In vitro ruminal fermentation studies to improve nutritional efficiency and reduce environmental impacts

Supervisor: Mauro Spanghero

Ruminants are the most bred domestic animal species because they provide high quality food using low nutritional value and not competitive with humans feed source (fibrous and low quality protein feed). The digestive organ which allow the transformation of poor quality plant material in high quality nutrients is the rumen where is present a composite microbial population that performs complex fermentation activities. The study of the ruminal environment and metabolism is essential to improve the efficiency of nutritional processes, minimizing energy losses and undesirable effects on animal welfare. To study the ruminal metabolism, there are available in vitro technologies, to be performed in the laboratory, without the direct use of experimental animals and with lower times and costs compared to in vivo techniques. The ruminal fermentation techniques can be used to estimate the nutritional value of animal feeds (“batch systems”) or to study the metabolic processes (continuous system). The goal of my PhD project is to investigate several aspects of the rumen metabolism using different in vitro techniques, especially with an artificial rumen designed and set up in the Laboratory of Animal Nutrition of Department of Agriculture, Food, Environmental and Animal Sciences of the University of Udine. These studies aim to improve nutritional efficiency and reducing environmental excretion (CH₄ and nitrogen compounds).

Biography and contacts

Chiara Sarnataro was born in 1991 in Gorizia-Italy. In 2014 she graduated in Animal Healt and Breeding at the University of Udine (101/110). In 2016 she graduated as a Master of Nutrition and Animal Resources at the University of Udine (110/110 cum laude).  

In November 2016, she started the doctoral course at the PhD school “Agriculture Science and Biotechnology” of the University of Udine.

sarnataro.chiara@spes.uniud.it