Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

2000 College Street
Sherbrooke, Quebec
J1M 0C8

Telephone: 819-565-9171

Email: aafc.info.aac@canada.ca

Latitude: 45.368672
Longitude: −71.830031

The Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre was established in 1914 in Sherbrooke, in the Eastern Townships region of Quebec. The centre is the only Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada research centre specialized in innovative research primarily for the Canadian dairy and swine industries.

The centre leads research in three key areas:

• Environmental sustainability
• Dairy and swine production systems
• Dairy and swine health and welfare

Facilities at the Sherbrooke Research and Development Centre

• Modern laboratories (5,820 square metres) and animal facilities for dairy cattle and swine, sows and their breeding, growing and finishing
• Specialized facilities for:
  • radioimmunoassay
  • cell culture
  • molecular biology and genetic engineering
  • meat quality evaluation
  • metabolic cages and equipment for individual feed intake evaluation
  • environmental laboratories
  • bioreactors
  • an olfactometry laboratory

Current research activities

• Improving nutrition efficiency while minimizing the negative environmental effects of dairy and swine production
• Improving swine welfare
• Investigating ways to reduce the greenhouse gas contribution associated with livestock production
• Studying the biology of lactation in both dairy and swine
• Investigating ways to minimize stress and optimize the immune system of dairy cows and swine
• Investigating the use of biological products and processes for treating farm wastes

Results of our research

• Enhancing the sector’s productivity
  • Identified B-complex vitamin requirements for high-production cows
  • Reviewed essential amino acid requirements for cows
  • Identified fatty acid requirements in fertility control for cows
  • Enhanced knowledge in genetics, physiology and biochemistry of dairy production
  • Identified vitamin requirements for sows and boars
  • Developed an individual feeding system for animals housed in groups (pork)
  • Enhanced knowledge of lactation physiology in sows
  • Discovered genetic markers for meat quality (pork)
  • Developed a DNA vaccine against bovine mastitis

• Enhancing environmental performance
  • Developed a procedure for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in cows
  • Developed an anaerobic fermentation system for animal waste. The key feature of this system is that it can function at low temperatures