PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Agriculture is one of the sectors that will be mostly affected by climate change, but it can also be an important part of the solution. Within the EU-27, Agriculture is responsible for 12% of total greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions according to the NACE classification for 2018. In particular, livestock rearing contributes to the emission of methane (CH4) from enteric fermentation, and both methane and nitrous oxide (N2O) from manure. Cattle are the most important source of methane in many countries because of their large population size and large ruminant digestive system. Sheep and goats represent approximately 56% of the world ruminant population. Besides the production of approximately 1.5 million tons of meat and 25.6 million tons of milk, this sector contributes to the preservation of landscapes and ecosystems, cooperating with biodiversity conservation and supplying products to niche markets. Both species play valuable multi-functional roles, especially in small farming systems. More than 50% of the world’s small ruminants are located in arid regions, indicating the adaptability of these animals to such environmental conditions and their future suitability to regions predicted to sustain increasing temperatures. Opportunities for reducing GHG emission intensity include improved animal breeding, feeding, health and reproduction. Management practices to improve production and quality of feed sources, can also enhance animal productivity. However, the potential for reducing GHG emissions is dependent on local climatic and feed conditions. Indeed, in some ecosystems, small ruminants may be one of the only options landholders have to utilise low-quality feed for production of protein for human consumption.
OBJECTIVES
The MiCliFeed project aims to demonstrate the scientific, environmental and economic feasibility of an innovative approach for exploiting the agro-industrial waste streams and develop them into functional livestock feeds in order to: i) mitigate the climate impact of small ruminant livestock farming; ii) reduce the environmental footprint of livestock farming; iii) improve the efficiency of feed utilisation; iv) increase animal productivity by protecting gut health; and v) adopt circular economy production approaches. This will be achieved by using locally-produced agro-industrial waste/by-products containing bioactive compounds beneficial to the gut health.
RESULTS
Expected results:
- Documentation of bioactive potential of waste and by-products in at least 6 types of agricultural industries (olive processing, nuts processing, wineries, carob, citrus and tomato industry);
- Development of bioactive livestock feeds in pellet form for operational use;
- Production of more than 2 000 t bioactive pellets from recycled waste;
- Operational demonstration and on-farm evaluation of bioactive prototype feeds in at least 6 livestock farms located in 3 different countries (Greece, Italy, France);
- Socio-economic and environmental analysis of production technology and livestock feed chain to promote replicability and transferability at both industrial-production and livestock farm use;
- Increase by 2 000 t of the recycling waste and by-products from agro-Industries in Greece, Italy and France;
- Replication of using bioactive livestock feeds in different regions in 3 countries (Greece, Italy and France);
- 20% livestock drugs reduction per animal unit due to the effect of bioactive livestock feeds;
- 10-30% decrease of methane emissions per animal unit since feeding of bioactive plant factors;
- After the end of the project, replication with 3 industries commercially producing bioactive livestock feeds from recycled agro-industrial wastes and by-products; and
- Information and awareness raising to more than 5 000 people, including 50 agricultural industries and 500 livestock farmers through publicity and dissemination actions.
