CAFNR Impacts

Agricultural Economics

Unearthing the Seeds of Doubt. William Meyers, co-director of the Food and Agricultural Policy Research Institute (FAPRI) and professor of agricultural economics, is working to model the effect of European Union (EU) agricultural policies in Lithuania. His rural support program analyses underscore the need for the targeting of programs to poorer and lagging regions, and he is developing policy approaches to implement such targeting for the next EU rural development programming period. His pro-vitamin A research is informing the research process about means to assess the acceptability of new seeds that are biofortified to enhance nutrient access for the poorest populations.

Agricultural Education

Student Organizations Get an A. Bryan Garton, a professor of agricultural education and interim associate dean and director of academic programs, has concluded through his research that the admission criteria used by the university may not be the best predictor of academic success or graduation success of students in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. He found that students who participated in the 4-H and FFA agricultural youth organizations were more likely to perform well academically and see their education through to graduation than students who did not participate in these youth organizations. His research has been shared with secondary agriculture teachers and guidance counselors to assist them in counseling students. His research has also been used to enhance student-learning opportunities and identify other ways that academic performance and retention might be increased.

Agricultural Systems Management

Cooler Cows. Joseph Zulovich, extension assistant professor of commercial agriculture and animal structures state extension specialist, examines the implementation of technology for livestock housing and evaluates how existing technology used in other industries can be used to improve animal housing. His air conditioning for livestock housing project has shown substantial potential savings in production costs. The potential impacts of air conditioning for livestock housing systems include improved economic returns during hot weather and might provide a feasible way reduce emissions, such as ammonia and dust, from livestock facilities.

Animal Science

Good Egg Seeks Same in Mate. Until recently there was no reliable automated test for male infertility; specialists had to assay sperm samples by looking at them through a microscope. Animal scientist Peter Sutovsky has developed novel tests for male infertility that can be used to assay reproductive fitness across mammalian species. These tests will allow a variety of infertility treatments, drugs and contraceptive technologies targeted specifically at males.
Deciphering Embryonic Language. R. Michael Roberts' team is seeking to define how embryos signal their presence to the mother and trigger appropriate maternal responses that allow pregnancy to continue. Although their studies emphasize large domestic ruminants because spontaneous abortion is a major cause of economic loss in the livestock industry, the work also has major implications to human fertility because several of the mechanisms involved are likely to be the same. They have so far discovered that there are differences in how male and female embryos announce themselves to the mother. These findings promise to improve techniques for the culture of embryonic cells in laboratory conditions. Moreover, they have found certain factors that regulate uterine blood flow in the presence of an embryo that could be involved in preparing the uterus for implantation of the embryo.
The Protocols of Pregnancy. David Patterson's lab has created highly effective and economical protocols to synchronize estrus and ovulation in replacement beef heifers and postpartum beef cows. The progestin-based technology has shown excellent pregnancy rates following artificial insemination performed at predetermined times. The CIDR Select protocol developed at MU was recently identified by the national Beef Reproduction Leadership Team as one of the preferred methods for fixed-time artificial insemination in replacement beef heifers.
Herbs Healthy for Heat-Stressed Sperm. Testes normally require a slightly cooler environment in order to produce and maintain populations of healthy sperm. William Lamberson has discovered that the South African medicinal herb Artemesia afra nearly eliminated detrimental effects of short-term heat stress on the reproductive performance of male mice. These preliminary results suggest that the herb could be a powerful tool in mitigating the deleterious effects of heat stress, thereby improving producers' control over male fertility across a variety of environments.
Know Your Follicles. All mammalian species are born with a finite number of ovarian follicles that determine their maximum fecundity, or the number of offspring that they could potentially produce. MU animal scientist Allen Garverick and his research team have discovered new genes that control the selection of ovarian follicles for ovulation. Their work is furthering the understanding ovarian and follicular development and the mechanisms that regulate their function and will lead to the creation of new fertility treatments in domestic farm species.
Building a Better Bovine. Eric Antoniou and his team are studying ovarian follicular development in cattle and gene regulation in liver and muscle tissues of animals subjected to fescue toxicosis and heat stress. His research into follicular development will provide an understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved in the differentiation of these structures, which could lead to new way to manage reproductive cycles in livestock and help women with a special class of infertility problems that require hormonal treatments. Conventional hormone therapy commonly results in multiple births, which are unhealthy for both mother and child. A greater understanding of these processes will allow scientists to amend traditional therapies to ensure that only one egg is allowed to mature and be fertilized. Insight into fescue toxicity and heat stress will illuminate the molecular basis of resistance and sensitivity to these diseases and might provide ways to select resistant animals.
Profits High on the Hog. MU researchers' innovative research on amino acid needs of modern prolific females will revolutionize knowledge of how sows are fed in the U.S. and the world. Gary Allee and his team conducted more than 30 experiments to develop an optimal new swine diet that will significantly reduce feed costs while improving product quality. They have demonstrated that their nutrition and management program allows sows to be rebred without excessive body weight loss; 90 percent of the sows can be mated fewer than seven days after weaning. Under their nutrition program, they have been able to increase weaning weight of each piglet by at least one pound. The team estimates that their research will save swine producers more than $500 million.
Researchers to identify genes associated with valuable traits in cattle. Jerry Taylor, MU professor of animal sciences, and his research team have built populations of Angus and Limousin cattle for use in genetic mapping. The researchers will use this information to develop breeding and management programs that will identify, and eventually maximize, the expression of traits associated with feed conversion efficiency, milk production and carcass quality.
Dogs provide excellent models for studying neurological diseases. According to MU researcher Jerry Taylor, the similarity of the canine nervous system to the human nervous system makes it invaluable for studying human neurological diseases such as epilepsy. In addition, the process of canine breed formation makes it much easier to identify the genes responsible for inherited neurological diseases. The team hopes to avoid the generation of these diseases in dogs and to produce models for human disease.
State-of-the-art beef research facility upgrades two years ahead of schedule. Researcher Monty Kerley and his team of faculty and graduate students have completed research in diet reformulation and demonstrated improvements in feed efficiency and growth rate while reducing costs and waste volume. The environmental and economic impacts of these innovations have attracted several companies interested in funding patent protection and the further development of these technologies.
Research aims at improving fertility in cattle. MU animal scientists Michael Smith and Allen Garverick are working to improve fertility in cattle. Garverick is seeking to understand the endocrine, cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate ovarian function. To date, he has identified several genes associated with follicular selection and growth. Smith is investigating chemical means that will allow producers to control ovulation and synchronize periods of fertility. Developments in these areas will facilitate the use of artificial insemination and eventually allow producers to manage their herds with maximum efficiency.
Ethanol's waste is a calf's next meal. While seeking to find alternative feed sources for weaned calves, MU researcher James Williams has found that distiller dried grain supplement, a byproduct of ethanol production, provides the same benefits as soybean meal at a lower cost.
Pig farm profits never smelled so sweet. MU researchers have developed a new diet that not only reduces feed costs without sacrificing product quality, but also nitrogen emissions. Gary Allee and his team conducted 30 experiments with more than 25,000 pigs and demonstrated a savings of $.80 to $3.50 in feed costs per animal. More than 50 million pigs are on the new diet in the U.S., and the team estimates that their research has resulted in at least $50 million in savings to the industry.
Innovations in ideal protein intake are not just for the birds. Animal production efficiency researcher Jeffre Firman completed a study to determine the ideal protein intake for turkeys. This innovation would potentially allow industry to reduce feed and other maintenance costs by as much $100 million while maintaining a high-quality product for consumers.
Proper zinc provides benefits for pigs, people. Zinc is essential for normal growth and development. MU animal science researchers have determined that supplementary zinc promotes growth and metabolism in pigs by altering the populations of the microflora that live in their intestines. Proper zinc absorption in pigs eliminates the need for antibiotics during the nursery period and the possibility that these products will transfer into the human food supply.

Atmospheric Sciences

New tests being developed to improve radar and satellite weather forecasting. Neil Fox, assistant professor of soil, environmental and atmospheric science, with assistance from graduate students Jose Miranda and George Limpert, are working to understand the relationship between storm duration and precipitation totals in order to better predict the onset, intensity, duration and accumulation of rain more quickly and accurately. These improved forecasting techniques will allow meteorologists to issue better flash flood warnings as well as aid in a number of other water management tasks.

Biochemistry

Now Hear This. The proteins OCP1 and OCP2 are among the most abundant proteins in the mammalian auditory organ, the organ of Corti, which contains auditory sensory cells, or hair cells, that transform vibrations into electrochemical signals that the brain interprets as sound, but their function is unknown. Michael Henzl, professor of biochemistry, and his group are investigating the role that these proteins might play in non-syndromic hereditary deafness disorders. Although the hearing research community is largely fixated on sensory cell function, the gene product most commonly associated with these disorders is expressed solely in the non-sensory cell population. They believe that these non-sensory cells are the regulatory center of the ear, and that understanding the function of these proteins will aid in the prevention and treatment of certain hearing disorders.
Miraculous Microbes. MU biochemist Judy Wall and her research team are exploring how anaerobic sulfate-reducing bacteria, known primarily for their role in iron corrosion, create energy by metabolizing various elements. These bacteria have been shown to convert uranium into an insoluble form, which makes them potentially useful for bioremediation of uranium-contaminated soils and groundwater. In addition, research into how the bacteria eat, excrete and transform substances could contribute to an understanding of how bacteria might produce clean, renewable energy on a large scale and allow for the development of powerful new strategies and technologies essential for achieving sustainable living.
Food for Thought. MU researcher Agnes Simonyi and her group are working to discern the specific role(s) of the different subtypes of glutamate receptors involved in learning and memory processes to determine their association with age-related changes in cognitive functions as well as neurological and psychiatric disorders. They are also examining the effects of various polyphenolic compounds, such as the flavonoids commonly found in the skins of fruits and vegetables, and plant extracts on cerebral ischemia, a condition wherein areas of the brain do not receive enough blood. Advances in these areas will serve as foundations of future studies aimed at alleviating brain disorders and developing treatments that employ novel botanical compounds.
Protein Panacea Against Plant Pathogens. Associate professor of biochemistry Scott Peck and his team are seeking to understand how plants resist bacterial pathogens. They have identified a number of novel proteins that are regulated in response to bacterial infection. Understanding how a plant naturally defends itself from potential pathogens could allow scientists to develop ways to protect crop plants from pathogens that are presently resistant to conventional treatments. Their work has also established a technology platform for performing large-scale comparative studies of signaling proteins involved in any biological response. Technically, it is still very demanding for many laboratories to examine changes in processes that are critical to understanding how cells and organisms respond to changes in their environment. The new methods their team has developed will allow other researchers to obtain this information more rapidly and with greater precision.
Growing Real Plastic Plants. Brian Mooney, a research assistant professor of biochemistry and associate director of the Proteomics Center, and postdoctoral researcher Elizabeth Hoyos are working to modify and breed plants to produce biodegradable plastics. Bacteria naturally produce these biodegradable plastics, but the researchers hope to modify plants for biodegradable plastic production at commercially viable levels. Their research promises to alleviate the economic and environmental concerns associated with the production of conventional plastics by reducing the lifespan of plastics in landfills and imports of oil used to create plastics. The market for biodegradable plastics is currently around $1 billion per year.
Radioactive Remediation and Reclaiming Watts from Waste. Over the past 50 years, radioactive and toxic waste has seeped into groundwaters in some parts of the country. MU microbiologist Dwayne Elias and his team are seeking to find proteins and bacteria that can remove these wastes from groundwaters and possibly increase these abilities with genetic modifications. In addition, he is part of a group effort to make alternative energy a viable, cost-effective reality by generating electricity from bacterial nanowires. The team hopes to use bacteria that consume waste such as sewage, including those already used at water treatment plants, to generate enough electricity to run not only the treatment plants, but also supply some power to local communities.
MU researchers seek to make good seeds even better. Plants such as soybeans, corn, sunflowers, peanuts and olives produce both edible fats and oils (used in cooking oils, for instance) and nonedible fats and oils that are use in cosmetics, paints, as industrial lubricants and fuel (ethanol). But the amount that each plant produces varies. MU Biochemist Jay Thelen and visiting scientist Ganesh Agrawal, along with post-doctorates Martin Hajduch and Renuka Jain, are seeking to understand the biochemical regulation that occurs during the seed-filling stage of development in oilseed plants. Oilseed plants accumulate oil during a specific phase of development; a better understanding of that phase may reveal differences between species that would be useful for crop improvement.
MU scientists studying iron deficiencies in plants and people. According to the World Health Organization, iron deficiency is the most prevalent nutritional problem in the world today and affects four to five billion people worldwide, two billion of whom are anemic. Partly to blame for this is the fact that fully one-third of the world's soils are iron deficient. MU agricultural biochemists are working to understand how plants acquire iron to improve plant nutrition and crop yields and develop food-based strategies that will offer sustainable solutions to malnutrition.
New class of drugs would target metastatic cancer cells. A new class of carbohydrate-based drugs has been shown to have promising preliminary results in animal studies. Much less toxic than conventional chemotherapies, the drugs would inhibit the ability of cancer cells to adhere to tissues and overcome the chemical resistance of aggressive cancers. Animal trials are ongoing, but if the results are positive the drugs can be quickly translated to clinical trials involving patients with prostate and breast cancers.
Environmental pollutants won’t stand a chance against engineered bacteria. Researchers have discovered that certain bacteria are able to isolate and essentially render harmless contaminates such as toxic metals and radioactive materials. At MU, scientists are working to engineer the bacteria’s expression of certain proteins in order to increase the rate at which it can pacify environmental pollutants such as uranium.
Research aims to blunt the impact of chemotherapy and curb the spread of aggressive disease. The binding of bacteria to the human respiratory system and the binding of metastatic cancer cells in sites away from the primary tumor are critical steps in the persistence and spread of disease. MU researchers are in the process of developing new drug therapies that will not only interfere with these binding mechanisms, but, in the case of cancer, also do so without subjecting patients to the devastating effects that conventional chemotherapy can have.

Biological Engineering

Glowing molecular machines could shed light on the thickness of blood. When medical teams treat traumatic injuries, a key concern is the viscosity and flow of blood products. MU researcher Mark Haidekker is developing fluorescent molecular sensors that could measure the viscosity and flow. In addition to this project, Haidekker is also exploring noninvasive imaging methods that could eventually allow doctors to monitor the health and growth of artificial blood vessels from outside the patient's body. He is also developing computer-aided radiological methods that objectively diagnose medical images.

Food Science

An Ice Cream Dream. Ice cream, while delicious, is thought to be a guilty pleasure because of how much fat it contains, and part of the reason it is so delicious is because it is filled with fat. Food scientist Ingolf Gruen is seeking to characterize food components with important functional properties, such as bioactive and flavorful compounds, in novel and traditional food products. Knowledge of these characteristics will allow for the development of food products that taste better and are healthier. To that end, Gruen and his research team are investigating how to produce better tasting low-fat ice creams and to establish a more economical way of determining the changes required in flavorings when fat levels change. Findings in this area would be able to be applied to a wide variety of food products and allow for the engineering of foods that are both good and good for you.
What's Good for the Gut. Professor of Food Science Azlin Mustapha's research interests include food safety and probiotics. The goals of her research program in food safety are to investigate the effectiveness of various food-grade antimicrobial compounds at preserving raw and ready-to-eat meats, and to design rapid molecular methods for the detection of various food pathogens in foods and food processing equipment. In the area of probiotics, she is seeking to investigate and optimize the survival of probiotic bacteria in fermented and unfermented dairy and soy products during their passage through the gastrointestinal tract. Presently, there is conflicting scientific evidence to support the benefits associated with consumption of foods containing probiotics. Mustapha’s work in these areas has focused on increasing the safety of foods by preventing the growth of pathogens or by their rapid detection and increasing the functionality of common foods via the use of probiotic bacteria.

Forestry

Wood quality helps predict the behavior of forest fires. Bruce Cutter, professor of forest resource management, is working to determine the relationship between tree growth and environmental factors that combine to affect wood quality. Understanding this relationship will allow forest managers to better predict how both prescribed and wildfires will behave.
New methods discovered to uncover the history hidden in trees. Forest researchers use tree-ring dating, or dendrochronology, to peer into the past and chart fire history, risk and ecology, climate change, and environmental chemistry as well as date human-made structures. MU scientists have used their understanding of trees to examine the long-term effects of industrialization, dated more than 40 historic buildings, and have recently developed a new means of dating wood called density dating.

Plant Sciences

Eat and Be Dairy. Winter feed accounts for approximately 50 percent of the cost to produce beef or milk in Missouri. Robert Kallenbach, an associate professor in the Division of Plant Sciences, and his team are studying how to extend the grazing season and reduce the need for winter feeds. By interseeding cereal rye into dormant Bermuda grass or by aerially seeding winter annual forages onto fallow corn and soybean fields, they have achieved a 30 percent reduction in winter feed costs. Additionally, Kallenbach's team has developed forage utilization strategies for stockpiled tall fescue that reduce the need for hay on most farms by 40 percent. More than 20,000 producers are using the best management practices developed by their research projects, and the increased use of winter grazing programs saves the state's beef producers $19 million annually.
These Nickels Aren't Made of Wood. Termites cause more property damage than fires and windstorms combined with more than $2 billion in damages in the U.S. every year. Urban entomologist Richard Houseman’s experiments have demonstrated that, with proper application, less than half the amount of termiticide normally used can control termite infestations. This decreases both the risk of exposure to termiticides and the cost of termite treatments without compromising effectiveness.
Lime Shouldn't Cost That Much Green. Higher energy prices mean higher prices for fertilizer, and this increases farmers' need to minimize input costs while maximizing yields. The results of David Dunn evaluations have shown that pelletized lime, which is sold at a premium price relative to traditional agricultural lime, is no more effective and sometimes less effective than agricultural lime at the lower rates with which it is usually applied. This research has demonstrated that the premium prices paid for pelletized lime are not justified.
Negating the Environmental Impact of Nitrogen. Crop yields respond dramatically to nitrogen fertilizer. Although it is known that the amount of fertilizer nitrogen needed varies widely from field to field and from place to place within fields, farmers do not have ready access to technology that reliably predicts where to put more and where to put less. MU researcher Peter Scharf is working to develop technologies, such as color sensing and aerial photography, to produce full yields while reducing nitrogen movement to water resources. This will protect rural economies while reducing agriculture's impact on coastal waters and groundwater.
Putting Pests to the Test. Plant scientist Kevin Bradley and his group are working to evaluate and develop specific weed management strategies that will reduce the incidence and severity of insect and disease pests in corn and soybean agroecosystems. His research has revealed that winter annual weeds might serve as alternate hosts for a variety of insect pests and soybean cyst nematode and that the elimination of these weeds with herbicide applications made in the fall or early spring prior to planting can provide significant reductions in the invasion of these pests.
MU researchers make successful modifications to Missouri Gravel Bed method for planting bare-root trees and shrubs. The Missouri Gravel Bed is a technique that facilitates the planting of trees and shrubs without a ball of soil around the roots. Bare-root plants are less expensive to harvest and ship and easier to handle than conventionally harvested plants. Research by plant scientist Christopher Starbuck and his team shows that, contrary to previous thought, bare-root plants can be planted at any time during the year. In addition to other improvements, they have developed a technique using pea gravel that allows bare-root plants to be planted any time of year with survival rates better than or equal to conventional planting methods.
Plant scientists take steps toward maize not fazed by drought. Drought is the single greatest limiting factor to agricultural productivity worldwide. To combat this, plant scientist Georgia Davis and her associates have identified several chromosome regions containing genes that play a role in root response to drought. An understanding of the genes responsible for drought tolerance will allow crops to grow on land that is currently unusable and could dramatically increase the food supply in drought-stricken nations.
MU researchers mollify fungi by genetically modifying maize. The fungus Aspergillus flavus infests corn kernels and generates aflatoxin, a chemical that is harmful to animals and causes liver cancer in humans, as a by-product of its growth. Because of this, portions of crop yields with high concentrations of the toxin are turned away at storage facilities. Scientist Georgia Davis has identified four compounds that inhibit the growth of the fungus in culture. Her team is now working to analyze the genes that create them. Further developments in this area will reduce crop loss due to contamination and provide economic stability for producers.
Creating plants that will defend themselves. MU plant scientists are working to develop forage crops, such as tall fescue and birdsfoot trefoil, with biochemical defenses against nematodes and fungal pathogens. Advances in this area will improve drought tolerance and aid in the development of management schemes that could increase the gross income of beef producers by as much as 40 percent.
Scientists tap into peptides for disease resistance in plants and animals. Plant health researchers are designing platform technologies that use peptides to interfere with the environmental signals that cue life cycle changes in pathogens. These rapidly responding peptides can be delivered on demand to susceptible plant tissues to reduce significantly the chance or extent of infection.
Strains of super soybeans will possess wide-ranging powers. More than 150 million bushels of soybeans are lost to disease and other maladies every year in the United States. MU scientists are working to create soybean varieties with the potential for high yields, resistance to disease, herbicide resistance, flood and salt tolerance and enhanced protein and oil properties. To date, 23 high-yield Roundup Ready varieties that are resistant to soybean cyst nematode have been selected for advancement to the Uniform Regional Soybean Trials for testing.
Where does all the pollen go? Growing concern that genetically modified plants in agricultural production could cross-pollinate with wild plants has led MU plant scientists to investigate the molecular basis for pollen recognition and rejection. This research offers insight into how plants communicate with each other and how to control pollen flow within and between species.

Rural Sociology

Quinoa for Sale. Jere Gilles, an associate professor of rural sociology and director of graduate studies in the department of applied social sciences, is working to understand how economic changes at the societal and global levels affect the well-being of communities that depend heavily on natural resources such as farming, mining or tourism in poor nations like Bolivia. His research is aimed at using that information to help citizens and policy makers adopt sustainable livelihoods. Efforts in this area provide the basis for more effective delivery of weather forecasts to peasant producers and better networks for marketing traditional crops.

Soil Sciences

Soil scientists seek to elucidate interactions between soil and potential pollutants. According to estimates, as much as 80 percent of the drugs given to animals pass through their bodies, and the resulting pharmaceutical-laden manure is then used as fertilizer. MU scientists are taking steps toward improving our understanding of how these substances interact with soils and filter into water supplies in order to develop effective remediation strategies.
Scientists use X-rays to reveal the secrets of good earth. Because soil structure determines surface and subsurface water quality as well as crop growth and productivity, researchers at MU are using X-rays to investigate the properties of well-structured soil. An understanding of these properties will help to identify and aid in the creation of land management techniques that improve soil structure.

Pride Points

CAFNR is ranked No. 1 in the nation for National Science Foundation-funded plant genomics research.
CAFNR was among the first to move aggressively toward an interdisciplinary approach to research.
CAFNR is recognized nationally for the attention given to students not only in the classroom, but also in mentoring and advising.
The CAFNR scholarship program is one of the largest at MU. Each year, CAFNR awards more than $750,000 in scholarships; more than half of which is awarded to incoming freshmen.