Juan Romero
Associate Professor of Animal Nutrition
Degree: Ph. D. 2013, University of Florida
Phone: 207.581.2925
Email: juan.romero@maine.edu
Location: 203 Rogers Hall
Professional Interests: forage quality and conservation, ruminant nutrition, animal systems microbiota, and enzymology
Teaching: AVS 446 Forage Science and Range Management , AVS 455 Animal Nutrition
Research: Dr. Romero aims to expand the understanding of the factors that affect forage quality and conservation in order to develop novel additives that will improve profitability of livestock producers. Specifically, his program focuses on the methodological use of fungal enzymes to solve specific issues in silage production and the development of biologically-based additives to enhance the stability of conserved forages. In order to better understand the processes that affect silage and hay production, Dr. Romero not only relies on well-established agronomic and nutritional techniques but also on next-generation sequencing and proteomics to push the envelope by developing novel research hypotheses. Dr. Romero pioneered the use of proteomics to compare commercially-available fibrolytic enzymes in animal nutrition, suggesting for the first time specific enzymes involved in improving ruminal fiber digestibility, and the use of next generation sequencing to assess the corn and oats silage microbiome. Dr. Romero has also used next generation sequencing to describe bacterial communities in the liquid and solid fractions of the rumen under the influence of different biological additives.
For publications see Juan Romero’s Google Scholar page