Analytical nutrition laboratory

Based in Brisbane, our Analytical Nutrition Laboratory has over 20 years’ experience supporting the fields of animal nutrition, agricultural science, marine biology, and environmental science, with a  focus on aquaculture nutrition.

We are specialists in testing small samples to obtain the maximum amount of information from precious amounts. We routinely conduct multiple assays using 1 gram of dried material or less.

Custom assays can also be developed upon request.

A suite of specialised analytical instrumentation

Our facility contains an array of specialised equipment, assembled to provide a range of analytical data to answer your individual investigative queries.

Instruments include:

• Inductively coupled plasma – optical emission spectrometer - ICP-OES
• Oxygen bomb calorimeter
• Oxygen bomb calorimeter – micro bomb
• Gas chromatographs with multiple detectors:
  • flame ionisation detector GC-FID
  • mass spectrometer GC-MS
• Liquid chromatographs with multiple detectors:
  • tandem mass spectrometer - LC-MS-MS
  • evaporative light scattering detector - LC-ELSD
  • photodiode array - LC-PDA
  • refractive index detection- LC-RID
  • fluorescence detector - LC-FLD
• Elemental analyser
• Spectrometer and Fluorometers
• Fibre analyser
• Near infrared spectrometers - NIR
• Muffle furnace and drying ovens
• Freeze dryers

Analytical capabilities

Our laboratory routinely measures the following.

• Lipid and fatty acid analysis
• Crude Protein
• Total carbon
• Gross energy
• Metals and minerals analysis, including mercury.
• Amino acids and metabolites
• Starch, including amylose, amylose pectin, damaged starch.
• Fibre, including crude fibre, neutral detergent and acid detergent and lignin.
• Water chemistry, including ammonia, phosphate, nitrate and nitrite, total nitrogen and total phosphorus.
• Sugars and total carbohydrate
• Haem iron
• Carotenoids
• Creation of NIR models to predict nutrient composition and digestibility
• Moisture content
• Ash content