The effects of overfeeding with protein of different degradability on body condition, plasma urea nitrogen and progesterone concentrations, ovulation number and follicular dynamics were assessed in Santa Ines ewes. Twelve ewes were assigned to a randomized block design according to body weight and received overfeeding with soybean meal or with corn gluten meal or maintenance diet for 28 days before ovulation and during the next estrous cycle. Blood samples were taken on days 7, 14, 21, and 28 after the […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate, using meta-analysis, the main factors related to post-weaning body weight and weight gain that affect pregnancy rate of heifers bred at 18 months of age. Data of 1398 beef heifers from six experiments were analyzed as a set. Information related to methodology and results of each experiment were codified in Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. The independent variables analyzed were: body weight at seven months of age (BW7M), daily weight gain from seven to […]

Two experiments were carried out to determine the nutritional value and to evaluate performance of piglets fed two types of crude glycerine (CG), which were made from vegetable oil (CGS) and  a mix of animal fat + % soybean oil (CGA). In experiment I, a digestibility assay was conducted using 32 crossbred piglets (19.20±1.52 kg). The experimental unit consisted of one pig, with a total of four experimental units per diet. The glycerine levels used in the digestibility assay were […]

The experiment was performed with 160 tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum) with average weight 11.01±2.08 g and total length 7.8±0.18 cm. Fishes were kept in sixteen aquariums with 56 L of water at 29.1±0.4 oC of temperature, initial stocking density 1.97 g/L and constant aeration. The objective of this study was to assess the influence of photoperiod on fish performance. Treatments consisted of four photoperiods: T1 = 6 hours; T2 = 12 hours; T3 = 18 hours and T4 = 24 hours, […]

With the objective of evaluating available phosphorus (aP) levels in diets for barrows selected for lean meat deposition, eighty commercial hybrid pigs with initial weight of 94.05±1.05 kg were used in this experiment. Pigs were allotted in a completely randomized block design, with five treatments (0.092, 0.156, 0.220, 0,284, and 0.348% of aP), eight replicates and two pigs per experimental unit. The average daily weight gain of pigs increased and the feed conversion improved quadratically with increasing aP in the […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of visual scores of body structure, precocity  and muscularity with production (body weight at 18 months and average daily gain) and reproductive (scrotal circumference) traits in Brahman cattle in order to determine the possible use of these scores as selection criteria to improve carcass quality. Covariance components were estimated by the restricted maximum likelihood method using an animal model that included contemporary group as fixed effect. A total of 1,116 […]

The objective was to assess the effects of a concentrate consisting of two types of corn: flint and dent, with three different grinding degrees (1, 3 and 5 mm), as a function of intake, performance and digestibility of three crossbred dairy suckling heifers.  A randomized block design involving 54 crossbred heifers in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement was used to assess intake and performance patterns. In order to assess digestibility, the experimental design was completely randomized, consisting of 24 […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of three Nile tilapia Oreochromis niloticus strains cultivated in cages and subjected to different feeding programmes. Initially, 31,200 Nile tilapia juveniles with an average weight of 61.15 g were distributed in 48 cages. Two genetically improved strains were used together with one from the Fish Culture Section of Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA). The fish were subjected to four feeding programmes, consisting of different levels of crude protein (CP) in […]

The present study was carried out with the objective of evaluating the effects of feeding dairy cows with organic or inorganic sources of zinc (Zn), copper (Cu) and selenium (Se) on blood concentrations of these minerals, blood metabolic profiles, nutrient intake and milk yield and composition. Nineteen Holstein cows were selected and randomly assigned to two groups for receiving organic (n = 9) or inorganic (n = 10) sources of Zn, Cu and Se from 60 days before the expected […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the capacity of the ensilage of Jatropha curcas L. expeller cake to reduce the phorbol esters and its effect on fermentative losses, by adding soluble carbohydrates or microbial inoculants. The design was completely randomized with four replications in a 3 × 2 factorial arrangement, with three sources of soluble carbohydrates (SC, control, 50 g sucrose/kg or 50 g crude glycerin/kg as fed) and two doses of microbial inoculants (MI, 0 or 5 […]