Page 5 - Impact - Fall 2020

If you like riddles, here’s one to ruminate on — What dual-flow device uses a dozen fermenters, runs on 48 liters of saliva daily and is completely computer automated?
Need a hint? Look no further than Haley Larson, recently a senior research scientist in Cargill’s animal nutrition and health business and CFANS graduate (B.S.
Animal Science ’14; Ph.D. Animal Science ’18*).
Larson and her Cargill colleagues led the development
of an artificial rumen — in other words, a system that simulates what actually happens in the first compartment of a cow’s four stomachs.
“Cargill uses this system to develop better products and feed formulations for farmers,” said Larson. “It’s a way to study the cow’s stomach, digestion and fermentation itself without applying treatments to live animals, which is expensive and requires a lot of time to analyze results.”
With the artificial rumen, they’re improving the efficiency of ruminant research. “The system increases the speed of research trials by boosting the ability to screen products and the capabilities for examining microbial activity in the rumen,” she said.
While the work is done with a rumen replica, the results are anything but artificial. For example, automatic pH readings can pull gas samples in CO2 and methane, showing how different feeds shift microbial fermentation in cows and their contribution to greenhouse gases.
RUMEN ACUMEN
So just how did Larson get such “stomach science” smarts? “At CFANS, I got a one-of-a-kind experience that really catapulted me to where I am today,” she said. She gives credit to having mentors that balanced exposure
to work in the lab with a producer facing component. “It was critical to me that my science could be translated and provide real value to farmers.”
ARTIFICIAL RUMEN IN ONE OF CARGILL'S RESEARCH LABS.
Larson also credits her experience, which was enabled in part by scholarships supported by CFANS donors, for her expertise in bridging the gap between science and lab work. “My work at the U helped connect those worlds through my involvement in Extension and being able to student teach as a graduate student,” she said. She used that teaching experience at Cargill to train interns, nutritionists and customers.
We’re sure this work is just one of many puzzles Larson will solve as she applies her CFANS experience throughout her career.
*This fall, Larson joined Kansas State University as an assistant professor.