The Ruminant Nutrition and Gut Microbiology Lab conducts research focused on the role of the ruminal and intestinal microbes in the nutrition, productivity, health, and food safety of cattle and other food animals. The lab is especially interested in how diet, environmental factors, microbial physiology, and management practices affect the gastrointestinal microbiome and how this can be used to improve animal production efficiency and sustainability.
Major research areas include:
Ruminant Nutrition, Fermentation, and Animal Performance
The lab studies how diet composition, forage quality, concentrate feeding, dietary transitions, feed additives, and environmental factors affect ruminal microbial populations, fermentation, nutrient utilization, methane production, feed efficiency, and host productivity. By understanding how diet alters the microbial population of the gastrointestinal tract, the lab aims to identify strategies that improve animal performance, production efficiency, sustainability, and profitability in beef and dairy production systems.
Ruminal and Intestinal Microbial Ecology
The lab focuses on unravelling the microbial ecology of the rumen and lower gastrointestinal tract in food animals. This includes understanding how microbial populations interact with one another, respond to diet and management, adapt to nutritional and environmental pressures, and influence animal health, welfare, productivity, and behavior. This work helps define how the microbiome can be used as a resource to improve livestock production systems.
Food Safety, Pathogen Reduction, and Antimicrobial Resistance
A major focus of the lab is the development of intervention strategies to reduce foodborne pathogenic bacteria in food animals prior to slaughter. This includes research related to pathogens such as Salmonella and E. coli O157, as well as broader questions related to host susceptibility to pathogen colonization, fecal bacterial shedding, on-farm food safety, antimicrobial resistance transfer, and microbial physiology. The lab is interested in how diet, microbial ecology, and management practices can influence pathogenic bacterial populations and antimicrobial resistance in food animal systems.
Applied Cattle Management and Production Systems
The lab conducts applied research related to cattle nutrition and management during grazing, receiving, backgrounding, and finishing phases. This includes evaluating how diet, management, stress, environmental conditions, and microbial responses affect performance, health, food safety, methane production, and profitability in beef production systems. This work connects fundamental microbial ecology with practical management strategies that can be used by producers, industry partners, and allied agricultural organizations.