DEVELOPING NOVEL FEEDS VIA BIOPROCESSING OF FOOD WASTE AND CROP RESIDUE BIOMASS TO SUPPORT SUSTAINABLE DAIRY PRODUCTION

The overarching goal is to develop strategies and explore pathways to make dairy farming more of the solution and less of a challenge to sustainable food security.Specific objectives:Develop novel feeds via innovative bioprocessing of food waste and crop residue biomass for enhanced nutritional value for dairy cows by conducting laboratory studies of fungal-based aerobic and bacteria-driven anaerobic fermentations with novel feed formulations under a range of conditions.Determine the impacts of novel feeds incorporated in dairy diets on multiple performance indicators at the whole animal level as well as rumen microbiota level via feeding trials and monitoring cow production parameters, rumen microbiota changes, and enteric methane emissions.Evaluate resource-, environmental- and carbon-footprint mitigations of novel feeds as partial substitutes for conventional feedstuffs based on field-generated data, and through substitution-avoidance analysis, life-cycle analysis (LCA), and techno-economic analysis.Develop and disseminate an educational initiative that embraces interdisciplinary perspectives by enriching current curriculum content and creating new learning opportunities for students to become future researchers, educators, and environmental stewards in the agri-food arena.