Improving feed efficiency and reducing impact of slow-growing broilers on environment through use of new nutritional norms, feed additives, and feed ingredients

Applicants are invited for a PhD fellowship/scholarship at Graduate School of Technical Sciences, Aarhus University, Denmark, within the Animal and Veterinary Sciences programme. The position is available from 1 December 2024 or later. You can submit your application via the link under 'how to apply'.

Title:
Improving feed efficiency and reducing impact of slow-growing broilers on environment through use of new nutritional norms, feed additives, and feed ingredients

Research area and project description:
Slow-growing broilers are produced in Denmark, but their nutrient requirements have not been defined. In addition, new feed enzymes that are effective in increasing nutrient digestion in broilers, but the extent to which digestible nutrient content in diets for broilers can be reduced without compromising performance of both slow and fast-growing broilers when using these feed enzymes are currently not established. Finally, new Danish protein feed ingredients that can potentially replace soybean meal in broiler diets has been developed, but the extent to which they can replace the soybean meal in slow and fast-growing broilers diets has not been determined. Thus, there is need for reduction in chicken carbon footprint by: (1) developing new nutritional norms for slow-growing broilers to avoid excess supply of these nutrients, which otherwise negatively affects the environment, and (2) implementing new feed enzymes and alternative protein sources to increase nutrient digestion while reducing soybean meal contents in diets for both slow-growing and fast-growing broilers.

Objectives of this PhD project will be to:
1. Determine the effects of reduced dietary levels of metabolizable energy (ME) and digestible amino acids on performance and gut integrity of slow-growing broilers.
2. Determine effects of reducing metabolizable energy and digestible amino acids in slow growing broiler and fast-growing broiler diets supplemented with enzymes on performance, health, and emission of ammonia and nitrogen,
3. Determine standard ileal digestibility coefficients of amino acids for alternative protein sources
4. Identify optimal dietary levels of alternative proteins in diets for broilers, and determine the effects on gut-integrity and function using different molecular laboratory methods

Main workplace will be Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Aarhus University, Foulum, but the PhD-candidate is also expected to stay temporary at Department of Veterinary and Animal Sciences, University of Copenhagen, performing laboratory analysis as well as running experiments on commercial poultry farms.

Project description
For technical reasons, you must upload a project description. Please simply copy the project description above and upload it as a PDF in the application.

Qualifications and specific competences:
Required:

• Relevant Master’s degree (veterinary/animal science, biology/molecular biology)
• Excellent verbal and writing skills in English with very good communication skills.
• Experience with animal experimentation

Preferred:

• Experience in poultry nutrition
• Demonstration of research activities (conference or journal papers, work experience)
• Experience in laboratory work with intestinal tissue

Place of employment and place of work:
The place of employment is Aarhus University, and the place of work is Department of Animal and Veterinary Sciences, Blichers Allé 20, DK-8830 Tjele

Contacts:
Applicants seeking further information are invited to contact:

• Tofuko Awori Woyengo, [email protected] (main supervisor)
• Johannes Gulmann Madsen, [email protected] (co-supervisor)

How to apply:
Please follow this link to submit your application.
Application deadline is 20 October 2024 at 23:59 CEST.
Preferred starting date is 1 December 2024.

For information about application requirements and mandatory attachments, please see our application guide.

Please note:

• Only documents received prior to the application deadline will be evaluated. Thus, documents sent after deadline will not be taken into account.
• The programme committee may request further information or invite the applicant to attend an interview.
• Shortlisting will be used, which means that the evaluation committee only will evaluate the most relevant applications.

Aarhus University’s ambition is to be an attractive and inspiring workplace for all and to foster a culture in which each individual has opportunities to thrive, achieve and develop. We view equality and diversity as assets, and we welcome all applicants. All interested candidates are encouraged to apply, regardless of their personal background. Salary and terms of employment are in accordance with applicable collective agreement.