Projects / Programmes
Technological economic models of beef production on grassland
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 4.02.02 |
Biotechnical sciences |
Animal production |
Animal nutrition |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| B400 |
Biomedical sciences |
Zootechny, animal husbandry, breeding |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 4.02 |
Agricultural and Veterinary Sciences |
Animal and Dairy science |
Cattle nutrition, meat production, grassland, bulls, steers, heifers, rations planning, economics, carcass quality, meat quality
Researchers (16)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
In Slovenia, beef production is highly important for food security and economy, as it represents 14% of the total value of agricultural production. At the same time Slovenia is a country with the highest proportion in the EU (74%) of agricultural land classified as less favoured areas, with grassland representing 2/3 of agricultural land. Unsatisfying quality of forages, unsuitable fattening technologies, especially non-adapted nutrition together with weak support of advisory service are considered key factors for poor results (low daily gains, 0.94 kg/day for bulls under 24 months; unsatisfactory carcass quality i.e. conformation, and consequently nutritional and economical inefficiency). The project aims to develop a free access web application to analyse and plan diets for fattening of different cattle categories. The application will be associated to the existing information system “Govedo” (in which carcass data from Slovenian slaughter lines are collected) and “Krma” (database on quality or feeding value of feed from Slovenian farms). This approach will interlink a new web application with the existing databases on the farm level. The literature will be reviewed and the most suitable standards and systems will be introduced into application for the estimation of metabolizable energy, protein, dry mater intake, fibre and macro-mineral requirements. Technological guidelines will be prepared for different types of fattening systems (conventional, organic, intensive, extensive) and different animal categories (calves, bulls, steers or heifers) to be used in support of advisory work and to improve the economics in conventional beef meat production. Model calculations will be used to estimate economic efficiency. Organic cattle rearing presents an important proportion of beef meat production in Slovenia. One of the possibilities to improve the economy of such farms is to obtain higher prices of meat on the basis of higher quality. As the basis for eventual trade mark which could be based on higher nutritional value of meat produced on grassland (favourable fatty acid composition) a trial with fattening bulls of autochthonous “cika” breed on pasture with different intensity and duration of finishing stage following pasture will be performed. In this trial daily gain, intake, feed conversion, carcass traits (carcass yield, conformation, fatness, carcass mass, dissection of carcasses into individual pieces and tissues) and meat quality traits (pH, meat colour, colour stability, drip loss, cutting hardness, sensory meat traits, intramuscular fat content and fatty acid composition of meat) will be assessed.
Significance for science
Projekt je pretežno razvojno naravnan. Kljub temu pričakujemo, da bo odgovoril na nekatera pomembna vprašanja s področja prehranske vrednosti mesa. Odprl pa bo tudi nova vprašanja, ki bodo spodbudila raziskovalno delo na tem področju. Program za računanje obrokov za pitovno govedo bo prvenstveno namenjen uporabnikom, to je rejcem in svetovalcem, lahko pa bo služil tudi za potrebe modeliranja in raziskovalnega dela s področja ekonomike prireje govejega mesa. Pričakujemo, da bodo imeli rezultati projekta velik pomen za stroko. Na področju prehrane in na splošno na področju tehnologij prireje govejega mesa je precejšnje pomanjkanje uporabnega znanja, saj primanjkuje primernih priporočil in orodij za učinkovito svetovalno delo na terenu. Izdelana tehnološka navodila za različne tipe rej in kategorije živali, podprta z modeli ekonomske učinkovitosti glede na naravne danosti, razpoložljivost človeških virov, opreme in kapitala, bodo dobra podlaga za svetovalno delo in prenos znanja v prakso, kakor tudi za krepitev znanja ostalih strokovnih služb na področju prireje govejega mesa. Spletna aplikacija bo omogočala neposreden prenos znanja in raziskovalnih izsledkov do rejcev. Novejši sistemi vrednotenja obrokov bodo omogočali učinkovitejšo izrabo hranilnih snovi, s tem pa tudi okoljsko učinkovitejšo rejo oziroma zmanjšanje izpustov toplogrednih plinov na enoto prirejenega mesa. Rezultati pitovnega poskusa bodo lahko služili kot strokovna podlaga blagovni znamki govejega mesa višje prehranske vrednosti.
Significance for the country
Tehnološka navodila in priporočila podprta z ekonomskimi modelnimi izračuni ter program za računanje in optimiziranje obrokov bodo prispevali k tehnološko in ekonomsko učinkovitejši reji govedi na posamezni kmetiji ali večjem kmetijskem obratu. Z vidika celotne panoge je to ključno, če želimo nadoknaditi tehnološki zaostanek za sosednjimi deželami. Boljša kakovost klavnih trupov, boljša kakovost mesa in višja prehranska vrednost mesa pomeni boljšo osnovo za živilsko predelovalno industrijo in posredno tudi trgovino. Hkrati prispeva k splošni prepoznavnosti kmetijskih pridelkov in s tem posredno prispeva k turizmu. Uravnoteženi krmni obroki in boljši prirasti bodo dolgoročno prispevali k večji produktivnosti živali in s tem k manjšemu onesnaževanju okolja (izpustom toplogrednih plinov) na enoto proizvoda. Postavitev in vzdrževanje zbirk (obroki za pitance, krma, podatki z linije klanja), ki so hkrati uporabne za potrebe strokovnega in svetovalnega dela, predstavlja pomembno infrastrukturo za državno upravo za potrebe usmerjanja kmetijske politike. Le učinkovita in donosna panoga lahko ponudi atraktivna delovna mesta za mlade, kar pa ima v gospodarstvu enak učinek kot ustanavljanje novih podjetij. Preprečevanje zaraščanja kmetijskih zemljišč na območjih z omejenimi možnostmi za kmetovanje (paša) pa pomeni vzdrževanje kulturne krajine ter hkrati zagotavlja poseljenost teh območja.
Most important scientific results
Annual report
2015,
2016,
final report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Annual report
2015,
2016,
final report
