The objective of this trial was to evaluate weight gain and carcass traits of feedlot Nellore fed diets containing sugarcane bagasse and one of the following concentrate sources: corn germ meal, soybean hulls or citrus pulp that partially (50% DM) replaced ground corn in the diet. The four experimental diets were formulated to yield a forage:concentrate ratio of 39:61. Forty Nellore animals averaging 340 kg of body weight and 32 months of age at the beginning of the trial were […]

The objective of this experiment was to evaluate the performance of crossbred Charolais x Nellore young steers fed diets with different corn hybrid silage: Agroceres AG9090, Dekalb DK440 or Braskalb XL344. Animals were feedlot finished until reaching approximately 430 kg of body weight. The average age of the animals at the beginning and at the end of the trial was 10.3 and 15.2 months, respectively. Diets were formulated to contain a forage:concentrate ratio of 60:40 (DM basis) with the following […]

The effect of antimicrobial (A) replacement with dehydrated egg (DE) and of type of litter (new and recycled) used in the floor covering on pullet performance was evaluated in 1,440 1-d chicks, 720 of each strain (White and Brown), allotted to 72 boxes (1 x 1.5 m). Recycled litter consisted of sugar cane bagasse containing droppings of broilers chicks with symptoms of coccidiose. The pullets were weighed and assigned to a complete randomized design with a 3 x 2 x […]

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effect of different dietary NDF levels on carcass characteristics of feedlot lambs slaughtered with 30 kg of body weight. Twenty crossbred Ile de France x Texel non-castrated male lambs were randomly assigned to the following treatments: 25%, 31%, 37%, and 43% of dietary NDF. The forage portion of the diet was composed by sorghum silage (hybrid AG 2005 E) and the concentrate by cracked corn, soybean meal, salt, limestone, and dicalcium […]

Twenty-seven Saanen male kids averaging 20 kg of body weight (BW) at the beginning of the trial were used to study the effects of feed restriction on carcass characteristics. Animals were assigned to one of the following three treatments: control (fed ad libitum), 30 or 60% of feed restriction. A completely randomized design was used and data were submitted to regression analysis; animals were slaughtered when they reached 35 kg of BW. The following traits were measured in this trial: […]

Economic and animal performance of feedlot beef young bulls and heifers fed finishing diets were evaluated in this trial. Twenty-eight Santa Gertrudis bovines (14 young bulls and 14 heifers) were assigned to a completely randomized design and maintained in individual pens. Diets were formulated to fulfill the weight gain requirements of finishing animals. The measured variables were affected by sex. Daily weight gain (DWG), feed conversion, carcass yield, and dry matter (DM) intake were: 1.80 and 1.22 kg/day, 5.61 and […]

The effect of adding dietary ractopamine on meat quality of dominant homozygote (HalNN) and heterozygote (HalNn) halothane animal genotypes was evaluated in this trial. During the experiment (21days), it was used 24 barrows and 12 gilts (half of each halothane genotype) averaging 72.6 kg initial BW. The experiment was analyzed as a randomized block with a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial arrangement (two halothane genotypes, two diets: control and with 10 ppm of ractopamine and two categories: barrows and […]

The objective of this trial was to evaluate production and carcass characteristics of young steers grazing a mixture of black oat and Italian ryegrass pasture. Treatments were four different pasture heights (10, 20, 30, and 40 cm) that were obtained with different stocking rates. Fifty-five beef steers averaging 210 kg of body weight and 10 months of age at the beginning of the trial were used in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The observed increase in the […]

This experiment was conducted to evaluate factors affecting pregnancy rate of 117 crossbred Nelore x Hereford beef cows with age varying from 2 to 20 years, different gene proportion from Nellore breed (25.0, 37.5, 50.0, and 100.0%), calved between 08/11/03 and 12/23/03 and bred by natural service, between 12/10/03 and 03/12/04. The effects of July calving date (JCD), birth weight (BW) and calf sex (S) from previous calving, parity order (PO), hip height (H), weight (WM) and body condition score […]

This study aimed to evaluate the behavior and the welfare of hens comparing a conventional housing system (laying cages in battery) with another system using litter + nest. The effects of environmental conditions (stress or comfort) on behavior responses of laying hens were also analyzed by precision techniques. Two groups of 10 birds of Hy-line W36 and Hy-line Brown stains, at the beginning of the production phase, were submitted to two environmental conditions (26°C with 60% RU or 35°C with […]