The Animal Nutrition Association of Canada (ANAC) is pleased to offer the ANAC Graduate Scholarship. Eligible students (Canadian citizens and permanent residents of Canada) must be enrolled in a Canadian university graduate program in Animal Science or related field of study and have a specific interest (research project/course selection) in animal nutrition.

The ANAC Graduate Scholarship is made possible through funding by ANAC member companies. The intent of this annual national scholarship is to encourage students to consider pursuing a career in the feed industry.

In addition to the $4,000 award, the scholarship recipient will have the opportunity to present their research at the opening plenary of the Animal Nutrition Conference of Canada (ANCC). The ANCC is a dynamic conference that brings together researchers and feed industry specialists to exchange knowledge about the latest scientific developments related to livestock nutrition.

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2022 ANCC Scholarship Recipient

The Influence of Transition Diet Energy and Protein Content on Colostrum and Early Lactation Milk Composition and Bioactive Compound Concentrations in Holstein Dairy Cattle

Colostrum and transition milk (TM) contain elevated levels of energy substrates and bioactive factors that are crucial to calf development; however, dam factors that control their concentrations are not well understood. The objective of this study was to evaluate how prepartum dietary energy density affects colostrum composition and how pre- and postpartum dietary energy and protein content, respectively, affect TM and mature milk composition. Multiparous (MP; n = 28) and primiparous (PP; n = 20) Holstein cows were randomly assigned within block to a close-up diet (CUD) containing low (LED; 1.10 Mcal NEL/kg DM) or high (HED; 1.52 Mcal NEL/kg DM) levels of energy from 19 ± 4.0 d prior to expected calving date, and to a high protein (HPD; 18.5% crude protein (CP), 1.73 Mcal NEL/kg DM) or average protein (APD; 15.5% CP, 1.68 Mcal NEL/kg DM) postpartum diet (PPD) after calving. Fat, CP, lactose, milk urea nitrogen (MUN) and total solids (TS) concentrations were determined by infrared spectroscopy, and IgG was quantified by radial immunodiffusion in colostrum (milking 1), TM (milkings 2 to 7) and mature milk (16 ± 1.9 d postpartum). Data were analyzed using a linear mixed model considering the fixed effects of parity, milking, CUD, PPD and their interactions, and the random effects of cow and block. The CUD had a greater effect on MP cows than PP cows; HED MP cows had greater (P < 0.0001) DMI from wk -3 relative to calving and increases in yields of milk (24.8%; P = 0.02), fat (37.7%; P = 0.007), CP (14.0%; P = 0.04), and TS (35.3%; P = 0.02) throughout the entire sampling period compared to LED MP cows. There were no differences between CUD within specific milkings. In contrast to the CUD, the PPD did not differentially affect MP and PP cows. On average, APD cows tended (P = 0.06) to have 200 g greater TS yield and had 85.4 g greater (P = 0.04) CP yield and 3.4 mg/dL lower (P = 0.04) MUN than HPD cows. No differences were observed for IgG concentrations; however, LED-APD cows produced an additional 31.2 g (P = 0.02) of IgG compared to LED-HPD cows over the sampling period. The results suggest that increasing close-up diet energy density may be a strategy to improve component yields, with the exception of IgG, in multiparous cows in early lactation.

Keywords: colostrum, transition milk, immunoglobulin G

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Past Scholarship Winners

ANAC National Scholarship
2021: Melissa Williams, University of Guelph
2020: Liam Kelln, University of Saskatchewan
2019: Casey Havekes, University of Guelph
2018: Victoria Seip, University of Guelph
2017: Haley Leung, University of Guelph

Eastern Scholarship
2016: Heather Reinhardt, University of Guelph
2015: Melissa Wiseman, University of Guelph
2014: Elizabeth Ellis, University of Guelph
2013: Emily Miller, University of Guelph 
2012: Natalie Litvak, University of Guelph
2011: Jaclyn Elyse Love, University of Guelph
2010: Hector R. Martinez Ramirez, University of Guelph
2009: Daniel Columbus, University of Guelph
2008: Katie Wood, University of Guelph

Western Scholarship
2016: Sasha van der Klein, University of Alberta
2015: Janna Moats, University of Saskatchewan
2014: Faustin Joy, University of Saskatchewan
2013: Megan DeVisser, University of Saskatchewan
2012: Aman Deep, University of Saskatchewan
2011: Matthew Walpole, University of Saskatchewan
2010: Prajwal Regmi, University of Alberta
2009: Amanda Van De Kerckhove, University of Saskatchewan
2008: Kristopher Wierenga, University of Alberta
2007: Thomas Nortey, University of Saskatchewan