Teaching

My teaching activity has been developed in the UniversitatPolitècnica de València (Spain) from 1996 to present, being full professor from2011. Teaching has been always focused on Animal Production, particularly onAnimal Nutrition, in degrees of Agricultural Engineering and Veterinary Science,as well as in postgraduate studies (Master on Animal Science and PhD studies).Along this time, I have supervised 58 Degree Theses, 12 Master Theses and 7 PhDTheses. Since 2006, I’m the founder-coordinator of the on-line Rabbit FarmCourse, being the main training tool of rabbit breeders at Spain and LatinoAmerica.

Research

My research has been exclusively devoted torabbit science, with special emphasis on the assessment of adequate feedingprograms in breeding does and growing rabbits, considering their geneticpotential, as well as their implications on reproduction, welfare, health and meatquality.

Work on nutritive evaluation includes a numberof methodological studies, to develop invitro and NIR based methods for nutritive evaluation of raw materials, all themthrough collaboration with other members of the European Group on Rabbit Nutrition(EGRAN), of which I’m part since its foundation in 1996. Moreover, thenutritional value of many raw materials of typical or potential use in rabbitfeeding has been determined (as lucerne, ryegrass hay, wheat, DDGs of differentgrains, beet pulp, rice straw, rice bran…).

On the other hand, regarding the influence ofnutrition on performance in breeding does (reproduction and health) and growingrabbits (growth, health and meat quality), the effects of variations mainly inthe energy content of the feed (for changes in their levels of starch, fibreand fat) and their interactions with the genetic type have been studied. Mystudies have contributed to a better understanding of how genetic selection fordifferent criteria (litter size at weaning, ovulation rate, growth rate andlongevity) have modified resources allocation in breeding does and theirconsequences on reproduction, welfare, health and life span.

The obtained results have helped to establishthe current recommendations on feeding programs for rabbit farms, especially inthe current definition of the commercial feeds for young rabbit females andreproductive rabbit does in function of their genetic type.