RVC receives grant to study methane production in cattle
The study hopes to reduce the contribution livestock make to greenhouse gas emission.
The Royal Veterinary College (RVC) has been awarded a £1.2m grant to investigate how methane-producing microorganisms colonise the gastro-intestinal (GI) tract of calves.
It is hoped the research will lead to an optimal way to administer potential vaccines which will reduce methane production in livestock.
The research project will focus on the impact the microorganisms have on calves in the first six weeks of their lives. It will also examine how this might impact their developing immune system.
The grant, awarded by the Bezos Earth Fund, will support RVC as it works with the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) to consider how the methane production of livestock could be reduced.
Livestock agriculture contributes around 14 per cent of global greenhouse gases. Methane is released mainly through a process of enteric fermentation, a digestive process that breaks down hay and grass for the nutrients.
Analysis has suggested that scientists could reduce this type of methane production by targeting the microorganism that causes it – methanogenic archaea.
Previous research has shown vaccines to be a sustainable approach to this microorganism, in that it does not require daily access to the animals. However, further research is needed to understand if and how methanogens interact with the immune system.
The study will also seek to ascertain when this microorganism colonises the GI-tract, and how it then spreads during the first weeks of a calf’s life.
To investigate this, the team will examine blood, saliva, ingesta and colostrum samples from Holstein-Friesian calves and their mothers. They will seek to identify the microbes, create cultures and modify and test the methanogen.
The project will be led by Dirk Werling, who is professor of molecular immunology and director of the Centre of Vaccinology and Regenerative Medicine at the RVC. He will collaborate with David Yanez-Ruiz, who is research group leader at CSIC in Spain.
Prof Werling said: “I am extremely proud of being part of this project, which brings together colleagues working in different fields of animal health in a very unique way. I believe that the funding we obtained from Bezos Earth Fund will enable us to perform research on a topic which affects us all, global warming, but in a way that both animals and humans benefit from it.”
The project coincides with a separate project, also funded by the Bezos Earth Fund, which will see the Pirbright Institute search for the antibodies needed to produce a methanogen vaccine.
John Hammond, director of research at The Pirbright Institute, said: “To cut global methane emissions by 30 per cent, low frequency interventions are essential.
“Vaccination is a widely accepted farming practice that is auditable and can be used in combination with other strategies, such as chemical inhibition, selection for low methane genetics, or early-life interventions to permanently alter microbiome composition in neo-natal calves.”
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Veterinary practices are being urged to help owners safely dispose of any unused and expired pet medicines - not just antibiotics - during November's Animal Medicines Amnesty. 
