News

Project is to produce higher quality livestock feed from crop residues

• Work aims to lift productivity and income of small-scale farmers in Africa and India
• The project’s outcomes will help women’s economic empowerment and reduce greenhouse gases

Associate Professor Mark Harrison (pictured above) from the Centre for Agriculture and Bioeconomy at QUT, who has conducted extensive research into converting waste from crop residues into higher quality animal feed, said the project could revolutionise the operations of small-scale livestock farmers in Africa and India by boosting their productivity and income.

“Additionally, it would contribute to environmental sustainability through the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions,” Professor Harrison said.

“This funding will help us develop and commercialise innovations that will not only lead to higher income for small-scale producers (SSPs) but also improve livestock producers’ nutrition and that of their communities.

“It will also aid in the economic empowerment of women, who currently spend a lot of time collecting crop residues to keep livestock alive during the dry season.

“Crop residues are a major source of feed for ruminant livestock for SSPs in the tropics during both typical dry seasons and droughts, but they are of poor quality and often have less than 30 per cent digestibility.”

QUT Vice-Chancellor Margaret Sheil said this new funding from the Gates Foundation continued the very generous support the organisation has provided around the world, including to QUT.

“This project, which has the potential to help thousands of small-scale farmers in Africa and India, follows on from previous support the foundation has provided to QUT researchers working on food security in Africa, including the development of a nutrient-dense, golden banana enriched with pro-vitamin A led by Distinguished Professor James Dale.”

Professor Harrison said this research project could help accelerate positive impacts for beef cattle and dairy cattle animal health and genetics projects in both Africa and India.

“The overall aim of this project is to further develop two technologies to enhance the availability and nutritional value of livestock feed through research, development and extension of crop residue thermochemical processing and in-bale treatment,” he said.

“QUT has already demonstrated thermochemical processing of sugarcane waste (bagasse) at pilot-scale production of up to 100 kg of dry matter per day that increased rumen digestibility for beef cattle to 80 per cent.

“For this project, we propose to expand the demonstration of these technologies at pilot-scale to key Australian crops, such as rice straw, sugarcane tops and trash, and wheat straw, of which some or all are available in tropical and sub-tropical countries in Africa and regions in India.”

Professor Harrison said QUT had extensive experience in process and economic modelling of agricultural and bioeconomy processes.

“Our modelling will include the key processes of harvesting crop residues, baling, transport, debaling, thermochemical treatment, post processing, catalyst and water recovery and recycling, effluent management, and downstream processing.”

The research team and partners are Professor Mark Harrison, Professor Ian O’Hara, and Dr Jerome Ramirez, Dr Floren Plaza, Neil McKenzie, and Joanne Simpkins, all from QUT’s School of Mechanical Medical and Process Engineering; Associate Professor Karen Harper from Central Queensland University; and Ashley Dempster from Fodder Alchemy.

QUT Media contacts:

Niki Widdowson, 07 3138 2999 or n.widdowson@qut.edu.au

After hours: 0407 585 901 or media@qut.edu.au.