Research Lines
Poultry production
- Study of the nutritional and organoleptic characteristics of meat and eggs in relation to the animal nutrition and processing
- Conservation and valorization of biodiversity through research focused on phenotypic characterization of native chicken breed populations through
- study of growth characteristics
- evaluation of egg-laying and egg quality
- evaluation of reproductive performance, incubation traits and semen characteristics
- study of genetic diversity within breed
- evaluation of genetic resistance to environmental stresses and common pathogens
Rabbit production
- Evaluation of the qualitative characteristics of meat, researches on the effects of nutraceutical substances on the animals performances and on rabbit meat. Focus on improving meat shelf life and nutritional quality
- Study of the effect of alternative and organic farming techniques on well-being, oxidative state, production performances, organoleptic and dietary-nutritional characteristics of rabbit meat
Acquaculture
- Developing new fish diets using new and innovative raw materials characterized by nutraceutical properties and / or suitable for replacing fishmeal and fish oil
- Sustainability in aquaculture: developing new fish farming methods such as Integrated Multitrophic Systems (e.g., aquaponics) aiming to reduce “carbon footprint” of food production chain (AGR20 and AGR10)
- The studies mainly concern Gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata), European sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) Zebrafish (Danio rerio) and Killifish (Notobranchius furzeri) are also used as experimental fish model. To this purpose, the sector run a “Zebrafish facility” where a colony of Zebrafish with various mutant and transgenic lines, and a colony of Killifish are maintained
Research on alternative species, including edible insects
- Study of the rearing techniques of new alternative species with low environmental impact
- Study of the chemical-nutritional characteristics of insects as feed and food
- Study of the processing of insect products
Staff
Dott.ssa Margherita Marzoni Fecia di Cossato