A detailed description of the activities of the Department are listed below.

Nutrition

• Development of new feeding regimes for critical stages of cows' lactation; heat-stress effects; robotic milking; effects of lack of either grains or roughages.
• Development and adaptation to Israeli conditions of new varieties of winter- and summer-grown forages (sorghum, corn and wheat), and examination of their nutritive value for ruminants.
• Enhancing the use of fresh dairy cow manure as an alternative to artificial fertilizers for forages and grain crops.
• Nutrition and physiology of the cow during the transition period.
• Regulation of milk fat in dairy cows by nutrition. Enrichment of omega 3 fatty acids contents in milk fat.
• Estimation of energy expenditure of free-range ruminants from heart rate measurements.
• Testing the effects of diets and supplements on young calves' health and performance.
• Testing the nutritional quality of agricultural and industrial byproducts, as nutrient supplements for grazing beef cows.
• Using natural and external markers for determining botanical composition and dietary intake of grazing cows.

Physiology

• Environmental manipulation during the dry period of ruminants.
• The physiological background of the natural variations in the ovine growth hormone and the ovine leptin genes.
• Responses of beef cattle to transportation, environmental and nutritional stresses.
• Participation in a Middle East regional agricultural program on small ruminant productivity, which involves Egypt, Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority.

 Reproduction

• Fertility of high-yielding dairy cows. Role of insulin/IGF-I in postpartum resumption of ovarian cyclicity.
• Characterization and treatment of ovarian cysts in dairy cows.
• Effect of endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) on ovarian activity and fertility of dairy cows.
• The steroidogenic effect of single-chain bovine LH analogs in cultured bovine follicular cells.
• The effects of special fatty acids (FA) supplementation on reproduction of high-yielding dairy cows.
• Optimization of artificial insemination of sheep and goats
• Double freezing of bull semen for future sperm banking and sexing facilities.
• Reproduction management programs for dairy and beef cattle.
• Research on fetal intra uterine growth restriction (IUGR) in prolific sheep.

Genetics and breeding

• Developing the prolific Afec-Awassi and Afec-Assaf sheep strains and studing their performances under range management conditions.
• Eradication day blindness in sheep following identification its genetic background.
• Breeding for resistance to scraipe in sheep.
• Breeding and genetic studies of dairy cattle.
• Genetic identification of cattle at the DNA level.
• Taxonomic identification of wild animals in Israel by using DNA barcodes.
• Mapping and identification of quantitative trait loci (QTL) in cattle.
• Positional cloning of QTL genes in cattle.
• Genetic analysis of dairy cattle for production and secondary traits, including fertility, persistency, twinning rate, and calf growth rate.
• Development of methods to identify and analyze individual genes affecting economic traits. From QTL to QTN identification in livestock.
• Incorporation of effects of individual known genes into genetic evaluation programs.
• Economic aspects of animal breeding.

Lactation biology

• The role of Stat5 in normal and abnormal mammary development and function.
• Use of genetically modified animals in studying regulation of mammary gland development and functions.
• Using DNA arrays to analyze gene expression during mammary gland development.
• Traceability of livestock.
• Stem cells in the mammary gland.
• Effect of leptin on the mammary gland of the dairy cow, and its interaction with lactogenic hormones.
• The role of mammary fat in lactogenesis in the dairy cow.
• The regulatory mechanisms of milk secretion.
• Effects on milk composition of sub-clinical and clinical mastitis, and of commercial storage, in relation to quality requirements for the dairy industry and consumer heath.
• Translational mechanisms that govern milk protein levels and composition.