Current research projects
Long-term Research Projects (12-36 months)
- Effect of incubation temperature on leg health in broilers. (RIRDC funded; CI Dr. Peter Groves)
- Calcium-specific appetite in layers. (AECL funded; CI Cormac O’Shea)
- Extension of the Geometric Framework to broiler nutrition: the influence of macronutrients on broiler performance. (commercially funded post-doc; CI Dr. Sonia Liu)
- The factors influencing sorghum starch digestibility in broiler chickens. (RIRDC funded; CI Peter Selle)
- Whole grain feeding in chicken meat production. (RIRDC funded; CI Peter Selle and Sonia Liu)
- Prevention of feather pecking in laying hens. (AECL funded; CI Dr. Greg Cronin)
- Proteomic measures of albumen degradation as indicators of egg freshness. (Poultry CRC funded; CI Jeff Downing)
- Electrolyte supplementation of broilers prior to transport. (RIRDC funded; CI Jeff Downing)
- Avian influenza risk mitigation for the free-range sector of the Australian poultry industry. (Poultry CRC and Woolworths funded; CI Peter Groves and Jenny-Ann Toribio)
- RIRDC Chicken-Meat Project No: PRJ -010489 ‘Survey and review of grain sorghum in chicken-meat production’. (RIRDC funded; CI Dr. Peter Selle)
- RIRDC Chicken-Meat Project No: PRJ-010216: ‘Formulating broiler diets based on protein and starch digestive dynamics’. (RIRDC funded; CI Dr. Sonia Liu)
- Australian Feed Grain Partnership: ‘Retrospective analyses of retained PGLP grain sorghum samples’. (RIRDC funded; CI Dr. Peter Selle and Dr Sonia Liu)
- Bioplatforms Australia [in conjunction with Australian Proteome Analytical Facility (Macquarie University) and Feedworks]: ‘Metabolic fates of amino acids and glucose in enterocytes’ (RIRDC funded; CI Dr. Peter Selle and Dr Sonia Liu)
- Salmonella control programs in commercial egg layers (AECL funded; CI Peter Groves)
Short-term Research Projects (6-12 months)
- Determination of grain AME for NIR calibrations. (Poultry CRC funded; CI Jeff Downing)
- The influence of exogenous enzymes in broiler diets based on wheat, maize and sorghum (commercially funded; CI Dr. Sonia Liu)
Postgraduate Student Projects
- Tugrul Durali (PhD): Understanding the performance gap between free-range and conventional poultry production.
- Kevin Precilla (MVSc): Evaluating the nutritional motivation for feather pecking and eating. (Poultry CRC funded)
- Angela Scott (PhD): Avian influenza risk mitigation for the free-range sector of the Australian poultry industry. (Poultry CRC funded)
- Ms Amy Moss (PhD): The interaction of exogenous enzymes in chicken-meat production. (commercially funded, supervisors: Drs Peter Selle and Sonia Liu)
- Ms Christine Sydenham (PhD): Utilisation of synthetic amino acids and low-protein diets in chicken-meat production’ (commercially funded, supervisor: Drs Peter Selle and Sonia Liu)
- Alannah Mackay (PhD): Prevention of feather pecking in laying hens (AECL funded)
Published Papers
Each year, Poultry Research Foundation staff and students submit a considerable numbers of papers, to some of the world’s most renowned animal science journals, for publishing. The majority of their work is readily accepted, highlighting not only the importance of the work carried out by the PRF on the world stage, but also the commitment and quality of all of our researchers.
A number of journals that our staff have recently featured in are listed below:
- Poultry Science
- Animal Feed Science & Technology
- British Poultry Science
- World’s Poultry Science Journal
- Nutrition Research Reviews
- Journal of Animal Physiology and Animal Nutrition
- Animal Production Science
- Journal of Animal Science
- The Journal of Poultry Science
- Journal of Agriculture and Food Chemistry