Food-methane relationship study gets backing from scholarship

PhD student Kirsty Hammond is the winner of a $10,000 Pukehou Pouto scholarship, one of two awarded this year.

The scholarship was established from a bequest from the estate of Edith Fraser, is managed on behalf of the estate by the Public Trust and awarded by the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee.

Ms Fraser, who died in 1980, specified that the Pukehou Poutu Scholarship be used to fund postgraduate studies in agricultural or silvicultural sciences.

Ms Hammond's thesis investigates the influence of changes in the chemical composition of fresh forage-based diets on methane production in ruminant animals.

Originally from Whakatane, where she attended Whakatane High School, Ms Hammond (Te Whanau Apanui), completed her BSc, majoring in animal science and physiology, and graduated last week with first-class honours last year.

Based at the Palmerston North campus, she hopes to travel overseas and work in the animal production science field once she completes her PhD, then bring that experience home to the New Zealand agriculture industry.

She says will be working closely with the Institute of Veterinary Animal and Biomedical Sciences and AgResearch, as she did for her BSc, examining how the methane yield from sheep and cattle varies according to pasture composition and what might be changed to reduce the yield.

She was delighted with the scholarship. "Words can't describe how useful something like this is for a student. It means I can concentrate on my studies and focus on my goals."