AgriFutures™ Chicken Meat research goes global

In a short period of time, Dr Liu has contributed enormously to nutritional advancements in chicken production. On receiving the Endeavour Research Fellowship, Dr Liu said she is extremely fortunate.

“The Endeavour Fellowship is an exciting opportunity for me to see firsthand what is happening in the US chicken meat industry and to see the gaps and advantages between the Australian and US markets.”

“The major difference between the industries in Australia and the US is the diet. In the US, chickens are fed a corn based diet, while the Australian chicken meat industry is wheat based,” explained Dr Liu.

“The other obvious difference is scale – everything is bigger in the US!”

The Fellowship, from the Australian Government’s Department of Education and Training, will allow Dr Liu to travel to the USA for six months to learn more about poultry nutrition. Dr Liu will spend time with Professor Michael Kidd of the University of Arkansas; a genuine ‘amino acid guru’, as well as Dr Phillip Smith, a Nutritionist at Tyson Foods, the largest chicken-meat integrator in the States.

Established in 2003, the Endeavour Research Fellowship recognises excellence and aims to foster links with universities across the globe to ensure Australia remains at the forefront of research, innovation and education.

Dr Liu’s research focuses on low protein diets in chickens, which will see environmental and welfare benefits for the Australian chicken meat industry, in addition to a decrease in costs for producers.

The Australian chicken meat industry is worth $2.7 billion with increases every year.

AgriFutures Australia Program Development Officer, Kylie Hewson said there are a number of exciting research projects and events on the horizon.

“Keep an eye out on our new research open calls. There will also be innovative events such as the Australian Poultry Science Symposium coming up in Sydney in February,” Ms Hewson said.