University of New England/Experimental facilities

From Poultry Hub

The University of New England has excellent poultry research and experimental facilities

Contents 1 Poultry facilities 1.1 Animal house complex 1.2 Laureldale Farm 1.3 Kirby Farm 1.4 Isolator unit (separate unit on campus) 1.5 Feed mixing 2 Analytical, physiological, microbiological, molecular and environmental facilities 2.1 Nutrition laboratory 2.2 Egg Quality Laboratory 2.3 Gut Microbiology Laboratory 2.4 Immunology laboratory 2.5 Histology Laboratory 2.6 Molecular and Microarray Laboratory 2.7 Environmental Chemistry Analytical Facility (ECAF)

Poultry facilities

Animal house complex

• Eight environmentally controlled rooms (temperature and humidity controllable), each capable of accommodating 32 groups cages for ME trials .
• One brooder room capable of holding 2000 birds up to 3 weeks of age.
• Twelve multi-purpose rooms - can be used for small type group trials or animal behaviour work.
• Four small (one layer or 1 to 6 broilers, depending on age) closed-circuit respiration calorimeter systems.

Laureldale Farm

• Located on the north eastern side of the campus.
• Three layer sheds with combined capacity of 8000 layers.
• Smaller sheds are suitable for small group trials, barn or free range trials.

Kirby Farm

• located 15 km north of the campus).
• Three sheds, each capable of holding 3500 birds on the floor.

Isolator unit (separate unit on campus)

• Twenty-four isolator units in a climate controlled environment, with full HEPA filtration facilities for each unit, remote monitoring of each unit for temperature, humidity etc.
• PC2 certified from OGTR, experiments can be conducted with genetically modified organisms (e.g., vaccine).
• Ten small isolation units each holding up to 200 broilers on the floor or 24 layers in cages. Three of these sheds are positive pressure.
• Two large isolation sheds, each can hold 600 broilers or 300 layers in cages. A post-mortem unit is located on site.

Feed mixing

• Feed mixing room attached to the Animal House complex.
• One hammer mill.
• Two cold pellet presses with capacities up to 180 kg/hr.
• Three feed mixers ranging in capacity from 2 kg to 600 kg.
• Balances and scales of various capacities.

Analytical, physiological, microbiological, molecular and environmental facilities

Nutrition laboratory

• Proximate analyses (dry matter, ash, crude protein, crude fibre, NDF, ADF, lignin, total fat).
• Miscellaneous analyses.
  • Nitrogen (Leco FP-2000 organic N analyser & classic Kjeldahl analyses)
  • Mineral elements (ICP, UV/Vis spectroscopy)
  • VFA (including lactate and succinate – GC)
  • Gross energy (bomb calorimetry using IKA7000 systems)
  • Various physiological & biochemical analyses (DADE automatic analyser and single and double-beam spectrophotometers)
  • Electron microscopy (TEM, SEM, probe)
  • NMR, GC-MS. LC-MS
• Carbohydrate analyses: glucose, total starch, digestible starch, resistant starch, total dietary fibre, total NSP, soluble NSP, insoluble NSP, free sugars, oligosaccharides, uronic acid, beta-glucan (mixed linkage).
• Specialised analyses: nutrient digestibility using marker and whole tract techniques, tannins, phytate, extract viscosity, digesta viscosity, enzyme activity.

Egg Quality Laboratory

• Contains a full set of equipment supplied by Technical Services and Supplies, U.K., in addition to some custom-made equipment.
• All egg quality measurements can be conducted: shell thickness, shell colour (reflectivity), shell breaking strength, egg specific gravity, albumen height, Haugh Units, yolk colour (colorimeter), shell deformation, shell weight, egg shape index, shell ultrastructure.

Gut Microbiology Laboratory

• Microbiological analyses of feed and digesta samples using non-selective and selective cultivation techniques.
• Isolation and characterisation of strict anaerobic bacteria.
• Evaluation of microbial fermentation products (gases and short-chained fatty acids including lactate and succinate).
• Molecular differentiation and identification of bacteria isolated from the gastrointestinal tract (PCR-based methods).
• In vitro quantification of microbial fermentation in different sections of the gastrointestinal tract.
• In vitro assessment of the survival of pathogenic bacteria in different sections of the gastrointestinal tract.
• In vitro assessment of adherence of bacteria to the gut wall in the small intestine(PIOC method).

Immunology laboratory

• ELISA
• PCR

Histology Laboratory

• Full range of basic and advanced histological facilities and techniques including fluorescence with high resolution digital camera image capture.
• Digitization of structures using Video Pro and Spot softwares.

Molecular and Microarray Laboratory

• Established at UNE under the Primary Industries Innovation Centre (PIIC).
• General molecular biology approaches:
  • DNA/RNA extractions
  • PCR (high throughput)
  • Robotic liquid handling
  • Agarose/ polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis
  • DNA cloning
  • DNA sequencing
• Molecular marker system:
  • Microsatellite analysis
  • SNPs (High Resolution Melt curve analysis or HRM)
  • RAPD
• Gene mapping:
  • Linkage mapping (Joinmap etc)
  • QTL mapping (QTL Express etc)
  • Candidate gene identification and validation
• Gene expression:
  • Microarray
  • RT-PCR
  • Quantitative realtime PCR
• In situ hybridization:
  • Western blot
  • Immunohistochemistry
• Major instruments:
  • Microarray Scanner (Gene Pix Autoloader 4200 AL, Axon)
  • Realtime PCR machine (Rotorgene 6000, Corbett)
  • Microanalyser (Agilent 2100)
  • CAS-1200 robotics (single channel precision liquid handling system, Corbett).
  • X-tractor Gene robotics (automated nucleic acid extraction, Corbett).
  • Other general molecular laboratory facilities.

Environmental Chemistry Analytical Facility (ECAF)

• Designed specifically for detecting pollutants (nutrients and metals) in soil, animal waste, and water.
• Large scale trial sites within close proximity to UNE campus.