Abdelsabour, T.

Aboul Naga, A.

Ameur, M.

Casasús Pueyo, Isabel

Joy Torrens, Margalida

Lobón Ascaso, Sandra

Mohamed Brahmi, A.

Nasraoui, M.

Salah, E.

Tenza Peral, Alicia

citaREA Repositorio Electrónico Agroalimentario

EAAP – 73rd Annual Meeting, Porto, Portugal, 2022 677Session 68 Theatre 11Session 68 Theatre 10Modelling as a tool to explore adaptation of Mediterranean sheep farming systems to climate changeA. Lurette1, F. Douhard2, L. Puillet3, A. Madrid4, M. Curtil1,4 and F. Stark11UMR SELMET, Université de Montpellier, INRAE, CIRAD, L’Institut Agro – Montpellier, Montpellier, France, 2UMR GenPhySE, Université de Toulouse, INRAE, ENVT, Castanet-Tolosan, France, 3UMR MoSAR, Université Paris-Saclay, INRAE, AgroParisTech, Paris, France, 4Idele, Service fourrages et pastoralisme, Castanet-Tolosan, France; amandine.lurette@inrae.fr Mediterranean pastoral farming systems are increasingly subject to strong climatic constraints, which impact their access to grazing resources. To develop livestock farming systems adapted to climate change, combining resilient herds and an efficient use of various feed resources is central. Different combinations can be explored by modelling the impacts of climate change on feed resources and adaptation levers at the different levels of the farm organization (animal-herd-livestock system) however, this is methodologically challenging. This study aims at developing a simulation tool to represent, from animal to farm components, the multi-level implications of adaptation levers that can be mobilized by Mediterranean small ruminant farmers. These levers can be related to animal biology and/or management strategies. The simulation tool enables to evaluate relative and combined effects of levers on farm resilience and efficiency. It was developed with GAMA, an agent-based computer language, to allows the representation of each individual components (animals and areas) of the farming system. The simulator was calibrated on two contrasting pastoral sheep systems in the South of France: one grazing system uniquely based on rangelands and one complemented system with both rangelands and forage production. For these two contrasting situations, we tested the effects of three levers: (1) increasing the part of pastoral surfaces; (2) shifting the grazing periods; and (3) decreasing the flock size to better match with resources availability. The simulator was able to mimic the functioning of livestock farming systems and to evaluate for each situation the impact of adaptation levers on farm efficiency and resilience. Based on this prototype, other situations could be simulated according to climate change scenarios in the Mediterranean area and adaptation levers could be explored to address specifically these challenges at the farming system level.Contribution of grazing areas to small ruminant production systems in the Mediterranean countriesS. Lobón1, A. Aboul Naga2, A. Mohamed-Brahmi3, A. Tenza-Peral1, E. Salah2, M. Ameur3, M. Joy1, M. Nasraoui4, T. Abdelsabour2 and I. Casasús11CITA-IA2, Avd. Montañana 930, 50059, Spain, 2APRI, Dokki, 12611 Cairo, Egypt, 3Université de Jendouba, Boulifa, 7100, Tunisia, 4INRAT, Ariana, 2049, Tunisia; slobon@cita-aragon.esClimate change threatens livestock production systems because of its potential negative impacts on resources availability (e.g. pasture, supplements, water), which are expected to be important in Mediterranean countries. In order to foresee these potential impacts, it is necessary first to analyse the use of these resources in the different farming systems. We used a questionnaire to characterize land use, general flock management, feeding strategies and the products sold in small ruminant farming systems in Spain, Egypt and Tunisia (n=163 farms, 25 in Spain, 47 in Egypt, 90 in Tunisia). On average, Spanish farms had 216 ha utilised agricultural area (UAA) and 2,843 ha common lands, 228 livestock units (LU), 2 LU/ha UAA, 93 LU/work unit (WU), 1.55 prolificacy (n lambs/lambing) and 1.41 productivity (lambs sold/ewe/year). Egypt farms had 10 ha UAA and 51 ha common lands, 18 LU, 5 LU/ha UAA, 6 LU/WU, 1.34 prolificacy and 0.49 productivity. Tunisian farms had 82 ha UAA plus 86 ha common lands, 20 LU, 1 LU/ha UAA, 9 LU/WU, 1.17 prolificacy and 0.81 productivity. Flocks fed exclusively on grazed pastures during 8.1, 7.2 and 9.4 months in Spain, Egypt and Tunisia, respectively. The percentage of flocks that grazed on rangelands in each country was 81%, 31% and 92%, on forage crops it was 72, 81 and 64%, and on stubble 98, 55 and 68% from Spain, Egypt and Tunisia; respectively. During the rest of the year, flocks were supplemented with sources of energy (concentrate/cereals) and/or fibre (hay/straw/forages). Energy supplementation prevailed in Egypt (84%) and Tunisia (62%), followed by the combination of energy and fibre (13% and 36%), whereas in Spain the main type of supplementation was the combination of energy and fibre (52%) following by only energy (40%). Data obtained here will be fed into a computational model to identify strategies for strengthening the resilience and enhancing the efficiency of small ruminant farming systems in the Mediterranean basin.Book of Abstracts of the 73rd Annual Meeting of the European Federation of Animal ScienceBook of abstracts No. 28 (2022) Porto, Portugal5 – 9 September, 2022

Contribution of grazing areas to small ruminant production systems in the Mediterranean countries

https://citarea.cita-aragon.es/citarea/bitstream/10532/6078/1/2022_343.pdf

Contribution of grazing areas to small ruminant production systems in the Mediterranean countries

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