Category: News
The latest news and media releases from APRIL
[NOW CLOSED] Call for Innovation Projects
The Australasian Pork Research Institute Ltd. (APRIL) is seeking applications for its Innovation Projects scheme, for commencement in 2023.
An independent, member-based entity, APRIL seeks to enhance the Australian pork industry by investing in research and development, education and training, and commercialisation activities focused on priorities and deliverables that ensure the sustainability of Australian pork production, and to generate optimal returns for its stakeholders.
APRIL’s Innovation Projects, which are negotiable to 12 to 18 months in duration and have a maximum budget of ~$75,000, are designed specifically to support ‘out of the box’ ideas for smart, new approaches to tackle the current and emerging challenges of the Australian pork industry. Innovation Projects must demonstrate originality, uniqueness and creativity, establish new concepts or challenge existing ones, address significant challenges or critical barriers to progress, and be able to improve or apply new theoretical concepts, methodologies or tools that will benefit the pork industry.
The Innovation Projects’ scheme requires a minimum level of cash co-investment of 25% of the total project cost.
To coincide with APRIL’s new Strategic Plan, up to $750,000 will be available for this round of Innovation Projects.
The Innovation Projects scheme is provided on a nationally competitive basis and available to applicants from any organisation. Collaborative projects are strongly encouraged, but applications must identify a Lead Party that will administer the Project. All APRIL funding schemes are assessed, evaluated and recommended for funding by the Research and Development Advisory Committee, which has the collective expertise and experience to effectively assess applications. If approved, research scheme funds are paid directly to the successful Lead Party.
Funding Rules for Innovation Projects stipulate that no overhead (indirect cost recovery) can be charged. Innovation Projects are conducted under the Terms and Conditions of the APRIL Research Deed, that can be viewed here: https://apri.com.au/research/
For any further information or any questions, please contact either Dr Charles Rikard-Bell (Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact; c.rikardbell@april.org.au; 0439 513 723), or Dr John Pluske (Chief Scientist and CEO; j.pluske@april.org.au; 0410 436 871).
To apply for an APRIL Innovation Project, complete the relevant proposal form and the Budget and Milestones template and email to Dr Charles Rikard-Bell (c.rikardbell@april.org.au) by 5 pm AEDT, 12 December 2022.
Important Dates:
Applications open: 24 October 2022.
Applications Close: 12 December 2022.
It is anticipated that funding for successful projects would commence after 1 July, 2023, subject to APRIL Board approval.
APRIL AGM and Stakeholder’s Forum
The APRIL Annual General Meeting (for Ordinary Members of the Company only) and Stakeholders’ Forum will be held on Tuesday 15 November 2022, 1 pm – 5:30 pm, in the Exhibition Room, at the Marriott Hotel, corner of Exhibition & Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne, Victoria. The conclusion of the Stakeholders’ Forum will be followed by a networking function.
The program can be found here.
APRIL News September- October 2022
Welcome to the third edition of APRIL News for 2022.
The APRIL Annual General Meeting (for Ordinary Members of the Company only) and Stakeholders’ Forum will be held on Tuesday 15 November 2022, 1 pm – 5:30 pm, at the Marriott Hotel, corner of Exhibition & Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne, Victoria. The conclusion of the Stakeholders’ Forum will be followed by a networking function.
The Stakeholders’ Forum program is still in development but will be available here, https://apri.com.au/news-and-media/, in 2-3 weeks. The Forum will cover some of APRIL and APL’s research and development, education and training, and commercialisation activities, presentations from invited speakers, and a number of other presentations. An agenda will be sent closer to the date. There will be opportunities for questions and comments.
A Heat Stress and Seasonal Infertility Technical Forum, featuring a number of review presentations and updates on APRIL-and APL- supported projects covering this topic, is being held via Zoom on Wednesday 19 October 2022 between 1:00 and 3:30 pm (AEDT). For further details and information, please contact Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact (0439 513 723; Email: c.rikardbell@april.org.au).
This edition’s Research and Innovation piece provides an update on a new Transformational Project that is now underway, as well as details of the new APRIL Innovation Award.
Education and Training features two recently completed postgraduate theses from Dr Tanya Laird and Emma Goode, from Murdoch University and the University of New England, respectively, and provides some information regarding the new APRIL Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme.
The Research Snapshot focuses on the Final Report received for project A3B-102, Nutritional supplementation to increase the number of pigs weaned and fertility of sows which farrow and are mated during summer/early autumn (A/Prof Will van Wettere, The University of Adelaide).
Commercialisation in this edition describes some recent results examining energy values in sprouted grains from the 2021-22 harvest, as well as a call for Expressions of Interest in the further development and potential commercialisation of portable NIR technology for the rapid assessment of water quality.
Our Member Focus this edition features Professor Paul Verma, from PIRSA-SARDI and The University of Adelaide.
Towards the back end of 2022, and closing in January 2023, APRIL will be announcing an open and competitive call for Innovation Projects. Innovation Projects, which are negotiable to 12 to 18 months in duration and have a maximum budget of ~$75,000, are designed to support ‘out of the box’ ideas for smart, new approaches to tackle current and emerging challenges of the pork industry.
Innovation Projects must demonstrate originality, uniqueness and creativity, establish new concepts or challenge existing ones, address significant challenges or critical barriers to progress, and be able to improve or apply new theoretical concepts, methodologies or tools that will benefit industry.
To kick-off APRIL’s new Strategic Plan, up to $750,000 will be available for this round of Innovation Projects. Please note, Project Leaders will only be considered for a new project if reporting on their current projects is up to date.
A new section for future APRIL Newsletters will be for employment and education and training opportunities from Members. If there is an announcement you’d like to include in the Newsletter, please contact me.
As always, we would welcome receiving APRIL-related information and upcoming events from our Members’ for possible inclusion in the Newsletter [subject to space (preferred length is 100-150 words) and content], as we see this as an important communication forum between Members also.
Please note though that news of APRIL activities has priority, and items of an advertorial nature are not permitted.
Finally, New Zealand Pork are thanked for their support of APRIL.
Sincerely,
Dr John Pluske
CEO and Chief Scientist
j.pluske@april.org.au
Research and Innovation
A new Transformational Project, Novel approaches for combatting antimicrobial resistance in Australian pigs: Exploring nature’s antimicrobial arsenals, naturally derived feed additives and natural bacterial flora to combat resistant bacteria, is underway through Murdoch University, with Professor Sam Abraham as Project Leader.
The overarching aim of this project is to determine the origin, transmission pathways and public health impact of newly emergent, critically important antimicrobial-resistant (CIA-R) Escherichia coli in pigs in order to develop novel control strategies for the pork industry. This project will use advanced high throughput robotics and genomics to understand the extent of the AMR in Australian pigs, significantly maximising the impact of novel integrated control strategies based on nature’s antimicrobial arsenal. Using naturally-derived feed additives, phages, and natural bacterial flora, the outcomes will enhance our understanding of AMR and development of commercially viable solutions. The anticipated outcomes will address one of the most pressing and globally significant animal and public health issues at the moment, namely the development and dissemination of resistance to last-line human use antimicrobials in food-producing animals.
Partners in this Transformational Project are SunPork Solutions, Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd., Feedworks Pty Ltd. and Australian Pork Limited, with Tecan Australia Pty Ltd. as a project subcontractor. Thank you to all those contributing and participating in this important project.
One of APRIL’s strategic imperatives is to seek leverage of its funds against additional investment in priority research, education and training, and commercialisation programs to achieve necessary scale for key industry outcomes. In this regard, APRIL continues its Kickstart program for the 2022/23 financial year, which is aimed at providing financial support to individuals/organisations to put together a project submission that seeks significant external funding.
More details of the scheme can be found here, or by contacting Dr John Pluske (j.pluske@april.org.au). Applications are open at any time.
APRIL Innovation Award
A new initiative from APRIL is the Innovation Award.
The purpose of the Innovation Award is to tap into the resourcefulness, know-how, and ingenuity of the many people that work in the pork industry, to demonstrate innovations, e.g., new products, new methodologies, new services, that the industry can adopt to improve performance and efficiencies, and that might result in commercialisation opportunities.
The Innovation Award winner(s) will be selected by an industry-based panel and will be announced at the APRIL Stakeholders’ Forum in Melbourne on 15 November 2022. The Award winner(s) will be eligible to be invited to attend and eligible to receive a cash prize (as per the Terms & Conditions).
Applications must be received by 5 pm AEDT, 21 October 2022. Please direct any queries and send applications to: Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact (0439 513 723; Email: c.rikardbell@april.org.au)
Further details relating to the purposes of the Award and How to Apply, as well as the Terms & Conditions, can be found here.
Education and Training
Congratulations to Dr Tanya Laird and Emma Goode, from Murdoch University and the University of New England respectively, for the successful completion of their postgraduate theses.
Dr Tanya Laird’s PhD thesis (Novel approaches for managing and controlling antimicrobial resistance in pigs; supervisors Professor Sam Abraham and Drs Mark O’Dea and Shafi Sahibzada) examined various aspects of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in E. coli in pigs and nutritional interventions (in the forms of Lactobacillus acidophilus fermentation products and Saccharomyces cerevisiae fermentation products) for the control/reversal of AMR. A study also looked at the combination of bacteriophages and competitive exclusion clones in vitro as a novel and targeted approach for the control of extended-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant E. coli.
Dr Laird’s thesis was part of project A1-101, Novel approaches for reducing antimicrobial resistant and pathogenic Gram-negative bacteria in the porcine gut, led by Professor Sam Abraham (Murdoch University).
Emma Goode’s Master of Science in Agriculture thesis (Seasonal fertility of the sow can be predicted by sow-factors; supervisors Professor Susanne Hermesch and Dr Kate Plush) explored the identification of indicative traits of fertility, sow parities most affected by season, and the months of reduced breeding success. Emma’s thesis was part of project A3B-104, Seasonal fertility: a novel approach to alleviating seasonal infertility in sows, led by Dr Kate Plush (SunPork Solutions).
Dr Laird is currently employed in Diagnostics and Laboratory Services at the Western Australian Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (DPIRD), and Emma is parenting and farming in South Australia and an active member of the Kapunda and Light Agricultural Show Committee.
To build further upon APRIL’s current education and training investments and assist in further building human capacity for the pork industry, a call seeking applications to support its education and training programs (including the new Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme; see below) will be made in November, 2022. This will also include opportunities for undergraduate and postgraduate students/potential students interested in pursuing a project as part of the current CRC-Project (CRC-P), Eliminating Pig Tail Removal to Improve Welfare and Industry Sustainability.
Applications and information for APRIL’s education and training awards will be able to be found here.
APRIL Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme
At its June meeting, the APRIL Board approved the APRIL Post-Doctoral Fellowship Scheme. This Scheme will complement the existing Industry Placement Program (IPP), and assist in providing more opportunities for individuals to become further involved in the pork industry.
The Scheme’s main objectives are to: (i) attract and retain high calibre early career researchers for the benefit of the pork industry; (ii) provide Post-Doctoral Fellow recipients with the time and support to develop their demonstrated research potential and track record; and (iii) assist in establishing a Post-Doctoral Fellow with a successful career trajectory.
Applications and guidelines for the scheme will be open to an individual, on a full-time or part-time basis, who has completed their research doctorate (PhD) studies (or will shortly satisfy the requirements of a PhD) and has less than 3 years of relevant post-doctoral work experience (or pro-rata equivalent).
Research Snapshot
APRIL has received a Final Report for project A3B-102, Nutritional supplementation to increase the number of pigs weaned and fertility of sows which farrow and are mated during summer/early autumn (A/Prof Will van Wettere, The University of Adelaide).
A collaborative study between The University of Adelaide, Rivalea (Australia Pty Ltd.) and Feedworks was conducted to determine the effects of arginine supplementation with or without betaine from 7 days prior to farrowing until the first post-weaning oestrus, on piglet mortality and growth prior to weaning, as well as sow reproductive performance post-weaning.
This study consisted of two replicates, one in summer and one in winter/spring (spring), with four dietary treatments applied from farrowing shed entry until first post-weaning oestrus: (i) Control, standard diet; (ii) Betaine, standard diet plus betaine (0.2%); (iii) Arginine, standard diet plus arginine (L-arginine; 1.0%); (iv) Arginine plus Betaine, standard diet plus arginine (1.0%) and betaine (0.2%) (n = 130 sows per treatment per seasonal replicate).
Numerous reproductive and lactation indices were measured including in the following lactation.
Major Project Outcomes
- During summer, the inclusion of arginine in sows reduced piglet mortality, adding arginine and betaine to sow diets improved subsequent reproductive performance, while the addition of betaine (regardless of the presence of arginine) also improved subsequent reproductive performance.
- Regardless of the inclusion of betaine in the diet, arginine reduced piglet mortality between fostering and day 3 of lactation from 19.8% to 14.7% (P < 0.01), reduced the number of piglets which died from fostering to weaning (2.20 ± 0.13 versus 2.55 ± 0.13; P = 0.06), and reduced the number of live born piglets which died prior to weaning (2.86 ± 0.15 versus 3.33 ± 0.15; P < 0.05).
- Subsequent reproductive performance:
- Arginine and betaine together reduced the weaning to remating interval (P < 0.05) from 5.6 to 5.1 days, increased the number of piglets born alive from 12.3 to 12.9 piglets/litter, and decreased the number of piglets born dead from 1.7 to 1.0 at the subsequent litter (P < 0.05).
- When the main effect of betaine was analysed, its inclusion increased the number of piglets born alive at the subsequent litter from 12.3 to 12.8, and decreased the number and percentage of still born piglets from 1.64 to 1.18 and 10.9 to 8.1%, respectively (P < 0.05).
- For treatments applied in spring, there were no benefits of including either betaine and arginine, either together or separately, in the diets of sows from pre-farrowing to remating during spring, on measures recorded during the first and second lactation. Stillbirth rates were higher at the first farrowing, and litter size on day 25 of the first lactation was lower following supplementation of betaine and arginine separately (P < 0.001). This result appears to be contradictory to the bulk of the available literature, and may, therefore, require further validation.
Check the APRIL website here, for details relating to Project Summaries and Final Reports.
Commercialisation
Wheat energy contents and the falling number value
The 2021-22 eastern Australian harvest caused an estimated 40-45% of wheat grown in NSW being downgraded to feed wheat due to pre-harvest germination caused by an unusually wet summer. Unfortunately, the feed grain quality data reported in the AusScan Early Harvest Reports were not able to compare sprouted and normal wheats. The falling number value is used by industry to determine the degree of sprouting in suspected wheat samples, but its relationship to energy contents for pigs and broilers is unknown.
AusScan Online conducted a study in which 23 samples of sprouted grain from the 2021-22 harvest were analysed for falling number, test weight and energy values, with the objective being to determine whether the degree of sprouting – as indicated by the falling number – is relevant to the predicted energy content of the wheat. A higher falling number value indicates non-weather-damaged grain, whereas a lower value is more indicative of sprouted grain.
The results showed acceptable values for pig faecal digestible energy (DE) content and broiler apparent metabolisable energy (AME) content ranging from 13.5 to 14.0 MJ/kg and 12.5 to 13.0 MJ/Kg across the range of falling number values, respectively. A total of 21 samples were classified as sprouted grain and would have been downgraded to feed wheat, despite having acceptable DE and AME values.
The results help to emphasise that sprouted wheat in most instances has an equivalent nutritional value to normal wheat, and that the falling number value can be of little to no consequence when considering grain energy contents for feed formulation purposes.
Expressions of Interest – Improving an NIR Calibration of Rapid Assessment of Water Quality
APRIL is seeking Expressions of Interest from a suitable partner (or partners) to support further development/testing and potential subsequent commercialisation of a miniaturised, NIR technology that can rapidly assess (less than 60 seconds) more than 13 water quality parameters including alkali metals, heavy metals and microbiology.
Water quality and its management represents a significant challenge to the livestock industries. Rapid, on-site testing of water quality will enable timely, cost-effective decision-making. By having access to this simple yet robust technology, livestock producers and technical decision-makers will be better placed to understand their individual water quality challenges and in turn implement appropriate actions to ensure not only optimal animal productivity, health and welfare but also economic benefits and efficiencies.
Furthermore, this technology is translatable across other agricultural and industry sectors where rapid diagnostics are needed.
Further specific information can be found here or by contacting Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact (0439 513 723; Email: c.rikardbell@april.org.au).
Member Focus -Professor Paul Verma
(PIRSA-SARDI, The University of Adelaide)
I am a reproductive biologist with a research focus on assisted reproductive technologies and biotechnology and am keen to translate my research into real world outcomes. After obtaining my PhD at The University of Adelaide, I joined BresaGen Ltd, working on generation of pigs for organ transplantation (xenotransplantation). This sparked my interest in, and led to working on, pig reproduction for three decades, during which time I have wonderful memories of travel to Bunge Meats (now Rivalea) in Corowa, NSW for embryo transfer experiments. Subsequently developing an interest in stem cells, I moved to Monash University for 10 years, being appointed Professor and Program Leader, Stem Cell Biology. Mentoring bright young students was a highlight of my time in academia, supervising 11 PhDs and 14 graduates, resulting in >90 publications and featuring in Nature (2003)! During this time, I was fortunate to also be appointed to the NH&MRC Cellular Therapies Advisory Committee (CTAC); Scientific Advisory Panel, Australian Bone Marrow Donor Registry; and Panel Chair Australia-India Strategic Research Fund (AISRF).
Joining SARDI in 2012, I work with pigs and sheep, using reproductive technologies and precise genome editing (CRISPR-Cas9) to manipulate livestock production traits and develop biomedical models. For the last three years I have enjoyed leading the Pigs & Poultry Group and developing greater ties with industry. Having recently been appointed Acting Program Leader for Livestock Sciences, I intend to continue exploring and developing innovative biotechniques to solving industry challenges, including precise identification of the reproductive state of the sow, enhancing fecundity and growth rate in pigs, and developing a ‘lab on a chip’ for pig welfare monitoring.

Conferences, Events, Important Dates
1. TropAg International Agriculture Conference, 31 October-2 November 2022 (Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre).
2. APRIL AGM and Stakeholder Forum, 15 November 2022 (Marriott Hotel, corner of Exhibition & Lonsdale Streets, Melbourne, Victoria).
3. APL Delegates and Members’ Forum, 16 November 2022 (Melbourne).
4. APL Annual General Meeting, 17 November 2022 (Melbourne).
5. Evoke AG, 21-22 February 2023 (Adelaide Convention Centre, South Australia).
6. American Society of Animal Science Midwest Meeting, 12-15 March 2023 (Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center, Madison, Wisconsin.
APRIL Innovation Award
A new initiative from APRIL is the APRIL Innovation Award.
The purpose of the Innovation Award is to tap into the resourcefulness, know-how, and ingenuity of the many people that work in the pork industry, to demonstrate innovations, e.g., new products, new methodologies, new services, that the industry can adopt to improve performance and efficiencies, and that might result in commercialisation opportunities.
The Innovation Award winner(s) will be selected by an industry-based panel and will be announced at the APRIL Stakeholders’ Forum in Melbourne on 15 November 2022. The Award winner(s) will be eligible to be invited to attend and eligible to receive a cash prize (as per the Terms & Conditions).
Please find attached details relating to the purposes of the Award and How to Apply (here), as well as the Terms & Conditions (here).
Applications must be received by 5 pm AEDT, 21 October 2022.
Please direct any queries and send applications to: Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact (0439 513 723; Email: c.rikardbell@april.org.au
APRIL News June – July 2022
Welcome to APRIL News (Edition 2, 2022).
This edition’s Research and Innovation piece provides an update on new projects approved by the APRIL Board and contracted, as well as details of a new project examining the use of multiplexed, portable on-chip sensing technologies to detect and assess multiple pain and welfare biomarkers in pigs.
The Research Snapshot focuses on one of a number of projects APRIL is supporting related to heat stress and seasonal infertility. Progress in some of these projects has been delayed over the last 2 years or so as a result of Covid, but results from some studies are now coming in. A special thank you to researchers, students, technicians and everyone else involved in all of these projects for working very hard, often under trying circumstances, to keep these projects going.
A reminder that applications for potential research students wishing to be involved in the current 3-year CRC-Project, Eliminating Pig Tail Removal to Improve Welfare and Industry Sustainability, close 8 July. Further details can be found below.
Our Member Focus this edition is on Dr Jeremy Cottrell, from The University of Melbourne.
Congratulations to Professor Frank Dunshea, The University of Melbourne and APRIL Board Member and Education Advisory Committee Chair, who recently received the American Feed Industry Award in Ruminant Nutrition Research from the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS). The AFIA Award in Ruminant Nutrition Research recognises an individual who has contributed to and published outstanding work in the last 10 years in the field of ruminant nutrition.
Professor Dunshea will be the first person to be awarded both the ASAS Non-Ruminant Nutrition award (2013) and the Ruminant Nutrition award (2022); he has also been the recipient of the ASAS Growth and Development (2009) and Meat Science (2017) awards.
An early reminder for your calendars that this year, in mid-November (date and venue yet to be decided) and in conjunction with the Annual General Meeting, APRIL intends to hold our annual Stakeholder Forum in a face-to-face format. This will be the first time in 3 years that this would be able to occur. Further information will be forthcoming.
Finally, and as always, we would welcome receiving APRIL-related information and upcoming events from our Members for possible inclusion in the Newsletter [subject to space (preferred length is 100-150 words) and content], as we see this as an important communication forum between Members also. Please note though that news of APRIL activities has priority, and items of an advertorial nature are not permitted
Sincerely,
Dr John Pluske
CEO and Chief Scientist
Research and Innovation
A number of new projects have been fully executed recently, as follows:
1. Investigating the impact of circulating creatine concentrations in gestation on vitality and survivability of low birth weight piglets [Dr Tanya Nowland, Affiliate Associate Lecturer (The University of Adelaide) and Research Scientist – Pig Reproductive and Welfare (SARDI)]. Other project partners are Feedworks Pty Ltd., Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd., SARDI, The University of Adelaide and AlzChem Trostberg GmbH.
2. Brain measures of positive welfare in pigs (Professor Alan Tilbrook, The University of Queensland). Other project partners are SunPork Solutions, Deakin University, and The University of Western Australia.
3. Use of progesterone and GM-CSF to improve the fertility of extended semen (A/Prof Mark Nottle, The University of Adelaide). The other project partner is Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd.
4. Heating up the house: Evaluating the effect of novel monitoring and heating systems on the productivity, welfare and economics of farrowing houses (Dr Maria Jorquera-Chavez, Rivalea).
5. Use of an inhibin vaccine to increase litter size in pigs [Professor Paul Verma, Affiliate Professor (The University of Adelaide) and Science Program Leader – Pigs and Poultry (SARDI)]. Other project partners are The University of Queensland and Dr. Paul Tolstoshev.
Congratulations to all those involved in the successful projects, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes from the projects and the benefits to the Australasian pork industry.
APRIL is pleased to announce that together with The University of Adelaide and supported by Dr Barry Lloyd, it has been awarded a Department of Primary Industries and Regions (PIRSA) AgTech Growth Fund grant from the Government of South Australia. The project, Smart sensors for enhanced animal welfare monitoring and outcomes, will build upon previously-funded APRIL research in multiplexed, smart, portable on-chip sensing technologies to rapidly and economically detect and assess multiple pain and welfare biomarkers in pigs.
Total project budget is $159,445 comprising a cash request from PIRSA of $54,000, consortium cash contributions of $47,000 and consortium in-kind contributions of $58,445. Dr Abel Santos (The University of Adelaide) and Professor Paul Verma (Leader Pigs & Poultry, Livestock Sciences, South Australian Research and Development Institute) will lead the project.
APRIL thanks the Department of Primary Industries and Regions, Government of South Australia, for supporting this project (https://pir.sa.gov.au).
One of APRIL’s strategic imperatives is to seek leverage of its funds against additional investment in priority research, education and training, and commercialisation programs to achieve necessary scale for key industry outcomes. In this regard, APRIL continues Its Kickstart program for the 2022/23 financial year, which is aimed at providing seed funding to individuals/organisations to put together a project submission that seeks significant external funding, such as the projects shown in the previous table.
More details of the scheme can be found at https://apri.com.au/research/funding-opportunities/, or by contacting Dr John Pluske (j.pluske@april.org.au). Applications are open at any time.
Finally, and in an interesting piece of news released in May (https://www.gov.uk/government/news/genetic-technology-bill-enabling-innovation-to-boost-food-security), a bill – the Genetic Technology (Precision Breeding) Bill – was introduced into the House of Commons. The Bill (“A Bill to make provision about the release and marketing of, and risk assessments relating to, precision bred plants and animals, and the marketing of food and feed produced from such plants and animals; and for connected purposes”) seeks to “remove unnecessary barriers to research into new gene editing technology, which for too long has been held back by the EU’s rules around gene editing, which focus on legal interpretation rather than science – hindering the UK’s world leading agricultural research institutions”.
The new (proposed) regulations will create a category for genetically edited crops and animals, separate from those which govern genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Education and Training
A project consortium led by SunPork Pty Ltd. and involving APRIL is interested in hearing from potential research students wishing to be involved in the current 3-year CRC-Project (CRC-P), Eliminating Pig Tail Removal to Improve Welfare and Industry Sustainability. The overall aim of this research project is to provide information to enable pork producers to make objective decisions with confidence as to whether they can raise pigs with intact tails.
A number of different opportunities exist for undergraduate and postgraduate students/potential students interested in pursuing this opportunity, as follows:
- Scholarship Awards for Honours students.
- Support for DVM/undergraduate Veterinary Science projects.
- Support for MS/MSc/MPhil students, where a research project is an incorporated component of the program of study.
Eligibility
Eligibility varies according to the different scheme being applied for. Make sure the Guidelines associated with each opportunity are read thoroughly before starting and submitting an application.
How do I apply?
Information concerning the different education opportunities, including Guidelines and application forms, can be found below. Completed applications should reach APRIL by the closing date, and the outcomes will be announced after the closing date.
The APRIL Education Advisory Committee will assess all applications against criteria including the academic record and curriculum vitae of the applicant, the applicant’s research potential including the research proposal, alignment with the CRC-P, evidence of industry endorsement/relevance, a personal statement from the applicant, the supervisor(s) track record, and a communication and delivery plan (if appropriate).
APRIL will determine the number of, and the amount of, any grant awarded.
Further information on the range of Awards available can be found here: https://apri.com.au/education-and-training-opportunities/.
Applications should be lodged electronically by the closing date to Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, c.rikardbell@april.org.au. Questions on any of the Awards should be directed to Dr John Pluske, j.pluske@april.org.au.
Applications close: 8 July 2022.
Commercialisation
An exciting project instigated by Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, involving APRIL, Aunir and HoneAg (https://www.honeag.com), is currently exploring the feasibility of using a hand-held (mobile) near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) device to allow the rapid determination of grain quality for feeding to pigs and chickens. Portable NIRS devices potentially offer greater flexibility at a lower capital cost for end-users.
In the last edition of the Newsletter, a call for applications for a Commercialisation Project was made, i.e., Reducing variation in lifetime performance: Collection, storage and distribution of grain samples for in vivo and in vitro experiments, assessment of related grain chemical and physical characteristics, and management of the research data produced from experiments to improve the AusScan Online NIR calibrations.
I am pleased to announce that the Board approved (in principle) an application addressing this Commercialisation Project from The University of Sydney, which will continue their long association with the Pork CRC/APRIL in supporting AusScan Online.
In further AusScan Online news, a research proposal, Layer specific NIR calibration for predicting metabolizable energy of grains, from Dr Reza Barekatain at SARDI, was approved recently by Australian Eggs. The results of this 30-month project using wheat, sorghum, barley, triticale and maize will strengthen the current layer AME calibration, and be available for use by the layer industry thereafter through Aunir.
Research Snapshot
APRIL is supporting a number of projects related to heat stress and seasonal infertility (https://apri.com.au/research/supported-projects/). Unfortunately, progress in some of these projects acceded to Covid and hence progress has been delayed, but APRIL is now receiving a number of reports providing some interesting outcomes. One such project, Hot and bothered! Long term impacts of late pregnancy heat stress on sows and progeny (Project Leader: Dr Kate Plush, SunPork Group, and involving staff and students at The University of Melbourne), is examining the impacts of heat stress in gilts during the last week of gestation on aspects of farrowing performance and piglet survival.
Heat-stressed sows farrowed more stillborn piglets and fewer liveborn piglets. There was a carry-over effect of sow heat stress on neonatal piglets, as evidenced by a higher liveborn mortality rate and a shorter small intestine length in the surviving piglets. These findings suggest that sow heat stress during late gestation and farrowing had an immediate negative impact on both sows and their offspring.
Check the APRIL website, https://apri.com.au/research/project-reports/, for details relating to Project Summaries and Final Reports.

Member Focus – Dr Jeremy Cottrell (The University of Melbourne)
My introduction to pigs came at 16 years of age when I was fortunate enough to work in a wildlife park in North Queensland. For over 5 years I looked after our pigs in the “friendship farm”, who lived a very safe distance from the parks’ other reptilian attractions down the hill! After finishing undergraduate studies at James Cook University, I embarked on a PhD at Werribee, based at the then Victorian Institute of Animal Science (VIAS). Although my studies were not on pigs, the collaborative nature of research and the volume of pig projects completed at the on-site experimental piggery meant that I absorbed a tremendous amount of experience working with pigs that cultivated a lifelong fondness for the wider industry.
After completing my PhD studies, I followed a number of paths, but pig-based research has remained a mainstay. For example, my Post-Doctoral Fellowship was at the Children’s Nutrition Research Centre (Houston, TX), who, contrary to what the name suggests, have completed numerous fundamental studies on intestinal development and amino acid metabolism using the piglet as a model. Further, after my return to Australia, I worked in the biotechnology industry where we used pigs for preclinical drug delivery models.
However, joining The University of Melbourne in 2014 has marked a tremendously rewarding period of my career where I have been able to focus my experience on pig research. Over that time, I’ve covered a diverse range of projects from the developing foetus to meat quality, nutrition or even biomedical research. But perhaps my greatest contribution has been to the understanding of heat stress, particularly in its effects on the gut. We’ve applied these findings to sows, where we’ve shown that heat stress reduced the number of muscle building blocks in developing piglets, which is a handbrake on growth. In 2020, I joined the APRIL R&D Advisory Committee as The University of Melbourne representative.
Conferences, Events, Important Dates
- 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, 3-8 July 2022; Rotterdam, The Netherlands (https://wcgalp.com).
- 34th Australian Association of Animal Sciences (AAAS) Conference, 5-7 July 2022; Cairns, Queensland, Australia (https://www.animalscienceconference2022.com.au).
- NZPork Conference, 25-26 July 2022; Christchurch, New Zealand.
- 19th Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production (AAAP) Animal Science Congress, 23-26 August 2022; Jeju Island, Korea (http://www.aaap2022.org).
- 73rd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Animal Production (EAAP), 5-9 September 2022; Porto, Portugal (https://www.eaap2022.org).
- 7th EAAP International Symposium on Energy and Protein Metabolism and Nutrition (ISEP 2022), 12-15 September 2022; Granada, Spain.
- 2022 Feedworks Conference “Making Waves in Animal Production”, 14-16 September 2022; Novotel Sunshine Coast Resort, QLD.
- TropAg International Agriculture Conference, 31 October-2 November 2022; Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre (https://tropagconference.org/).
- APRIL Stakeholder Forum, November 2022 (date and venue yet to be decided).
Water quality testing tech to deliver fast, cost-effective solution for pork industry
Full article available via AgriFutures GrowAG below.
Australasian pork industry calls for innovative agritech with commercial potential
Full article available via AgriFutures GrowAG below.
APRIL News April 2022
Welcome to the first edition of APRIL News for 2022.
First, I would like to welcome a new staff member to APRIL and to the industry, Sophie Ward, who has joined us under an Early Career Scientist Fellowship working on aspects of the CRC-Project (CRC-P), Eliminating pig tail removal to improve welfare and industry sustainability. This is a 3-year project supported by the Australian Government with SunPork Pty Ltd. as the Lead Applicant, and other partners being APRIL, Australian Pork Limited, PIC Australasia Pty Ltd., Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd., RSPCA Australia, The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland, and the University of New England.
An introduction to Sophie can be found later in the Newsletter.
I would like to say thank you to those participants who joined in and contributed to the consultation workshops just before Christmas last year, for the new APRIL Strategic Plan, 2022-2025. There was excellent feedback and comments and aspects of that were incorporated into the (draft) Strategic Plan, 2022-2025, that was presented to the Board for consideration at its meeting on 24 February, 2022. A revised version of the (draft) Strategic Plan will go back to the Board for its 28 April meeting.
A key component of the current Strategic Plan, 2019-2022, were the two Transformational Projects, Enhanced antimicrobial stewardship in the Australian pork industry through targeted reduction of in-feed medications without adverse health consequences, and Elimination of the need for tail-docking in Australasian pork production systems. I thought it worthwhile summarising, in the table below, the projects that have been secured/are currently under consideration, addressing these two priorities.
These projects are collaborative, often multi-disciplinary, and without the support of all of the partners and individuals involved in each project, could not be achieved. The projects exemplify how funds can be successfully leveraged to enable more research and development, and more education and training, to be done for the benefit of the Australasian pork industry.
Further details on each of the successful projects can be found here.
Project and Funding Body | Total project cash | APRIL cash | Leveraged cash | Total project value (including in-kind) | APRIL cash leverage (on total project value) | |
1 | UofM Lead, Stress resilience and emotionality (3 yrs; ARC-Linkage project) | $688,641 | $100,000 | $588,651 | $1,261,778 | 12.6 : 1 |
2 | UQ Lead, Making antimicrobial use redundant (4 yrs; ARC-Linkage project) | $1,931,000 | $359,000 | $1,572,000 | $3,835,000 | 10.7 : 1 |
3 | SP Lead, Rearing pigs with intact tails (3 yrs, CRC-Project) | $4,531,116 | $750,000 | $3,781,116 | $7,876,194 | 10.5 : 1 |
4 | MU Lead, Feed additives and natural bacterial flora to combat antimicrobial resistant bacteria (3 yrs; APRIL) | $925,000 | $600,000 | $325,000 | $1,375,000 | 2.3 : 1 |
5 | MU-Lead, Robotics, genomics and stewardship to combat antimicrobial resistance in pigs (3 yrs; ARC-Linkage – UNDER CONSIDERATION FOR FUNDING) | $1,388,250 | $279,999 | $1,108,251 | $2,214,009 | 7.9 : 1 |
TOTAL (successful projects, 1-4) | $7,837,116 | $1,809,000 | $6,028,116 | $14,347,972 | Average = 7.9 : 1 | |
TOTAL (all projects, 1-5) | $9,225,366 | $2,088,999 | $7,136,367 | $16,561,981 | Average = 7.9 : 1 |
UofM: The University of Melbourne; UQ; The University of Queensland; MU: Murdoch University; SP: SunPork P/L.
This month’s Research Snapshot focuses on a project conducted through The University of Queensland that explored technologies and methodologies related to bio-upgrading of piggery biogas by growing algae, for potential value-add end uses. Please read on for further information.
In news from New Zealand and NZ Pork, Brent Kleiss has been named as the new Chief Executive of NZ Pork following David Baines’ recent resignation. Brent first joined NZ Pork in July 2021 as Policy Manager and officially moves into the role on May 2. APRIL thanks David for his valuable contributions during his tenure at NZ Pork, especially in regard to sharing of information concerning the current discussions about a new Draft Code of Welfare for Pigs. In this regard, NAWAC (National Animal Welfare Advisory Committee) has been working on a new draft code following a court ruling in 2020. A component of the NAWAC Pigs Subcommittee’s work plan was to undertake a Five Domains Assessment of animal welfare impacts and enhancements in relation to farrowing and mating system scenarios. NZ Pork sought an independent expert peer review of NAWAC’s report, and with APRIL’s support, commissioned a peer review by experts from the Animal Welfare Science Centre at The University of Melbourne and the Centre for Animal Science, The University of Queensland. More details on that report will be forthcoming.
Additionally, NZ Pork’s own modelling of cost impacts to the average New Zealand pig farmer shows that anticipated changes to farrowing crates and mating stalls without support measures impose a significant, if not completely unmanageable, barrier to a sustainable industry, with mooted changes to more space for growing pigs having an even greater impact. NZ Pork is committed to improving animal welfare where supported by science. Pending the outcomes of the upcoming consultation process on the pigs’ welfare code (dates yet to be confirmed), NZ Pork is poised to invest in research on farrowing and mating systems that will comply with any finalised changes to minimum standards.
Our Member Focus this edition is on Mr Robert Parkes, from Ridley Agriproducts Pty Ltd.
A new section to the Newsletter is called Papers and Abstracts, which will highlight recently published articles supported by APRIL. In this Newsletter, we take a brief look at papers from the Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA) meeting, 2021, relating to the single-diet feeding concept.
Finally, we would welcome receiving APRIL-related information and upcoming events from our Members for possible inclusion in the Newsletter [subject to space (preferred length is 100-150 words) and content], as we see this as an important communication forum between Members also. Please note though that news of APRIL activities has priority, and items of an advertorial nature are not permitted
Sincerely,
Dr John Pluske
CEO and Chief Scientist
Research and Innovation
A request for applications for APRIL Innovation Project and Industry Priority Project proposals closed in October 2021, with six Innovation Project and four Industry Priority Project applications received. Following its meeting on 24 February 2022, the Board supported the recommendations from the R&D Advisory Committee (meeting held October 2021) and has supported the following projects:
Innovation Projects
- Heating up the house: Evaluating the effect of novel monitoring and heating systems on the productivity, welfare and economics of farrowing houses [Dr Maria Jorquera-Chavez, Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd.].
- Use of progesterone and GM-CSF to improve the fertility of extended semen (A/Prof Mark Nottle, The University of Adelaide).
Industry Priority Projects
- How low CAN you go?: Optimising the use of calcium nitrate (CAN) in gestating sow diets to reduce piglet birthweight variation and improve their lifetime performance [Dr Jessica Craig, Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd.].
- Literature Review: Identifying knowledge gaps and strategies to improve progeny uniformity of pigs [Dr Fan Liu, Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd.].
Congratulations to all those involved in the successful projects, and we look forward to seeing the outcomes from the projects and the benefits to the Australasian pork industry.
One of APRIL’s strategic imperatives is to seek leverage of its funds against additional investment in priority research, education and training, and commercialisation programs to achieve necessary scale for key industry outcomes. In this regard, APRIL continues its Kickstart program for the 2022/23 financial year, which is aimed at providing seed funding to individuals/organisations to put together a project submission that seeks significant external funding, such as the projects shown in the previous table.
More details of the scheme can be found at https://apri.com.au/research/funding-opportunities/, or by contacting Dr John Pluske. Applications are open at any time.
As always, a reminder please that Project Leaders provide a Project Cash Expenditure Report and Project Quarterly Report for the quarters finishing 30 September 2021, 31 December 2021 and 31 March 2022 (and for some projects, 30 June 2021 and 31 March 2021). If needed, the Project Quarterly Report and Project Cash Expenditure report templates can be found at https://apri.com.au/research/project-reporting/. A growing number of projects have not reported their expenditures; hence, I would strongly encourage Project Leaders and administrators to submit reports for outstanding monies. However, any payments will not proceed without an accompanying Project Quarterly Report.
Education and Training
APRIL is pleased to announce a number of new education and training awards, as a result of a call for applications between November 2021 and January 2022, as follows:
Undergraduate/Post Graduate/DVM awardees:
- Kaitlin Beltakis, The University of Adelaide; Honours Award investigating the use of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) to improve the fertility of extended boar semen and increase embryo development (Supervisors: A/Prof Mark Nottle and Dr Nicole McPherson).
- Rutu Acharya, The University of Melbourne; support for training in bioinformatics and programming associated with a PhD program related to identifying potential predictors of tail biting outbreaks in pigs with intact tails housed under commercial conditions (Supervisors: Dr Lauren Hemsworth, Professors Paul Hemsworth and Alan Tilbrook).
- Soraya Haynes, Murdoch University; Post-Graduate ‘Top-Up’ for a PhD related to the assessment of the efficacy of disinfectants currently used in the Australian pork industry (Supervisors: Associate Professor Sam Abraham, Drs Mark O’Dea, Tim Hyndman and Rebecca Abraham).
- Sharif Islam, University of New England; Post-Graduate ‘Top-Up’ for a PhD investigating the level of inbreeding and associated genomic regions for inbreeding depression in pigs (Supervisor: Professor Susanne Hermesch).
- Bianca Hatze, The University of Sydney; DVM award for a project exploring whether the blood concentration of urocanic acid isoforms in domesticated pigs (Sus domesticus) varies according to season (Supervisors: Associate Professor Roslyn Bathgate and Professor Claire Wade).
Industry Placement Program (IPP) awardees:
- Dr Max Muller, The University of Queensland (in association with APRIL, SunPork and Ridley).
- Dr Nandi van Wyk (Apiam Animal Health/Portec Pty Ltd.).
APRIL wishes everyone the best with their respective awards, and looks forward to seeing the outcomes from the projects or contributions to the Australasian pork industry through the Industry Placement Program.
Call for Commercialisation Project Research Applications
Reducing variation in lifetime performance: Collection, storage and distribution of grain samples for in vivo and in vitro experiments, assessment of related grain chemical and physical characteristics, and management of the research data produced from experiments to improve the AusScan Online NIR calibrations.
Data collected from the Premium Grains for Livestock Project, CRC for an Internationally Competitive Pork Industry projects and CRC for High Integrity Australian Pork projects, and a current APRIL project, have been used to develop the AusScan Online near infrared spectroscopy (NIR) calibrations to predict the nutritional value of grains for livestock and various chemical and physical grain characteristics important to livestock production.
APRIL manages the license for the commercial use of the AusScan Online calibrations and is responsible for ongoing research and the maintenance and improvement of calibrations. APRIL conducted research upgrading the poultry AME calibrations in 2018, and in 2021, The University of Melbourne was awarded a research project from APRIL in 2021 to upgrade the pig DE calibrations.
APRIL is inviting Commercialisation Project applications from an experienced and qualified team (or teams) with access to suitable facilities to provide the required specialisations to undertake this project. The research project will be for a 3-year period, 1 July 2022 to 30 June 2025.
The APRIL Commercialisation Project scheme requires a minimum level of co-investment of 20% cash (of the total project cost).
The project application form and accompanying information document and Guidelines are available from the APRIL website: https://apri.com.au/research/funding-opportunities/.
Project applications open on 4 April 2022 and close at 5 pm on 20 May 2022.
For further information or inquiries, please contact Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact (0439 513 723).
Commercialisation
APRIL continues to provide Early Harvest Reports to key customers and nutritionists. AusScan Online collates a significant number of scans from different regions across Australia every month. The report aids nutritionists in providing a rapid assessment of the new season’s energy values for each grain type across different regions in Australia for different animals. The AusScan Online Early Harvest Report for scans conducted in February 2022 can be found in this month’s edition of the Australian Pork Newspaper.
On 24 December 2021, APRIL received confirmation from the TNA (transnational access) program of the PIGWEB project (https://www.pigweb.eu; funded under the EU Horizon 2020 program) that a Stage 1 pre-proposal, Assessment of a commercially-viable enrichment ‘block’ for group-housed gestating sows (co-supported by Ridley), was successful, with an invitation to proceed to a Stage 2 application. The Stage 2 application will be submitted this month.
There is another round of this program commencing September 2022, hence if anyone is interested in a research project in partnership with APRIL to access facilities from selected EU countries, ranging from feed manufacturing to metabolism/physiology to production units, please make contact, and we can discuss possible options. Most of the facilities in the program are associated with a university or research institute.
At its February 2022 meeting, the Board supported a new Commercialisation Project, Easing the weaning transition: pellet form and size to reduce the post-weaning growth check, with SunPork as the Lead Party and supported by Ridley. The project builds on a previously-funded APRIL Industry Priority Project, Easing the weaning transition: large piglets from large pellets, showing piglets had a greater level of interaction with larger pellets through object play, and more eating observations with large semi-moist extruded creep (SMEC). The project will be completed in September this year.
APRIL continues to build a relationship with growAG, managed by AgriFutures, seeking potential external investment into Commercialisation Projects and activities. growAG is a collaboration between the Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment (DAWE) and Australia’s 15 Research & Development Corporations (RDCs), aimed at connecting investors, corporates, start-ups, researchers, industry, government and universities from Australia and around the world to locate information and opportunities to deliver innovation back to the farm and the food supply chain.
Please visit https://www.growag.com for further information.
Next month, APRIL will launch its Product Development Scheme, a new initiative that can provide up to 50% of the costs of performing studies to assess new products (including services or technologies) in a commercial environment for the benefit of the Australasian pork industry. More information will be forthcoming at that time, or please feel free to contact Dr Charles Rikard-Bell, Manager, Commercialisation and Research Impact (0439 513 723), for information.
Research Snapshot
A Final Report has been received from The University of Queensland [Associate Professor Paul Jensen; inputs from the University of Southern Queensland (Dr Stephan Tait) and Murdoch University (Professor Navid Moheimani)] titled Bio-upgrading piggery biogas by growing algae, for value-add end uses (4C-119).
The core goal of the technologies studied in the project was to remove H2S and CO2 from piggery biogas to improve the safety of piggery biogas and to increase CH4 concentrations. The project had two parts, with aims related to (A), the development of PPB (purple phototrophic bacteria) technology to remove H2S from biogas, being (i) investigate a fully autotrophic process for sulphide removal via PPB to estimate sulphide removal rates as well as biomass yield, (ii) demonstrate PPB-based sulphide removal in a continuous process and identify important design parameters for a full-scale process, and (iii) assess the viability of a continuous PPB-based sulphide removal process, including comparison to existing desulfurization technologies.
Aims related to (B), the development of algae technology to remove CO2 from biogas, were to (i) integrate effluent treatment with biogas purification using a saline microalga, (ii) determine the growth characteristics, biomass composition and maximum quantum yields marine microalga Tetraselmis suecica using synthetic biogas as a source of CO2, and ADPE (anaerobically digested piggery effluent) as a source of nutrients, (iii) explore the impact of pH and the resulting CO2 partial pressure on microalgae growth, and (iv) assess the effect of CH4 in biogas on microalgal cultivation of Tetraselmis sp.
For (A), the project was successful at proof-of-concept using PPB to treat a gas mixture containing 2,000 ppm H2S, 30% CO2 and ~70% CH4 in a continuous process. The process achieved an average H2S removal of 69-77% in the continuous process, with a maximum removal of 90%. The process can run chemical-free and can integrate with existing anaerobic pond technologies. The removal efficiencies achieved in the project reduced H2S to levels suitable for on-farm uses such as boilers, CHP and microturbines, and therefore represent an alternative to conventional iron sponge scrubbers for on farm use. However, multi-stage rectors or a secondary treatment step would be required to achieve complete H2S removal required for transport fuel uses and/or export into natural gas grids.
However, the cost of the PPB process was estimated at approximately $85 kg S-1; prohibitively high, with the major cost being the electricity used to irradiate the reactor overnight; these irradiation costs would need to be eliminated for PPB desulphurization to be viable. The PPB biomass generated in the process was high in protein and is a potential high-value by-product, but production rates were very low and not sufficient to generate any significant revenue to offset the high treatment cost.
In terms of part (B), the algal work, the project was successful at proof-of-concept using T. suecica to remove CO2 and waste nutrients in a batch biogas-effluent treatment process. The process achieved a CO2removal up to 94%. When applied to piggery biogas, the treated biogas could have a CH4 content of 94 to 98%, making the upgraded gas suitable for use as a transport fuel (after compression) or to export biogas into centralised natural gas grids. Nutrients were removed from the wastewater during treatment; however, due to the high nutrient content of piggery wastewater, only a small portion of the available waste nutrients (~6% N and ~1% P) appear required to support sequestration of all CO2 in the piggery biogas. No inhibitory effects were seen from the CH4 content of the synthetic biogas. The next stage of development could be to explore a continuous process, possibly at pilot stage, to clarify the biomass yields, carbon uptakes rates, harvesting costs and allow a more detailed assessment of the viability of biogas-based microalgae cultivation systems.
Check the APRIL website, https://apri.com.au/research/project-reports/, for more details on this project, as well as other Project Summaries and Final Reports.
Member Focus – Mr Robert Parkes (Ridley Agriproducts Pty Ltd.)

The first animal I can recall seeing was a pig. I grew up on a piggery in north western NSW, and by the age of 11 was entrusted with looking after the piggery over a weekend when my parents were away. I had really wonderful animal husbandry mentors in my grandmother and father, and continue to apply those skills on my own farm (no longer pigs, however). I spent all my spare time on our piggery until the age of 18 when my parents closed the piggery.
I continued my affinity with the pig industry throughout my undergraduate studies at the University of New England and was fortunate to receive a PRDC (Pig Research & Development Corporation, the predecessor to APL) undergraduate award. The award enabled me to complete my Honours project at a local piggery investigating ‘The effect of diversional stimuli, “Toys”, on the aggressive behaviour of weaner and grower pigs’. At the completion of my undergraduate studies, I completed post-graduate studies in business management and marketing and was fortunate to join Ridley. In my current role I manage our monogastric nutrition team, technical customer support and research and innovation.
In my almost 30 years with Ridley, I have worked in nutrition technical selling roles, technical management roles, quality management and general and business management. Across my career I have been aligned with the pig industry. I have been fortunate to sit on pig industry advisory committees in Victoria, the PRDC R&D committee, Pork CRC II R&D committee and also the APRIL R&D Advisory Committee. With a focus on animal feeding, I have filled many industry roles including President of the Stockfeed Manufacturers Council of Australia (SFMCA), Vice Chairman of the Grain Trade Australia (GTA) Board and Chairman of the GTA Standards Committee.
Ridley is a founding member of APRIL, and I believe bringing research breakthroughs to market will help drive improvement for the Australian industry. I would have loved to have had a ‘block thrown into the mix’ when I was completing my Honours project!
Introducing: Sophie Ward

Sophie developed an interest in agriculture after reading about Dr Temple Grandin, the American animal scientist that revolutionised animal handling and husbandry methods on farms. Inspired by the work conducted by Dr. Grandin, Sophie found herself drawn towards the way animals are treated in livestock industry, particularly pigs and poultry. This led her to study Animal Science at The University of Adelaide, taking part in a hobby group (Pig Club) that allows students to interact and care for pigs. With little knowledge of pigs, Sophie found it so interesting learning how funny and intelligent these animals could be, teaching her ‘pet’ pig to sit, spin and follow her hand. With financial support from the Australasian Pork Research Institute (APRIL), Sophie was able to pursue an Honours project with supervisors A/Prof. Roy Kirkwood and Dr. Kate Plush, focusing on farrowing assistance to sows in later parities.
Then, with the financial support of Australian Pork Limited, Sophie was fortunate to continue research with her supervisors, conducting a PhD on the management of sows and their litter around the periparturient period. Over this candidature, Sophie had the opportunity to work with Professor Sanjay Garg and his team at the Pharmaceutical Innovation and Development Group (PIDG), University of South Australia, to develop a non-injectable method for inducing sows to farrow over working hours. She submitted her PhD in February, 2022.
Post candidature, Sophie is now part of the team at APRIL, focusing on how precision livestock technologies can help rear pigs with intact tails as part of her Early Career Science Fellowship, funded through a successful CRC-Project obtained in 2021.
Papers and Abstracts
The 18th Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA) meeting held in Brisbane in November 2021, with APRIL as Principal Co-Sponsor with APL, saw 15 abstracts from APRIL co-funded projects presented at the meeting. Two papers funded in part by APRIL were titled, “The correct single diet can replace phase-feeding in grower-finisher pigs without compromising growth performance and carcase quality”(Hewitt, R.J.E., Sampaio, M.O., Corso, A.C., Tritton, S.M. and D’Souza, D.N.), and “Commercial evaluation of a phase feeding strategy compared to a single diet strategy for grower-finisher pigs” (Ford, E.M., Liu, F., Brewster, C.J. and Henman, D.J.). Along with another paper on the same subject (“Feeding a single diet throughout the grower-finisher period produces comparative results to a phase-feeding program”; Zemetis et al.), considerable discussion occurred at the meeting in relation to the topic and the practical implications of the findings.
All papers reported that feeding a specifically formulated single diet during the grow-finish phase, compared to a phase-feeding program, had no overall deleterious impacts on production or carcase quality. These results agree with the previous work of Dr Karen Moore presented at APSA in 2019 (APRIL project A3A-103: Feeding a single diet to pigs in the grower/finisher stage to reduce feed costs and improve feed efficiency). In some instances, there were cost benefits associated with the single-diet feeding strategy. However, as would be anticipated, responses were different, or of a different magnitude, depending on the type of production and close-out practices, genotype and sex of pigs used, and feeding a single diet during the grow-finish phase may not be applicable under all circumstances.
These papers (and indeed all of the conference papers) can be accessed via https://www.apsa.asn.au/product/2021-manipulating-pig-production-xviii/
Events and Important Dates
- British Society of Animal Science Annual Conference, 12-14 April 2022; EMCC Nottingham and Online (https://bsas.org.uk/conference).
- 2022 Poultry Information Exchange (PIX) and Australasian Milling Conference (AMC), 15-17 May 2022; Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia (https://pixamc.com.au).
- 15th International Symposium on Digestive Physiology in Pigs (DPP2022), 17-20 May 2022; Rotterdam, The Netherlands (https://dpp2022.com).
- ZeroZincSummit 2022, 22-23 June 2022; Copenhagen, Denmark (https://www.tilmeld.dk/zerozincsummit2022).
- International Pig Veterinary Society Congress (IPVS), 21-24 June 2022; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (https://ipvs2022.com/pt/).
- ASAS-CSAS Annual Meeting, 26-30 June 2022; Oklahoma City, OK, USA (https://www.asas.org/meetings/annual-2022).
- 12th World Congress on Genetics Applied to Livestock Production, 3-8 July 2022; Rotterdam, The Netherlands (https://wcgalp.com).
- 34th Australian Association of Animal Sciences (AAAS) Conference, 5-7 July 2022; Cairns, Queensland, Australia (https://www.animalscienceconference2022.com.au).
- 19th Asian-Australasian Association of Animal Production (AAAP) Animal Science Congress, 23-26 August 2022; Jeju Island, Korea (http://www.aaap2022.org).
- 73rd Annual Meeting of the European Association of Animal Production (EAAP), 5-9 September 2022; Porto, Portugal (https://www.eaap2022.org).
APRIL News December 2021
Welcome to the final edition of APRIL News for 2021.
First, I would sincerely like to thank all of the presenters [David Baines (NZ Pork Industry Board), Dr Mark O’Dea (DPIRD WA), Dr Alice Weaver (SARDI), Dr Rob Smits (APL), Lauren Staveley (SunPork Solutions), Steve Lydeamore (Anatara Lifesciences), Dr Ricardo Esquerra (Ridley) and Dr Tom Harrison (Apiam Animal Health)] and attendees who participated in APRIL’s Stakeholders’ Forum, on 15 November.
Again, and unfortunately, the Forum could not be held in a face-to-face format as was going to occur, in association with the 18th biennial conference of the Australasian Pig Science Association (APSA) in Brisbane. Nonetheless, in excess of 75 registrants tuned in for the event, and participated in questions and answers and feedback. This remains an important annual event to exchange important industry information and experiences and provide updates and overviews on APRIL projects.
Please let me know if you would like any further information from the Forum.
The Stakeholders’ Forum was preceded by APRIL’s Annual General Meeting, and congratulations to Neil Ferguson (Westpork Pty Ltd.) for being re-elected to the APRIL Board.
I mentioned in the last Newsletter that a consortium, with SunPork Pty Ltd. as the Lead Applicant, had applied for a Round 11 CRC-Project (CRC-P) titled, Eliminating pig tail removal to improve welfare and industry sustainability. In early September, SunPork Pty Ltd. was advised that the CRC-P had been supported by the Australian Government. Other partners in the 3-year project are APRIL, Australian Pork Limited, PIC Australasia P ty Ltd., Rivalea (Australia) Pty Ltd., RSPCA Australia, The University of Melbourne, The University of Queensland, and the University of New England.
The application requested, and received, an Australian Government cash investment of $2,892,374 over 3 years, which combined with the project partners’ cash contribution of $1,638,742 ($750,000 from APRIL), has been able to leverage an additional $3,345,078 of combined in-kind contributions from the partners. The project directly addresses a key Transformational Project objective in APRIL’s Strategic Plan., and will also provide opportunities for support and training for a number of Honours students, postgraduate students, and early-career scientists.
This month’s Research Snapshot focuses on a project conducted at Murdoch University that measured immune responses to four different Streptococcus suis vaccine preparations, using an Australian cps2 ST25 strain of the bacterium.
Our Member Focus this edition is on Dr Taya Clarke, from Westpork Pty Ltd. Please read on for further information.
As alluded to above, the APSA conference (APRIL was co-Platinum sponsor) was held this year in hybrid format, with ~ 75 attendees being able to be present in Brisbane for the event. The meeting attracted less abstracts and a smaller audience than in previous years, but nevertheless and given the current circumstances, it was very pleasing to see the attendance and high level of participation, and appreciate the exchange of ideas and scientific and practical information that occurred. The session on the final morning contained a number of papers related to the ‘single diet’ feeding concept supported in part by APRIL, which attracted considerable discussion.
A total of 15 abstracts from APRIL co-funded projects will soon be published in animal-science proceedings.
I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New year, and extend my thanks and appreciation to Dr Charles Rikard-Bell and Geoff Crook from APRIL, Dr Tony Peacock (Chair) and fellow Directors, to Australian Pork Limited, and to everyone involved in APRIL projects and interactions, for support, feedback, and generosity of time during this difficult year.
Finally, thanks are extended to The University of Adelaide and Flinders University for supporting APRIL with their memberships.
Sincerely,
Dr. John Pluske
CEO/Chief Scientist
M: 0410 436 871
E: j.pluske@april.org.au
www.april.org.au
Research and Innovation
A request for applications for APRIL Innovation Project and Industry Priority Project proposals closed on 1 October 2021. A total of 10 proposals (six Innovation Projects and four Industry Priority Projects) was received, with the APRIL cash requested, the external cash pledged, and the facility funding (cash) requested being $1,403,004, $948,809 and $745,520, respectively, between 2021/22 and 2023/24. The APRIL Board met on 12 November to consider the recommendations of the Research & Development Advisory Committee for project support, and five projects were supported subject to a range of modifications and changes. The projects will be highlighted in the next Newsletter.
One of APRIL’s strategic imperatives is to seek leverage of its funds against additional investment in priority research, education and training, and commercialisation programs to achieve necessary scale for key industry outcomes. In this regard, APRIL will continue its Kickstart program for the 2021/22 financial year, which is aimed at providing seed funding to individuals/organisations to put together a project submission that seeks significant external funding. More details of the scheme can be found at https://apri.com.au/research/funding-opportunities/, or by contacting Dr John Pluske. Applications are open at any time.
A reminder please that Project Leaders provide a Project Cash Expenditure Report and Project Quarterly Report for the quarters finishing 30 September 2021 and 31 December 2021 (and for some projects, 30 June 2021 and 31 March 2021). If needed, the Project Quarterly Report and Project Cash Expenditure report templates can be found at https://apri.com.au/research/project-reporting/. A growing number of projects have not reported their expenditures; hence, I would strongly encourage Project Leaders and administrators to submit reports for outstanding monies. However, any payments will not proceed without an accompanying Project Quarterly Report.
Education and Training
APRIL is pleased to announce two recent education awards provided to Emma Goode and Katelyn Tomas, from the University of New England and The University of Queensland, respectively. Emma was supported with a postgraduate scholarship to assist with her Masters by Coursework program, which related to potential predictive factors to identify sows that are better able to breed during the challenging summer-autumn seasons. Katelyn Tomas was awarded a postgraduate ‘top-up’ scholarship for 2 years to assist with her PhD studies examining the long-term effects of maternal behaviour and human contact early in life on pigs’ tendency to respond to stress.
To build further upon APRIL’s current research and education and training investments, APRIL is currently seeking applications to support its education and training programs and assist in further building human capacity for the industry. Applications for APRIL’s education awards and Industry Placement Program are now open and close 28 January, 2022. Please visit https://apri.com.au/education-and-training-opportunities/ for more details and application forms.
With a growing number of student projects being completed, the APRIL website has been updated to allow student project reports to be accessed; please visit https://apri.com.au/student-project-reports/.
Commercialisation
A key part of this year’s Stakeholders’ Forum was an emphasis on APRIL’s commercialisation activities. Attendees at the Forum heard a general overview provided by Dr Charles Rikard-Bell (APRIL) and then presentations provided by Steve Lydeamore (Anatara Lifesciences), Dr Ricardo Esquerra (Ridley) and Dr Tom Harrison (Apiam Animal Health) on products and technologies in the Australasian pork industry.
In this context, Dr Rikard-Bell commented that the APRIL pipeline has some promising technology and some excellent research partners and commercial proposals to validate technologies prior to commercialisation and adoption. Potential opportunities exist for the industry with (i) real-time, in-field water quality assessment, (ii) rapid measurement techniques to detect the presence and concentration of boar taint compounds at processing, and (iii) a ‘lab on a chip’ for pen-side assessments of welfare and pain. Please contact Dr Rikard-Bell if you would like any further information.
This harvest, APRIL will continue an initiative started during the 2020/21 harvest and provide periodic Early Harvest Reports to key customers. AusScan Online collates a significant number of scans from different regions across Australia every month. The report aids nutritionists in providing a rapid assessment of the new season’s energy values for each grain type across different regions in Australia for different animals. To this end, we anticipate the start of in vivo studies at The University of Melbourne (significantly delayed due to Covid-19) to upgrade the pig digestible energy calibrations in AusScan Online.
Research Snapshot
A Final Report has been received from Murdoch University [Dr Mark O’Dea (now at Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, WA) and Associate Professor Sam Abraham] that measured immune responses to four different Streptococcus suis vaccine preparations, using an Australian cps2 ST25 strain.
Bacterial cultures of a cps2 ST25 S. suis strain were prepared at concentrations of 1×109 colony forming units (cfu)/ml and 1×1010 cfu/ml, and inactivated using either (i) formalin, (ii) binary ethylenimine (BEI), (iii) lysozyme/detergent or (iv) heat treatment (60°C for one hour, with gentle agitation). Eight weaner pigs were assigned to each vaccine group, including a negative control group, and received 1 ml of vaccine preparation intra-muscularly on days zero and 14 after weaning. Blood was collected from each pig on days 0, 7, 14, 21 and 28 for measurement of serological response, and pigs were weighed on days 0, 7, 14 and 21. Analysis of total immunoglobulin, IgM, IgG1 and IgG2 was performed using ELISA.
The heat-inactivated vaccine using a dose of 1×1010 cfu/ml produced the most robust immune response as measured by total Ig and IgG1. Using sample to positive ratio as a proxy of antibody level, mean optical density (OD) levels were higher than all other treatment groups. Higher mean OD sample/positive ratio for heat-inactivated vaccine using a dose of 1×1010 cfu/ml was seen for the IgG1 subtype, with a significant (P<0.05) difference when compared to lysozyme and BEI at 1×109 cfu/ml and BEI at 1×1010 cfu/ml. The IgG2 sample/positive ratio was also higher overall for heat-inactivated vaccine at 1×1010 cfu/ml. However, a significant (P<0.05) difference was only seen between this and BEI at 1×109 cfu/ml. There were no statistically significant differences when assessing IgM.
Titration of serum samples from day 0 and day 35 was performed for all 1×1010 cfu/ml vaccine preparations. The heat treatment vaccine showed a significant increase in total Ig measured, with a four-fold increase in antibody titre over this period, and both the heat treatment and formalin vaccines showed ≥4-fold titre increases in IgG1 measured.
The researchers concluded that a S. suis heat-treated vaccine preparation could elicit IgG antibody responses that were superior to other preparations tested, including the currently and commercially used formalin inactivation method. The use of heat inactivation is a potentially simple and cheap method for bacterin production, and would likely be a feasible option for large scale vaccine production following field trials to assess protective efficacy.
Check the APRIL website, https://apri.com.au/research/project-reports/, for more details on this project, as well as other Project Summaries and Final Reports.
Member Focus – Dr Taya Clarke (Westpork Pty Ltd.)

Taya started her journey working with animals at a young age, with her parents active in wildlife conservation and rehabilitation. She studied Animal Science at The University of Western Australia, completing an Honours project in 2008 working with sheep.
Taya then went overseas for 2 years, living and working in Oxford, UK at the Food Animal Initiative, working in poultry research under Dr Marion Stamp-Dawkins. Upon arriving back in Australia, Taya undertook a PhD at Murdoch University, investigating sow welfare and behaviour. Throughout her studies, Taya worked with the RSPCA Australia as an Approved Farming Scheme assessor, visiting many different farming schemes all over Australia. This is where she learned that good welfare comes in many different forms. When her PhD was completed, she began a role as Technical Manager with Westpork in 2015. In the 6 years since beginning with Westpork, Taya’s role has evolved to manage all facets of animal welfare, APIQ accreditation, and she also oversees all research trials conducted on Westpork farms.
Outside of her role at Westpork, Taya sits on a number of committees, including the APRIL R&D Committee, Pork Innovation WA, Pork Industry Training WA, DPIRD Biosecurity Consultative Committee and APSA. Although there isn’t much time to conduct her own research, Taya believes in keeping informed about new science, and is always on the lookout for innovation that can be adapted to on-farm practice.
Westpork is a founding member of APRIL, and Taya believes it is integral for research to be industry supported so that it stays relevant and drives improvement for the Australian industry. The collaborative nature of Australian pig research is also integral to keeping research innovative.
Employment Opportunity – APRIL Early Career Scientist
APRIL is seeking an Early Career Scientist who has completed (or nearly completed) their doctorate studies having less than 5 years of relevant postdoctoral work experience (or pro-rata equivalent) to work in a multi-disciplinary project across different organisations and cultures, including on-farm work, to address strategies to eliminate tail docking in the Australasian pork industry. The position is offered as a full time, 3-year fixed term contract, and will be available January/February 2022.
Please visit here for further details. Applications close 22 December. For any further information, please contact APRIL CEO/Chief Scientist Dr John Pluske.
Events and Important Dates
- American Society of Animal Science Midwest meeting, 14-16 March 2022; Omaha NE (https://www.asas.org/sections/midwest-section/meetings).
- British Society of Animal Science Annual Conference, 12-14 April 2022; EMCC Nottingham and Online (https://bsas.org.uk/conference).
- 15th International Symposium on Digestive Physiology in Pigs (DPP2022), 17-20 May 2022; Rotterdam, The Netherlands (https://dpp2022.com).
- ZeroZincSummit 2022, 22-23 June 2022; Copenhagen, Denmark (https://www.tilmeld.dk/zerozincsummit2022). The call for Abstracts for this meeting is now open until 31 December 2021.
- International Pig Veterinary Society Congress (IPVS), 21-24 June 2022; Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (https://ipvs2022.com/pt/).