A03: Influence of genetic and management factors on milk quality and safety.

Project A03 examines the quality and food safety of milk from urban, peri-urban and rural dairy farms in terms of its beneficial properties (A2 b-casein and polyunsaturated fatty acids), its heavy metal content (lead, cadmium, arsenic) and, where relevant, organic residues from environmental toxins (for example DDT). In doing so, the influence of animal genetics, especially on milk quality, and of animal management, especially feeding, is recorded in parallel. In collaboration with A01, (potential) sources of milk contamination along the soil, water and feed axis are being examined, and in collaboration with C04 the perception of milk quality by consumers, especially the wealthy middle class of Bengaluru’s rural-urban interface is studied. In Phase III, the potentials and obstacles for a social-ecological transformation of the rural-urban food system "milk" towards a more sustainable system will be examined. Based on the experience and results of the project’s first phase, the long-term studies on management and genetics of dairy cows and their interactions at farm level will be continued. Thereby, the concept 'One Health' will serve as a framework. Using the example of A2 milk and milk fatty acid profiles, the impacts of changes in food perceptions and consumption patterns on rural-urban milk production will also be examined (in collaboration with C04). On the genomic scale, genetic mechanisms to cope with both environmental stressors, heat stress and contaminated feed, will be inferred. Identified chromosomal segments being relevant for adaptation and disease resistance will be related to product quality of milk. The project will furthermore continue to analyse the drivers, mechanisms and effects of the heterogeneous development pathways of dairy farms identified in Phase I, which are especially dynamic and diverse in prosperous peri-urban neighborhoods. With this data and information, A03 will continue to contribute to the conceptual framework of FOR2432.

Prof. Dr. E. Schlecht
Animal Husbandry in the Tropics und Subtropics
Universität Kassel & Universität Göttingen

Prof. Dr. S. König
Tierzüchtung
Universität Gießen

Shahin Alam
Doctoral Researcher

Silpa M.V.
Doctoral Researcher

Marion Reichenbach
Project Scientist

Indian partner project:
Optimized use of feed resources for high lifetime productivity of dairy cows and consequences on enteric methane release
R. Bhatta, National Institute of Animal Nutrition and Physiology, Bangalore

The relevance of nutrient management and primary and functional traits for dairy production in an urbanizing environment

Food consumption patterns of the Hindu-dominated Indian society strongly rely on milk and milk products as protein sources in vegetarian diets. While urbanisation has intensified the market demand for milk and milk products, it has at the same time put urban and peri-urban dairy units under high pressure due to land and fodder scarcity, labour shortage, and inappropriate disposal of animal excreta. The urban demand for dairy products can only be met in an ecologically and economically sustainable way if animals, feeds and nutrients, and financial and human capital are efficient used. Management strategies to achieve this will inevitably vary between different types of dairy farms and between different localities across the rural-urban interface. The key question of project A03 therefore asks for the factor combinations that allow dairy production to remain viable at different locations along this interface. Departing from the general hypotheses of FOR2432 that the competition for land leads to intensified agricultural production and increases household vulnerability to contingencies and shocks (GH1), and that the diversity of exchange processes of goods and services decreases as food systems become more efficient (GH3), project A03 focusses, in a spatially explicit way, on the relevance of (i) nutrient management, (ii) primary and functional animal traits, (iii) the interactions of animal nutrition and genetics, and (iv) greenhouse gas emissions from enteric fermentation, thereby referring to the concept of lifetime productivity.

Our longer-term goal (Phase II) is to develop a conceptual model of (peri-)urban dairy farming that accounts for the natural resources base, the interplay of genetically determined and managerially modified turnover processes of primary into secondary agricultural products, and decisive social and economic properties of the systems and their environment. To meet its goals, A03 will, in Phase I of FOR2432, collaborate particularly with projects A01, B02, B03, and C01. These collaborations will provide first insights into major natural, social, and economic factors that govern the structure and success or failure of dairy production systems along the rural-urban interface.

Dr. Ana Pinto