All slides of the course are in Moodle platform (http://e-l.unifi.it/)
Payne W.J.A. & Wilson T.R. 1999. An Introduction to Animal Husbandry in the Tropics. Blackwell publishing.
FAO. 2007. The State of the World's Animal Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, edited by Barbara Rischkowsky & Dafydd Pilling. Rome.
FAO. 2011. Surveying and monitoring of animal genetic resources. FAO Animal Production and Health Guidelines. No. 7. Rome.
Learning Objectives
Knolewdge acquired:
Knowledge on climatic stress physiology in livestock and on traditional and innovative rearing systems of cattle and Camelids in the tropics. To give knowledge about hygiene and animal welfare, and small ruminants and poultry farming. Knowledge on pig production in tropical environments. Basic principles of animal genetic resources conservation.
Competence acquired
Understanding of the climatic, genetic and nutritional constraints to the optimization of the animal productions in tropical environment. Local and improved cattle breeds. Competence on physiological basis of beef production in tropical environments. Basic principles of Camelids productions. Knowledge on hygiene and animal welfare, small ruminants and poultry farming. Competence on management of pig breeding and on strategies to control animal biodiversity.
Skills acquired (at the end of the course):
Ability to select the best cattle genotypes suited for tropical environments. Technical skill on rearing systems of cattle. Skills to act with technical decisions on rearing systems and feeding plans for productions improvement.
Ability to operate in case of animal health and welfare threats. Technical skills on small ruminants and poultry rearing. Ability to manage pig farms and to monitor the state of the animal genetic resources.
Teaching Methods
Total hours of the course (including the time spent in attending lectures, seminars, private study, examinations, etc...): 150
Hours reserved to private study and other indivual formative activities: 102
Contact hours for: Lectures (hours): 30
Contact hours for: Laboratory-field/practice (hours): 18
Further information
Frequency of lectures, practice and lab:
not compulsory but strongly encouraged
Teaching tools
unifiElearning: http://e-l.unifi.it/
Type of Assessment
Written exam with multiple choice, open and closed questions
Course program
Tropical climates and environments. Thermal regulation, acclimatization, heat tolerance.
Cattle: taxonomy, paleoethnological origin, historical and present population of the world, main cosmopolitan and local breeds. Reproduction. Beef production. Critical points in tropical productions. Camelids: importance, distribution, rearing systems and productions.
Hygiene and health: common animal farming diseases. Animal welfare: definition and evaluation of animal welfare. Goat and Sheep farming and its products: milk, meat, wool and skin. Swine: distribution, origins, breeds used in the Tropics, reproduction, feeds and feeding, health, management. Local breeds. Risk status of animal genetic resources (AnGR). Management of AnGR. Characterization as a basis of decision-making. Breed characterization methods. Monitoring. Management of endangered populations.