The main objective of BIOACTIVATE is to demonstrate the scientific, environmental and economic feasibility of an innovative approach for the development of functional livestock feeds in order to i) improve the efficiency of feed utilization, ii) increase animal productivity by protecting gut health iii) reduce the environmental footprint of livestock farming and iv) support circular economy. This will be achieved by using locally produced agro-industrial waste/by-products containing bioactive compounds and novel probiotic substances beneficial to the gut health.
The final goals of such an approach will be to improve and promote:
- animal health and welfare by controlling gut infections which remain one of the most serious problems in livestock farming.
- competitiveness through more robust and healthy animals to achieve better economy and support sustainability
To achieve this BIOACTIVATE will
- Test:
- bioactive waste/by-products resources derived from agricultural industries of olive, wine, pomegranate and carob processing
- probiotic substances isolated from indigenous strains of lactic acid bacteria derived from milk alone or in combination, in small ruminant production systems under controlled and field/on-farm conditions for their ability to improve gut health.
- Deeply analyse the candidate plant resources for their profile in bioactive compounds to unravel their mode of action on bacteria and parasites.
- Evaluate the adoption of the innovations developed in the project, by studying how to market them and proposing policies to foster their use in practice (integration in whole-farm economic context).
- Sustain the communication, dissemination activities and farmers’ education and training through courses and workshops.
