RSS 1.0Céad Mile Fáilte go T-Stór (Welcome to T- Stór)
T-Stór is Teagasc’s Open Access Repository, maintained by the Teagasc Library Service. Stór is the Gaelic word for Repository or Store or Warehouse, and T-Stór is an online “store” of Teagasc Research outputs and related documents. T-Stór collects preserves and makes freely available scholarly communication, including peer-reviewed articles, working papers and conference papers created by Teagasc researchers. Where material has already been published it is made available subject to the open-access policies of the original publishers. About Teagasc
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Development of a benchmarking system for Irish beef farms using data envelopment analysis(2013)Agricultural extension trends have involved greater use of collaborative “discussion group” dissemination approaches. These discussion groups involve regular participatory meetings between a consistent cohort of farmers and extension practitioners with occasional input from industry and research stakeholders. In Ireland, policy change, small farm scale and low incomes are some of the factors incentivising beef farmers and industry to seek increased whole-farm income efficiency. Whole-farm comparative analysis may provide a means of identifying and explaining efficiency drivers at farm level. This article describes the development of BEEFMARK, a benchmarking model with potential to act as a tool to facilitate farmer-farmer and farmer-adviser group learning within discussion groups. BEEFMARK utilised Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) to measure beef farm income and scale efficiency and to identify and characterise efficient peer farms which act as benchmarks for similarly structured, but lower efficiency farms. Market derived gross output (€) per livestock unit was positively associated with farm efficiency while greater overhead and concentrate feed expenditure was negatively associated with income and scale efficiency.
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Supports for Farmers(Teagasc (Agriculture and Food Development Authority), Ireland, 2018)The objective of this publication is to provide up-to-date information to help improve the situation of farmers in rural Ireland. It is intended to provide up-to-date information to help improve the situation of farmers and people involved in providing services to the farming community and is based on our understanding of current regulation and practice. The information in this guide is intended as a general guide only and is not a legal interpretation.
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Regulation of intestinal growth in response to variations in energy supply and demand(Wiley, 2018-12-03)The growth of the intestine requires energy, which is known to be met by catabolism of ingested nutrients. Paradoxically, during whole body energy deficit including calorie restriction, the intestine grows in size. To understand how and why this happens, we reviewed data from several animal models of energetic challenge. These were bariatric surgery, cold exposure, lactation, dietary whey protein intake and calorie restriction. Notably, these challenges all reduced the adipose tissue mass, altered hypothalamic neuropeptide expression and increased intestinal size. Based on these data, we propose that the loss of energy in the adipose tissue promotes the growth of the intestine via a signalling mechanism involving the hypothalamus. We discuss possible candidates in this pathway including data showing a correlative change in intestinal (ileal) expression of the cyclin D1 gene with adipose tissue mass, adipose derived‐hormone leptin and hypothalamic expression of leptin receptor and the pro‐opiomelanocortin gene. The ability of the intestine to grow in size during depletion of energy stores provides a mechanism to maximize assimilation of ingested energy and in turn sustain critical functions of tissues important for survival.
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Lactic Acid Bacteria and Bifidobacteria with Potential to Design Natural Biofunctional Health-Promoting Dairy Foods(Frontiers, 2017-05-18)Consumer interest in healthy lifestyle and health-promoting natural products is a major driving force for the increasing global demand of biofunctional dairy foods. A number of commercial sources sell synthetic formulations of bioactive substances for use as dietary supplements. However, the bioactive-enrichment of health-oriented foods by naturally occurring microorganisms during dairy fermentation is in increased demand. While participating in milk fermentation, lactic acid bacteria can be exploited in situ as microbial sources for naturally enriching dairy products with a broad range of bioactive components that may cover different health aspects. Several of these bioactive metabolites are industrially and economically important, as they are claimed to exert diverse health-promoting activities on the consumer, such as anti-hypertensive, anti-inflammatory, and anti-diabetic, anti-oxidative, immune-modulatory, anti-cholesterolemic, or microbiome modulation. This review aims at discussing the potential of these health-supporting bacteria as starter or adjunct cultures for the elaboration of dairy foods with a broad spectrum of new functional properties and added value.
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An Immortalized Genetic Mapping Population for Perennial Ryegrass: A Resource for Phenotyping and Complex Trait Mapping(Frontiers, 2018-05-31)To address the lack of a truly portable, universal reference mapping population for perennial ryegrass, we have been developing a recombinant inbred line (RIL) mapping population of perennial ryegrass derived via single seed descent from a well-characterized F2 mapping population based on genetically distinct inbred parents in which the natural self-incompatibility (SI) system of perennial ryegrass has been overcome. We examined whether it is possible to create a genotyping by sequencing (GBS) based genetic linkage map in a small population of the F6 generation of this population. We used 41 F6 genotypes for GBS with PstI/MspI-based libraries. We successfully developed a genetic linkage map comprising 6074 SNP markers, placing a further 22080 presence and absence variation (PAV) markers on the map. We examined the resulting genetic map for general and RIL specific features. Overall segregation distortion levels were similar to those experienced in the F2 generation, but segregation distortion was reduced on linkage group 6 and increased on linkage group 7. Residual heterozygosity in the F6 generation was observed at a level of 5.4%. There was a high proportion of chromosomes (30%) exhibiting the intact haplotype of the original inbred parents of the F1 genotype from which the population is derived, pointing to a tendency for chromosomes to assort without recombining. This could affect the applicability of these lines and might make them more suitable for situations where repressed recombination is an advantage. Inter- and intra-chromosomal linkage disequilibrium (LD) analysis suggested that the map order was robust. We conclude that this RIL population, and subsequent F7 and F8 generations will be useful for genetic analysis and phenotyping of agronomic and biological important traits in perennial ryegrass.
