Student Research Showcase - May 27, 2015
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Item Alternate Day Feeding: An Effective Strategy for Producing Brook Trout Stockers(2015) Stowell, Stephen G.; Foster, John R., Dr.; Lehman, Brent C.The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of producing stocker size (8.5-12") Brook Trout while utilizing an alternate day feeding schedule. This experiment was conducted at the cold-water hatchery on the State University of New York's Cobleskill campus. One tank was fed daily (am/pm), while the other tank was fed every other day (am/pm). Alternate day fed fish received half as much feed. Environmental parameters of dissolved oxygen and temperature were measured each day and nitrate and ammonia were measured weekly. Mass and length of thirty randomly selected fish from each tank were recorded to determine feed conversion, condition and growth. Alternate day feeding substantially improved water quality, reducing the frequency in which filters had to be cleaned. Trout following the alternative day feed schedule fed more vigorously and wasted less feed, leading to a superior feed conversion ratio.Item Effects of Target Training and Enrichment on Swine Behavior(2015) Worthing, Raven.; Shelley, Cynthia, Dr.; Tarvis, Kim M., Dr.The mission of this study was to introduce pigs to target training in order to see if the they would benefit from the enrichment as well as if it would create easier farm management techniques for the producer. Target training is a method for training animals that uses positive reinforcement along with the use of a target to shape a desired behavior.Item Effects of Supplemental Probiotics and Prebiotics on Growth and Carcass Quality in Meat Rabbits(2015-04) Leemans, Emily.; Lee, Cheyenne.; Tarvis, Kimberly, Dr.; Shelley, Cynthia, Dr.Due to the public dissatisfaction of growth hormones to produce meat, farmers are forced to look for other methods of growing animals. Probiotics and prebiotics are said to increase digestion and feed efficiency in animals. Research suggests that implementing probiotics and prebiotics in animal diets can increase weight gain and animals to market weight without using antibiotics or hormones.Item The Improvement of Coffee Beans to Simulate Kopi Luwak(2015-04) Chen, Jiayu.; Dong, Hao.; LaRochelle, Sophie.; Ouyang, Honglin.; Tang, Hanyue.; Zhou, Xin.; Wells, Sean.; McMaster-Schuyler, Lynda, Dr.The Civet Cat of family Viverridae is used to produce a rare coffee product called Kopi Luwak. As a result of Kopi Luwak’s increasing popularity, Civet Cat abuse is prevalent. Our research aims to recreate Kopi Luwak by artificially replicating the conditions of the Civet Cat’s digestive system. Proteolytic enzymes, acid treatment, and varying incubation conditions will be used to simulate the process.Item Transformation of Soy (Glycine max) for Heightened Expression of the SIZ1 Gene(2015-04-01) DeMarsh, Tim.; Luu, Thien.; Zeng, Peiyu, Dr.SIZ1 is a member of the PIAS family of proteins. One of this enzyme’s functions is to act as an E3 ligase, conjugating small ubiquitin-related modifiers (SUMOs) to various substrate proteins as part of the process called sumoylation (Cheong et al., 2009). Sumoylation alters the chemical conformation and function of substrate proteins, affecting their interactions with other cellular constituents and their resultant physiological roles. At the molecular level, sumoylation affects myriad biochemical processes, ranging from DNA repair and regulation of the cell cycle to signal transduction, nuclear transport, and modulation of transcription factor activity. Constitutive overexpression of the SIZ1 gene in transgenic creeping bentgrass (Agrostis stolonifera L.) has been demonstrated to result in more robust growth and higher levels of photosynthetic activity than are seen in non-transformed controls; heightened SIZ1 expression also results in increased levels of adaptive response to stressors including elevated ambient temperatures, drought conditions, and phosphate deprivation (Li et al., 2012). With the current experiment, Agrobacterium tumefaciens is being utilized to transform soy (Glycine max) with an additional copy of the endogenous SIZ1 gene; the aim is to develop improved soy cultivars whose elevated expression of SIZ1 will result in increased resilience under such stress conditions as are increasingly experienced during the cultivation of this economically important plant.