The action of different concentrations of sodium chloride, benzocaine and clove oil in the survival of fingerling and juvenile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus),chitraladalineage, was tested during 5 hours for transportation. A total of 1350 fingerlings were used ( weight 9.74 ± 0.04 g and length 6.79 ± 0.01 cm) and 270 juveniles (average weight 29.6 ± 0.06 g and length 11.52 ± 0.01 cm). The fish were maintained without food for 24 hours in four 500L asbestos boxes with constant aeration. […]

The aim of this work was to evaluate the physiological, productive and behavioral variations in Alpine goats during transportation. Twelve multiparous Alpine goats at late lactation period were used. Milk production, composition and somatic cells count, as well as the behavioral responses of goats during milking were measured in three time periods: three days before transportation, in the transportation day and three days after transportation. Also, blood samples were collected 120 min and 10 min before transportation and equal period […]

The effects of feeding levels of tryptophan on performance and stress of Japanese quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica) in the rearing and laying periods were evaluated. In the rearing phase, from 30 to 44 days old, 192 Japanese quails were lodged to cages and allotted to completely randomized blocks design, with four nutrition plans [0.27% (control) 0.52; 0.77 and 1.02% of tryptophan] with six replicates and eight birds per cage. Performance (feed intake, body average weight gain, feed conversion ratio), mortality […]

Fish farming has been increasing in the last decades. Although the current legislation on animal welfare of animals in production systems is applicable to all vertebrate species, including teleost fish, the knowledge on fish welfare is still very poor. In recent years, the study of animal welfare in other farmed vertebrates (i.e. mammals and birds) allowed a solid knowledge of the state of the animals and the minimal resources they need in production systems, which led to the implementation of […]

In a recent review on the concept of fish welfare, I argue that concern on fish welfare is definitively a genuine matter, and the main challenge is to find valid methodologies to evaluate this internal state in these animals. I also argue in that review that studies on fish preference should be emphasized, instead of frustrated attempts to empirically demonstrate sentience in the non-human animals. From this theoretical background, in the present text I examine more detailed the preference tests, […]

The effects of different milking management on metabolism, cortisol levels, and milk yield of Holstein cows were investigated in this trial. Eighteen Holstein cows and calves were randomly assigned to one of the following three treatments: T1) cows were separated from their calves 6 h after parturition but reunited with them for two daily periods of 30 minutes each; T2) cows were separated from their calves 6 h after parturition; or T3) cows were maintained with their calves during the […]

Three trials were carried out with 336 laying hens, aging 24 weeks and after second forced molt, caged in commercial conditions (550 cm2/bird) to evaluate the use of bulb garlic (5 kg/t), probiotic (300 g/t) and virginiamycin (20 g/t) as additives in laying hens diet before, during and after the induced forced molt stress (FM). A completely randomized design, with seven replicates of six brids each, was used. The treatments consisted of a control diet (CD) supplemented with bulb garlic […]

This experiment aimed to evaluate the effect of environmental temperature upon the morphometric characteristics of the fiber types in the flexor hallucis longus muscle of broilers in pair-feeding, thus isolating the effect of voluntary feed intake. Sixteen male broiler, Ross, were allotted to a completely randomized design with two treatments (heat stress and cold stress), and seven and nine replications, respectively. Forty-three-day-old heat stressed broilers weighed 1.255 g and those in cold stress, pair-fed, weighed 1.086 g. The birds subjected […]