Bovine respiratory disease, one of the most prevalent and costly illnesses in the beef and dairy industries, accounts for about half of all feedlot deaths in North America and costs producers as much as $900 million a year, according to Purdue University. Quickly diagnosing the illness could improve the well-being of animals and save producers significant money. With current tests, it can take four or more days to deliver results. Purdue University researchers, led by Mohit Verma, an assistant professor of agricultural and biological engineering, are developing technology to reduce the diagnosis time to about 30 minutes. Their work is being funded by a $1 million Inter-Disciplinary Engagement in Animal Systems (IDEAS) grant from USDA's National Institute of Food & Agriculture. For more information, read the Purdue article.
The study was supported by grants from the USDA’s National Institute of Food and Agriculture, Agriculture and Food Research Initiative (AFRI) Program.
