Food from Equids: A Supply Chain Approach

Dear Colleagues,

Equids have been used worldwide since ancient times, as working animals in agriculture and for transporting people. Mechanization and industrialization have reduced these needs, leading some asinine and horse breeds to become endangered. In the last couple of decades, both the scientific community and farmers have made a great effort in repositioning donkeys and cold-blooded horse breeds in other economic activities, mainly focused on milk and meat production, although associated with other ancillary non-material productions (animal-assisted activities and therapies, agroecological services, etc.). Worldwide, equid food production is diffused in a lot of cultures, and represents an important opportunity for valorizing not only animal biodiversity, but a model of food production with a low environmental impact that is sustainable from both an economic and social point of view.

The present Issue aims to collect innovations in equid food production with a multidisciplinary approach.

In this Special Issue of Animals, we invite the submission of manuscripts, both original research and review articles, addressing animal management, animal welfare, reproduction, feeding techniques, equids meat and milk production efficiency, meat and milk quality, and innovation in dairy and processed meat technology, as well as environmental impact and economics studies.

We invite you to share your recent discoveries to this Special Issue. 

Prof. Rosaria Marino
Prof. Mina Martini
Prof. Pasquale De Palo
Prof. Aristide Maggiolino
Prof. Klemen Potocnik
Prof. Photis Papademas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Animals is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.