THE first two stages of a project described as a new strength for the university, the State and the nation were officially opened at the University of New England (UNE) last month by UNE Chancellor John Watkins.
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Mr Watkins said the development of the Large Animal Facility and Imaging Centre – a $7 million investment as part of the university’s Centre for Animal Research and Teaching project – represented a significant achievement for all involved.
“With the growing global population there is going to be an overwhelming need to feed the people of the planet and this can only be done through productivity increases on the land we already have,” Mr Watkins said.
“The research conducted in these facilities will allow us to increase productivity and help us feed the world.”
The large animal facility contains 10 large respiration chambers use to study gas exchange and greenhouse gas production in individual cattle, research which Professor Roger Hegarty said they hoped would one day make the centre obsolete, with the development of the ability to study gases from livestock in the paddock.
The new imaging facility had been used by scientists from many different areas, said the head of the School of Environmental and Rural Science, Professor Iain Young.
As well as being used for animal research, the suite of imaging technology in the facility has also been used to study geology and plant biology, including a project looking at wheat and chickpeas with the Grains Research and Development Corporation and the NSW Department of Primary Industries in Tamworth.
Professor Young said they had also received interest in the use of the CAT scanner from local vets.
The third and final stage of the project – new animal facilities for smaller species and new teaching infrastructure – should be completed in 2015.
Holly McAlister
Journalist for The Land at Tamworth.
Journalist for The Land at Tamworth.
