Chelsea Fancote

Unearthing the secrets of saltbush: potential benefits for animal health and performance, meat quality and human health and nutrition

Saltbush (Atriplex spp) is widely used to revegetate saline land throughout Australia. These halophytic shrubs have the potential to provide forage for animal production, whilst simultaneously contributing to the amelioration of dryland salinity.

In mediterranean-type climates, such as much of southern Australia, saltbush can provide out of season green feed for grazing livestock. Because saltbush plants are able to persist in harsh saline and arid environments, they accumulate many compounds that enable them to survive in these environments. Some of these compounds are of interest to us because of their potential to induce beneficial changes in carcass composition, meat quality and animal health. The aim of Chelsea’s research is to determine how saltbush can be best used in farming systems to take full advantage of this feed reserve.

Chelsea’s research falls into the CRC’s Program 1 research area and is related to the Enhance project.

Objectives:

• Assess how saltbush can be used in a backgrounding system prior to finishing in a commercial feedlot and to quantify changes in carcass composition and meat quality as a result of grazing saltbush
• Quantify the ability of saltbush to naturally improve animal health and performance through provision of antioxidants, such as vitamin E, and other secondary plant compounds that accumulate in this plant
• Compare the effectiveness of grazing saltbush as a vitamin E supplement to standard commercial treatments used in the production of prime lambs
• Investigate the potential for meat from lambs that have grazed saltbush to have enhanced nutritional characteristics for human consumption.

For more information, email Chelsea