Brian Leury
Position: |
Senior Lecturer (Animal Science) |
Address: |
LFR, University of Melbourne, Royal Pde, Parkville, 3010 |
Phone: |
+61-3-8344-6341 |
Fax: |
+61-3-8344-5037 |
Email: |
brianjl@unimelb.edu.au |
Teaching:
Structure and function of domestic animals; animal physiology; nutritional physiology; animal growth and development in meat animals; meat science and production; lactation physiology.
Research:
- Processing of grain legumes and oilseeds to improve their nutritive value for livestock
- Manipulating nutritive value and meat quality of lamb and pork
- Productivity of grazing animals including factors affecting diet selection
- Estimating body composition in live animals and carcasses
- Factors affecting energy conversion and expenditure in farm animals
- Thermogenesis, cellular bioenergetics and metabolism in productive animals
- Regulation of metabolism and nutrient partitioning in growing and lactating animals.
Other professional interests:
- Animal production industries
- Lamb feedlotting
- Animal agriculture in developing countries
- Metabolic diseases, including obesity and diabetes, in animals and humans
- Foetal nutrition, and growth and development.
Recent projects and consultancies:
- Development of a novel technique (dual energy x-ray absorptiometry) for estimating body composition in live animals and carcasses
- Regulation of circulating leptin levels and gene expression in the periparturient dairy cow
- High protein diets and ureagenesis and gluconeogenesis in ruminants
- Factors affecting feed conversion efficiency in sheep
- Role of cellular bioenergetics in intramuscular fat deposition in beef cattle
- Effect of genotype and gender on fat distribution in pig carcasses of improved genotype; Diet selection and control of pasture composition in dairy systems
- Narbon bean in ruminant nutrition; Enhancing milk protein and fat percent in early lactation by feeding protein and energy rich supplements in a pasture-based system and its relationship to milk biochemical markers
- Improving the nutritional attributes of lamb meat products through new production methods and its impact on lipid stability, colour shelf-life and sensory acceptance.
Recent publications:
- Leury BJ, Baumgard LH, Block SS, Segoale N, Ehrhardt RA, Rhoads RP, Bauman DE, Bell AW, Boisclair YR (2003) Effect of insulin and growth hormone on plasma leptin in the periparturient dairy cow. American Journal of Physiology: Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology 285, R1107-1116
- Suster D, Leury BJ, Ostrowska E, Butler KL, Kerton DJ, Wark JD, Dunshea FR (2003) The accuracy of Dual energy X-ray Absorptiometry (DXA), weight and P2 back fat to predict whole body and carcass composition in pigs within and across research experiments. Livestock Production Science 84, (In press)
- Dunshea FR, Suster D, Kerton DJ, Leury BJ (2003) Exogenous porcine somatotropin administered to neonatal pigs at high doses can alter lifetime fat but not lean tissue deposition. British Journal of Nutrition 89, 1-8.
- Yu P, Goelema JO, Leury BJ, Tamminga S, Egan AR (2002) An analysis of the nutritive value of heat processed legume seeds for animal production using the DVE/OBE model: a review. Animal Feed Science and Technology 99, 141-176.
- Ponnampalam EN, Sinclair AJ, Egan AR, Ferrier G, Leury BJ (2002) Dietary manipulation of muscle long-chain omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and sensory properties of lamb meat. Meat Science 60, 125-132.
Potential Honours projects:
A number of potential honours projects are available in the broad areas of animal nutrition and physiology, animal production, and meat production. Particular areas of interest are: identifying the physiological basis for differences in feed conversion efficiency in sheep; development of an indirect calorimetry technique for measuring respiratory gas exchange and energy expenditure in sheep and pigs; Effect of high protein pasture-based diets on the interrelationship between urea and glucose synthesis in highly productive ruminants.
In addition, there may be a number of other projects in animal science available at collaborating organizations such as DPI and CSIRO.
Generally, applied nutrition, and meat and dairy production projects will be conducted at the Joint Facility for Food Animal Research at Werribee or at DPI (Hamilton, Rutherglen and Kyabram). More physiological or laboratory based projects are likely to be undertaken at Parkville.