Pork producers in Canada are in the process of transitioning from stall housing to group housing systems for gestating sows. The greatest concern with this change is the problem of aggression when pregnant sows are mixed. Mixing frequently results in aggressive interactions among sows, and can affect reproduction and cause welfare problems. Typically sows are […]

The efficient monitoring of soil and crop parameters is essential for crop stress evaluation and yield forecast in agriculture, yet most remote sensing studies focus on regional-scale soil and crop parameters estimation using satellite data. Satellite remote sensing is difficult to obtain both high spatial and temporal resolution data with a low-cost in field-scale. Currently, […]

The ‘gold standard’ mammalian safety toxicopathological tests are very sensitive and reproducible examinations used by veterinary pathologists in the pharmaceutical industry and regulatory agencies to detect sublethal toxic effects of candidate drugs, pesticides and other chemicals in laboratory animals to determine the safe dose range of these medications/chemicals for humans and animals. However, comparable toxicopathological […]

The B vitamin requirements of cattle were traditionally satisfied via rumen microbial synthesis. However, the B vitamin demands of the modern high producing dairy cow now exceed the synthesis rate by rumen microbes, leading to sub-optimal milk production and efficiency. An increased understanding of dietary factors driving ruminal synthesis and use of B vitamins will […]

Calves in dairy production systems have been traditionally fed low amounts of milk to encourage solid feed intake which is thought to minimize stress during weaning. It is unclear how feeding an elevated amount of milk pre-weaning and the digestibility of the solid feed has on gut health and function in dairy calves – which […]

The purpose of this research is to examine the food consumption pattern in Revelstoke, British Columbia. Through employing a three-stage action research approach – (i) the food receipt study, (ii) the social media intervention (SMI) on healthy eating and healthy cooking, and (iii) the food consumption depth interview, this study seeks to capture residents’ food […]

Whey proteins in milk are detrimental to the rennet-induced coagulation of milk. In this project, we will use microfiltration membrane technique to concentrate the milk and to remove whey proteins. A process called diafiltration (DF) will also be used to further remove whey proteins by adding water to the MF concentrated milk and then filtered. […]

Feed restriction in gestating sows is required to prevent excessive body weight gain and the associated negative consequences on lactation, locomotion, farrowing, and feed intake during lactation. Aggression and stereotypies associated with restricted feeding become a welfare and production concern when the sows are housed in groups. Delayed gastric emptying, increased swelling of contents in […]

The agriculture industry is a labour intensive industry. Using a reliable method of plant monitoring can greatly help farmers to reduce their labours and consequently their production costs. Creating an accurate 3-D model of each plant or vegetable provides farmers with more information about the growth stage of the plant which helps them to make […]

Like humans and other animals, plants also get sick, exhibit disease symptoms, and even die. Over the past 100 years, farmers have heavily relied upon chemical fertilizers and pesticides in order to increase crop productivity and quality. However, the environmental pollution caused by excessive use and misuse of agrochemicals has led to considerable changes in […]

Berries are rich sources of nutrients that can offer health benefits to consumers. Short growing season and shelf life are limit factors and a large amount of fresh berries have to be processed. Freeze drying is a rapid and low-temperature technique that can maximally retain the nutritional values and flavors of berry products. The influence […]

Most economically important traits associated with lactation and reproduction in pigs are either less heritable, sex-limited, expressed later in life, or difficult to measure on a routine basis. Genomic predictions using single step best linear unbiased prediction (SSBLUP) methodologies, which utilizes information on phenotypes, pedigree and markers from genotyped and non-genotyped animals simultaneously, is an […]