Pork Innovation WA | PIWA | Western Australia

Our Research

PIWA accesses funding from a range of sources to undertake research, development and extension which meets the needs of the WA and Australian pork industries.

PIWA is currently working on a number of projects.

Current Projects:

A case study: Improving outdoor sow welfare and production by providing shade and wallows during summer (funded by APC Pork Producers Committee)

Managing water in a changing climate: An extension toolkit to facilitate adoption of best practice water management for pork and poultry producers in Western Australia (jointly funded through the Australian Government’s Future Drought Fund and Pork Innovation WA)

PIWA is also involved in two large projects with other collaborators:

3Ps: Pig welfare, production decision support and pork provenance in supply chains, with Curtin University, Xsights Digital, Craig Mostyn Group, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (WA), and Beanstalk AgTech (funded by Food Agility CRC & project partners)

Digital ESG: Building the foundation of worldclass ESG reporting for the pork industry, with Beanstalk AgTech, Curtin University, Craig Mostyn Group, Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development (WA), and Xsights Digital (funded by Food Agility CRC & project partners)

The following reports and outcomes are from completed projects.

Research Reports:

On-farm immunoassay test kit for inflammatory diseases to test the immune status of a herd (Pork CRC, 2018, 661KB)

Alternatives to vitamin E for the cost-effective management of cellular antioxidant capacity in weaner pigs experimentally infected with enterotoxigenic strain of E. coli (Pork CRC, 2018, 489KB)

Feeding Lupinus albus L. to immunocastrated male pigs to reduce feed intake and backfat (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2018, 781KB)

Maximizing the performance of pigs after weaning: Effects of weight distribution within groups and space allowance (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2019, 921KB)

Feeding a single diet to pigs in the grower/finisher stage to reduce feed costs and improve feed efficiency (Australasian Pork Research Institute Limited, 2020, 256KB)

Increasing percentage of live born piglets in free range litters during summer (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2021, 1.38MB)

Commercial validation of Weight-Detect and Enviro-Detect machine (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2021, 3.32MB)

Validating the use of pH/temperature data loggers to collect accurate measurements of muscle pH and temperature decline of pork carcasses during chilling for up to 24 hours (Australian Pork Limited, 2021, 245KB)

Can black soldier fly larvae be used as a dietary protein substitute and reduce antimicrobial use in weaner pigs? (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2022, 335KB)

Inclusion of guanidinoacetic acid in finishing diets to improve growth performance and meat quality (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2022, 436KB)

Inclusion of electrolytes and glucose in water and/or ConverMax® in feed prior to transport to reduce stress, improve carcass quality and performance in finisher pigs (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2022, 263KB)

Validation of a range of cleaning protocols for improved industry truck wash biosecurity (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2022, 3.11MB)

Understanding Western Australian pork quality across commercial production systems and season (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2023, 482KB)

A case study: Assessing the quality of source water fed to pigs in Western Australia (APC Pork Producers Committee, 2023, 1.59MB)

Summaries & Infonotes:

Establishing Western Australia as the centre for the production of high quality free range pork (Agribusiness Innovation Fund, 2019, 1.35MB)

Pork raised without antibiotics: New opportunities for WA’s pork industry (Agribusiness Innovation Fund, 2019, 1.32MB)

Pig Tales:

PIWA gratefully acknowledges all of our funding providers, in particular the WA Department of Primary Industries & Regional Development for its ongoing support and previous contributions to projects