John Cone

John Cone is a researcher in Animal Nutrition at Wageningen University & Research, specializing in improving feed quality for ruminants through fungal pretreatment of lignocellulosic biomass. His work focuses on optimizing white-rot fungi strains to enhance digestibility of agricultural residues like wheat straw and rice straw, reducing methane emissions, and improving animal productivity. He has contributed to over 300 publications and supervised multiple PhD candidates in areas such as protein fermentation in pigs, fungal strain selection, and sustainable feed systems.

Research interests include the application of biotechnology to agricultural waste valorization, gastrointestinal fermentation dynamics in livestock, and the development of alternative protein sources. He serves on editorial boards of journals including Animal Feed Science and Technology and Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture.

Key projects involve collaborations with Vietnam to implement fungal-treated feed solutions, improving digestibility of corn stover in China, and exploring probiotics in livestock nutrition. His work bridges microbiology, analytical chemistry, and animal physiology to advance sustainable animal production systems.