El grupo está compuesto por profesores, investigadores doctores, investigadores en formación, técnicos de apoyo a la investigación y de laboratorio.
Los investigadores del SNIBA, de reconocido prestigio nacional e internacional, son expertos en el campo de la nutrición, el manejo y el bienestar animal.
My main field of work is monogastric nutrition, in particular poultry and pigs. My principal research line is focused on the use of added fats and antioxidants in poultry and pig feeding in order to improve the quality of the meat and eggs. I’m specifically interested in the use of fat by-products in feed formulation, nutritional value of added fats, lipid digestion and absorption processes in the digestive tract and the interrelationship between the lipid composition of the feed and food.
My research activities started during my PhD working in ruminant production and rumen fermentation (2001-2005). Afterwards, I have been involved in projects studying the yeast mode of action in ruminants and monogastrics (2005-2008). Since 2008 I have been working in animal nutrition and animal welfare. Nowadays, I am conducting research on feed additives to improve the gut health and productivity of cattle, pigs and pets; on by-products evaluation to improve the feed efficiency of pigs, broilers and beef cattle; on compost bedding system to improve welfare of dairy cattle; and on dairy farm and pig farm computational simulators. Currently I also have special interests in smart-farms using animal nutrition, management and welfare.
After spending two years as a swine field veterinarian following my graduation from veterinary school, I began my research career with a PhD aimed at expanding knowledge about the feeding behaviour habits of growing-finishing pigs, with a particular focus on its impact on performance, carcass quality, and the utilization of dietary energy and protein. Currently, I am a swine researcher at the Servei de Nutrició i Benestar Animal (SNiBA) of the Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments, where I develop public and private collaborations between the university and the industry. These projects encompass piglets, sows, and growing-finishing pigs, with a special interest in testing novel feed additives, feed ingredients, and nutritional and management strategies, taking into account feed manufacturing and feed mill technology, to improve both productivity and animal welfare.
In the past I have been involved in ruminant production, rumen function and metabolism (1980-1998) and piglets and poultry nutrition (1995-2005). Nowadays my main research topics relates to pig production, nutrition and welfare. I’m specifically interested in nutrition and management of gestating and lactating sows, growing finishing pigs and replacement gilts. Special issues are sow’s productivity and tissue mobilization, the use of farm data to help decisions making, to reduce the pig’s live weight variability at the slaughterhouse and the use of non-conventional by products in diets for growing-finishing pigs.
My scientific research started with my PhD, developed in the Animal Nutrition programme of IRTA under an INIA grant, focused on the effects of n-3 long-chain fatty acids as nutritional strategy in sow and piglet diets. Concretely, we concentrated our study on their impact on the productive parameters of sows and the perinatal piglet growth, and physiological parameters such as the profile of fatty acids and oxylipins, immune indicators, microbiota, and transcriptomics. After completing my PhD, I joined SNiBA as INVESTIGO post-doctorate researcher where I’m involved in public projects and private contracts with the industry. Nowadays, my research is mainly focused on sows, and suckling and nursery piglets on diverse topics ranging from feed additive and digestibility trials to the study of new inflammation biomarkers related to post-weaning stress.
In the last fifteen years, my work has contributed to approach nutrition and health with particular interest in feeding strategies to strength intestinal microbiota equilibrium in young animals, mainly in pigs. Many of this research have pursued the development of new in-feed additives, particularly pre and probiotics. Several projects have been driven to reduce food-borne pathogens like Salmonella in the pig industry and also to control post-weaning colibacillosis. In this regard I have especial interest in the search and development of new functional ingredients able to interfere with the ability of pathogens to colonize the pig intestine. In the recent times I am also focused in defining the variables that determine a desirable pattern of microbial gut colonization in the piglet, and the long-term effects of these early perinatal events.
I work with monogastric animals, mainly pigs and poultry, on the study of interactions between the feed composition and the intestinal health; feed evaluation; and feed additives to improve the health and productivity of pigs and broilers, and to reduce the use of antibiotics. My principal research area is the interaction among carbohydrates, protein, phytate and minerals in the digestive tract. I have also a special interest on the influence of prenatal and perinatal events, including early feeding strategies, on the performance of the animals in the following stages of life.
Dr. Rodríguez-Prado started teaching and research activities associated with the Department of Animal Production at Agronomy Faculty of University of Zulia, Venezuela, responsible for teaching general courses in small ruminant production systems and advanced courses in Animal Production from 1996 to 2008. She moved to Spain firstly to obtain her MSc and PhD degrees, and then in 2008 to join at the Servei de Nutrició i Benestar Animal (SNiBA) of the Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments as researcher (Ruminant Nutrition and Management). Her responsibilities activity include developing public and industry founded projects testing feed additives, nutrient evaluation of feed ingredients, and rumen fermentation parameters and digestibility tests based on different in vitro (batch and continuous culture system), in situ and in vivo techniques. Recently a new in vitro digestion model has been developed and it is suitable for testing foods or pharmaceuticals under simulated human and animal large intestine conditions.
Most of my research and teaching activities of graduate and postgraduate have been related to cultured fish. During several years, I have worked in larval growth and development by using histology methods. Nowadays, my main area of interest is monogastric nutrition, in particular fish but also poultry. I am involved in the research line focused on the use of added fats in fish and poultry feeding. I have special interest in the lipid digestion and absorption processes (in vitro/in vivo processes) in the digestive tract.
My work focuses on the implementation and maintenance of the Quality Management System promoting Continuous Improvement. I supervise the activities carried out by SNIBA team regarding Quality aspects and their responsibilities. The objective is to verify compliance with the legal, customer and internal requirements.
EDUCATION
RESEARCH FOCUS
My Ph. D focused on the biohydrogenation pathways of polyunsaturated fatty acids in rumen and the transcriptome profile in dairy cows. I used different in vitro techniques, including bath and continuous culture systems, as well as in vivo methods. In recent years, I have worked in various companies specialized in the dairy sector as a technical advisor in the fields of nutrition, management, and technical and economic analysis. Nowadays, my research focuses on feed additives and alternative ingredients to enhance farm sustainability and precision feeding. I also have special interest in developing mathematical and IA models to support decision-making in farm management.
I started my research activities in nun-ruminant nutrition at IRTA Mas de Bover, just after finishing my graduate in Agronomical Engineering where I was working as PhD to study several aspects affecting feed acceptability and feed ingredient preferences in swine. This work was the basis my thesis submitted to obtain a PhD in Animal Nutrition at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine of Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in 2008. After finishing my PhD., until now I has been working as researcher in non-ruminant nutrition (swine and poultry) at the Servei de Nutrició i Benestar Animal (SNiBA) of the Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments, developing several private and public founding projects between the university and industry by conducting research projects testing feed additives, nutrient evaluation of different feed ingredients and digestibility tests as well as the impact of non-ruminant nutrition on environmental pollution. In basic research, my interests are sensorial perception and their role on food/feed intake regulation taking into account the interactions between food/feed, gut (as post-ingestive effects) and brain, feeding status, nutrient restriction, maternal transfer and learning, gut hormones and taste receptors. Gut health and their implications for the swine industry. Moreover, as applied research and industry advise my main research area is directly related with swine nutrition and pig performance, efficiency and herd profitability mainly in gestating and lactating sows and weanling pigs but taking into account feed manufacturing, feed mill technology, feeding management and feeding strategies and herd production management and optimise profitability .
