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International audience; PIGWEB is a European project that was launched on March 1, 2021. This five-year project gathers 16 partners from 10 different countries and fully embraces the European Green Deal, the ambition of the European Commission to make Europe the world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. To identify levers that can be used to achieve the goals of the Green Deal, effective and convenient access to leading research infrastructures is crucial. Therefore, one of the major features of PIGWEB is the transnational access (TNA) program, allowing external academic and private researchers to access the partners’ infrastructures through the submission of research proposals. A budget of about 1.5 million euro is reserved to provide free access to top-quality pig research installations across Europe in an easy and transparent way. In total, 28 experimental pig research installations are available. A two-stage process is used to select the TNA applications. For the first stage, a general proposal is expected, whereas in the second stage, a detailed proposal is submitted. First-stage proposals are reviewed based on their rationale, scientific quality, and valorisation strategy. The first of the three TNA calls, launched in September 2021, was a great success: 20 first-stage proposals were submitted. In general, the proposals were of very high quality and addressed different research topics offered through this call, with a strong interest in performance trials. Of the 20 first-stage proposals submitted, 11 have been selected to proceed to the second stage to submit a full proposal. The main selection criteria for the second stage are the scientific and ethical soundness of the proposal, together with the practical and financial feasibility. The second call will be launched in September 2022. First-stage proposals should be submitted before the end of December. More details on the installations offered, the eligibility and the procedures to be followed are available on the project website https://www.pigweb.eu/call-for-proposals.

International audience; The PPILOW project aims to co-construct innovations to improve Poultry and Pig Welfare in Low-input outdoor and Organic farming systems through a multi-actor approach. PPILOW implements a participatory approach for proposing and studying welfare-improvement levers. It will provide a combination of practical solutions that can be applied at a pan-European level with specific adjustments depending on citizen’s expectations and the target market. The multi-actor approach consists in involving end-users including farmers, breeding companies, feed producers, consumer associations, retailers, advisers, processors, and scientists in National Practitioner Groups (NPG) in six participating countries. PPILOW partners facilitate the groups by connecting NPG at European level, transferring scientific information, interacting with partners engaged in animal experiments, and co-creating innovations rising from NPG-specific demands. They co-build with PPILOW partners welfare self-assessment tools (development of the PIGLOW app for pigs and refinement of the EBENE® app for poultry), and innovative breeding, feeding, and rearing strategies and techniques to improve the welfare of animals. They co-design protocols, test innovations on farm, and disseminate the results. In turn, they receive insights on methods and scientific results, and inputs from other NPG reinforcing the value of the expected outcomes. Approaches focus on avoiding physical damage and the elimination of layer male chicks, on reducing boar taint of intact male pigs, promoting positive behaviours, animal health, and robustness through field studies with pigs and poultry. Multicriteria analyses of the most effective levers of welfare improvement will be performed to evaluate their economic, social, and environmental impacts based on the ‘One Welfare’ concept; economic and business models will also be developed. To ensure the rapid uptake of the project results by end-users, the close involvement of PPILOW’s NPG throughout the EU will ensure disseminationactivities and the facilitation of change. The PPILOW project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under grant agreement N°816172. www.ppilow.eu.

Genomic prediction can improve the accuracy of estimated breeding values for traits driven by additive genetic effects within common settings but prediction of traits affected by non-additive genetic effects and GxE remains a challenge. Mechanistic growth models express growth performances in terms of nonlinear functional interactions between underlying latent traits and nutritional environmental effects. Assuming the latent traits are less affected by non-additive genetic effects and GxE, these models can capture certain non-additive genetic effects and GxE at the phenotype level and allow prediction at unobserved ages for longitudinal data, e.g. mature weight and mature feed intake. In this study, we developed a Bayesian hierarchical model to integrate a Gompertz model for body weight and feed intake into genomic prediction models for pigs. By predicting breeding values for biologically relevant underlying latent traits, these models have the potential to advance genetic improvement across populations and environments.

A module for the digestive and metabolic use of lipids and fatty acids (FA) was coupled to the InraPorc simulation model. The later was used to predict the lipid mass by adjusting some parameters to approximate the best performance (feed intake, growth rate) achieved by the animals during the trials. Then, the lipid mass is used as an input to the FA module to estimate their growth and establish the FA composition in the whole animal at slaughter. Data from 5 studies and twenty experimental diets were used to validate the module. Although many FAs can be identified, palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids account for over 95% of the total FAs obtained during chemical analysis of pork samples. Their content on the studies used in this work ranged from 18.2 to 28.7, 9.8 to 17.8, 33.1 to 51.0 and 5.3 to 27.1 % for palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic, respectively. Predictions ranged from 14.9 to 27.0, 8.8 to 16.4, 28.9 to 56.4 and 6.2 to 35.0% for palmitic (r = 0.89; P < 0.001), stearic (r = 0.66; P = 0.001), oleic (r = 0.87; P < 0.001) and linoleic (r = 0.85; P < 0.001), respectively. Even if adjustments can always be done to ameliorate predictions, these results already showed that the FA module predicted quite well the deposition of total FA along growth (r = 0.93; P < 0.001), as well as that of individual FAs at different slaughter weights. From these results, it can be concluded about the interest of the development of the FA module coupled to the InraPorc model to study the influence of feeding strategies and to predict the quality of pork., Un module d’utilisation digestive et métabolique des lipides et acides gras (AG) a été couplé au modèle InraPorc de simulation de la croissance du porc. Celui-ci a été utilisé pour prédire la croissance de la masse de lipides en ajustant certains de ses paramètres afin de s’approcher au mieux des performances (consommation d’aliment, croissance journalière) réalisées par les animaux lors des essais. A son tour, la valeur de la masse lipidique est utilisée en tant qu’intrant du module d’AG afin d’estimer le dépôt de chaque AG et établir la composition en AG de l’animal entier au moment de l’abattage. Les données expérimentales basées sur cinq études et vingt régimes alimentaires ont été utilisées pour valider le module. Même si beaucoup d’AG peuvent être identifiés, les acides palmitique, stéarique, oléique et linoléique représentent plus de 95% du total des AG obtenus lors de l’analyse chimique des échantillons de porcs nourris avec des régimes standards. Leur contenu dans les études utilisées variait, respectivement, de 18,2 à 28,7, de 9,8 à 17,8, 33,1 à 51,0 et de 5,3 à 27,1% pour les AG palmitique, stéarique, oléique et linoléique. Les résultats ont montré que le module prédit assez bien les dépôts d’AG individuels au cours de la croissance, ainsi que le total d’AG observé lors de l’abattage (r = 0,93 ; P < 0,001). Les prédictions ont varié, respectivement, de 14,9 à 27,0, de 8,8 à 16,4, de 28,9 à 56,4 et 6,2 à 35,0% pour les AG palmitique (r = 0,89; P < 0,001), stéarique (r = 0,66; P = 0,001), oléique (r = 0,87; P < 0,001) et linoléique (r = 0,85; P < 0,001). D’après ces résultats, il est possible de conclure sur l’intérêt de l’utilisation du module de composition en AG couplé au modèle InraPorc afin d’étudier l’influence des stratégies alimentaires et prédire la qualité du gras du porc.

International audience; The European Commission considers research infrastructures as key elements for the advancement of knowledge, structure the scientific community, facilitate open, interconnected, and data-driven science, and attract young people to science. PIGWEB is a Horizon 2020 project that started on March 1st, 2021. The aim of the project is to strengthen the pig research community by providing and facilitating access to research infrastructures, reinforce a culture of cooperation between the research community and industrial and societal stakeholders, and improve and integrate the services provided by the research infrastructures. The project gathers 16 partners from nine countries. Twentyeight installations provide transnational access, allowing external parties to carry out experiments in the PIGWEB installations, funded by the project for a total budget of 1.5 million euro. Transnational access is given to various housing facilities and production systems, slaughterhouses and associated equipment, experimental feed mills, and laboratories to carry out studies on pig nutrition, metabolism, physiology, behaviour, and emissions. The project also focusses on best practices for protocols, standards, and ethics in experimental pig research and on ontologies and Open Data. Joint research activities are carried out to identify and test non- and minimally invasive proxies of efficiency, health, stress, and environmental impact. Also, new methods, tools, and technologies will be developed to measure traits that are currently difficult to measure, related to welfare, behaviour, and body composition. Newly developed and available research methods and tools will be tested to carry out integrated phenotyping of pigs.

International audience; The objective of the Feed-a-Gene project (2015-2020; H2020 grant agreement 633531) was to adapt the feed, the animal, and the feeding techniques to improve the efficiency and sustainability of monogastric livestock production systems. For ‘feed’, we concluded that non-GMO European soybeans can be processed in small-scale processing plants to obtain soybean meals with similar or even better nutritional quality as imported soybean meals. Also, there is a potential for the use of green biomass to extract protein for monogastric animals to replace imported soybean meal in organic farming. Concerning the ‘animal’, monogastric animals have to rely more on alternative feed resources that are less or not in competition with other uses. These resources are typically more variable and of poorer nutritional quality. With new molecular and automated records, animals can be selected that do best with feed that is worse and transform these alternative feeds into meat, respecting their welfare and robustness and limiting environmental impacts. Precision livestock feeding is a novel technology that can be using to provide tailored diets to animals according to their (individual) requirements, thereby reducing nutrient excretion and the environmental impact of livestock production. The potential of precision livestock farming is much larger than what we explored in Feed-a-Gene (e.g. precision medication, design of housing systems). It is not a question of ‘if’ but of ‘when’ these systems will be implemented, and ‘how’ society will perceive trade-offs of improved resource use, reduced environmental impact, improved welfare versus a perceived further industrialization of livestock production.

International audience; This study aimed to use relationships between the faecal microbiome, the systemic metabolome, and animal genome to predict feed efficiency related traits in pigs (i.e. feed intake, body weight gain, and feed conversion ratio). Data were collected from 530 three-way crossbred male grower-finisher pigs, all genotyped at 50k SNPs. Pigs were offered feed ad libitum in a three-phase feeding program with a commercial diet based on wheat, barley and by-products. On the day before slaughter (mean body weight 125 kg), individual faecal and blood samples were collected. Faecal samples were sequenced for the 16S hypervariable region of bacteria (V3/V4) to profile the faecal microbiome. Blood serum samples were analysed with untargeted LC-MS for metabolites. Using these data, we calculated the proportion of variance in feed efficiency related traits that was explained by variation in the faecal microbiome (m2), blood metabolites (b2), and genetic background (h2). The m2 values ranged from 34 to 52%, b2 values ranged from 50 to 63%, and h2 values from 23 to 28%. Using cross-validation, we estimated the accuracy of prediction based on the microbiome, metabolome, and genome profile of the pigs. Prediction accuracies were highest based on the metabolic profile (r=0.56-0.63), followed by the faecal microbiome profile (r=0.30-0.48), and the genome profile (r=0.21-0.29). Modelling all three profiles simultaneously resulted in the highest prediction accuracy (r=0.59-0.66). In conclusion, combining information on the genotype of the pig and its faecal microbiota and blood metabolite profiles improves the accuracy of prediction of phenotypes for feed efficiency related traits, but almost the same prediction accuracy could be achieved using blood metabolite profiles only. This study was part of the Feed-a-Gene Project, funded from the European Union’s H2020 Programme under grant agreement no 633531.

Les travaux de recherche sur l’alimentation des porcs ont été conduits par l'INRAgrâce au soutien financier de partenaires privés via des collaborations bilatérales avec des firmes services (ou des producteurs et vendeurs d’additifs) ou des collaborations plus larges regroupant une grande partie des acteurs de l’alimentation animale. Les principaux outputs de ces travaux de recherche ont été : (1) des concepts et méthodes de référence pour caractériser la valeur des ressources et les besoins des animaux, (2) des outils d’aide à la décision (OAD) pour faciliter la diffusion et l’appropriation des connaissances auprès des acteurs de la filière au niveau national et international. Les résultats de ces travaux ont été utilisés et diffusés hors de la sphère académique grâce à des activités d’intermédiation (expertises, réunions techniques) réalisées d’abord par les chercheurs eux-mêmes. Les firmes services françaises (notamment celles associées au GERNA ) ont rapidement intégré et adapté les nouveaux concepts d’évaluation des aliments pour que leurs clients bénéficient des progrès réalisés, tant pour l’énergie (énergie digestible vers énergie nette (EN)), que pour l’azote, sur leur marge nette de production. Certaines entreprises privées (Ajinomoto Eurolysine) ont financé la diffusion des résultats (aide à la production d'outils d’aide à la décision) et ont également utilisé leur réseau commercial en France et dans le monde pour aider à leur mise en pratique. Enfin, la diffusion de la connaissance sur l’adéquation entre les besoins et les apports nutritionnels pour limiter les rejets a été en grande partie effectuée grâce aux recommandations successives du CORPEN dans lequel l’INRA a eu un rôle déterminant. Au niveau de la filière porcine française et européenne, les systèmes d’alimentation chez le porc que l’INRA a conçus ont eu des impacts sur les trois piliers de la durabilité. Au niveau économique et social, ils ont permis d’améliorer la rentabilité de différents maillons de la filière (firmes services, producteurs d’aliment, coopératives et groupements d’éleveurs, éleveurs) et de préserver les emplois directs et indirects liés à l’élevage porcin dans le contexte des années 80 où le nombre d’éleveurs était en forte baisse. Ces évolutions ont aussi permis à la France de devenir autosuffisante en viande de porc alors qu’elle était fortement importatrice au début des années 80. Sur le plan environnemental, l'alimentation des animaux a été un levier d'action important qui a permis de réduire de façon très significative les pertes d'azote et de phosphore. Les travaux conduits et l’expertise des chercheurs ont eu un rôle moteur dans les réflexions qui ont mené à l’établissement, l’acceptation et l’évolution de normes environnementales plus strictes. En prenant en compte l’évolution de la production de porc, la réduction des rejets en azote et en phosphore peut-être évaluée à 11% et 46% à l’échelle nationale entre 1984 et 2010. L'étude de ce cas a été réalisée selon la méthode ASIRPA.

International audience; Histidine is a constituent amino acid of body proteins and, once incorporated in protein, histidine can be methylated post-translationally to methyl-histidine. Histidine is also a precursor of histamine, a neurotransmitter and involved in the immune response. Histidine and histamine are constituents of a number of dipeptides, which act as pH buffers, metal chelating agents, and anti-oxidants, especially in skeletal muscles and in the brain. A considerable fraction of whole-body histidine is present as carnosine, the dipeptide of histidine and β-alanine. In the longissimus muscle, about 40% of the total histidine content is present as carnosine. The histidine in carnosine can be methylated to anserine or balenine, and the pig is among the few species that synthesize both forms. Hydrolysis of body protein and of histidine-containing dipeptides results in the release of the constituent amino acids. However, only the histidine of protein and carnosine can be reused for protein synthesis. Methyl-histidine is either excreted in the urine or remains bound in the dipeptides and accumulates in the body. Because carnosine represents such a large histidine reservoir, a dietary histidine deficiency may not directly lead to a reduction in growth, especially if growth is given a higher priority for histidine utilization than maintaining or depleting the histidine-containing dipeptide reserves. Few histidine dose-response studies have been done in piglets and differences in the estimated requirements may be due to differences in diluting or depleting the dipeptide reserves. However, at low histidine intakes, both feed intake and growth are reduced and a reduction of the histidine-to-lysine supply by 1 percentage point results in a growth reduction of 4%. Histidine dose-response studies need to consider the role of histidine as a constituent amino acid of body protein as well as its role in dipeptides.

Reducing dietary crude protein (CP) is a recognized solution for reducing nitrogen (N) emissions, which is a major issue for pig farming. The effect of this nutritional solution is well documented, but there is no quantitative summary in the literature that combines data on N excretion and ammonia emissions. A meta-analysis was performed to quantify benefits of reducing dietary CP on pig N balance and ammonia emissions, and to develop predictive equations based on animal performance. Articles included in the meta-analysis studied effects of CP reduction on N balance and/or N emissions of fattening pigs (20-120 kg), were published from 1990-2019 and used iso-digestible lysine diets. Thirty articles were used, which corresponded to 43 trials and 126 treatments. The general linear model procedure of MINITAB (2019) was used to build regression models, including a fixed trial effect. Reducing dietary CP linearly reduces total N excretion, urinary N excretion, fecal N excretion and ammonia emissions by 8.2%, 10%, 3.2% and 10%, respectively, per percentage point of CP reduction (P, La baisse de la teneur en matières azotées totales (MAT) des rations est une solution reconnue pour réduire les rejets azotés des porcs à l’engrais, une problématique majeure en élevage porcin. L’impact de cette solution nutritionnelle est bien documenté mais il n’existe pas de synthèse quantitative de la littérature allant de l’excrétion azotée aux émissions d’ammoniac. Une méta-analyse a ainsi été menée pour quantifier les bénéfices de la baisse de MAT sur la balance azotée des porcs et les émissions d’ammoniac, et établir des équations de prédiction basées sur les performances animales. Les articles publiés entre 1990 et 2019 étudient l’effet de la baisse de MAT sur la balance azotée et/ou les émissions azotées des porcs à l’engrais (20-120 kg), avec des régimes formulés iso-Lys digestible. Au total, 30 articles ont été utilisés, correspondant à 43 essais et 126 traitements expérimentaux. La procédure de modèle linéaire général de MINITAB (2019) a été utilisée pour établir des modèles de régression incluant un effet fixe de l’essai. La baisse marginale d’un point de MAT dans l’aliment réduit linéairement l’excrétion azotée totale, l’excrétion azotée urinaire, l’excrétion azotée fécale et les émissions d’ammoniac de, respectivement, 8,2, 10, 3,2 et 10 % (P < 0,001) et améliore le coefficient de rétention de 1,6 points. L’excrétion azotée urinaire, source principale des émissions d’ammoniac, est volatilisée à 28 % sous forme d’ammoniac (P < 0,001). La part d’excrétion azotée sous forme urinaire est réduite de 0,9 point par point d’amélioration de l’efficacité azotée (P < 0,001). Cette étude permet de mettre en évidence l’impact positif de la baisse de MAT sur les émissions azotées du porc à l’engrais et de quantifier ces bénéfices.

International audience; The production of animal-derived products can be seen as a linear process in which inputs such as feed are converted to outputs such as meat, milk, or eggs. Feed efficiency is then just the ratio of outputs over inputs. However, there are many more inputs and outputs in the production process, and not all are desirable. The idea behind a circular (bio)economy is to consider undesirable outputs from one subsystem as useful inputs for another subsystem, thereby eliminating waste and closing the loops. The circular flow of material and energy has been described by concepts such as ‘urban metabolism’ or ‘agricultural metabolism’. The metaphor with metabolism is interesting, because circularity exists widely in biology. The Krebs cycle and the urea cycle are examples of this, but the storage and mobilization of nutrients can also be seen as circular processes. However, these circular processes are linked to rather ‘linear’ objectives such as the production of ATP from acetyl CoA, the elimination of ammonia as urea, or to account for time differences between nutrient supply and demand. Circularity in metabolism is thus not necessarily a goal by itself, but a means to achieve a specific linear goal. Metabolism is also very well controlled, involving circular feedback loops, which occur at different levels of organization. For example, the functioning of an adipocyte is controlled both locally and centrally. Adipocytes can have a life of their own (e.g. they can be cultured in vitro), but they also respond to the energy supply and demand of the organism. The combination of linearity and circularity allows us to control our metabolism within very narrow limits, making the system remarkably robust. However, a 0.5% difference between energy intake and expenditure (i.e. the equivalent of one peanut per day), results in gaining roughly 20 kg of lipid between 20 and 60 years of age. Our metabolic system is thus very robust, but not fail-proof. Agricultural metabolism and livestock production systems are probably also very robust, but nether fail-proof nor fool-proof. Because we have some control over it, let us try not to be the fools that caused the disruption.

National audience; High quality protein sources are important for both animals and humans and to limit theircompetition, animals can be fed with alternative protein sources that are not-intended forhuman consumption is needed. The acid hydrolysis of feathers (EHFM) produces a product with a very high protein digestibility but the amino acid (AA) profile is unbalanced for pigs. Although unbalanced dietary AA profile can negatively affect the overall metabolism of pigs, it can be corrected by supplementing the diet with synthetic AA. The objective of the experiment was to compare the postprandial plasma profiles of AA, glucose, free fatty acids, urea, lactate, and insulin of pigs with contrasting protein deposition (adult vs growing pigs) potential after feeding diets either unbalanced (UNB) or balanced (BAL) in AA using EHFMas a protein source. The UNB diet for both sets of pigs had low levels of certain essential AA like Lys, Met, Tyr, and His while having high levels of branched-chain AA except for Ile. Therefore, their BAL diet was supplemented with these AA to attain a more favourable AA profile for pigs. All diets were formulated to provide the same amount of total AA. Four adult and four growing pigs were fitted with a jugular catheter for serial blood collection. After an overnight fast,pigs were fed 75% of their meal allowance, then blood was collected during 6h after the meal. Each pig received each diet three times. In both stages, feeding either diet didnot affect (P > 0.05) the average concentrations of total plasma AA. Supplementation with essential AA inBAL resulted in greater (P > 0.05) average plasma concentrations of Lys, Met, Ile and His, and of Tyr in growing pigs. However, supplementation of non-essential AA to both diets resulted in lower (P < 0.05) plasma concentrations of Ala, Glu, and Gly (and Ser, which was not supplemented) in BAL compared to UNB. Lower Ser and Gly may be due to the use of these AA for Cys synthesis. The concentrations of Thr, Trp, and Val did not differ between diets (P > 0.05). With the exception of Arg, Asp, and Tyr, growing and adult pigs responded in a similar way to balancing of the diet. Average postprandial plasma concentrations of the other metabolites and insulin were unaffected (P > 0.10) by the diet. In conclusion, AA supplementation to balance a diet results in changes in plasma AA profile in growing and adult pigs. Changes in non-essential AA may be due to their roles in carbon and nitrogen metabolism.

International audience; To determine amino acid (AA) requirements for pigs in precision feeding systems, it is important to understand the sources of variation in protein utilisation among pigs. It is possible that using fixed AA ratios to determine requirements limits protein deposition (PD) and contributes to this variation. This study aimed to measure PD in pigs fed with daily tailored diets where either dietary lysine (Lys) or threonine (Thr) were provided at independent variable rates. A total of 95 growing pigs (35 kg body weight (BW)) were used, with electronic ear tags granting them access to automatic feeders. Pigs were randomly assigned to treatments according to an unbalanced 5×5 factorial arrangement with Lys and Thr provided at 5 levels (i.e. 60, 80, 100, 120 and 140% of their estimated individual requirements of Lys and Thr). The pig was considered the experimental unit and the trial lasted 21 days. Daily standardised ileal digestible Lys and SID Thr requirements were estimated using individual daily feed intake and weekly body weight measurements. Total body fat and lean content were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry on days 1 and 21. Data were analysed using a mixed regression model and means compared by a Tukey test. The variation in the response in PD to Lys and Thr observed was large and similar to those studies using fixed AA ratios, with Lys and Thr intake explaining only 11% of the variation. Results were also analysed by cluster analysis discriminating pigs with low (167 g/d, n=16), medium (191 g/d, n=38) and high (213 g/d, n=37) PD, but with same average Lys and Thr intake among clusters. Low, medium, and high PD clusters differed (P

International audience; Within the Horizon 2020 EU program Feed-a-Gene, a decision support system (DSS) was developed to implement precision feeding (PF) in commercial pig farms and to help improve feed efficiency. This study aimed to perform PF with the DSS in practical conditions with growing pigs fed ad libitum and to assess consequences on performance and nutrient use. Sixty-four pigs were reared from 77 to 161 days of age (33.5 to 108.8. kg body weight, BW) in a single pen equipped with an automatic weighing-sorting system and eight automatic feeders that register feed intake and deliver a tailored blend of two diets (A and B, respectively 1.0 and 0.4 g SID Lysine(Lys)/MJ net energy (NE), and 9.7 MJ NE/kg) to individual pigs. The control group received a blend providing 0.9 g Lys/MJ NE until the group weighed 65 kg on average (growing phase) and 0.7 g Lys/MJ NE thereafter (finishing phase). For the PF group, the Lys requirement was assessed individually and on a daily basis, based on up to 20 previous records of BW and feed intake, and diets A and B were blended accordingly. Daily feed intake, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio did not differ between treatments. During the growing period, Lys and nitrogen (N) intake and N excretion were 11%, 9%, and 14% lower in the PF group than those in the control group, respectively (P < 0.05). During the finishing period, these values were only numerically lower (difference 0.66). These results could be explained by the slightly higher feed intake in the PF group (+100 g/d, P = 0.24) and the lower Lys content used during the finishing period of the 2-phase strategy compared to standard diets.

International audience; The objective of Feed-a-Gene (H2020 grant agreement 633531) was to adapt the feed, the animal and the feeding techniques to improve the efficiency and sustainability of monogastric livestock production systems. Efficiency is a complex trait affecting the components of sustainability. Imported soybean meal is a high-quality protein source, but its use can have environmental and social impacts. Technological treatments applied to European-grown protein sources (i.e. soybean meal, rapeseed meal, and green biomass) allow to obtain fractions with different nutritional characteristics that can be fed to different livestock species. Replacing Brazilian soybean meal with locally-produced protein sources reduced energy cost and impact on climate change, but resulted in a transfer of land-use and in more arable land use. Novel traits indicative for feed efficiency were developed and tested (e.g. individual feed intake in broilers, genomic information on nitrogen efficiency, large-scale measurements of digestibility in individual pigs, blood metabolites, and behavioural traits). These traits can be used in livestock management strategies, and digestibility, microbiota, and blood biomarkers appeared promising for genetic selection. Different mathematic models were developed to assess digestive and metabolic efficiency, animal robustness, and variation among animals. A userfriendly tool was developed allowing users to work with these models. Prototypes of precision feeding systems were developed for broilers, growing pigs, and sows. These systems adjust the type of feed to the daily changing nutritional requirements of individual or groups of animals. Precision feeding in pigs reduced key environmental impacts and increased profitability compared to conventional feeding systems.

Feed-a-Gene: dealing with variation. International conference Nutrition in Transition

National audience; Le projet H2020 PPILOW - "Poultry and PIg Low-input and Organic production systems’ Welfare" a pour objectif la co-conception d'innovations pour améliorer le bien-être des volailles et des porcs élevés dans des systèmes de production biologiques et plein air, grâce à une approche multi-acteurs mise en œuvre par 23 partenaires dans 9 pays européens. Une approche participative permettra d’impliquer les acteurs des chaînes de production, citoyens et scientifiques pour proposer et étudier des leviers d’amélioration du bien-être des animaux. Les objectifs du projet sont en particulier de : Mettre au point des méthodes d’auto-évaluation par l’éleveur du bien-être de ses animaux ; Réduire le risque d’odeur sexuelle de la viande et les problèmes comportementaux (agressivité, montes) des porcs mâles, afin de permettre l’arrêt de la castration des porcelets ; Réduire les risques de picage chez les poules afin de permettre l’arrêt de l’épointage du bec ; Permettre l’arrêt de l’élimination juste après l’éclosion des poussins mâles de souche ponte, en explorant deux méthodes : a) utiliser des croisements génétiques qui permettent d’élever les mâles pour la viande et les femelles pour la ponte b) sexer les œufs (ovosexage) pour repérer le plus tôt possible les œufs mâles et stopper leur incubation ; Favoriser l’expression du comportement exploratoire des poulets sur les parcours plein-air; Améliorer la survie des porcelets par sélection génétique ou amélioration du logement des truies ; Améliorer la santé et le bien-être des volailles en agissant sur l’environnement dès l’incubation ou peu après l’éclosion des œufs ; Réduire voire éviter l’usage de médicaments chez le porc et la poule pondeuse en utilisant des aliments ou extraits végétaux favorisant la résistance aux maladies.Les innovations les plus prometteuses seront testées dans des élevages commerciaux en interaction avec les groupes participatifs nationaux. Des évaluations multicritères seront également réalisées en mobilisant le concept «One Welfare»1, afin d’englober les objectifs de durabilité, de bien-être animal mais aussi de bien-être humain. Des modèles économiques seront créés pour évaluer les bénéfices des stratégies élaborées dans le projet PPILOW. Enfin, des actions de diffusion seront développées en impliquant les groupes multi-acteurs tout au long du projet pour faciliter les changements de pratiques.

International audience

Présentation bilingue anglais/chinois.; Precision feeding in swine: opportunities and challenges. China Swine Science Conference

Présentation bilingue anglais/chinois.; Feed-a-Gene: on feed efficiency in pigs. China Swine Science Conference

International audience; Improving robustness of farm animals is seen as a new target of breeding strategies. However, robustness is a complex trait, which is not measurable directly. The objective of this study was to quantify and characterise elements of robustness in growing pigs. Robustness can be characterised by examining the animal’s response to environmental perturbations. We developed a generic model and data analysis procedure to detect these perturbations and subsequently characterise the feed intake response of growing pigs in terms of resistance and resilience. A model based on differential equations was developed to characterise the animal’s response to perturbations. In this model, adaptive response to each perturbation can be characterised by four parameters. The start and end times of the perturbation, the immediate reduction in daily feed intake at the start of the perturbation (i.e., a “resistance” trait), and another parameter describing the capacity of the animal to adapt to the perturbation through compensatory feed intake to rejoin the target trajectory of cumulative feed intake (i.e., a “resilience” trait). The model has been employed successfully to identify the target trajectory of cumulative feed intake in growing pigs and to quantify the animal’s response to a perturbation by using feed intake as the response criterion.