiency with animal-based measurements that may also be relevant in terms of animal welfare. The most notable recent result in this regard is the development of closed housing technology for geese, which is currently in great need from a disease control and food safety perspective. This development is now being used by one of the integrations in the sector. She is a member of the World’s Poultry Science Association, within this, she represents Hungary in the Working Group 4 - Quality of Egg and Egg Products.
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Publications
Szabó, S., Kovács-Weber, M., Pap, T. I., Dolányi, Á., Ferenc, P., Ákos, B., ... & Szabó, R. T. (2025). Effect of postbiotics on the production parameters of rearing goose. Veterinary and Animal Science, 100541. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vas.2025.100541
Szabó, R. T., Kovács-Weber, M., Balogh, K. M., Mézes, M., & Kovács, B. (2024). Effect of aflatoxin B1 and sterigmatocystin on DNA repair genes in common carp. Aquatic Toxicology, 276, 107076. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquatox.2024.107076
Pap, T. I., Szabó, R. T., Bodnár, Á., Pajor, F., Egerszegi, I., Podmaniczky, B., Pacz, M., Mezőszentgyörgyi, D., & Kovács-Weber, M. (2024). Effect of Lighting Methods on the Production, Behavior and Meat Quality Parameters of Broiler Chickens. Animals, 14(12), 1827. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14121827
Albert, F., Kovács-Weber, M., Bodnár, Á., Pajor, F., & Egerszegi, I. (2024). Seasonal Effects on the Performance of Finishing Pigs’ Carcass and Meat Quality in Indoor Environments. Animals, 14(2), 259. https://doi.org/10.3390/ani14020259
Zimborán, A., Erdélyi, M., Szabó, R. T., & Weber, M. (2022). Effects of medium chain fatty acid supplementation in broiler diet on microbiological quality of litter. Brazilian Journal of Poultry Science, 24(01), eRBCA-2020. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9061-2020-1441
Projects
Development of breeding and housing technology for premium goose liver production that meets high level animal welfare and antibiotic-free - GINOP_PLUSZ-2.1.1-21-2022-00126
Due to the animal welfare criticisms against the goose sector, it is important to develop/eliminate force-feeding technology, which brings positive disease control and animal welfare results. We are developing feeding to produce foie gras without force feeding, and housing technology to create intensive and better disease control conditions.
Development of a broiler and turkey-specific, computer vision-based disease detection and live weight estimation system - 2024-1.1.1-KKV_FÓKUSZ-2024-00052
Our objective is to develop a system consisting of HW and SW elements that can detect certain diseases in poultry flocks, send alerts to the farmer via computer or mobile app, and estimate the live weight of the birds. The result of the R&D is a software that can detect 2 different infectious diseases (Avian Influenza and Gumboro disease) in broiler chickens and Avian Influenza in broiler turkeys. It also can provide live weight estimates for both chickens and turkeys. It is a marketable product, named as Flock control.
Selection of a goose breeding stock suitable for steatosis without force feeding, and development of a smart nest for parent stocks - 2024-1.1.1-KKV_FÓKUSZ-2024-00079
the final result of which will be the creation of a smart egg nest that performs individualidentification, weight measurement, camera image taking. All of this will be done with the intented for commercialisation of a technology specification that includes the IoT elements to transform and upgrade a simple commercially available egg nest into a smart egg nest. The novelty of alternative foie gras lies in the fact that no attempt has been made to find a profitable method to replace the classical fattening by stuffing.
Development of innovative litter material and production technology - 2020-1.1.2-PIACI-KFI-2021-00323
Foot pad dermatitis, a common problem in the broiler industry, can be reduced by using appropriate litter materials. Our goal is to develop a pelleted litter material that not only protects the footpads of the birds during proper use, but also improves the microbiological status of both the housing system and the birds.
