Alltech Research Alliance pinpoints key ag issues

Top agribusiness companies, research institutes and universities from nine countries recently met in Beijing to review their activities with the Alltech Research Alliance and left with six new agricultural production issues to tackle in the next year.
The Alltech Research Alliance program was designed to stimulate multi-discipline teamwork, to provide access to joint funding, research efforts and intellectual property, and to contribute to science and education initiatives with its partners. Since the program’s inception in 2004, the Alltech Research Alliance has built collaborative research curriculums with 12 universities and seven global agribusinesses or research institutes from China, Japan, Australia, the United States, Ireland, Norway, the U.K., India and France. Alliances continue to be made as Alltech deepens its research partnerships throughout the world.
“The alliances represent a very unique approach to the involvement of industry with academia, moving beyond a contractual basis to where our partners are a fundamental part of our innovation strategy,” said Dr. Karl Dawson, Alltech's chief scientific officer and global research director.
The Alltech Research Alliance meeting highlighted the following key issues:


• Fertility and increasing offspring per breeding animal
• Novel feed analysis systems that contribute to improved production efficiency
• Gut health management tools and disease models for defining immunity, productivity
• Antibiotic-free animal production programs
• Nutritional enrichment tools for improving meat, milk and eggshell quality
• Defining alternative ingredients and processes that improve aquaculture diets
“Through research on these issues, the Alltech Research Alliance hopes to address real needs and become the most productive innovator, implementing both new technologies along with systems and services to achieve sustainable profitability for our customers,” Dawson said.