ABSTRACT Two experiments were carried out aiming to evaluate the effect of copaiba oil on growth performance, apparent digestibility of nutrients, and rumen fermentation in lambs on feedlot. The treatments were: no additive inclusion (negative control); 8 mg/kg of sodium monensin (MS; positive control); and 250, 500, and 750 mg of copaiba oil/kg dry matter added to a diet with 70% concentrate and 30% forage. In experiment I, five lambs (Dorper × Santa Inês) cannulated in the rumen, 8 ± […]

ABSTRACT This study aimed to establish the optimal concentration of purified Kraft lignin (PKL) in the diet of finishing lambs. The experiment was arranged in a randomized block design, with four diets and LKR concentrations of 0, 6, 12, and 18 g/kg DM, with eight Poll Dorset × Texel crossbred lambs per treatment. The experiment was conducted with newly weaned lambs, aged 60 ± 10 days, with an average initial body weight of 23 ± 5 kg. The animals were […]

ABSTRACT This study aimed to evaluate the productive and reproductive performance and the nutritional metabolic condition of ewes supplemented at different stages of gestation in a synchronized reproduction system. Fourty Santa Inês × Dorper crossbreed ewes, pregnant with an average age of ten months and two previous births, were distributed in a completely randomized design, with four treatments: mineral salt, supplementation started 20 days before the estrus synchronization (ES) protocol, supplementation from confirmation of pregnancy (60 days after ES), and […]

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to assess the genetic structure and diversity of six Santa Inês sheep flocks from the Central-Northern Brazil. A panel of 20 highly polymorphic and informative microsatellite loci was selected and amplified. The following parameters were obtained: overall mean of number of alleles = 15.4; expected heterozygosity (He) = 0.89; polymorphism information content (PIC) = 0.88; discriminatory capacity = 0.95; combined probability of identity = 1.50 × 10−34; and probability of exclusion = 1.00. […]

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to spatially estimate the technical efficiency of sheep farms and explore the factors affecting the technical efficiency. Research data were collected randomly from 328 selected sheep farms in Ankara, Antalya, Diyarbakir, Konya, Mersin, and Sanliurfa provinces in Türkiye. The meta-frontier technical efficiencies (MTE) were estimated by using a stochastic meta-frontier production model. The meta-frontier technology ratio (MTR) was used to calculate the distance from the individual frontier to the meta-frontier. The determinants of […]

ABSTRACT This study aimed at analyzing and comparing the phenotypic characteristics of height, body length, and fleece wool fineness with the liquidity and final price sold in auctions in the city of Uruguaiana, RS, Brazil, for three consecutive years (2015 to 2017). A total of 412 one-year-old (two teeth) male sheep, of the Australian Merino (n = 50), Polwarth (n = 130), and Corriedale (n = 232) breeds were evaluated. Height and length of the animals were measured on the […]

ABSTRACT The experiment aimed to analyze the economic viability of using high-energy diets and the supplementation of chromium propionate or calcium salts of palm oil in the diet of ewes from the late gestation until the end of lactation. Seventy-two ewes of Santa Ines × Dorper crossbreeds were allocated to five treatments: CTL (n = 14) with 100% of NRC recommendation for metabolizable energy per kg dry matter intake (ME/kg DMI), LOW (n = 14) with 90% ME/kg DMI, HIGH […]

ABSTRACT This study was conducted to compare Central Anatolian Merino (CAM) and Malya sheep under intensive conditions in terms of reproductive traits, birth and weaning weights, fattening performance, and some fleece characteristics. In this study, 840 CAM and 194 Malya ewes were used for the comparison of reproductive performance, whereas 740 and 211 lambs were used to compare growth traits between the two breeds. Additionally, the fattening performance of 61 CAM and 68 Malya lambs were compared. Finally, for the […]

ABSTRACT The objective of this study was to evaluate the productive performance, apparent digestibility, and carcass and longissimus dorsi muscle characteristics of lambs fed diets supplemented with four levels of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Thirty-two male Hampshire lambs (25.82±1.95 kg body weight) were distributed in four treatments: basal diet (20:80, forage:concentrate), and the inclusion of 0, 3, 5, and 10 g animal−1 d−1Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The variables evaluated were dry matter intake, daily weight gain, feed conversion, apparent digestibility, dorsal fat thickness, longissimus […]

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to determine the repercussion of the metabolic changes that occur in induced subclinical pregnancy toxemia in single- or twin-bearing ewes on the duration of gestation, type and length of lambing, and placental expulsion time. Fifty-one adult Corriedale ewes with a known gestation date and fed in the wild were randomly divided at day 145 of gestation into four groups. Group A included single-bearing ewes, and C twin-bearing ewes, all of which were fed […]