Mikaela Lindberg

I received my PhD degree in 2012 at SLU with the thesis entitled ”Effects of increasing the proportion of high-quality grass silage in the diet of dairy cows”. The thesis examined the effects of increasing the proportion of high quality grass silage in diets of dairy cows over the entire lactation. The results showed that gradually increasing the dietary proportion of silage reaching upp to 70 % on dry matter basis in late lactation did not significantly affect milk yield compared with feeding 50 % silage. Positive effects of the higher proportion of silage were shown in terms of profitability and milk fatty acid composition. Since my dissertation I have worked as researcher and teacher at the department of animal nutrition and management with focus on ruminant nutrition, mainly dairy cows.

Research Interests:

My research interests include ruminant nutrition: forage utilization, feed efficiency, environmental impact and sustainable use of feed resources and sustainable animal production systems. I am also interested in research questions regarding future food systems and how these can provide animal products in a sustainable way.

Research Goal:

To investigate and evaluate different strategies for increased sustainability in animal production; including feeding, milk and meat production, environmental impact and animal welfare.

Research Skills:

Animal science, ruminant nutrition, experienced in the design of large animal experiments. Worked with sampling in rumen-cannulated cows and performed gas-sampling using the Sulfurhexafluoride tracer technique in dairy cows, experienced in milk fatty acid analysis. Interpretation and analysis of small and large data-sets, scientific writing.

Activity with stakeholders outside the scientific society

I received a scholarship from the King Carl XVI Gustaf 50th Anniversary Fund for Science, Technology and the Environment in May 2014. The scholarship enabled studies on environmental impact from dairy production through life cycle assessment (LCA) and the transformation from human-inedible feed (e.g. grass and by-products) to high-quality proteins in milk and meat.

Course leader of: PSV0136 Environmental impact from animal production (2 ECTS, PhD course)

Lecturer in courses on bachelor level: HV0158 Ruminant Production, HV0141 Naturvetenskaplig grundkurs - husdjursagronom, HV0129 Djurens nutrition, HV0130 Djurens utfodring, DO0108 Näringsfysiologi och fodervetenskap, VM0111 Organens struktur och funktion (näringslära idisslare), HV0178 Humans, Animals, Ecosystems – the One Health Approach in a Sustainable Global Animal Production and supervise bachelor theses in animal science.

Lecturer in master courses: HV0128 Animal nutrition - health, behaviour and welfare, HV0117 Feed science and forage production, LV0103 Prospects and challenges for sustainable food systems and supervise master theses in animal science.

On-going projects:

My current research is about how dairy cow longevity and recruitment strategies affect methane emissions at herd level. I also participate in a project that examines indicators for ecosystem services in dairy farms. A new project that recently started is about the effects on methane emissions of dairy cows when fed a feed supplement of red algae.

Finished projects:

• Sustainable dairy production based on high-forage diets
• Feed efficient cows
• Sustainable protein flows in the food supply chain. Methods and applications to include quality and quantity in LCA
• Sustainable Swedish protein consumption
• Total mixed ration – an economic feeding strategy for organic farmers with automatic milking?

PhD-students (co-supervisor)

Pok Samkol - "Groundnut foliage as feed for Cambodian cattle" 2014-2018.

Johanna Karlsson - “High forage proportions to forage e􀁾cient dairy cows” 2016-
2020.

Peer-reviewed publications Mikaela Lindberg (former surname Patel)

Lindberg, M. 2020. Milk fatty acid profiles from inclusion of different calcium salts in dairy cow diets. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A — Animal Science. https://doi.org/10.1080/09064702.2020.1781925

Karlsson, J. Ramin, M., Kass, M., Lindberg, M. & Holtenius, K. 2019. Effects of replacing wheat starch with glycerol on methane emissions, milk production, and feed efficiency in dairy cows fed grass silage-based diets. J. Dairy Sci. 102:7927–7935. https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2018-15629

Samkol, P., Sath, K., Patel, M., Mom, S. & Holtenius, K. 2019. Effects of supplementing low-quality hay with groundnut foliage and cassava tops on feed intake, apparent digestibility and rumen fermentation in crossbred cattle. Animal Production Science, 59: 1660–1666. https://doi.org/10.1071/AN17680

Karlsson, J.O., Carlsson, G., Lindberg, M., Sjunnestrand, T. & Röös, E. 2018. Designing a future food vision for the Nordics through a participatory modeling approach. Agron. Sustain. Dev. 38: 59. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13593-018-0528-0

Karlsson, J., Spörndly, R., Lindberg, M. & Holtenius, K. 2018. Replacing human-edible feed ingredients with by-products increases net food production efficiency in dairy cows. J. Dairy Sci. 2018 Aug;101(8):7146-7155. doi: 10.3168/jds.2017-14209.

Röös, E., Bajzelj, B., Smith, P., Patel, M., Little, D. & Garnett, T. 2017. Greedy or Needy? Land use and climate impacts of food in 2050 under different potential livestock futures. Global Env Change 47:1-12.

Samkol, P., Sath, K., Patel, M. & Holtenius, K. 2017. Effects of supplementing different levels of sun-dried groundnut foliage on intake, apparent digestibility and nitrogen metabolism in cattle offered a basal diet of a mixture of rice straw and para grass. Trop Anim Health Prod. 49:1495–1501.

Patel, M., Sonesson, U. & Hessle A. 2017. Upgrading plant amino acids through cattle to improve the nutritional value for humans: effects of different production systems. Animal 11:3 519-528.

The paper was selected as “Article of the month” by the Editor. Associated blog-post: https://www.cambridge.org/core/blog/2017/03/16/amino-acids-in-plants-are-upgraded-through-cattle-but-the-amount-depends-on-the-production-system/

Röös, E., Bajzelj, B., Smith, P., Patel, M., Little, D. & Garnett, T. 2017. Protein futures for Western Europe: potential land use and climate impacts in 2050. Reg. Environ. Change 17:2 367-377 DOI: 10.1007/S10113-016-1013-4

Patel, M., Wredle, E., Spörndly, E. & Bertilsson, J. 2017. Whole lactation production responses in high-yielding dairy cows using high-quality grass/clover silage. J. Sci Food Agr 97:9,  2883-2890 DOI 10.1002/jsfa.8119

Röös, E., Patel, M. & Spångberg, J. 2016. Oat drink or cow's milk - environmental impacts considering the service of grazing, the opportunity cost of land and the demand for beef and protein. Agricultural Systems 142:23-32.

Röös, E., Patel, M., Spångberg, J., Carlsson, G. & Rydhmer, L. 2016. Limiting livestock production to pasture and by-products in a search for sustainable diets. Food Policy 58:1-13.

Samkol, P., Sath, K., Patel, M., Windsor, P.A. & Holtenius, K. 2015. Survey of small-scale cattle production systems in different agro-ecological zones of Cambodia. Tropical Animal Health and Production: Volume 47:7, 1299-1306.

Patel, M., Wredle, E. & Bertilsson, J. 2013. Effect of dietary proportion of grass silage on milk fat with emphasis on odd- and branched-chain fatty acids in dairy cows. J Dairy Science 96: 390-397.

Patel, M., Wredle, E., Spörndly, E., Bertilsson, J. & Kumm, K.-I. 2013. Profitability of organic and conventional dairy production with different dietary proportions of high-quality grass silage. Organic Agriculture 3:1, 31-39.

Patel, M., Wredle, E., Börjesson, G., Danielsson, R., Iwaasa, A.D., Spörndly, E. & Bertilsson, J. 2011. Enteric methane emissions from dairy cows fed different proportions of highly digestible grass silage. Acta Agriculturae Scandinavica, Section A - Animal Science, 61:3, 128-136.

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7299-4276