The University of Wisconsin-Platteville recently awarded five faculty research fellowships to help increase dairy-related research capacity through the Dairy Innovation Hub initiative. Selected faculty members will tackle research projects in the Hub’s four priority areas: stewarding land and water resources; enriching human health and nutrition; ensuring animal health and welfare; and growing farm business and communities.
The Dairy Innovation Hub, which launched in 2019, harnesses research and development at UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls campuses to keep Wisconsin’s dairy community at the global forefront in producing nutritious dairy products in an economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable manner. It is supported by a $7.8 million annual investment by the state of Wisconsin.
“As we go into our third round of Dairy Innovation Hub faculty fellowships, I continue to be impressed with the projects and ideas coming from across our university. Each fellowship will have an impact on the dairy community as well as on the faculty, staff, and students engaged in the research projects,” said Dr. Tera Montgomery, professor of animal and dairy science and leader of the Hub’s UW-Platteville campus steering committee.
DI3 Faculty Fellowships are intended to leverage existing UW-Platteville expertise to provide timely results supporting the goals of the Dairy Innovation Hub, with an emphasis on addressing recommendations generated by the state’s Dairy Task Force 2.0, which completed its work in 2019.
The following UW-Platteville faculty fellows were selected for Dairy Innovation Hub funding:
Full implementation of automated rotational grazing and assessment of its impact on animals and on forage – Dr. Harold Evensen and Dr. Andrew Cartmill
Project Summary: Pasture systems are an effective and potentially economical way to produce feed for livestock, but grazing management can be a challenge. Previous Hub-funded research developed two prototype systems, physical and virtual, for automated rotational grazing to improve the flexibility and efficiency of pasture grazing. This technology can close the “expertise gap” and allow more farms to effectively utilize rotational grazing while gaining actionable data on their animals and forage. With this additional funding, the researchers will gain a better understanding on how individual animals learn and respond to the stimuli of the developed barrier technologies. Additionally, researchers seek to determine changes in forage composition and utilization in pasture systems equipped with these novel technologies.
Opening windows for research, teaching, and demonstrations through rumen cannulation – Dr. Ryan Pralle and Dr. Krista Hardyman
Project Summary: The reticulorumen is the most important part of the ruminant digestive tract in dairy cows, responsible for 70-80% of digestion processes. Rumen cannulation, or the surgical process of placing a cannula in the side of a cow, is the gold-standard method for gaining access to the reticulorumen to conduct nutrition related research. With support from present and former UW-Madison veterinarians, Pralle and Hardyman will be trained in rumen cannulation surgery, postoperative care, and long-term care of cannulated cows. Twelve cows will be cannulated after training at UW–Platteville’s Pioneer Farm. This population of cannulated cows will allow for more innovative research in reticulorumen metabolism and digestion.
Evaluating nitrogen availability from solid-liquid-separated and composted manure – Dr. Joseph Sanford and Dr. Chris Baxter
Project Summary: Manure is often applied to land to return organic matter and nutrients to the soil. Manure processing methods, such as solid-liquid-separation and composting, have grown in popularity to improve transport logistics and farm nutrient distribution. However, there is a lack of information on the nutrient availability of these treated manure end products. This project aims to evaluate the impacts of manure processing strategies on nitrogen availability and explore how the results can improve current nutrient management planning strategies. UW-Platteville’s Pioneer Farm will be used as a case study to investigate available nitrogen in soil that was treated with different types of processed manure products. Available nitrogen will also be assessed from separated manure solids and composted manure from regional dairy livestock facilities.
Developing novel and sustainable disease management strategies against Aphanomyces root rot of alfalfa–Dr. Muthu Venkateshwaran
Project Summary: Alfalfa is the most widely grown forage legume in the United States and is used for hay and silage. Although many cultivars that are grown in Wisconsin are relatively hardy, many are susceptible to root rot caused by the pathogen Aphanomyces euteiches. Aphanomyces root rot is difficult to control and currently, there are no effective management strategies to utilize once infection begins. However, natural pesticides are a promising control strategy for disease management. This project aims to investigate the use of essential oils as an antimicrobial treatment against A. euteiches infections. Six active components of plant essential oils will be studied for their effectiveness in controlling the pathogen at different concentrations. Proper dosing will ensure quality and a continuous supply of alfalfa hay and silage for Wisconsin dairy farms.
Utilization of plasma activated water (PAW) as a clean-in-place (CIP) sanitizer for surface disinfection of dairy processing equipment -Dr. Zifan Wan
Project Summary: Dairy products are susceptible to microbial contamination and spoilage. Equipment surfaces of manufacturing machinery in the dairy processing line are the main source of biological contamination of processed milk. Contamination leads to reduced quality, shelf-life, and safety of dairy products, so proper cleaning and sanitation is critical. Clean-in-place (CIP) is an automated method to clean equipment without major disassembly and uses chlorine-based sanitizers and acidic or alkaline detergents as cleaning agents. However, post-cleaning liquid waste contains residual sanitizers and disinfection by-products (DBPs) which are potentially hazardous to human health and the environment. This project focuses on utilizing plasma activated water (PAW), which is generated by discharging the novel non-thermal technology cold plasma to water, as an alternative to traditional CIP cleaning agents and determining its effectiveness. PAW has antimicrobial properties, can inactivate biofilms, and has no carcinogenic by-products.
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