Breeding Low Methane Sheep

低甲烷羊的养殖

• 批准号: 10055702
• 金额: $ 291.56万
• 依托单位: INNOVIS LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10055702
• 关键词: Breeding; Low; Methane; Sheep

Our aim is to breed sheep with a naturally low carbon footprint to help English sheep farmers make a positive contribution to the journey towards Net Zero for UK agriculture.We are an alliance of forward-thinking sheep farmers and breeders who apply genetic science to the breeding of our sheep so that they can make the best, most efficient use of grass and forage to produce sustainable and healthy lamb of high nutritive value. Making use of grasslands by way of sheep grazing also helps sequester carbon into the soil. We collectively believe we can improve the sustainability of our sheep further by using genetic science and breeding to naturally reduce the amount of methane, which is a natural by-product of their forage digestion process, and therefore reduce the carbon footprint of sheep farming.This project will allow us to collect and build the necessary data, and develop the tools required to genetically reduce the methane emissions, and in turn, carbon footprint of sheep; and demonstrate the impact of using low-carbon sheep may have on whole farm carbon footprints.To achieve this, we will develop on-farm protocols to measure or predict methane emissions of sheep, alongside health, production and efficiency traits at the individual animal level, through using new innovative tools and technologies. We will investigate biological relationships between the genetic potential of sheep to emit lower levels of methane with rumen size and microbiota and with ewe productivity, efficiency and health, as we want to avoid any unintended changes in sheep physiology, health or welfare.To widen the impact of the project beyond our own flocks, we intend to carry out a wide-reaching programme of communication with other sheep breeders and farmers throughout England, in collaboration with supply chain partners and wider industry bodies. The integrated knowledge exchange programme will identify the most effective ways of communicating the outputs and implications of the project's work to other farmers to help educate and support them to make genetic changes in their flocks that will improve their productivity, sustainability, resilience and profitability.

我们的目标是培育自然低碳足迹的绵羊，帮助英国牧羊人为英国农业实现净零排放做出积极贡献。我们是一个前瞻性的牧羊人和育种家联盟，他们将遗传科学应用于绵羊育种，以便他们能够最好，最有效地利用牧草和饲料，生产高营养价值的可持续健康羔羊。利用草地放牧也有助于将碳固定在土壤中。我们共同相信，我们可以通过利用遗传科学和育种来自然减少甲烷的数量，从而进一步提高绵羊的可持续性，甲烷是绵羊饲料消化过程中的天然副产品，因此减少了绵羊养殖的碳足迹。该项目将使我们能够收集和建立必要的数据，并开发所需的工具来减少甲烷排放，反过来，为了实现这一目标，我们将制定农场协议，通过使用新的创新工具和技术，测量或预测绵羊的甲烷排放量，以及个体动物的健康、生产和效率特征。我们将研究绵羊排放较低水平甲烷的遗传潜力与瘤胃大小和微生物群之间的生物学关系，以及与母羊生产力，效率和健康之间的生物学关系，因为我们希望避免绵羊生理学，健康或福利的任何意外变化。我们打算与供应链合作伙伴和更广泛的行业机构合作，与英格兰各地的其他绵羊育种者和农民开展广泛的交流计划。综合知识交流方案将确定最有效的方式，向其他农民宣传项目工作的成果和影响，帮助教育和支持他们改变其畜群的基因，提高其生产力、可持续性、复原力和盈利能力。