Past Events

Johne’s disease is a chronic wasting disease in dairy cattle caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis (MAP). Genetic selection can help to control this disease, and one candidate gene of interest is the gene encoding for interleukin-10 receptor subunit alpha (IL10Rα). A bovine mammary epithelial cell line was created with the gene encoding IL10Rα knocked out (IL10KO). This cell line was ex-posed to live MAP, and mRNA was extracted. The differentially expressed genes were compared between the IL10KO and wild-type cell lines, and gene ontology was performed.

Mastitis is a very challenging disease in the dairy industry that affects the animal’s health, as well as the producer’s profit and management. Although it has been studied in depth over the years, we have still yet to eliminate it due to the fact that there are numerous pathogens that can cause a mastitis infection, and they are extremely prevalent in the cow’s environment. For this reason, emphasis is being placed on identifying cows that are more able to prevent or recover from a mastitis infection based on her genetics.

Research into the genetic aspects of calf health traits is an emerging field for the dairy industry. Calf respiratory illness and diarrhea remain the two highest causes of calf morbidity and mortality in Canada and worldwide. Previous research has shown there are long term effects to an animal as a result of calfhood morbidity. The goal of the research described in this thesis was to understand the quantity and quality of calf health information available, specifically respiratory illness and diarrhea, that could be used in future genetic research.

Due to the high prevalence of gastrointestinal diseases and disorders in dairy calves, optimizing nutritional strategies to enhance gastrointestinal (GIT) development and improve calf health is at the forefront of industry concerns. This thesis investigates the effects of whole milk powder (WP) and milk replacer (MR) of similar macronutrient composition on GIT development, function, and composition in male Holstein calves.

Free-stalls are an important area of dairy production where cow comfort should be maximized. Comfortable free-stalls con-tribute to the cows’ ability to achieve adequate rest, which translates into improved health and production. However, free-stalls are generally designed to promote cleanliness and reduce the labour required for maintenance through restricting cow behaviour. The overall objective of this thesis was to evaluate a novel free-stall designed to improve cow comfort using an increased stall slope, minimal stall partitioning, a heat abatement system, and supplemental lighting.

Bones are a highly complex tissue capable of adapting to changes in muscle usage through specialized cells which respond to mus-cle strain. As such, the way in which birds utilize their wings has a direct impact on strain production of the flight muscles, and sub-sequently the keel bone to which the muscles anchor. Currently, adaptations of muscle and bone in response to a decrease in wing use is unknown in laying hens. Therefore, the first study (Chapter 2) sought to investigate if a loss of flight feathers (reduction to wing area) would reduce wing activity.

Please join us for the DECEMBER Installment of the 2021 ‘Virtual’ Nutrition Seminar Series, hosted by the Centre for Nutrition Modelling (Animal Biosciences Department). Each month in 2021 a different lab within the Nutrition group will share their exciting new research in a dynamic virtual manner.  In December we bring you:

MicroRNAs interfere with translation of mRNAs through complementary binding at the 3’ untranslat-ed region (UTR). MicroRNA-29b-3p (miR-29b) is localized to the nucleus in porcine granulosa cells, but its function is unknown. We hypothesized miR-29b binds to nuclear DNA to regulate transcrip-tion. We analyzed genes regulated by miR-29b for potential binding sites in their promoter regions. MiR-29b may bind to the promoter regions of GLUL, CDKN2B, and NR2F2, but does not regulate NR2F2 transcription. We instead identified genes miR-29b may regulate via 3’ UTR repression.

Animal robustness is essential in the poultry industry because of its consequences for animal health, wellbeing, and industry profitability. Strategies to improve animal robustness can include quantifying environmental sensitivity or direct selection for ro-bustness-related traits, however, these have come with limited success.