Neil Kennedy

Project Title Exploring the influence of the soil microbiome on rhizobia infection of white clover nodules

Overview: Neil’s PhD research examines the soil microbiome in different sward types, including perennial ryegrass (PRG)-only, PRG-white clover (WC), and multispecies swards. White clover plays a crucial role in pasture-based systems by fixing atmospheric nitrogen (N) through biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) and forming a symbiotic relationship with rhizobia bacteria. However, limited knowledge exists about rhizobia diversity and abundance across different soils and management conditions.

Neil’s research focuses on analysing the soil microbiome in different sward types, assessing whether WC selectively retains specific rhizobia, and determining how rhizobia diversity impacts clover growth and persistence. The key objective is to understand how soil rhizobia populations influence clover dominance in swards and develop strategies to enhance clover populations in grassland systems. His research involves using shotgun metagenomic sequencing and bioinformatics tools to process soil DNA, explore the soil microbiome across different sward types, and apply statistical analysis in R.

Coming from a farming background, Neil was raised on a suckler-beef farm. He graduated with a first-class honours BSc (Hons) in Environmental Management in Agriculture from Technological University of the Shannon (2022) and an MSc in Environmental Science from University College Dublin (2023) before starting his PhD.

Programme Area: Grassland Science Department 

Supervisors: Dr. Tomás Tubritt, Prof. Michael O’Donovan 

Location: Animal & Grassland Research and Innovation Centre, Moorepark, Fermoy, Co.Cork 

Funding: Teagasc