Early bird gets the feed: better nutrition and management in poultry. Chicken and eggs are the preferred and affordable sources of animal protein, and essential for national nutrition and food securit

Description

Early bird gets the feed: better nutrition and management in poultry. Chicken and eggs are the preferred and affordable sources of animal protein, and essential for national nutrition and food security. Australia produces approximately 14 million chickens every week and, unfortunately, few, if any, meet day 7 growth performance target. Both parental and early post-hatch nutrition influences early growth and ultimately, final body weight in broilers and egg production in layers. This project aims to investigate amino acid metabolism and digestive dynamics in breeders, chicks and pullets in Australian production systems. Expected outcomes include industry nutrition and management guidelines to improve productivity, reduced environmental footprint and strong, ongoing industry-research collaborations. . Scheme: Early Career Industry Fellowships. Field: 3003 - Animal Production. Lead: Prof Sonia Liu