Laboratory of Environmentally Safe Animal Production under Technogenic Contamination Conditions

  • develops recommendations for public and private animal husbandry sectors to reduce the dose load to population in contaminated areas,
  • works out new ways and approaches to limit the transfer of radionuclides from feed rations to animal products,
  • studies the effects of veterinary drugs and feed supplements of mineral and organic origin on the concentrations of radionuclides in animal products,
  • develops new and adapts the existing cattle farming techniques with taking into account specific radioactive conditions of a farmland,
  • is involved in radioecological monitoring of reference animal-farming sites in the BelNPP surveillance zone,
  • provides scientific followup of local initiatives towards social and economic development of the areas affected by the Chernobyl accident,
  • provides practical assistance and scientific consultations to public farms and individual farmers in contaminated areas on the specifics of animal keeping, breeding, feeding, reproduction techniques and other associated subjects.

 

Contact

Phone: +375 232 349 739

E-mail: a.tsarenok@tut.by

 

Head

Aleksander TSARENOK, PhD AgriSc

 

Staff

 KARPENKO Aleksei, lead researcher, Dr AgriSc

KOPYLTSOVA Elena, researcher

MAKAROVETS Ivan, researcher

NAUMCHIK Aleksander, researcher

TSURANKOV Eduard, researcher

GVOZDIK Aleksander, junior researcher

KASYANCHIK Vyacheslav, junior researcher.

 

Background

Founded in 1986 (in former RIR), the Laboratory of Animal Husbandry Problems in Contaminated Territories became immediately involved in elaborating and implementing agricultural protective measures in the animal farming sector of contaminated areas to ensure the safety of locally produced animal products and reduce individual and collective radiation doses to population.

The first decade of research was mainly focused on studying the relations between animal keeping and feeding techniques (quality and composition of forages) and the transition of radionuclides into animal products; physiological state and reproductive functions; long-term radiation effects to the thyroid gland of animals etc.

Since its reorganization in 2012, the lab has been functioning under the present name while preserving and adapting its traditional lines of research to the changing conditions, needs and contemporary demands.

Scientific and practical results

  • Monograph “Animal Husbandry under Radioactive Contamination Conditions”;
  • Monograph “Americium and Plutonium in Agroecosystems”;
  • Catalogue “Innovations and Innovative Technologies in Agrarian Sector”;
  • Criteria for conversion from dairy to specialized beef cattle farming;
  • Recommendations on keeping domestic waterbirds (geese, ducks) in personal farmsteads and private farms in contaminated areas;
  • Recommendations for beef cattle breeders in contaminated areas;
  • Recommendations for dairy goat farmers under radioactive contamination;
  • Recommendations on production of standard-compliant, marketable horsemeat in contaminated areas;
  • Standard procedure for environmentally safe and competitive production of marketable horsemeat in contaminated areas;
  • Recommendations on safe beef production in contaminated areas with keeping 137Cs contamination levels under 160 Bq/kg;
  • Recommendations on beef production compliant with the Russian safety standards for 90Sr concentration levels in beef products;
  • Recommendations on the use of new recipes of mineral supplements based on rottenstone (aka tripoli) in complex feeds for the dairy and beef cattle raised in contaminated areas;
  • Recommendations on optimizing mineral nutrition for young cattle in contamination areas;
  • Specifications on “Combined concentrated animal feeds with sapropel” (ТУ ВУ002–2014; ТУ BY 400068342.005-2018);
  • Specifications on “Compound lick-bricks with “Ferrocene” adsorbent for the cattle and small ruminants” (ТУ BY 4000683432.001-2014);
  • Specifications on “Combined concentrated feeds with “Ferrocene” for the cattle” (TУ ВY 400068342.004-2018).

 

Services

  • measurements of live animals;
  • radiological and zoo-technical analyses of animal feeds and rations followed by specific recommendations on how to optimize mineral nutrition of animals;
  • assistance with the optimization of keeping and feeding technologies to improve the quality of animal products and their profitability;
  • calculation of well-balanced and nutritional cattle rations with the use of a special software tool “Korall”;
  • improvement of reproductive performance in animal farms of contaminated areas;
  • open for scientific cooperation and collaborative research in the field of radiobiology and radioecology of animals.

 

Publications

(The following list features only a few for a quick reference. Details are available on request.)

  1. Levakhin V., Tsarenok A., Droganov I. Animal Husbandry under Radioactive Contamination Conditions. Monograph. Saarbrucken, Germany: Palmarium Academic Publishing, 2014.
  2. Concentration of 137Cs in muscle tissue of specialized meat breeds of Limousine and Charolais when using paddock grazing method on the territory of radioactive contamination (in Russian). I.V. Yanochkin, A.V. Naumchik, A.F. Gvozdik. Scientific papers collection No. 50. Zootechnical Science of Belarus, Zhodino, 2015. P. 321.
  3. 3. Gorlov I.F., Levakhin V.I., Tsarenok A.A., Azhmuldinov E.A. Method for Producing Environmentally Safe Meat in Radioactively Contaminated Area. Asian Journal of Animal Sciences 10 (1): p. 99-105, 2016. Knowledgia Review, Malaysia.
  4. The use of fodder additive based on local sources of mineral raw materials in feeding young fattening cattle within the area of radioactive contamination (in Russian). Makarovets I., Nilova E., Borisenko S. Animal Husbandry and Feed Production, All-Russian Research Institute of Meat Cattle Breeding, Orenburg, 2017. P. 161–167.