Project Overview: The TransForm project is funded by the Irish Department of Agriculture Food and the Marine and brings together a team of multi-disciplinary scientists from the disciplines of Food Science, Nutritional Sciences and Dietetics, to create novel solutions to prevent malnutrition with a particular focus on Cancer Cachexia.

Project Overview: In the development of future foods and novel protein sources, the industry has widely acknowledged fermentation as a key technology to improve the taste, texture, nutrient availability and processability challenges associated with plant-based proteins and products. The UPLIFT project aims to create new scientific and technological knowledge relating to the use of fermentation as a processing tool for Irish plant-derived proteins and plant-dairy hybrids. This project crosses many domains of research in microbial cultures, genomics and metabolomics, fermentation, nutrition and sustainable and cost-effective processing to develop novel microbial consortia for plant-based fermentations. The successful PhD candidate will develop smart strain selection strategies and innovative process technologies for the generation of fermented plant-based ingredients and hybrid fermentations of dairy and plant blends, and valorise plant-based ingredients from fermentates. Coupled to this will be a comprehensive evaluation of the fermented protein products generated in terms of their health impacts - bioavailability, digestibility and their impact on microbiome functionality.

Collaborators - Prof. Olivia McAuliffe, Prof. Paul O'Toole

Years: 2024-2028

Project Overview:

Collaborators - Dr Noel McCarthy, Teagasc, Dr Elaine McCarthy, UCC, Prof. Thom Huppertz Wageningen University

Years: 2023-2027

Project Title: A multidisciplinary approach to increasing the nitrogen use efficiency of pasture- based systems
Funding: DAFM
Collaborators: Dr Michael Dineen [Lead]; Teagasc, Dr Tom O'Callaghan (UCC), Dr Seamus O'Mahony; UCC, Dr Lorraine Bateman; UCC.
Years: 2022-2026

Despite the positive effect nitrogen fertiliser use has on agriculture production, it is poorly utilised. Due to the high nitrogen requirement of perennial ryegrass (PRG), excessive amounts of nitrogen relative to the animals’ demand can accumulate in the sward.

Farm gate nitrogen balance and nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) are the two most widely used indicators of nitrogen efficiency in pasture-based systems. Animals consuming such swards typically exhibit low NUE, contributing to environmental challenges such as ammonia and nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching into groundwater.

PASTURE-NUE – a collaborative project between Teagasc, University College Cork and University College Dublin – is actively exploring how the agricultural industry can improve management practices to mitigate the current trade-offs between the production of agricultural goods and environmental sustainability. It will quantitatively measure the NUE and environmental footprint of various pasture-based diets, and highlight dietary strategies with the greatest potential to abate nitrogen emissions.

Project Title:Examination of the Irish milk metabolome for improved prediction of milk processability and sustainability

Funding: Department of Agriculture Food and Marine

Further information can be found here :

MetaBó-Bainne  

Project Overview: The goal of MetaBo-bainne is to characterise and define the Irish milk metabolome using NMR Metabolomics and examine factors affecting the milk metabolome such as cow breed, EBI, diet and seasonality and factors affected by the milk metabolome including important functional properties that can affect the processability of milk and correlations between milk metabolites and methane emissions. This data will then offer important insights for the development of tools for prediction of milk processability, milk source i.e Grass-Fed labelling, and sustainability.

Collaborators - Dr Seamus O’Mahony, Dr Lorraine Bateman, Prof. Anita Maguire Prof. Frank Buckley - UCC, Dr Noel McCarthy and Dr Michael Dineen - Teagasc

Years: 2022-2026

Project Title: The impact of methane-reducing feed additives on milk composition and quality

Funding: Teagasc Walsh Scholar Programme

Project Overview: The agricultural sector in Ireland is faced with a major challenge in addressing its contribution to national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, of which it accounts for an estimated 37%, while simultaneously increasing production both to meet increasing demand for value-added dairy products nationally and to provide food for an ever-growing global population. Methane is recognised as the second most significant GHG globally and possesses
approximately 28 times the global warming potential of carbon dioxide over a 100 year period. Biogenic or “enteric” methane is generated by ruminants as a by-product of microbial digestion of plant-based matter, primarily forageable grasses. Several feed additives are currently commercially available for use in reducing enteric methane generation in livestock. These compounds have undergone extensive testing relative to animal welfare and performance and research into their long-term efficacy in reducing GHG emissions is currently underway. However, the potential effects of these additives on the composition of milk and dairy end-product micronutrients, flavour and aroma compounds and residual by-products of rumen metabolism have yet to be comprehensively determined, particularly in the context of Irish dairy production. Previous investigations of bovine dietary interventions have determined significant effects on milk composition, with the metabolome, fatty acid and volatile profiles of dairy products exhibiting particular susceptibility to direct feeding changes or secondary modulation of rumen microflora. This, in turn gives rise to variation in product quality with respect to textural characteristics and sensory perception This research will determine the potential for these feed additives to impact the nutrient and flavour quality of Irish dairy products, through collection of milk samples and production of end-products such as butter and whole milk powder from groups of cows fed additives and a control group receiving typical forages.

Years: 2023-2027

Project Title:Consequences of the grazed pasture diversity on annual variability of nutritional value and technological properties of milk, and nutritional status of Holstein-Friesian and Jersey Holstein-Friesian crossbred dairy cows.

Funding: Teagasc

Project Overview: Examine the impact of multi-species swards in the dairy cow diets on the composition, quality and characteristics of milk and dairy products.

Years: 2021-2025

Project Title:The Investigation of Milk Fat Depression in Dairy Cattle.

Funding: Teagasc

Project Overview: Examination of the factors affecting the prevalence of milk fat depression in pasture based dairy production systems.

Years: 2020-2021

Project Title: Investigating the efficacy of PRG-RC silage for Irish animal production systems

Role: PI

Funding: Teagasc Walsh Scholar Program

Collaborators: Dr Michael Dineen (Teagasc, project lead), Dr Michael Egan (Teagasc)