Agroforestry is increasingly recognized as a sustainable strategy to support adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. This multidisciplinary study examines the impacts of semi-extensive grazing of Maremma cattle on a Mediterranean agroforestry system, specifically, a high forest of Turkey oak (Quercus cerris L.). The aims were to identify innovative and sustainable grazing practices to preserve the equilibrium and efficiency of the agroforestry system; and evaluate the effects of different grazing intensities on soil properties, vegetation, and forest structure. Fieldwork was conducted in April- July 2021at the organic agro-silvo-pastoral farm Tenuta di Paganico (Grosseto, Tuscany, central Italy) encompassing four areas with differing grazing intensities, from ungrazed to three levels of stocking density (from 0.36 to 0.71 LSU ha-1 yr-1) and cattle trampling (from 68 to 83 m cattle trampling). Results show that high grazing intensity did not affect organic carbon and nitrogen contents and water permeability, but it caused higher bulk density as compared to medium intensity grazing and similarly to the ungrazed area which is under regular forest management including the passage of mechanical vehicles. Nevertheless, high intensity grazing negatively impacted on soil health and forest structure. Conversely, low stocking density and rotational grazing supported soil biological quality, vegetation diversity and natural regeneration capacity. Grazing intensity did not affect the stands upperstorey, but it affected the understorey and regeneration layers’ composition and development. This study underscores how adaptive grazing management can balance productivity and ecological integrity in Mediterranean agroforestry systems, offering insights for integrating livestock management with sustainable forestry practices.

This study evaluated the effects of on-farm slaughter (OF) compared to traditional slaughter (TS) on animal welfare, meat quality, and microbiological safety in Cinta senese pigs reared outdoors. Forty pigs were slaughtered using both methods across different seasons, allowing for the analysis of environmental influences via the Temperature-Humidity Index (THI). Blood parameters (cortisol, LDH, CPK), carcass and meat microbial loads, and technological meat quality traits were assessed. Pigs slaughtered on-farm showed significantly lower levels of cortisol, LDH, and CPK, indicating reduced physiological stress. Meat from these animals also had a lower pH 24 h post-mortem, suggesting improved glycolytic activity and better preservation of quality traits. Microbiological analysis showed no significant differences between the two methods, with all carcasses remaining within safety thresholds, although mesophilic counts tended to be lower in OF carcasses. Environmental conditions, especially THI in the two weeks before slaughter, affected some microbial loads in meat but not in carcasses. The results demonstrate that OF slaughter is a viable alternative that can significantly reduce animal stress and maintain both meat quality and microbiological safety, offering a sustainable and ethical option for small-scale or pasture-based pig farming.

Animal internal states can be expressed via social behaviors that are known to shape group dynamics (i.e., allogrooming, social play, agonistic encounters) and that can be flexibly used after experiencing negative stimuli. In extensively bred domestic species, animals are not always used to human handling, and thus also mandatory health checks can alter group dynamics. Here, we investigated possible fluctuations in social behaviors according to the presence and distance from the health check in a group of young Maremmana heifers and steers in semi-extensive conditions. We found that aggression did not change in relation to the health check. On the contrary, the time individuals spent playing and affiliating with each other drastically reduced in the day after the routinary check (Post 1, 0–24 h) if compared to days far from the event (Control): after that, it reached the highest level in the following day (Post 2, 24–48 h). This rebound effect might allow animals to compensate for the previous lack of social interactions and to restore social homeostasis. The findings suggest that social interactions in Maremmana cattle are informative about their internal states. Additionally, social play and allogrooming appear to function as coping strategies for these cattle. The routinary check for health status and performance can provoke distress in cattle. Social play and affiliation drastically reduced the day after the check (Post 1, 0–24 h). In the Post 2 (24–48 h), these social activities had a rebound effect. Aggression did not change in relation to the presence of the health check. On the whole, these findings suggest that social play and allogrooming could be effective coping strategies after handling procedures.

Pesticides are omnipresent, and they pose significant environmental and health risks. Translational studies indicate that acute exposure to high pesticide levels is detrimental, and prolonged contact with low concentrations of pesticides, as single and cocktail, could represent a risk factor for multi-organ pathophysiology, including the brain. Within this research template, we focus on pesticides' impact on the blood-brain barrier (BBB) and neuroinflammation, physical and immunological borders for the homeostatic control of the central nervous system (CNS) neuronal networks. We examine the evidence supporting a link between pre- and postnatal pesticide exposure, neuroinflammatory responses, and time-depend vulnerability footprints in the brain. Because of the pathological influence of BBB damage and inflammation on neuronal transmission from early development, varying exposures to pesticides could represent a danger, perhaps accelerating adverse neurological trajectories during aging. Refining our understanding of how pesticides influence brain barriers and borders could enable the implementation of pesticide-specific regulatory measures directly relevant to environmental neuroethics, the exposome, and one-health frameworks.

Dominance hierarchies can be interconnected with behaviours that are essential to manage social living, such as affiliative behaviours and social play, whose importance can already emerge in the early phases of life. Here, we carried out an observational study (all occurrences sampling) to investigate the possible interconnection between these three behavioural categories in a group of Maremmana beef cattle (n = 44, 6-21 months of age) in an extensive breeding system. We found that a clearly linear hierarchy is present in the group, and that the age of the animals positively correlated with their hierarchical ranks. Affiliative behaviours were directed up to the hierarchy: dominants received more affiliative behaviours and subordinates were generally starting the sessions, suggesting that affiliative behaviours may be used by subordinates to bond with dominants for possibly gaining some benefits. Social play mainly consisted of play fighting and dominant subjects played with the highest frequency. However, playful modality was independent from playmates' relative rank position, with longer-lasting sessions being characterized by unbalanced and unreciprocated patterns. This indicates that play fighting in cattle has a competitive rather than cooperative nature and that it may be used as physical training to develop competitive skills in all groupmates. When play fighting was punctuated by affiliative behaviours, the playful sessions lasted longer. In this view, affiliative behaviours can have a communicative value useful in downgrading the competition emerging during play fighting. In conclusion, under naturalistic conditions young animals of beef cattle express all the behavioural repertoire typical of adulthood and their agonistic, affiliative, and playful behaviours are strongly interconnected in shaping social dynamics. Thus, our study suggests that extensive farming conditions are ideal to study the behavioural strategies domestic animals enact to form cohesive social groups. Such information is needed to enhance management and welfare of domestic ungulates.

I prodotti di Cinta Senese risultano caratterizzati dalla tecnica di allevamento e alimentazione utilizzata. L’obiettivo e stato quello di valutare le performance produttive di suini di razza Cinta Senese alimentati con pascolo erbaceo per periodi di diversa durata. Sedici soggetti sono stati divisi in due gruppi e sottoposti ad un diverso regime alimentare: il primo ha ricevuto un’alimentazione a base di soli cereali, mentre il secondo ha usufruito di pascolo erbaceo con un’integrazione di mangime dello stesso tipo del primo. L’introduzione dell'erba nella dieta non sembra influenzare il peso della carcassa e le sue diverse componenti, conferendo invece alle carni ottime caratteristiche in termini di tenerezza e sapidita. Cio puo deporre a favore della possibilita di gestire la fase di finissaggio sostituendo il 50% della dieta con il pascolo: l’utilizzo del pascolo erbaceo nella fase di finissaggio potrebbe anche permettere, cosi, di inserire l’allevamento della razza Cinta Senese, generalmente condotto in modo semi-brado o brado, in una vera e propria rotazione agronomica dei terreni a disposizione dell’allevatore.

Introduction - During the last few years, organic production has showed an increasing trend. This trend is mainly due to the EU supporting policy, in order to guarantee food security and sustainable productions for the future. In addition, since the nineties, producers and consumers have shown a growing interest towards organic production and the market have been developed. Moreover in Tuscany, a lot of farmers which own marginal land and/or forested areas have decided to turn to organic livestock, both for the ethical value of their products and for the greater bargaining power that the goods have on the market.Aim - The aim of this research was to study the effects of some variability factors on carcass weight.Materials and methods - Breed, slaughtering age, sex, season of birth, interactions year x management, breed x age and sex x age on carcass weight of 457 cattle slaughtered during the period 2001-2011 were evaluated. The animals were Chianina, Maremmana, Limousine and crossbreed Maremmana x Limousine veals and were raised in the same farm in Tuscany. The animals received the same feed and were slaughtered at an average age of 18/24 months, depending on the breed and sex. Data were stratified on the basis of the slaughtering age (five levels), then a statistical analysis was performed.Results and discussion - Chianina and crossbreed Limousine x Maremmana gave heavier carcasses: 389.3 +/- 6.39 and 323.4 +/- 5.41 kg, respectively. In general the farming system (conventional or organic) did not affect carcass weight. Chianina cattle showed a wide range of slaughtering weights. Moreover in the farm, the larger number of Chianina beef was slaughtered between 22 and 26 months like Limousine and crossbreeds, whereas Maremmana was slaughtered between 18-22 months. Males had heavier carcass than female: 353.2 +/- 4.35 vs 299.4 +/- 5.85 respectively but the differences between sexes were significant only after 18 months. The management system (conventional/organic) and the season of birth did not affect the carcass weight of cattle.Conclusion - The management system (conventional/organic) do not seem to influence the productivity, indeed it does not affect the carcass weight of beef cattle. On the other hands the choices of management play an important roles on productivity as demonstrated by the effects of the slaughter age and the breed on the carcass weight.

The Zeri ewe is an indigenous Italian breed that is spread throughout the homonymous area located in northwest Tuscany. This article presents the history and evolution of Zerasca sheep, describes the breed's characteristics in terms of somatic and productive traits, managerial and health practices, meat quality; moreover it underlines its contribution to the preservation of the rural land and population of the Zeri district. First documentation on this breed dates back to the 19th Century. Zerasca breed has a medium-large size with white fleece. Males present horns while in females can be absent. Currently Zerasca ovine population totals more than 2,000 heads. Sheep husbandry is currently predominant in Zeri area thanks to the great availability of woody vegetation (oak, chestnut, hazel, alder and beech trees), meadows and pastures. Animals' nutrition depends mostly on grazing pastures, infact flocks are generally supported only with a little nutritional supplementation. The first typical production is the heavy lamb that is gaining more and more relevance thanks to its excellent meat quality, unique in taste; infact, Zeri lamb is included in the list of Slow Food Presidia, reflecting the recognized quality of this product in the world. Most of shepherds jointed in a consortium for the valorization and safeguarding of Zerasca sheep and lambs, whose regulation points towards the implementation of extensive farming systems with an optimal exploitation of local pasture resources. One of the most important problem that Zerasca sheep farmers often complain is represented by gastrointestinal parasitism, almost endemic in sheep husbandry and particularly in sheep raised under extensive systems. Today, "Zeri lamb" has a considerable economic impact on its territory, ensuring increasing profits for shepherds. The aim of this review is to collect information about a native breed in endangered status that it is gaining importance thanks to the high-quality of products.

The objective of this study was to assess the effect of different pastures, applied during the finishing period, on backfat fatty acid composition from organic pigs. Sixty Cinta Senese pigs were slaughtered from May 2010 to July 2011, during their finishing period they grazed on different types of pasture: 1) mixed grass (Vicia sativa L., Trifolium alexandrinum L. Avena sativa L.) and sorghum (Sorghum vulgare), 2) gleaning of barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) and horse bean (Vicia faba minor L.), 3) old alfalfa field (Medicago sativa L.) and 4) mixed grass (Avena sativa L., Hordeum vulgare L.. Vicia faba minor L.) and sorghum. Animals were fed with 2.5 % D.M. live weight of farm feed, but during the period of access to pasture the diet was decreased and the availability of crops was ad libitum. The different availability of fatty acids coming from pastures brought a change regarding fatty acids composition of the pig backfat, in particular green pastures enrich fat deposits in n-3 linolenic acid.

Extensive farming system increasingly involves swine husbandry based primarily on wood pasture; this practice could cause problems linked with woods exploitation and needs substantial skills about sustainable woods management. For many years, grass pasture represented a valid option in Italian and foreign regions. The utilisation of grass could represent a valid alternative to achieve good performances in finishing pigs with effects on fatty acids composition. For these reasons we tried to evaluate the effects of grazing on fatty acids (FA) composition and malonaldehyde (MDA) content of cured lard, a typical Tuscan product. 16 Cinta Senese finishing pigs were divided into two groups: 'Concentrate' (C) fed a common diet utilised in the farm (2.6 kg/head/d) and 'Pasture' (P) fed on grass pasture (lucerne, oat, lolium and clover) with a daily integration of 1.4 kg/head of the same concentrate used by 'C'. Slaughtering happened at 150 kg of live weight. FA and MDA content were determined on lard cured for 6 months, according to dry seasoning technique. FA composition did not show significant differences between the two groups revealing a substantial homogeneity in fatty acids composition. More in detail linolenic acid, that is particularly influenced by the diet, did not show higher values in the group fed pasture (0.59 vs. 0.64 respectively for C and P). MDA content was similar in the two groups (1.46 vs. 1.53 mg/kg) with higher values than those found in other investigations conducted on Cinta Senese pigs.

The control of gastrointestinal parasites in livestock relies almost exclusively on multiple and regular dosing with anthelmintics. This leads to problems linked with residues in food products and in the environment and has encouraged researchers to search for alternatives or new helminth control methods (Ketzis et al., 2006). Among these medthods, homeopathy could play a strategic role in solving health problems; however, at present, there is a lack of scientific results with validated techniques used on a large scale. The aim of this study was thus to investigate the feasibility of homeopathy in the control of the parasite burden in sheep. The study lasted 12 months and involved 30 Zerasca ewes divided into two groups. Sabadilla MK was administered twice. A faecal egg count (FEC) was performed of gastrointestinal strongyles and blood parameters were characterized. Statistical analysis was by ANOVA and relations between FEC and hematocrit (HCT) were estimated by Pearson's correlations. FEC was influenced by the sampling date, confirming seasonal fluctuation. On the whole, homeopathy did not influence the parasite burden, but a significant decrease (P≤0.05) in egg output was observed at the second and at the last sampling following the administration of the remedy. Data concerning blood parameters did not show appreciable differences between the two groups. FEC and HCT showed an inverse correlation even if mean values were within the normal range. The study revealed the advantages of monitoring parasites and the interest of homeopathy in the control of gastrointestinal nematodes.

Feasibility of homeopathy in a flock of Zerasca sheep M. N. Benvenuti, F. Pisseri, J. Goracci, L. Giuliotti, B. Gugliucci, F. Macchioni, A. Gavazza and G. Guidi Dipartimento Produzioni Animali, Viale delle Piagge, 2 56124 Pisa, Medico veterinario omeopata Scuola CIMI-Koinè, Dipartimento Clinica Veterinaria, Via Livornese, S. Piero a Grado and Dipartimento Patologia Animale, Profilassi e Igiene degli Alimenti, Viale delle Piagge, 2 56124, Pisa