News

By Robin DeRieux

COWS ARE SPECIAL. As ruminants, they eat grass and other plants that are inedible to people, transforming forage into steak and hamburgers and other tasty high-protein beef products.

Over the past few decades, the beef industry has made significant improvements in productivity—generating more food from fewer numbers of cattle. Better breeding and other innovations in animal science research have played a starring role in these advances.

UC Davis scores first in programs for plant and animal sciences in U.S. News and World Report’s “Best Global Universities” report issued Monday (Oct. 24).

The rankings, which focus on overall research and academic reputation, rather than specific undergraduate or graduate programs, show UC Davis second in the world in agricultural sciences, and fourth in environment and ecology.

by Joe Proudman, UC Davis

IT'S HOT AT EL CAMPEON FARMS, even for early August. A hard wind accompanies the heat, blowing through the Conejo Valley, where this horse ranch sits in Southern California. Abby Followwill is saddled on a horse named Vince. His golden-brown coat and blond mane stand out against the saturated blue sky and dusty corral where Followwill is training with him.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture has awarded the University of California, Davis, $2.5 million over four years for a national cow genomics project.

Early results from research at the University of California, Davis, indicate that just a touch of the ocean algae in cattle feed could dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions from California’s 1.8 million dairy cows.

The Barn Residency Program, which has been around for more than 50 years, lets students live up to two years at a single campus animal facility and apply to a different barn when their tenure is up.

Some Antarctic fish living in the planet’s coldest waters are able to cope with the stress of rising carbon dioxide levels in the ocean. They can even tolerate slightly warmer waters. But they can’t deal with both stressors at the same time, according to a study from the University of California, Davis.

Genetic engineering makes it possible to improve agriculture in ways that traditional breeding cannot.

Using discoveries in genetics to make poultry more resistant to disease and heat stress

Gene Editing Can Complement Traditional Food-Animal Improvements
By Pat Bailey (UC Davis News)

Quick Summary

• Gene editing builds on traditional breeding successes
• The technology enhances sustainability plus animal health and welfare
• Questions remain about regulatory issues

Gene editing — one of the newest and most promising tools of biotechnology — enables animal breeders to make beneficial genetic changes, without bringing along unwanted genetic changes.