PhD Research: Utilization of Alternative Protein Sources for Sustainable Poultry Production

by Reza Barekatain

Milan Kandel is a PhD candidate in poultry nutrition at the Poultry Research Foundation (PRF) within The University of Sydney. He has a degree in Veterinary Medicine from the Agriculture and Forestry University of Nepal.

As Australia strives to adopt more sustainable and locally sourced feed ingredients, Milan’s PhD research aims to reduce the chicken-meat industry’s reliance on imported soybean meal by exploring the full potential of canola meal, canola seed and field peas as effective homegrown alternatives. Potentially, the outcomes of Milan’s research could provide valuable insights for the Australian poultry industry, specially helping to extend the current benchmark for canola products inclusions in diets.

At the commencement of Milan’s PhD program, he explored the potential challenges associated with including canola products in poultry diets by writing a comprehensive literature review (Published: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aninu.2024.11.006). Since then, Milan has completed 6 broiler studies investigating the impacts of varying inclusion levels of canola products and field peas, substituting soybean meal, on broiler performance, carcass traits, and nutrient digestibility. Moreover, Milan’s studies extended the scope by investigating different dietary interventions aimed at improving the performance of broilers fed higher canola product-fed broilers by mitigating their antinutrient factors. Examples include formulating high canola product diets with higher nutrient densities and incorporating feed additives such as potassium iodide, sodium metabisulfite, higher digestible methionine, and faba beans, each hypothesized to offer specific benefits, particularly in enhancing feed intake.

The final phase of his research investigates how feed particle size influences performance in diets with reduced soybean meal and higher canola products. In the concluding study, Milan will compare the amino acid digestibility of high-protein canola meal with conventional protein sources, offering crucial insights into its nutritional value and it’s potential for broader application in poultry diets.

This research contributes to Australia’s efforts toward a more resilient, sustainable and cost-effective poultry production system. His research findings so far indicate that reduced feed intake is a major challenge when broilers are fed high levels of canola products, highlighting the need for specific dietary strategies to enable higher inclusion rates. Notably, promising results were observed when combination of field peas with canola products, demonstrating their potential as a locally available substitute for soybean meals.