Genetic parameters and environmental effects were estimated for 9,355 Nelore cattle scrotal circumference measurements (PE). The univariate analysis considered animal effect (random effect) and fixed effects of contemporary group (GC) and linear and quadratic effects of age at yearling (IDS) and yearling weight adjusted to 550 days (PSAJ). Contemporary group was defined by: year, season at birth and management group at birth, weaning and yearling. Heritability estimates were: 0.42 ± 0.04 (after IDS and PSAJ); 0.41 ± 0.04 (after PSAJ) […]

The present study evaluated the influence of genotype and rearing system on the performance of alternative lines of broiler chickens. Two experimental lines (Caipirinha and 7P) and two commercial lines (Label Rouge and Paraíso Pedrês) were reared under intensive or semi-intensive (access to the pasture area after 21 d of age) in an experiment with eight treatments, four replicates and 35 birds per experimental unit. Corn-soybean meal based feed and water were offered ad libtum in the pen area only, […]

The objective of the study was to identify some protein factors involved in bovine epididymis (SPZEP) and ejaculated (SPZEJ) sperm functional quality. With this propose, epididymis and ejaculated sperm of 11 Nellore crossbreed animals, 24 to 30 month of age, was evaluated for morphophisyological characteristics and analyzed for the peptides content. The morphophisyological characteristics consisted of progressive motility (MOT, %), velocity, sperm pathologies, and acrosome and chromatin integrity. These evaluations showed that the mean values of the SPZEJ were higher […]

Two experiments were carried out to determine the chemical composition, nutrients digestibility and digestible energy and protein of spray-dried egg (OP) and to study the performance and plasma and blood components of weanling pigs fed diets containing OP. In the Experiment I, eight pigs were used for digestibility assay. The animals were assigned to two treatments and four replications/treatment. The treatments consisted of a basal diet and test diet (70% of basal diet + 30% of OP). The method was […]

The experiment one was carried out to determine apparent metabolizable energy (AME) and nitrogen-corrected ME (AMEn) of nine feedstuffs in Japanese quails. The objective of the experiment two was to compare diets formulated with AMEn of corn and soybean meal, usually fed to broilers and laying hens, with diets formulated with AMEn determined in growing (22 days of age) and adult quails (65 days of age). In the experiment one, 400 growing quails were fed a basal diet (BD) and […]

Four experiments were accomplished using 720 white-egg pullets and 720 brown-egg pullets from 0 to 6 age weeks, were allotted to a completely randomized design with five calcium levels (.70, .80, .90, 1.00, and 1.10%) or five levels of available phosphorus (.30, .35, .40, .45, and .50%), with four replicates and 18 pullets for experimental unit. The experimental diets were formulated with soybean meal and corn to contain 2900 kcal of metabolizable energy/kg of diet, 18% crude protein, .70% calcium […]

Carcass characteristics, cut dressing and body constituents were determined according to the different dietary energy levels. Eighteen Santa Inês sheep (averaging live weight of 20 kg and six months old) were full fed diets with 2.43, 2.66 and 2.88 Mcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg of dry matter (DM). The animals were slaughtered when reached 33 kg live weight (LW). A randomized block design, with six replicates, was used. Linear decreasing effect was observed for loss in fast (LF) and linear […]

The intakes of dry matter (IDM), metabolizable energy (IME), ether extract (IEE), crude protein (ICP), neutral detergent fiber (INDF), acid detergent fiber (IADF) and organic matter (IOM) and the daily weight gain (WG), in kg/day, and feed conversion (FC) were determined to evaluate the effect of three dietary energy levels, for sheep. Eighteen Santa Inês sheep (averaging live weight of 20 kg six months old) were full fed diets with 2.42, 2.66 and 2.83 Mcal of metabolizable energy (ME)/kg of […]

This work was carried out to study the daily average gain (DAG) of steers grazing Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu, supplemented, from July to December, with two levels of three different supplements. Fifty-four Nellore steers (9 for each treatment) aged approximately 20 months and initial average live weight of 370 kg were used. The experimental treatments were: AMI – supplement rich in starch (based on corn), OLE – supplement rich in fat (based on whole cottonseed) and A+O – supplement combination […]

Ten adult Corriedale sheep were evaluated for respiratory (ER) and cutaneous (EC) evaporation rates. The animals were observed about 10 times each by recording changes in their live weigth with high-sensitiviy strain gauges, under different conditions of air temperature (21.1 to 41.9ºC) and partial vapour pressure (1.53 to 3.01 kPa). Average evaporation rates were 0.7599±0.0094 g.h-1.kg-1 for ER and 1.3029±0.0591 g.h-1.kg-1 for EC. Cutaneous evaporation was considered as an important heat loss mechanism for sheep in hot environments. There were […]