A total of 19 University of Saskatchewan (USask) researchers have been awarded $4.2 million to develop and support 23 livestock-related innovations.
Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund (ADF) is supported through the Canadian Agriculture Partnership – a five year, $3-billion investment by federal, provincial, and territorial governments to strengthen and grow Canada’s agriculture, agri-food, and agri-products sectors.
Here are a few (but not limited to) recipients of Saskatchewan’s Agriculture Development Fund:
Andrew Sharpe – Global Institute for Food Security (GIFS) at USask
First project: $392,391 was awarded for Sharpe and Sampath Perumal, co-principal investigator of GIFS to develop new genomic resources to better understand salt and drought tolerance mechanisms in an important legume forage crop - alfalfa.
Second project: $371,739 was awarded for Sharpe and Bill Biligetu, plant scientist and co-principal investor, to develop new foundational genomic resources for a palatable, perennial grass forage crop - hybrid wheatgrass.
Jon Bennett – College of Agriculture and BioResources
First project: $289,483 was given to a team led by Bennett to examine how harvest frequency and different plant species affect the integration of native forage varieties into tame pastures.
Second project: $335,558 will support Bennett’s team to improve control of leafy spurge, an important noxious weed. To reduce its ability to compete with forage grasses, they will combine different herbicides and fertilizers to suppress the weed and alter the soil microbiome.
Diego Moya – Western College of Veterinary Medicine
With $208,346, a multidisciplinary team led by Moya and Gabriel Ribeiro aim to optimize bison feeder performance to sustainably meet the growing demand for bison meat. They will assess the effects of dietary starch on bison growing performance, rumen health, feeding behaviors, carcass traits and meat quality and nutritional composition.
Sarah Wood – Prairie Diagnostic Services
Wood’s team aims to use $149,000 to determine effective therapeutic doses of antimicrobials for control of the bacterial disease European foulbrood in honeybees in Western Canada. They will test various antimicrobial dosing regimes for treatment of the disease in honeybee larvae, adults and colonies.
In addition, ADF livestock research projects received the following additional industry co-funding
- $447,956 from Saskatchewan Cattlemen’s Association
- $31,500 from Sask Milk
- $3,500 from Saskatchewan Forage Seed Development
“USask research continues to play a foundational role in establishing Saskatchewan’s reputation as a force in the global agricultural sector,” states Baljit Singh, Vice-President of Research at USask.
“This investment will power discovery that builds improved food security for the world, and economic prosperity for Saskatchewan.”