The societal role of meat is being challenged with ideological and simplified logic without substantiation from robust data driven science. The international summit titled ‘The societal role of meat – what the science says’ was held to provide evidence-based evaluations and the Dublin Declaration. A synopsis of the summit is described and the societal role of meat in Australia is evaluated under the themes of meat for (1) diet and health, (2) a sustainable environment and (3) society, economics and culture.

The dairy cow has a well recognised natural daily pattern of feed intake and milk synthesis that have implications for optimising rumen function and milk synthesis. Basic biology work has described the time-keeping mechanisms regulating these rhythms. The daily pattern of feed intake and the implications for rumen function and recent work showing that milk synthesis varies over the day and is modified by the timing of feed intake are discussed.

Debate surrounding the adverse consequences of feeding human-edible feedstuffs to livestock can be addressed through calculation of the net protein contribution (NPC) of the production system. This paper calculates the NPC from an Australian pork supply chain to be 3.26. This number is higher than previously published values, largely because of the composition of Australian pig diets, but demonstrates the positive value that livestock production systems make to human food supply.

Feed intake is fundamental to animal performance and efficiency. Yet, for the cattle industry of northern Australia, our understanding of pasture intake is limited. While much is known about the components of feed intake, it remains difficult to integrate this knowledge into a dynamic and responsive estimation of voluntary intake under typical grazing conditions. This paper reviews the state of understanding, highlights gaps in knowledge and discusses the potential impact of digital technologies that will offer new solutions to old challenges.

For sustainable agriculture to be truly sustainable, it must be sustainable across the domains of environmental, economic, and social sustainability. However, most sustainability assessments focus primarily on environmental impacts, and many current tools and models can model only one or two of these domains, making nuanced, big-picture assessment difficult. This review proposes a holistic modelling framework for nuanced, multi-metric sustainability of livestock systems, while highlighting challenges that must be addressed to realise and implement this framework.

Aquaculture feed formulations are being re-imagined. Not only do formulations have to meet the rigid nutrient requirements of the high trophic species cultured, but they will also have to adhere to increasing expectations of sustainable farming, animal health and welfare, and seafood quality. Environmental, social and governance concerns are steering the aquaculture industry in new directions and influencing nutrition research. This review provides an outline of some of the challenges facing nutritionists, which are leading to new trends for feeding Australian aquaculture.

The successful reduction of protein contents in wheat-based diets holds a number of advantages for chicken-meat production in Australia, including a decreased dependence on imported soybean meal and extends to enhanced bird welfare, flock health and environmental conditions. The relatively high protein concentrations and rapid digestion rates of wheat starch may be impeding their adoption. Several strategies are proposed that could expedite the practical acceptance of reduced crude-protein, wheat-based diets.

Supplementing prebiotics, specifically short-chain sugars called oligosaccharides, into poultry diets has been shown to improve bird gastrointestinal health and productivity. However, bird responses to these oligosaccharides are inconsistent among research studies, suggesting that it may not always be economically beneficial to supplement them into poultry diets. This review examines the mechanisms behind how oligosaccharides induce prebiotic effects in poultry, to better understand how to the achieve the greatest benefits from using them, aiding development of new prebiotic products.

Poultry are fed with the assumption that muscle growth and egg formation require the same steady flow of nutrients throughout the day. However, in the case of egg production we know this is not the case, and recent evidence suggests that muscle deposition may also follow cyclic patterns. Therefore, this review discusses recent research on the circadian rhythm, which synchronises various biological processes within a 24 h cycle, and its relevance to poultry production.

With the rapid growth of aquaculture, there has been extensive research on a range of alternate ingredients for aquafeed. Such investigations have usually focused on growth of the target species. A possible gap is the assessment of the aligned edible product for a range of market-driven parameters such as nutritional composition, quality, consumer perceptions and sustainability metrics. This review focuses on alternate aquafeed ingredients transformed from seafood waste and investigates analyses aligned with information pertinent to markets or end-use.

The potential of multispecies swards to be a productive, resilient, and environmentally beneficial source of fodder for ruminants has been a highly researched topic internationally in the past decade. This review aims to identify the opportunities that greater uptake of multispecies swards can offer to Australian dairy producers in temperate regions. The review also highlights challenges associated with this alternative approach to traditional pasture types, and concludes where research gaps still lie.

Ensuring proper nutrition during the peripartum period is crucial for healthy calf growth and survival. According to this review article, short-term dietary protein restrictions can disrupt hormonal balance, reduce colostrum quality and volume, and increase the risk of calf mortality, regardless of the cow’s body condition score. The review highlights the need for cattle producers to develop improved nutritional programs for late-pregnant cows, particularly those focused on high muscle marbling in the carcass.