The collaboration consisted of 12 sub-projects (TP) and a central (Z) project. In the TP the researchers work with various animal species on specific aspects of the feeding value of grain. A key objective is to achieve a maximum gain of knowledge and method innovation by standardization of the grains’ origin and the description of the research material used in the various TPs and by the overall analysis of the data. Three TPs were not dependent on the central provision of grain, because they concentrated on aspects of animal health (TP8), effects of climate change (TP12) and a by-product of grain processing into bioethanol (DDGS, TP11). Therefore, these TPs needed a very specific research material. Nevertheless, these sub-projects are tightly integrated into the network by methodological approaches and data evaluations. The Figure below gives an overview of the structure of the research association.