Welcome to the Group Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics

The group »Animal Husbandry in the Tropics and Subtropics« is based both at the University of Kassel and the University of Göttingen.

Our overall aim is to contribute to an optimisation of resource use in livestock-based land use systems of the Tropics and Subtropics. In view of this, research concentrates on:

• improved integration of livestock and crop husbandry in rural and urban systems;
• site-specific rangeland management in communal grazing systems;
• elaboration and adjustment of non-invasive field methods for the quantification of feed intake and energy and nutrient metabolism in free ranging livestock.

Teaching in B.Sc. and M.Sc. courses at Göttingen and Kassel-Witzenhausen focuses on the multiple roles of livestock within the prevailing extensive and semi-intensive livestock systems of developing countries that are integrated with cropping systems at different spatial and temporal scales.
To understand the interactions of livestock and their environment, basic knowledge on the behaviour, the reproductive and nutritional physiology of the major livestock species is provided. The impact of different agro-ecological and socio-economic settings on the intensity and efficiency of the respective livestock systems are discussed.