Diego Capraro
Use of fibrous diets to improve welfare and performance of heavy finishing pigs.
Supervisor : Mauro Spanghero
The aim of this PhD thesis is to demonstrate how the supply of fibre in diets for fattening pigs could lead to beneficial effects to animal welfare and performance, with substantial improvements in farm sustainability. The innovative aspect of this research is to study the dietary utilisation of different silages obtained from corn in diets for pigs. In fact, the recent increase in corn grain prices and grain drying cost have raised interest in silage corn products not only for ruminants, but also for pig diets. Moreover, a larger usage of farmland grown and ensiled corn feeds can increase farm sustainability by limiting off-farm transports of feeds for processing and drying.
The experiments will consist of subsequent feeding and metabolic trials associated with measurements at slaughter of animals. The meat quality will be assessed by physic-chemical analysis on fresh meat and fat samples, while also controls will carried out on hams during the seasoning process. Finally, anatomic-pathological investigations on the digestive system will be performed to detect the state of healthy and welfare of the animals.
Part of the experimental activities will be supported by Project AGER, grant no 2011-0280
Biography and contacts
Diego Capraro was born in 1987 in Feltre-Italy. In 2010 graduated in Animal Production Science (103/110) and 2012 graduated in Animal Science Master (107/110) at Udine University (Italy). In 2013 he started the doctoral course at the PhD school “Agriculture Science and Biotechnology” at the University of Udine.