Periodic Reporting for period 1 - PIGWEB (An infrastructure for experimental research for sustainable pig production)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2021-03-01 al 2022-08-31
PIGWEB aims to strengthen the pig research community by providing and facilitating access to research infrastructures (RI), reinforce the culture of cooperation between the research community and industrial and societal stakeholders, and improve and integrate the services provided by the RI. This will contribute to develop innovative and ethical solutions for sustainable pig production systems (e.g. identify novel feed resources that are not or less in competition with other uses, improve animal health and welfare, produce high quality pork products, and reduce environmental and climate impact).
PIGWEB fully embraces the European Green Deal, the 2019 European Commission ambition to make Europe world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The strategy is to protect, conserve and enhance the environment, protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. For this purpose, the Commission drafted a roadmap for a “Farm to Fork” policy area to which PIGWEB will contribute. Through this strategy, the EU Commission aims to create more efficient, climate-smart systems that provide healthy food, while securing a decent living for EU farmers and fishermen. Research infrastructures like PIGWEB will play a key role in identifying the levers that can be used to attain the goals of the Green Deal to produce safe, nutritious, high-quality food with a minimum impact on nature, and also address citizens’ concerns about the welfare of farmed animals. PIGWEB contributes to all of these aspects by a “Pig to Pork” approach. PIGWEB provides:
Transnational access (TNA) to:
i) Ensure easy and transparent access to 28 experimental pig RI and associated laboratories in nine countries.
Networking Activities (NA) to:
ii) Create a community of pig RI by mapping installations beyond the partners of the project and identifying future research needs in the pig production sector.
iii) Harmonise protocols, best practices, and promote the use of standards to ensure high levels of expertise and ethics.
iv) Organise the collection, management, and accessibility of data generated by the project.
v) Ensure dissemination, exploitation, and technology transfer of results generated by the project.
vi) Provide graduate and post-graduate training opportunities to early-career scientists to ensure the succession of a new generation of highly trained experts in the fields of pig production.
Joint Research Activities (JRA) to:
vii) Develop non- or minimally invasive methods for digestion studies and blood sampling to replace current procedures requiring surgery and invasive sampling, isolation, fixation and/or spatial restrictions of pigs.
viii) Develop novel methods, tools, and technologies that provide indicators of welfare, behaviour, and body composition.
ix) Develop a research toolbox to phenotype pigs for traits relevant for sustainable pig production, using data obtained through non- or minimally invasive measurements and model algorithms.
PIGWEB fully embraces the European Green Deal, the 2019 European Commission ambition to make Europe world’s first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The strategy is to protect, conserve and enhance the environment, protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. For this purpose, the Commission drafted a roadmap for a “Farm to Fork” policy area to which PIGWEB will contribute. Through this strategy, the EU Commission aims to create more efficient, climate-smart systems that provide healthy food, while securing a decent living for EU farmers and fishermen. Research infrastructures like PIGWEB will play a key role in identifying the levers that can be used to attain the goals of the Green Deal to produce safe, nutritious, high-quality food with a minimum impact on nature, and also address citizens’ concerns about the welfare of farmed animals. PIGWEB contributes to all of these aspects by a “Pig to Pork” approach. PIGWEB provides:
Transnational access (TNA) to:
i) Ensure easy and transparent access to 28 experimental pig RI and associated laboratories in nine countries.
Networking Activities (NA) to:
ii) Create a community of pig RI by mapping installations beyond the partners of the project and identifying future research needs in the pig production sector.
iii) Harmonise protocols, best practices, and promote the use of standards to ensure high levels of expertise and ethics.
iv) Organise the collection, management, and accessibility of data generated by the project.
v) Ensure dissemination, exploitation, and technology transfer of results generated by the project.
vi) Provide graduate and post-graduate training opportunities to early-career scientists to ensure the succession of a new generation of highly trained experts in the fields of pig production.
Joint Research Activities (JRA) to:
vii) Develop non- or minimally invasive methods for digestion studies and blood sampling to replace current procedures requiring surgery and invasive sampling, isolation, fixation and/or spatial restrictions of pigs.
viii) Develop novel methods, tools, and technologies that provide indicators of welfare, behaviour, and body composition.
ix) Develop a research toolbox to phenotype pigs for traits relevant for sustainable pig production, using data obtained through non- or minimally invasive measurements and model algorithms.
The main achievements of the first 18 months of PIGWEB include the internal organization and creating awareness among stakeholders, both of which have been successful. The project advances as planned and stakeholders now seem well aware of the project and different communication channels were used to achieve this. The response to the first TNA call exceeded our expectations and the first impressions for the second call are also very encouraging. Considerable progress has been made on establishing protocols and procedures for standard management and experimental research in pigs. The PIGWEB community is now well aware of the interest of FAIR data (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable). Most of the joint research activities are on-going and it is too early to report on these.
The international pig research community is less organized compared to other sectors of livestock research and information exchange relies mostly on personal networks. It is PIGWEB’s ambition to facilitate networking and collaborations among researchers to build a European community for pig research.
Not all researchers in Europe have access to the facilities they need to carry out their research projects. These facilities may be too expensive to build and often require highly trained personnel to operate. Sharing facilities is thus very important to carry out research on sustainable pig production in Europe. PIGWEB will make an inventory of research installations in Europe and, through its TNA program, provides access to state-of-the-art facilities to external researchers. This includes production systems in which pigs can be raised under different environmental and management conditions. It also includes installations in which the inputs (i.e. feed) and outputs (body composition, emissions) can be controlled and monitored, and installations that allow to study the biology of the pig (e.g. its behaviour and metabolism).
Apart from the sharing of research facilities, the sharing of research methods and data is a main objective of the project. PIGWEB develops standards on best practices for basic animal management, standard operating procedures (SOPs) for experimental procedures, and best ethical practices for experimental pig research.
Although pork is a major food source, its production and research are frequently questioned by society. Consequently, there seems to be a widening gap between the pig production sector and society. PIGWEB will engage in a dialogue with society using different media to bridge the gap between citizens and consumers, livestock scientists, and stakeholders from the pig production sector. The issue of responsible animal experimentation will also be addressed in a Summer school for early-career scientists. The future of animal research also lies in a more and better use of (historical) data, of which Open Science and FAIR data are crucial elements.
The joint research activities of PIGWEB focus on the tools and methods used in pig research. PIGWEB aims to develop non- and minimally invasive experimental methods that may serve as alternatives for more invasive “gold-standard” methods. This includes methods to estimate the (ileal) digestibility of nutrients using laboratory methods and minimally-invasive techniques to sample blood and analyse this. Also, novel and refined methods to assess “complex” traits such as animal “emotions”, “mood” and “health” will be developed. This involves analysis of thermal images, behaviour, and neuroendocrinological traits of pigs raised in different conditions. Metabolic and gut health will be assessed by identifying novel indicators in samples that can be obtained in a non-invasive way, such as breath, saliva, and faeces. The body composition of an animal is a “simple” trait, but complicated to measure. Different techniques will be used in a joint experiment to evaluate how results obtained from one technique can be compared with those obtained with other techniques. The outcome of the methods developed in the project, in combination with standard straits, will be used to develop a research toolbox of non- and minimally invasive methods, which will be tested in a multisite experiment with varying levers and conditions (e.g. the diet, breed, temperate vs tropical conditions).
Not all researchers in Europe have access to the facilities they need to carry out their research projects. These facilities may be too expensive to build and often require highly trained personnel to operate. Sharing facilities is thus very important to carry out research on sustainable pig production in Europe. PIGWEB will make an inventory of research installations in Europe and, through its TNA program, provides access to state-of-the-art facilities to external researchers. This includes production systems in which pigs can be raised under different environmental and management conditions. It also includes installations in which the inputs (i.e. feed) and outputs (body composition, emissions) can be controlled and monitored, and installations that allow to study the biology of the pig (e.g. its behaviour and metabolism).
Apart from the sharing of research facilities, the sharing of research methods and data is a main objective of the project. PIGWEB develops standards on best practices for basic animal management, standard operating procedures (SOPs) for experimental procedures, and best ethical practices for experimental pig research.
Although pork is a major food source, its production and research are frequently questioned by society. Consequently, there seems to be a widening gap between the pig production sector and society. PIGWEB will engage in a dialogue with society using different media to bridge the gap between citizens and consumers, livestock scientists, and stakeholders from the pig production sector. The issue of responsible animal experimentation will also be addressed in a Summer school for early-career scientists. The future of animal research also lies in a more and better use of (historical) data, of which Open Science and FAIR data are crucial elements.
The joint research activities of PIGWEB focus on the tools and methods used in pig research. PIGWEB aims to develop non- and minimally invasive experimental methods that may serve as alternatives for more invasive “gold-standard” methods. This includes methods to estimate the (ileal) digestibility of nutrients using laboratory methods and minimally-invasive techniques to sample blood and analyse this. Also, novel and refined methods to assess “complex” traits such as animal “emotions”, “mood” and “health” will be developed. This involves analysis of thermal images, behaviour, and neuroendocrinological traits of pigs raised in different conditions. Metabolic and gut health will be assessed by identifying novel indicators in samples that can be obtained in a non-invasive way, such as breath, saliva, and faeces. The body composition of an animal is a “simple” trait, but complicated to measure. Different techniques will be used in a joint experiment to evaluate how results obtained from one technique can be compared with those obtained with other techniques. The outcome of the methods developed in the project, in combination with standard straits, will be used to develop a research toolbox of non- and minimally invasive methods, which will be tested in a multisite experiment with varying levers and conditions (e.g. the diet, breed, temperate vs tropical conditions).