Forage grass growth under future climate change scenarios affects fermentation and ruminant efficiency.

ABSTRACT: With an increasing human population access to ruminant products is an important factor in global food supply. While ruminants contribute to climate change, climate change could also affect ruminant production. Here we investigated how the plant response to climate change affects forage quality and subsequent rumen fermentation. Models of near future climate change (2050) predict increases in temperature, CO₂, precipitation and altered weather systems which will produce stress responses in field crops. We hypothesised that pre-exposure to altered climate conditions causes compositional changes and also primes plant cells such that their post-ingestion metabolic response to the rumen is altered. This "stress memory" effect was investigated by screening ten forage grass varieties i

SUBMITTER: Hart EH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8924208 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature