Preliminary results from a Poultry CRC project being undertaken by DPI&F Queensland examining the reuse of chicken litter across broiler cycles have indicated that levels of food-borne pathogens are not any higher in re-used litter than those found in single-batch rearing. The Project Leader, QDPI&F’s Nalini Chinivasagam, commenced litter trials on two farms in June last year

More doctors in the house We have some good news on the Postgraduate Education front with James Turnell and Rebecca Forder having completed all the requirements for their Ph.D. degrees. Bec is off to Kentucky on a Poultry CRC Internship and James is about to commence a Postdoctoral Fellowship. Kelly Tivendale should receive her examiners’

Although still completing an honours degree in Animal & Veterinary Bioscience at the University of Sydney, Will Taylor knows exactly where his first job will be. Pepe’s Ducks were seeking candidates for several Honours projects at the university, and one in particular, looking at Pekin ducks under commercial conditions, appealed to him (Pekin is the

Given her interest in gut physiology and nutrition, Rebecca Forder’s upcoming internship at Alltech’s headquarters in Lexington, Kentucky, is not so much a step in the right direction, as a well-timed leap. Having just finished her PhD on mucin bacterial interactions during early post-hatch development of broiler chickens, Rebecca will be heading to the US

Late last year, the Poultry CRC and AECL co-funded the appointment of an Extension Officer, Geof Runge. Geof has visited more than 50 farms since his appointment and these face-to-face meetings allow him to engage with poultry farmers and understand the problems they face. “The number one issue for egg farmers,” according to Geof, “is

World’s Poultry Congress 2008 (WPC2008) The Poultry CRC is proud to be a sponsor of WPC2008 and I would like to draw the attention of eligible young scientists to the Youth Program being held as part of WPC2008. The Youth Program includes a post-congress tour which will be a combination of industry visits and tourism.

A new Fowl Cholera vaccine should reach the market in the first quarter of 2010. The live Pasteurella multocida candidate vaccine, PMP1 or Vaxsafe® PM, has been shown to be a safe and efficacious in the control of Fowl Cholera. According to Poultry CRC Project Leader and Senior Research Fellow at the University of Melbourne Veterinary School,

A project aimed at identifying the differences between key feed ingredients, with regards to their potential to induce or inhibit reflux, has been undertaken at the University of New England (UNE). Four experiments were conducted to evaluate the occurrence and possible effects of certain dietary ingredients on reverse movement of feed matter (reflux) in broiler and

Five patents for new poultry health products are coming out of the Poultry CRC’s research Program 2A: Discovery & development of poultry health products: “Antimicrobial peptides”; “Modulating production traits”; “Novel toxin”; and two other patents yet to be filed. Antimicrobial peptides CSIRO’s Sharon Bishop-Hurley has identified and patented a group of peptides that attack the

By Andrew Turner A number of interesting papers have been published recently about the bird flu epidemic in Asia, Africa and Europe. A paper by Kilpatrick et al (2006) concluded that H5N1 HPNAI infection in Asia was most likely spread to 9 of 21 Asian countries by poultry and 3 of 21 countries by migratory birds

Poultry CRC Program Manager, Kevin Whithear, was recently awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia“for service to veterinary science and education, particularly through research, development and production of vaccines to control major diseases in poultry.” Kevin was instrumental in the establishment of the CRC and held the positions of Deputy CEO and Education Coordinator until last

The first scientific evaluation of the major causes of mortality in commercial free-range layer flocks in Australia has been completed by the Poultry CRC in conjunction with the Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries (QDPI&F) and the University of Queensland. According to the Project Leader,QDPI&F’s Tanya Nagle, there is limited scientifically sound information on causes

As one of the very first students to get support from the Poultry CRC, Nick Rodgers is now one of the first to secure an industry-related role. Now based in Melbourne, Nick started as a Technical Support Manager with Alltech Biotechnology, a supporting participant of the Poultry CRC, in October. Part of Nick’s role includes working