Living Lab Israel - SheepHeatIT

Israel is located in a global climate change hotspot where regional warming is accelerating significantly faster than the global average. Israeli sheep farming operates under intense environmental pressures, characterized by prolonged, severe summer heatwaves and expanding desertification from the arid Negev northward into Mediterranean zones. This extreme heat stress severely impairs sheep fertility, compromises milk and meat yield quality, and increases herd mortality rates.Compounding this problem, the Israeli agricultural sector faces high energy and water tariffs, rendering traditional structural mitigation methods-such as intensive, resource-heavy barn cooling and ventilation infrastructure-economically unsustainable for local farmers. At the same time, the highly productive dairy and meat sheep herds in Israel lack a standardized, low-cost technological framework to measure individual animal thermal tolerance in real time. Without localized digital phenotyping data, breeders cannot systematically select for heat resilience.The Volcani Centre Living Lab addresses this urgent domestic challenge by moving away from costly infrastructure adjustments. Instead, we leverage Israel’s unique position as a natural testing ground for heat stress to identify the precise biological, genetic, and digital markers needed to transition vulnerable sheep populations into climate-resilient herds.

The Volcani Centre leverages a multi-disciplinary approach that unifies engineering, advanced computational genomics, and molecular biology across our specialized research facilities:

Automated Digital Phenotyping: Led by our Sensing Information and Mechanical Systems Engineering branch, we design and deploy automated thermal camera systems and data logging networks. These allow continuous, non-invasive measurement of individual sheep body temperatures and physiological heat responses.
High-Throughput Ruminant Genomics: Utilizing multi-breed datasets, our computational biology team applies machine learning and statistical modeling to execute genome-wide association mapping. This uncovers specific Single Nucleotide Polymorphism (SNP) genetic markers tied directly to heat tolerance.
Physiological & Welfare Profiling: At our research sheep farm, we subject pedigree herds to meticulous phenotypic recording. We evaluate molecular, biochemical, and behavioral stress indicators to validate how target traits influence overall animal well-being.
Genome Editing Exploration: Through our specialized Genome Editing Center, we conduct cellular research using CRISPR/Cas9 technology to isolate and evaluate key candidate alleles that trigger robust cellular heat responses.

The hHRS Selection Tool: Delivery of a validated Herd Heat Resistance Score (hHRS) index and enhanced SNP genotyping chips to actively guide commercial breeding selection.
Digital Monitoring Protocols: Open-access blueprints and operational protocols for deploying low-cost automated thermal imaging arrays in commercial sheep housing.
Preservation of Indigenous Biodiversity: Comprehensive genomic profiling of locally adapted, hardy Mediterranean sheep breeds, safeguarding crucial agricultural gene pools from extinction.
Socio-Economic Protection: Lowering herd mortality and preventing financial collapse for farmers operating in heat-vulnerable territories.

Environmental Sustainability: By shifting the climate adaptation focus from energy-intensive cooling infrastructure to natural genetic resilience, this Living Lab dramatically reduces the carbon and water footprints of livestock operations.
Economic Security: Providing a proactive, low-cost tool setup secures stable milk and meat production yields during intense heat waves. This prevents sudden economic collapse in vulnerable rural farming communities.
Animal Welfare Standards: The development of non-invasive, automated disease and stress biomarkers enables farmers to identify and treat distressed animals long before clinical thermal exhaustion sets in.
Technological Innovation: Integrating advanced data science, automated sensor engineering, and molecular gene editing bridges the gap between fundamental laboratory science and practical, on-farm agrotechnology.