Faculty and Staff Receive Awards at ADSA

Two Dairy Science members, Dr. Malek Abdelqader and Dr. Lloyd Metzger, were recognized with awards at the 2009 American Dairy Science Association annual meeting in Montreal, Canada.

Dr. Malek Abdelqader received the NMPF Richard M. Hoyt award. He has a bachelor’s degree in veterinary medicine from Jordan University of Science and Technology. After graduation, he worked for two years as a veterinarian and manager of a poultry farm. Abdelqader also received an MSc degree in animal science with an emphasis on ruminant nutrition from McGill University under the supervision of Dr. Arif Mustafa and a PhD degree in animal science with an emphasis on dairy science and ruminant nutrition under the supervision of Dr. Arnold Hippen at South Dakota State University. After completing his PhD, Dr. Abdelqader served as a Post Doc at SDSU under Dr. Kenneth Kalscheur. He is currently a Post Doc at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

Abdelqader’s doctoral research evaluated the potential of corn germ as an alternative fat source and its feeding value compared with distillers grains in dairy cow diets. Corn germ has high net energy of lactation value, contains some fermentable starch, and has lower concentrations of ruminally undegradable protein than distillers grains. His research concluded that corn germ is a suitable alternative source of fat for increasing energy in lactating dairy cow diets when included at up to 14% of dietary DM.

The results from this project led him to write a grant proposal to further explore the value of feeding corn germ compared with distillers grains in dairy cow diets. This grant was funded by the South Dakota Corn Utilization Council. This study suggested that fatty acids in corn germ are relatively protected and slowly released into the rumen, when compared with fatty acids in distillers grains. Further indications are that distillers grains, when compared with corn germ that has not gone through fermentative processes for ethanol production, may contain greater concentrations of free oil (fatty acids not associated with cellular contents or particulate matter) that may be more available during ruminal digestion, thus creating a greater quantity of biohydrogenation intermediates and consequently causing milk fat depression.
Abdeqader’s findings present valuable information to dairy nutritionists and industry professionals, providing them with research-based recommendations for inclusion rates and diet formulation with these by-products. His findings also show that these inexpensive by-products can improve the profitability of dairy producers and increase flexibility during diet formulation.

His postdoctoral research at South Dakota State University focused on the utilization of corn by-products as an alternative source of nonforage fiber in dairy cow diets through the study of microbial protein synthesis, ruminal nutrient digestion, flow of nutrients out of the rumen to the small intestine, and nutrient excretion of dairy cows.

Abdelqader has published one peer-reviewed article and five conference abstracts. At the 2007 Midwest ADSA meeting, Abdelqader was selected as an Invited Young Scholar.

Dr. Lloyd Metzger, associate professor and Alfred Chair of Dairy Education at South Dakota State University, is the recipient of the 2009 Cargill Flavor Systems Food Specialties Award. Dr. Metzger obtained his BS degree in dairy manufacturing and his MS degree in dairy science from South Dakota State University and his PhD in food science from Cornell University. After completing his PhD, he spent two years as a research scientist at General Mills, where he received the General Mills Bell Achievement Award for Discovery in 1999. In July of 2000, Metzger became an assistant professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition at the University of Minnesota. In July of 2006, he was promoted to associate professor and received tenure. In January of 2007, he joined South Dakota State University. Metzger has also served as the director of the Midwest Dairy Foods Research Center since January of 2003 and currently severs as the executive secretary of the North Central Cheese Industries Association. His research interests include evaluating the structural and functional roles of the various components in cheese and fermented dairy products and developing modified manufacturing parameters to control cheese quality. Metzger has over 30 refereed scientific publications, 6 patents, and 3 patent applications. He was also the recipient of the ADSA Foundation Scholar Award in 2005.

Lloyd Metzger received the Cargill Flavor Systems Food Specialties Award based on his research on the manufacturing of cottage cheese in an enclosed vat and development of a technique for prevention of calcium lactate crystals in Cheddar cheese. His research on cottage cheese and calcium lactate crystal prevention in Cheddar cheese has been commercialized and has had a significant effect on the processing efficiency and quality of these cheeses.

Prior to Metzger’s research, large-scale production of cottage cheese in an automated enclosed vat was not possible, and the typical cottage cheese manufacturing process used an open-vat process that was labor intensive and did not utilize a CIP cleaning system. In his research, Metzger developed a cooking procedure that removed whey from the vat, heated it to the desired temperature, and returned it to the vat. This process was critical and allowed the fragile curd to be cooked without causing excessive curd damage.

Prior to Metzger’s research on calcium lactate crystals in Cheddar cheese, numerous factors influencing the formation of calcium lactate crystals were identified and extensively studied. However, this defect remained prevalent in Cheddar cheese. In his research, Metzger developed a process to utilize a GRAS ingredient called sodium gluconate, which is added to the cheese during the salting step of the manufacturing process. In the cheese, sodium gluconate prevents the formation of calcium lactate crystals by forming complexes with calcium lactate. These complexes cause a substantial increase in the solubility of calcium lactate and prevent formation of calcium lactate crystals in the cheese during ripening and distribution.

21 July 2009

South Dakota State University / Dairy Science Department
Dairy Microbiology Rm 109 / Phone: 605-688-4116
College of Agricultural and Biological Sciences