Dr Brett Glencross.

Dr Brett Glencross: delivering sustainable feeds and aquaculture production

Dr Brett Glencross leads feed quality and feed ingredient research aimed at improving the productivity and sustainability of Australia’s prawn and marine fin-fish aquaculture industries.

  • 10 December 2009 | Updated 14 October 2011

Dr Brett Glencross is a world authority in the field of aquaculture nutrition and has contributed to the sustainable growth of aquaculture industries in Australia and overseas.

He has expertise in biochemistry, physiology, nutrition, marine biology, molecular sciences, feed production technology, and research management, and maintains strong relationships with research agencies and industry partners.

Current activities

Dr Glencross leads the:

  • Novel Feed Ingredients and Nutrition stream of the CSIRO Food Futures Flagship Breed Engineering theme
  • Queensland-based team of the CSIRO Marine and Atmospheric Research Aquaculture Genetics, Nutrition and Production research group.

Novel Feed Ingredients and Nutrition stream

The Food Futures Flagship Novel Feed Ingredients stream is based at the CSIRO Cleveland Marine Laboratories south of Brisbane, Australia.

It represents one of the organisation's largest geographical footprints, stretching from barramundi research near Darwin in the Northern Territory and Atlantic salmon health projects in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, to international research in Vietnam.

Research in the Novel Feed Ingredients and Nutrition stream covers:

  • raw material development and evaluation
  • improved animal performance and management
  • animal health and nutrition interactions
  • bioactive product development
  • feed processing technologies.

Projects in the stream are:

  • developing a new approach to monitoring feed consumption in prawns ponds using intelligent sensor-based technologies
  • assisting the Atlantic salmon industry to manage nutrition-health interactions
  • developing new technologies to sustainably produce raw materials for use in feeds for prawns and fish
  • identifying bioactive substances and their roles in stimulating animal performance
  • developing nutritional models and applying them to feed design and animal production management
  • providing international assistance to developing nations in Southeast Asia to improve the sustainability of their aquaculture industries
  • transferring this knowledge to industry partners in the feed and animal production sectors.

Background

Dr Glencross has worked for the:

Research by Dr Glencross on grain-derived protein and oil sources has helped Australia’s aquaculture feed sector reduce its dependence of on imported fish meals and oils.
  • Department of Fisheries in Western Australia
  • Institute Nationale Recherché Agrinomique in France
  • South Australian Research and Development Institute
  • University of Western Australia
  • University of Tasmania, Australia.

During his career, his research experience and interests have included:

  • nutritional biochemistry and physiology
  • feed raw material development and evaluation
  • development and application of nutritional models
  • environmental management of aquaculture
  • the development and application of  molecular techniques to aquaculture nutrition.

Research by Dr Glencross on grain-derived protein and oil sources has helped Australia's aquaculture feed sector reduce its dependence of on imported fish meals and oils.

His pioneering development of nutritional models for Australian feed manufacturers and fish producers has led to significant improvements in feed design and feed management.

Dr Glencross also has worked with Vietnamese partners to improve feed sustainability in Vietnam’s catfish farming industry through the redesign of optimal feed specifications and raw material evaluation.

Academic qualifications

Dr Glencross has been awarded a:

  • Bachelor of Science with First Class Honours in Biochemistry from the University of Western Australia
  • Master of Science in Biochemistry from the University of Western Australia
  • Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Queensland, Australia, (nutritional optimisation of essential fatty acids in the diet of the Penaeid prawn, Penaeus mondon).

Achievements

Dr Glencross managed the national Aquaculture Feed Grains Program which coordinated across 11 different organisations the development, evaluation and application of feed grain use in aquaculture feeds from 2002 to 2008.

The program resulted in widespread use of feed grains in the Australian aquafeed industry and the development of a specialist feed grain processing facility to produce value-added grain for the aquaculture sector.

His other achievements include:

  • appointment to the Scientific Committee of the International Society of Fish Nutrition and Feeding, 2008
  • editorship of the international journal Aquaculture Nutrition, 2008
  • appointment as Adjunct Associate Professor at the Faculty of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, University of Western Australia, 2004
  • Science and Innovation Award for Young People in the Grain Industries category, 2002
  • Australian Academy of Science Fellowship to France, 2001.

Read about CSIRO research on selective breeding for Atlantic salmon at Breeding better salmon.