The extent of ruminal protein degradation of 13 roughages was determined in the rumen of cannulated lactating dairy cows, and was calculated at three different fractional outflow rates using the in situ polyester bag technique. Values ranged from 25,5% for…
Various strains of Streptomyces bacteria were found to be capable of degrading Merino wool when incubated together in a basal salts medium for extended periods. There was a decrease in filterable solids in the cultures as a result of bacterial…
Free-gossypol content of the seed of South African cotton cultivars cultivated in different regions. Representative seed samples of the 10 most important cotton cultivars, each cultivated in the 10 most important production localities in the Republic of South Africa, were…
The aim was to determine diet selection of goats grazing/browsing in Zululand Thornveld. An experiment was done in spring (November 2007) and autumn (March/April 2008) at Owen Sitole College of Agriculture, KwaZulu-Natal. Diet selection was estimated using direct observation of…
A study was conducted to determine the influence of different particle size limestone in layer diets on egg production and eggshell quality during the later stages of egg production (>54 weeks of age). Calcitic limestone (360 g Ca/kg), consisting of…
A study was conducted to determine the effect of different limestone particle sizes in layer diets on bone quality characteristics at end-of-lay hens. Calcitic limestone (360 g Ca/kg DM) that is extensively used in commercial poultry diets was obtained from…
A study was conducted to determine the influence of different dietary lipid sources and inclusion levels on production performance of male broilers. Eight isoenergetic (15.1 MJ AME/kg DM) and isonitrogenous (223 g CP/kg DM) diets were formulated, using high oleic…
A study was conducted to determine the influence of different dietary lipid sources on dressing percentage, breast meat yield and breast weight of male broiler birds. Four isoenergetic (15.1 MJ AME/kg DM) and isonitrogenous (222.3 g CP/kg DM) diets were…
Incremental levels of sun-dried and coarsely ground cactus pear (Opuntia ficus-indica var. Algerian) cladodes were used to substitute part of the lucerne hay in balanced diets fed to Dorper wethers (n = 28; 33.90 ± 2.98 kg) during a trial…
An experiment was conducted with Ross broiler chickens from day-old to 42 d of age. A prebiotic (Bio-Mos®), probiotic (All Lac XCL 5x), organic acid (Acid pak 2x), individually or in combination were used to supplement an antibiotic growth promoter…
Full-fat soyabeans (FFSB) intended for use in monogastric nutrition need to undergo heat treatment so that present anti-nutritional factors can be inactivated. Under- or over-treatment will decrease the level of amino acids available to the animal. In this study, the…
The objective of this study was to quantify the effect of the grinding procedure on the moisture and crude protein concentration of a ground Medicago sativa L. hay sample for quality grading. An additional aim was to investigate the accuracy…
Physiological and productive responses to recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) injection and calcium soap of fatty acids (CSFA) supplementation were studied in post-weaning male Rahmani lambs. Male lambs (n = 20) of similar initial body weight (27.9 kg) and age (162…
This study was conducted to evaluate the effect of breed types and lactation status on reproductive performance of hormonally-treated Awassi ewes. A total of 282 ewes were treated with intravaginal progestagen sponges and equine chorionic gonadotropin. Ewes were mated with…
Volumes of the routine carcass field data used in the official genetic evaluation for carcass traits in Japanese Black cattle are increasing rapidly. The purposes of this paper are to describe a Bayesian approach via Gibbs sampling (GS) to be…
One hundred and forty four bulls comprising 48 animals of each breed, i.e. purebred Ankole (ANK) and its crossbreds with Boran (AXB) and Friesian (AXF) were assigned to three feeding systems (FS) to evaluate their performance for improved beef production…
International trade with genetic material has lead to the foundation of Interbull, an international organization that performs international evaluations of dairy bulls, enabling countries to obtain breeding values of foreign bulls on their on scale. Not all countries have the…
Genetic correlations between first calving interval (CI) and linear type traits in South African Holstein and Jersey cattle were estimated to assess the possibility of using type information as selection criteria for CI. All linear type traits routinely evaluated under…
Indigenous sheep of Kenya are very important to resource-poor farmers and pastoralists. They have over time adapted to the harsh environmental conditions of the arid and semi-arid lands where they are faced with challenges of persistent droughts, diseases, conflicts and…
The insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-I) gene has been described in several studies as a candidate gene for growth traits in farm animals. The present preliminary study attempts to establish associations between growth traits and genetic polymorphisms at the 5’…
