Research

When completed, the new $28.2 million East Campus Plant Growth Facility, on East Campus Drive across from the Trowbridge Livestock Center, will contain nearly 23,000 square feet of greenhouse space in three ranges, along with more than 9,300 square feet for controlled environment plant growth chambers. Photo courtesy Bill Lamberson/Robert Sharp.

Sep. 25, 2018

A Culture of Collaboration

For nearly 150 years, scientists from the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri have contributed to advancements around the globe. Many have heard the story of Charles Valentine Riley, an MU professor and Missouri’s first state entomologist, who saved the French wine industry from decimation by an insect, the grape phylloxera. The aphid had destroyed nearly one-third of French wine grapes in 25 years and threatened to annihilate the entire industry within another decade. Riley’s rescue involved grafting French vines onto resistant American rootstock. Others know that Aureomycin, one of the world’s first antibiotics…
Mike Byrne is one of the newest faculty members in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, arriving on campus in June 2017. The assistant professor of natural resources is an expert in the field of wildlife movement ecology. By learning more about why animals go where they go and do what they do, resource managers can improve conservation and species management efforts. Photo by Jason Jenkins.

May 11, 2018

Covering Their Tracks

Whether a creature has feathers, fur or fins, it really doesn’t matter to Mike Byrne. He just wants to know where it’s going and what it might do when it gets there. Byrne is one of the newest faculty members in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources at the University of Missouri, arriving on campus in June 2017. The assistant professor of natural resources is an expert in the field of wildlife movement ecology. By learning more about why animals go where they go and do what they do, resource managers can improve conservation and species management efforts.
Vinebot robot in corn field.

March 14, 2017

High Tech, Low Cost

To accurately create 3-D models of plants and collect data both on regions of crops and individual plants, the research team developed a combination approach of a mobile sensor tower (in background) and an autonomous robot vehicle equipped with three levels of sensors and an additional robotic arm. Photo courtesy of Gui DeSouza. A two-pronged robotic system pioneered by University of Missouri researchers is changing the way scientists study crops and plant phenotyping. Felix Fritschi, associate professor in the Division of Plant Sciences, and Suhas Kadam, a postdoctoral fellow in Fritschi’s laboratory, have teamed up with Gui DeSouza, associate professor of…
Ground beef on a wooden cutting board

Jan. 19, 2017

Staying Fresh

Nutritionally, nothing is different when red meat, say ground beef for instance, darkens to brown, but try telling that to the average customer at a grocery store. “That’s the number one driver that consumers have,” said Carol Lorenzen about the bright redness quality of meat. A research team involving that included Lorenzen, professor of meat science in the Division of Animal Sciences, and her graduate student, Jade Cooper, have been investigating the impact of LED (light-emitting diode) lighting on beef color. The team published a research paper in the October 2016 issue of the Journal of Animal Science that…

Jan. 20, 2015

Recycling Mitochondria

A molecule could be key to developing drugs that will keep brain cells healthy in individuals with Parkinson’s disease.

June 4, 2014

Better Research Model

A new line of genetically modified pigs will host transplanted cells without the risk of rejection.
Mark Francis of the Texas A&M College of Agriculture (left) and John Connaway of the University of Missouri College of Agriculture

Feb. 17, 2014

Fever Fighters

In what was probably the first scientific partnership between two land grant universities, researchers from the new agriculture colleges in Missouri and Texas pooled their efforts to identify the cause of the Texas Fever epidemic and create a method of controlling it.

Jan. 29, 2014

Concealing Swine

The University of Missouri is researching ways to reduce animal agriculture odor.

Nov. 19, 2013

A More Nutritious Seed

From beans to cereal grains, understanding how genes and soil types impact nutrition could one day help produce more nutritious food. One University of Missouri researcher wants to know which genes control the elements in these nutrient-rich packages.
Herd of cows in field.

Nov. 11, 2013

Calcium and Productivity

Higher levels of fat in the liver are often precursors to future health problems in cows.