Three experiments were conducted to determine the arginine requirement and the digestible arginine:lysine ratio of broiler males, from 1 to 20, 24 to 38 and 44 to 56 days of age. A completely randomized design with five levels of arginine, six replicates and 20 birds per pens from 1 to 20 and 24 to 38, and 16 birds per pens from 44 to 56 were used in each experiment. The concentrations of digestible arginine were 1.10-1.34 (increase of 0,061), 1.083-1.296 […]

Part of the fertilizer nitrogen (N) applied to pasture may be lost from the system and, in tropical pastures, the volatilization of ammonia (NH3) is one of the major pathways of loss. The present study aimed to estimate the NH3-N volatilization loss in Panicum maximum cv. Tanzania pasture fertilized with urea during the summer. A completely randomized design, following a repeated measure arrangement, with three replicates was used. The plots were represented by urea levels (40, 80 and 120 kg/ha […]

In order to study the influence of the economic factor on the objectives used to select the animals, production data of a payment program by milk quality implanted by a milk industry of Rio Grande do Sul were used. The criteria of quality of the referred program consisted of minimum contents of 3.1% of fat, 2.85% of protein and a maximum 500,000 units of somatic cells. The data were stratified in three levels, in agreement with the volume of milk […]

This work aimed to evaluate the physical-mechanic characteristics of crossed sheep leathers from hairy tropical crioula ewes mated with Texel wooly breed (TE) and Santa Inês (SI) hair tropical breed rams. Twenty two skin were evaluated from male sheep slaughtered at average of 240 days of age and 21.9 ± 4.4 and 20.9 ± 3.4 body live weight, respectively for TE and SI. After skinning, pelts were weighed, conserved in brine and salted and classified by quality before the chromium-tanned. […]

The aim of this study was to evaluate follicular population during estrous cycle in Gir cattle. The ovaries of cows (14) were evaluated daily, during one estrous cycle, using a portable ultrasound device. During each exam, ovarian follicles were identified, measured and classified by size in tree groups: from 3 to 5 mm (small follicles), from 6 to 8 mm (medium follicles) and equal or larger than 9 mm (large follicles). Cycles with three (69.23%) and four (30.77%) follicular waves […]

Many problems of the beef herd, including low pregnancy rates and low weaning weights, are related to inadequate intakes of energy and /or protein, as well as to minerals and vitamins deficiencies. The objective of the present study was to evaluate the performance of beef cows supplemented with phosphorus/calcium with or without energy/protein during the dry season. All cows received complete mineral mixtures during the wet season; during the dry season, the imposed treatments were: complete mineral mixtures or mineral […]

The experiment was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of 3 diluents BTS+KCl – D1, BTS+2KCL – D2 and BTS+Sodium Citrate – D3) and three different times (hour 0, 72 hours and 144 hours) in Piracanjuba (Brycon orbignyanus) semen at 4°C. The assay aimed to test usefulness of BTS (Betsville Thawing Solution) diluent medium, added to Sodium citrate and Potassium clorate, in maintenance of spermatic immobility and of its conditions to conserve semen characteristics as spermatic motility rate and […]

This work reports the use of scanning electron microscopy to evaluate intestinal epithelium loss in broilers. Intestinal mucosa of male and female chicks submitted to prolonged period post-hatching of water and feed deprivation was evaluated. Two segments of the duodenum, jejunum and ileum were taken per bird, and routinely processed by scanning electron microscopy. Six distinct degrees of epithelium loss were determined: degree 0, normal villi without apparent extrusion; degree 1, villi presenting small areas of epithelium loss; degree 2, […]

An experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of dietary energy level on performance, carcass yield and abdominal fat of broiler chickens. Two thousand and four hundred day-old Ross 308 chicks were raised until 42 days of age in floor pens. The experimental design was a completly randomized in a 6 x 2 factorial design (energy x sex). The treatment was consisted of combinated levels of energy: 2900, 2960, 3020, 3080, 3140 and 3200 kcal/kg ME and sex, with four […]

Two experiments were carried out aiming to compare techniques of digestibility of fish food nutrients, by using external indicators (chromic oxide and barium carbonate), internal indicators (HCl-insoluble ash, acid detergent insoluble ash, crude fiber and acid detergent fiber) and the direct determination technique. Corn meal was used in the first experiment and soybean meal was used in the second one; both used 100 g tambaquis. Chromic oxide and barium carbonate are effective external indicators for estimating the digestibility coefficients of […]