Universidad Central “Marta Abreu” de La Villas, CUBA
Department of Veterinary Medicine and Animal Husbandry
Agrobiodiversity education in the frame of the
Master Program Advanced Animal Health
Prof. Pedro Y. de la Fé Rodríguez, PhD
Head of Department of Vet Medicine and Animal Husbandry.
Ctra. a Camajuani Km 5 S. Clara VC Cuba 54830.
Tel.: +5342208905 e-mail: pedrodlfr@uclv.edu.cu
Introduction
Courses
Obligatory
Research Methodology
Molecular Biology
Biostatistics
Molecular Epidemiology
Proteins: studies and application in biosciences
Immunology
Nutrition and Health
Biosafety
Programs for Diseases Control
Methodologies for the diagnose
Optative
Bioinformatics
Advances in animal nutrition
Poultry diseases
Zoonosis
Food safety
Internal Diseases of Animals
Reproduction: biology and pathology
Module
Credits
I
I
I
II
II
II
III
III
III
III
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
3
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
IV
2
2
3
3
3
3
3
Introduction
Research activities
Credits
Publication in a national journal
2
Publication in an international journal
4
Presentations in national events
3
Presentations in international events
4
Publication of a monograph
1
Approval of projects, patents or registers
2
Resume of the program
Obligatory courses
Optative courses
Thesis
Optative from research activities
Total
Credits
30
20
38
16
104
Methodologic work
 Selected Courses for emphasizing on agrobiodiversity
Time distribution
Course
Module
Credits
Presential
Independent
work
Total
36h (25%)
108h (75%)
144h
Nutrition and Health
Programs for diseases control
III
Biosafety
Molecular biology
I
3
Methodologic work
Current target topics in every selected course: how agrobiodiversity education
should be implemented
 Course Nutrition and health
 Antinutritional factors. Strategies in animal feeding: Introducing sustainable strategies to attenuate
antinutritional factors from local plants (candidates for animal feeding) in order to efficiently use them
as alternative local resources.
 Biostimulants in animal nutrition: Deepen in the study of biostimulants of vegetal origin that can be
obtained locally. Also, special emphasis on bee products should be considered.
 Prebiotics, probiotics and cofactors: Explaining the fact that the diverse surrounding environment is a
source of these elements.
 Nutrients: Importance of recovering, maintaining and enriching biodiversity in order to have different
sources of the diverse nutrients.
 Uses of biotechnology for the preparation of food for animal feeding: Regulations regarding the use of
genetic modified organisms for animal feeding and during the preparation of food, as well as their
repercussion on agrobiodiversity.
 Toxics and toxic plants in animal feeding: Studies on how to diminish the toxic effect of some plants
and how they can be controlled by environmental friendly methods.
Methodologic work
Current target topics in every selected course: how agrobiodiversity education
should be implemented
 Course Programs for diseases control
In most of topics related with infectious diseases: Hemolytic, Diseases of the Central Nervous System,
Gastroenteric, Respiratory diseases, Skin and muscles diseasess, Swine red diseases, Granulomatous
diseases, Retroviral diseases
 Emphasizing in the sources and ways of transmission of pathogens, especially in how the wild fauna
affect farm animals, but also must be introduced the ways livestock influence on wild fauna
 Focusing the majority of problems of emerging and reemerging diseases as the result of disruptions
of ecosystems and biodiversity.
 Introduction to researches in wild fauna genomics, aimed on looking for pathogens-resistant genes or
even antibiotic/antiparasitic susceptibility genes for application in livestock.
 Multispecies farms and biodiversity. Epidemiological risks of multispecies farms because of
multispecies adaptation of pathogens. Improving biodiversity by diversification of animal strains, and
also by diversification of pathogens.
 Use of alternative methods for controlling pathogens identifying/using biotic relations and medicinal
plants from the same agroecosystem.
Methodologic work
Current target topics in every selected course: how agrobiodiversity education
should be implemented
 Course Molecular Biology
 Mechanisms of genetic conservation: Explaining how to use genetics in order to recover, maintain
and enrich biodiversity.
 Transposons and Transposable elements: Explaining the mechanisms of transmission of resistance
through mobile genetic elements from animal microbiota to microbial ecology, and vice versa.
 Course Biosafety
 Regulations regarding biotechnology policies, ethics, property rights, safety and socio-economic
problems.
 Biosafety and biotechnology. Definition and perception of risks for the agriculture: Emphasizing
on genetic modified organisms and the role of veterinarians in the interface wildlifelivestock/domesticated animals/laboratories: what do they have to know about biodiversity?
Methodologic work
 Evaluation of the courses
 Routine evaluations (seminars, practicums, homework, informs)
 Final exam (Programs for Diseases Control and Molecular Biology)
Bibliography for the courses
 Access to information
 University libraries (faculty and university ones, Institute of Plant Biotechnology and Centre for
Agriculture Research).
 Every course has a folder in the central server of the faculty network containing the program of the
course, electronic books, scientific papers, materials elaborated by professors, thesis of former
students, PhD thesis, virtual laboratories.
 Interactive platform in Moodle.
 The central library of the University warrant access to the main international databases.
 Every student has an University account to access internet and international mail.
T
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