Animal Science Days in Slovakia this year
01.10.2025
The 33rd annual international symposium Animal Science Days (ASD 2025) was organized this year by our Faculty of Agrobiology and Food Resources in Nitra from September 23 to 26, 2025. As in previous years, this year's event was prepared in cooperation with nine partner universities from Austria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Italy, Slovakia, and Slovenia, and was held under the patronage of the European Association for Animal Production Sciences (EAAP). Since our entry into the consortium, ASD has been held in Slovakia for the second time. The main theme of the symposium was "Innovation, sustainability and cooperation in animal sciences: strengthening the new generation of researchers." During the plenary session of the conference, Prof. Ing. Branislav Gálik, PhD. from FAPZ gave a presentation on Modern Nutrition of Non-Ruminants, and Prof. Dr. Peter Dovč from the University of Ljubljana discussed the current state of breeding and raising companion animals. Later in the sections, there were presentations and poster presentations by young scientists and renowned experts from 14 countries and 3 continents in the fields of animal genetics and genomics, animal husbandry, welfare and health, animal nutrition, animal production systems, and sustainable production and use of food sources of animal origin. Participants took part in a professional excursion to the National Stud Farm in Topoľčianky, where they had the opportunity to see a demonstration of the Topoľčianky quadrille performed by six Lipizzaner stallions, a presentation of stallions of all five breeds bred at the National Stud Farm in Topoľčianky, and a tour of the stables. As is now traditional, on Tuesday, the first day of the congress, a full-day course focused on working with sequencing data was held in cooperation with the University of Zagreb. The event included a satellite meeting within the COST Action EU-LI-PHE project, which held its annual meeting of young scientists and innovators in Slovakia. During the social evening, Prof. Ing. Peter Strapák, PhD., on behalf of the dean of the faculty, presented a commemorative medal of the FAPZ to Prof. Dr. Johann Sölkner from BOKU in Vienna for his contribution, in recognition of his outstanding career and his exceptional contribution to the development of mutual cooperation in the field of animal husbandry and breeding. Every year, the Animal Science Days consortium serves as a platform for scientists and experts, especially from Central and Eastern Europe, to exchange knowledge and strengthen cooperation in the field of animal sciences. For more information about the conference, visit the official website https://www.asd2025.uniag.sk and Facebook.
