In addition, these included many beneficial bacteria with antimicrobial features, degraders of contaminants and producers of extracellular polymeric substances which are known to improve soil structure and to promote plant growth and drought tolerance. In addition, results are comparable with earlier findings that Firmicutes, including well-known pathogenic Clostridium species, are typical of organically managed plots and are most likely linked to manure fertilization. In general, actinobacterial representatives were more prominent in the organic system for cereal crop rotation and in rotations with manure fertilization. Indeed, high abundance of actinobacteria have been reported in root samples from organic managed soils. Interestingly, our results showed that actinobacterial genus Nocardioides may have benefited from some other organic system specific practice than manure in the cereal rotation. Indeed, actinobacteria have been found to be indicators for no-tilled organic farming systems, and suggested as producers of exopolysaccharides and lipopolysaccharides, and to have relevance in soil aggregate stability in reduced tillage systems. Furthermore, genus Bosea which contains root-nodule endophytic bacteria capable of dinitrogen fixing was specific for the organic cereal rotation system with legumes. There were fewer changes in fungal representatives in the conventional system for the cereal crop rotation between farming systems compared to changes in bacteria. These fungi included soil saprotrophs and mycoparasites which are general opportunists that either benefit from or tolerate synthetic fertilizers or tilling or both. In general, conditions in autumn may favour fast-growing saprotrophic fungi that effectively make use of harvest residues. Conversely, mycelia of AMF are dependent on living plants but as spores AMF may persist in soil even after harvesting. Here, Archaeospora trappei and Archaeospora sp., Glomus mosseae, and Pacispora sp. were indicative mycorrhizal fungi for the cereal crop rotation.
Most of the specific fungi for the organic system for cereal crop rotation were typical of both seasons, indicating certain seasonal stability in the fungal communities in studied arable soils. Furthermore,hydropnic bucket the majority of these specific fungal representatives were the same as the species specific for the manure fertilized plots. Most of them affiliated to ascomycetes and especially to the order Sordariales. Thus, the indicative fungal representatives in both the organic system for cereal crop rotation and manure fertilized plots consisted of functionally a wide mixture of soil and litter organisms, including molds and yeasts acting as saprotrophs, pathogens and predators of other organisms. However, a species of Arthrinium serenense was indicative for both organic rotations but not to manure plots, indicating that it could benefit from some other organic farming practice than manure fertilization. Endophytic genus Arthrinium has been suggested to have various roles in extreme temperature tolerance, production of substances against other fungi and herbivores, as well as acting saprotrophic and pathogenic. Other taxa linked to organic cereal rotation included representatives of Apiosporaceae and Helotiales detected in spring, and the pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum and its antagonist mycotoxin producing Glarea lozoyensis in autumn. These fungi may have the ability to grow quickly and benefit from the second cut of the grass and clover ley which was left on the field as a green manure in the organic system for cereal crop rotation. Precision livestock farming is the application of the precision agriculture concept to livestock farming using a variety of sensors and actuators in order to improve the management capacity for big groups of animals. The PLF is based on real-time data collection and analysis which can be used for animal/flock management .Other innovative tools used for this goal include automats and new technologies . Such innovations become increasingly important as farms grow bigger and single animal monitoring is no longer possible without technological aid .
In intensive farming facilities, the systems achieve this goal through single animal monitoring, environmental microclimate management, feed efficiency rationing, treatment planning and software decision-making aids for the farmer . In the modern farming world of highly industrialized systems with extremely low ratio of farmers to farm animals, it provides a crucial component in the ability of the stock person to keep track of its animals . The levels of monitoring provided by electronic tags and animal-based sensors for a single animal improve the ability of stock persons to manage each animal individually and respond to health problems or welfare issues faster than manual detection . The efficiency granted by the application of PLF and other technologies is also important to the reduction of farm waste and the reduction of the number of animals needed in order to produce the same amount of product increasing farm environmental and economical sustainability. In the farming of ruminants, PLF application has seen the highest implementation in the dairy cow sector as farm intensification took place in the developed world. This sector also enjoys a high level of competition between PLF developers which tends to improve PLF products as well as technical services. Dairy cow farmers nowadays are aware of the variety of management tools at their disposal and of the need to understand and implement those products in an increasingly competitive market . Other ruminants, especially ones kept in the pasture, are less likely to benefit from such systems. An extensive pasture environment is more difficult to control in comparison to a closed barn, especially in regard to infrastructures and communication options . Extensive farmers prioritize methods of grazing with low financial investment and relative simplicity of management which provide a level of economic resilience to market fluctuations. Therefore, adding PLF systems would inevitably increase production costs and would add another layer of technological complexity to farm management . Nevertheless, technological solutions are being gradually incorporated in extensive pasture farming of cattle and small ruminants . A particular sector of extensive sheep farming is the dairy sheep farming around the Mediterranean which has unique characteristics tied to its climate and cultural conditions. This led to the development of a variety of local breeds specialized in milk, with yields more than double the world average.
The production supports a diverse consumption market of sheep dairy products with global exports and known trademarks such as the Greek ‘Feta’ or the Italian ‘Pecorino’. The market and farming systems of the area were recently described in a review by Pulina et al. which highlights the global relevance of the sector: around the Mediterranean and Black Sea regions are concentrated roughly 27% of the world milk yielding ewes, providing more than 40% of total sheep milk production. Almost half of it is concentrated in 4 south European countries – France, Italy, Greece and Spain with over 15 million ha of land used for grazing . From the farmer’s perspective, Mediterranean flocks are usually small to medium size with high levels of specialization for milk yield where meat production is usually limited to light lamb consumed during traditional events. Fibre production for wool is negligible and the income ratio of the production is usually 38:62 of meat: milk clearly favouring milk production . The FIGS production includes modern characteristics, with breed selection programmes, commercial processing and Protected Designation of Origin nominations for their traditional cheese products . Farming systems include traditional extensive farms based on pasture as well as intensive systems that take advantage of modern technologies and precise nutrition management. While the intensive systems are favoured for their higher yield, extensive systems are not neglected due to their lower maintenance costs and better resilience to milk price fluctuations. While the integration of PLF and new technologies is accruing, it is associated with intensive farms which adopt systems similar to ones practiced for dairy cows . Extensive dairy sheep farming is a unique farming system, where animals are grazed outdoors, while maintaining contact with the farmer during daily milking for 120–240 days a year. This intensive handling process has no equivalents in the meat and wool production process where animals are handled only in specific occasions. This contact can be used for data collection by dedicated technological solutions, data that could aid in the feeding,stackable planters breeding and management of the flock. The current paper aims to present the technologies currently developed for extensive sheep farming and their potential to be incorporated in a small to medium scale dairy specialized farming system typical to the Mediterranean area. Also discussed in this paper are the current trends of PLF implementation as well as sheep farmers’ attitudes towards innovation, technology and systematic management due to their inherent influence on the adoption of any new technology in the field.A literature review was performed in order to evaluate the current state of PLF and new technologies that can be adapted to the Mediterranean extensive dairy sheep farming sector.
Literature was reviewed in order to identify PLF systems, innovative technologies and automats available and under development. The search was carried out in a manner similar to Lovarelli et al. on Web of Science®, Google Scholar® and Scopus® databases, focusing on studies carried out in the last 20 years . The following keywords were matched for the search: ‘PLF’, ‘sheep’ and ‘dairy sheep’, ‘PLF’, ‘extensive farming’. As the search yielded various PLF systems, each one received a further search, for example, ‘RFID’, ‘sheep’ and ‘extensive’ or ‘WOW’, ‘sheep’ and ‘management’. This process was performed for each one of the described technologies. Articles regarding precision medicine, precision diagnosis, as well as advanced bacteriological and parasitological diagnostics were excluded from the evaluation process. Following this selection process, a total of 154 articles were included into the initial database. A panel of three independent evaluators were given 52, 51 and 51 of the articles respectively. The lists of articles were then exchanged until each panellist covered all the 154 initial articles, and each article had three independent evaluations. Technologies and PLF systems were therefore grouped and described according to the collected conclusions of the three panellists. The further search focused on technology adoption by farmers. As the number of articles for exclusively sheep farming is limited, other farming sectors were also considered. When Mediterranean references were not available, articles regarding the applicability of systems in other places were discussed. This included EU member states, as well as very different farming systems . Consideration regarding PLF and new technologies future role included financial, cultural and environmental trends. Market prices of products and commercial data were collected from official sites of the producers, distributors, online stores and local selling agents . Financial information was obtained from consultant websites dedicated to farmer finances while Common Agricultural Policy and payment schemes were obtained from extension services of farmer’s co-operative associations. The CAP payments are a result of a common policy for all EU member states, funded by EU’s budget while the management is mostly delegated to local authorities .Electronic identification systems are a key component in PLF setting of farms and the only technology currently mandatory under EU laws . Radio-frequency identification systems allow each animal to be identified independently and the data to be stored and used for various decision-making processes. It is also a key component in animal identification for other PLF systems such as the weighting scale or AD. Passive EID tags are based on the storage of simple information code and a copper coil which briefly charges the transmitter through the energy passed from an active reader .Under the EU legislation, the use of EIDs is obligatory for all sheep and goat farmers, and currently represents an opportunity for introduction of PLF system into extensive management systems. The RFID operates on different radio frequency levels which determine their transition distance and ability to pass materials : low frequency , high frequency and ultra-high frequency . In farming , three significant differences can be distinguished between them: while the HF and UHF are working in the upper level, allowing anti-collision, longer distance, less noise and stable connection they hindered by materials . The LF is less stable but allows better passage through obstacles with the disadvantage for the need of larger antenna. In some cases, farm metal can act as an antenna itself and have multiple reading . It is the most common method of application. Its ease of use and application makes the method very appealing to farmers.