The objectives of this work were to identify the mathematical functions that better fitted the milk production of Guzera breed cows, to evaluate the effects of the environmental factors on the lactation curve format and to estimate the genetic parameters for the milk production and for the dependable components of the lactation curve format. A total of 1130 lactations from 583 Guzera breed cows, daughters of 165 bulls, with production over the period from 1983 to 1997 were used. The […]

The objective of this work was to study the replacement of corn by cassava hulls, swept cassava meal or cassava scrapings on the average weight gain, feed intake, feed:gain ratio and carcass yields of feedlot heifers. Twenty-eight crossbreeding heifers averaging 365 kg LW and 24 months of age were allotted to a randomized blocks design in a 56 days experimental period, with four diets and seven replicates. There was no effect of replacement of corn by cassava products on average […]

This work was carried out to study the replacement levels of corn by triticale in feedlot Nellore heifers. Fifty-six Nellore heifers, 18 months of age and with an initial LW 212 kg were allotted to a completely randomized experimental design, with four corn replacement levels (0, 33, 66 and 100%) by triticale and seven replications. There were no effects of corn replacement levels on the final live weight, average daily gain, intakes of dry matter, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, […]

The objective of this experiment was the extraction of lignin and its use in the calibration curves to determine lignin concentration in vegetable plants. Among the analytical methods for measuring lignin concentration, there is the “acetyl bromide soluble lignin -ABSL” method, were solubilized lignin in 25% solution of acetyl bromide in glacial acetic acid is read at 280 nm. However, any spectrophotometric method requires a reliable standard to which optical density readings are compared; in this experiment, the standard was […]

The objective of this experiment was to study the effects of different additives on fermentation and composition of orange peel silage. Fresh orange peel was ensiled in 15-kg capacity PVC laboratory silos that were arranged according to a randomized design with three silos per treatment: without additive (control), enzyme inoculate (EI), formic acid (FA), propionic acid (PA) and acetic acid (AA). Samples of orange peel were taken before ensiling (0), and 2, 8, 16, 32 and 64 days after ensiling. […]

This research was conducted during the 1994/95 and 1995/96 growing seasons (Oct./Apr.), at the Estação Experimental de Ituporanga/EPAGRI – SC, aiming to evaluate the pasture dynamics of `Mott’ dwarf elephantgrass (MDE) under four levels of forage on offer (FO). The actual levels of green leaf lamina dry matter (GLLDM) were 3.8; 7.5; 10.2 and 14.0 kg/100 kg LW/day, under continuous grazing, using steers of 8 to 10 mo through the put-and-take technique. A completely randomized block design with two replications […]

The polymorphism of the growth hormone gene (bGH) was studied in 211 Nellore pure breed bovine males to estimate the genotype and allelic frequencies and possible associations of the gene with weight traits. For this study, body weight data were collected at birth, weaning and monthly from 10 to 16 months of age. Additionally, weight gains from birth to weaning and weaning to 16 months of age were calculated. DNA was extracted from blood samples and the animals genotyped for […]

The objective of this trial was to determine the adequate level of the phytase (0, 300, 600 and 900 PU/kg of the diet) to be added in corn-soybean meal diets with two crude protein (CP) levels, one at the animal requirements (18%CP) and another at smaller level (16% CP), for the most effective nitrogen bioavailability, of the energy and of the macro minerals, and also to observe in which of these diet protein levels the phytase has larger effect. Twenty-four […]

The carcass characteristics from young bulls or steers from different breed compositions of Charolais x Nellore were the objective of this study. Seventy beef males from three breeding systems: straightbreds (Charolais (Ch) and Nellore (Ne)), G1 crossbreds (1/2 Ch 1/2 Ne and 1/2 Ne 1/2 Ch) and G2 crossbreds (3/4 Ch 1/4 Ne and 3/4 Ne 1/4 Ch) were used. Thirty-five males were castrated (steers) at seven months and 35 were kept entire (young bulls). The animals were confined from […]

The effect of calcium source on the performance and egg-shell quality of 96 white-egg layers hens, Lohmann LSL, allotted, at 72 weeks of age, to a density of two layers/pen, were evaluated during and after a forced molt (FM) for 12 days. A completely experimental randomized, with four treatments, each with four replicates of six layers, was used. The treatments were: 1 – positive control, with ad libitum diet during all experimental phases; 2 – FM with no calcium source; […]