Metabolism Efficiency Unit

Animal and nutritional physiology and the fundamentals of energy efficiency and metabolic health

The efficient conversion of plant-based feed into animal products is of great importance in modern animal husbandry, especially against the background of increasingly scarce resources and global warming.

We research neuroendocrine, metabolic and cellular signals for the regulation of feed intake in the peripartal period of the dairy cow. We also seek to understand the adaptation mechanism of the energy and intermediary metabolism to elevated ambient temperatures in order to derive feeding recommendations for reducing heat stress.

In other projects we examine the influence of nutritional, microbial or animal physiology factors on health, feed efficiency, organ development and methane emissions.

Here our studies always encompass a combination of measurements on the overall animal as well as numerous modern physiological, cellular and molecular analysis methods.