Projects

The European Commission (partly) funds projects to improve and expand the knowledge, technologies and development in farm animal production research. The projects presented here are also a result of the input of FABRE TP.

A full overview of EU funded projects, from 1991 until now, regarding animal breeding and reproduction can be found here.
FECUND addresses problems of reproductive success. FECUND will define new phenotypes, deliver targets for genomic selection for improved fertility, and improve reproductive biotechnology. Together with PROLIFIC, FECUND will contribute to a better understanding of factors influencing the reproductive performances of dairy cattle. 
FISHBOOST will develop balanced and sustainable breeding programmes to improve breeding programmes, tools and technologies in aquaculture.
IMAGE is an H2020 project which stands for Innovative Management of Animal Genetic resources. It aims at enhancing the use of genetic collections and upgrading animal gene bank management. The ultimate goal of the project is to demonstrate the benefits brought by gene banks to the development of more sustainable livestock farming systems.
METHAGENE will co-ordinate and strengthen EU scientific and technical research through improved cooperation and interactions, which is essential for breeding ruminants with lower environmental footprints resulting in less contribution to global warming.
PROHEALTH aims to contribute to our understanding of the multifactorial dimension of animal pathologies linked to the intensification of production and to help provide effective control strategies to reduce the impact on animal welfare including health.
RuminOmics will try to decrease the environmental footprint of ruminant production by exploiting state-of-the-art –omics technologies. A connection will be made between the animal genome, gastrointestinal microbiome and nutrition to improve digestion efficiency and decrease environmental damage from methane and nitrogen emissions.
SAPHIR aims to develop innovative, safe, affordable and effective vaccine strategies effective against endemic pathogens responsible for high economic losses in livestock. By generating vaccine strategies for these pathogens in pigs, poultry and ruminants, SAPHIR will aid in strengthening the profitability of food animal systems, improve animal welfare and reduce xenobiotic usage in farming with a ‘One Health’ perspective.
DAMONA carries out genetic analyses of dairy cattle to identify variations in male and female mutation and recombination rates. This is done to, inter alia, quantify and characterise inter-individual variation in male and female mutation and recombination rates and to study the effects of variation in recombination on fertilty.
EADGENE was a Network of Excellence-projects, which coordinates a genomics approach to the unravelling of host-pathogen interactions, thereby providing the basic knowledge necessary for the development of new or improved therapeutics and vaccins, improved diagnostics, new prevention strategies, and the breeding of farm animals for disease resistance. From 1 September 2004 till 1 March 2010 EADGENE was an EC funded a European Research Group (ERG).
EADGENE_S was the follow-up project of EADGENE, as from 1 March 2010 EADGENE_S contributed as a project. 
ECO-FCE objective is to understand the interactions within the monogastric biological system which create diversity, optimise feed use efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, nitrogen and phosphorus excretion, whilst not adversely affecting animal health, welfare or product quality. Secondly, ECO-FCE will develop industry-ready tools which will facilitate the selection of breeding stock and nutritional strategies for improved gut health and functionality and host performance.
FAANG aims to improve the functional annotation of animal genomes. This FAANG - Europe COST Action will facilitate the aims of the FAANG project through coordination, development of agreed standards for experiments, data and metadata, training and dissemination of standards and results.
Feed-a-Gene aims to better adapt different components of monogastric livestock production systems (i.e., pigs, poultry and rabbits) to improve the overall efficiency and to reduce the environmental impact. ​
Gene2Farm aims to derive complete genome information for identifying variations among bovine genomes, to optimise SNP genotyping panels and explore further the use of bovine genomic selection. 
LowInputBreeds aimed to develop integrated livestock breeding and management strategies to improve animal health and welfare, product quality and performance in European organic and 'low input' milk, meat and egg production.
PIGENDEF aimed to map the chromosomal areas that have an effect on genetic defects - and possibly identify the causal mutations that underlie these defects. The markers will be implemented in a practical test for selection against congenital genetic defects studied. 
PROLIFIC wants to unlock the potential for proactive herd management by providing the farmer with improved tools for on-farm reproductive monitoring and management. 
Pro-Ovum tests the hypothesis that PGRMC1 plays an essential role in chromosomal alignment and segregation, which occurs during bovine oocyte maturation. 
RobustMilk aimed to develop new useful and practical technologies to allow dairy farmers and the dairy industry to refocus their selection decisions in order to include additional traits such as milk quality and dairy cow robustness. The RobustMilk project was designed to develop new practical technologies that allow breeders to re-modify their selection criteria. 
SelSweep project aimed to understand the genomic forces acting during speciation, domestication and breeding. 
SheepRep improved sheep fertility by using artificial means of reproduction. SheepRep aimed to increase the conception rate in ewes through artificial insemination, using frozen-thawed semen.
SusSheP aims to increase the sustainability and profitability of European Sheep Production by addressing key industry focused problems.