NDSU students attended the Midwest American Society for Animal Sciences meeting in Des Moines, Iowa, March 13-17. Students gave successful presentations, placing high in competion against students from other schools.

The NDSU Academic Quadrathlon team comprised of Mary Berg, Lee Widdel, Jerry Buckley, and Brandon Hokana competed against 14 other teams in the competition. NDSU placed first in the oral portion, tied for second in the written exam and scored third overall.

Sharnae Fry placed first in the undergraduate research competition, oral division, with her presentation of “Effects of Maternal Nutritional Plane and Selenium Supply on Jejunal Crypt Cell Proliferation and Villous Morphology in Offspring at 20 days of age.”

Christen Jackson placed second in the oral division with her presentation “Effects of Maternal Exercise During Gestation on Blood Oxygen Levels and Gilt Behavior.”

Camille Jorgenson also presented “Supranutritional Selenium During Pregnancy Increases Ovine Mammary Gland Vascularity” at the meeting.

In the master of science oral competition, Erin Harris placed third with her presentation “Impact of Maternal Exercise on Maternal Body Composition, Fetal growth and Umbilical Blood Flow in the Pig.”

In the doctoral competition, Leslie Lekatz placed second in the poster division with her poster “Supranutritional Selenium and Nutritional Plane During Gestation Do Not Affect Cortisol Production in Lambs.”

Other graduate students who participated at the meeting were Leticia (Ely) Camacho who presented “Effects of Nutritional Plane and Dietary Selenium During Gestation on Serum Prolactin and Estradiol-17β (E2) in Ewe Lambs During Pregnancy and Lactation.”

Allison Meyer presented “Effects of Nutritional Plane and Selenium Supply During Gestation on Circulating Non-esterified Fatty Acid and Thyroid Hormone Concentration in First-Parity Ewe Lambs.”