Future forages: Implications of forage response to climate change for ruminant production
Lead Research Organisation:
CARDIFF UNIVERSITY
Department Name: School of Biosciences
Abstract
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Technical Summary
We will test the hypothesis that growth of forage grass under conditions typical of 2050 UK climate will invoke a stress memory response, negating predicted gains in forage grass quality from targeted breeding. Our central hypothesis is that this will be caused by a combination of plant and microbial factors in the rumen. We hypothesise that the transcriptional and post-transcriptional plant stress responses will alter microbial colonisation profiles, which will result in limited fibre degradation and decreased rumen efficiency. This is based on preliminary data demonstrating effects of forage genotype on rumen efficiency and effects pre-harvest stress on the forage transcriptome and rumen metabolome.
1) We will screen current commercial and pre-commercial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) varieties/ lines in vitro. Feed quality (dry mass, nitrogen, carbohydrates etc), fermentation efficiency (CO2, methane and volatile fatty acids), metabolic profile (including volatile organic compounds, VOCs) will be compared under 5 environmental conditions: 1) current, 2) predicted climate for 2050 (CO2 of 500 ppm and a temperature increase of 5oC) and predicted climate plus, 3) 1 week drought, 4) 1 week flood and 5) 2 d heat (40oC).
2) Two contrasting variety/ lines and 2 environment combinations (including control) will be selected for metabolomics and proteomics, transcriptomics, VOC profiles and metagenomics in a system wide network analysis of the perturbations.
3) Continuous flow fermentation will be used to test whether effects of stress memory in the forage can be overcome by adaptation by the rumen microbiota.
4) An animal trial will be used to verify predictions from the in vitro work. To minimise feed requirements small/miniature sheep will be used comparing intake, nitrogen partitioning and methane production when fed ryegrass grown under current or future scenario.
We will deliver markers for breeders to optimise forage for future climate conditions.
1) We will screen current commercial and pre-commercial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) varieties/ lines in vitro. Feed quality (dry mass, nitrogen, carbohydrates etc), fermentation efficiency (CO2, methane and volatile fatty acids), metabolic profile (including volatile organic compounds, VOCs) will be compared under 5 environmental conditions: 1) current, 2) predicted climate for 2050 (CO2 of 500 ppm and a temperature increase of 5oC) and predicted climate plus, 3) 1 week drought, 4) 1 week flood and 5) 2 d heat (40oC).
2) Two contrasting variety/ lines and 2 environment combinations (including control) will be selected for metabolomics and proteomics, transcriptomics, VOC profiles and metagenomics in a system wide network analysis of the perturbations.
3) Continuous flow fermentation will be used to test whether effects of stress memory in the forage can be overcome by adaptation by the rumen microbiota.
4) An animal trial will be used to verify predictions from the in vitro work. To minimise feed requirements small/miniature sheep will be used comparing intake, nitrogen partitioning and methane production when fed ryegrass grown under current or future scenario.
We will deliver markers for breeders to optimise forage for future climate conditions.
Planned Impact
Ruminants provide high quality protein from land that can grow grass but cannot grow grain. Farmed grasslands in the UK represent >40 % of all land-area and provide a cost-effective platform to supply protein feed for ruminants. Maintaining productivity as the climate changes is vital to ensuring food supply and choice. Core to this is understanding the causes of inefficiency of ruminant conversion of plant into animal protein and mitigation of consequent environment damage. Improvements in rumen efficiency require improvements in the forage grasses they are fed on. We will deliver information needed to develop the next generation of grasses to optimise ruminant performance for the future climate conditions.
Understanding now how grasses perform as feeds in the near future (2050) is important because of the long timescale of breeding. This work will therefore directly benefit the UK livestock industry worth £6bn pa as well as researchers in plant, microbial and ruminant science.
1) Farmers will benefit from this research by having appropriate choice of climate ready crops to maximise pasture and animal performance under an altered climate and evidence on which to make decisions. This will indirectly contribute to social inclusion and leisure tourism by increasing the profitability and sustainability of pasture based rural life. We will engage with industry practitioners and representatives by attending industry-facing shows and co-operating with the efforts of the Farming Connect Knowledge Exchange Hub (KE Hub, a Welsh Government funded conduit for information from primary research to the farming community in Wales) and Grassland Development Centre (GDC, an extension service working with focus farms to demonstrate best practice), both based at IBERS.
2) This project will benefit forage plant breeders by providing them with information on the traits needed in future climate-appropriate forage varieties, which they can incorporate immediately into current breeding programmes. The molecular data on the response of forage grass incorporating stress memory in the rumen will inform long-term breeding strategies and provide information on biochemical pathways and target genes for breeders to use as markers in their longer-term high-throughput breeding programmes. We will ensure translation of research to product via our links with Germinal Holdings, an international grass seed company.
3) The scientific community will benefit from increased knowledge of the impact of climate change on non-model, perennial crops which are often poorly studied in comparison with annual species. We plan to produce 6 open access papers from this project spanning the continuum from frontier research into transcriptomics to verification in animals.
4) Policy makers on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will benefit from the outputs of this project through improved understanding of effects of climate change on forage digestion and hence on the knock on effects for meeting emission targets set for livestock.
5) There will be a strong training aspect in this project. The PDRAs will benefit from experience of a multifaceted project. They will be expected to present the work at conferences and contribute to writing of publications, so developing their career skills.
6) Consumers will benefit from increased sustainability of ruminant farming delivering cost-effective animal protein. The public will also gain from the environmental benefits in addressing ruminant efficiency thus reducing waste production, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and run off from fields. Finally, the gains made in animal productivity by correct tailoring of the forage grass varieties in 2050 will potentially reducing land dedicated to grazing that could be used for growing food crops, and hence both directly and indirectly support food security.
Understanding now how grasses perform as feeds in the near future (2050) is important because of the long timescale of breeding. This work will therefore directly benefit the UK livestock industry worth £6bn pa as well as researchers in plant, microbial and ruminant science.
1) Farmers will benefit from this research by having appropriate choice of climate ready crops to maximise pasture and animal performance under an altered climate and evidence on which to make decisions. This will indirectly contribute to social inclusion and leisure tourism by increasing the profitability and sustainability of pasture based rural life. We will engage with industry practitioners and representatives by attending industry-facing shows and co-operating with the efforts of the Farming Connect Knowledge Exchange Hub (KE Hub, a Welsh Government funded conduit for information from primary research to the farming community in Wales) and Grassland Development Centre (GDC, an extension service working with focus farms to demonstrate best practice), both based at IBERS.
2) This project will benefit forage plant breeders by providing them with information on the traits needed in future climate-appropriate forage varieties, which they can incorporate immediately into current breeding programmes. The molecular data on the response of forage grass incorporating stress memory in the rumen will inform long-term breeding strategies and provide information on biochemical pathways and target genes for breeders to use as markers in their longer-term high-throughput breeding programmes. We will ensure translation of research to product via our links with Germinal Holdings, an international grass seed company.
3) The scientific community will benefit from increased knowledge of the impact of climate change on non-model, perennial crops which are often poorly studied in comparison with annual species. We plan to produce 6 open access papers from this project spanning the continuum from frontier research into transcriptomics to verification in animals.
4) Policy makers on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions will benefit from the outputs of this project through improved understanding of effects of climate change on forage digestion and hence on the knock on effects for meeting emission targets set for livestock.
5) There will be a strong training aspect in this project. The PDRAs will benefit from experience of a multifaceted project. They will be expected to present the work at conferences and contribute to writing of publications, so developing their career skills.
6) Consumers will benefit from increased sustainability of ruminant farming delivering cost-effective animal protein. The public will also gain from the environmental benefits in addressing ruminant efficiency thus reducing waste production, which contributes to greenhouse gas emissions and run off from fields. Finally, the gains made in animal productivity by correct tailoring of the forage grass varieties in 2050 will potentially reducing land dedicated to grazing that could be used for growing food crops, and hence both directly and indirectly support food security.
Organisations
Publications
Spadafora N
(2019)
A complex interaction between pre-harvest and post-harvest factors determines fresh-cut melon quality and aroma
in Scientific Reports
Aros D
(2020)
Floral Scent Evaluation of Three Cut Flowers Through Sensorial and Gas Chromatography Analysis
in Agronomy
Hart EH
(2022)
Forage grass growth under future climate change scenarios affects fermentation and ruminant efficiency.
in Scientific reports
Greco M
(2022)
Identifying volatile and non-volatile organic compounds to discriminate cultivar, growth location, and stage of ripening in olive fruits and oils
in Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture
Sirangelo T
(2022)
Multi-Omic Approaches to Investigate Molecular Mechanisms in Peach Post-Harvest Ripening
in Agriculture
Spadafora ND
(2019)
Short-Term Post-Harvest Stress that Affects Profiles of Volatile Organic Compounds and Gene Expression in Rocket Salad During Early Post-Harvest Senescence.
in Plants (Basel, Switzerland)
Description | This work is based on the hypothesis that exposure of plants to stress in the field will affect digestibility of the forage feed in the rumen of grazing cattle and sheep. We have completed in vitro experiments based on batch and continuous culture fermentations of grasses with a rumen fluid inoculum. The experimental work to date has shown that differences in digestibility can be observed in a number of pasture grass species when they have been exposed to heat, drought or elevated CO2 as compared with current ambient (control) conditions. Analysis of ten different grass varieties revealed that in vitro digestion (with a rumen microbial inoculum) of the grasses was affected by the plant's growth environment, with responses to specific stresses being determined by grass variety. A paper has been submitted to Nature Scientific Reports, based on these results. We have conducted more detailed evaluation on three grass varieties to confirm initial results which indicated that future climate conditions could decrease methane production from animals grazing currently marketed high quality grasses.This means that growth conditions do affect subsequent utilisation in the rumen (our main hypothesis). It is now important to understand what is driving this in terms of fundamental biology so that a targeted plant breeding approach can be applied to produce future varieties that mitigate negative effects. Despite limited access to laboratories due to Covid we have continued with data analysis of collected samples where possible. Transcriptomic (Cardiff University) and metagenomic fingerprint (Aberystwyth university) analysis of representative samples from plant and rumen fluid respectively, has been completed to understand the relationship between plant metabolism and microbial colonisation. Data analysis is progressing with the aim of identifying candidate genes/ microbial profiles associated with altered feed degradation. In parallel, gaseous (headspace) samples have been analysed for volatile compounds (VOCs) by project partners at Cardiff University. These results also indicate that a pre-fermentation stress exposure alters the way that commercial forage varieties are digested. We were to undertake an animal feeding experiment in late 2020/early 2021 to confirm that results of in vitro experimentation would translate to practical implementation, ie when considering the whole animal, but this has been delayed due to Covid. The animals required (miniature Southdown sheep) were purchased in February 2020 to allow time for them to get accustomed to their new environment before the experiment. Based on results from in vitro studies we have identified the contrasting environmental stresses to be tested and these plants are being grown in preparation. |
Exploitation Route | Although the outcomes of our research were delayed significantly by Covid, we have now completed all planned work, finalising analyses and are preparing publications. This work is of direct relevance to UK's objectives of achieving net zero carbon. It is recognised that ruminant agriculture has significant challenges in reducing carbon output but identification of a plant based methodology to contribute to decreased environmental impact, that would be easily adopted by the farmers would be of significant social and economic benefit. We anticipate that our findings will be of direct relevance to forage grass breeders by identifying resilience and quality traits that will be important in a future unstable climate. identification of candidate genes or microbial profile associated with beneficial rumen fermentation profile could be applied as part of plant breeding selection protocols. To faciliate this, we have communicated our findings internally and externally via the Head of Plant Breeding at IBERS and via our links with the forage breeding company Germinal Holdings and are currently seeking further funding to explore the impact of our results on plant breeding selections. We will use our industry practitioner networks (eg Nert Zero productive Grasslands network) to inform of best practice when selecting varieties for resowing of grasslands. We are also incorporating our findings into teaching materials (lectures at Undergraduate and Masters level as appropriate) and include in distance learning schemes operated by Aberystwyth University specifically targeted towards upskilling industry practitioners. |
Sectors | Agriculture Food and Drink Environment |
Description | The animal feeding experiment took place in the CIEL Small Ruminant Facility (part of the InnovateUK Agri-tech Centres). CIEL took the opportunity to make a promotional film to encourage CIEL industry members from the sheep/ goat industries to undertake collaborate research or commissioned work with Aberystwyth University. Likely industry targets would relate to environmental impact (include mitigation of methane production) and enhanced product quality through precision feeding (competitive advantage). The results were disseminated to Germinal, a forage grass breeding company and contributed to tri-lateral discussions (Cardiff University, Aberystwyth University, Germinal) as part of the Innovation for All award to understand how to translate research results to breeding objectives. We have consolidated the academic collaboration between the groups at Cardiff and Aberystwyth through the involvement of Profs Rogers and Kingston-Smith in the GW4 Epigenetics Community project. This has enlarged the network and promoted discussions around further research to understand the fundamental control of the climate response in the forages studied, including a visit by Prof Rogers to Aberystwyth in February 2024. The Epigenetics Community project was led by ECRs thus providing them an opportunity to develop leadership skills under guidance of more experienced academics. |
First Year Of Impact | 2021 |
Sector | Agriculture, Food and Drink |
Impact Types | Societal Economic |
Description | GW4 Plant Epigenetics Community; bridging the knowledge gap from models to crops |
Amount | £19,403 (GBP) |
Funding ID | GW4-GF4-016 |
Organisation | GW4 |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2023 |
End | 11/2023 |
Description | Innovation For All |
Amount | £15,780 (GBP) |
Organisation | Cardiff University |
Sector | Academic/University |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 03/2022 |
End | 12/2022 |
Description | British Grassland Society 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A poster was presented at the British Grassland Society (BGS) conference held 2nd to 4th March 2021. This had been moved from a physical to online meeting due to Covid. The VOC Signature of Pasture Grass Subjected to Environmental and Rumen Stress. S. CHRISTOFIDES2, E.H. HART1, C.T. MÜLLER2, T.E. DAVIES1, H. ROGERS2 and A.H. KINGSTON-SMITH1 1 IBERS, 2 School of Biosciences, Cardiff University. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | British Grassland Society 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | A poster was presented at the British Grassland Society (BGS) conference held 2nd to 4th March 2021. This had been moved from a physical to online meeting due to Covid. Future forages: Assessing forage of today for climate change conditions of the future E.H. Hart1, S. Christofides2, C.T. Muller2, H. Rodgers2 and A. H. Kingston-Smith1 1IBERS, 2Cardiff University |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | British Science Week 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | Project members designed and ran a hands-on exhibit throughout a week at the Aberystwyth University Science Week (March 2020) "Our diverse planet". The event was designed to help school children (KS2 and secondary) understand the diversity of the rumen and why it, and the symbiotic bacteria and fungi it contains, are essential for transformation of plants that we can not eat into high quality (protein) milk and meat product for human consumption. Attendees were from local schools, plus from further afield in Wales and Shropshire. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | EGF-EUCARPIA Joint Symposium 2019. 24-27th June, Zurich Switzerland. |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | EGF-EUCARPIA Joint Symposium 2019. 24-27th June, Zurich Switzerland. "Improving sown grasslands through breeding and management" Poster: Implications of forage response to flooding for ruminant production |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | European Grassland Federation 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Dr Hart gave a talk at the 28th meeting of the European Grassland Federation. This was due to be held in Helsinki, Finland but was rearranged to take place online (due to Covid) from19th to 21st October 2020. Future forages: Differential effect of climate change scenarios on forage grasses for ruminant production. Hart E.H.1, Christofides S.2, Rogers H.2, Creevey C.3, Müller C.2 and Kingston-Smith A.H.1 1IBERS, Aberystwyth University, UK 2School of Biosciences, Cardiff University, UK 3School of Biological Sciences, Queen's University Belfast, UK |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
URL | https://www.europeangrassland.org/fileadmin/documents/Infos/Printed_Matter/Proceedings/EGF2020.pdf |
Description | Journey to the centre of the cow |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | School Science exhibit "Journey to the centre of the cow" to demoonstrate feed breakdown in the rumen and how plant genotype can affect this |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Plants, People, Planet Symposium, Kew Gardens 4-5th Sept 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Plants, People, Planet Symposium, Kew Gardens 4-5th Sept 2019. The VOC Signature of Pasture Grass Subjected to Environmental and Rumen Stress. (poster) |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Royal Welsh Agricultural Show 2019 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Public/other audiences |
Results and Impact | Staff from the project participated in the IBERS exhibiiton at the Royal Welsh Agricultural Show. This involved discussing the potential for plant breeding in relation to climate change with attendees from the UK, Ireland and Europe. This was assisted by hte "touch the grass" exhibit designed to raise people's awareness of the phenotypic differences between different grasses, and forage quality. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | SEB 2021 oral presentation "The transcriptome and VOC signature of environmental and rumen stress in pasture grass" (presented by Sarah Christofides) |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Talk at international conference - Society for Experimental Biology |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Schools Science week, 2000 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Local |
Primary Audience | Schools |
Results and Impact | An exhibit to engage school children with exploring plant degradation in a rumen by rumen microorganisms, aiming to help them understand better the links in food production |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | visit by BBSRC CEO |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Supporters |
Results and Impact | A summary of the results from the project up to July 2019 were presented during a visit to IBERS by Prof Melanie Welham (CEO BBSRC). |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |