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Sustainability

Bodenverdichtung

How does compacted soil recover?

It takes mere seconds to compact a soil, but years or even decades for it to recover. Biological activities by plant roots and soil organisms (earthworms) as well as physical effects like drying out and rewetting phases, and freezing-thawing cycles are vital for natural regeneration. Exactly how recovery happens is being investigated in a long-term field trial. For this, an observational infrastructure with hundreds of soil probes – the Soil Structure Observatory (SSO) – was set up in 2014 together with ETH Zurich. After the initial compaction event, a fallow, a permanent grassland and a crop rotation with and without tillage were set up. This allows to analyse e.g. the influence of plants and tillage on recovery.

Bodenfruchtbarkeit und Bodenschutz
SoilStructureObservatory
Regeneration verdichteter Böden

Publikation Arbeitshaltung Melken

Ergonomics in the milking parlour

Milkers frequently suffer from musculoskeletal disorders, especially in the area of the shoulders and arms.  Agroscope therefore investigated whether appropriate working heights can reduce workload in the milking parlour. For this, the angle of flexion of various joints during milking was recorded in one experiment, whilst a second experiment recorded muscle contractions at three different heights. The study showed that although a lower working height in the milking parlour has no effect on forearms or upper arms, it significantly reduces strain on the shoulders. 

Publications Frigga Dohme-Meier

Eichinger J., Reiche A.-M., Dohme-Meier F., Fuchsmann P.
Optimization of volatile organic compounds sampling from dairy cow exhaled breath using polymer-based solid-phase extraction cartridges for gas chromatographic analysis.
Journal of Breath Research, 18, (3), 2024, 1-18.

Reiche A.-M., Münger A., Dohme-Meier F.
Between- and within-animal variation of ruminal pH of dairy cows fed hay and herbage with increased nonstructural carbohydrate levels.
Dans: Proceedings of the 78th Conference of Nutrition Physiology. 5. March, Ed. Gesellschaft für Ernährungsphysiologie, Göttingen (DE). 2024.

Eichinger J., Reiche A.-M., Münger A., Fuchsmann P., Pimentel G., Huber K., Dohme-Meier F.
Investigation of the suitability of exhaled volatile organic compounds to discriminate different diets in lactating dairy cows.
Dans: GfE Tagung. 5-7 March, Ed. GfE, Göttingen. 2024.

Eichinger J., Reiche A.-M., Münger A., Fuchsmann P., Huber K., Dohme-Meier F.
Correlations between volatile organic compounds of exhaled breath and blood metabolites of lactating dairy cows.
Dans: GfE Tagung. 5-7 March, Ed. GfE, Göttingen. 2024.

Eichinger J., Reiche A.-M., Münger A., Fuchsmann P., Huber K., Dohme-Meier F.
Correlations between volatile organic compounds of exhaled breath and blood metabolites of lactating dairy cows.
Dans: GfE Tagung. 7. March, Göttingen. 2024.

Berthel R., Dohme-Meier F., Keil N.
Dairy sheep and goats sort for particle size and protein in mixed rations.
Applied Animal Behaviour Science, 271, (106144), 2024, 1-12.

Pontiggia A., Münger A., Eggerschwiler L., Holinger M., Stucki D., Ammer S., Bruckmaier R.M., Dohme-Meier F., Keil N.
Behavioural responses related to increasing core body temperature of grazing dairy cows experiencing moderate heat stress.
Animal, 18, (3), 2024, 1-10.

Xavier C., Morel I., Dohme-Meier F., Siegenthaler R., Le Cozler Y., Lerch S.
Estimation of carcass chemical composition in beef-ondairy cattle using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) scans of cold half-carcass or 11th rib cut.
Journal of Animal Science, 101, 2023, 1-12.

Lazzari G., Münger A., Eggerschwiler L., Borda-Molina D., Seifert J., Camarinha-Silva A., Schrade S., Zähner M., Zeyer K., Kreuzer M., Dohme-Meier F.
Effects of Acacia mearnsii added to silages differing in nutrient composition and condensed tannins on ruminal and manure-derived methane emissions of dairy cows.
Journal of Dairy Science, 106, (10), 2023, 6816-6833.

Holinger M., Bühl V., Helbing M., Pieper L., Kürmann S., Pontiggia A., Dohme-Meier F., Keil N., Ammer S.
Behavioural changes to moderate heat load in grazing dairy cows under on-farm conditions.
Livestock Science, In Press, 2023, 1-32.

Zähner M., Pitzen L., Dohme-Meier F., Schrade S.
Les robots d’évacuation du fumier et ce qu’ils peuvent faire.
Dans: Cours de formation continue en construction rurale. 7 novembre, Ed. Agroscope, Agridea, ALB-CH et Suissemelio, Grangeneuve. 2023, 1-18.
autres langues: allemand

Gueddar R., Zähner M., Steger D., Mohn J., Niu M., Dohme-Meier F., Schrade S.
Grazing strategies: Quantification and modelling of housing-based emissions (graziQ-house).
Dans: IAS Doctoral Symposium. 2 November, Einsiedeln. 2023, 1.

Zähner M., Pitzen L., Dohme-Meier F., Schrade S.
Erfahrungen in der Praxis mit aufnehmenden Entmistungsrobotern.
Dans: Bautagung 2023. 31. Mai - 1. Juni, Ed. Höhere Bundeslehr- und Forschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Raumberg-Gumpenstein (AT). 2023, 23-30.

Zähner M., Pitzen L., Dohme-Meier F., Schrade S.
Erfahrungen in der Praxis mit aufnehmenden Entmistungsrobotern.
Dans: Bautagung Raumberg-Gumpenstein 2023. 31. Mai, Ed. Höhere Bundeslehr- und Forschungsanstalt für Landwirtschaft Raumberg-Gumpenstein, Irdning (AT) - Raumberg-Gumpenstein. 2023, 1-41.

Foggi G., Turini L., Dohme-Meier F., Muenger A., Eggerschwiler L., Bérard J., Conte G., Buccioni A., Mele M.
In vivo evaluation of tannins and essential oils mixtures as additives for dairy cows.
Dans: Book of Abstracts of the 74th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science. 26 August – 1 September, Ed. EAAP, 2023, 567.

Reiche A.-M., Tretola M., Eichinger J., Hütten A.-L., Münger A., Eggerschwiler L., Pinotti L., Dohme-Meier F.
Bakery by-products in herbage-based diets for dairy cows: Effects on milk yield and reticular pH.
Dans: EAAP Congress. 26 August - 1st September, Lyon. 2023, 295-295.

Reiche A.-M., Amelchanka S. L., Bapst B., Terranova M., Kreuzer M., Kuhla B., Dohme-Meier F.
Influence of dietary fiber content and horn status on thermoregulatory responses of Brown Swiss dairy cows under thermoneutral and short-term heat stress conditions.
Journal of Dairy Science, In Press, 2023, 1-14.

Hayoz B., Morel I., Dieudonné A., Rothacher M., Siegenthaler R., Dohme-Meier F., Lerch S.
Feeding behavior, methane emission and digestibility of crossbred heifers along compensatory growth.
Dans: EAAP 2023. 30. August, Ed. European Federation of Animal Science, Lyon. 2023, 1.

Hayoz B., Morel I., Dieudonné A., Rothacher M., Siegenthaler R., Dohme-Meier F., Lerch S.
Feeding behavior, methane emission and digestibility of crossbred heifers along compensatory growth.
Dans: EAAP Conference. 07 March, Lyon. 2023, 1.

Berthel R., Deichelbohrer. A., Dohme-Meier F., Egli W., Keil N.
Validation of automatic monitoring of feeding behaviours in sheep and goats.
PLOS ONE, 18, (5), 2023, 1-19.

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Rinder Fuetterung

Optimised feed reduces environmental impacts

On behalf of Micarna SA, Agroscope analysed the environmental impacts of beef, pork and poultry production. With beef production, feed intensity was crucial. In the case of pork and poultry production, the quantity of feed used per kg of meat had the greatest influence on environmental impacts. The use of European soya with its shorter transport distances had a positive effect. 

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