The objective of this study was to evaluate the correlations between rainfall data and goat productive traits in Alpine X Gurgueia breeds goats, raised in a intensive regime in the Ocidental Cariri, a semi-arid microclime of Paraíba State, Brazil. Birth weight, milk production and mortality of kids to 90 days of age and rainfall data from the Carnauba Farm were used. The rainfall data were transformed in Logx. The birth weight, milk production and mortality correlated reasonably correlated with the […]

Fermentation kinetics and degradation rates of three tropical forage species (Tanzania grass, Marandu grass and Tifton 85 grass) were evaluated by the in vitro gas production technique. The forages were harvested at 28, 35 and 42 days of regrowth during two periods, January-March and April-June. In the January-March period, Marandu grass presented the greatest values of fraction A, potential degradability (PD) and effective degradability for a passage rate of 2 %/hour (ED2). In the April-June period, Marandu and Tanzania grasses […]

Nine ruminally fistulated Nellore steers were located in nine paddocks of palisade grass (Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu) pasture under daily supplementation (seven times per week), from Monday to Friday (five times per week) or Monday, Wednesday and Friday (three times per week). Ruminal fluid was sampled on two consecutive days. On the first day, all the animals that were supplemented (D1) and other subsequent day in which only for the animals under daily supplementation received the supplement (D2). The supplementation […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate tiller demography, pasture morphological composition, leaf area index, dry matter herbage accumulation, dry matter in vitro digestibility and crude protein, neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and lignin contents of Brachiaria decumbens cv. Basilisk (Signalgrass), under nitrogen fertilization (75, 150, 225, 300 kg/ha.year of N) and continuous stock management with variable stocking rates, for two consecutive years. A randomized complete block design was used with two replications. In the first year, tiller demography did […]

Data of egg weight, albumen height, shell thickness, body weight and egg production at 90 days of laying from three lines of laying quails (Coturnix coturnix japonica), fed diets with 2,900 kcal or 2,500 kcal metabolizable energy, were used to check the existence of the genotype-environmental interaction. The MTGSAM software program was used, which allows Bayesian inference, using the Gibbs Sampling, applied to an animal model, to estimate the co-variance components, heritability and genetic correlation between both environments. The results […]

Data on hot carcass weight, hot carcass yield, hindquarter weights and physical components, forequarter and spare ribs, and the weights of the main commercial cuts from the hindquarters of twenty young intact bulls were assessed. The animals, belonging to four genetic groups (Nellore, ½ Guzerath + ½ Nellore (½ G + ½ N), ½ Red Angus + ½ Nellore (½ R + ½ N) and ½ Marchigiana + ½ Nellore (½ M + ½ N)), were raised on pastures, finished […]

The objective of this study wast to determine the requirement of digestible lysine for light-weight laying hens 24 to 40 weeks of age. Two hundred and sixteen Hy-Line W36 light-weight laying hens were allotted to a randomized complete blocks with six treatments, six blocks and six hens per experimental unit. The treatments consisted of a basal diet, with 14.54% crude protein, deficient in digestible lysine (0.545%), supplemented with six levels of L-lysine HCl (78%) 0.00; 0.059; 0.118; 0.177; 0.237 and […]

Aiming to evaluate the influence of native pasture structure in the intake process of grazing ewes and calves, four sward heights (4, 8, 12 and 16 cm) were established. A completely randomized design with four treatments and two replicates in time and space was used. Bite mass and forage intake were estimated by the short-term weight changes technique, corrected for the rate of insensible weight loss, during a 45 minutes test. The grazing and mastication jaw movements were registered by […]

Ingestive behaviour of beef heifers and sward structural characteristics of Pearl Millet (Pennisetum americanum (L.) Leeke) were evaluated. The experiment was carried out in a randomized complete design following a repeated measure arrangement (three experimental periods) with three replications of two leaf blade masses (600 and 1,000 kg/ha DM), which were maintained using continuous grazing with variable stocking rate. The variables measured were sward height, herbage mass, leaf blade and stem bulk density in sward vertical strata (sward structural characteristics), […]

The use of indigestible dry matter (iDM) and indigestible neutral detergent fiber (iNDF) as internal markers to estimate digestibility in lambs was evaluated. Data and samples were obtained from six independent digestion trials with lambs housed in metabolism cages given ad libitum different forage and concentrate feedstuffs. Indigestible residues were determined after 144 hours of in situ incubation of feed and faeces samples. Recovery rate varied from 64.8 to 108.5% for iDM, and from 49.5 to 67.9% for iNDF. As […]