Lamb production is an important part of UK agriculture, contributing >10% of total livestock output. It is also important for maintaining employment and infrastructure in rural communities and helping manage and enhance landscape and biodiversity. However, for the UK sheep industry to continue as a major producer and exporter of lamb it is essential to improve carcass quality, since currently only ca. 55% of UK lambs meet core target specifications. Improving carcass quality by increasing lean meat yield (LMY) without a corresponding increase in fatness has been the focus of breeding programmes since the mid 1980's. This has been achieved utilising new technologies such as ultrasound and more recently CT scanning. While such breeding results in cumulative and permanent gains, the penetration to date has been modest, not least because of the belief that current payment systems do not reward producers for increased LMY. This project will help to change this situation. Firstly, there is one highly promising technology (video image scanning and analysis; VISA) currently being evaluated as the basis for a future value-based marketing system in the UK. Secondly, funding bodies, in the UK and elsewhere, in recent years have invested heavily in research to identify genes or chromosomal segments (QTL) responsible for a significant part of the genetic variation for important production traits. The challenge now is to successfully integrate these QTLs into breeding programmes. An earlier LINK project has identified a number of QTLs affecting muscle growth, the one on chromosome 18 in Texels (TM-QTL) being the most promising. Development of the best strategies for introducing and managing this QTL requires reliable information on the magnitude of its effects on LMY as well as possible indirect effects on other important traits. This comprehensive evaluation of new QTLs is important as genes have direct AND indirect effects, e.g. the callipyge mutation having negative effects on meat quality. There are suggestions that some of these mutations may also have negative impacts on fertility and animal welfare. It is therefore essential to understand both the direct and indirect effects of TM-QTL before exploitation. Recent business developments will soon make it possible for UK farmers to exploit other QTLs (e.g. LoinMaxTM and MyoMaxTM have recently been identified and validated in NZ, and are known to enhance muscle growth and decrease fatness in some NZ breeds. In recognition of the stratified crossbreeding structure inherent in the UK sheep industry in which terminal sire rams are mated to Mule ewes within the lowland sector to supply around 70% of slaughter lambs, we will here test the effects of these QTLs in crossbred lambs under UK conditions. This project will link together the comprehensive evaluation of the TM-QTL and other QTLs with the development and evaluation of a VISA system. It is essential that any improvements in LMY arising from exploitation of the QTLs can be differentiated by the VISA system that is likely to become the industry standard. The project will produce a range of carcasses that will be subjected to detailed evaluation through both CT scanning and dissection; providing ideal data sets for investigating relationships between CT and VISA traits and to provide the first estimates of genetic parameters for VISA traits so that these can be built into selection programmes. The project will also investigate the mode of inheritance of the TM-QTL, as well as it's interactions with other genes in the different genetic background of different breeds. For example, are the magnitude of the QTL effects measured in crossbred lambs out of Mule ewes the same as those in purebred Texels? This project will provide the essential information, which is required to avoid potentially inappropriate developments and recommendations, as well as to provide the industry with appropriate new technologies that have been fully evaluated.

Ruminant animals, including cattle, sheep and goats, rely on microbial activity in their digestive tract to digest grass and other forages that they consume. A balanced, stable digestion (fermentation) is essential for good growth or milk production. Most livestock producers require productivity higher than that which can be sustained by forage feeding alone, and include some grain in the diet to increase production rates. Gut microbes produce acids more rapidly from the starch in grain than the cellulose in forages, leading to lower pH values prevailing in grain-fed animals. This has adverse effects on the microbes, which require near-neutral pH to perform optimally. This sub-acute ruminal acidosis (SARA) is a major economic and health issue in ruminant livestock production. Animals suffering SARA are less productive, and they suffer from necrosis of the rumen wall, liver abscesses and laminitis. SARA is often difficult for the farmer to detect - it is 'sub-acute' and can only be detected easily at slaughter. SARA is an under-researched condition, such that only a small number of papers have addressed the dietary and microbiological causes of SARA and its underlying pathology, particularly concerning the role of the large intestine. This project aims to understand why SARA is prevalent on some farms but not others, an observation that is common knowledge but not well documented. Farm management conditions and nutrition will be monitored in these farms, and the animals will be followed to slaughter, when the extent of pathological damage will be assessed. Samples of ruminal digesta and wall tissue will be taken for analysis and tissue necrosis, abscesses and laminitis will be scored. SARA also affects some animals but not others within a herd. Remote motion-sensing technology will be used to externally monitor movements, such as rumination activity, that may alert livestock producers to problematic animals. Post mortem analysis will also be carried out on these animals. The root cause of SARA lies in altered gut microbiology. Digesta samples will be taken forward to describe the microbes that are present in the rumen and intestine in susceptible and non-susceptible animals, with the idea that some microbial species may be particularly important in causing the disease while others may be protective. Candidate 'probiotic' bacteria isolated from non-susceptible animals will be investigated with a view to developing them as feed additives. The role of soluble lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the inflammation will be investigated. LPS is released when bacteria lyse - it is known as 'endotoxin' in human medicine. Materials that may bind soluble LPS to prevent inflammation will also be investigated as potential feed additives. The overall aims are to explain the underlying mechanism of pathogenesis of SARA, to investigate if microbiome analysis can predict the severity of SARA, and to develop simple, non-invasive methods for monitoring animal behaviour relating to SARA and preventing the condition. Three academic partners, three complementary companies, Quality Meat Scotland and DairyCo are involved in the project. The industrial partners will ensure that relevance to the livestock industry is maintained throughout the project and that the pathway to impact will be short and rapid.

Doctoral Training Partnerships: a range of postgraduate training is funded by the Research Councils. For information on current funding routes, see the common terminology at https://www.ukri.org/apply-for-funding/how-we-fund-studentships/. Training grants may be to one organisation or to a consortia of research organisations. This portal will show the lead organisation only.

The agri-food system, producing 23% of UK emissions, must play a key role in the UK's transition to net zero by 2050, and through leadership in innovation can support change globally. Our Network+ will build on existing and new partnerships across research and stakeholder communities to develop a shared agenda, robust research plans, and scope out future research and innovation. The Network will design and deliver high-reward feasibility projects to help catalyse rapid system transformation to ensure the agri-food system is sustainable and supports the UK's net zero goal, while enhancing biodiversity, maintaining ecosystem services, fostering livelihoods and supporting healthy consumption, and minimising the offshoring of environmental impacts overseas through trade. The radical scale of the net zero challenge requires an equally bold and ambitious approach to research and innovation, not least because of the agri-food and land system's unique potential as a carbon sink. Our title, Plausible Pathways, Practical and Open Science, recognises the agri-food system as a contested area in which a range of pathways are plausible. Success requires that new relationships between natural and social science, stakeholders including industry, government and citizens, be forged in which distributed expertise is actively harnessed to support sectoral transformation. We will use our breadth of expertise from basic research to application, policy and engagement to co-produce a trusted, well-evidenced, and practical set of routes, robust to changing future market, policy and social drivers, to evolve the agri-food system towards net zero and sustainability. Marshalling our many existing stakeholder links, we will review and evaluate current options and use Network funding to catalyse new partnerships through retreats, crucibles, workshops, online digital networking and scoping studies to develop system approaches to transformation, reframe the research agenda and undertake novel research projects. We will co-design productive and creative spaces that enable the research community to engage with a wide range of stakeholders and thought leaders through the following framework: 7 Co-Is who govern the Network but are not themselves eligible for funding; 9 Year-1 Champions (with new appointments after Year 1) dynamically forging new connections across research communities; 11 Advisory Board members tasked with challenging business-as-usual thinking; and regular liaison with other stakeholders.