Island Livestock-farming Laboratory

 Objectives

The main projects of the sector of Animal Husbandry carried out in collaboration with the Agricultural Research Station of Asomaton, are:

Herb of Sfakian sheep

 Study of farming systems suitable to the Cretan conditions.

 Study of reproduction and production characterics of the indigenous goats.

 Use of agricultural by-products as animal feed.

 Improvement of goat and sheep feeding.

 Development of organic animal farming in Crete.

 Results

 Production and disposal of sanitised animals to the sheep farmers of Crete.

 Technology transfer for the improvement of milk quality.

 Study of the indigenous sheep races.

 Development of methods to ensilage the citrus industry by-products.

Ram of Sfakian sheep	Ewe of Sfakian sheep

 Research Projects

 “Study of the Sfakia sheep breed”, 1981-1992. Funded by Ministry of Agriculture

 “Study of adaptation of the subtropical plant (Simmonsia chinensis) in Crete”, 1980-92. Funded by Ministry of Agriculture

 “Erlangung einer Ausbeutegarantie fur ein Photovoltaik-Energieversorgungssystem am Beispiel eines Kuhlhauses” ("PV-Kuhlhaus"). Funded by ALTENER EU, 1994.

Herb of Sfakian sheep

  “Study of cultivation possibility of the plant Jatropha curcas in arid areas of Greece for the production of industry byproducts”. 1990-1994. Funded by Ministry of Agriculture.

 “Application of a system for the rapid sanitation of sheep farms from the maedi-visna virus”. 1994-1998. Funded by Ministry of Agriculture.

 "Study of the upstream eels in west Crete"1992-1993. Ministry of Agriculture.

 “Standardization of Traditional Greek Cheeses”, 1995 -1998. Cooparation with the Agricultural University of Athens, ITCC S.A., NAGREF., DELTA S.A., FO.R.TH. (S.TRA.GREE.C.).  Funded by General Secretariat of Research and Technology (GSRT), Greece.

 “Study of the reproductive and productive characteristics of local goat in Crete” «DIMITRA 95», 1995-2002. Funded by NAGREF Crete.

“Study of technical interventions for the development of dairy sheep farms in Crete” 1998-1999. (NAGREF, FORTH). Funded by Regional Operational Programme of Crete.

“The effect of LEVUCELL SC in milk production of sheep”, 2006. Funded by the company Lallemand SAS, France.

“Development and evaluation of methods for the integrated management of the dairy sheep farms in Crete”. 2007-2008. Funded by Regional Operational Programme of Crete 2000-2006

“Mediterranean Initiatives - Development in Agriculture (MIDA)”, 2006. Funded by INTERREG III B ARCHIMED.

“HealthyHay” Funded by MarieCurie Actions FP6-2005 Mobility-1

 Publications

1. CHATZIMINAOGLOU, I., VOLANIS, M., ZERVAS, N. 1989. Genetic improvement goal and improvement scheme. Animal Science Review, Special issue vol.:6, p.:139-166

2. VOLANIS, M. 1992. The influence of combining suckling and milking upon milk yield and lambs growth of Sfakia sheep. Animal Science Review, vol.:15, p.:5-29

3. VOLANIS, M. TZERAKIS, K., 1997. Study of Sfakia sheep Breed: I. Reproductive and productive characteristics of the ewelambs. Animal Science Review, vol.:23, p.:2-28

4. VOLANIS, M. TZERAKIS, K., 1997. Study of Sfakia sheep Breed: II Reproductive characteristics of the ewes and growth characteristics of the lambs. Animal Science Review, vol.:24, p.:5-20

5. VOLANIS, M. TZERAKIS, K., 1997. Study of Sfakia sheep Breed: III. Milk production. Animal Science Review, vol.:24, p.:21-38

6. VOLANISM. POULOY, A.,TZERAKIS, K. 1998. Application of sanitation methods for maedi-visna virus in sheep. Animal Science Review, vol.:25, p.:57-66

7. KOMINAKIS, A, VOLANIS, M., ROGDAKIS, E., 2001. Genetic modelling of test day records in dairy sheep using orthogonal Legendre polynomials. Small Ruminant Research, 39 (2001) 209-217. slices oranges to lactating dairy sheep. Small Ruminant Research, 53 (2004) 15-21.

8. VOLANIS, M., KOMINAKIS, A., ROGDAKIS, E., 2002. Genetic analysis of udder score and milk traits in test day records of Sfakia dairy ewes. Archiv fur Tierzucht, Dummerstrof 45 (2002) 1, 69-77.

9. VOLANIS, M., ZOIOPOULOS, P., 2003. Efforts in utilizing locally available agro-industrial by-products and crop surpluses in dairy sheep feeding. 54th EAAP Annual Meeting, 31 Aug to 3 Sept 2003, Rome. Book of Abstracts, p.345. (Wageningen Academic Press)

10. VOLANIS, M., ZOIOPOULOS, P. and TZERAKIS, C. 2004. Effects of feeding ensiled slices oranges to lactating dairy sheep. Small Ruminant Research, 53 (2004) 15-21.

11.VOLANIS, M., ZOIOPOULOS, P., PANGOU, E. and TZERAKIS, C. 2006. Utilization of an ensiled citrus pulp mixture in the feeding of lactating dairy ewes. Small Ruminant Research, 64, (2006) 190-195

12. STEFANAKIS, A., VOLANIS, M., ZOIOPOULOS, P., HATJIGEORGIOU, I., 2007. Assessing the potential benefits of technical intervention in evolving the semi-intensive dairy-sheep farms in Crete. Small Ruminant Research 72 (1), pp. 66-72

13. VOLANIS, M., STEFANAKIS, A., HATJIGEORGIOU, I., ZOIOPOULOS, P., 2007. Supporting the extensive dairy sheep smallholders of the semi-arid region of Crete through technical intervention. Trop. Anim. Health Prod., (2007) 39:325–334.

 Personnel