It was evaluated the ingestive behavior of beef heifers on black oats (Avena strigosa Schreb.) and Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) pastures under different strategies of supplementation and continuous stocking system. The treatments evaluated were: ‘no supplement’- animals on black oats (BO) and Italian ryegrass (IR) pasture; ‘increasing’ – animals on BO and IR pasture receiving increasing levels (0.3, 0.6, and 0.9% of live weight – LW) of supplement; ‘fixed’ – animals on BO and IR pasture receiving 0.9% of […]

Genetic diversity among breeds of cattle allows producers to select animals for specific environments or market conditions. Reproductive efficiency is a multi-component trait that is largely influenced by environmental influences such as health and nutritional status; however, there are clearly genetic components to reproductive efficiency, and breed differences in a number of indicator traits associated with fertility and cow productivity have been identified. Historical indicators of fertility include scrotal circumference, age at puberty, and postpartum interval. Both age at puberty […]

The experiment was carried out in a greenhouse and aimed to study morphogenic characteristics of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu, grown under combined rates of nitrogen and sulphur, in a soil (Typic Quartzipsamment) collected from a degrading Brachiaria decumbens pasture. A fractionated 52 factorial was used, with 13 combinations of nitrogen and sulphur rates (N-S), in mg/dm3: 0-0; 0-20; 0-40; 100-10; 100-30; 200-0; 200-20; 200-40; 300-10; 300-30; 400-0; 400-20; and 400-40, which were set in a randomized block design, with four […]

The effect of prey size selection and feeding on pacamã Lophiosilurus alexandri larvae culture (native specie of San Francisco basin classified as threatened of extinction) was evaluated. The larvae were cultivated in aquariums during 16 days and fed with natural zooplankton, screened in 650 and 1300 µm sieve, with and without ration. The offer of zooplankton of largest size provided a better development of the pacamã larvae, demonstrating the need of alimentary particles larger for the growth potential of the […]

The objective of this work was to evaluate the effect of three commercial feeds recommended for carnivorous fish on processing yield and fillet composition of surubim (Pseudoplatystoma sp) raised in net cages. The surubim fishes were raised in net cages during one year, when were fed three diets with 43.5, 42.6, and 42.1% crude protein; 6.3, 8.7, and 4.5% ether extract and 5,078, 4,931, and 4,994 kcal of gross energy, respectively. Fishes were allotted to a completely randomized design, with […]

Oocytes in cattle are formed during embryogenesis and develop within individual follicles in the cortex of the ovary. Dormant primordial follicles become active and undergo progressive development at regular intervals commencing during the late fetal stage and continuing throughout adulthood. Once activated, follicles and oocytes in a cohort either grow to maturation and ovulation or undergo atresia, ultimately depleting the ovaries of germ cells. It takes an estimated 100 days for a follicle and its oocyte to reach the mature […]

Some arguments currently used to support breed conservation are examined. The central point is that we cannot conserve all breeds because we do not have financial resources enough to keep everything (mainly in developing countries) and in many cases we do not have special reasons to conserve breeds. A breed is a human product and it should not be confused with specie. A breed can be generated or transformed. We can create synthetic breeds with the best characteristics of several […]

Using biotechnology to increase the growth rates of fish is likely to reduce production costs per unit of food. Among vertebrates, fish appear to occupy a unique position, when growth patterns are considered. With few exceptions, fish species tend to grow indeterminately, implying that size is never fixed. Both hyperplasia and hypertrophy contribute to post-larval muscle growth in fish. Growth hormone (GH) – Insulin-like Growth Factor I (IGF-I) is the most important growth axis in fish. Our experimental model, the […]

This study aimed to evaluate the effects related to the high occurrence (18%) of Guzerá newborn calves that failed to suckle (FS) after birth. Data from 1527 births recorded from 1992 to 2004 were analyzed by a fixed effects model using the probit linking function with the GENMOD procedure of SAS®. An animal model including direct and maternal additive genetic and cow permanent environment effects was also used to estimate genetic parameters for FS by quasi-restricted maximum likelihood. Cows with […]

The objective of this experiment was to evalute the effects of phosphorus sources (Yoorin®, Ordinary Superphosphate (SS) + Triple Superphosphate (TS) and control) on the concentration and amount of N, P, K, and Ca in the excreta of crossbred steers under grazing conditions on mombaça grass (Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. mombaça) pasture. The grazing method was the continuous stocking with variable stocking rate, and the animals used were crossbred with average live weight of 300 kg. It was used a […]