Avaliação ambiental da criação de miniporcos-br1 usados como modelo animal na pesquisa médica

Abstract

This study focused on the environmental assessment of the miniature pigs (minipig-br1) production system, a miniature breed used as animal model in education and medical research. The study was performed at Fazenda Três Marias, in Campina do Monte Alegre – Sao Paulo and the investigated production system deviate from conventional practices of industrial pig farming, aiming to produce small-sized pigs with favorable characteristics to education and medical research. The overall objective of this work was to analyze the environmental impacts associated with this production system, proposing tangible measures to mitigate them. The adopted methodology was the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), encompassing the entire production processes from the farm until delivering the minipigs at the Sírio-Libanês Hospital in São Paulo city where the animals were used for teaching and research. A detailed inventory was compiled, that mapped all production stages inside the gate. The environmental analysis was performed using Simapro® 9.5 software, including various environmental impact categories, identifying critical points for each of them. The analyses highlighted that for the Climate Change category the animal feeding contributed to approximately two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions and the manure management played a significant role. Mitigation recommendations ranged from partial substitution of the animal diet and changing the silage source (changing maize silage) to the treatment of manure through biodigesters. The study provided a critical assessment of the environmental scenario for the minipig-br1 production system, identifying opportunities for sustainable improvement. By addressing the relationship between the minipig raising and its related environmental impacts, it is expected that the results can contribute to the integration of a life cycle assessment approach in medical research utilizing minipig-br1 as an optimal animal model.