Category: peer-reviewed journal

Until recently, the organic grass-fed (OGF) management systems have had little research directed to identifying best practices for higher milk production. Andre Brito, a scientist with the NH Agricultural Experiment Station and associate professor in the Agriculture, Nutrition and Food Systems department, was one of several Northeast scientists to contribute to a paper in Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems journal that studied management techniques of OGF dairy farmers.

The bobcat, New Hampshire’s official state wildcat and a critical contributor to the sustainability of the state's forest ecosystem, may be being stressed out by human activity in residential and agricultural areas.

When it comes to crop rotations, complexity is key to boosting levels of nitrogen—a soil nutrient that is critical to crop production. That's according to new research involving NHAES Station scientist and professor of natural resources and the environment Stuart Grandy.

COLSA scientists Pete Erickson and Tom Foxall led research that found evidence that the compound sodium butyrate—a nutrient that people obtain by consuming beans, peas and other legumes, but that can also be added to animal feed—could be used as a coccidiosis preventative in cattle. Coccidiosis is an intestinal disease that affects livestock around the world.

Raising replacement heifers is one of the largest expenses on the farm. Thus, it is important to closely manage young-stock with adequate nutrition to ensure those animals reach developmental maturity. Performance can be affected through diet manipulation, such as changing the volatile fatty acid proportions in the rumen. Scientists found that sodium butyrate is an adequate replacement for monensin in the diets of post-weaned heifers for both growth and reduction in coccidiosis. Sodium butyrate could potentially be fed from birth to first calving for increased nutrient use, growth and improved health.

This research demonstrates how harnessing variation in plants and microbiomes could improve bioremediation (i.e., the process in which biological systems transform organic contaminants into less toxic byproducts). Researchers found that experimental microcosms with duckweeds rapidly transformed the organic contaminant benzotriazole. However, microcosms with duckweeds from rural sites, diverse microbiomes, or algae were able to bioremediate a larger amount of benzotriazole.

In a first-of-its-kind study, UNH researchers found that using an existing drug compound in a new way, known as drug repurposing, could be successful in blocking the activity of a key enzyme of the coronavirus, or SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19.

New research shows that hawks that hunt swarming bats steer toward a fixed point in the swarm – rather than targeting individual bats – and attack, hoping for a successful capture. This behavior was observed of Swainson’s Hawks (Buteo swainsoni) and other raptors hunting a colony of approximately 700,000 to 900,000 Mexican free-tailed bats (Tadarida brasiliensis).

Research led by New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station scientist Remington Moll assessed how emerging technologies may help improve population calculations of moose across northern New England.