Ongoing research projects | Externwebben

NJV's research includes soil, plant and animal sciences. The department's current research projects are listed on this page. Click on a project to learn more about it and to see who is the responsible researcher.

Improved management strategies for establishment of Lucerne Lucerne is a potential alternative to red clover in areas where the soil is closer to neutral and well drained. In the right conditions lucerne can very productive and drought tolerant. However, establishment failures limit the geographic area in which it is typically sown. This project tests possible solutions to prevent poor lucerne establishment.
Evaluation of Yellow Lucerne as a forage crop for Northern Sweden Lucerne is a forage that is widely cultivated in Europe, including in Sweden; however, there are many locations in Sweden where the climate or soil conditions are not suitable. Yellow lucerne is not currently cultivated, but has potential to be a future forage crop for Northern Sweden. Yellow lucerne has rhizomes, a low crown, is tolerant of grazing, has a fibrous root system (less of a tap-root than blue lucerne), is tolerant of acid and wet soils, disease resistant, longer lived and more...
Reducing methane production of stored manure from dairy cows using Asparagopsis Taxiformis The objective of this project is to investigate the hypothesis that methane production could be further reduced from stored manure in dairy cows supplemented with Asparagopsis taxiformis.
SEASOLUTIONS Ruminant livestock account for about half of the total greenhouse gas production in agriculture, where a large proportion of the emissions come from their digestion (enteric fermentation). Policies can be combined with information to consumers and investments in research to achieve climate and environmental goals . In the dairy industry, it is desired to produce milk with zero climate footprint, for example by increasing the carbon storage on farms, reducing the consumption of fossil fuels,...
SEAFEED Miljöpåverkan från mjölkkor (idisslare) har fått stor uppmärksamhet av samhället och vetenskapssamhället, främst med fokus på strategier för att minska utsläppen av växthusgaser. Detta på grund av att en stor del av människans utsläpp av växthusgaser kommer från lantbruket.
Evaluating the potential of native forage legumes in mixed leys in northern Sweden The aim of this project is to identify native forage legume species that could be introduced as minor components of leys in northern Sweden by studying their morphology, forage quality, potential levels of anti-nutritional factors, response to cultivation and management, nitrogen fixation, and plant pollinator interactions. This project will serve to select species that will increase the biodiversity in leys.
Oats for more sustainable milk production and a better environment Variation in enteric methane (CH4) emissions in lactating dairy cows has been attributed to both animal and dietary factors. Several strategies for mitigating greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) including CH4 based on dietary manipulation or feed additives have been suggested. However, implementation in practice has been limited due to high costs or adverse effects on performance. This project will investigate if a simple thing like inclusion of oats in the diet might work.
Blueberry taint in milk The taste and smell of milk can sometimes be disrupted. One of the problems is when the milk has the scent and taste of blueberries. This can affect the quality of an entire milk silo at the dairy and the quality of the products made of it.
Improved sustainability in dairy production by increased feed efficiency This project aims to improve feed efficiency (FE) in dairy production by introducing new technology and digitalization (analysis of large data) and thereby develop new practical methods to include FE in dairy cattle genetic improvement, feeding and managements. The results of the project will significantly improve sustainability, profitability and decrease the environmental footprint of the value chain. We will evaluate modern and highly accurate on-line technologies for determining gas...
Quality assesment for increased profitability in production of aged cheese There are several projects going on in the area. One aim is to study the quality and microflora of northern Swedish milk at farm and dairy level, and the impact of this on maturing time and sensoric traits of long-ripened cheese.
Mixenable The CORE Organic Cofund project MIX-ENABLE aims to deepen our understanding of organic mixed livestock farming (i.e. integrating two or more animal species) in Europe, to find sustainable and robust forms of the production, and to propose improved strategies.
Grazing under northern conditions Grazing can be a cheap way of feeding and, as the growing season gets longer, the possibility for increased use of this resource in northern areas is improving. There are however not many studies or data on grazing for dairy cows in northern Sweden.
Estimation of forage quality and botanical composition with hyperspectral and image analysis The objective of this study is to develop a remote sensing-based method to estimate both forage quality and botanical composition in grass-legume mixture stands in the field. As a consequence, the methods developed will assist better decision making on forage production.
Predicting the growth and quality of silage maize using models and spectroscopy The aim of this project is to use ecophysiological modelling based methods to predict agronomic and quality variables of silage maize in Sweden.
Prorefine - New methods for producing high quality feed locally ProRefine is a new research project that aims to gain knowledge about local production of protein feed for monogastric animals in organic farming.
GrassRefine GrassRefine is a collaboration between the department for Agricultural Research in Northern Sweden and the Department for Forest Biomaterial and Technology at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences. We will develop systems for cropping, processing and characterisation of biomass from grass intercropped with legumes for different purposes.
Drone imaging for red clover phenotyping in plant breeding Drone acquired multispectral and RGB images will be used to estimate various breeding-related traits of red clover. This method would allow to significantly reduce the workload of breeding field operators and reduce the risk of operator bias, as remote sensing provide objective data.
Monitoring forage fields in Northern Sweden with satellite imagery Forage crops (predominantly mixed leys) are the most important crops in northern Sweden upon which the dairy production is based. Good farming practices include sufficient and efficient nitrogen (N) fertilisation, enabling high yields. Mapping the within and between fields variability of the biomass, N uptake and potentially also forage quality (digestibility and neutral detergent fibre) would help farmers to optimise their practices.
Capturing Effects of Diet on Emissions from Ruminant Systems (CEDERS) Feed management in ruminant production systems strongly affects agricultural greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. CEDERS aims to (i) delineate dietary effects on various on-farm GHG sources and their trade-offs, at the farm and national scales; (ii) align national agricultural GHG inventory and mitigation research across an international consortium of partner/committed countries.

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