Research and Innovation in Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development

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Research and Innovation in Alberta Agriculture
and Rural Development

• Presentation to the AACTI and IICA
• Dr. Christine Murray
• Oct. 6, 2008

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Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development

• Applied Research and Development
• - Agriculture Research Division effectively
  using 11M in competitive grant funding to
  support important research
• - Food Processing Development Division
• - Bio-Industrial Technologies Division

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Agriculture Research DivisionProviding
Innovative solutions through research,
development, and regulatory support, enabling a
competitive, profitable agriculture industry in
Alberta.
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Agriculture Research Division

• Who we are
• Research Scientists
• Professionals / Subject Specialists
• Technologists
• Project Support Staff
• Administrators

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Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development Driving
Sustainable Growth
Agriculture Research Division
Spirit River
Crop Diversification Centre North, Edmonton J.G.
ODonoghue Building, Edmonton
Stony Plain
Field Crop Development Centre, Lacombe Beef
Research _at_ AAFC Lacombe research station
Airdrie Crop Diversification Centre South, Brooks
Lethbridge
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Agriculture Research Division

• Why we exist
• To enable the growth of a globally competitive,
  sustainable agriculture and food industry through
  essential policy, legislation, information and
  services.
• To develop new knowledge and transform it into
  marketable products and or services.

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Agriculture Research Division

• Who we serve
• The Government of Alberta through the Minister of
  Agriculture and Rural Development
• Our clients
• Our focus is primary agriculture, our clients and
  their customers are represented along the entire
  supply chain, domestic and abroad, and include
  primary producers, processors, distributors,
  retailers, consumers.

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Agriculture Research Division

• What We Do
• Research Market Driven, Applied and Adaptive and
• Policy, Legislation, Regulation and Enforcement
• What We Support
• Technology Transfer
• Business Development
• Education

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Agriculture Research Division

• How We Create Value
• Extraordinary People with extraordinary skills
• Crop Scientists plant physiology, entomology,
  plant pathology, plant breeding, soil fertility,
  agronomy, molecular genetics, weed science,
  environmental bio-safety
• Animal Scientists animal nutrition,
  reproduction, genomics, production systems, meat
  quality

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Agriculture Research Division

• How We Create Value (contd)
• Relationships Partnerships and Collaborations
  formal and informal
• Industry, companies
• Universities, colleges, provincial, federal and
  international research collaborators, funding
  agencies

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Agriculture Research Division

• Research!
• Our passion!

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Chicory root yield and inulin quality produced in
southern AlbertaDr. M. Bandara et al.

• Chicory root can be produced for inulin
  extraction
• Inulin an oligosaccharide, low in calories and
  enhances the growth of good bacteria in the gut
  (prebiotic)
• New crop to Alberta, full range of agronomy to be
  developed
• Potential for increasing competitiveness of sugar
  processing and local production.

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Alberta pest monitoring networkS. Meers et al.

• Network depends on a diverse group of
  co-operators
• Insect pests are monitored for forecasting,
  research and population trend analysis
• Forecast maps are readily accessible on ARDs
  Ropin the Web

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Using AGRESSTM as a tool to control plant
diseasesDr. R. Howard et al.

• In collaboration with the Innovotech Inc., the
  inventor, products were evaluated for the their
  efficacy against bacterial biofilms
• Biofilms are complex communities of
  microorganisms that are much more resistant than
  single cells.

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Agricultural competitiveness of triticaleDr. R.
McKenzie et al.

• Determine triticales unit cost of production
  (COP) in and energy when compared to US corn
  using current knowledge and varieties.
• Improving triticale lifecycle balance through
  appropriate environment selection and agronomic
  techniques to improve starch yield, water use
  and/or nutrient use.

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Registration of four new barley and one new
triticale variety.Dr. P. Juskiw et al. and Dr.
D. Salmon et al.

• TR05671 is a two-row malting barley that combines
  good grain and forage yields, good malting
  quality, disease resistance, making it a good
  choice for the scald areas of western Canada.
• TR05669 is also a two-row malting barley, high
  grain and forage yield, good malting quality,
  excellent multi-purpose barley for the non-scald
  areas of western Canada.
• TR06673 is a 2-row, rough-awned feed barley,
  scald and stripe rust resistance similar to
  Seebe, but with 10 higher grain yield and
  earlier maturity.

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Registration of four new barley and one new
triticale variety.Dr. P. Juskiw et al. and Dr.
D. Salmon et al.

• BT577 is a 6-row, smooth-awned feed barley with
  high grain and forage yields similar to Vivar,
  making it a good multi-use feed barley for
  western Canada.
• Luoma new winter triticale is high yielding,
  excellent kernel size, high bushel weight,greater
  leaf stem rust and stripe rust resistance
  compared to wheat.

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Application of next generation genomic tools in
beef Addressing the phenomic gapDr. J. Basarab
et al.

• Molecular geneticists can identify 10,000 bits of
  genetic variation, however, in many cases this
  cannot be correlated to traits of economic
  importance
• The lack of phenotypic information to correlate
  with is the Phenomic Gap

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Reduced pregnancy losses in dairy cows fed
flaxseedDr. D. Ambrose et al.

• Embryonic death is a major contributor to
  reproductive loss in dairy cows
• The inclusion of flax in the rations of lactating
  dairy cows reduced pregnancy losses
• Early results indicate that alpha-linolenic acid
  (abundant in flaxseed) plays a role in reducing
  embryonic death

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Photodynamic sterilization of carcasses and meat
processing surfacesB. Ralston et al.

• Investigate the novel use of phytodynamic
  sterilization to eliminate food-borne pathogens
  from carcasses and meat processing surfaces
• Photocatalytic oxidation may have a place in
  cleaning in food processing systems.

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Effects of E. coli 0157 super shedders on the
prevalence of the pathogen in commercial feedlot
cattleDr. T. Stephens et al.

• Super shedders of E. coli have been estimated to
  account for 80-96 of the bacterial load in a
  feedlot pen
• Objective was to evaluate the distribution of
  super shedder cattle in a pen and the impact on
  pen-mates and the feedlot environment

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Optimizing production of Omega-3 enriched broiler
meat Dr. M. Zuidhof et al.

• Broiler chickens incorporate Omega-3 fatty acids
  into their muscle tissue
• Feeding flaxseed increases costs and reduces
  performance
• Developing an optimal production method to meet
  acceptable quality standards and palatability.

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Growth performance and carcass characteristics of
finishing hogs with various protein sources.Dr.
C . Gunawardena et al.

• Replacing protein from imported soybean meal with
  local zero-tannin fababean or field pea
• ZT fababean can replace field pea or soybean meal
  in hog diets
• ZT fababean may result in more pork and more
  income produced per hectare.

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Thank you

• Dr. Christine Murray
• Agriculture Research Division
• J.G. ODonoghue Building
• 7000-113 St Edmonton AB
• christine.murray_at_gov.ab.ca