Gaëtan Tremblay, Ph.D.

Research Scientist

Nutritional Value in Ruminant Feed

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada
2560 Hochelaga Boulevard, Quebec, QC

Current research and/or projects

  • Improving the nutritive value of ruminant feed to maximize the use of forages and reduce production costs and environmental impacts.

Research and/or project statements

  • Increase the production and use of alfalfa forages in Canada.
  • Improving forage energy / protein ratio to increase dairy cow performance and reduce environmental losses.
  • Evaluation of the interest of using a more digestible alfalfa on Quebec dairy farms.
  • Evaluation of forages and their management in order to respond to a fodder supply problem linked to water deficits.

Professional activities / interests

  • Methods of studying and analysing the nutritive value of ruminant feed, specifically dry or ensiled forages.
  • Characterization of the effects of species, cultivars, management and different harvesting and storage methods on the nutritive value of forages.
  • Use of rumen-cannulated cows for measuring in vitro digestibility of dry matter and fibre in ruminant feed.
  • Use of near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict the nutritive value of ruminant feed; use of laboratory silos.

Education and awards

  • B.Sc. Bio-Agronomy, Université Laval, 1983.
  • Ph.D. Animal nutrition, Université Laval. 1988.

International experience and/or work

  • Work transfer at the US Dairy research Center, Madison, WI (1992-1993

Key publications

  1. Aubé, L., Guay, F., Bergeron, R., Bélanger, G., Tremblay, G.F., Devillers, N. (2019). Sows' preferences for different forage mixtures offered as fresh or dry forage in relation to botanical and chemical composition, 13(12), 2885-2895. http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S1751731119000958

    2019 - View publication details

  2. Aubé, L., Guay, F., Bergeron, R., Bélanger, G., Tremblay, G.F., Devillers, N. (2019). Sows prefer forages conserved as haylage over hay and fresh forage, 228 93-96. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.livsci.2019.08.007

    2019 - View publication details

  3. Nutritional value of pasture and dry-forage, and foraging behaviour in outdoor gestating sow

    2018 - View publication details

  4. Caroline Halde, Marie-Pier Aubin, Ayitre Akpakouma, Catherine Element-Boulianne, Gilles Bélanger, Annie Claessens, Céline Georlette, Marie-Eve Giroux, Marihouma Kone, Julie Lajeunesse, Huguette Martel, Andréane Martin, Philippe Seguin et Gaëtan Tremblay. 2017. Évaluation du potentiel agronomique de fourrages à teneur élevée en tannins et/ou lactones sesquiterpènes au Québec afin de développer des alternatives à l’utilisation des antiparasitaires chez le ruminant. Rapport final programme de développement sectoriel Volet 3 – Appui à l’innovation en réponse à des enjeux sectoriels prioritaires. 37 p.

    2017 - View publication details

  5. Thivierge, M.-N., Tremblay, G.F., Bélanger, G., Bertrand, A., Lajeunesse, J., Seguin, P., Claessens, A. Using cutting management and alfalfa-based mixtures as strategies to increase readily-available energy to protein ratio in forages. ASA-CSSA-SSSA 2017 Tampa 2017/10/22 - 2017/10/25

    2017 - View publication details

  6. Thivierge, M.-N., Audy, P., Bélanger, G., Claessens, A., Bertrand, A., Rocher, S., Tremblay, G., Jégo, G., and Lajeunesse, J. 2017. Systèmes racinaires: la force cachée! Congrès de l’Ordre des Agronomes du Québec (OAQ), Sherbrooke, QC, Canada, September 21, 2017

    2017 - View publication details

  7. Aubé L., Guay F., Bergeron R., Bélanger G., Tremblay G., Devillers N. 2018. Sows' preferences for different fresh and dry mixed forages. 13th North-American regional meeting of the International Society for Applied Ethology, Iowa State University, Ames, IA, 12-13 May 2017, p.37.

    2017 - View publication details

  8. Lajeunesse, J., Papadopoulos, Y.A., Duynisveld, J.L., Bélanger, G., Tremblay, G.F., Lafrenière, C., Fredeen, A.H., Thomas, B.W., Halliday, L., Crouse, M., Wort, J., and Fillmore, S.A.E. (2016). "Espèces et cultivars de plantes fourragères bien adaptés aux pâturages.", Conférence présentée lors du Webinaire « Mélanges à pâturage (complexes et binaires) pour l’est du Canada » organisé par l’UQAT, 22 mars 2016. (Presentation)

    2016 - View publication details

  9. Lajeunesse, J., Y. A. Papadopoulos, J. Duynisveld, G. Bélanger, G.F. Tremblay, C. Lafrenière, et S. Fillmore. 2016. Quelles sont les plantes fourragères les mieux adaptées aux pâturages ? Conférence présentée à l’atelier d’échanges du Groupe multi-conseil agricole du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Saint-Méthode, Qc le 8 décembre 2016.

    2016 - View publication details

  10. Lajeunesse, J., G. Bélanger, G.F. Tremblay et M. Chantigny. 2016. Gestion de coupes de mélanges à base de luzerne. Conférence présentée à l’atelier d’échanges du Groupe multi-conseil agricole du Saguenay-Lac-Saint-Jean, Saint-Méthode, Qc le 8 décembre 2016.

    2016 - View publication details

  11. Lafrenière, C., Laplante, M., Y. A. Papadopoulos, J. Duynisveld, J. Lajeunesse, G. Bélanger, G.F. Tremblay, et S. Fillmore. 2016. Les mélanges complexes dans l’Est du Canada. Conférence présentée aux membres du comité de mise en marché de veaux d’embouche, Producteurs de Bovins du Québec, Longueuil, Qc le 16 novembre 2016.

    2016 - View publication details

  12. Lafrenière, C., G. Bélanger, Y. A. Papadopoulos, J. Lajeunesse, J. Duynisveld, G.F. Tremblay, and S. Fillmore. 2016. Response of complex grass-legume mixtures to nitrogen fertilization under cattle grazing. Affiche scientifique présentée au congrès annuel de la Canadian Society of Agronomy et de la Canadian Society of Horticultural Science, 24-26 juillet, Montréal

    2016 - View publication details

  13. Claessens, A., Castonguay, Y., Bertrand, A., Bélanger, G., Tremblay, G.F. 2015. Breeding for improved nonstructural carbohydrates in alfalfa. In: Roldan-Ruiz, I, Baert, J., Reheul, D. (eds)Breeding in a world of scarcity. Springer. pp.231-235

    2016 - View publication details

  14. Brito, A.F., Tremblay, G.F., Bertrand, A., Castonguay, Y., Bélanger, G., Michaud, R., Lafrenière, C., Martineau, R., Berthiaume, R. (2016). Performance and nitrogen use efficiency in mid-lactation dairy cows fed timothy cut in the afternoon or morning, 99(7), 5445-5460. http://dx.doi.org/10.3168/jds.2015-10597

    2016 - View publication details

  15. Séboussi, R., Tremblay, G.F., Ouellet, V., Chouinard, P.Y., Chorfi, Y., Bélanger, G., and Charbonneau, É. (2016). "Selenium-fertilized forage as a way to supplement lactating dairy cows.", Journal of Dairy Science (JDS), 99(7), pp. 5358-5369. doi : 10.3168/jds.2015-10758

    2016 - View publication details

  16. Bélanger, G., Tremblay, G.F., Bertrand, A., Mongrain, D., Parent, G., Savoie, P., Massé, D., Gilbert, Y., Babineau, D. (2016). Reed canarygrass crop biomass and silage as affected by harvest date and nitrogen fertilization, 96(3), 413-422. http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/cjps-2015-0245

    2016 - View publication details

  17. Abdi, D., Cade-Menun, B.J., Ziadi, N., Tremblay, G.F., Parent, L.É. (2016). Visible near infrared reflectance spectroscopy to predict soil phosphorus pools in chernozems of Saskatchewan, Canada, 7(2), 93-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.geodrs.2016.02.004

    2016 - View publication details

  18. dos Passos Bernardes, A., Tremblay, G.F., Bélanger, G., Seguin, P., Brégard, A., Vanasse, A. (2016). Bagasse Silage from Sweet Pearl Millet and Sweet Sorghum as Influenced by Harvest Dates and Delays between Biomass Chopping and Pressing, 9(1), 88-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12155-015-9666-2

    2016 - View publication details

  19. Thivierge, M.N., Jégo, G., Bélanger, G., Bertrand, A., Tremblay, G.F., Rotz, C.A., Qian, B. (2016). Predicted yield and nutritive value of an alfalfa–timothy mixture under climate change and elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide, 108(2), 585-603. http://dx.doi.org/10.2134/agronj2015.0484

    2016 - View publication details

  20. Charbonneau, É. and Tremblay, G.F. (2015). "Sélénium : Supplémenter la ration ou fertiliser le fourrage ?", Le Producteur de Lait Québécois, 35(6), pp. 47-49.

    2015 - View publication details

Contact

Research facility

Quebec Research and Development Centre
2560 Hochelaga Boulevard
Québec, QC G1V 2J3
Canada

Expertise

Agriculture›Nutrition›Nutritional value of ruminant feed

Affiliations

  • Adjunct Professor, Department of Animal Science, Department of Plant Science, Université Laval.
  • Member of the Forage Crops Committee of the Centre de références en agriculture et agroalimentaire du Québec (CRAAQ).
  • Web master for the "Plantes fourragères" page of Agri-Réseau site.

Language

English
French