Animal Breeding and Genetics

PhD position

The Department of Animal and Aquacultural Sciences, Faculty of Biosciences at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU) has a vacant 3-year PhD–position related to animal breeding and quantitative genetics. This PhD project “Phenotypic and genomic prediction of nitrogen use efficiency of dairy cows” will be conducted in close collaboration with an on-going Nitrogen-efficiency project at NMBU, where relevant data is collected. Enhanced nitrogen use efficiency can mitigate the environmental impact and economic losses of dairy farming.

This PhD project will evaluate the potential of using milk spectra to predict N-traits using artificial intelligence (AI) and use the predictions for genetic improvement and herd management to increase the sustainability of Norwegian dairy production.