NutriFeeds
Contact: PD Dr. rer. nat. habil. Björn Kuhla, Dr. sc. agr. Gürbüz Daş
Duration: 2025-2028
Funding: EU - HORIZON
Abstract:
The present work content is part of the EU-funded project NutriFeeds. The aim is to characterize the feeding value of so far underutilized heat and drought-tolerant plants and their by-products in ruminant nutrition. We will select material from 7 drought-tolerant plants partially derived from silvopasture systems e.g. summer cuttings from fruit trees grown on orchard meadows (apple, pear, cherry, plum, and buckthorn leaves), but also Swiss Mattenklee (a red clover variety), Sida hermaphrodita, and Silphium perfoliatum. Plant material will be preserved by careful drying under controlled conditions. It will be analysed to determine the nutritive value, biochemical composition, and safety parameters using chemical and in vitro methods. This will include in-depth analyses for minerals, protein, amino acids, detailed fibre specifics, and essential nutrients (vitamins), gross energy and the presence of anti-nutritional factors by means of in vitro, UPLC, colorimetric, or enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays. Once characterized, plant material will be used in feeding experiments with sheep wethers. Supplementation of 20 to 50% of the heat and drought-tolerant plants to a hay-based diet will be tested. Total collection trials in metabolic cages inserted into respiration chambers will be conducted. Critical parameters such as feed intake, digestibility, gaseous and urinary N and C emissions, energy balance, and postabsorptive metabolic parameters (plasma antioxidative capacity, mineral status, amino acids) will be measured to quantify the improved feeding value relative to hay feeding only.