The objective of the RedNEx project is to develop innovative and practical management approaches for dairy cows that reduce N excretion into the environment through the optimization of rumen function, an improved understanding and prediction of dietary N utilization for milk production and excretion in urine and faeces, and the development of novel tools for monitoring these processes.
The central focus of the project is to provide the dairy production sector with approaches that will reduce N input on dairy farms without a substantial reduction in N output via consumable proteins in the form of milk. Results should also be broadly applicable to other ruminant livestock systems, such as beef and sheep production.
The specific objectives within this project are:

• developing standardised rapid tools to measure fermentation characteristics of feeds in the rumen to predict protein degradability and available fermentable organic matter for microbial synthesis
• improving feeding strategies by optimizing duodenal amino acid (AA) flow from bypass feed protein and microbial protein while reducing total N intake
• improving feeding strategies based on better understanding of AA absorption, metabolism and conversion to milk protein
• improving feeding strategies to stimulate N recycling within the animal while reducing total N inputs
• developing biomarkers in urine, plasma or milk to allow the evaluation and prediction of the rumen and animal N status in dairy cows
• developing and expanding predictive models of N output at the cow and herd levels, contributing to a harmonisation of methods to estimate N output of dairy farms within the EU
• disseminating knowledge of N management on dairy farms and creating a participatory framework that will allow meaningful dialogue between researchers and stakeholders to ensure that the project meets the needs of the end users

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