70th Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal Science (EAAP), City of Ghent in Belgium
by Jozef Polák
On 26. – 30. August 2019, the Annual conference of the European Federation of Animal Science was held in the historic and lively city of Ghent. The conference took place at the largest and most polyvalent International Convention Centre (ICC) in Belgium. For decades, the Annual Meeting has hosted scientists and experts from the field of animal science, not only from Europe but also from other countries around the globe. The main theme of this meeting was “Animal farming for a healthy world” and deal with topics such as resource efficiency, animal welfare, diversification, agro-ecology, climate change and product quality. The program covered various disciplines such as animal genetics, animal health and welfare, animal nutrition, animal physiology, livestock farming systems, cattle, horse, pig, sheep and goat production, livestock farming and insects. The program also included plenary meetings with scientists from different areas, followed by the annual conference divided into 73 sections. The individual sections were connected with the discussion of the results achieved in the European and global livestock production. This year, 1 200 participants from more than 50 countries attended the conference. The Slovak University of Agriculture in Nitra was represented at the meeting by three departments: Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding Biology, Department of Animal Nutrition as well as Department of Veterinary Sciences. Department of Animal Genetics and Breeding Biology was represented by prof. Ing. Anna Trakovická, CSc., prof. Ing. Radovan Kasarda, PhD. and Ing. Nina Moravčíková, PhD, who presented contribution “Selection sweeps through variation in linkage disequilibrium in horses” (Ing. Moravčíková) and 4 posters. In addition, prof. Kasarda attended in the committee meetings of the working group for Central and Eastern Europe and group for Precision Livestock Farming (PLF) related to connection of new members and selection of themes for next year. Department of Animal Nutrition, represented by Ing. Patrícia Vašeková and Ing. Renata Kolláthová, presented the results of their work in two posters. Department of Veterinary Sciences was represented by prof. Ing. Vladimír Tančin, DrSc. and Ing. Kristína Tvarožková, which presented the research results within session “Producing sheep & goats with reduced veterinary inputs”.
