This is the second paper in a series that reports the allometric relationships between some of the physical parts and body protein weight of commercial broiler strains reared, sexes separate, on different dietary protein levels. In this trial, four commercial…
Feed efficiency is of major economic importance in beef production. The objective of this work was to evaluate alternative measures of feed efficiency for use in genetic evaluation. To meet this objective, genetic parameters were estimated for the components of…
The major advancements in molecular technology over the past decades led to the discovery of DNA-markers, sequencing and genome mapping of farm animal species. New avenues were created for identifying major genes, genetic defects, quantitative trait loci (QTL) and ultimately…
In this study the effect of dietary supplementation of vitamin E on libido, servicing capacity (SC), sperm quality and serum α-tocopherol of Large White boars was evaluated. Twenty four boars were divided into three groups of eight boars each. Groups…
This study describes changes occurring in the live weight and body composition of male and female South African Black ostriches over a growing period of 285 days. Forty-five birds were given four diets with different protein (ca. 180 and ca…
The wet chemical analysis of feed samples is time consuming and expensive. Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) was developed as a rapid technique to predict the chemical composition of feeds. The prediction of accuracy of NIRS relies heavily on obtaining a…
Animal welfare has become an important determinant of meat quality with poor animal temperament leading to huge economic losses to the meat industry due to carcass bruising and condemnation. Handling and transport of live animals is a stressful experience for…
Eggs are a rich source of protein having, a primary advantage in satisfying human nutritional needs. However, the loss in egg quality within a short time during storage calls for more research to improve their condition following storage. This study…
The aim of the study was to determine the production responses of lambs receiving either creep feed or not while grazing two different pastures. The production of ewes within each treatment was also recorded. The study was conducted at both…
Maintaining a successful pig artificial insemination programme depends on a number of factors, including evaluation of semen characteristics. This study compared the efficacy of different extenders on the sperm motility of Kolbroek semen during short term storage at 4 °C…
The South African Animal Protection Law, which requires animals to be stunned before slaughter, allows certain exemptions to accommodate religious slaughter. The supporters of the Jewish method of slaughter (Shechita), in which animals are slaughtered without pre-stunning, claim that the…
The ostrich (Struthio camelus var. domesticus) is an important animal in the livestock industry in South Africa. Ostrich production is an intensive production system and feed cost contributes approximately 75% of the total cost of production. The objective of this…
This study investigated the effects of dietary lipid saturation on production parameters of laying hens during the peak-of-lay period. Five isoenergetic (12.6 MJ AME/kg DM) and isonitrogenous (170 g CP/kg DM) diets were formulated, using a control diet (50 :…
The aim of the study was to investigate some population parameters, including generation interval, inbreeding and effective population size of Brangus cattle in South Africa (SA) to assist in constructing an effective selection programme for the SA Brangus breed. Pedigree…
Yield, chemical composition, in vitro digestibility and kinetics of fermentation of straw from 18 varieties of oats (Avena sativa L.) were studied. All the straw varieties were grown in three replicates under the same agronomic conditions. Significance differences were observed…
In an experiment, 200 one-day-old broiler chickens (Ross 308) were used to investigate the effects of sumac fruit (Rhus coriaria L.) powder (SFP) on performance, plasma concentrations of total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high density lipoprotein (HDL-c), low density lipoprotein…
The objective of the study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic parameters for sow productivity traits of South African Large White pigs, using data from the Integrated Registration and Genetic Information Systems. The analyses were done on 29 719 records…
The research focused on the effect of a prebiotic additive, mannanoligosaccharides (Bio-Mos), in the diet of turkey hens on their growth performance and measurements of pro-oxidation and antioxidation systems in their blood. The investigation was performed on 240 six-week-old turkey…
The study was conducted to determine the extent to which broiler breeder hens could make use of excess body lipid reserves as a means of maintaining laying performance. The experiment was divided into two phases. In the first phase, the…
The major quality characteristics of breast and thigh meat, including chemical composition, fatty acid composition, cholesterol content and colour of slow-growing broilers (Hubbard Red-JA), reared under either organic or conventional rearing systems, and fast-growing broilers (Ross-308) grown under the conventional…
