Yields of B. decumbens cultivar Basilisk and B. brizantha cultivars Marandu and Xaraés were evaluated under different shade levels. A completely randomized block split plot design was used, with the shade levels as plots (0, 50, 70%), and the species and cultivars as split-plots. Seeds were germinated on trays and three seedlings were transplanted to each pot. Four harvests were made on each split-plot. Prior to each harvest, plant height, number of live tiller per pot and the leaf area […]

This study aimed to evaluate the performance and bone parameters of broiler chickens fed on diets with different linseed oil (LO) levels from 1 to 42 days of age. At the initial and growing phases (1 to 21 days and 22 to 42 days of age, respectively) a completely randomized design was used with four linseed oil levels (2.0, 3.5, 5.0 or 6.5%), six replicates and 50 birds per experimental unit. The birds were fed diets with different linseed oil […]

The grazing management system based on the intensive pasture utilization result in a high animal and area yield. In order to that to be possible, it should be used a management criteria aiming to control, simultaneously the quality and the amount of forage, maintaining the sustainability of the system. The grazing intensity is dynamic, it never keeps the same status, it can be changed with the animals rate intake, and also by the plants growth, changing every hour and day, […]

Nucleic acid-based techniques which can be used to characterise complex microbial communities without incubation are now being employed regularly in ruminant nutrition studies. Conventional culture-based methods for enumerating rumen microorganisms (bacteria, archaea, protozoa, and fungi) have been superseded and are now used mainly to obtain pure isolates of novel organisms and reference strains that are required for the development and validation of the nucleic acid approaches. These reference strains are also essential for physiological studies of the lifestyle of the […]

The objective of the present study was to apply REP-PCR sequences in the monitoring goat milk quality, by detecting Staphylococcus aureus, in samples of from milker hands, goat teats, milk, milking machine and water, for the future establishment and implantation of the system of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). Several fingerprints were verified of all the isolates collected from the different sources studied (milker hands, goat teats, milk, milking machine and water). Very similar band behaviors were observed that […]

Utilization of digestible amino acid and ideal protein concepts helped to reduce environmental nitrogen excretion and the feed formulation cost without to cause bad performance in broilers. Nevertheless, besides to be recognized that is the best tool at the moment, some factors still should be elucidate to obtain the best utilization of the ideal protein and to reach the best broiler performance. These factors are: knowing about non essential amino acids requirement; utilization good sense to use methodologies to reach […]

Precision livestock production (PLP) is the augmentation of precision agriculture (PA) concepts to include all components of agroecosystems, particularly animals and plant-animal interactions. Soil, plants and soil-plant interactions are the subjects of PA or site-specific farming, where the main principle is to exploit natural spatial heterogeneity to increase efficiency and reduce environmental impacts. For the most part, PA has been studied and developed for intensive cropping systems with little attention devoted to pastoral and agropastoral systems. PLP focuses on the […]

This experimentwas carried out with the objective of determining the energy and protein requirements of grazing Nellore steers. Twenty four Nellore steers (average 371 ± 14 kg of BW and 26 months old) were used. Four steers were slaughtered at the beginning of the experiment (reference group), serving as a reference for the subsequent study. The remaining 20 animals were weighed and distributed in a randomized complete block design with four levels of supplementation offers: 0.0 (mineral mixture – control), […]

Minerals, including trace-elements, and vitamins are currently introduced into the pig diet in order to obtain suitable performances for the modern pig genotype bred in confinement. Most of the mineral and vitamin contents of cereals and usual protein compounds are characterized by their poor and variable availability. Supplemental diets are then usually needed. This paper, based on literature data, reviews the pig requirement for minerals and vitamins in order to ensure economic and profitable performance. Recent research has focused on […]

The objective of this study was to evaluate the fatty acid profile and PGE2 concentration in tibia of broiler chickens fed on diets with different linseed oil (LO) levels from one to 42 days of age. At the initial and growing phases (1 to 21 days and 22 to 42 days of age, respectively) a completely randomized design was used with four treatments, six replications and 50 birds per experimental unit. The birds were fed diets with different linseed oil […]