Agriculture & Agri-food

Why is this research important to Alberta? Dairy is vital to Canada’s economy, generating $7.13B in net farm cash receipts and contributing $20B to GDP in 2020. Alberta is the fourth largest milk producing province in Canada with over 500 dairy farms. Despite this success, the dairy industry is also facing a number of emerging […]

The bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in beef cattle, causing considerable economic losses. This project explores the role of host genetics in shaping the composition of the microbiome, which is crucial in determining health and disease in ruminants. Here the team will characterize the genomic and metabolic markers,

Liver abscesses and bovine respiratory disease (BRD) cause the greatest disease associated economic losses in the Canadian Beef Industry. As these conditions are mainly caused by Gram-negative bacteria, this combined with antimicrobial resistance (AMR) may account for the limited efficacy of current antimicrobials. This project will use “omic” technologies to characterize the interaction between these

The global market for soybean seed sales is estimated at $3.0 – $4.5 billion. Arcadia Biosciences estimates that superior soybean varieties carrying the enhanced seed oil trait could capture up to 25% of this market. Revenues would be obtained through licensing the trait or the resulting varieties to one or more partners with potential for

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is an infectious and highly contagious swine virus. Recently, outbreaks of severe PED disease have been reported in the USA and Canada. The goal of this project is to develop a live virus vaccine specifically directed towards sows to protect suckling piglets against disease. Despite long-term efforts, effective vaccines to

After ravaging Asia for over a decade, Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea Virus (PEDV) entered USA in April 2013, and Canada in January 2014. Controlling the spread of PEDV by surveillance and biosecurity measures and eliminating the virus from infected farms are industry priorities. This project will investigate genomic and molecular mechanisms associated with PEDV survivorship in

Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) is the causative agent of porcine epidemic diarrhea resulting in high mortality in affected swine, particularly neonatal piglets, characterize PED disease. This emerging virus rapidly spreads and has caused significant economic losses, primarily due to very high mortality (50% to 100%) of young piglets in affected herds. The aim of

The existence of considerable host genetic variance in susceptibility to diseases is well documented in the pig, and currently, discussion and research has focused on improving pig health and the most appropriate means to do this. Thus, the goal of this project is to develop genomic tools for genetic improvement of disease resilience in the

Improving feed efficiency is vital for the swine industry to enhance global competitiveness, reduce the environmental impact, and increase the sustainability and social acceptability of Alberta and Canadian pig production. The overall goal of this project is to genetically improve pig feed efficiency through enhanced genomic estimated breeding values. This project is in collaboration with

Pigs respond to Salmonella infection with reduced production efficiency, but fairly mild disease symptoms. The greater concern for Salmonella infection in swine production is for reasons of food safety and human health. Results obtained from a previous project suggest that it is possible to identify pigs that will mount a successful defense against Salmonella to