Funded PhD Studentship: Dietary strategies to reduce methane production in dairy cows and their[...]

Funded PhD Studentship: Dietary strategies to reduce methane production in dairy cows and their effects on the rumen microbiome and metabolism (RD-PHD-02-LS-MH-25)

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Funded PhD Studentship: Dietary strategies to reduce methane production in dairy cows and their effects on the rumen microbiome and metabolism (RD-PHD-02-LS-MH-25)

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Funded PhD Studentship: Dietary strategies to reduce methane production in dairy cows and their effects on the rumen microbiome and metabolismResearch OfficeProject Title: Dietary strategies to reduce methane production in dairy cows and their effects on the rumen microbiome and metabolism Primary supervisor: Prof. Liam Sinclair Co supervisors: Dr Tim Snelling, Dr Jim Huntington, Dr Jules Taylor-Pickard, Dr Helen WarrenExpected Start date and locationOctober 2025, based at Harper Adams University, Edgmond, Shropshire, UK.FundingThe studentship covers the current Home Student (UK, Isle of Man & Channel Isles) tuition fees plus a yearly stipend. For 2025/6 this equates to £20, 780 per year, with potential increases each academic year in line with UKRI. International applicants would need to be able to fund the difference between home and overseas fees (£11, 382 for the 2025/6 academic year) with a proportion being paid in full before Visa documentation can be issued. Please note that due to time frame for Visa applications the start date may have to be amended to January 2026.ApplicantsApplicants must hold a minimum of an upper second class (2:1) honours degree, or equivalent in a relevant discipline (Animal Science/Agriculture with Animals Science/Veterinary Bioscience or other Biological Science) or a 2.2 alongside a relevant Master\’s degree with Merit, or potential for research based on alternative qualifications/experience judged acceptable by the university.Project The production of methane (CH4) by cattle has received considerable attention in recent years because it has a global warming potential of between 25 to 28 times that of carbon dioxide and contributes approximately 6% to the total human related greenhouse gas emissions (Beauchemin et al., 2020). The UK government has focused on reducing CH4 production by committing to the Global Methane Pledge and lowering production by 30% by 2030, and has pledged to reach carbon net zero by 2050. Between 40 to 50% of the carbon footprint of a litre of milk is attributed to CH4 production in the rumen (Huhtanen et al., 2022) which also has a negative impact on animal performance, with between 2% and 12% of the energy intake by dairy cows being lost as CH4 (McDonald et al., 2021). Consequently, reducing CH4 production improves feed use efficiency by dairy cows and is therefore both economically and environmentally beneficial. In ruminants CH4 is produced as an end-product of feed fermentation by the microbial population within the rumen, or first stomach (Danielsson et al., 2017). There are three main approaches to reducing enteric CH4 production by ruminants: (1) animal manipulation, (2) diet manipulation and (3) rumen manipulation (Eckard et al., 2010). In terms of practical solutions, economics and legislative constraints, the simplistic approach to reducing enteric CH4 production is to modify dietary composition (Hart et al., 2015). This can be accomplished by altering the proportion of structural (e.g. fibre) to non-structural (e.g. starch) carbohydrates in order to lower rumen pH and promote a more propionic-based fermentation. Alternatively, rumen fermentation can be altered by the dietary addition of plant-based compounds such as tannins, flavonoids or essential oils (Bature et al., 2024). In a recent meta-analysis Belanche et al. (2020) reported that the long-term feeding of essential oils to dairy cows decreased CH4 production by 8.8% per day, or 12.9% when expressed per kg of dry matter intake or 9.9% per kg fat and protein corrected milk yield. However, it was also reported that the mode of action of essential oils was unclear, and not all studies reported a positive effect. Similarly, Ferreria et al., (2024) concluded that additional studies were required in order to better understand the mechanism of the action of plant active compounds such as essential oils on the rumen microbiome, especially under different dietary regimes. Objectives and workplanThe objectives of the PhD studentship are to better understand the effect of diet on CH4 production in the rumen by examining the addition of essential oils and alteration of the basal diet. Studies will be conducted in dairy cows and in vitro to determine the effects of the dietary addition of essential oils (e.g. length of feeding, rate of inclusion and method of feeding) under different dietary conditions (such as the dietary starch to fibre concentration, different forages and management, or dietary oil concentration), on the rumen microbial population, metabolism (e.g. volatile fatty acid and ammonia concentration) and dairy cow performance, and relate this to CH4 production.

Harper Adams University is one of the premier UK Higher Education institutions focused on the land-based and food supply chain sector. With around 2,800 undergraduate students, plus those completing postgraduate, research and CPD programmes, Harper Adams University is the UK\’s largest single provider of higher education for these subjects. Programmes fall into eleven broad subject areas – but none operate in isolation. Community and collaboration are key at Harper Adams, meaning everyone, including staff, students and industry partners, benefits from a close network of knowledge and opportunity exchange. Situated in Shropshire, the campus and the surrounding area provide an excellent working and living environment for staff and students alike.

Harper Adams is consistently positioned highly in a range of national ratings, performance measures and league tables. The University has been the highest performing modern university in The Times and Sunday Times Good University Guide for the last four years, climbing to 17th place in the overall league table. In the 2020 guide Harper Adams was named Modern University of the Year and runner-up University of the Year. In the 2019 Whatuni? Student Choice Awards, based on student reviews, Harper Adams won the Student Support category for the fifth time – the only university to have taken the title since the awards began – and won the category for best job prospects for a fourth year running. In the 2020 QS World Rankings for Agriculture and Forestry published in March 2020, Harper Adams was ranked first in the UK for academic reputation and second in the world for its reputation with employers.

Harper Adams University is internationally recognised for the quality of its research, as evidenced by the Research Excellence Framework 2022. In order to maintain and uphold the high standards of our research, we continue to undertake initiatives to ensure that integrity, ethics and excellence are at the core of our research activities and fully embedded in our research culture.

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