Writer: Luis Tedeschi, 979-845-5062, luis.tedeschi@tamu.edu

Dr. Luis Tedeschi visited Ho Chi Minh city in Southern Vietnam from February 20 to 27, 2016 as part of a reciprocal technical-scientific visit through the Norman E. Borlaug International Agricultural Science and Technology Fellowship Program, funded by the United States Department of Agriculture Foreign Agricultural Service, and awarded to the Borlaug Institute of International Agriculture (http://borlaug.tamu.edu/). Drs. Tedeschi and Carstens hosted and mentored Dr. Trung, a ruminant nutritionist, from the Institute of Animal Science for Southern Vietnam during August 24 to November 15, 2014 in College Station. During Dr. Trung’s fellowship program, he learned the in vitro gas production technique to assess feedstuffs nutritional quality, and he was trained on nutrition models to formulate and balance rations for ruminants using the models available at Texas A&M University (http://nutritionmodels.tamu.edu).

Institute of Animal Sciences for Southern Vietnam (left to right: Dr. Trung, Dr. Kebreab from UC Davis-CA, Dr. Kinh, Dr. Tedeschi, Dr. Van, and staff).

During Dr. Tedeschi’s recent visit, he met with Dr. Kinh, the director of the Institute of Animal Science, to strengthen relationships between Texas A&M University and their institute regarding the exchange of students and researchers, and the development of research collaborations in swine, beef cattle, and dairy cattle nutrition with emphasis on livestock sustainability and awareness of environmental impact. The Institute of Animal Science for Southern Vietnam is committed to increase meat and milk production as well as to enhance the quality of animal products to feed more than 9 million people living in the Ho Chi Minh city region. Texas A&M University is recognized by the Institute of Animal Science in Vietnam by its international research outreach and animal agricultural leadership. Dr. Tedeschi visited the Animal Biotechnology Center whose main focus is to conduct research on dairy cattle nutrition and to determine feedstuff quality, and the Ruminant Research Center whose main focus is to improve beef cattle nutrition and reproduction of Red Brahman and Sindhi crossbreds. The Ruminant Research Center produces F₁, F₂, and F₃ of Red Brahman x Sindhi to meet the market demands through an efficient and robust replacement heifer program. In addition to the technical visits, Dr. Tedeschi met with Dr. Gerald Smith, Senior Attaché for Agricultural Affairs, and three agricultural specialists of the United States Department of Agriculture in the United States Consulate General at Ho Chi Minh city. The importance of the Borlaug Fellowship Program for the Unites States and collaborating countries was highlighted, and improvements to the program were discussed. These technical visits provide excellent opportunities across national boundaries to teach students, to train researchers, and to establish collaborative agreements to increase livestock productivity and to meet the Feed the Future promise in a sustainable and responsible manner.

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For more information regarding news from the Department of Animal Science, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Texas A&M University, please contact Maggie Tucker at maggie.tucker@tamu.edu or (979) 845-1542.