The research activity fits into a highly innovative area which combines consolidated farm management practices for ovine animal productions with systems characterized by a high technological content geared towards precision farming. Therefore the research activity belongs to a wider context aimed at improving the ecological footprint of ovine-derived food product, animal welfare and meat quality with a special focus on lamb meat.
Validating new systems to remotely and non invasively monitor both animal position and welfare through use of novel biomarkers or known physiological parameters will prove valuable also for animal health. Improving management practices with a strong focus on the safeguard of animal welfare will prove valuable in preventing or allowing early diagnosis of pathologies, therefore contributing to rationalize or reduce drug administration.
The aims of our research are:

• to analyze lamb breeding for meat production from birth to slaughtering. Animal welfare, monitoring physiological parameters with an innovative precision farming approaches, ecological footprint, the impact of farming on environmental biodiversity and meat quality, efficient resource allocation and carbon dioxide emissions are all considered. A particular focus is on the development of a continuous and non invasive systems to monitor animal welfare such as biosensors that measure physiological parameters to evaluate acute stress accompanied by measuring cortisol in fur to evaluate chronic stress,
• contributing to the development of new systems to manage and monitor ovines in pastures, that is in an extensive breeding context. Such aim is achieved by developing and employing new biosensors for continuously monitoring each individual for position and physiological parameters that might correlate with animal welfare. Moreover, new biomarkers for stress such as circulating plasma microRNAs are validated and correlated both with traditional markers (like cortisol) measured on biological samples collected with non invasive techniques (e.g. saliva) and with biosensors generated data.

• Azione Eranet SUSAN ID 48 Ecolamb 2017-2020

• Brugiapaglia A., Lussiana C., Lorenzo J., Baratta M. - Health implication of Biellese lamb meat consumption - ICoMST 2019 Italy
• Bodas R., Montañés M., Cadavez V., Peric T., Baratta M., Ko N., García-García J.J. - Qualitative Behaviour Assessment In Intensively And Extensively Reared Lambs - EAAP Conference 2019 Belgium
• Chiesa F., Morra P., Viola I., Perona G., Civera T., Baratta M. - Microbiological quality of lamb meat raised in intensive and extensive systems in Italy - EAAP Conference 2019 Belgium
• García R.R., Peric T., Cadavez V., Ko N., Cerqueira J.L., Stanganello R.P., Fernandes E., Celaya R., Gonzales-Barrón U., Baratta M. - Biodiversity associated to European sheep grazed pastures - FAO CIHEAM network 2019 Morocco
• Cornale P., Macchi E., Miretti S., Renna M., Lussiana C., Perona G., Mimosi A. - Effects of stocking density and environmental enrichment on behavior and fecal corticosteroid levels of pigs under commercial farm conditions – Journal of Veterinary Behavior – Elsevier – 2015 – 10(6) 569-576
• Cornale P., Macchi E., Renna M., Prola L., Perona G., Mimosi A. - Effect of Cage Type on Fecal Corticosterone Concentration in Buck Rabbits During the Reproductive Cycle – Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science – Taylor & Francis – 2016 – 19(1) 90-96
• Prola L., Cornale P., Renna M., Macchi E., Perona G., Mimosi A. - Effect of breed, cage type and reproductive phase on fecal corticosterone levels in doe rabbits - Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science – Taylor & Francis – 2013 – 16(2) 140-149

• Prof. Dr. Onur Yilmaz – Adnan Menderes University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Animal Science - Biometry & Genetics Unit, Turkey
• Mr. Andreas Geß – University of Stuttgart, Institute for Acoustics and Building Physics (IABP), Department Life Cycle Engineering (GaBi), Germany
• Prof. Dr. Vasco Augusto Pilão Cadavez - Mountain Research Centre (CIMO), School of Agriculture, Polytechnic Institute of Braganza (IPB), Portugal
• Prof. Dr. Tanja Peric - Laboratory for Environmental and Life Sciences,University of Nova Gorica, Slovenia
• Dr. José Manuel Lorenzo - Meat Technology Centre of Galicia, Ourense, Spain
• Dr. Raul Bodas - Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León – ITACYL, Spain
• Dr. Koldo Osoro Otaduy – Area of Animal Production Systems, SERIDA, Spain
• Stefano Giordano – Dipartimento di Ingegneria dell’Informazione, Università di Pisa, Italy