The knowledge of the importance of nutrition on animal reproduction is well known for producers and researchers for a long time. However, contemporary studies have brought new perspectives and further details of this relationship, allowing fine-tuning of diets handling in order to increase production and reproduction in ruminants. Nevertheless, especially in high-producing dairy cows, there are still serious multifactorial fertility problems, with a heavy nutritional involvement. In contrast, addition of certain ingredients to the diet, such as fat rich in […]

Genomics will improve the efficiency of beef cattle genetic improvement programs through the incorporation of genomic predictions into traditional genetic evaluations. The global dairy cattle breeding industry has been changed considerably in the last year through the implementation of genomic selection. Now proven to work in dairy cattle breeding, the challenge remains for the beef industry to successfully implement this technology. The primary challenge in beef cattle is the required resource population that relates genomic profile to phenotypic performance, which […]

The advancement of aquaculture has often been bottlenecked because of the lack of seed, but once that bottleneck was overcome there was rapid growth. Recent examples of advances in hatchery technology leading to increased production are sea bream and Pangasius. Three areas contributing to the advancement of hatchery management are: brood stock management, induced spawning and larval feeding. Formulated diets have been developed for marine brood fish that are equal or better than the traditional raw fish diets. The importance […]

Sows produce a larger number of fetuses than before and these fetuses possess genetic potentials to grow faster than before. Recent comparison shows that a porcine fetus is 40% heavier than 40 years ago. Thus the nutritional management of sows has been updated to reflect these genetic changes. Our recent study quantified nutritional needs for sows to support the growth of fetuses and mammary glands during gestation. Amino acid needs for fetal growth and mammary growth during late gestation (d […]

Significant progress in the area of animal production is due to the development of researches on genetics, environment, health, management and nutrition. The search for better management conditions that benefit animal welfare resulted in changes to the installation. The genetic improvement more productive animals has encouraged the number of searches to reduce the incidence of diseases, mainly of metabolic origin. The incorporation in products with higher bioavailability as industrial amino acid and organic minerals, the inclusion of products modifiers enteric […]

This paper examines the role that oxidative stress plays in small ruminant medicine. We will examine how redox homeostasis is involved in some physiological functions and we will discuss the implications of the impairment of oxidative status on small ruminant health and production.

This paper aims to discuss the scientific progress obtained in the past ten years in genetics and plant breeding, soil fertility and plant nutrition and the importance of target sward conditions for planning, controlling and recommending management grazing of tropical grasses. In addition, progress in crop-livestock integration systems and management alternatives for mitigation of greenhouse gas emission by beef cattle production systems, two very important areas related to sustainable production systems, will also be discussed.

The Brazilian aquaculture is the second (Chile is the first one) in South American production, supported basically by production chains of shrimp and tilapia culture. Brazil produced, in 2007, 95691.0 tons of tilapia, representing 45% of the continental aquaculture. Aquaculture from small and medium producers has shown in recent years changes on farming systems. By the end of the 90s, it was based on semi-intensive ponds and dams. From the year 2000, tilapia culture in cages highlighted, especially in Union […]

Evidence of oxidative stress in horses has been described in reports dealing with intense and endurance exercise. Oxidative stress occurs when antioxidant systems are insufficient causing oxidation to potentially damage DNA, proteins, and lipids, and contribute to degenerative changes. Vitamin E is the most commonly supplemented antioxidant in horses and has been shown that horses in exercise conditioning may require higher intakes of vitamin E than recommended. Also in various species vitamin C potentiates the effects of vitamin E; however, […]

This paper reviews the technical bases of in vitro embryo production in small ruminants with special attention to the results obtained by our group in Northeastern Brazil. The laparoscopic oocyte recovery in hormonally treated live animals indicates a promising future for the application of this technique to genetic improvement program. New molecular biology tools should provide information to improve the efficiency of in vitro maturation. Furthers efforts have to be made to improve the oocyte maturation and to standardize the […]