Poultry Hub Australia–Project Updates GAA to improve chick quality, dig Calcium, Precision Feeding, etc.

1. Cracking the industry-
What Poultry Hub Australia
has to offer…
Professor Tamsyn Crowley
poultryhub@une.edu.au

2. “a formula in which the relationship
with PHA will work so that the best bits
of the CRC are retained for the benefit
of the industry.” Pat Blackall.

4. PHA Mission
 Frontier science and state-of-the-art innovations.
 Future leaders and workforce.
 National network with global leverage (industry and
researchers)

5. Research Education Training

6. Creating
Connections

7. Ideas Exchange

8. Poultry Hub Website
www.poultryhub.org

9. eChook

11. Building
Capacity

12. Public
Engagement

13. School Engagement

14. Poultry Hub Job Ready Program
Engagement Work experience
Training Employment
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15. Outcomes
Empowerment
Ready to go
Increased skills
Greater understanding
Increased capacity
Upskilled workers
Workforce stability
“I didn’t like chickens at the start, now I want to take my chicken home”

16. Sharing
Knowledge

17. Research
• Impact driven
• Industry partner
• Assessed by industry
committee

18. $0.00
$200,000.00
$400,000.00
$600,000.00
$800,000.00
$1,000,000.00
$1,200,000.00
$1,400,000.00
$1,600,000.00
$1,800,000.00
$2,000,000.00
2018 2019 2020 2021
Total PHA Research Income

19. Early stage feeding of spray dried porcine plasma to
improve health and performance of broilers in the
presence and absence of challenge with necrotic enteritis
(Prof Bob Swick)
• Outcome - This work indicates that early inclusion of SDPP
enhances performance and improves gut health.
• Early feeding of 2% SDPP in the starter period (first 10 days)
improved feed conversion (feed:gain) by 4.5 points (1.078 to 1.033)
from day 0 to day 8 and by 1.5 points (1.413 to 1.398) from day 0 to
day 29. Economic analysis of SDPP inclusion indicated that the
product would need to be priced between AUD 4 and 5 per kg to
break even. Further work should examine shorter periods of
inclusion perhaps at higher doses to reduce cost.

20. Ileal Ca digestibility (Dr Xiuhua Li)
Objectives/aims
• Collaborate with international researchers (South Africa and USA)
to validate/consolidate the method for ileal digestible Ca
determination in meat chickens.
• Modify the method for Australian poultry diets.
• In progress…

21. Evaluation of different sources of copper in
meat chickens
(Dr Nischchal Sharma)
• To investigate performance of broilers offered diets with varying
sources and levels of copper
• There were no significant differences between dietary treatments in
performance, carcass or organ health characteristics over the duration
of the trial. The likelihood is that added copper is having a benefit to
performance through protecting the gut under non-optimal growing
conditions.. To demonstrate this concept within a research setting, it is
possible that a challenge, be it environmental (such as heat stress) or
biological (such as subclinical necrotic enteritis or coccidiosis) may be
needed to show a response. In particular, the protective effect of added
copper to prevent or lessen the burden of coccidiosis may be worth
investigating in the future.

22. CoRouge copper inclusion to
mitigate coccidiosis
(Dr Amy Moss)
• Aim: to determine if 100 ppm CoRouge Cu inclusion will reduce impact of
coccidiosis challenge
• Challenge: E. maxima and E. acervulina gavaged into crop at d 14
• Fecal samples collected daily from 17-28 d post-hatch, sampling at 21 and 35 d.
Treatment Description
PC
NC
CoRouge
Positive control, unchallenged
Negative control, challenged
NC + 100 ppm CoRouge,
challenged

23. • CoRouge numerically generated the best performance in the grower phase
• CoRouge reduced d 21 ileal lesion score
Treatment Duodenum Jejunum Ileum
1 (NC)
2 (PC)
9 (Cu)
0.38a
2.42b
2.83b
0.21a
0.83b
0.88b
0.00a
2.54b
0.83a
P-value 0.034 0.031 0.025
Treatment E. max d
20
E. acer d
20
E. max d 21 E. acer d 21 E. max d 22 E. acer d 22
1 (NC)
2 (PC)
9 (Cu)
0a
767b
917b
0a
8933b
20316b
0a
650b
300a
0
11466
3650
0a
450b
67a
0a
4183b
833a
P-value 0.003 0.026 0.017 0.064 0.004 0.001
• CoRouge reduced d 21 and 22 oocyst counts

25. Evaluation of precision feeding to enhance
broiler growth efficiency (Dr Amy Moss)
• The precision nutrition adjusted treatment numerically improved feed
cost by 3.2 cents/kg live weight, representing a reduction in cost of
4.13%.
• If it were to cost $50,000 per shed to upgrade to the precision nutrition
equipment, then it would cost the industry an investment of $150 million
to incorporate it into every broiler shed.
• It would take about 3.5 to 4 years for the savings generated by precision
nutrition to cover the investment cost.
• Beyond this, the poultry industry would also benefit from a reduced CV
(which may bring savings at the processing plant) and the ability to
adjust the diet blends to tailor the diet to the growth (or intake or health
status) of the chickens.

26. The effect of AM/PM diets on feed efficiency,
egg quality and welfare parameters for free-
range layer hens (Dr Amy Moss)
• This study will compare a conventional layer hen diet with an
AM/PM feeding diet from 20 to 40 weeks of age in free-range layer
hens, to demonstrate if AM/PM feeding will improve the efficiency
of production, egg quality, reduce faecal nitrogen (and thereby
environmental pollution) and provide positive welfare benefits
(fewer bone fractures, reduced feather pecking and more time
spent ranging/perching).

27. What’s
next?

28. “Many hens make light work”