ARS | Publication request: The Science of Dairy Nutrition-the Sniffen Legacy

Submitted to: Cornell Nutrition Conference for Feed Manufacturers
Publication Type: Proceedings/Symposium
Publication Acceptance Date: September 15, 2003
Publication Date: October 21, 2003
Citation: Mertens, D.R. 2003. The science of dairy nutrition-the sniffen legacy. Proceeding of the Cornell Nutrition Conference for Feed Manufacturers. p. 31-40.

Technical Abstract: Dr. C. J. Sniffen's recognition as one of agriculture's "Most Highly Cited" agricultural scientists by the Institute of Scientific Information (ISI) attests to the impact that his work has had on research in dairy nutrition. According to ISI, C. J. Sniffen was cited more than 2,760 times between 1982 and 2003, and his 22 most-cited papers were referenced 2,130 times during that period. Although ISI citation tracking does not include Sniffen's early work on protein solubility, which was extensively cited at the time, examination of his 22 most-cited papers since 1983 indicates that he did not work in isolation, but collaborated with numerous colleagues, graduate students and technical staff to make discoveries, generate new concepts, develop models, and refine established ideas. When we think of his contribution to dairy nutrition what immediately comes to mind is his research on protein characterization and the net carbohydrate-protein system (NCPS). Sniffen's legacy to dairy protein nutrition is the improved description of protein fractions that allow nutritionists to formulate rations more accurately and the integration of this information into a kinetic model (NCPS) that allows interactions of these protein fractions with microbial growth and fermentation in the rumen. His legacy in modeling is the development of a complex analytical and kinetic database of feed information that is used in the NCPS and serves as a reference for future modeling efforts. Thus, it seems appropriate to describe C. J. Sniffen's legacy to dairy nutrition in two words "complexity" and "integration" and the science of dairy nutrition will forever be in his debt for the "integrated complexity" of his contributions.