Manuel Sánchez-Rodríguez’s research while affiliated with University of Córdoba and other places

Simple Summary Nowadays, society demands certification and authentication methodologies that are able to clarify the origin of different livestock products. This is considered of paramount importance in order to not only provide accurate information to consumers, but also to protect producers against fraudulent practices. In this context, the aim of this study is to establish a methodology to authenticate the grazing activity of dairy goats. To achieve this, milk and faeces samples were analysed using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy. The good results obtained in discriminant models demonstrated differences in both types of matrices when the two feeding regimes were compared. The development of this methodology could extend its use not only in dairy systems of goats but also in other animal species and systems. Abstract Consumers are increasingly prone to request information about the production systems of the food they buy. For this purpose, certification and authentication methodologies are necessary not only to protect the choices of consumers, but also to protect producers and production systems. The objective of this preliminary work was to authenticate the grazing system of dairy goats using Near-Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS) analyses of milk and faeces of the animals. Spectral information and several mathematical pre-treatments were used for the development of six discriminant models based on different algorithms for milk and faeces samples. Results showed that the NIRS spectra of both types of samples had some differences when the two feeding regimes were compared. Therefore, good discrimination rates were obtained with both strategies (faeces and milk samples), with classification percentages of up to 100% effectiveness. Discrimination of feeding regime and grazing authentication based on NIRS analysis of milk samples and an alternative sample such as faeces is considered as a potential approach for dairy goats and small ruminant production.

Simple Summary The involvement of women in livestock production is a tradition around the world, where women have been associated with small animal farming, mainly based on family production systems. They used to be responsible for animal care (feeding and milking) and family care (children and the elderly), with the working hours exceeding the daily working time defined in developed countries. Men are responsible for the farm’s management and finances. In Europe, small ruminants are mainly raised in adverse environments. Nevertheless, they contribute to maintaining an open environment and the prevention of fire damage in times of drought. On the farms studied, a lower incidence of mastitis in goats was found when a woman worked on the farm (they milk with more care and patience). In this study, there is a predominance of farms with women and men (a family unit), where the genders both equally participate when making decisions that involve household expenses; however, this shared control usually ends up being transferred to the man. In addition, very few women are the owners of farms or make binding decisions. Finally, the inclusion of women should be recommended throughout the small ruminant productive process: this would help improve farming results and provide an incentive to keep women in rural areas. Abstract One of the factors involved in goat milk production is the role of women as farmers. The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of women on dairy goat farms, considering: (1) the profile of women occupationally involved, (2) the organization of the women’s work, (3) the degree of involvement by women in the decision-making on these farms, and (4) the influence of women’s work on productive results. This study was conducted on 52 dairy goat farms in southern Spain. A descriptive analysis and means comparisons were performed to describe the farms where any women were involved or not. In 61.5% of the farms, at least one woman was involved, with an age of 42.2 ± 8.8 years. Very few women were farm owners, although women took binding decisions in 81.25% of these farms. Their work is dedicated to milking and caring for the kids. Women had a positive influence on the productive variables analysed, and for mastitis in herds, the incidence was lower in herds where women participated (p < 0.01). In conclusion, it is recommended to include women’s work as a factor when characterizing dairy goats farms’ systems to evaluate their positive effect on a farm’s performance.

The main objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of the production system and other environmental/phenotype factors on age at first kidding (AFK), kidding interval (KI) and prolificacy of 19,772 Florida goats reared between 2000 and 2019 on 49 dairy farms (38 farms intensively managed and 11 extensively managed with grazing). AFK was lower on intensive (490.2 ± 0.9 days; n = 13,345) than on extensive farms (511.7 ± 2.5 days; n = 2357; p < 0.001), and highest during the spring season (533.9 ± 2.7 days; n = 1932; p < 0.001) in both production systems. The average KI was 355.7 ± 0.4 days, mainly varying according to dry period, kidding season and lactation number and kidding type (p < 0.01). A significant interaction between production system, kidding season and dry period was observed with the highest AFK on intensive farms during spring and summer for goats presenting a dry period of up to six months. The overall prolificacy (1.64 ± 0.01) increased in recent years in both systems, and it was affected by the production system, but with different patterns; so, the highest prolificacy of primiparous and multiparous goats was observed on extensive and intensive farms, respectively. Besides that, the prolificacy and other reproductive parameters, such as AFK, significantly increased in the last decade, which could be related to management improvements. Besides that, the existence of inter-annual variations should be considered to compare data between farms and years, and to establish the farms’ objectives according to their production systems and production goals.

The communal pastures of the Natural Park Sierra de Grazalema are grazed by a total of 23 extensive herds, of which 75% are certified as organic, although only 39% are subsidized for being organic. In a previous research work, these farms were characterized and classified into four typologies: group 1 (farms of intermediate size and without sheep), group 2 (large and very extensive farms), group 3 (farms with sheep suitable for both meat and milk) and group 4 (farms with dairy goat milk and without cattle). In this article, the sustainability of these farms is evaluated and compared based on their organic orientation (whether they are organic or conventional) and their typology (the four typologies indicated), as a tool for decision-making in the management of this natural protected area. To do so, 49 sustainability indexes have been generated, grouped into five attributes: adaptability, self-management, equity, stability, and productivity. The results indicate that, at the global level, there are no significant differences in sustainability between the organic and conventional farms studied. In contrast, depending on the typologies, the results indicate that group 3 is the most sustainable, followed by groups 1 and 4, with group 2 being the one with the lowest level of sustainability. Taking into account that there are a reduced number of herds grazing in this natural park, it is essential to solve the weaknesses of these farms in order to guarantee that they continue to maintain environmental equilibrium in the grasslands.

Mediterranean agriculture has coevolved with harsh environments and changing climate conditions over millennia, generating an extremely rich heritage of traditional knowledge; however, it is particularly threatened by climate change, including a higher than average warming and more frequent extreme climate events. The vulnerability is enhanced by the other components of global change affecting the Mediterranean basin, including biodiversity loss, freshwater overuse, disrupted nutrient cycles, soil degradation and altered fire regimes, in a context of high population density, water scarcity, high dependence on biomass and energy imports, and the prevalence of highly specialized, low diversity agroecosystems. Due to the need to create resilience to these interconnected threats, systemic adaptation measures are urgently needed. This review shows that this systemic approach can be provided by agroecology, which offers a holistic framework enabling the recovery and assessment of traditional knowledge and the cocreation of new local knowledge for enhancing resilience. It also highlights the role of the reconnection of food production and consumption, associated with the recovery of the locally-adapted, largely plant-based Mediterranean diet. Three types of complementary adaptation strategies for crop production are identified: (i) Biodiversity management to spread out risks and reduce pest damage; (ii) Increasing soil organic matter, e.g. with cover crops or crop varieties with higher residue and root production; (iii) Reducing fossil fuel dependence by avoiding synthetic chemicals, increasing efficiency and using renewable energy. Livestock adaptation strategies identified include: (i) management of extensive herds, including practices such as transhumance; (ii) diversification, use of local breeds and change of species; (iii) pasture and forage management, focusing on adjusting stocking rates to prevent abandonment and intensification, agroforestry, and fire management through grazing. Public policies must be set to tailor these strategies to each specific local situation with the involvement of all stakeholders and to establish or reinforce networks allowing knowledge exchange.

This paper describes the typological characterization of the Natural Park Sierra de Grazalema (NPSG) livestock farms using its communal pastures (N = 23, 100% of population) in order to study their sustainability from 160 technical, economic and social variables (from direct on-farm data collection). A principal components analysis (PCA) produced four principal components related to size, livestock species, main productions and intensification level, explaining 73.6% of the variance. The subsequent cluster analysis classified the farms into four groups: C1 (medium size farms without sheep), C2 (large size and very extensive farms), C3 (farms with multipurpose sheep) and C4 (farms with dairy goat and without cattle). Forty-eight-point-seven percent of the surface was registered as organic but none of the farms’ commercialized products were organic. C2 and C3 (both having three ruminant species) are those farms that have more economic differences, the former generating the lowest profit, and the latter generating the highest; however, there is a risk to grasslands conservation from the current tendency that leads dairy farms to rapid intensification. Nevertheless, the very extensive farms are the most interesting for NPSG conservation and the administration should help to maintain the profitability of this sustainable traditional activity, which is necessary to conserve communal pastures.

Revisión de la literatura científica sobre producción agraria y cambio climático (adaptación y mitigación de emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero (GEI)) en el ámbito mediterráneo, con énfasis en la agricultura y ganadería ecológicas. Se han revisado 1023 trabajos científicos relevantes, de los cuales 779 estudian emisiones de gases de efecto invernadero bajo condiciones de clima mediterráneo

Background The main goal of the current work was to infer the demographic history of seven Spanish goat breeds (Malagueña, Murciano-Granadina, Florida, Palmera, Mallorquina, Bermeya and Blanca de Rasquera) based on genome-wide diversity data generated with the Illumina Goat SNP50 BeadChip (population size, N = 176). Five additional populations from Europe (Saanen and Carpathian) and Africa (Tunisian, Djallonké and Sahel) were also included in this analysis (N = 80) for comparative purposes. Results Our results show that the genetic background of Spanish goats traces back mainly to European breeds although signs of North African admixture were detected in two Andalusian breeds (Malagueña and Murciano-Granadina). In general, observed and expected heterozygosities were quite similar across the seven Spanish goat breeds under analysis irrespective of their population size and conservation status. For the Mallorquina and Blanca de Rasquera breeds, which have suffered strong population declines during the past decades, we observed increased frequencies of large-sized (ROH), a finding that is consistent with recent inbreeding. In contrast, a substantial part of the genome of the Palmera goat breed comprised short ROH, which suggests a strong and ancient founder effect. Conclusions Admixture with African goats, genetic drift and inbreeding have had different effects across the seven Spanish goat breeds analysed in the current work. This has generated distinct patterns of genome-wide diversity that provide new clues about the demographic history of these populations. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12711-016-0229-6) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Somatic cell count (SCC) in monitoring udder health has been described in numerous studies as a useful method for the diagnosis of intramammary infection (IMI), and it is considered in standards of quality and hygiene of cow's milk in many countries. However, several authors have questioned the validity of SCC as a reliable IMI diagnosis tool in dairy goats. This review attempts to reflect the importance of different infectious and non-infectious factors that can modify SCC values in goat milk, and must, therefore, be taken into account when using the SCC as a tool in the improvement of udder health and the quality of milk in this species. In dairy goats, some investigations have shown that mammary bacterial infections are a major cause of increased SCC and loss of production. In goats however, the relationship between bacterial infections and SCC values is not as simple as in dairy cattle, since non-infectious factors also have a big impact on SCC. Intrinsic factors are those that depend directly on the animal: time and number of lactation (higher SCC late in lactation and in aged goats), prolificity (higher SCC in multiple births), milking time (higher SCC in evening compared to morning milking) and number of milkings per day, among others. Extrinsic factors include: milking routine (lower SCC in machine than in manual milking), seasonality and food. In addition, milk secretion in goats is mostly apocrine and therefore characterized by the presence of epithelial debris or cytoplasmic particles, which makes the use of DNA specific counters mandatory. All this information is of interest in order to correctly interpret the SCC in goat milk and to establish differential SCC standards.