Division of Animal Food and Nutrition (AFN)

Research Focus

The division AFN (Animal Food and Nutrition) represents the start of the supply chain of food of animal origin. It focuses on proper feeding of agricultural livestock and the significant impact of animal nutrition on quality and safety of primary products, such as milk, meat and eggs. Besides nutrients, special emphasis is paid on secondary effects of food components on digestion, metabolism and health. Special competences of the division refer to experimental studies with agricultural livestock and model animals to humans (pig, rat) on metabolism of nutrients and on the impact of functional dietary components and of additives, quantification of fractional fluxes in the intact organism (absorption, excretion, metabolism, turnover of nutrients and other dietary components), and analysis of nutrients (incl. trace minerals) in biological material. Currently, the division focuses on the following research topics: Effect of dietary fiber components, probiotics, and essential oils on functionality of digestion using the pig as animal model, based on methods of nutrition physiology, molecular-biology and histology; nutrition physiology of the essential trace minerals Iodine, Selenium and Zink (bioavailability, retention in tissues); improvement of nutrient supply to agricultural livestock (indispensable amino acids, essential trace minerals, fat quality).