Early stress experiences and stress resilience in pigs. Animal stress has substantial implications on animal productivity, health and welfare of farm animals and thus farm profitability. This project aims to examine the stress resilience in pigs. Modern pig farming is a major source of food, providing substantial nutritional, social and economic benefits in Australia and worldwide. Animal welfare is of increasing concern to the public, consumers and pork producers, and stress vulnerability is an ....Early stress experiences and stress resilience in pigs. Animal stress has substantial implications on animal productivity, health and welfare of farm animals and thus farm profitability. This project aims to examine the stress resilience in pigs. Modern pig farming is a major source of food, providing substantial nutritional, social and economic benefits in Australia and worldwide. Animal welfare is of increasing concern to the public, consumers and pork producers, and stress vulnerability is an animal health and production problem in the life of the commercial pig. This project will generate new knowledge on early life management to endow stress resilience in pigs, with expected benefits for animal welfare, farm productivity and profitability.Read moreRead less
Sustaining chicken-meat production with alternative protein sources. This project aims to secure sustainable chicken-meat production by the radical reduction or even elimination of imported soybean meal as the primary protein source in Australian broiler diets by its replacement with feed-grade amino acids and local feedstuffs. This project will expand our comprehension of starch/glucose and protein/amino acid digestive dynamics in poultry diets based on wheat, the primary feed grain in Australi ....Sustaining chicken-meat production with alternative protein sources. This project aims to secure sustainable chicken-meat production by the radical reduction or even elimination of imported soybean meal as the primary protein source in Australian broiler diets by its replacement with feed-grade amino acids and local feedstuffs. This project will expand our comprehension of starch/glucose and protein/amino acid digestive dynamics in poultry diets based on wheat, the primary feed grain in Australia; however, wheat does inherently possess nutritional disadvantages. Expected outcomes include soybean meal-free feed formulations for the Australian chicken-meat industry to enhance the affordable and environmentally viable production of chicken-meat coupled with improved bird welfare and flock health. Read moreRead less
Measuring pain in livestock: mechanisms, objective biomarkers and treatments. This project aims to create an objective blood test to measure pain in livestock, and to create a new drug treatment for persistent pain by targeting the immunology of the brain and spinal cord. This project expects to generate new knowledge of the involvement of the neuro-immune system in the creation and maintenance of persistent pain and how this can be quantified through the innovative use of peripheral blood tests ....Measuring pain in livestock: mechanisms, objective biomarkers and treatments. This project aims to create an objective blood test to measure pain in livestock, and to create a new drug treatment for persistent pain by targeting the immunology of the brain and spinal cord. This project expects to generate new knowledge of the involvement of the neuro-immune system in the creation and maintenance of persistent pain and how this can be quantified through the innovative use of peripheral blood tests. Expected outcomes of this project include a blood test capable of quantifying the extent of current pain experience, and a cumulative life measure of pain an animal has experienced. This should provide significant benefits to the Australian livestock industry by improving best practice.Read moreRead less
New Approaches to the Control of Post-Weaning Diarrhoea in Piglets. In Australia, post?weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in piglets is a major constraint to efficient and profitable production. Increasing levels of resistance to dietary antibiotics by gut pathogens such as Escherichia coli, the bacterium implicated in PWD, is a major reason for this problem. This research will identify nutritional means of controlling PWD and increasing production after weaning. This will be achieved by strategic nutritio ....New Approaches to the Control of Post-Weaning Diarrhoea in Piglets. In Australia, post?weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in piglets is a major constraint to efficient and profitable production. Increasing levels of resistance to dietary antibiotics by gut pathogens such as Escherichia coli, the bacterium implicated in PWD, is a major reason for this problem. This research will identify nutritional means of controlling PWD and increasing production after weaning. This will be achieved by strategic nutritional interventions in the pre-weaning and (or) post-weaning periods targeted at reducing bacterial pathogens in the gut. A reduction in PWD will increase the overall efficiency of pig production in Australia and reduce antibiotic use.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE190101364
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$422,460.00
Summary
Securing future supplies of chicken-meat protein. This project aims to generate advanced knowledge in amino acid metabolism in poultry in order to reduce soybean inclusion in broiler diets. Chicken-meat is the dominant animal protein source in human diets in Australia. However, Australia chicken-meat industry will need to increase production by more than 40 per cent to meet population growth by 2050. Soybean meal is the major protein source in poultry diets but the sustainability of increased so ....Securing future supplies of chicken-meat protein. This project aims to generate advanced knowledge in amino acid metabolism in poultry in order to reduce soybean inclusion in broiler diets. Chicken-meat is the dominant animal protein source in human diets in Australia. However, Australia chicken-meat industry will need to increase production by more than 40 per cent to meet population growth by 2050. Soybean meal is the major protein source in poultry diets but the sustainability of increased soy production is problematic. The expected outcomes of this project will be an increase in our future capacity to produce affordable, healthy chicken-meat with humane animal welfare by novel dietary formulations. Chicken-meat production generates less greenhouse gases than its competitors but this project will contribute to the reduction of harmful environmental outputs and ensure food security for Australia.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE160101470
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$360,000.00
Summary
Improving poultry health and performance through microbiota manipulations. The project aims to develop methods to modulate microbiota to improve poultry health and productivity and reduce the need for antibiotics. Probiotic administration is currently the only way in agriculture to restore imbalanced intestinal microbiota. Recent research shows that intestinal microbiota resist all new-coming bacteria and remove them from the intestinal environment. The initial inoculum at the time of birth shap ....Improving poultry health and performance through microbiota manipulations. The project aims to develop methods to modulate microbiota to improve poultry health and productivity and reduce the need for antibiotics. Probiotic administration is currently the only way in agriculture to restore imbalanced intestinal microbiota. Recent research shows that intestinal microbiota resist all new-coming bacteria and remove them from the intestinal environment. The initial inoculum at the time of birth shapes the gut microbiota for life and has the strongest influence on development of the immune system. Accordingly, at-hatch administration of proven beneficial strains to poultry is likely to ensure permanent colonisation with beneficial bacteria. This process would improve both the productivity and health of poultry and other agricultural animals.Read moreRead less
Discovery Early Career Researcher Award - Grant ID: DE170101132
Funder
Australian Research Council
Funding Amount
$372,000.00
Summary
How social relationships improve sheep productivity. This project aims to determine how the social network structure of a flock and different individuals’ experience and leadership abilities improve a population’s well-being and productivity (wool clip and lambing rates). This project will use social network theory and collective behaviour in animals to manage sheep in Australia’s arid rangelands, which are important for the pastoral industry, but where ecological challenges reduce livestock pro ....How social relationships improve sheep productivity. This project aims to determine how the social network structure of a flock and different individuals’ experience and leadership abilities improve a population’s well-being and productivity (wool clip and lambing rates). This project will use social network theory and collective behaviour in animals to manage sheep in Australia’s arid rangelands, which are important for the pastoral industry, but where ecological challenges reduce livestock productivity. An expected outcome is management guidelines for the sheep industry to improve wool and meat production.Read moreRead less
Early life nutrition to improve feed efficiency in commercial dairy goats. This project aims to improve the productivity and welfare and reduce resource waste in commercial dairy goat kids. The Australian dairy goat industry is expanding (~20% per annum) yet there is little research to overcome hurdles to improving milk and meat production. There is also increased societal pressure to improve sustainability, reduce waste and maintain animal welfare. By investigating nutritional methods to improv ....Early life nutrition to improve feed efficiency in commercial dairy goats. This project aims to improve the productivity and welfare and reduce resource waste in commercial dairy goat kids. The Australian dairy goat industry is expanding (~20% per annum) yet there is little research to overcome hurdles to improving milk and meat production. There is also increased societal pressure to improve sustainability, reduce waste and maintain animal welfare. By investigating nutritional methods to improve productivity of male (for meat) and female (for milk) kids, this project will generate new knowledge relevant to Australian and international goat production systems. This project will assist goat producers to make decisions that maximise animal productivity with flow on benefits to manufacturers of goat products. Read moreRead less
Quantifying the effect of nutrient-gene interaction in utero in key tissues instrumental to productivity and sustainability of the beef industry. The cattle industry occupies 43 per cent of the land mass and provides 13 per cent of rural employment. Nutritional insult in utero affects postnatal reproductive and production traits in cattle and imposes epigenetic modifications. This project investigates the effect upon genes affecting appetite, ovarian development, adipogenesis, myogenesis and pos ....Quantifying the effect of nutrient-gene interaction in utero in key tissues instrumental to productivity and sustainability of the beef industry. The cattle industry occupies 43 per cent of the land mass and provides 13 per cent of rural employment. Nutritional insult in utero affects postnatal reproductive and production traits in cattle and imposes epigenetic modifications. This project investigates the effect upon genes affecting appetite, ovarian development, adipogenesis, myogenesis and post natal growth.Read moreRead less
Maximizing male fertility: the role of CRISP proteins. This project aims to investigate the function of cysteine rich secretory protein (CRISP) family members in fertility. It is expected to generate new knowledge on the role CRISP1 and 4 play in sperm competition in vivo, and thus, evolutionary processes; to define the role seminal plasma CRISPs play in fertility; and identify the mechanism underpinning their biological activities. This will be achieved using a range of innovative, state-of-the ....Maximizing male fertility: the role of CRISP proteins. This project aims to investigate the function of cysteine rich secretory protein (CRISP) family members in fertility. It is expected to generate new knowledge on the role CRISP1 and 4 play in sperm competition in vivo, and thus, evolutionary processes; to define the role seminal plasma CRISPs play in fertility; and identify the mechanism underpinning their biological activities. This will be achieved using a range of innovative, state-of-the-art approaches. Expected outcomes and benefits include an enhanced knowledge of the mechanisms underpinning fertility and infertility, enhanced collaboration and research knowhow, and an evidence base for future applied projects aimed enhancing fertility in agricultural species.Read moreRead less