By harnessing the power of a curious mind and passion for questioning the way the environment works, a bright student from Bega has picked up a row of prestigious science awards after stumbling upon new revelations when utilising sheep and cattle as a means to fireweed control.
Daughter of a third generation dairy farmer, Jade Moxey, Sapphire Coast Anglican School, Bega, was awarded the 2017 Young Scientific Investigator of the Year at the BHP Billiton Science and Engineering awards after her experiments found that Madagascan fireweed could survive a sheep’s digestive system and therefore spread via their manure.
Ms Moxey began the award winning investigation after taking out the NSW Young Scientist of the Year award last year for her work on the effectiveness of cattle in managing fireweed. Ms Moxey said after observing its increasing abundance on her family farm and in her grandfather’s vegetable garden, which was fertilised with cow manure from the local dairy, she began the initial investigation.
Her study found that the weed was capable of surviving the cattle digestive system and was being spread via their manure and therefore made her question whether sheep, who are globally promoted as a successful method of fireweed control, are actually an effective form of control.
“Sheep are a common management tool of fireweed because they actively consume the plant and are readily resistant to the weed’s toxins,” Ms Moxey said. “In my observations at home I also found fireweed was more concentrated where the sheep camped in large numbers,” she said.
Consulting with a district veterinarian and local plant breeders, along with a number of mentors, Ms Moxey was able to develop experiments and design a method for her sheep project.
“From just two sheep manure collections 213 fireweed plants germinated, challenging the concept that sheep are actually an effective form of fireweed control,” Ms Moxey said. “Sheep are definitely capable of spreading fireweed and although it is a difficult assumption to make that they are not effective, there are still further investigations needed to determine this,” she said.
Ms Moxey’s award winning project has won her a place to represent Australia at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Los Angeles in May. Her words of advice for budding scientists were that by conducting a small science experiment, it can lead to incredible life changing opportunities, so give it a go.
More research needed to determine ill effects of weed toxins on humans
After award winning Bega high school student, Jade Moxey, investigated whether sheep were an effective form of fireweed control, the budding scientist then looked at effects of the weed on the animals health and the potential of toxins finding a way into the human food chain.
The toxic component of the plant, Pyrrolizidine alkaloids, are toxic to both livestock and humans, and are known to cause irreversible liver damage, chronic lung disease, cancer and some reported cases of death. This was an area of concern for Ms Moxey and therefore prompted an investigation into the potential for Pyrrolizidine alkaloid accumulation inside of the sheep and entering the human food chain.
“I undertook blood tests, visual liver assessment, liver histopathology and copper level analysis to determine the potential effect of the alkaloids on the health of the sheep,” Ms Moxey said.
“Those four tests showed minimal evidence of impaired body function of the sheep however I found that alkaloids are accumulative inside the sheep; in that they build up over time, so the third component of the project was to investigate the potential for the alkaloids to enter the human food chain through a contaminated meat source,” she said.
“Twelve liver and 12 tissue samples indicated the levels were well below health safety recommendations, equating to 0.0005 per cent of the Australian food safety standards. Although it’s not a cause for concern, further research is still required,” Ms Moxey said.
