New Synchrotron Expected to Assist in Animal Nutrition Research
Farmscape for February 14, 2003 (Episode 1179) A University of Saskatchewan scientist is looking forward to using Canada's new synchrotron to further his work in improving the digestibility of feed grains. The 174 million dollar synchrotron, located in Saskatoon, is one of about 40 such facilities around the world and is about the size of three football fields. It produces light of unlimited intensity which is used in industrial and scientific experiments to look at matter at the atomic scale. Research Associate Dr. Rex Newkirk intends to look at how phosphorous is situated in seed to determine why some of the nutrient is available to the animal that consumes it and why some is not. Clip-Dr. Rex Newkirk-University of Saskatchewan There is a low phytate barley, a barley that has a phosphorus that's now in a new form, but that form or where it's found in the seed are not exactly known. The synchrotron would allow us to take a seed, do a cross and scan it so we can understand exactly within that cell where the phosphorus is and what form it's in. Phosphorus can come in many different forms. Typically in plants it's in phytate phosphorus which is unavailable, tied up and we know that animals can not use it and it can cause phosphorus pollution if not managed properly. Even if it's not in phytate phosphorus it can resist digestion, if it's bound to minerals or if it's encapsulated within fibre. If we can study the cell at the molecular level, we can understand where that phosphorus is and how to process that feed or else genetically select that seed such that that material is available. Although the synchrotron in Saskatoon will not be operational for another 45 weeks, time has been purchased on other synchrotrons to allow scientists to familiarize themselves with the technology. Dr. Newkirk hopes to get his research underway within three to four months. For Farmscape.Ca, I'm Bruce Cochrane. *Farmscape is a presentation of Sask Pork and Manitoba Pork Council