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AG e-news August 19, 2016

August 19, 2016 — 

News and events from the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, University of Manitoba.

AG e-news is now on summer schedule and will publish once in mid-July and once in mid-August.

UPCOMING EVENTS

The Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre invites you to take in one (or all!) of their remaining summer events at the Centre. On Saturday, August 20, there will be an Ice Cream Party. On Wednesday, August 24, they are hosting a Pizza Party. To wrap up the summer, take in the Bacon Makes it Better! event on Saturday, August 27. Details on all events at www.ffdc.ca. Space is limited so RSVP to reserve your spot!

University Fall Orientation runs September 6 and 7 – welcome those new students as they discover the Fort Garry campus, their classroom locations and each other!

The first seminar in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences 2016-2017 Seminar Series will be held on Wednesday, September 14 at 3:30 pm in the Carolyn Sifton Lecture Theatre, 130 Agriculture Building. Rob Gulden, Plant Science, will present “Ecological thinking in Agriculture:  Why you should care”.  Refreshments will be served at 3:00 pm in the Atrium. Everyone is welcome to attend.

The 2016 Indigenous Homecoming will be held Wednesday, September 21 at 11:30 AM – 1:30 PM in Migizii Agamik – Bald Eagle Lodge. They will be launching the Department of Native Studies 2016 Fall Colloquium at the event. Leaders from U of M’s Indigenous alumni community share their experiences and stories of success in the field of Indigenous education. Presentations: 11:30am / Lunch 12:30pm. More info at http://umanitoba.ca/admin/indigenous_connect/homecoming2016.html. Please RSVP on or before September 16, 2016. For additional information please contact val.parker@umanitoba.

Celebrate Organic Week and Farm & Food Awareness Week on Friday, September 23, beginning with a tour of the 25-year-old organic plots at the Glenlea Research Station at 4 pm, followed by organic food, beer and activities at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre at 6 pm. There will be education activities for the kids, a camp fire, and guest speakers Dr. Martin Entz, Tabitha Langel (Tall Grass Prairie Bakery) and Nicole Barry, Peg Beer Co. Cost is $20 and tickets available at Tall Grass Prairie and at the Discovery Centre.

In this, the Year of the PULSE, Winnipeg will be host to the 10th Canadian Pulse Research Workshop. This workshop includes sessions on Genetics and Plant Breeding, Agronomy and Pathology, Environment and Nutrition and Food.  The workshop will be held at the Delta Hotel in Winnipeg October 25-28.  There will be an additional workshop pulse protein quality on the afternoon of October 28.  To get more information and register go to www.pulseresearch.ca.

 

STAFF AND STUDENT NEWS

The Faculty was notified of the recent passing of two retired Soil Science professors:

Dr. Robert J. Soper, Professor Emeritus, passed away on July 20, 2016. Dr. Soper was a member of the Department of Soil Science at the University of Manitoba from 1958 to 1991. His research career spanned a wide range of topics in soil chemistry, soil fertility and crop production. Of particular note was his outstanding work on nitrogen and phosphorus nutrition in crops. He received a number of awards for his achivements including Fellow of the Agriculture Institute of Canada and the Canadian Society of Soil Science. His obituary can be found at http://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-237330/SOPER_ROBERT.

Professor Albert O. Ridley passed away on August 14, 2016. Prof. Ridley was a professor in the Department of Soil Science from 1954 to 1995, teaching and conducting research in soil fertility and management. A short obituary can be found http://passages.winnipegfreepress.com/passage-details/id-237945/RIDLEY_ALBERT  with a longer obituary to follow.

Kees Plaizier, Animal Science, received the Award for Excellence in Nutrition and Meat Sciences from the Canadian Society of Animal Science, an honour given to encourage excellence in teaching, research or extension in the fields of nutrition and meat science at the provincial, federal or international level.

Veronika Shulgina, M.Sc. student in Human Nutritionals Sciences, is a recipient of a CIHR-MSc scholarship for 2016, valued at $17,500. Only nine were given out to University of Manitoba students. Miyoung Suh is Veronika’s advisor.

The Faculty hosted Minister of Agriculture Ralph Eichler along with Thomas Gilbraith and Maurice Bouvier for a tour of the Glenlea Research Station on August 5. The tour was an opportunity to show the Minister some of the leading edge research undertaken by the Faculty in support of Manitoba’s animal and crop sectors. The tour also highlighted the importance of good infrastructure to properly train our diploma, degree and graduate students.  Check out some photos of the tour at http://news.umanitoba.ca/minister-of-agriculture-tours-glenlea-research-station/. Many thanks to organizers and participants!

A number of people from the Department of Animal Science attended the 2016 Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) of the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), American Dairy Science Society (ADSA), and the Canadian Society of Animal Science (CSAS) held in Salt Lake City, UT, July 19-23:

Martin Nyachoti, Animal Science, and four of his graduate students attended and Martin presented and invited talk entitled “Pre- and probiotics for increased disease resistance in nonruminant animals” in a symposium on “Reducing the Use of Antibiotics in Livestock Production” organized by the Canadian Society of Animal Science. Each of Martin’s students – Gustavo Mejicanos, Deepak Velayudhan, Jongwoong Kim and Bonjin Koo – made poster presentations.

Kees Plaizier, Animal Science, and several of his graduate students attended the join conference as well. As noted above, at this conference Kees received the 2016 CSAS Award for Excellence in Nutrition and Meat Sciences. Kees is currently spending part of his sabbatical leave at the University of Copenhagen.

Getahun Legesse, Animal Science, presented at the joint conference on the topic “Estimating farm-gate ammonia emissions from Canadian beef production in 1981 as compared with 2011”. Getahun also attended the first face-to-face meeting of the Water Footprinting Technical Advisory Group of the LEAP Partnership, July 12-14 at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Martin Nyachoti, Animal Science, and his Ph.D. student Jongwoong Kim plus two visiting Scientists from Korea, Drs. Seung Chul Kim and Jinyoung Cheong, visited Jefferies Seeds in Glenbororo, MB, on August 3 to speak to a group of farmers on the nutritive value of zero tannin faba bean for swine.

Erin Zahradka, M.Sc. student in Plant Science, presented at the Canadian Society of Agronomy Conference in Montreal, QE in July 2016. Her poster, entitled “Effects of Flooding on Growth and Recovery of Forage Plants” (Erin Zahradka, Claudio Stasolla, Doug Cattani), won first place in the student poster competition.

Trust Beta, Food Science attended the 2016 Institute of Food Technologists annual meeting held at the McCormick Place Chicago, Illinois, Chicago, July 16-19. Trust also made an oral presentation co-authored by Kabo Masisi (PhD candidate), Khuong Le, William Diehl-Jones, and Mohammed Moghadasian on “Differential inhibition of oxidative stress by specific cereal grain fractions: in vitro and in vivo studies” at the 10th Congress of the International Society of Nutrigenetics & Nutrigenomics (ISNN) held at the Dan Panorama Hotel, Tel Aviv, Israel, May 23-26.

Kabo Masisi, Ph.D. candidate in Food Science, was selected by the Review Committee for Travel Award applications to receive a Travel Award valued at $500 to attend Canada-China Symposium on Atherosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology held at the University of Calgary, July 29-August 1.

Check out the July 2016 NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering – Prairies newsletter at http://cwse-prairies.ca/pages/newsletters/cwse_newsletters/14_CWSE_Prairies_July_2016_newsletter_02.pdf.

 

IN THE NEWS

The work being done by Soil Science’s Paul Bullock and the Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) team at the University of Manitoba was featured in the article “Building the rain gauge of the future” in the Western Producer – http://www.producer.com/2016/08/building-the-rain-gauge-of-the-future/

Amy Unger, Agronomy student working in the Department of Soil Science, wrote the article “Manitoba SMAP project measures, collects, tests” for the Western Producer – http://www.producer.com/2016/08/manitoba-smap-project-measures-collects-tests/. Perhaps even more interesting is the backstory on how this article came to be. Amy, in addition to her studies, is also a UMFM Radio volunteer and has a show on Tuesday evenings (6:30 pm – 8:00 pm) called “Made You a Mixtape”, during which she spins folk and indie rock music, and occasionally hosts live musical acts. One of her listeners happens to be Ron Lyseng, an editor and reporter for the Western Producer. On a recent show, Amy talked about her involvement in the SMAP project, which perked up Ron’s ears and led to him asking her to write an article on her work. And thus, the next generation of ag reporters is born!

A photo from the Manitoba Agricultural College, the predecessor of the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, is the topic of the article “Easing transition from steam to gasoline” in the Western Producer – http://www.producer.com/2016/08/easing-transition-from-steam-to-gasoline/.

Jordan Bannerman and Alejandro Costamagna, Entomology, were quoted in the article “Natural predators eager to provide free insect control” in the Western Producer – http://www.producer.com/2016/08/natural-predators-eager-to-provide-free-insect-control/.

Jordan was also quoted in the Western Producer article “In-field identification app saves on costly pesticides” – http://www.producer.com/2016/08/in-field-identification-app-saves-on-costly-pesticides/.

Rob Gulden, Plant Science, was quoted in the Western Producer article “Weed-free fields called impractical” – http://www.producer.com/2016/07/weed-free-fields-called-impractical/.

Doug Cattani, Plant Science, was quoted in the Manitoba Co-operator article “Perennial grain: It’s two crops in one” – http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/news-opinion/news/perennial-grain-its-two-crops-in-one/

Guest lecturer Dr. Ismail Cakmak, Sabanci University, was featured in the article “Foliar fertilizer shows promise in reducing zinc deficiency” in the Manitoba Co-operator – http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/foliar-fertilizer-shows-%E2%80%A8promise-in-reducing-zinc-deficiency/

Patrick Walther, M.Sc. student in Plant Science, was quoted in the Manitoba Co-operator article “There’s an economic case for strip till” – http://www.manitobacooperator.ca/crops/theres-an-economic-case-for-strip-till/

Ryan Cardwell, Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics, wrote an op-ed for the Winnipeg Free Press entitled “Supply management is regressive policy” – http://news.umanitoba.ca/op-ed-supply-management-red-flags-and-red-herrings/.

Karlee Dyck, M.Sc. student in Human Nutritional Sciences, was wrote the article “Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Reducing Risk Through Nutrition” in the University of Manitoba’s research magazine ResearchLife (Summer 2016) – see page 23 (on page 12 of the PDF) at http://umanitoba.ca/research/researchlife/media/Summer_2016_Issue.pdf.

Annemieke Farenhorst, Soil Science, was quoted in the story “Health Canada tells Winnipeg it can’t fog with years-old malathion” on CBC News – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/iteam/health-canada-tells-winnipeg-it-can-t-fog-with-years-old-malathion-1.3690331.

The excreted antibiotics research by Francis Zvomuya and Inoka Amarakoon, Soil Science, continues to be published online – http://www.agannex.com/sustainability/rethinking-stink-about-antibiotics-in-manure.

Emma McGeough, Animal Science, was quoted in the article “Beef generates lower amount of greenhouse gas than expected” in Cattle Country (July 2016) – see page 3 at http://www.mbbeef.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Cattle-Country-July-2016.pdf.

And finally, a happy news story about Agronomy 2011 alumnus John Yokimas and his unique wedding proposal to his girlfriend – http://winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/will-you-marry-me-manitoba-farmer-writes-proposal-in-field-1.3034087.

 

PUBLICATIONS

Fan, G., Ndolo, V.U., Katundu, M., Bezner-Kerr, R., Arntfield, S., and Beta, T. 2016. Comparison of phytochemicals and antioxidant capacity in three bean varieties grown in central Malawi. Plant Foods for Human Nutrition 71 (2):204–210. DOI 10.1007/s11130-016-0548-3

Alemu, A.W., B.D. Amiro, S. Bittman, D. MacDonald and K.H. Ominski. 2016. A typological characterization of Canadian beef cattle farms based on a producer survey.  Canadian Journal of Animal Science 96: 187-202.

Sheppard, S.C., S. Bittman, K.H. Ominski, D. MacDonald, and B.D. Amiro. 2016. Changes in land, feed and manure management practices on beef operations in Canada between 2005 and 2011.  Canadian Journal of Animal Science 96: 252-265.

Eragoda Amarawansha, G., Kumaragamage, D., Flaten, D.N., Zvomuya, F. and Tenuta, M. 2016. Predicting Phosphorus Release from Anaerobic, Alkaline, Flooded Soils J.  Environ. Qual. 45:1452–1459.

Yin F., H. Yu, D. Lepp, X. Shi, X. Yang, J. Hu, S. Leeson, C. Yang, S. Nie, Y. Hou, and J. Gong. Transcriptome analysis reveals regulation of gene expression for lipid metabolism in young broilers by butyrate glycerides. PloS One, 2016, 11(8): e0160751.

Woyengo, T. A., Ige, D. V., Akinremi, O. O., and Nyachoti, C. M. 2016. Performance and nutrient digestibility in growing pigs fed wheat dried distillers’ grain with solubles-containing diets supplemented with phytase and multi-carbohydrase. Animal Science Journal 87: 570-577.

 

GENERAL NEWS

The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences is hiring a Research Agronomist in the area of pulse and soybean production. The position will also serve as an Agronomist-in-Residence, which will enrich student experiential learning opportunities. Deadline for the position is August 31 and the posting can be viewed at http://umanitoba.ca/cgi-bin/human_resources/jobs/view.pl?posting_id=91273.

The Faculty also invites applications and nominations for the position of Head, Department of Agribusiness and Agricultural Economics. Please see the position posting at: http://umanitoba.ca/cgi-bin/human_resources/jobs/view.pl?posting_id=91274. Closing date for applications is September 16.

Beta Testers needed for Mobile-IPM app – A Mobile Integrated Pest Management app is in the first stages of beta-testing.  The app is being developed by a consortium across western Canada and is led by Dr. Barb Sharanowski (Adjunct Professor, Entomology Department, University of Manitoba), and will incorporate weed (Dr. Rob Gulden and Dr. Doug Cattani, University of Manitoba), disease and insect pest ID (Dr. Barb Sharanowski), forecasting, and crop management. The current beta-test version has keys to insects and weedy grasses, forecasting of bertha armyworm and a crop management portion. We’re looking for beta-testers who are willing to work with us this field season on grass weeds, and would really appreciate having experienced field people provide us with feedback.  Using the app to key a species even one time, along with a quick phone call or brief email to share your experiences would really help.  People can sign up at http://www.mobile-ipm.com/, or reply directly to Jo-Anne [dot] Joyce [at] umanitoba [dot] ca, Technician, Department of Plant Science. Be sure to let us know whether you have an iPhone or Android device.  All you need to provide is an email address you can access from your smart phone, and you will be sent a link and further instructions on uploading the app.

Meeter and Greeter Volunteers Needed – Meeters and Greeters help us welcome new students, provide directions, and answer questions. When you choose to become a volunteer, you are taking on a very important role in promoting a welcoming atmosphere to new students. Over 200 student volunteers help out at Orientation – now it’s your chance as faculty and staff to get involved and make this the best Orientation yet! Meeters and Greeters will volunteer from 8:00 am – 8:45 am on September 6. To register as a Meeter and Greeter Volunteer with Orientation 2016, fill out the easy online application at https://communitylink.umanitoba.ca/form/start/9461. Space is limited so please register early. (Make sure to get permission from your supervisor if required, as this is during work hours and is voluntary). Registration will close on Friday, August 26 at 4:30 pm.

Thanks to content development by Fuji Jian, Biosystems Engineering, the Canadian Wheat Board Centre for Grain Storage Research is featured on the World Food Preservation Center website at http://www.worldfoodpreservationcenter.com/university-of-manitoba.html.

The Amazing Agriculture Adventure (AAA) will be held at the Bruce D. Campbell Farm and Food Discovery Centre and the Richardson International Kelburn Farm from September 20 to 22. Over 1,000 students are registered for this annual event, organized by Agriculture in the Classroom – Manitoba (AITC-M), and at least 14 volunteers are needed as class hosts and station managers. If you can donate your time and energy to this educational hands-on experience for Grade 4 and 5 students, call 204-471-9698 or visit the AITC-M website at http://aitc.mb.ca/get-involved/volunteers/registration/winnipeg-aaa-volunteers-needed/.

The Manitoba Round Table for Sustainable Development invites nominations and applications for the 2016 Manitoba Excellence in Sustainability Awards. The awards recognize and honour people, projects and ideas that successfully turn the principles and guidelines of sustainable development into lasting achievements.  Any individual, business, institution, organization, community group or youth in Manitoba can apply or be nominated for an award. To make a nomination or apply for an award, visit www.manitoba.ca/conservation/susresmb/mrtsd/mesa/index.html. To find out more about the awards or the nomination and application process, call 204-945-4391 in Winnipeg; toll free 1-800-282-8069 or email mrtsd [at] gov [dot] mb [dot] ca.  The deadline for submitting an application or nomination is noon on Friday, September 23, 2016.

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