SHIC AWARDED USDA NIFA GRANT TO INVESTIGATE ASFV SURVIVAL IN SOYBEAN PRODUCTS

Feb 13, 2023

The Swine Health Information Center received a $650,000 USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture grant for research designed to reduce the risk of imported feed ingredients, specifically soybean products, from spreading African swine fever virus in the domestic swine herd. This four-year project will define the stability of ASFV in soybean products commonly imported into the US for complete feed diets as well as improve diagnostic capabilities and surveillance tools for the detection of ASFV in contaminated soybean products and complete feed.

SHIC works diligently to provide tools and resources to help prevent the introduction of ASFV into the US. This critical task includes biosecurity research on feed as a common input onto swine farms. Feed biosecurity is an important aspect of overall agricultural biosecurity as it is known that contaminated feed and ingredients can serve as a source for introduction and spread of transboundary diseases. Soybean products, widely used in complete pig feeds, are globally traded and serve as a potential risk if imported from ASFV endemic countries or regions.

USDA NIFA awarded the grant to SHIC where Associate Director Dr. Megan Niederwerder will serve as project director. This work will benefit pork producers, better equipping them to address foreign animal disease vectors. SHIC has awarded the US Department of Homeland Security Science and Technology Directorate a funded Cooperative Research and Development Agreement to complete the research objectives.

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Video: Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes | Field Talk Friday

Field Talk Friday | Dr. John Murphy | Root Exudates, Soil Biology, and How Plants Recruit Microbes

Most of us spend our time managing what we can see above ground—plant height, leaf color, stand counts, and yield potential. But the deeper you dig into agronomy, the more you realize that some of the most important processes driving crop performance are happening just millimeters below the surface.

In this episode of Field Talk Friday, Dr. John Murphy continues the soil biology series by diving into one of the most fascinating topics in modern agronomy: root exudates and the role they play in shaping the microbial world around plant roots.

Roots are not passive structures simply pulling nutrients out of the soil. They are active participants in the underground ecosystem. Plants constantly release compounds into the soil—sugars, amino acids, organic acids, and other molecules—that act as both energy sources and signals for soil microbes.