Award details

Global sustainability in livestock systems: managing environmental impacts.

Reference	BBS/OS/NW/000010
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Jennifer Dungait
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	Rothamsted Research
Department	Rothamsted Research Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	150,000
Status	Completed
Type	Research Grant
Start date	01/04/2015
End date	30/09/2017
Duration	29 months

Abstract

This project will: • Develop wider links between the UK and Colombia by bringing together teams to undertake joint research to improve forage and fodder management in livestock systems in developing countries. • The focus will be on ‘climate smart’ forage grasses (used in crop-livestock systems in Colombia and which provide high quality forage and act as ‘pull’ crops attracting pests from food crops in over 80K farms in sub-Saharan Africa), specifically investigating: 1. Soil organic matter (SOM) status and the relationship with soil fertility and resilience of the productivity of the soil-plant system to climate change effects. 2. Existing and potential nitrogen and phosphorus resources and barriers to efficient use, including belowground processes. 3. Options to modify animal, grazing, forage, land and waste management to minimise greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and increase soil carbon storage. 4. Appropriate life-cycle/ systems metrics and in-field solutions for different forage-based livestock production systems.

Summary

Healthy soils are essential for the economic and environmental well-being of all human beings. Well managed soils on farms maintain a diverse community of soil organisms that support plant growth for food, regulate water and nutrient supply, and store carbon to mitigate climate change. Healthy soils are resilient to environmental change and can continue to support crop production for food over time, without being progressively degraded or harming the wider environment. However, poor soil management is causing widespread soil degradation across the globe, jeopardising food security as global population continues to grow. The Tropical Forages Programme at Centre for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) is developing ‘climate-smart’ grasses and legumes to feed cattle, sheep and goats that produce meat and milk, to improve the diets of some of the world’s poorest people, including in sub-Saharan Africa. We think that some of the grasses will not only be good for livestock, but may help to improve soil health and the whole farming system. We hope that this will improve the livelihoods of millions of smallholder farmers in the tropics, and increase food supplies without negative impacts on the environment. One of the exciting things we have found out is that soil structure is visibly different under different grasses with different yields in different soils and climates. We are using biology, physics and chemistry to investigate what controls the change in the soil structure underneath the new grasses, and whether this is the same in tropical and temperate grassland systems. We hope that we will identify predictable soil health indicators that farmers can use easily to understand the health of their soils, to improve their supply of animal feed, and increase production of meat and milk to sell at market.

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Crop Science, Plant Science, Soil Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	Newton Fund - Initial Awards (NFIA) [2017]
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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