Associate Professor

Degree programme director for Agrobiology (MSc)

Degree programme director for  Sustainable Animal Nutrition and Feed (Erasmus Mundus Double Degree, MSc)

Research

My research area covers nutritional physiology of cattle with a focus on animal health, nutrient utilisation and production. The research activities include:

• metabolism and utilisation of phosphorus in cows
• importance of zinc to the milk quality of cows
• importance of zinc to secretarial diarrhoea and health in piglets
• utilisation of by-products from the production of bioenergy for cow feed
• nutrition and feeding strategies which support a high productivity, animal welfare, milk quality and a low environmental impact of cows
• feeding of suckling and weaning calves and development of their gastrointestinal tract

My research also covers other aspects of animal nutrition and physiology with emphasis on minerals, electrolytes and processes of epithelial transport. For my research, I use intensive animal models and production trials as well as chemical analyses and in vitro methods.

Ongoing projects

REPROLAC - Extended lactation in dairy production in favour of climate, animal welfare and productivity (http://agro.au.dk/forskning/projekthjemmesider/reprolac/).

A better quality of by-products used as feeding for dairy cows (http://agrsci.au.dk/institutter/institut_for_husdyrbiologi_og_sundhed/husdyrernaering_og_miljoe/projekter/bedre-kvalitet-af-biprodukter-som-fodermidler-til-malkekoeer/)

 Tuition

I coordinate the Master’s degree programme in Agrobiology (http://kandidat.au.dk/en/agrobiology/) with specialisations in animal science (animal health and welfare), plant science (plant nutrition and health) and organic agriculture. I'm also the local coordinator of the international elite Master’s programme Erasmus Mundus in Sustainable Animal Nutrition and Feeding EM-SANF (http://www.emsanf.eu/UK/). I teach various university courses and postgraduate courses concerning nutrition and physiology of cattle. These courses mainly concern minerals and calves.