The UW–Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS) recently selected eight projects for funding through the Dairy Innovation Hub initiative. These one-year grants fund promising work 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.
Short term, high impact research and outreach projects are intended to leverage existing UW–Madison expertise to provide timely results while supporting the goals of the Dairy Innovation Hub. Projects place additional emphasis on addressing recommendations generated by the state’s Dairy Task Force 2.0, which completed its work in 2019.
Funded through a $7.8 million per year investment by the state of Wisconsin, the Hub positions Wisconsin’s dairy community for economic, environmental, and social success by advancing science, developing talent, and leveraging collaboration at UW–Madison, UW–Platteville, and UW–River Falls. Since its launch in 2019, more than 200 projects have been funded across the three campuses.
The following UW–Madison projects were selected for short-term, high-impact grants:
“Demonstrating the value of dairy ingredients in protein- and fiber-based enriched snack foods”
Audrey Girard, assistant professor, Department of Food Science
Girard specializes in food chemistry, focusing on using protein chemistry to improve food quality, sustainability and human health. Her project “Demonstrating the value of dairy ingredients in protein- and fiber-based enriched snack foods” aims to increase the value of whey coproducts and to increase the nutritional value of snack foods by incorporating three whey components: whey protein phospholipid concentrate (WPPC), delactosed permeate (DLP) and glycomacropeptide (GMP). Read the full summary here.
“Manure application recommendations for alfalfa interseeded into corn silage”
Marta Kohmann, assistant professor and extension specialist, Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences
Kohmann specializes in forage systems agroecology and ecosystem services. Her project “Manure application recommendations for alfalfa interseeded into corn silage” aims to evaluate establishment, productivity, and nutritive value of alfalfa planted with corn silage receiving manure application and provide better application recommendations. Read the full summary here.
“Intramammary infusion of hydrogels for prevention or treatment of bovine mastitis”
Christian Krueger, research project manager, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
Krueger directs and evaluates research program strategic planning initiatives for Jess Reed, emeritus professor of animal and dairy sciences. His project “Intramammary infusion of tannin-chitosan hydrogels for prevention or treatment of bovine mastitis” aims to demonstrate the safety and antimicrobial efficacy of the tannin-chitosan hydrogels, a new invention that utilizes tannins naturally found in cranberries and chitosan naturally found in the fibrous substance chitin, against bovine mastitis. Read the full summary here.
“Unlocking the ecological interactions in the rumen microbiota that affect methane formation and mitigation strategies”
Hilario Mantovani, assistant professor, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
Mantovani, whose position is funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub, specializes in rumen microbial physiology. His project “Unlocking the ecological interactions in the rumen microbiota that affect methane formation and mitigation strategies” aims to investigate the mechanisms by which methane inhibitors affect individual populations of methane producing bacterium and the overall ruminal fermentation in dairy and beef cattle. Read the full summary here.
“The characterization of bovine milk fat lipids in surgical nutrition support”
Joseph Pierre, assistant professor, Department of Nutritional Sciences
Pierre, also funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub, focuses on the gut microbiome, nutrition, and intestinal physiology and disease. Hi project “The characterization of bovine milk fat lipids in surgical nutrition support” aims to test novel milk lipid emulsions, which are used in clinical lifesaving nutrition support methods, to characterize the metabolic and immune response in animal models used in parenteral nutrition. Read the full summary here.
“The use of a modified acrylic fiber for removal of copper and antibiotics from manure amended soils”
Inna Popova, assistant professor, Department of Soil Science
Popova’s research focuses on understanding the impact of synthetic chemicals on natural and agricultural ecosystems. Her project “The use of a modified acrylic fiber for removal of copper and antibiotics from manure amended soils” aims to evaluate novel amidoxime carboxylate (AO/CO) fibers for removal of copper and antibiotic copper complexes from agricultural soils. Read the full summary here.
“Towards net-zero dairy: Designing and operating a novel catalytic reactor to increase the value of acid whey”
Scott Rankin, professor and chair, Department of Food Science
Rankin’s program focuses on characterizing dairy food flavor with sensory and instrumental techniques. His project “Towards net-zero dairy: Designing and operating a novel catalytic reactor to increase the value of acid whey” will design and operate the world’s first catalyst-driven lactose reactor to enhance the value of acid whey, which will be integrated with existing units to produce more glucose-galactose syrup for food applications. Read the full summary here.
“Mooving Cows: An innovative tool for diverse audiences to learn dairy cow handling practices”
Jennifer Van Os, assistant professor and extension specialist, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
Van Os focuses on understanding, evaluating, and improving the welfare of dairy animals from biological- and social- science perspectives. Her project “Mooving Cows: An innovative tool for diverse audiences to learn dairy cow handling practices” will develop and test an innovative, digital educational game – similar to a flight simulator – to help users understand how human actions affect cow behavior, stress, and productivity. Read the full summary here.
Source : wisc.edu