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PIIC News
Postgraduate Research Opportunities
Biochar for Enhancing Poultry Litter and Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Biochar is a highly sorptive material made from the pyrolysis of biomass. Biochar made from poultry litter has been shown to enhance crop production and contribute to climate change mitigation. Its unique properties make biochar an ideal candidate to improve the efficacy of litter used as bedding in chicken sheds. Poultry manure contains uric acid and proteins, which microbially convert to ammonium in the litter. Due to the unique sorptive properties of biochar, it is hypothesised that ammonium will be trapped in the litter, reducing odours, and potentially increasing the life-span of the litter. Further, the biochar-enhanced poultry manure litter is likely to have a high agronomic value as a soil amendment, and could reduce nitrous oxide emissions from decomposition of poultry litter.
A PhD scholarship is available for a project to investigate the use of different biochars as a component of poultry litter. Impacts on N capture/cycling, odour, bird health, and agronomic value of the biochar-enhanced spent litter will be assessed.
The candidate will be primarily located at the UNE campus in Armidale, though research may be conducted at other locations around NSW. The student is expected to have strong chemistry and soil/environmental science background. There will be opportunities to work with state-of-art analytical equipment. A PhD stipend to the value of $25,000 pa will be available to the successful candidate.
PhD eligibility criteria can be obtained from: http://www.une.edu.au/courses/2011/courses/PHD. Informal inquiries can be emailed to Annette Cowie annette.cowie@une.edu.au.
Visiting the National Centre for Rural Greenhouse Gas Research
Visiting the National Centre for Rural Greenhouse Gas Research, Wiam Diani is a student from the French university, SupAgro Montpellier. She is enrolled there in a Masters in International Agriculture and is completing her training and thesis in Armidale in association with Roger Hegarty and John Nolan. Her thesis is addressing the impact of dietary nitrate on rumen methane production and she has just completed her first experiment using sheep, with studies using the I&I NSW respiration chambers. She will be with the team until early September and is keen to gain experience in other fields of animal science if opportunities arise. She can be contacted on 67701806.
PIIC’s first PhD graduation – a family celebration
John Wilkie, PIIC’s first PhD graduate, was awarded his degree at the UNE graduation ceremony on Saturday 17th April. John’s thesis was titled “Interactions between the vegetative growth, flowering and yield of macadamia (Macadamia integrifolia, M. integrifolia x M. tetraphilla), in a canopy management context”. The work was funded by PIIC, the Australian Macadamia Society and Horticulture Australia Limited. John’s supervisors were Professor Margaret Sedgley, former Dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences, and Dr Trevor Olesen, plant physiologist, Industry & Investment NSW, Alstonville. John is now a research horticulturist with the Queensland Department of Employment, Economic Development & Innovation’s research station at Applethorpe.
The Wilkie family has been in the macadamia business for over 30 years, John Wilkie senior, a University of Queensland agriculture graduate, founded AGRIMAC macadamias at Alstonville. AGRIMAC is now part of Buderim Ginger which also acquired MacFarms in Hawaii. John senior now manages the Hawaiian business. Pictured after the graduation are Dr John Wilkie junior (right), his mother Ann (centre) and uncle Prof. Bob Martin, Director of PIIC (left).
Pasta Abstract makes Shortlist in International Best Student Research Paper Competition
PIIC PhD student Nisha Aravind with her abstract, “Effect of Dietary Fibre enrichment in Spaghetti - An Enzymatic and Structural Study”, has been chosen as one of six finalists who will advance to the next round of the 2010 American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) International Best Student Research Paper Competition. The competition will take place in October during the AACC International Annual Meeting in Savannah, Georgia, USA. Winners of the competition will be announced at the closing session of the conference. Congratulations to Nisha and best of luck in the next round!
Nisha’s research has involved the development of pasta products with special health-enhancing attributes. This has involved incorporating inulin and resistant starch with durum semolina and made into pasta. Inulins are polysaccharides that are considered suitable for diabetics and potentially helpful in managing blood sugar-related illnesses by lowering the glycemic index of foods.
Nisha’s supervisors are: Dr Chris Fellows, Senior Lecturer, UNE School of Science and Technology; Dr Mike Sissons, Senior Research Scientist, Industry & Investment NSW at Tamworth; and Dr Elliot Gilbert, Australian Nuclear Scientific Organisation (ANSTO). The ANSTO collaboration has enabled Nisha to study the effect of inulin on the structure of the pasta using small-angle scattering (SAS) and X-ray diffraction (XRD).
Agricultural life-skills to link school, home and community in Cambodia
Bob Martin’s illustrated children’s book “Jorani and the Green Vegetable Bugs” has been published in Khmer language by ACIAR to teach children and teachers in rural areas of Cambodia about integrated pest management (IPM) in upland crops and the positive impacts on the environment and human health. A pilot project in early 2010 involved introducing the IPM concept to school directors and teachers; development of a teacher guide; implementation in schools; and celebration and public launch. Further books in the series are planned to teach the benefits of agricultural production for improved human nutrition and sustainable land management practices.
The project targeted five primary schools in the district of Samlaut in Battambang province, where the Maddox Jolie-Pitt Foundation (MJP), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS) is working to strengthen primary education for all school-aged boys and girls. The pilot project involved five schools, 17 teachers and 638 children in years 4-6. The celebration and public launch was a great success with active involvement of parents and community in the activities. Children (pictured) acted out part of the story where the girl’s father was being treated for pesticide poisoning.
The agricultural extension and primary education outcomes of the pilot will be evaluated using Social Network Analysis to test the effectiveness of the learning environment model – “School, Home, Community”. If results are positive a “Life-Skills” framework for rural primary schools will be presented to the MoEYS for endorsement and roll-out to primary schools in other Districts and Provinces in Cambodia.