Nutrition and environment play a critical role in the performance of our livestock. Critical periods that trigger stress responses include parturition or hatching, weaning, drying off cows and housing them in new groups, as well as anti-nutritive factors in the feed. These challenges can affect the physiology and metabolism of the animals, which, in addition to immunosuppression, ultimately leads to a deterioration in the efficiency of nutrient utilization as well as performance depression.
A critical factor that can influence the stress response of animals is nutrition, or the provision of adequate nutrients and energy. Adequate nutrition is essential for animals to maintain optimal physiological function, but also to meet environmental challenges. During periods of high physiological demand, such as heat stress, social stress and inflammation, animals may become deficient in certain nutrients.
This deficiency can lead to oxidative stress, which is characterised by an imbalance between the production of reactive oxygen species and the animal's antioxidant capacity. In addition, reduced efficiency of nutrient utilisation can contribute to higher losses and thus emissions from livestock.
The BOKU Symposium Animal Nutrition 2024 will focus on animal responses to stress. The aim of the symposium is to document the different aspects of the topic in numerous contributions and to inform about the current state of scientific knowledge. In addition, there will be the opportunity to present current research work in the field of animal nutrition that goes beyond the general topic in the context of selected short lectures and posters.
