My major research interest is forage preservation by ensiling. This includes many aspects, such as silage aerobic stability, additives, baling silage and TMR of various compositions.
I am also interested in the potential probiotic effects of lactic acid bacteria and their effects on ruminant performance, either when directly fed or by feeding silages inoculated with selected LAB strains.
Another topic is the preservation and utilization of by products for animal feeding. Examples are citrus and pommegranade peels, olive cake, soy cake.
I was involved in research pertaining to feed hygiene in context of irrigation with recycled and treated sewage. Our part was to study potential microbial contamination. Currently i am involved in studyig survival of tagged E. coli in cultivated cattle manure with implications on mastitis incidence.
Recent relevant publications
1. Weinberg, Z.G., Chen, Y. And Weinberg, P. (2008) Ensiling olive cake with and without molasses. Bioresource Technol. 99, 1526-29.
2. Weinberg, Z.G., Chen, Y. and Solomon, R. (2009) The quality of commercial wheat silages in Israel. J. Dairy Sci. 92, 638-644.).
3. Chen, Y. and Weinberg, Z.G. (2009) Changes during aerobic exposure of wheat silages. Anim. Feed Sci and Technol. 154, 76-82.
4. Weinberg, Z.G., Khanal, P., Yildiz, C., Chen, Y. and Arieli, A. (2010) Effects of stage of maturity at harvest, wilting and LAB inoculants on the aerobic stability wheat silages. Anim. Feed Sci. and Technol .158, 29-35.
5. Weinberg, Z.G., Chen, Y., Prabhat, K., Pinto, R., Zakin, V. and Sela, S. (2011) The effect of cattle manure cultivation on moisture content and survival of E. coli.
J. Animal Sci. 89, 874-881.
6. Weinberg, Z.G., Chen, Y., Miron, D., Raviv, Y., Nahim, E., Bloch, A., Yosef, E.,
Nikbajat, M. and Miron, J. (2011) Short communication: preservation of total mixed rations for dairy cows in bales wrapped with polyethylene stretch film - a commercial scale experiment. Anim. Feed Sci. and Technol. 164, 125-129.
7. Muck, R.E., Weinberg, Z.G. and Contreras-Govea, F.E. (2013) Silage extracts used to study the mode of action of silage inoculants in ruminants. Agricultural and Food Science 22, 108-114.
8. Weinberg, Z.G. and Muck, R.E. (2013). Potential probiotic effect of lactic acid bacteria silage inoculants on ruminants. Proceedings of the 3rd Symposium on Forage Quality and Conservation, Campinas, S.P., Brazil, July 22-23. Pp. 47-69. (invited paper).
9. Weinberg, Z.G. and Chen, Y. (2013). Effects of storage period on the composition of whole crop wheat and corn silages. Anim. Feed Sci. and Technol. 185, 196-200.
10. Chen, Y. and Weinberg, Z.G. (2014). The effect of re-location of whole crop wheat and corn silages on their quality. J. Dairy Sci. 96, 406-410.
11. Weinberg, Z.G., Szakacs, G., Chen, Y., Pinto, R., Berenstein, S., Konya, B. and Sela, S. (2014). Inhibition of Escherichia coli in cultivated cattle manure. J. Anim. Sci. 92, 2336-2341.