PRR Project

Summary

Animal nutrition and feeding is an essential area to ensure the well-being, health, and economic sustainability of animals, whether companion or production. In the case of companion animals, their increasing presence in human urban homes makes their nutrition and feeding fundamental to guarantee their well-being and health, greater life expectancy, and reduced medical and veterinary expenses. This ensures a better relationship between the animals and their owners, and also reduces the risk of zoonotic disease transmission.On the other hand, the nutrition and feeding of production animals based on the most recent scientific advances is essential for economically and environmentally sustainable animal production. This involves using safe feeds produced in a sustainable to obtain high-quality animal-source foods to promote health and meet the needs of a growing and increasingly demanding human population. Animal feeding represents around 70% of their production costs, making it crucial for the quality and safety of the final product, as well as the economic sustainability of the farms.Research and teaching in animal nutrition and feeding should prioritize pet nutrition to ensure that animals receive optimal nutrient supply, which helps them stay fit and healthy. The pet sector needs to be sustainable and encourage circularity of resource use by focusing on optimizing the role of pet feeding in utilizing by-products of the meat industry, as well as using alternative feed sources such as insects and microbial protein sources. Although pet nutrition is a new area of research at CIISA, it is considered a strategic one and is being implemented. The first action will be to evaluate the palatability of diets that incorporate these new alternative feed sources.In order to create synergies, it´s crucial to establish links between pet nutrition issues and traditional research on farm animal nutrition. This means that research topics such as feed evaluation, improvement of feed quality, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and enhancement of sensory and nutritional quality in farm animals should be given priority.Establish links of pet nutrition issues with those of classic farm animal nutrition research must be pursued and thus research topics as feed evaluation and improving feed quality, reducing greenhouse gas emissions, and improving sensory and nutritional quality in farm animals are desirableThe ideal candidate for the professor position should possess skills and expertise in integrating international and national research consortia, leading research tasks and projects on animal nutrition and feeding, and supervising PhD and post-doc students. The professor should also have excellent communication skills to raise awareness about animal nutrition and feeding issues among a wider audience. The professor is expected to play a critical role in driving research, teaching, and communication efforts related to animal nutrition and feeding issues, contributing to developing a more sustainable society.