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
Influence of season of birth, sex and paternal line on growth performance and carcass traits in pigs
Participants in the pig production industry focus on feed and feed additives to improve growth performance and meat quality of pigs. Consequently, the Rural Development Administration of the Republic of Korea produced a new paternal line to improve economic traits…
Evaluation of candidate gene effects and environmental factors on reproductive performance of Holstein cows
This study investigated the impact of nine polymorphisms located in the CSN2, CSN3, CSN1S1, CSN1S2, OLR1, LALBA, STAT1, DGAT1 and LGB genes, and environmental factors including calving year, season and parity on reproductive traits. The analysis was conducted on 165…
Carcass and meat quality attributes of Malawi Zebu steers fed Vachellia polyacantha leaves or Adansonia digitata seed as alternative protein sources to Glycine max
To enhance smallholder beef farmers’ capacity to cope with animal feed shortages, especially dietary protein induced by climate change, it is important to evaluate the feeding value of low-cost protein sources naturally available in the environment. The aim of the…
Probiotics as alternatives to antibiotics in treating post-weaning diarrhoea in pigs: Review paper
The use of antibiotics to prevent post-weaning diarrhoea (PWD) in pigs has faced a setback owing to the associated antibiotic resistance in pigs and in the human populace that consumes the pork. In fact, antibiotic resistance that originates from the…
Effect of betaine and ascorbic acid in drinking water on growth performance and blood biomarkers in meat ducks exposed to heat stress
The aim of this study was to compare the effect of drinking water that contains various levels of ascorbic acid (AA) and betaine (BT) on growth performance and blood biomarkers in meat ducks exposed to heat stress. Six hundred and…
Ractopamine-induced changes in the proteome of post-mortem beef longissimus lumborum muscle
Ractopamine is a beta-adrenergic agonist that is approved for use in beef cattle, pigs and turkeys as a repartitioning agent to increase lean muscle deposition and decrease lipogenesis. Although the effects of dietary ractopamine on the proteome profile of post-mortem…
Effect of alternating total mixed ration and pasture feeding on the fatty acid content and health indices of Jersey and Fleckvieh x Jersey milk
Certain fatty acids (FAs), such as omega-3 and conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) are considered essential FAs with beneficial health effects for humans. Milk is considered a relatively inexpensive and readily available source of these FAs and is part of a…
Effects of hourly, daily and seasonal variation of hazardous gases and climatic factors on the welfare of sheep housed in solid-floor confinement barns
Ambient air quality in livestock buildings is one of the most important factors affecting environmental pollution and global warming. Carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), ammonia (NH3) and hydrogen sulphide (H2S) are among the most hazardous gases in terms of human…
Protease and phytase supplementation of broiler diets in which soybean meal is partially or completely replaced by raw full-fat soybean
The nutrient composition and enzymatic in vitro nutrient digestibility of raw full-fat soybean (RFSB) were assessed prior to evaluating the influences of enzyme supplementation in diets in which commercial soybean meal (SBM) was partially (phase 1) or completely (phase 2)…
Physical and mechanical characteristics of Hisex Brown hen eggs from three different housing systems
The aim of this study was to compare physical and mechanical characteristics of Hisex hen eggs collected from three different housing systems: enriched cage housing, aviary housing, and free-range systems. The following physical and mechanical characteristics if eggs were compared:…
Influence of low-tannin sorghum on performance and bone morphometrics of male Ross 308 broilers aged 1 – 42 days
The objective of this study was to determine the effects of low tannin sorghum as a maize replacement on the performance and bone morphometrics of Ross 308 broiler chickens. A total of 250 one-day-old broiler chickens were allotted to a…
Responses of chemical composition, amino acid and fatty acid profiles of breast muscle to dietary crude fibre levels in China Micro-Ducks
The effects of dietary crude fibre (CF) levels on the chemical composition, amino acid (AA) and fatty acid (FA) profiles of breast muscle in male China Micro-ducks (21 - 56 d) were investigated in this study. The birds were randomly…
Effects of different probiotics on the gut microbiome and metabolites in the serum and caecum of weaning piglets
The objective of the study was to determine the effects of antibiotics, yeast culture (YC), and Lactobacillus culture (LC) on the gut microbiome and metabolites in the serum and caecum of weaning piglets. Twenty-four weaning piglets were divided into four…
Influence of various dietary fat sources on freezing capacity of Moghani ram semen
The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation of protected fish oil (FO) and Persia fat® (PF) on the quality of Moghani ram semen. For this purpose, a total of 96 ejaculates were collected from…
Performance and egg quality of laying hens fed different dietary levels of cashew nut shell liquid
Organic acids have stood out as alternatives to antibiotic growth promoters, especially those extracted from plants, such as anacardic acid, which is present in cashew nut shell liquid (CNSL). This study evaluates the effects of CNSL as a source of…
Fermentation characteristics and chemical composition of elephant grass silage with ground maize and fermented juice of epiphytic lactic acid bacteria
This study aimed to evaluate the microbial populations, fermentation profile, dry matter recovery and chemical composition of elephant grass silage with ground maize (GM) and the fermented juice of epiphytic lactic acid bacteria (FJLB). A factorial design was used with…
Intensification of production, low emission pathways and sustainable strategies for backyard, layer and broiler chickens
Meat and eggs produced by chickens represent an important economic resource in many economies. In future, global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions produced by chickens will increase due to greater food demand. This study analyses the GHG emissions of chickens and…
Effect of litter type and perches on footpad dermatitis and hock burn in broilers housed at different stocking densities
The aim of the study was to assess the effect of litter type and environmental enrichment on the occurrence of footpad dermatitis and hock burns in broilers housed at low and high stocking densities. Chopped straw and sand were used…
Metabolic profile and histopathology of kidneys and liver of lambs fed silages of forages adapted to a semi-arid environment
Thirty-two mixed-breed ram lambs (average age, 5.6 ± 0.4 months, and average live weight, 17.61 ± 2.63 kg) were used to evaluate the effect of diets containing silages of forages adapted to a semi-arid environment on the metabolic profile in…
Impacts of supplementing broiler diets with a powder mixture of black cumin, Moringa and chicory seeds
The present study aimed at evaluating the effect of a phytogenic mixture in the diet on broiler production. A total of 400 day-old unsexed Cobb broiler chicks were randomly allotted to four treatment groups of 10 replications in a randomised…
