B.NBP.0813 - Increased pasture intake and reduced supplement requirements of sheep/cattle

Summary

The project team sought to determine the pathways in the hypothalamus (genes, hormones) that integrate signals from the diet and peripheral tissues to control feed intake in ruminants. Methods now exist to deliver compounds into the brain which could target these pathways to increase intake.

Objectives

The project aimed to:
1) Determine the pathways into and within the hypothalamus that control food intake in ruminants fed nutrient deficient diets through multi‐tissue gene network analysis.
2) Test non‐nutritional non‐invasive methods to deliver compounds into the brain of ruminants that target these appetite control mechanisms and increase intake.

Key findings

Models for nutrient-deficient suppression of intake in ruminants and appropriate bioinformatics pathways were successfully established.

While no consistent over-arching regulator pathway was identified, neuropeptides implicated in feeding behaviour were differentially expressed in response to treatment diets, as were gene pathways implicated in metabolism, neuropeptide signalling and immune function.

Benefits to industry

The improvement of feed intake and liveweight gain without the use of supplementation.

MLA action

This project was terminated by MLA due to difficulties with rearranging experiments within the experimental program to accommodate the effects of COVID-19.

Future research

The project aimed to investigate a proof of concept which could lead to downstream commercialisation and product development opportunities.