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NCERA_OLD057: Swine Reproductive Physiology

Annual/Termination Reports (SAES-422): [06/21/2005] [07/05/2006] [07/24/2007] [08/11/2008] [06/30/2009]

Date of Annual Report: 06/21/2005

Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 05/25/05 to 05/26/05
  • Period the Report Covers: 05/2004 to 05/2005

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    The annual meeting of the NCR-57 Regional Committee on Swine Reproduction was held in the Department of Animal Science, University of Wisconsin, Madison. The committee chairman, Dr. Brett White, called the meeting to order at 8:15 am, May 25, 2005; the proposed agenda was accepted.

    Dr. Dan Schaefer welcomed the group to University of Wisconsin and provided a summary of the programs and activities within his department.

    Administrative Advisor, Dr. Baker, reported that the committee was required to change its name to reflect the common USDA committee nomenclature. After a brief discussion, the committee unanimously agreed to adopt the name change from NCR-57 to NCERA-57.

    Dr. Mark Mirando, acting for USDA/CSREES/PAS advisor Dr. Deb Hamernik, distributed a handout summarizing personnel changes within the agency and providing details about competitive programs.

    Station reports were presented during the morning and afternoon of May 25 and the morning of May 26.

    Following station reports on May 25, the committee toured the new Minitube Biotechnology Center. During the business meeting, John Parrish was elected as secretary. The officers for the year are Ford (Chair), Kirkwood (Chair elect) and Parrish (Secretary). The dates and location for the 2006 meeting were discussed and will be finalized in association with Billy Flowers in North Carolina. A steering committee was formed consisting of Drs. Flowers, Guthrie, and Safranski.

    Regarding a committee web page, Dr. Parrish requested that members forward to him pig reproduction pictures (eg. AI and farrowing). Also, links to other sites (eg. personal web pages) and details of previous and future symposia should be sent to Dr. Parrish.

    Dr. Duane Davis initiated some discussion on the NCERA-57 committee submitting an integrated proposal to NRI. Possible subject areas suggested were sperm assessment and seasonal effects on semen quality (Dr. Guthrie) and some aspect of animal welfare (Dr. Anderson). A steering committee was proposed consisting of Drs. Davis, Parrish, Guthrie, Miller, and Kirkwood.


    URL: Copy of minutes

    Accomplishments:
    1. Re-classification as an Education/Extension and Research committee was adopted. The official name is changed from NCR-57 to NCERA-57

    2. Publications produced by committee members and their associates during the past year are listed

    3. The dates and location were chosen for the third workshop to be held prior to the 2006 meeting.

    Plans for the Coming Year: 1. Complete the planning of the third workshop to be held in association with the 2006 meeting. The topics and location were chosen to meet the aim of increasing interaction with extension educators. A committee was established to achieve this aim.

    2. During 2005, continue development of the NCERA-57 web page. This will include a history of the committee.

    3. Two study areas were identified and a committee struck to formulate and submit for NRI funding at least one proposal integrating teaching, extension and research.

    Impact Statements:
    1. Conducted research within committee objectives to identify processes and mechanisms involved in the control of reproduction that will ultimately result in enhanced reproductive efficiency in food animal (swine) production.
    2. In particular, we have made significant progress in understanding the effects of cryo-preservation on boar sperm fertility. This major thrust is essential if the biosecurity advantage of routinely using cryopreserved sperm is to become a feature of the swine industry. Further, committee members have been actively involved in the dissemination of research results.
    Last Modified: unknown

    Date of Annual Report: 07/05/2006

    Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 05/16/06 to 05/17/06
  • Period the Report Covers: 05/2005 to 05/2006

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    The annual meeting of the NCERA-57 was called to order at 8 AM on Tuesday May 16 in a conference room of Polk Hall on the North Carolina State University campus by Committee Chair Joe Ford. Committee Advisor, John Baker and eleven committee members were in attendance: Joe Ford chair; Roy Kirkwood chair-elect, Dave Guthrie, Lloyd Anderson, Tim Safranski, Mark Diekman, David Miller, Duane Davis, Rodney Geisert, Bret White, and Billy Flowers. Others present were Brad Belstra IMV International, Charles J. Francisco of Intervet Inc., Gary Hausman USDA-ARS Athens, GA, and Kyle Lovercamp graduate student at North Carolina State. During the meeting officers were elected for 06-07 with Roy Kirkwood as the chair, John Parrish as the chair-elect and Dave Guthrie as the secretary.

    Meeting Agenda May 16, 2006 - Welcome by Dr. Flowers/NC State University Administration - Report by NCERA-57 Administrative Advisor - NCERA-57 NRI Proposal on Seasonal Fertility - Station Reports - Lunch break - Station Reports

    May 17, 2006 - Business Meeting - Election of secretary - Location of 2007 Meeting - Other business - Invited presentation - USDA/ARS/Athens - Station Reports

    May 17, 2006 1:30 PM NCERA-57 Small Litter Size workshop, Sampson Community College Clinton, N.C.

    - Welcome and Purpose, W.L. Flowers, North Carolina State University - Current Reproductive Trends on Swine Farms  John Page, AgriMetrics, Inc. - Small Litter Size Phenomena on Farms in N.C.  David Bishop, Sampson Community College and President, Reproductive Services - Breeding Management and Small Litter Sizes  Roy Kirkwood, Michigan State University - Early Gestation Management and Small Litter Sizes (Fertilization through Day 30)  Rod Geisert, Oklahoma State University - Late Gestation Management and Small Litter Sizes (Day 40 on)  Steve Ford, University of Wyoming - Panel Discussion - Dinner

    Billy Flowers thanked IMV International for providing the dinner on Wednesday night and Intervet Inc. for providing for travel to Clinton and the cost of C.D. duplication/production of the proceedings of the workshop.

    Officers for 2007 are Roy Kirkwood, chair; John Parrish, chair elect; and Dave Guthrie, secretary.

    Debra Hamernik, CSREES National Program Leader, Animal Physiology, and Mark Mirando of CSREES were unable to attend the meeting. Debra sent handouts via email to each committee member.

    John Baker indicated that our charter is in force through 2009 so that in our 2008 meeting we will need to designate a writing team for our report and re-chartering. He also mentioned impact statements similar to those that Roy Kirkwood submitted last year. Minutes and station reports must be filed in the NIMSS system by 60 days of the date of the meeting.

    Dave Guthrie reported on his progress on the design of the NCERA-57 NRI integrated reproduction grant proposal. After lengthy discussion it became evident that the major issue to be resolved is whether swine producers or universities will allow frozen semen to be shipped back to their production units for insemination after being shipped from boar studs or genetics companies to Beltsville for cryopreservation. Further discussion led to an alternate approach. That would be to recruit swine producers or university swine researchers for this project that would use boar semen frozen at genetics companies. Roy Kirkwood mentioned the possibility of foreign involvement as the European Common market has funds available for collaborative research. Dr. Guthrie will continue planning the project proposal with committee members.

    The rest of the morning and afternoon were devoted to presentation and station reports from Oklahoma, Illinois, Michigan State, Nebraska, Missouri, Purdue, Kansas State, and USDA, Beltsville. In addition to a brief summary of the Purdue report, our designated historian Mark Diekman summarized some historical data that he had collected and received comments and suggestions from other committee members.

    The meeting on May 17 opened with a welcome from Dr. Ken Esbenshade, dean of the North Carolina State School of Agriculture who discussed the organization of the College of Agriculture and his remembrances of the NCR-57 meetings as a graduate student. Some time was also spent on discussion of the relative merits of 9- vs. 12-month appointments in land grant Universities.

    The dates and location for the 2007 meeting were discussed. Roy Kirkwood generously offered to host at Michigan State University on May 30 and 31, 2007. A motion to accept this arrangement was moved, seconded, and the motion was passed unanimously.

    Discussion of the integrated NRI grant proposal was continued. It was concluded that training and education of undergraduate and graduate students must be established on a sound basis. Another issue raised was the impact that this proposal would have on adding value to rural society. Tim Safranski and Billy Flowers will bring forth additional input on these issues.

    A round of applause was given for Billy Flowers as host for the annual meeting and for his great organization of the workshop.

    At 9:28 AM a special report was given by Dr. Gary Hausman from the USDA, ARS Russell Laboratory at Athens, GA describing neuro-endocrine regulation of pituitary and adipose tissue function in swine. Then station reports from Iowa State University and USDA, ARS MARC were presented. The annual meeting was adjourned by Joe Ford at 11:30 AM.

    Respectfully submitted,

    ---------------------------------------------- John Parrish NCERA-57 Secretary, 2005-2006

    ---------------------------------------------- John Baker NCERA-57 Administrative Advisor

    Accomplishments:

    Publications produced by committee members and their associates during the past year are listed.

    Development of the NCERA-57 webpage www.ansci.wisc.edu/jjp1/ncera57/ was initiated with links to members and reports.

    The semi-annual workshop was presented. The workshop was on Small Litter Size in Swine. Both NCERA-57 and industry members presented research, impact and solutions to the problem. Significant interaction between researchers and the stakeholders occurred.

    Plans for 2006

    Continue development of the NCERA-57 web page. There will be a page for history of the committee including contributions of its members to swine reproductive physiology.

    A joint proposal for NRI funding is being developed among the NCERA-57 members entitled, Seasonal infertility in the gilt: relative contributions of the male and female. This remains a major problem in the industry and the grant proposal will focus on research and training of graduate students.

    Impact Statements:
    1. Conducted research within committee objectives to identify processes and mechanisms involved in the control of reproduction that will ultimately result in enhanced reproductive efficiency in food animal (swine) production.
    2. Sperm binding to zona pellucida in vitro was shown to predict boar fertility if used in along with other routinely-measured sperm characteristics.
    3. A rapid assay for sperm ATP was developed and demonstrated to work as a large-scale assay. Inter- and intra-assay CV were 1.9% and 1.3% respectively. The assay will be useful to determine causes of subfertility in boars and reduced fertility of frozen semen from some boars.
    4. Exposure of pregnant gilts to endocrine disruption by exogenous estrogen causes conceptus loss due to changes in endometrial gene expression of osteopontin (OPN), neuromedin B (NB), CD24 antigen (CD24) and aldose reductase (AR). This has implications for human exposure to endocrine disruptors used in agriculture.
    Last Modified: unknown

    Date of Annual Report: 07/24/2007

    Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 05/30/07 to 05/31/07
  • Period the Report Covers: 10/2006 to 11/2007

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    The annual meeting of the NCERA-57 was called to order by John Baker, Committee Advisor, at 8:26 AM on Wednesday May 30. John introduced Jeff Armstrong, Dean of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources. Jeff welcomed us to campus and invited a discussion about the college and USDA/HATCH issues. In particular, USDA would not have new funds but would redistribute them differently in the future. There was also discussion about how to deal with animal facilities long-term at a College of Agriculture. This included the impact of AAALAC accreditation on operation of animal facilities. Finally Jeff indicated the college was doing well with many new hires.

    Jeff then introduced Karen Plaut, head of Animal Sciences. She explained the Animal Science Department structure and how it worked. In particular, the reproduction area focuses on dairy but many model species are utilized. There are approximately 300 undergraduates and 100, 2 year, Ag-Tech students with approximately 40 staff. There is an increasing emphasis on transitioning classes to include companion animals as seen in other Animal Science departments across the country.

    John Baker next went over NCERA-57. Currently, Roy Kirkwood is president, John Parrish is vice-president and Dave Guthrie is the secretary. Minutes of the meeting will be taken by John Parrish and sent to Dave Guthrie who could not attend this year. The renewal process was then reviewed. The rewrite of the committee will need to be done by assigning a writing committee to prepare draft and issues for the 2008 meeting. The committee should be assigned in Jan 2008 with a report at the May 2008 meeting. The rewrite should focus on the success of the symposiums, NRI proposal. It was also mentioned that everyone should look at the NIMMS site and our own website for information on the committee. John Parrish also asked each member to submit some impact statements for use in the NIMMS report.

    Deb Hamernik, the CSREES representative could not attend and her report was emailed to all committee members.

    Roy Kirkwood next addressed the meeting logistics.

    Duane Davis went over the NRI Integrated Project Proposal that was submitted by he and Dave Guthrie entitledSeasonal Infertility in Swine: Research and educational goals to enhance the profitability and sustainability of the swine industry discussing the criticisms of the reviewers. It was decided that some of the members would agree to test of the teaching material at their university and participate in the rewrite. Duane will be heading up the teaching section and we hoped that Dave Guthrie would again head the research section.

    The station reports then began and continued until 3:15 PM when we traveled to the Diagnostic Center Population and Animal Health building for a tour. We were welcomed at the building by Steve Bolin who gave us a most interesting tour.

    Great discussion of many topics occurred at dinner.

    The business meeting was called to order on Thursday May 31 by John Baker who found the gavel and used it to open the business meeting. The committee welcomed Matt Wilson as the representative from West Virginia. It was then mentioned the pointer was missing and Mark Diekman will ensure it is present at the meeting next year.

    The tentative dates for the next meeting are June 25-26, 2008 at Purdue University. On Wednesday morning we would have station reports and then travel to JBS United, Sheridan Indiana, for a symposium. Station reports and the business meeting will then be on Thursday. Tim Safranski, Mark Diekman, Joe Ford and Matt Wilson will serve as the program committee. Although several topics were suggested, the program committee will discuss topics in consultation with JBS United. The late nature of the meeting was due to an early date for SSR and Mark Diekman's previous commitments.

    Matt Wilson was elected by unanimous vote to be the new secretary (was that a surprise!).

    John Parrish reminded everyone of the website for the committee and asked if station reports could be distributed on the website with a password protection. It was decided that we would do this so a record of station reports could be kept for future members and be located all in one spot. A password was discussed but will be distributed only to members of the committee. A further discussion of the NRI proposal was then conducted. It was suggested the focus stay the same but with some changes to the teaching section which will be addressed via email discussion among the members.

    A big thanks was then extended to Roy Kirkwood for hosting the meeting and making all the arrangements, following which we returned to station reports.

    The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 AM with the passing of the gavel to John Parrish. Thanks to John Parrish for recording the minutes for me.

    Respectively submitted Dave Guthrie, Secretary, NCERA-57


    URL: Copy of minutes

    Accomplishments:
    1. A CSREES NRI integrated research proposal was submitted in November of 2006 entitled Seasonal Infertility in Swine: Research and Educational Goals to Enhance the Profitability and Sustainability of the Swine Industry. The proposal was not funded in 2007 and the co- principal investigators Dave Guthrie and Duane Davis with the help of other committee members will revise the proposal and re-submit for funding in 2008.

    2. John Parrish is commended for making great progress in the development of the website for the committee http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/ /ncera57/index.html

    3. Planning was started was started for the 2008 symposium with Tim Safranski, Mark Diekman, Joe Ford and Matt Wilson serving as the program committee. The tentative plan is to travel to JBS United, Sheridan Indiana, for the symposium on Wednesday. Station reports and the business meeting will then be on Thursday. The topics and title of the symposium will be developed by the program committee in consultation with JBS United.

    4. Collaborations: Scientists at University of Nebraska, Lincoln and USDA-MARC have established a collaboration to examine the association between polymorphisms within the promoter for the GNRH gene and FSH production in swine. This research could lead to genetic tests for fertility as well as new methods for improvement of sperm production and litter size in swine.

    Dave Guthrie and Joe Ford will continue a collaboration on the genetics of the genetics of post-thaw sperm survival in swine. During the past four years we have investigated 12 boar sire lines at the USDA Meat Animal Research Center which were shipped to Beltsville for analysis of viability after cryopreservation. Two of these lines have maintained significantly greater post-thaw survival than the others. The MARC group has developed sets genetic markers spanning the entire genome have been genotyped on all sires of the BX population, a large group of sows born in 2004 and 1008 gilts born in 2005. The set of markers includes over 100 microsatellite markers and approximately 200 SNP markers. We will continue this work to link the trait of sperm cryosurvival to microsatellite markers and single nucleotide polymorphisms.

    Impact Statements:
    1. Mechanisms of Protein Secretion: Cellular protein transport and secretion is fundamental to the very existence of an organism, regulating important physiological functions such as reproduction, digestion, energy production, growth, neurotransmission, hormone release, water and ion transport, all required for the survival and maintenance of homeostasis within an organism. Only in the last 20 years, the general molecular mechanism of the process has come to light, following discovery of key proteins involved in ER-Golgi transport, and discovery of the porosome - the universal secretion machinery in cells.
    2. In vitro pig embryo production/development: Apoptosis has been demonstrated to occur during preimplantation development both in vivo and in vitro and it is believed to contribute to early embryonic loss. Nuclei of different donor cells support the development to various degrees and confirm previous reports using non-differentiated cells as nuclear donors increase the efficiency of nuclear transfer in the pig. Treatment of oocytes with cycloheximide followed by electroporation is an effective activator of porcine embryonic development. Porcine oocytes can be successfully matured in defined maturation media without gonadotropins, when the media contains fetuin, recombumin and EGF.
    3. Development of the pituitary secreting cells of the young pig: Fluorescence immunocytochemistry revealed specific spatial distribution patterns of somatotrophs, mammotrophs, and mammosomatotrophs. Results of these studies strongly suggest regional specificity of cellular transformation or interconversion to facilitate growth hormone and prolactin secretion as the need for endocrine regulation during the period of rapid growth in the young pig.
    4. Assisted reproductive technology to improve fertility: The committee has demonstrated improvements in the protocols for the use of exogenous gonadotrophins in swine breeding. These improvements allow for the maintenance of fertility of multiparous sows and 10 to 15% increases in farrowing rates of primiparous sows. Using single inseminations of fewer sperm it is possible to reduce the labor costs associated with animal breeding as well as reducing semen costs by 50 to 75%. It was shown that it is possible to mix unfamiliar sows into groups for gestation from 3-weeks after insemination with no detriment sow fertility.
    5. Boar sperm shape associated with semen quality: Analysis of sperm nuclear shape using Fourier Harmonic Analysis was shown to detect changes in sperm shape associated with reduced fertility associated with not only different males but also for individual ejaculates within a male that had reduced fertility Fourier harmonic analysis of sperm nuclear shape was applied to porcine sperm and shown to detect shape changes due to sperm storage at 16°C.
    Last Modified: 30-Jul-2007

    Date of Annual Report: 08/11/2008

    Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 06/25/08 to 06/26/08
  • Period the Report Covers: 10/2007 to 09/2008

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    The annual meeting of the NCERA-57 was called to order by Mark Diekman, local host, at 8:15 AM on Wednesday June 25th. Mark introduced Chuck Hibberd, Associate Dean & Director of Cooperative Extension Service. Chuck welcomed us to campus and gave us a brief update on the Purdue University Extension Service and how he was working towards a focus on Transformation Extension Programs. The goal is to raise the bar from level 1 one-on-one contacts to level 4 transformational extension programs.

    Mark then introduced Alan Grant, Department Head of Animal Science. Alan spoke about recent trends in animal agriculture in Indiana and the Governors goals for increasing animal agriculture in Indiana. He indicated that in the face of a 30% decrease in pig numbers in the last 17 years, the number of feeder pigs had increased 1000% indicating a shift in the nature of the swine industry in the state. He also indicated that over the same time period the undergraduate enrollment in Animal Science had increased from ~200 in 1990 to ~600 undergraduate students in 2008. Discussion ensued about the demographics and interests of those students and that similar trends have been observed at other stations.

    John Baker, Associate Director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and Administrative Advisor to NCERA-57, addressed the need to begin the process of rewriting the NCERA-57 project. He indicated that he could give editorial rights to three individuals. We codified the previously discussed concept that John Parrish would chair the rewrite committee and that Matt Wilson and Dave Guthrie would fill out the committee. John distributed a handout containing pertinent information for the rewrite effort and the deadlines for the various components of the renewal. He emphasized the need for impact statements and commended our project for their success, including the submission and planned resubmission of an integrated grant proposal to USDA- NRICGP and the biennial symposium.

    Station reports then began. Duane Davis spoke about the online lab class that he has been developing at Kansas State to replace their wet lab for online students. He indicated that aspects of this would fit into the teaching component of the integrated project resubmission. One of his significant questions was how to best use modules for on and off campus. Station reports continued until about 11 at which time we travelled to JBS United in Sheridan, IN for the symposium organized by the regional project on Sow Longevity.

    The business meeting was called to order on June 26th. David Miller was unanimously elected the next Secretary for NCERA-57. West Virginia University was selected as the host institution for the next annual meeting and dates were discussed. If acceptable, the group settled on the 24th and 25th of June, 2009 with June 23rd serving as a travel day.

    Plans for the next symposium were initiated and a tentative topic of gilt development from prenatal to mating was arrived at. John Parrish asked that all members send him brief impact statements that he could use to initiate the renewal process. Finally, the regional committee thanked Mark Diekman and Purdue University for graciously hosting the annual meeting and letters of thanks will be sent to Mark and to JBS United for hosting and supporting the biennial symposium.

    Dave Guthrie spoke briefly about the grant resubmission. He indicated that the two main issues were the proposed dose of the synchronization compound and the need for teaching and economic analyses. He also indicated that he would again be soliciting letters of support.

    Station reports then resumed with reports from Bret White, Lloyd Anderson, Tim Safranski, John Parrish, Joe Ford and Rebecca Krisher.

    The meeting was adjourned at 11:00 and the gavel was virtually passed from John Parrish to Dave Guthrie.

    Respectfully submitted Matthew Wilson, Secretary, NCERA-57


    URL: Copy of minutes

    Accomplishments:
    1. The NCERA-57 committe, with leadership from Dave Guthrie and Duane Davis, revised the integrated proposal entitled Seasonal Infertility in Swine: Research and Educational Goals to Enhance the Profitability and Sustainability of the Swine Industry that was not funded in 2007, unfortunately it was not submitted in time for the 2007 grant cycle. Work continues to proceed relative to additional refinement of the proposal and it should be resubmitted in 2008.

    2. The committee organized and hosted its biennial symposium entitled Sow Longevity. The focus of the symposium was to extend the efforts of the committee and others to extension faculty, producers and individuals affiliated with the swine industry. Greater that 60 attendees pack the conference room at JBS United for what was an excellent series of presentations and discussion. The slides presented will be put together on to CDs that will be distributed to the committee, extension agents and interested individuals. The presentations should also be available via the website that John Parrish continues to develop to serve as a repository of information and tools for and from the committee.

    3. A topic was identified for the next symposium that will focus on animal management from the prenatal period through breeding.

    Impact Statements:
    1. Modules have been developed and will be distributed that help institutions transition from wet laboratories to online laboratories for courses in animal reproduction, including swine reproduction.
    2. Artificial insemination in swine with frozen semen has been problematic. The committe has better defined the window of opportunity for utilizing frozen semen for fixed-time AI. Efforts continue to develop better cryopreservation methodologies for AI.
    3. Members of the committee have describe the genetic variation that exists in the GnRH promoter amongst lines of pigs with differing ovulation rates. Potential exists then to exploit this new understanding to improve reproductive efficiency.
    4. The secretion of proteins is a basic function required of almost every cell in the body and contributes to the regulation of all of endocrinology. Details of the basic mechanisms of cellular secretion of proteins have been extended by members of the committee and will help elucidate a vast array of endocrine mechanisms.
    5. Fourier harmonic analysis has been refined to better describe fertility of a semen sample. Specifically, two components of the fourier harmonics allow a very high level of predictability as to whether a particular boar will have acceptable or unacceptable fertility.
    Last Modified: 11-Aug-2008

    Date of Annual Report: 06/30/2009

    Report Information:
  • Annual Meeting Dates: 06/24/09 to 06/25/09
  • Period the Report Covers: 10/2008 to 09/2009

    • Participants:
    Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting:
    Matt Wilson, local host, called the annual meeting of the NCERA-57 to order at 8:00 AM on Wednesday June 24th. Matt introduced Bill Vinson, Associate Dean for Research, Davis College of Agriculture and Associate Director of the West Virginia Agricultural and Forestry Experiments Station. Dean Vinson discussed the value of multi-state projects and cooperative research. He also discussed the merits of Formula Funds and Competitive Funds.

    Matt then introduced Paul Lewis, Director of the Division of Animal and Nutritional Sciences. Dr. Lewis highlighted some interesting information about the Division. It is composed of 22 faculty and about 500 undergraduate students, including 200 in Animal and Nutritional Sciences, 80 in Biochemistry and 130 in Human Nutrition and Foods. The Division has about 60 graduate students. Among animal industries, the poultry industry is strongest in West Virginia.

    John Baker, Associate Director of the Michigan Agricultural Experiment Station and Administrative Advisor to NCERA-57, congratulated the NCERA057 group on its success in the renewal, which was chaired by John Parrish and included Matt Wilson and Dave Guthrie. The new project begins on Oct 1, 2009. The minutes submitted to NIMS will need to include a final Termination Report in 2009.

    Adele Turzillo and Mark Mirando from CSREES were present by conference call. Adele reviewed the progress on the transition from CSREES to the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, which will be led by a presidentially appointed director and will raise the profile of agricultural science. Authorities administered by CSREES will be transferred to NIFA by Oct 1. Adele noted that CSREES received none of the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment money. She also noted that the NRI has been combined with the IFAFS program into the AFRI program, the new core competitive grants funding program. There has not been any congressional action on the AFRI budget for 2010.

    Following the agenda, Station Reports were given. Lloyd Anderson announced this would be his last meeting and Jason Ross will be the new representative. Lloyd gave his first report to this group in 1961. The Nebraska, MARC, Illinois, and South Dakota reports followed. After lunch on campus, we toured the University Farms.

    The business meeting was called to order on June 25th at 8:15 AM. Jeremy Miles was unanimously elected the Secretary, Dave Miller will move up to Vice Chair and Matt Wilson will move up to Chair. The University of Illinois was selected as the host institution for the next annual meeting. The first choice for dates will be May 25th and 26th (Tuesday and Wednesday). At that meeting, we will organize and present a symposium tentatively titled Gilt Development and will discuss gilt development from the pre-natal stage to weaning of the first litter. Several industry partners and speakers were discussed. A Symposium Organizing Committee was appointed that included Tim Safranski, Jason Ross and Dave Miller.

    Finally, the committee thanked Matt Wilson and West Virginia University for graciously hosting the annual meeting. The committee also thanked John Parrish for chairing the writing committee that produced the successful renewal. It was moved and seconded to adjourn the formal business meeting and station reports resumed.

    After reports from Missouri, West Virginia, and Wisconsin, Duane Davis and Dave Guthrie reviewed the grant that was in final preparation for submission as an Integrated proposal to AFRI.

    The meeting was concluded at 12:15 and the gavel was virtually passed from Dave Guthrie to Matt Wilson.

    Accomplishments:
    1. The project was re-classified as an Education/Extension and Research committee. The official names was changed from NCR-57 to NCERA-57

    2. A web site was developed that included the considerable history of this committee. This site is maintained by John Parrish and is at http://www.ansci.wisc.edu/jjp1/ncera57/

    3. Dave Guthrie and Duane Davis led the submission of an integrated proposal entitled Seasonal Infertility in Swine: Research and Educational Goals to Enhance the Profitability and Sustainability of the Swine Industry to the NRI/AFRI programs.

    4. The committee prepared a different symposium/workshop every two years. The topics were: 1) Small Litter Size, 2) Sow Longevity and it is planning a symposium entitled Gilt Development for 2010. The goal of these symposia is be to bring together experts from academia, including those within and outside of NCERA057 and industry representatives to review progress and problems in areas of current importance to swine reproduction.

    Impact Statements:
    1. NCERA057 scientists developed teaching modules that will help institutions transition from wet laboratories to online laboratories for courses in animal reproduction, including swine reproduction.
    2. NCERA057 scientists developed a better understanding of the effects of cryopreservation on boar sperm. They also discovered heritable genetic differences in post-thaw sperm survival.
    3. NCERA057 scientists found that measuring sperm binding to the zona pellucida was a useful supplement to routinely measured sperm characteristics (sperm motility and morphology) when attempting to predict fertility.
    4. NCERA057 scientists discovered that exposure of pregnant gilts to endocrine disrupters (estrogenic) causes conceptus loss.
    5. NCERA057 scientists discovered that the variation in DNA sequence in the GnRH receptor promoter amongst control, ovulation-rate selected and Meishan pigs may help describe variation in the reproductive efficiency of these breeds/lines.
    6. NCERA057 scientists refined Fourier harmonic analysis of boar sperm shape to better describe fertility of a semen sample. They demonstrated that extremely warm temperature and high heat index altered sperm morphology, as detected by this analysis.
    7. NCERA057 scientists discovered that specific glycans (sugars) in the oviduct bind sperm to form a reservoir. These glycans may alter sperm function to allow sperm to survive extended periods of time.
    8. NCERA057 scientists contributed to a better understanding of how a cellular structure known as the porosome functions. This transient structure allows secretion of proteins such as hormones and neurotransmitters from cells.
    9. NCERA057 scientists have refined systems for in vitro production of pig embryos and nuclear transfer.
    10. NCERA057 scientists have developed methods using exogenous gonadotropins to improve farrowing rates of primiparous sows and maintain fertility of multiparous sows.
    Last Modified: 10-Jul-2009
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