The South African Journal of Animal Science is an open access, peer-reviewed journal. The journal publishes reports of research dealing with the production of farmed animal species (cattle, sheep, goats, pigs, horses, poultry and ostriches), as well as pertinent aspects of research on companion animals and aquatic and wildlife species. All submitted articles are subjected to a single-blind peer review process that is managed by a section editor under the supervision of the editor-in-chief. Copyright of a published article resides with the authors. Such articles will be published as open access content and be covered by the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 South African Licence. Users may copy, distribute, transmit and adapt the work, but must recognise the authors and the South African Journal of Animal Science.
Originally supported by the Agricultural Research Council (ARC), the South African Journal of Animal Science moved online in the early 2000s using a custom-built manuscript submission and editorial management system. In August 2025, the journal transitioned to the Public Knowledge Project’s Open Journal Systems (PKP OJS), hosted by Khulisa Journals at the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf).
In line with international best practices, the journal integrates key components of digital research infrastructure, including DOIs (digital object identifiers), ORCID iDs (researcher identifiers), ROR IDs (research organisation identifiers), and CCLs (Creative Commons Licences), ensuring transparency, traceability, and global interoperability.
As of August 2025, the South African Journal of Animal Science makes use of the Crossref 10.17159 DOI prefix. View the journal metadata health and the Crossref DOI Conflict Report here.
If you experience any problems with the journal’s online platform, please contact the editor-in-chief at [email protected].
Clarivate Journal Impact Factor (2024): 0.6 (Q4 of subject category)
Clarivate Journal Citation Indicator (2024): 0.26
Scopus CiteScore (2024): 1.4
Supplementation of diets for piglets with L-Arginine and powdered whole milk
The objective of this study was to evaluate the supplementation of L-Arginine in diets with and without dairy products for piglets weaned at 21 days old. Thirty-two animals with initial mean weight of 5.16 ± 1.92 kg and from the…
Effects of olive cake meal on serum constituents and fatty acid levels in breast muscle of Japanese quail
This study was aimed at determining the effects of various levels of dietary olive cake meal (OCM) on certain blood parameters and breast muscle fatty acid and cholesterol levels. For this purpose, 400 day-old Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) chicks…
Wool production in Dohne Merino, Dormer, Merino and South African Mutton Merino lambs
In this study, the wool growth of Dohne Merino, Dormer, Merino and South African Mutton Merino (SAMM) lambs reared on a feedlot diet (10.62 MJ ME/ kg feed, 20.7% crude protein) was monitored from about two months old until the…
A review on the involvement of catecholamines in animal behaviour
Animal temperament and individual animal personalities in combination with an animal’s ability to cope with stressful situations have been studied in the past. There are clear differences between cattle breeds in urinary catecholamine concentration. Individual differences in behaviour exist in…
Mitochondrial functionality and beef colour: A review of recent research
The bright-red colour of meat that consumers prefer depends on the depth of oxygen diffusion into the tissue and myoglobin oxygenation. Interestingly, both processes are influenced by mitochondrial activity in postmortem muscle. The transition of muscle metabolism from aerobic to…
Nutritional characteristics of meat from lambs fed diets containing mulberry hay
The objective of this study was to evaluate the nutritional characteristics of meat from lambs fed diets containing 0%, 12.5% and 25.0% (dry matter (DM)) mulberry hay as a substitute for the concentrate. Twenty-four feedlot Île-de-France lambs with an average…
Effect of peppermint and thyme essential oil mist on performance and physiological parameters in broiler chickens
The aim of this study was to determine the effect of peppermint and thyme essential oil mist on performance, blood parameters and lymphoid organ indices in broiler chickens. The experiment was conducted on 360 broilers raised until 42 days of…
Evaluating horn traits of economic importance in sable antelope (Hippotragus niger niger)
Much of the economic value of wildlife can be attributed to horn size, which is an important trait for trophy hunters. The main objective of the study was to estimate genetic parameters for the economically important horn traits of sable…
Effect of various levels of dietary whole cottonseed on blood parameters and performance of Awassi lambs under heat stress
This study was carried out to determine the effect of whole cottonseed (WCS) supplementation on finishing performance and blood parameters of Awassi lambs under heat stress. The compositions of diets for the various treatments were i) control: concentrate without WCS…
Effect of dried distillers grains (DDGS) on diet digestibility, growth performance, and carcass characteristics in Creole wool lambs fed finishing diets
Dried corn distillers grains with solubles (DDGS) can partially replace grains and forages in diets for ruminants. The objective of this research was to evaluate the effect of replacing grains and soybean meal with DDGS (0%, 15%, 30% and 45%)…
Effect of Chinese herbal medicines on rumen fermentation, methanogenesis and microbial flora in vitro
This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of three Chinese herbal medicines (CHMs) on rumen fermentation, methane emission and population of ruminal microbes using an in vitro gas production technique. Three healthy wethers of Dazu Black goats with…
Identification of muscle and adipose gene expression patterns in lean and obese pigs
Obesity is a major risk factor of preventable deaths worldwide, with increasing rates being observed in adults and children. To understand the mechanisms of obesity development, genetically lean (Duroc strain) and obese (Rongchang strain) pigs were used to identify potential differences in…
Analysis of 16S mitochondrial ribosomal DNA sequence variations and phylogenetic relations among some Serranidae fishes
Reconstruction of phylogenetic relations among certain Serranidae fish could be applied to detect the biodiversity that is needed to conserve these biological resources. This study was designed to provide information about the molecular variations within and among numbers of economically…
Investigation of single nucleotide polymorphisms in porcine candidate genes for blood component traits in pigs
This study used 209 public single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) arrays for 151 candidate genes of pigs to analyse their association with nine blood component traits (insulin-like growth factor-I, insulin, immuno globulin, lymphocyte, monocyte, eosinophil, basophil, neutrophil and atypical lymph) in…
Effects of yeast culture on broiler growth performance, nutrient digestibility and caecal microbiota
This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of yeast culture (YC) supplementation on the growth performance, apparent nutrient digestibility and caecal microflora of broiler chickens. A total of 360 one-day-old Arbor Acres broiler chickens were randomly assigned to six…
Effect of late prepartum fibre-based diets on the live weight changes and reproduction of Holstein cows in the subsequent lactation period
The objective of this study was to evaluate two late prepartum fibre-based diets that differed in non-structural carbohydrate (NFC) and protein levels on live weight (LW) changes and fertility traits of Holstein cows until 120 days postpartum. At 30 days…
Characteristics of carcass and non-carcass components of lambs fed diets containing silages of forages adapted to the semi-arid environment
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of diets containing silages of forages that are adapted to the semi-arid environment on the characteristics of the carcass and of non-carcass components of 32 mixed-breed lambs at approximately six…
Use of apple pomace in animal feed as an antioxidant of meat
The experiment was aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary inclusion of fermented apple pomace (FAP) in lamb diet on physicochemical and lipid oxidation of meat during storage at 4 °C. Twenty-four crossbred sheep were randomly assigned to two experimental…
Pre-weaning growth performance and carcass traits of Awassi and Chios-Awassi lambs
One hundred and three lambs (26 Chios-Awassi (CA) and 77 Awassi (AA)) were used to evaluate the effect of crossbreeding on growth performance, body dimensions and carcass characteristics. At weaning, 8 CA and 8 AA male lambs were randomly selected…
Pineapple stem by-product as a feed source for growth performance, ruminal fermentation, carcass and meat quality of Holstein steers
This experiment was conducted to determine the effects of pineapple stem by-product silage as a feed source in total replacement of Napier or corn silages on growth performance, feed intake and feed efficiency, ruminal fermentation, carcass characteristics and meat quality…
