Book of Abstracts of the 54th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production Book of abstracts No. 9 (2003) Rome, Italy 31August - 3 September 2003 Book of Abstracts of the 54th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production The EAAP Book of Abstracts is published under the direction of Ynze van der Honing EAAP - European Association for Animal Production The European Association for Animal Production wishes to express its appreciation to the Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestali (Italy) and the Associazione Italiana Allevatori (Italy) for their valuable support of its activities. Book of Abstracts of the 54th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production Rome,Italy,31 August -3 September 2003 Ynze van der Honing,Editor-in-chief A.Hofer,G.Zervas,E.von Borell,C.Knight,C.Lazzaroni,M.Sneeberger,C.Wenk, W. Martin-Rosset Wageningen Academic Publishersb s e s This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned. Nothing from this publication may be translated, reproduced, stored in a computerised system or published in any form or in any manner, including electronic, mechanical, reprographic or photographic, without prior written permission from the publisher, Wageningen Academic Publishers, P.O. Box 220, 6700 AE Wageningen, the Netherlands, www.WageningenAcademic.com ISBN: 978-90-76998-20-6 The individual contributions in this publication and any e-ISBN: 978-90-8686-519-2 liabilities arising from them remain the responsibility of DOI: 10.3920/978-90-8686-519-2 the authors. The designation employed and the presentation of ISSN 1382-6077 material in this publication do not imply the expression of any option whatsoever on the part of the European Association for Animal Production concerning the legal Subject headings: status of any country, territory, city or area or of its animal production, authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its book of abstracts frontiers or boundaries. The publisher is not responsible for possible damages, © Wageningen Academic Publishers which could be a result of content derived from this The Netherlands, 2003 publication. Preface The 54th annual meeting of the European Association for Animal Production (EAAP) was held in Rome,Italy,31 August to 3 September 2003.The annual EAAP meeting gives the opportunity to present new scientific results and discuss their potential applicability in animal production practices.This year’s meeting is of particular interest for participants from a wide range of animal production organisations and institutions.Discussions stimulate developments in animal production and encourage research on relevant topics.In Rome the main theme is “Product quality from livestock systems”.Of the 37 sessions in total,11 joint sessions of two or more Study Commissions are planned on: • Product quality from livestock systems -Animal health and welfare aspects; • Product quality from livestock systems -Human health and consumer aspects; • Long term effects of pre- and post-natal conditions,including nutrition,on growth and development; • Functional genomics applied to growth,tissue development and meat quality in farm animals; • Tissue development and meat quality:The role of lipids and antioxidants; • Large-scale cattle units - health,welfare and economics; • Use of small ruminants and horses for landscape conservation and non agricultural use; • Feeding and meat quality in heavy pigs; • Metabolic disorders in high yielding dairy cows in the transitional period; • Nutrition and feeding of dairy sheep and goats; • Impact of feed processing in horse nutrition. The book of abstracts is the main publication of the scientific contributions to this meeting; it covers a wide range of disciplines and livestock species.It contains the full programme and abstracts of the invited as well as the contributing speakers,including posters,of all 37 sessions.The number of abstracts submitted for presentation at this meeting (842) is a true challenge for the different study commissions and chairpersons to put together a scientific programme.In addition to the theatre presentations,there will be a large number of poster presentations during the conference. Several persons have been involved in the development of the book of abstracts.Mike Jacobs has been responsible for organising the administrative and editing work and the production of the book.The contact persons of the study commissions have been responsible for organising the scientific programme and communicating with the chairpersons and invited speakers. The programme is very interesting and I trust we will have a good meeting in Rome.I hope that you will find this book a useful reference source as well as a reminder of a good meeting during which a large number of people actively involved in livestock science and production have met and exchanged ideas. Ynze van der Honing Editor-in Chief EAAP – 54th Annual Meeting,Rome 2003 VII EAAP Program Foundation Aim EAAP aims to bring to our annual meetings,speakers who can present the latest findings and views on developments in the various fields of science relevant to animal production and its allied industries.In order to sustain the quality of the scientific program that will continue to entice the broad interest in EAAP meetings we have created the “EAAP Program Foundation”.This Foundation aims to support • Invited speakers by funding part or all of registration and travel costs. • Delegates from less favoured areas by offering scholarships to attend EAAP meetings • Young scientists by providing prizes for best presentations The “EAAP Program Foundation” is an initiative of the Scientific Advisory committee (SAC) of EAAP.The Foundation is aimed at stimulating the quality of the scientific program of the EAAP meetings and to ensure that the science meets societal needs .In its first year (2003), the “EAAP Program Foundation” concentrates on the program of the Genetics commission. For the coming years the activities will be broadened to entire meeting.The Foundation Board of Trustees oversees theses aims and seeks to recruit sponsors to support its activi- ties. Sponsorships We distinguish three categories of sponsorship:Student award sponsor,Gold sponsor,and Sponsor.The sponsors will be acknowledged during the scientific sessions commission. of the Genetics commission.The names of Student Award sponsors will be linked to the awards given to young scientists with the best presentation.Gold Sponsors and Student Award sponsors will have opportunity to advertise their activities during the meeting and their sup- port for EAAP. Contact and further information If you are interested in becoming a sponsor of the “EAAP Program Foundation” or want to have further information,please contact the secretary of the Foundation,Dr Andreas Rosati (e-mail:[email protected]). Sponsors of 2003 meeting The board of Trustees wants to thank the following organisations for their support: Student award sponsor: CR-Delta,Arnhem,The Netherlands www.cr-delta.nl CR-Delta is a reliable source for breeding dairy cows world wide. Gold Sponsor: Animal Sciences Group of Wageningen UR The Netherlands,www.asg.wur.nl Wageningen UR:for quality of life. EAAP – 54th Annual Meeting,Rome 2003 IX European Association for Animal Production (EAAP) President Mr A.L. Aumaitre Executive Vice-President Dr.Andrea Rosati Address Villa del Ragno, Via Nomentana 134, I-00161 Rome,Italy Phone +39 06 86329141 Telefax +39 06 86329263 E-Mail [email protected] In cooperation with Ministero delle Politiche Agricole e Forestale (MiPAF) Istituto Sperimentale per la Zootecnia (ISZ) Università degli Studi della Tuscia (Viterbo) Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (CNR) Associazione Italiana Allevatori (AIA) Organizing Committee Giancarlo Rossi Scientific Association for Animal Production (ASPA) Sergio Gigli Animal Production Research Institute (ISZ) Giuseppe Ambrosio Ministry of Agriculture (MiPAF) Nino Andena Italian Breeders Association (AIA) Giuseppe Enne Lazzaro Spallanzani National Research Institute Lino Ferrara National Research Council (CNR) Juani Maki-Hokkonen FAO Romano Marabelli Ministry of Health Donato Matassino ConSDABI Carlo Perone-Pacifico University of Tuscia -Viterbo Giacomo Pirlo Animal Production Research Institute (ISZ) Vincenzo Russo Scientific Association for Animal Production (ASPA) Scientific advisory Committee Alessandro Nardone University of Tuscia -Viterbo Bianca Moioli Animal Production Research Institute (ISZ) Giuseppe Bertoni University of Piacenza (UCSC) Giovanni Bittante University of Padova Paolo Brandano University of Sassari Tullio Di Lella+ University of Napoli Alessandreo Giorgetti University of Firenze Alfio Lanza University of Catania Archimede Mordenti University of Bologna Francesco Panella University of Perugia Pierlorenzo Secchiari University of Pisa Franco Valfrè University of Milano Organizing Committee Istituto Sperimentale per la Zootecnia (ISZ) Via Salaria,31 0016 Monterotondo,Roma,Italy Tel.39-06-9066689 - Fax 39-06-90558616 e-mail:[email protected] X EAAP – 54th Annual Meeting,Rome 2003 55th Annual Meeting of the European Association for Animal Production The 54th Annual Meeting will take place in Bled, Slovenia,September 5 - 9,2004 Organizing Committee University of Ljubljana Biotechnical Faculty Zootechnical Department Groblje 3,1230 Domzale,Slovenia Phone:+386 1 7217 855 Fax:+386 1 7241 005 E-mail:[email protected] Web:www.bfro.uni-lj.si/eaap2004 Abstract submission Please find