Animal Husbandry

PART 1: ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY OF DOMESTIC ANIMALS (4 ECTS)

The module aims to provide students with the necessary knowledge to understand how to provide domestic animals with the optimal conditions for its well-being and health in the context of sustainable husbandry. The teaching is divided into 28 hours of frontal lectures equivalent to 3.5 ECTS and 8 hours of practical exercises equivalent to 0.5 ECTS, as follows:

LECTURES (3.5 ECTS, 28 hours)
Course introduction, anatomical nomenclature, and general body organization (2 hours)
Cell biology (2 hours) - Structure of different cellular components (membrane, nucleus, cytoskeleton, organelles) and mechanisms of cell-to-cell communication, energy production, absorption, and synthesis.
Histology (4 hours) - Overview of animal tissues (types and functions of epithelial, connective, muscular, and nervous tissues).
Digestive system (5 hours) - Anatomy: oral cavity, salivary glands, esophagus, stomach in monogastric animals, stomach and pre-stomachs in polygastric animals, intestines, pancreas, and liver. Physiology: food mastication, salivary secretion, swallowing, stomach and pre-stomach motility, ruminal fermentations, gastric, pancreatic, and enteric juice secretion, bile, intestinal motility, digestion, and absorption.
Urinary system (1.5 hours) - Anatomy: kidney, ureter, bladder, urethra, renal circulation. Physiology: glomerular filtration, reabsorption and secretion, endocrine regulation, renal hormones, water-salt homeostasis, urine composition.
Male reproductive system (1.5 hours) - Anatomy: testis and spermatic ducts, accessory sex glands. Physiology: spermatogenesis, male reproductive hormones, accessory glands and their functions.
Female reproductive system (3 hours) - Anatomy: ovary, oviducts, uterus. Physiology: oogenesis, estrous cycle, female reproductive hormones. Pregnancy and parturition.
Tegumentary system and accessory glands (2 hours).
Lactation (3 hours) - Mammary gland morphology, lactogenesis overview (milk and colostrum), lactation endocrinology, and milk synthesis.
Circulatory system (1 hour) - Anatomy: heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries. Physiology of myocardium, cardiac cycle, regulation of cardiovascular functions. Blood components and hemopoiesis. Plasma and serum. Lymph and lymphatic pathways.
Respiratory system (1 hour) - Anatomy of respiratory pathways, lungs, pleura. Physiology: respiratory cycle, gas transport, neural control of respiration.

PRACTICAL EXERCISES (0.5 ECTS, 8 hours)
The practical exercises are divided into sessions of:
4 hours: Exercise on anatomical models, both physical and virtual.
4 hours: Exercise on histological preparations.
The practical exercises will allow students to personally apply the acquired knowledge to describe and evaluate the physiological processes discussed during the lectures.


PART 2 - ANIMAL NUTRITION AND FEEDING (4 ECTS)

This part of the course aims to provide knowledge of nutrition through the study of the use of nutrients in the animal organism, and of animal feeding, through the characterization of the feeds, the main nutritional requirements of cattle and pigs and the criteria basis for the diet formulation, respecting environmental and economic sustainability and animal welfare.
The teaching is divided into lectures (3 CFU), classroom exercises (0.5 CFU) and exercises at livestock farms (0.5 CFU).

Lectures (3 credits, 24 hours)
- Nutrients and their functions. Chemical composition of feeds (water, carbohydrates, lipids, proteins and nitrogenous substances, minerals and vitamins). Chemical analyses and Near InfraRed Spectroscopy (NIRS) for the determination of dry matter, ash, proteins, lipids and fibrous fractions (5 hours).
- Energy and protein metabolism (4 hours).
- Notes on biological analyses of foods and determination of in vivo, in vitro, in situ digestibility and ruminal fermentability. Potential degradability and effective degradability in the rumen (2 hours).
- The energy and protein value of feeds (4 hours).
- Feeds for livestock: fundamental analytical and nutritional characteristics and main methods of use of forages (grass, hay, silages and straw), concentrates (cereals, bran, protein feeds of vegetable and animal origin, oilseeds, liquid feeds and by-products of the various industrial processes). Supplements, additives and enzymes (4 hours).
- Voluntary feed intake and the main factors that regulate it (2 hours).
- Nutritional requirements of dairy and beef cattle and pigs in different growth and physiological stages (3 hours).

Classroom exercises (0.5 CFU, 8 hours)
- Recognition of some forages and the most important concentrated feeds (4 hours).
- Examples of rationing for dairy and beef cattle and for pigs (4 hours).

Field exercises (0.5 CFU, 8 hours)
- Visit to 2 livestock farms to verify in the field the theoretical notions acquired during the course.


PART 3 - HUSBANDRY TECHNIQUES (4 ECTS)

The course aims to provide students with theoretical and practical knowledge about breeding techniques for the main species of zootechnical interest. Another goal is to offer the first tools to evaluate the effect of husbandry techniques on the production and quality of animal-origin products, environmental impact, and animal welfare. The course includes lectures and practical exercises on livestock farms.

Course structure:

Lectures (3 CFU):
From domestication to modern livestock farming: Domestication; Evolution of Italian livestock farming over the last century; Statistics and market: livestock assets; production and consumption of animal products; Prospects
Milk production: chemical and nutritional characteristics of milk; factors influencing milk production and quality; review of the physiology of lactation and milk ejection; milking; breeding and feeding techniques for dairy cattle; reproduction and fertility; rearing replacement animals.
Beef production: chemical, physical, and nutritional characteristics of meat; growth and development; main factors influencing meat production and quality; carcass evaluation; breeding and feeding techniques for the main beef cattle categories (white meat calf, light and heavy bullock); meat production according to the cow-calf line.
Pork production: breeding of the sow and reproduction; rearing replacement gilts; breeding and feeding techniques for light and heavy pigs.
Classroom exercises (0.5 CFU):
- Identification of main cattle and pig breeds; Seminars with discussions on topics of interest and current issues in livestock farming
Field exercises (0.5 CFU):
Visits to 2 livestock farms to verify the theoretical knowledge acquired during the course