Research interests
The Laboratory of Digestion and Nutrition has yielded significant results in the testing of enriched cereal agro-industrial feed substrates with the fungi Thamnidium elegans and Cunninghamella echinulata, which are capable of producing microbial oil as a source of gamma-linolenic acid. Our research group was the first to test such enriched substrates in ruminants, thereby opening up new possibilities in the field of livestock nutrition. The impact of selected dried plant mixtures comprising bioactive compounds on rumen metabolism was also successfully evaluated. It was demonstrated that nutritional manipulation, involving the replacement of hay in a high-concentrate diet with a mixture of dried plants, had beneficial effects on rumen fermentation and lipid metabolism in sheep. It was also shown that the combination of some organic acids and a selected mixture of medicinal plants in a high-concentrate diet can reduce rumen methane emissions by up to 10-11%. This is a significant finding, as it addresses one of the EU’s key challenges in reducing the environmental burden on ruminant farms.
Lab equipment
- Nitrogen analyser (FLASH 4000, Termo Fisher Scientific, Cambridge, UK)
- Coarse fibre analyser (ANKOM 2000, ANCOM TECHNOLOGY, Macedon NY, USA)
- Dual Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (AAS, AA- 7000 Series, Shimadzu)
- Mass spectrometer (API 2000 AB Sciex, Framingham, MA, USA)
- Liquid chromatograph (HPLC, Agilent Technologies, 1200 Infinity Series, USA)
- Liquid chromatograph (Ultimate 3000 HPLC, Dionex, Sunnyvale, CA, USA)
- Gas chromatograph (PerkinElmer Clarus 500, Inc., Shelton, CT, USA)
- Benchtop ultracentrifuge (Micro Ultracentrifuge, Himac CS 150NX, Hitachi)
- Ussing chambers system
- UV VIS and fluorescence spectrometers (UV-2550, Shimadzu; Lumina, Thermo Scientific)
