CSIRO Livestock Industries scientist, Dr Nick Hudson.

Frog research could jumpstart livestock

Reference: 06/34

Scientific efforts could eventually lead to a dramatic reduction in the amount of feed livestock required in times of drought.

• 22 February 2006

Scientific efforts to reveal how an Australian frog maintains its muscle mass despite spending months or years hibernating underground could eventually lead to a dramatic reduction in the amount of feed livestock required in times of drought.

Common to Queensland’s dry interior, the green striped burrowing frog’s vital survival trait is the subject of a new joint research project involving CSIRO Livestock Industries’ scientists, Dr Nick Hudson and Dr Sigrid Lehnert, and a team of researchers from the University of Queensland led by zoologist Professor Craig Franklin.

After completing a PhD on the unique characteristics of the frog’s muscle metabolism two years ago, Dr Hudson continued researching its muscle physiology at CSIRO.

He says that as the frog’s muscle structure is very similar to a range of animals, the research has the potential to bring significant benefits to the livestock industry. 

‘The fact that frogs can make a super-fast recovery after hibernating through a drought – in extreme cases for years – has clear implications for animal husbandry,’ Dr Hudson says.

‘If farm animals were able to survive a drought with minimal feed input and then quickly gain condition when more feed was available, this would be extremely valuable.’

He says the frog’s ability to use feed more economically also has the potential to help scientists find ways to improve feed conversion efficiency in livestock.

‘The amount of weight gained for each kilo of food consumed is a major economic issue, particularly in the intensive animal feeding area.’

Detailed studies of the green striped burrowing frog show it suffers only minor muscle wastage during extremely long periods of inactivity.

‘Now that we know how the frog muscle works we can take the research a step further,’ Dr Hudson says.

Recent findings suggest that high levels of antioxidants within the frog muscle inhibit the kind of muscle breakdown normally associated with long periods of inactivity.

The new line of research will involve identifying key genes responsible for slowing muscle wastage in frogs and searching for related genes in livestock in a bid to optimise animal production.

The project recently received an A$844 000, five-year, grant from the Australian Research Council.