A team of MSU researchers have been working on a project that could produce better tasting bacon.
Ronald Bates, a swine specialist with MSU's animal science department, and eight other colleagues will begin working on a unique swine population in the fall to determine how muscle mass affects the taste and quality of pork.
"We are proposing to be able to find chromosomal regions that are associated with favorable measures of meat and growth," Bates said.
Bates is involved in just one of nine new projects that were recently awarded $297,000 by MSU's Animal Industry Initiative. The basis of this research is to meet the expressed needs of Michigan livestock farmers and to help them turn a larger profit. The rest of the $367,000 total funding approved this year includes the continued funding for existing projects.
In charge of determining which projects receive funding is Margaret Benson, interim chairperson of the MSU Department of Animal Science.
"These research projects are an important piece of the department," Benson said.
Bate's department received a $58,448 grant to do studies on 1,000 pigs and will finish live animal evaluations in February. This project is essential since Michigan pork producers recently ranked meat quality as the third most important issue for their industry, Bates said.
Dave Edwards, an animal science graduate student working on the swine proposal, said the grant money will do a great deal to aid the swine research project.
"The data takes a lot of the funding," Edwards said. "It helps pay for tissue, RNA and DNA analyzes as well as to pay for the trained sensory case panel." The panel judges meat qualities such as taste and texture.
MSU's Animal Industry Initiative is a partnership among MSU, Michigan livestock producers and the state's Department of Agriculture. A 10-member initiative team looked more than 25 proposals and awarded the research grants.
Benson said many different factors are analyzed to determine the disbursement of funds.
"This is a very important competitive grant process which is based on the quality of the research project as well as the needs of the industry for that work to be done," Benson said.
The winning proposals cover a range of topics such as exploring increased milk production potential, detecting diseases and minimizing their damages and improving the communication network among Michigan farmers.
Brian Nielsen, an associate professor of equine exercise physiology, will be heading a three-part study to determine if feeding silicon supplements to 40 standard-bred horses could increase bone strength. Silicon, an element usually found in sand, is not easily absorbed by humans.
"Four groups of horses are given a silicon supplement and raced every two weeks for nine races," Nielsen said.
Injury rates are checked and the distance horses are able to run in training are monitored.
"This study is about welfare of the horses as well as economic concerns," Nielsen said. The veterinary care of an injured horse could be costly not including any lost earnings, he said.
The project also will determine if feeding silicon supplements to dairy cows could increase silicon in milk, which humans could then use as a source of silicon.
Since it began in 1996, the Animal Industry Initiative has funded more than 100 projects that have helped address problems affecting livestock producers and their industries.
