The agricultural sector must be innovative

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General Director of the SPC of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for animal husbandry - on the development of science in agriculture

Over the past decades, our country has been one of the world leaders in the production of milk and other agricultural products. The total milk yield for the past year amounted to over 8 million tons of milk. Such a result would be impossible to achieve without a scientific component. In Belarus, the leading center that develops potential in various areas of agriculture is the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Scientific and Practical Center of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Animal Husbandry". What developments the team is working on, said Dmitry Bogdanovich, General Director of the Livestock Center.

Build capacity

The Livestock Center is a multifunctional organization working to improve the efficiency of the industry through the comprehensive conduct of scientific research and their further implementation in practice.

- The staff of the center has over a thousand people, - says Dmitry Bogdanovich. - The main activities are to improve the efficiency of animal husbandry, and this is not only milk and beef. Pig breeding, poultry farming, aquaculture, veterinary safety - in general, all areas of agro-industrial science and production.

- Our center can rightfully be called the scientific base of Belarusian farmers. Schools on selection, reproduction and embryotransplantation, feeding, hygiene, physiology of farm animals and livestock production technologies have been established. This allows us to make agriculture better and more efficient, - emphasizes Dmitry Bogdanovich.

One of the promising directions in the development of dairy cattle breeding can be a project involving the production of an industrial cow by crossing a Holstein breed with a red dairy one. Crossbred animals will combine high milk production with a strong constitution, good reproductive qualities and high longevity due to the combination of appropriate genes.

- At this stage of research in the State Enterprise "ZhodinoAgroPlemElita" 88 crossed heifers were received, of which 33 were inseminated and three were recently bred. According to the results of the first control milkings, the crossed first-calf heifer showed a daily milk yield of 39 kg of milk with a fat content of 4.15% and milk protein of 3.75%. Work continues. In this direction, we see a special prospect, - says Dmitry Bogdanovich.

Feed is the head of everything

Without a full fodder base, the development of animal husbandry is impossible in principle. In recent years, the specialists of the center have created a lot of new feed additives that allow increasing the qualitative and quantitative indicators of the industry.

- We are talking about a variety of premixes, protein mineral supplements, which make it possible to provide farm animals and poultry with complete diets, balanced in all nutrients, minerals and biologically active substances, in the development and production of which the best practices and components are used. Thus, the use of secondary products of the oil extraction industry is actively developing, good results have been obtained by adding valuable natural raw materials - lacustrine sapropels to feeding, which makes it possible to increase the productivity of animals, reduce the cost of the products obtained and save up to 8% of the grain in the compound feed. Even better results have been achieved with the inclusion of complex protein-mineral and protein-vitamin-mineral supplements prepared from local sources of raw materials in the diet of animals.

With an increase in productivity, cattle rations are being improved taking into account new indicators that were not previously taken into account: degradable and non-degradable protein, neutral and acid-detergent fiber, stable starch, etc., without which it is impossible to obtain high productivity from animals.

Research is being carried out in the field of amino acid nutrition of calves of the dairy period of growing, which makes it possible to effectively grow healthy young animals. Various mineral feed additives for livestock based on nanoparticles and chelate compounds are constantly being introduced into production. Scientists are improving highly effective recipes for premixes, animal feed, feed additives and BVMD. All this makes it possible to reduce the import of similar components.

Smart farms will become the norm

One of the latest developments of the center's specialists is a smart farm. All new technological developments of the center were included in the construction project in the Republican Unitary Enterprise "Ustye" of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus "Orsha district of an innovative dairy complex for 1000 dairy cows with a closed cycle. All processes are intensified here, which can significantly increase the efficiency of the final result in terms of both indicators and quality products.

- In fact, this is a farm with a complete closed cycle, where human participation is minimized. For the first time in the expanses of the post-Soviet space, a system of automated milking of animals was used on a rotary-type milking parlor "Karusel" for 40 places in combination with cows differentiated in terms of physiological state and productivity, characteristic of large complexes, explains the principle Dmitry Bogdanovich.

A smart farm is a huge computer, the system of which monitors absolutely every stage of keeping: the movement of animals, automated individual issuance of concentrates, an automatic system for sorting and breeding animals into groups based on specified parameters, an animal activity registration system, management of technological processes of milking.

The future belongs to lactoferrin

About 20 years ago, the staff of the center, together with Russian colleagues, within the framework of the BelRosTransgen Union State Program, began an experiment to introduce into the goat genome a gene encoding the synthesis of the human lactoferrin protein, which for the first time in the world ended in the successful creation of two transgenic kids. Subsequently, their number was increased to two hundred animals.

- Our goats-producers are a kind of "bioreactor" - a source of obtaining a bioanalogue of human lactoferrin. The technology is promising throughout the world for the cost-effective production of recombinant proteins. A small-tonnage scientific and experimental production of this valuable glycoprotein is organized in the center. However, in the near future we plan to scale up to industrial scale. Why is lactoferrin so useful? It is a unique multifunctional glycoprotein with a very wide range of properties: antimicrobial, antiviral, antiulcer, antioxidant, anticancer and others. It is this protein that is responsible for the formation of the immunity of newborns. Lactoferrin has shown outstanding results in studies on the treatment of coronavirus infection, other therapy. It may be used in other areas. At one time, a scientific discovery became a real world breakthrough, but the legislative framework was not ready for the widespread use of protein. Today we are successfully working on the issue of registration of a biosimilar of human lactoferrin, but this process is not fast, - the CEO notes.

The potential of Belarusian science in the agricultural sector, according to Dmitry Bogdanovich, is very high.

- We have assembled the backbone of professionals of the highest level. Everyone is working towards a common goal - to make our agricultural sector even more competitive on the world stage. We have all the possibilities for this, - Dmitry Bogdanovich concluded.

The Livestock Center took part in the exhibition "Intellectual Belarus", within which it presented its new developments. The first persons of our country got acquainted with them, among other things.

The Livestock Center continues to work on the creation of a red breed of dairy cattle of domestic selection. Unlike the usual "variegated", these cows are a quarter more productive. Higher quality indicators of their milk.

Alexander NOVOKHROST, photo - Maxim GUCHEK