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Publications (365)
Context
Canola meal is a protein-rich feedstuff with an amino acid profile that is reasonably well balanced and has the potential to replace soybean meal in poultry diets.
Aim
The objective of the present study was to investigate the relationship between the crude protein content and apparent ileal digestible amino acid contents of Australian cano...
Context
Poultry diets consist of several ingredients contributing specific amounts of nutrients and it is assumed that the supply from each ingredient is additive when diets are formulated. However, the additivity of apparent metabolisable energy (AME) and ileal amino acid digestibility in broiler diets combining sorghum with different protein sour...
Context
Improving the utilisation of alternative protein ingredients in livestock production will reduce feeding costs and improve industry sustainability. Feather meal (FM) is an abundant, alternative protein source with a high protein content but poor amino acid (AA) digestibility.
Aim
This study evaluated strategies for improving AA digestibili...
It is clear that the societal role of meat is being challenged with ideological and simplified logic without substantiation from robust data-driven science. With this background, the international summit titled ‘The societal role of meat – what the science says’ was held in Dublin, Ireland, during October 2022, to provide evidence-based evaluations...
Aims:
Sub-therapeutic use of antibiotics as a growth promoter in animal diets has either been banned or voluntarily withdrawn from use in many countries to help curb the emergence of antibiotic-resistant pathogens. Probiotics may be an alternative to antibiotics as a growth promoter. We investigated the effects of a novel probiotic strain Bacillus...
Vitamin K (VK) has long been known for its essential role in blood coagulation. However, over the past decade, evidence has mounted for its intrinsic and essential roles in other functions within the body, including bone metabolism, calcification, brain development and glucose metabolism. Thus, VK should no longer be considered a single-function ‘h...
Aflatoxins are fungal toxins of serious human health concern, more so in some developing countries where significant contamination of staple foods occurs and the prevalence of aflatoxin-related health effects is high. A plethora of techniques for food mycotoxin testing has been developed. Modern chromatographic techniques allow quantitative determi...
Bone health of broiler chickens is essential for welfare and production. In this study, the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens (BA) CGMCC18230 was compared with antimicrobial growth promoters (AGPs) for its ability to promote growth and bone health. To address this, a total of 180 Arbor Acres (AA) 1-day-old, male broiler chicks were randomly allo...
Probiotics and enzymes are important components of the global livestock feed supplement market, which is expected to be approximately US$56 billion by 2027. They make essential contributions to animal health and productivity and are very important for on-farm economics, as well as feed supplement and bulk feed businesses. Despite the variety of on-...
Feeding cereal grain to cattle is common practice for optimal beef and milk production. High concentrations of starch and other soluble carbohydrates may cause acidosis. Information on the effect of processing on starch and protein degradability in the rumen are scarce. This study was to determine the ruminal degradation patterns of common grains a...
Background
Immunological stress decreases feed intake, suppresses growth and induces economic losses. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. Label-free liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry (LC-MS) proteomics techniques were employed to investigate effects of immune stress on the hepatic proteome changes of Arbor Acres b...
The use of probiotics in poultry production has increased rapidly, and this movement has been promoted by global events, such as the prohibition or decline in the use of antibiotic growth promotants in poultry feeds. There has been a persistent search for alternative feed additives, and probiotics have shown that they can restore the composition of...
Until very recently it was believed that the uterus was sterile, with microbial colonisation of the foal's gastrointestinal tract (GIT) commencing at birth. GIT colonisation is an integral developmental process, critical for an optimal functioning immune system and ongoing health of the foal. The in utero colonisation paradigm has now challenged th...
Egg shell breakage is and remains a source of economic loss to the egg producer. In general, about 3% of the eggs laid by hens housed in battery cages or in free-run systems have cracked shells. This number increases about another 1% for hens kept in enriched cages or housed free-range and a further 1 to 2% for those in aviaries. The range of crack...
The relationship between nutrition and welfare is usually considered to be a direct result of supplying the hen with adequate quantities of feed and water. This simple notion of freedom from hunger and thirst belies the fact that nutrients play a pivotal role in the body’s response to challenges whether they relate to ambient temperature, gastroint...
A comprehensive and detailed account of the evolution and development of Australia's livestock industries, both ruminant (beef and dairy cattle, sheep and goats) and non-ruminant (pig and poultry) is provided in this chapter. The development over 200 years from a continent, of many different climatic regions, on which there were no livestock, to on...
Epithelial damage and loss of barrier integrity occur following intestinal infections in humans and animals. Gut health was evaluated by electron microscopy in an avian model that exposed birds to subclinical necrotic enteritis (NE) and fed them a diet supplemented with the probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 (H57). Scanning electron mi...
The ability to accurately estimate fat mass and fat-free mass (FFM) has the potential to improve the way in which sow body condition can be managed in a breeding herd. Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS) has been evaluated as a practical technique for assessment of body composition in several livestock species, but similar work is lacking in...
Bacteria colonisation of the foal’s gastrointestinal tract (GIT) is a critical developmental stage, effecting subsequent immunological and health outcomes. It has long been thought that the equine fetus develops in a sterile intrauterine environment and GIT colonisation commences at birth. Research now suggests that bacteria isolated from amniotic...
The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of the dietary addition of sodium humate (HAS) on performance and immune response of laying hens during peak lay, over an eight-week period. Laying hens, aged 24 weeks old, were randomly allotted to four dietary treatments: a basal control diet or the basal diet supplemented with 0.1, 0.3 or 0.5%...
Simple Summary
Bone health is an important factor in broiler production. Among the key nutrients affecting bone health, phosphorus (P) plays a great role. Enterococcus faecium has been widely used as feed additive to promote growth performance of broilers. There were reports suggesting that E. faecium improved skeletal health of rats. However, the...
Subclinical necrotic enteritis (NE) was induced in broiler chicks using a high dose of Eimeria spp. vaccine in the drinking water on day 9, and Clostridium perfringens (Cp) culture mixed in the feed on days 14 and 15. The aim was to evaluate the effects of probiotic Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 (H57) in preventing NE in chicks. Day-old Ros...
Background: The modern broiler or meat chicken has ongoing bone health problems. Phosphorus (P) plays an important role in bone development and increased understanding of P metabolism should improve the skeletal health of broilers. Enterococcus faecium has been widely used as a probiotic in broiler production and shown to improve skeletal health of...
Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) is a non-invasive technology for measurement of body composition that requires validation against reference methods when applied to a new species. The aim of this work was to validate DXA for the assessment of body composition of the echidna. Body composition was determined in the short-beaked echidna (Tachygl...
The villi of the intestinal mucosa are lined by a single layer of columnar cells, comprising enterocytes, goblet and enteroendocrine cells, and various types of immune cells, each with a distinct function. Chicken gut mucosa is exposed to an enormous number of feed antigens, and pathogenic bacteria that often impair the intestinal barrier function....
Probiotics are showing promise as antibiotic replacements but more scientific evidence is required to validate their beneficial effects. Previous broiler feed trials conducted with Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 (H57) indicated variable bird performance (Bajagai, 2018). In these trials, birds were kept under “optimal” experimental conditions...
Submitted for World Poultry Congress (WPC) 2021, Paris, France - Conference cancelled due to COVID
Submitted to the World Poultry Congress (WPC) 2021, Paris, France - Conference cancelled due to COVID
A study was conducted in the semi-arid Manyoni District of Central Tanzania, involving eight village communities to: (1) assess aflatoxin contamination of village grains; and (2) gain knowledge on grain food practices and habits associated with aflatoxin risk. To address the respective objectives, random immediate post-harvest (n = 134) and followi...
To study the role of inflammation in the pathophysiology of the fatty liver haemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS), mature laying hen were treated with oestrogen (β-estradiol-17-dipropionate or E2) and challenged with lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Oestrogen injections induced FLHS, but the incidence and severity of the condition was increased with a combination...
Previous studies have implicated oestrogen as a factor in the induction of fatty liver haemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS). In this study a refined laying hen model was employed to permit further investigations. Intramuscular (i.m.) injections of exogenous oestrogen as β-estradiol-17-dipropionate (E2) (5mg/kg BW) were given every 4 days for 20 days to 30...
The Problem
The avian small intestine is lined by a single layer of columnar epithelium, which acts both as a permeability barrier between the gut lumen and the internal milieu, and as an important mediator for nutrient digestion and absorption. The intestinal epithelium is composed of different types of cells each with a distinct function. Enteroc...
Surveys were conducted with cage and alternative layer production systems to assess the prevalence of fatty liver haemorrhagic syndrome (FLHS). Commercial caged laying hens of different ages from three farms in Queensland were monitored for 3 months. The mortality rate of flocks ranged from 0.8% (the youngest flock) to 11.6% (the oldest flock). Six...
Calcium (Ca) and phosphorus (P) are important nutrients in poultry diet formulations. In the present review, we discuss recent advances in our understanding of the metabolism of Ca and P in poultry. Recent data are provided in support of the proposition that current poultry diets are formulated in excess for Ca and P. The quantities of Ca and P ava...
Probiotics (direct fed microbials) are a potential alternative to antibiotic growth promoters for improving animal production and preventing enteric pathogen infections. We are studying the effects of the novel, spore forming strain, Bacillus amyloliquefaciens H57 (H57) on productivity and the intestinal microbiota of poultry. A sorghum and soybean...
Contribution of the gastrointestinal microbiota to animal health, overall wellbeing and productivity is well appreciated. The chicken gastrointestinal microbiome has been studied for more than four decades to understand its characteristics and function. Its microbial community composition is dependent mainly on diet (Apajalahti et al., 2001), and t...
The effects of grain type (barley [B] or sorghum [S]); particle size (ground grain [G] or ground grain from which the coarse fraction had been separated and re-ground, then added back to the fine fraction [R]), and diet form (mash [M], or pellet [P]), on average daily intake (ADI), body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR, feed:gain as...
This document presents a unique and exhaustive review of the state-of-knowledge on the use of probiotics in diverse livestock production systems, and their impact on animal productivity. It focuses specifically on definitions, production, mechanisms of action, applications, effects, safety and potential public health risks of probiotics. In addition...
Phosphorus (P) is an essential element, and the majority of animal feed phosphate is derived from phosphate rock that is a non-renewable resource. Current global P reserves may be depleted in 50–100 years. This poses the challenge of securing future P supply for the global animal feed industries. Currently, nutritionists formulate diets with substa...
Assessment of equine body composition using objective measurements is difficult owing to the large size of the animals and the costs involved. Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS), a technique widely used for the assessment of body composition in humans, was investigated for practicality of use in horses. BIS uses algorithms that require valu...
The liver plays important roles in nutrient metabolism, detoxification and immunity. Enterococcus faecium (E. faecium) is a probiotic that has been shown to have positive effects on broiler production. However, its molecular effects on liver metabolism have not been characterized. This study aims to further identify the biological roles of E. faeci...
Assessment of equine body composition using objective measurements is difficult owing to the large size of the animals and the costs involved. Bioelectrical impedance spectroscopy (BIS), a technique widely used for the assessment of body composition in humans, was investigated for practicality of use in horses. BIS uses algorithms that require valu...
Selenium (Se) is an essential trace mineral required for growth, development, immune function, and metabolism. Selenium exerts its biological effects as an integral component of selenoproteins (SePs). Deficiency or low Se status leads to marked changes in many biochemical pathways and a range of pathologies and disorders which are associated with S...
The bag-shelter moth, Ochrogaster lunifer Herrich-Schaffer (Lepidoptera: Notodontidae), is associated with a condition called equine amnionitis and fetal loss (EAFL) on horse farms in Australia. Setal fragments from O. lunifer larvae have been identified in the placentas of experimentally aborted fetuses and their dams, and in clinical abortions. T...
Objectives:
The aim of this study was to investigate how moderately increased dietary red meat combined with a soluble fiber (wheat arabinoxylan [AX]) alters the large intestinal microbiota in terms of fermentative end products and microbial community profiles in pigs.
Methods:
Four groups of 10 pigs were fed Western-type diets containing two am...
The aim of this study was to investigate how a moderate increase in dietary meat content combined (or not) with soluble fibre would influence protein digestion as well as digesta characteristics and flow.
Four groups of pigs were fed Western-style diets (high-protein/high-fat) containing two types of barbecued red meat, one with and one without a w...
Viruses that originate in bats may be the most notorious emerging zoonoses that spill over from wildlife into domestic animals and humans. Understand-ing how these infections filter through ecological systems to cause disease in humans is of profound importance to public health. Transmission of viruses from bats to humans requires a hierarchy of en...
Supplementation of broiler chicken diets with probiotics may improve carcass characteristics and meat quality. However, the underlying molecular mechanism remains unclear. In the present study, 2D-DIGE-based proteomics was employed to investigate the proteome changes associated with improved carcass traits and meat quality of Arbor Acres broilers (...
Pregnant mares were experimentally exposed to whole caterpillar or exoskeleton of the Processionary caterpillar (Ochrogaster lunifer) via gavage. Tissues were collected from resulting abortions and near or full-term pregnancies consisting of 13 aborted fetuses, 3 fetuses from treated euthanized mares, membranes of 5 foals, and organs from 3 foals....
Six pregnant Standardbred mares aged between 6 and 14 years were gavaged with 50 g or 100 g of suspended emulsified whole Processionary caterpillars (Ochrogaster lunifer) for 5 days during 2 experiments undertaken to study the etiology of equine amnionitis and fetal loss (EAFL). The 6 treated mares and 1 untreated mare were between 128 and 252 days...
Reasons for performing studyEquine amnionitis and fetal loss (EAFL) is an unusual form of abortion in mid- to late-gestation mares, first identified in Australia in 2004. It has been shown that both whole processionary caterpillars (Ochrogaster lunifer) and their shed exoskeletons can induce abortion in mares during midgestation. These abortions ex...
The average particle size of ground grains is known to influence properties related to processing (e.g. water absorption and solubility) and nutritional value (e.g. starch digestion rate) of human foods and animal feeds. The purpose of this study was to identify the contributions made by individual size fractions of hammer-milled barley and sorghum...
G. L. McClymont developed a unique paradigm in which to consider the challenges that confront agriculture and it is based on an understanding of the interrelationships of plants, animals, soils and water within an economic and social framework. The major changes in our environment are the consequence of rapid population growth and the need to incre...
Fungi are ubiquitous and formation of mycotoxins can occur in all agricultural commodities under appropriate field or storage conditions throughout the animal feed supply chain. In this increasingly complex area, the salient features of a fungal growth and mycotoxin production are outlined with strategies to mitigate their accumulation. Overall, th...
Fusarium is one of the most economically important genera of fungal plant pathogens, causing significant crop losses and contamination of grain by mycotoxins on a global basis. Some species also cause infections (mycoses) of humans and other animals. Fusarium includes many species, a significant number of which cause a wide range of plant diseases...
Population studies show that greater red and processed meat consumption increases colorectal cancer risk, whereas dietary fibre is protective. In rats, resistant starches (a dietary fibre component) oppose colonocyte DNA strand breaks induced by high red meat diets, consistent with epidemiological data. Protection appears to be through SCFA, partic...
Barley and sorghum milled grains were separated into three size fractions (fine, 1.0mm) and extruded at two temperature levels (maximum of 100°C or 140°C), to determine the effect of pre-extrusion fraction size on starch digestibility. Following extrusion, in vitro enzymatic starch digestibility was markedly enhanced with a first order rate, typica...
In Australia, there have been recent reports of unusual abortions in mid- to late-gestation mares. These were clinically distinct from other recognised causes of pregnancy loss and the term 'equine amnionitis and fetal loss' (EAFL) was adopted to describe this syndrome. Initial investigations concluded that possible causal factors included the pres...
Milled barley and sorghum grains were separated into three size fractions (fine, <0.5 mm; medium, 0.5–1.0 mm; coarse, >1.0 mm) and extruded at two maximum temperatures (100 °C; 140 °C). Mechanical resistance and specific mechanical energy during extrusion was significantly higher for fine fractions, and extrusion at high temperature resulted in hig...
Sorghum has many attractions as a feed ingredient for broilers, including a high energy content and a competitive price compared with other grains available in Australia. However, these advantages are not always realised due to limitations in starch (and protein) digestibility and the presence of anti-nutrients such as phytate and tannins. In this...
