Stage : analyse du cycle de vie de la production bovine

INRAE Presentation

The National Institute for Agricultural Research, Food, and Environment (INRAE) is a public research institution that brings together a community of 12,000 people, with 272 research, service, and experimental units, located in 18 centers across France. INRAE is positioned among the top global leaders in agricultural and food sciences, plant and animal sciences. Its research aims to build solutions for multi-performing agriculture, quality food, and sustainable management of resources and ecosystems.

You will work within the Mixed Research Unit on Herbivores. This Unit aims to produce, integrate, and disseminate knowledge, and share expertise to design multi-performing herbivore farming systems that respond to global changes (environmental, socio-economic, and digital transition). The Unit consists of 118 permanent staff members and hosts 70 non-permanent staff members each year. It is organized into four research teams, a management team, and a support team.

You will work within the DINAMIC team (Digestion, Nutrition, Absorption, and Microbes) that conducts research on the microbial digestion of animal feed and the absorption of nutrients, an essential link in animal nutrition and feeding research. The team analyzes the principles and mechanisms underlying digestion, rumen synthesis, and digestive absorption. Special attention is paid to the fine characterization of the rumen microbial ecosystem, particularly regarding hydrolysis, fermentation, and detoxification functions.

The objectives pursued cover a wide range of areas, from feed efficiency and reduction of production costs to establishing the nutritional quality and organoleptic properties of dairy and meat products, as well as protecting animal health, food safety, and environmental protection (greenhouse gases), and traceability applications of production systems.

The TEROLEA project (Pathway to Zero Carbon Emissions in Ruminant Farming in the Oilseed Sector) aims to evaluate sustainable mitigation strategies, including the incorporation of oilseeds into feed, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in cattle production systems in the Massif Central. This region is characterized by diversified cattle farming systems, mainly based on forage, essential for maintaining economies and landscapes, but also contributing significantly to agricultural emissions, particularly enteric methane.

Using a life cycle analysis (LCA), models of cattle and dairy production have been developed under different agroclimatic scenarios for 2025 and 2050. This approach allows for a comprehensive assessment of the environmental, economic, and social impacts of incorporating oilseeds into the diet of ruminants. It is established that the supplementation of oilseeds influences rumen fermentation pathways, among other mechanisms, reducing enteric methane emissions while maintaining or even improving animal performance.

However, its overall effectiveness must be evaluated at the system level as a whole, taking into account potential trade-offs such as impacts related to the production of animal feed, nitrogen excretion, and productivity variations.

The life cycle analysis (LCA) will quantify the impacts from raw material extraction to sale, encompassing the entire production chain, from animal feed production to animal consumption. This will allow identifying the main hotspots of greenhouse gas emissions and evaluating the effectiveness of mitigation measures. The integration of future climate scenarios (2050) will further assess the robustness and adaptability of this dietary mitigation strategy in the face of changing agro-climatic and socio-economic conditions, including impacts on the availability and quality of animal feed, system productivity, and emission intensity.

Ultimately, the TEROLEA project aims to provide science-based decision support for the use of oilseeds as a mitigation strategy for greenhouse gas emissions, while enhancing the environmental resilience and sustainability of the Massif Central.

You will work directly with AKINROPO Tobi and EUGENE Maguy, while benefiting from the advice and…