The aim of the present investigation was to improve maturation, fertilisation and blastocyst production rates by adding insulin (10 μg /ml), selenium (10 ng /ml) or transferring (10 μg /ml) individually and in different combinations to in vitro culture media…
The objective was to study the partial digestion by sheep of the 500-mm regrowthof three Pennisetum selections (Bana, Greengold and Pennaris) over three seasons (autumn, spring and summer). There were no differences (p > 0.05) between selections in the quality…
Ten Dohne merino wethers with an average mass of 50 kg, were used to study differencesin ruminal VFA production rates, whole body kinetics of VFA, glucose and FFA as well as blood hormone concentrations when fed a high- or a…
Mitochondrial DNA cleavage patterns from representative animals of the Afrikanerand Nguni sanga cattle breeds, indigenous to Southern Africa, were compared to the mitochondrial DNA cleavage patterns of the Brahman (zebu) and the Jersey (taurine) cattle breeds. Identical restriction patterns were…
Knowledge of genetic correlations among traits is essential for deriving a selectionstrategy for any breed. In this study, genetic and phenotypic correlations were estimated among weaning weight (WW), nine- (W9) and 18-month body weight (W18), clean fleece weight (CFW), mean…
The objective of this study was to estimate heritability and breeding values on theunderlying scale for different reproductive traits and survival rate in Afrino sheep to ascertain whether they can be improved by selection on estimated breeding values obtained under…
Data from 1390 to 1902 Dohne Merino progeny of a nucleus flock were used toevaluate environmental influences, and to obtain heritability estimates for live weight at birth, weaning and yearling age and for yearling fleece traits. Estimated breeding values for…
In an effort to quantify herd-year-season x sire interaction in Bonsmara cattle, four differentmodels were fitted to the data used in Neser et a/. (1996). The herds were also divided into two (bushveld and sour grassveld) regions in order to…
The productive and reproductive performance of, as well as income generated by Afrino, Dorper and Merino sheep at two localities in the False Upper Karoo region were evaluated. A total of 1242 ewe reproductive records was available, while data of…
Genetic variation within and differentiation between juvenile and adult elephants (Loxodonta africana) culled during April 1992 and May 1993 were compared to determine the effect of culling on successive generations. Gene products of 25 protein-coding loci were examined by horizontal…
Two trials were conducted to determine the effects of rumen degradable protein (RDP) level and source on the duodenal essential amino acid (AA) composition of Dohne Merino wethers. The animals had ad libitum access to wheat straw (32 g crude…
The objective of this study was to investigate the use of four different mathematical functions (Wood, Inverse Polynomial, Quadratic and Cubic models) for describing the lactation curve of unimproved Awassi ewes. Data were collected from 136 ewes from the same…
This study was conducted to determine the potential of coriander seed as a natural growth promoting substance in quail nutrition. Five hundred and ninety four 3-day old Japanese quails were divided into six groups of 99 birds each and randomly…
Biological data repositories are widely applied to assist researchers in effectively storing and retrieving data. The recent developments in molecular biology intensified the need for well-designed biological databases, which can be queried without increasing the computational time. This study describes…
Feedlot information, submitted by Iowa cattle producers to the Iowa State University Feedlot Performance and Cost Monitoring Program, was examined to determine the effects of housing, initial weight and season interactions on beef steer performance. Feedlot information, consisting of 1225…
The performance of Bonsmara bulls tested in Phase C of the South African Performance Testing Scheme (intensive test in which individual feed intakes are measured) was compared with the performance of the half-sib bulls tested in Phase D (comparable to…
Data collected from calves born at the Bartlow Combine Breeding Station were analysed to estimate direct and maternal additive genetic variances and resulting heritabilities for weight at birth, 205, 365 and 540-days of age. The estimates of direct heritability were…
Kikuyu pasture (Pennisetum clandestinum) was evaluated as forage for milk production during the 1985/86 and 1986/87 grazing seasons at the Bathurst Research Station in the seaboard area of the Eastern Cape. The effect of different rotational grazing cycle lengths on…
Three diets were formulated to contain 16% crude protein (CP), 12.8 MJ/kg digestible energy (DE) and 0.9% lysine on an air-dry basis. The diets either contained 8.3% fishmeal, 20% faba beans plus 7.9% soybean oilcake meal (SBOK) or 20% low…
