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Although most of the world’s soybean crop is fed to animals, a Purdue plant breeder thinks that soybean’s complete protein — it contains all eight amino acids essential for human health — makes it the logical choice for the plant-based meat increasingly making its way onto consumers’ tables.
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More than 1,500 miles separate Purdue University and Enrique Velasco’s Honduras-based alma mater, Zamorano. Despite the distance, Velasco formed a new connection to Zamorano when he began his research in West Lafayette. Velasco studied agribusiness management in Honduras and sought a horticulture internship to balance his studies. There, he learned about research done by Purdue associate professor of horticulture and agricultural economics Arianna Torres, who also studied at Zamorano.
READ MOREInsignum AgTech and Verility Inc., two companies founded by Purdue University alumni, have received $100,000 each from the Purdue Ag-Celerator, an agriculture innovation fund.
READ MOREScientists are honing the traits of speed, strength and near invulnerability in an important food crop that, much like a superhero, will help protect the vulnerable.
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When Jun Wu worked for a contractor in Canada, she priced items related to home construction. It’s not unlike her current work, but now she is purchasing reagents, lab supplies and equipment — under more challenging conditions.
Wu spends about 80 percent of her time in the lab of Shihuan Kuang, professor of animal sciences, and her remaining time working on behalf of the department.
READ MOREThyme and oregano possess an anti-cancer compound that suppresses tumor development, but adding more to your tomato sauce isn’t enough to gain significant benefit. The key to unlocking the power of these plants is in amplifying the amount of the compou…
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Sous-vide cooking inspired an idea that took promising technology out of the lab and into the barn. Researchers at Purdue University successfully developed an on-site bovine respiratory disease test that provides results within an hour.
The team of researchers has been steadily advancing the point-of-care technology to address the disease, which is the most common and costly disease affecting cattle in the world.
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After decades in pursuit of plant cellular signaling, a researcher returns to questions raised by his early work — now equipped with advanced technology and the establishment of a $12.5 million institute.
In 1998, a Purdue University study challenged conventional thoughts about what triggered a plant’s response to infection and helped open the door to a new era of chemical signaling research. Now a scientist involved in that collaborative study hopes to answer the very questions his early research raised through a new National Science Foundation–Biological Integration Institute program.
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In a small town in rural Colombia, Diana Escamilla Sanchez’s grandfather raised coffee, oranges, plantains, bananas and corn. Her childhood on the farm made Escamilla aware of the difficulties small farmers faced in Colombia when marketing their goods.
“I felt there were a lot of things that could be improved, that I could find something that could help people like my family,” she recalled.
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Many farmers rent bee hives to pollinate crops, but they could tap into the free labor of wild bees by adopting an as-needed approach to pesticides, a new proof-of-concept study shows.
A multiyear study of commercial-scale fields in the Midwest found this approach led to a 95% reduction in pesticide applications, while maintaining or increasing crop yield for corn and watermelon. The findings are detailed in a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
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Close to finishing his biology degree at the University of Michigan, Tomas Höök decided to sign up for an ecology class.
Twenty-five years later, lessons from that semester continue to apply to the lifework of the recipient of the 2021 Agricultural Research Award, the highest honor for mid-career faculty members in the Purdue University College of Agriculture.
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With looming threats of coffee leaf rust to farmers’ yields, Purdue University mycologist Catherine Aime is working to protect this staple of daily lives and the economies of areas throughout the world.
Aime and colleagues warned of the potential threat to the coffee industry in June. She now is part of a team supported by the Foundation for Food & Agriculture Research (FFAR) and led by the Synergistic Hawaii Agriculture Council to investigate the fungus that causes the disease and to develop tactics to counter it.
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Instead of relying solely on nitrogen in the soil, soybeans and many other legumes can pull nitrogen from the air for their growth – a natural process that is environmentally friendly and also increases soil nitrogen levels for the next crop in rotation.
Plant science research at Purdue University has found a potential way to double soybean plants’ use of the process, called biological nitrogen fixation.
Like the plot of a mystery novel, research has found a twist in the way plants cannibalize their own cells to survive under stress.
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“I study the liver of dairy cattle because metabolic disease can lead to the loss of millions of dollars for the dairy industry,” explained Linda Beckett, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Animal Sciences.
Beckett studied animal sciences as an undergraduate at Virginia Tech. She had little experience with cattle before college but answered an ad to work on a farm while a student. There, Beckett came to enjoy caring for the calves and milking the cows.
READ MOREA $10 million project seeks to make Midwestern agriculture more resilient by diversifying farms, marketing and the agricultural landscape.
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Modern agricultural tractors contain so much cutting-edge technology, they rival even the latest spacecraft. But the back end is still old-school, relying largely on fossil fuels. So any optimization in tractor efficiency is a huge win for the environment.
With this in mind, Purdue University researchers have undertaken a $3.2 million Department of Energy project to optimize the hydraulic systems that connect tractors and implements.
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Powerful partnerships among Purdue University’s colleges of agriculture, engineering and science will advance digital forestry tools to save time, money and achieve a deeper understanding of an important natural resource.
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