Ag Research on the High Plains

By Dr. Janet Roehl

The ENMU Agriculture program is conducting cutting edge research in state-of-the-art facilities.

The program has three new labs. The ENMU Animal Reproduction and Nutrition Research Laboratory is 605 sq. ft. and designed for cell cultures, hormone assays, histology, RT-PCR, and other needs. There is a 791 sq. ft. teaching lab with the ability to determine feeds and manure nutrient composition chemically, calorimetry, artificial rumen, embryonic transfer, semen analysis, and other processes. And there is an indoor live animal lab (3,360 sq. ft) that can house bovine, ovine, or porcine specimens. The facility features a fully equipped operating theater as well.

“The labs give students a learner-centered environment where faculty provide research mentorship to undergraduate and graduate students for enhanced learning through research,” explains Dr. Darron Smith, director of the labs and associate professor of agriculture.

Photo by Josh Lucero

“In addition to the labs, we have access to cooperating dairy farms in Roosevelt and Curry counties. Some of these dairy farms have been used in our previous research,” Smith notes.

“The faculty, scientists, and institutions involved are committed to promoting scholarly development and increasing the prominence of ENMU students by providing research assistantships so that a student’s creative research activities can be nationally recognized.”

“The main objective of the Animal Reproduction and Nutrition Research Laboratory is to produce well-educated and productive scientists who are critical thinkers who can solve complex problems,” Smith says. “Students are provided with the highest quality education and experience necessary for successful professional careers.”

Photo by Josh Lucero

The student research being conducted in the Agriculture program is assuring student success, now and in their future careers.

Smith and other researchers are assisting students with a variety of experiments at the new ENMU facility.

• Enhancing High School Students’ Career Awareness and Development through an Experiential Learning Summer Program

• Gene Expression and Proliferation Rates of Corpus Luteal Cells

• Enhancing Undergraduate Career Awareness and Development Through Experiential Learning

• Effect of Post-Calving Prostaglandin F2α Injection during the Voluntary Waiting Period, and its Effect on Reproductive Performance

• Effect of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) on the Clearance of Progesterone by the Hepatocyte

• Concentration of Progesterone from Day 1-45, Post Breeding with Different Insulin or Glucagon Promoting Diets in Lactating Dairy Cattle

• Effect of Amino Acid Supply and Growth Hormone on Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 Production and Gene Expression in Cultured Mouse Hepatocytes

• Effect of Somatotropin (GH) on the Concentrations of Insulin-Like Growth Factor 1 (IGF-1) and the Clearance of Progesterone by the Hepatocyte

• Survey of New Mexico Dairy Producers—Assessment of Past and Future Management Concerns

• Effects of Diatomaceous Earth on Musca domestica L