Dr Sife Chikunya

Sife is a nutritional biochemist with expertise in animal nutrition. He teaches undergraduate (BSc) and postgraduate (MSc) degree programmes, and supervises PhD students. He leads several taught modules including research methods, principles of animal nutrition, nutritional biochemistry, applied nutrition and feeding. He is also Course Director for the MSc Animal Welfare and Conservation programme.

Sife holds the following academic qualifications: a BSc (Hons) in Animal Science (Zimbabwe), MSc in Animal Nutrition (Aberdeen), a PG Cert in Learning and Teaching (Open University), and a PhD in Ruminant Nutrition (Cambridge). He is a Life Fellow of the Cambridge Commonwealth Society and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA).

[email protected]

Background

Sife graduated with a BSc (Hons) Degree in Animal Science from the University of Zimbabwe. He then worked briefly as a Research and Teaching Assistant in the Department of Animal Science at the University of Zimbabwe. He was then awarded a prestigious Rotary Foundation Freedom from Hunger Scholarship to study a Master’s degree in Animal Nutrition at the University of Aberdeen.

On completion of his MSc, Sife was awarded the Cambridge Commonwealth and Livingstone Trust Scholarship to pursue a PhD in Ruminant Nutrition in the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Cambridge. In 1998, he was appointed on a four-year post-doctoral research fellowship in Ruminant Nutrition at Harper Adams University. He joined ARU Writtle as lecturer in 2002.

Sife's areas of research interest include investigation of aspects of utilisation of nitrogen and energy sources, metabolism of dietary lipids and their effects on semen quality and ruminant food products such as meat and milk. He also has interests in the effects of essential oil extracts on the activities of gut microbes and animal performance.

Spoken Languages

Shona

Research interests

• Metabolism of dietary lipids and their effects on composition of ruminant food products such as meat and milk.
• Effects of essential oils and their extracts on the activities of gut microbes and animal performance.
• Nutrition-based projects for companion, zoo, and farm livestock species.

Teaching

• MSc Animal Welfare and Conservation (Module: Nutritional Issues in Animal Welfare)
• BSc (Hons) Animal Science (Modules: Introduction to Biochemistry, Research Methods, Nutritional Biochemistry)
• BSc (Hons) Animal Management (Modules: Principles of Nutrition, Applied Nutrition and Feeding)
• BSc (Hons) Agriculture (Module: Livestock Production Systems)

Qualifications

• BSc (Hons) Agriculture in Animal Science, University of Zimbabwe
• MSc Animal Nutrition, University of Aberdeen
• PhD Ruminant Nutrition, University of Cambridge
• PG Cert Learning & Teaching in Higher Education, Open University

Selected recent publications

Chaudhry, A. S., Chikunya, S., Flockhart, J., Gibbons, J., Houdijk, J. G., Kelly, A., Kenny, D. A., Mannsbridge, S. C., Mayes, R. W., Nash, D. M., Richardson, R. I., Rooke, J. A., Rose, M. T., Steele, M. A., Wolf, B. T. and Wood S. (Eds) (2016) Advances in Animal Biosciences: Animal Science for a Sustainable Future, Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science in Association with AHDB, Vol. 7 Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISSN 2040-4700

Athanasiadou, S., Chaudhry, A. S., Chikunya, S., Denwood, M., Flockhart, J., Flynn, J., Gibbons, J., Houdijk, J. G., Kenny, D. A., Mather, A., Mayes, R. W., McNeilly T., Nash, D. M., Richardson, R. I., Rooke, J. A., Rose, M. T., Steele, M. A., Rymer, C., Wall, E., Wolf, B. T. and Wylie S. (Eds.) (2015) Advances in Animal Biosciences: Science with Impact, Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science in Association with AHDB, Vol. 6 Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Athanasiadou, S., Chaudhry, A. S., Chikunya, S., Denwood, M., Eckersall, D. P., Flockhart, J., Flynn, J., Gibbons, J., Houdijk, J. G., Kenny, D. A., King, T., Mather, A., Mayes, R. W., McNeilly, T., Nash, D. M., Richardson, R. I., Rooke, J. A., Rose, M. T., Steele, M. A., Waters, S., Wall, E., Wolf, B. T. and Wylie, S. (Eds) (2014) Advances in Animal Biosciences: Science into Practice and Planning for Intensification, Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science in Association with AHDB, Vol. 5 Part 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sinclair, L. A., Cooper, S. L., Chikunya, S., Wilkinson, R. G., Hallett, K. G, Enser, M. and Wood, J. D. (2005) 'Biohydrogenation of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids in the rumen and their effects on microbial metabolism and plasma fatty acid concentrations in sheep', Animal Science, 81, pp. 239-244.

Chikunya, S., Demirel, G., Enser, M., Wood, J. D., Wilkinson, R. G. and Sinclair L. A. (2004) 'Biohydrogenation of dietary n-3 PUFA and stability of ingested vitamin E in the rumen, and their effects on microbial activity in sheep', British Journal of Nutrition, 91, pp. 539-550.

Chikunya, S. (2004) 'Gastrointestinal microbiology of farm animals'. In: Fuller, M. F., Lall, S. P., McCracken, K. J., Omed, H. and Philips, C. J. C. (Eds.) (2004) The Encyclopaedia of Farm Animal Nutrition. Oxford: CABI Publishing.

Chikunya, S., Newbold, C. J., Rode, L., Chen, X. B. and Wallace, R. J. (1996) 'Influence of rumen degradable protein on bacterial growth in the rumen of sheep receiving different energy sources', Animal Feed Science and Technology 63, pp. 333-340.

Recent presentations and conferences

Hands, R., Sargeant, E., Van Veggel, N., Amory, J., Neto, R. and Chikunya S. (2023) 'Effects of replacing zinc oxide with a combination of β-glucan, Bacillus subtilis PB6 and formic acid on the performance of weaner pigs', Animal Science Proceedings 14(2), pp. 365. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.anscip.2023.01.485

Eburu, F. and Chikunya, S. (2015) 'Effects of ten whole essential oils on rumen fermentation and biohydrogenation of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids by rumen microorganisms in vitro', Advances in Animal Biosciences 6(2), pp. 203.

Eburu, F. and Chikunya, S. (2015) 'The effects of graded doses of 4‐allylanisole, anethole, anise oil and cassia oil on fermentation and biohydrogenation of n‐3 polyunsaturated fatty acids by rumen microorganisms in vitro', Advances in Animal Biosciences, 6(2) pp. 204.

Sgwane, T. S., Chikunya, S. and Wallace, R. J. (2014) 'Effect of (+)-α-pinene and L-menthone on selected Butyrivibrio species and ruminal biohydrogenation of linoleic acid in vitro', Rowett-INRA 9th Joint Symposium, Aberdeen, 16 -19 June.

Collingbourne, S. J., De Luna, C. J., Chikunya, S. and Carter, A. (2014) 'The commercial viability of crossbreeding modern and traditional pig breeds', Advances in Animal Biosciences 5(1) pp. 140.

Eburu, F. and Chikunya, S. (2014) 'Assessment of the effects of fifteen compounds from essential oil extracts on the metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids by rumen microorganisms in vitro', Advances in Animal Biosciences, 5(1) pp. 78.

Gilman, F. and Chikunya, S. (2014) 'The effects of whole clove bud oil or its three principal constituent components on the biohydrogenation of polyunsaturated fatty acids by rumen microorganisms in vitro', Advances in Animal Biosciences, 5(1), pp. 84.

Sgwane, T. S., Wallace, R. J. and Chikunya, S. (2013) 'Effect of essential oil compounds on metabolism of dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids by ruminal microbes in vitro'. In: Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science and the Association of Veterinary Teaching and Research Work 16-17 April 2013; University of Nottingham Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Sgwane, T. S., Wallace, R. J. and Chikunya, S. (2013) 'The effects of essential oil compounds on the metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids by rumen microorganisms in vitro', Advances in Animal Biosciences 4(1), pp. 41.

Bokharaeian, M. and Chikunya, S. (2012) 'Effects of 3-carene, resorcinol, and p-cresol on the metabolism of polyunsaturated fatty acids by rumen microorganisms in vitro', Proceedings of the British Society of Animal Science 3(1), pp. 94.