Spain
Instituto Tecnológico Agrario de Castilla y León - ITACYL
The ITACyL was created as a public body under the auspices of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock of the Regional Government of Castille and Leon in 2002, confirming more than 100 years of experience dedicated to agricultural research. Institute has the aim of boosting the activity of the agricultural and livestock sectors and its transformation industries, as well as revitalising technological innovation and initiatives which entail new productive orientations and adaptation to changes in the market. The main activity of ITACyL is focussed on the technological development of the livestock, agriculture and food sectors in a sustainable way through research, innovation and the transfer of scientific advances by means of collaboration with public and private organisations.
The Area of Livestock Research of ITACyL has a consolidated experience in several fields of animal research, such as ruminant production, nutrition and management, and the integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and innovative processes into animal nutrition and new products development. The team has a long proven track record of collaboration with ruminant sector. It is worthy to point out their participation on two national projects co-funded by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) which have been successfully completed recently dealing with increasing energy efficiency and competitiveness while reducing environmental impact of dairy farms, including dissemination actions to transfer the knowledge to the productive sector and all the involved stakeholders.
This research team has collaborated in several experiments aimed to study the effects of feeding system on animal performance, such as strategies seeking to reduce methane production within the rumen or improving animal health through the use of plant bioactive compounds (European Projects Rumen-up, QLK5-CT-2001-00992, and Replace, FOOD-CT-2004-506487). Their contribution to the study of animal welfare is also valuable, since this team is working in the evaluation of several parameters related to the response of animals to induced stress (management systems, transport…). Likewise, the use of cutting edge technologies applied to animal production is also within their scope, such as the application of GPS-GPRS to study the behaviour and improve performance of extensively reared animals.
Raul Bodas (male)
Raúl Bodas (BVSc, PhD) is a researcher in ruminant science at ITACyL. His research lines are focused on relationship between animal feeding, performance, welfare, health and product quality (meat, milk). He has experience in conducting research with fattening lambs and dairy sheep and is a member of the EIP-AGRI Focus Group on “Robust and resilient dairy production systems”.
• Aug-2011 to present. Researcher at ITACyL (Spain). Ruminant nutrition and management.
• 2008-2011. Researcher at Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, Spain). Ruminant nutrition and quality of meat and milk.
• 2006-2008. Assistant Lecturer on Animal Production at Univ. of Valladolid (Spain). Ruminant nutrition and management and quality of products (meat, milk)
• 2005-2006. Research Collaborator at Division of Farm Animal Science, Univ. of Bristol (UK).
• 2004. Ph.D. (A with honours). Univ. of León (Spain)
Technical skills and competences: Veterinary, animal nutrition and quality of products (meat, milk); designing and carrying out animal-based studies; animal sampling; sample preparation and analysis; data analysis; usual office software (MS Office), moodle; data acquisition and processing software (SPSS, SAS); image software (ImageJ).
Number of publications: 53 SCI (IF) papers; 21 peer reviewed papers; 55 conference communications; 4 book chapters; 25 popular science articles.
Participation in projects: 21 contracts with companies; 12 public funding (competitive calls) projects (principal researcher in one of them).
Supervised several master thesis and supervising a PhD thesis.
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