Specific educational objectives PLF
The training objectives of the Master Degree in Precision Livestock Farming are to obtain professionals with knowledge and skills in new and emerging engineering solutions. These are useful for improving production efficiency and the health and welfare of livestock, minimizing impacts negative effects of animal production on the landscape, and protecting biodiversity and ecosystem services, in order to create an integration between breeding and the environment to support excellent territorial production. During the first year of the course, the disciplines relating to the logistical and structural organization of farms, GIS and digital mapping techniques for the management and processing of territorial data will be explored in depth.
The approach to the knowledge of robotics, sensors and artificial intelligence will provide the basis for the principles of precision techniques, which in the first year will concern forage production systems through the use of precision systems for irrigation and crop protection, also aimed at to the protection of the environment. The environmental impact of livestock farming is also the subject of study of the course with an approach both to the basic processes of energy production from biomass aimed at reducing greenhouse gases and to engineering plant and current legislation.
The curricular teachings of the first year of the course also include the economic analysis of farm management and production process controls. Finally, during the first year, elements of advanced statistics for the management of so-called big data and basic knowledge on the use of artificial intelligence techniques will be provided. The second year of the course is dedicated to deepening knowledge of precision techniques applied to the direct management of animals belonging to different species from a productive, reproductive and nutritional point of view, as well as to the precision monitoring of infectious, parasitic and non infectious diseases. The CdS training offer is expanded by 8 CFU to be obtained in subjects chosen by the student, by a 6 CFU training internship carried out in internal structures of the University or at the Improsta agricultural farm and a 6 CFU Stage carried out at private companies and public bodies, professional firms and producer associations affiliated with the University.
In order to guarantee the provision of courses on topics that are always current and of interest, the CCD encourages teachers to update the contents of the elective courses or to propose new ones in the event that they were not chosen for three consecutive years. At the end of the second year, the student will have to produce a final degree thesis divided into two parts: an in-depth study of one of the topics covered during the training course, under the guidance of one of the professors of the 3 Course of Studies and a report of the activities carried out during the training internship and the internship. The entire course is carried out in a residential form at the experimental Regional farm Improsta where, in addition to an arable land area of approximately 100 ha, there is a herd of 150 adult dairy buffaloes, an experimental dairy and several laboratories.
The consistency between the expected learning outcomes and the training path is reported in the Tuning Matrix which allows a constant and rapid monitoring of the achievement of the training objectives over time.