AG e-news April 2, 2018
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
The Faculty now has a Facebook page! Follow us at https://www.facebook.com/UMFAFS/.
News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences
UPCOMING EVENTS
Tuesday, April 3 and Thursday, April 5 – This week, the Department of Entomology Seminar presents: Advanced Entomology student final presentations! Students will present their research proposals to the department. We encourage comments and constructive feedback. Join us in room 220 Animal Science/Entomology, starting at 10:00 am. Each student will have approximately 12 minutes to present, followed by approximately 8 minutes for questions. Tuesday, April 3: Reid Miller (Gibbs): Influence of prairie management strategy on multiple ecological service providing insects in the tall grass prairie ecosystem. Joel Gardner (Gibbs): Bees of the genus Lasioglossum, subgenus Dialictus, of western North America (Hymenoptera: Halictidae: Halictini). Crystal Almdal (Costamagna): Does landscape affect top-down control of soybean aphids? Thursday, April 5: Rosanna Punko (Currie): Nosema epidemiology and control in honey bees (Apis mellifera) under Canadian prairie conditions. Lavanya Ganesan (Fields): Survival of flat grain beetles (Coleoptera: Laemophloeidae), Cryptolestes ferrugineus (Stephens), Cryptolestes turcicus (Grouvelle), and Cryptolestes pusillus (Schönherr) at low temperatures.
Tuesday, April 3 – The next Human Nutritional Sciences Program Seminar will take place at 3:00 pm in Room 207 Human Ecology Building. This is the last seminar class for the semester and is designated for poster presentations. Presenters and topics include: Lisa Rodway “Docosahexaenoic acid but not alpha-linolenic acid reduces the adhesion of THP-1 monocytes to EA.hy926 endothelial cells”; Rokiatou Kone Berethe “Cardiovascular benefits of okra in low density lipoprotein receptor knockout mice”; Kristen Fleet “Dietary inflammatory scores in a Canadian national representative sample: Exploring the trends”; Ethendhar Rajendiran “Cheese and butter intake modulates gut microbiome in healthy humans: From a randomized controlled trial”.
Thursday, April 5 – The Soil Science Seminar Series will feature a doubleheader 12:00-1:00 pm in Room 346 Ellis Building. Dr. Pooneh Maghoul, Assistant Professor, and Dr. Beata Gorczyca, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Manitoba will respectively present “The effect of heat and mass transfer in freezing unsaturated soils on heat loss through the below-grade building envelope.” and “Bioremediation of groundwater contaminated with chlorate and chromate.”
Thursday, April 5 – A Department of Soil Science M.Sc. Thesis Defence by Melody Caron on “Integration of Sediment Fingerprinting Techniques and Sampling Approaches within a Prairie Watershed in Southern Alberta” will take place at 2:00 pm in Room 346 Ellis Building.
Thursday, April 5 – An Advanced Plant Science Seminar will be held in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building at 3:30 pm. Yang Lin, Ph.D. student, Plant Science, will present “QTL Mapping of Fusarium Head Blight Resistance in Two Winter Wheat Doubled Haploid Populations”. All are welcome to attend. Coffee at 3:00 pm in the Atrium.
Tuesday, April 10 – You are invited to a public screening of the critically acclaimed documentary Food Evolution followed by an expert panel discussion at The Park Theatre. Doors open at 6 pm, movie starts at 7 pm and panel discussion at 8:30 pm. Panellists include registered dietitian Gina Sunderland, producer Paul Orsak, and researcher Mark Belmonte. Cost of $12 includes movie screening, beverage (alcoholic or non) & popcorn. To get your ticket, visit https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/food-evolution-movie-screening-panel-discussion-tickets-43213370354.
Wednesday, April 11 – The Soil Science Seminar Series will feature Dr. Said Nawar, Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Soil Management, Ghent University, Belgium on “Proximal soil sensing for variable rate nitrogen fertilisation” at 12:30 pm in Room 346 Ellis Building.
Friday, April 20 – The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre will host its final inservice day event – an Ice Cream Party! Cost: $5.00 per person over 5 years old, $3.50 3-4 year olds, under 3 free. Inservice Day events run from 10:00-2:00 on a drop in basis. Registration not required. Come see the Centre and get hands on with ice cream making!
April 23-24 – The Agricultural Institute of Canada will be holding its 2018 conference in Guelph. The theme is “Education in Agricultural Sciences and Technology – Ready for the Future?” The conference will discuss new ways in which the Canadian agricultural innovation system can help address highly-skilled technical and professional shortages and support the future generation of researchers and innovators in the agri-food sector. One of the presenters is Dr. Merv Pritchard, University of Manitoba (retired), on the topic “Internationally Educated Agrologists – Enhancing the pool of qualified agricultural professionals”. For more information and to register visit http://www.aic.ca/aic2018/.
April 26-27 – Canadian Agri-Marketing Association Manitoba is hosting “Earning Public Trust – An Interactive Working Session”, a professional development event at Delta Hotels Winnipeg by Marriott, 350 St. Mary Avenue. This two-day event includes a full day working session that will feature representatives from some of North America’s leading agri-businesses, ag representatives and food brands. The second day consists of a half-day strategic planning session that will use the previous day’s best practices to help attendees apply them in the development of a Public Trust Strategic Plan. Learn more and register at http://publictrustcama.ca.
June 10-13 – The 17th Canadian Animal Health Laboratorians Network (CAHLN) Annual Meeting, Adapting to Emerging Animal Diseases will take place at the University of Manitoba. The CAHLN Annual Meeting is a forum for knowledge exchange and networking among animal health laboratorians from across Canada, providing valuable continuing education to those working in both research and diagnostic laboratories. The meeting is an ideal setting for graduate students to present their research and discuss it with experts in their field of study. Call for Abstracts is open now until May 1, 2018 http://cahln-rctlsa.com/2018-cahln-annual-meeting/
September 30-October 3 – Save the date for the 12th Congress 2018 International Society of Nutrigenetics-Nutrigenomics which will take place in Winnipeg, MB. Check out the website at www.isnn2018.org.
STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS
Two faculty members are recipients of the 2017 Terry G. Falconer Memorial Rh Institute Foundation Emerging Researcher Awards which will be presented on April 10 at the Rh Awards Ceremony Lecture and Reception. Rob Duncan, Plant Science, is receiving the award for Applied Sciences and Ehsan Khafipour, Animal Science, is receiving the award for Interdisciplinary. Read more at http://news.umanitoba.ca/bush-ethics-decolonizing-the-university/.
Danny Mann, Biosystems Engineering, attended the International Sustainable Smart Farming Seminar at the Faculty of Agriculture, Dalhousie University in Truro, Nova Scotia March 15-16. Officially, he was there to bring greetings as President of the Canadian Society for Bioengineering (CSBE).
The Plant Science Graduate Student Association hosted the 34th Annual Plant Science Graduate Student Symposium March 16-17. The theme was “Cultivating the Field of Big Data”. A total of 80 participants comprised of 63 graduate students from University of Manitoba, University of Saskatchewan, North Dakota State University and Iowa State University, five undergraduate students, 12 judges and five keynote speakers attended. University of Manitoba Plant Science graduate students won several awards – M.Sc. students Jon Rosset and Leanne Koroscil (Rob Gulden) won third place in Agronomy and Weed Science; Ph.D. students Kenno So (Rob Duncan) and Yang Lin (Anita Brûlé-Babel) won second and third place respectively in Plant Breeding and Genetics; Ph.D. student James Tucker (Dilantha Fernando) won third place in Plant Pathology. The group also toured the Manitoba Museum, and had a social networking night. The symposium concluded with a banquet and award ceremony.
At the most recent inservice day event held at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre held March 16, FFDC Coordinator Kristen Matwychuk reported that a whopping 119 guests showed up for Dairy Day, which included dairy barn tours and ice cream making. Their fourth and final inservice day event will be an Ice Cream Party on April 20.
IN THE NEWS
Nazim Cicek, Biosystems Engineering, wrote an op-ed for CBC News (March 30) entitled “Nothing holding back electric buses except lack of will, fear of change: U of M engineering prof” – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/opinion-nazim-cicek-winnipeg-electric-buses-1.4595527.
David Lobb, Soil Science, was quoted in the Grainews (March 19) article “Don’t forget lessons of the Dirty 30s” – https://www.grainews.ca/2018/03/19/tillage-erosion-on-the-rise-in-manitoba/.
Michael Eskin, Food and Human Nutritional Sciences, was featured in the Winnipeg Free Press in the article “Rapping with the prof” – read more at http://news.umanitoba.ca/wpg-free-press-rapping-with-the-prof/.
The University of Manitoba Food Fight was featured in Doug Speirs’ Winnipeg Free Press (March 21) column “A masterpiece of food on plate, and shirt”. Doug was one of the judges for the event – https://www.winnipegfreepress.com/arts-and-life/life/a-masterpiece-of-food-on-plate-and-shirt-477476923.html.
Anita Brule-Babel, Plant Science, and her research group are featured in the article “Towards rye rust resistance” in Top Crop Manager (April 2018) – http://magazine.topcropmanager.com/publication/?m=1031&l=1#{%22issue_id%22:483845,%22page%22:34}.
Tharshi Nagalingam, Entomology, was quoted in articles “Striped flea beetle needs new chemistry” and “Flea beetle forecasting would lengthen treatment options” in the Western Producer (March 29) and in the article “CanoLAB speaker: It’s time to check your flea beetle species” in the Manitoba Co-operator (March 29) – https://www.producer.com/2018/03/striped-flea-beetle-needs-new-chemistry/ and https://www.producer.com/2018/03/flea-beetle-forecasting-lengthen-treatment-options/.
PUBLICATIONS
Onwugamba, F., R. Fitzgerald, K. Rochon, L. Guardabassi, A. Alabi, S. Khüne, M. Grobusch, and F. Schaumburg. 2018. The role of “filth flies” and the spread of antimicrobial resistance. Travel Health and Infectious Disease. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2018.02.007
Mullens, B. A., N. C. Hinkle, R. T. Fryxell, and K. Rochon. 2018. Past, Present and Future Contributions and Needs for Veterinary Entomology in the United States and Canada. The American Entomologist, 64(1):20-31. https://doi-org.uml.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/ae/tmy006
Yang X, Yin F, Yang Y, Lepp D, Yu H, Ruan Z, YANG C, Yin Y, Hou Y, Lesson S, Gong J. (2018). Dietary butyrate glycerides modulate intestinal microbiota composition and serum metabolites in broilers. Scientific Report, 5: 4940.
Munira S, Farenhorst A. 2017. Sorption and desorption of glyphosate, MCPA and tetracycline and their mixtures in soil as influenced by phosphate. Journal of environmental science and health 52(12):887-895.
Kamula, CM; Kuzyk, ZZA; Lobb, DA; Macdonald, RW. 2017. Sources and accumulation of sediment and particulate organic carbon in a subarctic fjard estuary: Pb-210, Cs-137, and delta C-13 records from Lake Melville, Labrador. Canadian journal of earth sciences 54(9):993-1006.
GENERAL NEWS
The Manitoba Schools Science Symposium is an annual provincial science fair for students in Grades 4 -12 with approximately 350 projects per year. They are currently recruiting judges for the 2018 fair. This year it will be held April 27 – 28 at the University of Manitoba Max Bell Centre. If you are interested in being a judge for the fair please register at http://www.msss.mb.ca/sfiab/user_new.php?type=judge. For further information please contact the Judging Chair at judging [at] msss [dot] mb [dot] ca.
Open Farm Day is an opportunity for Manitobans to connect directly with farms, ranches, and market gardens across the province. Last year 7200+ Manitobans visited 47 Open Farm Day host sites. Agriculture organizations and farms wishing to register for Manitoba Open Farm Day on Sunday September 16, 2018 may go to www.openfarmday.ca and click on Register Your Site. The deadline for farms to register is April 30, 2018.