Vision of the future sustainable animal production and evaluation of realizable policies using systems approach

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 16K15030
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Animal production science
• Research Institution: Kyoto University
• Principal Investigator: HIROOKA hiroyuki 京都大学, 農学研究科, 教授 (60192720)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): OISHI kazato 京都大学, 農学研究科, 助教 (50452280)
• Project Period (FY): 2016-04-01 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 畜産 / 環境負荷 / アニマルウェルフェア / ライフサイクルアセスメント / 窒素 / メタン / 家畜

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Mitigation of environmental impacts from animal production and improved social acceptability (animal welfare) are grand challenges of recent animal science. First, a deterministic simulation model for dairy cattle, beef cattle, pig, broiler and layer production on national scale was developed to evaluate current production in 2017 and the future production in 2030. Total nitrogen excretions were 600 thousand ton in 2017 and 544 thousand ton in 2030 and total enteric methane emission from cattle were 338 thousand ton in 2017 and 272 thousand ton in 2030. Secondly, the results of life cycle assessment showed that grazing on pasture had larger environmental impact on global warming, acidification and eutrophication than confinement systems due to a large amount of chemical fertilizer application on pasture. Thirdly, the results for consumer preference showed that almost 90% of consumers were interested in and willing to pay for beef with animal welfare or environmentally friendly label.

Free Research Field

畜産学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

わが国の畜産は農業生産額で米の約2倍となった(2017年現在)が、環境負荷やアニマルウェルフェア(AW)への配慮などが問題となってきている。本研究では、システムアプローチによる国家レベルの分析を行い、今後、窒素排泄やメタン産生などは緩和されるが、それは家畜頭数の減少によるもので、このままでは畜産全体の衰退を招く恐れのあることを示した。また、AWに配慮した牛肉に対する消費者のニーズについても検討している。