Research

DePeters Feeds Cows Additive to Reduce Saturated Fat in Milk

Animal Science’s Professor Ed DePeters, working with Moshe Rosenberg, a Cooperative Extension specialist in the Department of Food Science and Technology, developed a highly palatable diet for milk cows that can block a significant amount of cholesterol-elevating saturated fat from their milk. Using a heat-treated supplement of whey protein and oil, the two faculty members thwarted a bovine digestive twist that takes feed high in unsaturated fat and transforms it into the saturated kind in the cow’s milk. The food supplement prevented that conversion by shielding the unsaturated fats from the action of microorganisms and protozoa in the cow’s largest stomach, the rumen. High levels of saturated fats in human diet have been linked to elevation of cholesterol and to heart disease.

The two scientists ran multiple 21-day tests involving more than 1,500 milk samples for a year. During the tests, researchers recorded as much as an eight-fold increase in the levels of unsaturated fats in cows’ milk. The formula, submitted for a US Patent, does not require approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration because the processes and food used are already permitted. Pilot projects will be followed by larger-scale milk and feed production. “

This is a technology that can be used commercially on any dairy in the U.S.,” said DePeters, noting that it was developed without genetic modifications and using ingredients safe for consumers. The two scientists hope their findings will lead to an even healthier glass of milk within the next year.

Delany Decries Research Poultry Losses

Professor Mary Delany, poultry geneticist, reported in Science in June 2003 that poultry genetics is suffering from a serious decline of research stocks on university campuses. Understanding poultry genetics has not only led to plumper, tastier chickens and turkeys but also has shed light on human health problems ranging from birth defects to cancer. The nation’s vast poultry-producing industry puts millions of turkeys on Thanksgiving tables, but the birds that make such bounty possible — the flocks of ‘’research turkeys’’ and other fowl studied at universities — are not in such ample supply.

These research birds, bred for unique genes for color, deformities and disease resistance, are threatened with extinction by universities seeking to save money. Without them, researchers and farmers are likely to have far less information about everything from illnesses to breeding. ‘’Once they’re gone, they’re gone,’’ said Professor Delany, who is working to save the birds. “They are genetic treasures,” she said, ‘’representing decades worth of research.”

The Science article summarized data from the Avian Genetic Resources Task Force survey (a 1999 University of California publication) that documented the elimination of more than 238 poultry research stocks from 1984 to 1998 — a loss of 40% of U.S. stocks and more than 60% of the Canadian stocks. The eliminations included entire collections of birds, as well as individual stocks within collections. Typically, there was little warning to the U.S. research community that the lines were being eliminated.

Some of the loss is driven by changing trends in science. Agriculture used to get more attention, but in this era of biotechnology, the care and feeding of noisy, hungry, messy birds have dropped as a priority for university administrators, say poultry geneticists. Funding is re-allocated to genomics, molecular biology and other high-tech fields. However, since information on the chicken genome is now available, these collections including stocks with very diverse phenotypes are now even more valuable because they can contribute to the understanding of how genotypes contribute to phenotypes.

The Department of Animal Science holds one of the most unique collections in the US. Its chicken stocks include highly inbred lines (such as UCD 001 and UCD 003 shown in the photo), chromosome-variant lines and developmental and physiologic mutant lines. Other stocks include Japanese quail, zebra finch and two small parrot colonies.

Hans Abplanalp, Professor Emeritus in Avian Sciences, holds chickens from two inbred lines he established in the 1950s: UCD 001 (Red Jungle Fowl, the progenitor species for the domesticated breeds and the genome recently sequenced by NIH) and UCD 003 (Single Comb White Leghorn). These two lines were crossed to create the population used worldwide to map the chicken genome.