Monogastric research centre opens in Scotland
It will focus on work on pigs and poultry, and will be headed up by Dr Jos Houdijk, one of the College’s senior animal scientists.
A key part of the work at the centre will be to bring together research on nutrition. SRUC is currently working on two projects that are assessing the nutritional value of animal feed ingredients, in both pigs and poultry. One is looking at alternatives sources of nutrition from faba beans, and the other is investigating the nutritional value of rapeseed varieties.
Dr Houdijk said: "This approach, integrating pig and poultry work, will enable us to bring two highly related fields together to the benefit of both areas.
"We are already approached regularly by clients looking to do studies on both species, so launching this Centre is timely, appropriate and logical. The Centre will allow us to expand the cross-species approach, giving us the opportunity to take forward the concept of comparative biology to more such projects."
He continued: "The gut is incredibly important, both when it comes to efficiently processing food and effectively resisting disease, and there are many questions still to be answered when it comes to balancing these two priorities under the overall objective to increase sustainability of animal production systems."
Earlier this year the College teamed up with the University of Edinburgh and the International Livestock Research Institute in Kenya to launch an initiative to work on the challenges faced by livestock farmers in tropical developing countries.
