Bovotica, a pioneering agtech spinout from QUT, has successfully raised $3.4 million in its seed funding round.
This significant investment will accelerate Bovotica’s mission to reduce methane emissions from livestock and support farmers in improving their bottom lines.
Established by chief executive Dr Andrew Leech and founders Professor Gene Tyson and Professor Phil Pope from the QUT Centre for Microbiome Research, Bovotica is focused on harnessing the natural bovine microbiome to tackle one of the most pressing challenges in livestock agriculture: the methane that is part of the gases released when cows burp.
Its mission, Dr Leech says, is to transform the cattle industry towards a sustainable, climate-friendly, and productive future by harnessing the natural bovine microbiome.
“It has been previously estimated as much as 12 per cent of feed intake is lost to methane production,” Professor Pope says.
“Our technology looks to direct the metabolic flux away from methane production and into the production of short chain fatty acids, which serve as a more efficient energy source for cattle, leading to improved production of meat and milk.”
Dr Leech, conscious of the commercial industry drivers, says Bovotica’s microbiome-based approach aims to naturally modulate the cow’s gut to deliver both methane reduction and efficiency gains.
It uses a proprietary combination of prebiotic and probiotic components to regulate the microbiome of the rumen, which is the largest part of a cow’s stomach.
“By transitioning the rumen from an inefficient, high-methane state to a more optimised, low-methane state, we are initially aiming to reduce methane emissions by up to 50 per cent,” Professor Tyson adds.
“The probiotics are mainly hydrogen-metabolising bacteria that naturally occur in the rumen,” he says.
“By increasing their number, we can create rumen conditions where less hydrogen is available for methanogens, which in turn will reduce methane emissions.”
Bovotica’s technology is also promising in that it not only reduces methane emissions but also improves production efficiency – a critical factor for farmers.
The company is currently developing two key products for the cattle industry: a feed supplement and an oral drench, catering to both intensive and extensive agriculture.
Other QUT experts involved in the team driving Bovotica’s research include Associate Professor Simon McIlroy, Dr Suzanne McCusker, Dr James Volmer and Dr Andy Leu.
