URBANA, Ill. — Are you curious about how bioreactors can reduce nitrogen loss, or concerned about herbicide resistance in those pesky weeds? Plan to hear about these and other crop science topics on August 17 at the 60th annual Agronomy Day, hosted by the Department of Crop Sciences and the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the University of Illinois. The full lineup of field tour topics and speakers is below:

Tour A

1. Managing nitrogen for corn – Emerson Nafziger

2. Nitrogen on soybeans: Have we made progress yet? – Joshua Vonk

3. Illinois broomcorn: Breeding nature’s Swiffer – Jessica Bubert

4. What causes profitability differences across farms? – Gary Schnitkey

5. Searching for white mold resistance in soybeans’ wild relatives – Leslie Domier

Tour B

1. Corn and soybean pests: What’s #trending in 2017? – Kelly Estes

2. Patterns of Bt resistance in Illinois western corn rootworm populations – Joe Spencer

3. Pre-emergence herbicides in a POST resistance world – Dean Riechers

4. Do nematodes on corn matter? – Nate Schroeder

5. Soybean cyst nematode: Pest or pestilence – Kris Lambert

Tour C

1. How to turn a cone penetrometer into a soil eavesdropper – Tony Grift

2. Waste not, want not: Strategies for producing a water-use efficient line of corn – Tony Studer

3. Woodchip bioreactors: Chippin’ away at nitrate loss – Laura Christianson

4. Energy sorghum – Chris Kaiser

5. Drone data – Dennis Bowman

Tour D

1. The seven wonders of corn yield, revisited – Fred Below

2. How critical are soil phosphorus test values – Tryston Beyrer 3. Knocking out the continuous corn yield penalty – Alison Vogel

4. Can narrow row spacings be used to manage more corn plants? – Brad Bernhard

Each year, Agronomy Day attracts more than 1,000 people seeking the latest information on technology and techniques to improve food and fuel production. This year’s Agronomy Day will be at 4202 S. 1st St. in Savoy, Ill. For more information on speakers, displays, and location, join Agronomy Day 2017 on Facebook or visit http://agronomyday.cropsci.illinois.edu

URBANA, Ill. — We can’t help but be tempted by new things. We see it in a child’s eyes when she opens a new toy and feel it every time a new version of the iPhone is released. It turns out our preference for shiny, new things is pretty universal throughout the animal kingdom. Yes, even piglets prefer new toys.

In a recent study from the Piglet Nutrition and Cognition Lab at the University of Illinois, 3- and 4-week-old piglets were given dog toys to play with. Then, after a certain delay, they were given that toy again, along with a new one. Researchers wanted to see if the delay diminished the piglets’ memory of the first object.

Females and 4-week-old piglets of both sexes were a little better than males and  -week-olds at remembering the first object, even after a two-day delay. But, for the most part, all the piglets made a beeline for the new toy.

The study wasn’t really about proving that piglets are capable of learning and remembering – that’s already wellknown. “You could ask any farmer how smart pigs are and they’ll tell you they’re smarter than dogs. That piece isn’t new,” says Stephen Fleming, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the Department of Animal Sciences and the neuroscience program at U of I.

The study wasn’t about designing a new way of testing animal behavior, either; the same test has been used in rodents. The real utility of the study was the fact that the test worked for pigs. Pig brains are remarkably similar to human brains, so they are often used as model systems by neuroscientists.

“With humans, when we want to know if something’s affecting how they learn or behave, we can ask them a question; with animals, we can’t. Historically, researchers have had animals complete a maze or press a lever every time a light comes on. But if you try to translate that to people, it becomes difficult. We don’t usually put people through mazes,” Fleming explains.

The study measured object recognition behavior in two ways, each of which reflects activity in a different part of the brain. Novel object recognition, already described, is thought to be controlled by a brain region called the perirhinal cortex. Novel location recognition, or piglets’ ability to remember where a familiar object is located, is likely controlled by the hippocampus.

It turns out 3- and 4-week-old piglets, whose brain development is roughly equivalent to 3- to 4-month-old infants, have a bad spatial memory: when familiar toys were in a different spot, the piglets played with them as if they were new.

The test will be used primarily as the foundation for additional research. For example, scientists could use it to determine if there are any behavioral or neurological effects of dietary additives or nutritional deficiencies.

“We wanted to prove that piglets are able to remember objects and that the test is sensitive. Are we actually measuring memory or is it something else? Now that we’ve proven they can recognize that objects are new, we can go in with a nutrient and see how they perform,” Fleming says.

The article, “Young pigs exhibit differential exploratory behavior during novelty preference tasks in response to age, sex, and delay,” is published in Behavioural Brain Research. The study was co-authored by Fleming’s Ph.D. advisor, Ryan Dilger, associate professor in the Department of Animal Sciences at U of I. Support for the research was provided by Mead Johnson Nutrition and the American Egg Board.

TUCKER, Ga. — USPOULTRY and the USPOULTRY Foundation have approved $388,992 for five new research grants at five institutions. The research funding was approved by the boards of directors of both organizations, based on recommendations from the Foundation Research Advisory Committee. The committee evaluates research proposals to determine their value to the industry and then makes recommendations to the boards for funding.

The research grants for each institution include:

“Characterization of a Virus as the Possible Cause of Superficial Pectoral Myodegeneration and Sclerosis (SPMS),” North Carolina State University (research grant made possible by an endowing Foundation gift from Case Farms)  “Validating Current Broiler Welfare Auditing Programs and Advancing Enrichment,” Iowa State University (research grant made possible by an endowing Foundation gift from Ozark Mountain Poultry)

“Enhancing the Antimicrobial Efficacy of Organic Acid Blends to Kill Salmonella enterica and Campylobacter jejuni on Broiler Skin,” Alabama A&M University (research grant made possible by an endowing Foundation gift from Ingram Farms)

“Fate and Effect of Peracetic Acid in Poultry Processing Wastewater Treatment Systems,” Georgia Institute of Technology (research grant made possible by an endowing Foundation gift from Cargill)

“Cage-Free Housing: Northern Fowl Mite Impact on Laying Hens,” Purdue University (research grant made possible by an endowing Foundation gift from Cal-Maine Foods)