Mary Fletcher

Throughout her career Prof Fletcher has applied her chemical skills to address diverse problems that pose threats to agricultural industries, from the identification of fruit fly pheromones to the determination of plant toxins responsible for livestock deaths, to the identification of bone volatiles attractive to phosphorous deficient cattle and more recently the identification of unusual beneficial sugars in stingless bee honey and the application of slow release devices for the release of bioactives to control enteric methane production in rangeland cattle. Her work has particular application in the areas of food safety and food security, both in Australia and overseas, including projects addressing the impacts of carcinogenic mycotoxin contamination of staple foods in sub-saharan Africa.

Current research funded by Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) aims to develop a rumen insert that is applicable in extensive production systems to reduce methane emissions from northern Australia beef herds and applies novel biopolmyer technologies to progress the industry goal of achieving a carbon neutral beef industry by 2030. This collaborative UQ-DAF project aims to produce a rumen insert that slowly releases active-agents (such as 3-NOP) into the rumen over an extended period of time. The use of a rumen insert will mean that each animal will receive the treatment and should establish a more consistent reduced methane emission, when compared to other methods.