The General Direction for Agriculture, by decree no. 2951 of 2 March 2018, published in the Official Bulletin of the Lombardy Region (BURL) ordinary series n. 10 of March 2018, approved the implementing provisions for the submission of applications related to Operation 16.1.01 “PEI Operational Groups” of the Lombardy Rural Development Program 2014-2020.
The call promotes the creation of Operative Groups (GO), as part of Measure 16 “Cooperation”, and supports the implementation of innovation projects to seize new opportunities and/or solve problems with reference to the objectives of the European Partnership for Innovation in Agriculture (PEI AGRI).
The Operation takes place throughout the regional territory, in the sectors related to agricultural and agri-food products listed in Annex I to the Treaty on European Union, with the exclusion of the fisheries sector.
The CASCO project, funded thanks to this operation, deals with the problem of controlling infestations from gastrointestinal nematodes in dairy goats and proposes to develop an integrated system for the control of these parasites based on the identification of a number of fodder plants rich in condensed tannins/other foods or a commercial extract of condensed tannins to be inserted into the feed in order to reduce the level of gastrointestinal nematodes without compromising the production performances of the animals.
The project idea promotes a management system of goat endoparasitosis that from one hand aims to increase the productivity and competitiveness of farms and the containment of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and on the other contributes to improving the quality of goat production and food safety.
Through information and demonstration actions CASCO will also provide Lombardy breeders with elements of knowledge and tools to effectively apply parasite control and improve the profitability of farms.
