Agroscope and partners are launching the EU research project MonoGutHealth. This project aims to use innovative nutrition strategies to promote gut microbial colonisation in pigs and chickens in order to strengthen their resilience.
At the kick-off meeting on 9-10 March 2021, the project ‘Optimal gut function in monogastric livestock’ will be launched. The project will be coordinated by the Agroscope researcher Giuseppe Bee. Agroscope has already shown that a chestnut food supplement can significantly reduce the occurrence of weaning diarrhoea in piglets. This sustainable approach to reducing disease-related livestock losses by strengthening the gastrointestinal tract is at the heart of the MonoGutHealth project. Healthy, resilient young animals require fewer veterinary interventions. According to the motto “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, the objective of the MonoGutHealth project is to use innovative technologies to produce eggs, pork and poultry in a particularly animal-friendly and economic manner. In addition to dietary and disease factors, the project will identify microbial factors affecting the gut microbiome of pigs and chickens before birth and in the early neonatal phase. Targeted communication measures will give both stakeholders in agricultural practice and the research community as well as consumers an understanding of the results.
The MonoGutHealth project consists of 11 subprojects and is supported by research centres and partners from nine countries. This broad-based collaboration guarantees the exchange of the latest knowledge and offers 11 young researchers an entry point into research practice of the highest standard. The project is supported by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme. Besides Agroscope, other involved Swiss partners are UFA AG, the CSEM (Swiss Centre for Electronics and Microtechnology) and Twenty Green. At the Agroscope Posieux site, two PhD students (Roberta Ruggeri and Aleksandra Glowacka) have been recruited to perform research on the pig microbiome and on intra-uterine growth-restricted piglets. They will be supervised by Catherine Ollagnier and Giuseppe Bee as well as Paolo Trevisi from the University of Bologna.
