Abstracts of the 49th Symposium on Cuniculture, ASESCU

Abstract

[EN] The 49th Symposium of the Spanish Association of Cuniculture (ASESCU) was held last May in Burgos (Castilla y León; Spain). The event was organised in collaboration with Union de Pequeños Agricultores y Ganaderos (UPA). During the congress, two main lectures were presented. First, Luis Ángel Quintela, from Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, explained how animals use pheromones to communicate and explored their potential to reduce stress and improve animal breeding in farming. Then, Francisco Xavier Mora, from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, talked about re-emerging diseases found in recent years in rabbit farming. The challenges to face with the possible incoming legislation on rabbit housing were discussed by producers, researchers, rabbit meat distributors, housing manufacturers and livestock associations in a round table. Moreover, four simultaneous and interactive round tables were held during a coffee break, with dynamic discussions on processed rabbit meat products, the new legislation about rabbit health, good farming practices and the use of additives in rabbit nutrition. More than a hundred people joined the congress, including technicians, farmers and researchers. In the following pages you can see the contributions on genetics and reproduction, nutrition, housing and welfare, environmental control and pathology.