This review covers methods that have been applied to study the nutrient value or quality of specific ingredients fed to dogs, cats and comparable species (i.e. foxes, minks, rats, etc.). Typically, the nutritional value or utilization of a specific ingredient is measured by total tract digestibility and has been expanded through the measurement of total nutrient balance (i.e. nitrogen or energy). However, to better understand digestion it is necessary to obtain a more accurate measurement of nutrients entering and leaving […]

In certain areas of animal research, such as nutrition, quantitative summarizations of literature data are periodically needed. In such instances, statistical methods dealing with the analysis of summary data (generally from the literature) must be used. These methods are known as meta-analyses. The implementation of a meta-analysis is done in several phases. The first phase defines the study objectives and identifies the criteria for selecting prior publications to be used in the construction of the database. Publications must be scrupulously […]

This presentation aims to present and discuss methodologies used to model and integrate classical knowledge in animal nutrition, and new discoveries produced by new molecular sciences like nutrigenomics, proteomics and metabolomics. These sciences and bioinformatics are helping to expand >very quickly the knowledge of the biological systems of interest in animal nutrition. I will discuss the importance of dedicating part of our efforts to integrate current knowledge to prioritize research problems using the most adequate tools. This will help to […]

The aim of the current study was to evaluate the performance of experimental and commercial genotypes of chicken recommended for free-range rearing system submitted to two diet programs (conventional and alternative). The experimental design consisted of a randomized design applied until 28 days and a randomized factorial 8×2 design (eight genotypes: Paraíso Pedrês, Caipirão da ESALQ, 7 P, Embrapa 041, Label Rouge, Paraíso Pelado, Caipirinha da ESALQ and Carijó Barbada and two diet programs), using two replicates with 30 chickens/box […]

The purpose of this study was to evaluate herbal extracts as alternatives to antimicrobial growth promoters for weanling pigs based on growth performance and organ weights. A 35-d randomized complete block design experiment was carried out to compare five treatments: control (C) – basal diet; antimicrobial (A) – basal diet supplemented with colistin + tiamulin (75 ppm of each); herbal extract – basal diet supplemented with 420 ppm of extracts of clove (Ec); oregano (Eo) and clove + oregano (Ec […]

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effect of replacing soybean meal with sunflower meal on carcass traits and body measurements of Santa Inês lambs. Eighteen intact lambs averaging 90 days of age and 14±1.43 kg of body weight (BW) at the beginning of the study were assigned to a completely randomized design and confined during 87 days. Animals were fed coastcross (Cynodon dactylon) hay ad libitum plus 300 g of one of the following three concentrate mixtures: […]

Two trials were carried to estimate the protein requirements and carcass composition of male broiler breeders from 27 to 61 weeks of age. Four hundred and fifty females and 75 males of Cobb-500 strain were selected to evaluate the body weight, semen volume, spermatic concentration, mobility, vigor and fertility of spermatozoa. Thirty males were used for evaluation of carcass chemical composition (DM, CP and crude fat [CF]) as a function of protein intake. The experiment was analyzed as a complete […]

Two trials were carried out to estimate the nutritional requirement and carcass composition of male broiler breeders according to five levels of metabolizable energy (ME) ingestion. Four hundred and fifty females and 75 males of Cobb-500 strain were selected to evaluate body weight, semen volume, spermatic concentration, motility, vigor and fertility of spermatozoa. Thirty males were used for evaluation of carcass chemical composition (DM, CP and crude fat [CF]) as a function of energy intake. The experiment was analyzed as […]

Two trials were conducted to evaluate the apparent digestibility of GE, DM and CP in energy and high protein feedstuffs for adult dogs. Four adult mongrel dogs (two males and two females) averaging of 13.1 ± 2.0 kg were used in both trials, to evaluate each feedstuff. The animals were fed the same amount of food per metabolic weight. The nutritive value of energy feedstuffs was evaluated in the trial 1. In the trial 2, the digestibility coefficients of protein […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of vitamin and micromineral levels adjustment in the test diet on the total collection method for determination of apparent metabolizable energy (EMA) and apparent metabolizable energy corrected by nitrogen retention (EMAn) of soybean meal. Two treatments were compared: the test diet without or with adjustments in the amounts of choline chloride and vitamin-micromineral premix, when 40% of the reference diet was replaced with soybean meal. The traditional total feces collection […]