In addition to the AviMin project currently underway at HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein, which aims to reduce odor and ammonia emissions in laying hen husbandry and is being carried out in cooperation with the Bavarian State Farm Kitzingen and the FH Soest, there are long-standing contacts with the Schwarzenau State Farm, particularly through the annual meetings of the DA-CH working group for pig feeding trials.
During a site visit to the Bavarian State Farms, the Schwarzenau pig research facility and several poultry houses in Kitzingen were visited. Similar to Austria, the topic of farrowing pens and sow confinement times is also of great social relevance in Germany – in Schwarzenau, the installation of a pen will soon begin, in which new systems for farrowing and piglet protection will be scientifically investigated. In Kitzingen, experimental barns for broiler chickens, laying hens, turkeys, and quail are available – the visit to the breeding stock for Ross 308 broiler chicks was particularly interesting.
In the ongoing DaFNE project AviMin, the Department of Animal Husbandry Systems, Technology and Emissions is making a valuable contribution to the investigation of nitrogen-reduced feed in laying hen farming. The HBLFA Raumberg-Gumpenstein is the only agricultural research institution in the German-speaking world where investigations into emissions of odor, ammonia, and greenhouse gases can be carried out at a high level of measurement technology. In the 2024 laying hen trial, the investigations into the animals' biological performance took place in Kitzingen; in Gumpenstein, the focus was on the gaseous emissions resulting from the nitrogen-reduced feed. The data analysis is currently underway – publication of the results is planned by the end of 2025.
