The harmful effects of inbreeding on reproductive traits are well known to breeders. The results obtained in the present study showed that inbreeding had undesirable effects on some reproductive traits in Markhoz goats; however, these effects were not significant. It can be concluded that mating system policy in the studied Markhoz goat population have been appropriate.

In response to stress, short tonic immobility broilers showed better growth and adaptability performance than long tonic immobility broilers. The relationship between tonic immobility and the central nervous system that controls appetite and energy sensor is not clear. The results showed that in the hypothalamus tonic immobility had no significant effect on the gene expression of feeding and energy regulation factors; however, fasting activates adenosine monophosphate-activated protein kinase and glucocorticoid receptor signals.

The mitochondrial function in skeletal muscle determines the growth performance and meat quality of broilers. This study aims to elucidate the effect of tonic immobility duration and chronic corticosterone administration on the mitochondrial function in pectoralis major muscle of broilers. We found that tonic immobility duration but not chronic corticosterone administration affected the mitochondrial function. Our results suggest that short tonic immobility broilers might be a good target for broiler breeding.

Heat stress is a very challenging environmental condition for broiler chickens that has caused considerable economic losses worldwide to the poultry industry. To investigate the relationship between gut-derived endotoxin and liver injury via detecting Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) expression, the heat stress experiment of broiler chickens found that the upregulated TLR4 expression was triggered via gut-derived endotoxin in heat stress-induced liver injury. This may provide new insights for the therapeutic manipulation of heat stress in poultry.

Strategies to accelerate growth of heifers decrease time until the productive period. This study evaluated whether sustained-release recombinant bovine somatotropin injections increase the growth rate of replacement dairy heifers. Recombinant bovine somatotropin increased bodyweight gain and skeletal growth, suggesting that heifers would reach puberty and productive life earlier, decreasing the energy waste related to methane and urine outputs into the environment.

Starter diet is essential for early ruminal development in calves. The present study was to determine the appropriate time to initiate forage supplementation, which can promote the ruminal development of calves and improve growth. Calves with hay supplementation initiated during the second week showed the best productivity. Calf development is essential for maximising productivity of dairy cows in later stages.

Tannins provide an increase in the amount of protein used by the animal with no increase in the total amount of dietary protein. This occurs due to the capacity of tannin to bind protein through hydrogen bonds forming a tannin–protein complex, which is stable in the rumen (pH, 5.0–7.0) and resistant to microbial degradation. This approach can provide two important benefits: an increase in the amount of protein absorbed and deposited in the animal’s tissue and a decrease in feed costs due to the removal of protein source ingredients, such as soybean meal.

True protein supplements are expensive ingredients in beef cattle diets and can be replaced with urea to reduce feeding costs. The use of urea may be limited because it is rapidly hydrolysed to ammonia in the rumen compared to a slow release urea. The 50% replacement of soybean meal by urea and slow release urea did not affect performance, carcass traits and meat quality of finishing Nellore steers; however, the efficiency of microbial protein synthesis was improved in steers fed urea and slow release urea compared to the control diet.

Mixture silages with high silage quality and safety were reported. Different type and application rates of by-products, inoculants and their combinations were used to improve the mixture silages. The inoculants, application rates and type of by-products improved silage quality and reduced the saponin and the combination of three factors performed best.

Great efforts have been made to identify nutritional ways to mitigate emissions of the greenhouse gas methane from ruminants. Several medicinal plants containing specific plant secondary metabolites were screened as sole substrates and as supplements, individually as well as in binary combinations. Combining A. paniculata and P. longum mitigated methane without side effects on ruminal fermentation. In vivo experiments yet to be conducted will show whether this combination has the potential to be developed as feed additive for ruminant nutrition.

Tedera has agronomic characteristics ideally suited to Mediterranean-like climates that allows it to provide high quality green forage during summer and autumn. Three sheep grazing experiments were carried out in Western Australia with the objective to evaluate sheep production during summer and autumn with tedera as the sole diet. These experiments clearly demonstrate that tedera can be used to reduce or eliminate expensive hand feeding during summer and autumn using the simplest and least expensive grazing management; continuous grazing.

Jatropha meal (JM) is an emergent source of protein for ruminant feed, but the presence mainly of phorbol esters limits its use. We evaluated the effect of JM treated with sodium hydroxide (to reduce phorbol esters) in concentrate supplements to grazing dairy cows. Sodium hydroxide treatment reduces phorbol esters in JM; however, its inclusion in concentrate supplements reduces diet digestibility and performance of dairy cows.

There is still much controversy concerning whether forage should be included in the calf diet during the pre-weaning period. The aim of this study was to determine the responses of calves to forage type and forage provision age. The results indicate that forage provision had no negative effect on calves, which justifies the supply of forage to young calves, even at an early age.

The fermentation pattern of varieties of cereal grains (sorghum, maize and barley) depending on the nature of the rumen microbial population has been studied in vitro, simulating high-concentrate conditions by modifying the incubation pH, improving the conventional approach. Concentrate inoculum promotes a higher fermentation of starch substrates than that induced by a forage diet, at a higher extent with vitreous starch sources. Differences among varieties for each cereal species suggest the need for care in the extrapolation of results.

Deficiency in dietary levels of amino acids may decrease the uniformity of the performance of commercial hen flocks. This investigation, conducted with the purpose of determining the extent to which hen performance responses are influenced by balanced protein intake, revealed that feeding hens with higher feed levels increased the uniformity in bird performance. These outcomes help egg industry to optimise feeding programs, which warrant maximum profit.

Plants of the tropical deciduous forest (TDF) represent a valuable feed resource for goats in hot sub-humid environments, but little is known about the goats’ feeding behaviour in the TDF. Sustainable use of TDF by browsing goats requires establishing whether plant resources will be consumed in proportion to their availability or whether particular plant species are actively selected or refused. This study showed that goats consumed several plant species, while actively selected only a few plants, and such behaviour changed in different browsing sites. This information could assist with the development of management strategies leading to protect the valuable plant resources of the TDF by goats.

Live transportation of livestock is an important aspect of animal production. We transported diffident crosses of tropical/temperate breeds of heifers for 6 h along different road conditions in the tropics. We discovered that the crosses of the cattle did well during transportation on tarred road, but responded poorly when transported along rough untarred road. Thus, transportation along rough roads may compromise the animal welfare and health status.

In South America, animal agricultural systems have a great responsibility in greenhouse gases emissions. In the present study, we demonstrated that one strategy to reduce the enteric methane emission contribution is the use of high-quality pastures. The single use of high-quality pastures could lead to a reduction of ~14% of the methane emitted per unit of intake, compared to lower quality pastures with higher fibre and lower protein contents.

Carry-over effects on chemical composition of raw pork and technological meat quality after vacuum ageing up to 4, 6 and 8 days may be observed due to carcass grading based on lean content. Meat fatness did not affect its amino acid balance and technological quality (colour, drip loss, shear force and lipid stability), but modified intramuscular fat composition.

Beef from Hanwoo cows is known to be of poor quality because most cows are old (>40 months old) and have produced several calves before slaughter. Meat aging is used to enhance meat quality, regardless of the method employed. This study demonstrates that meat quality from 4-year-old cows is enhanced by 28 days of dry or wet aging to yield meat of quality similar to that of much younger steers.

Horse meat has become more popular and is considered as a new alternative in meat consumption. The study was conducted as a part of the routine slaughtering practice and post mortem processing of horse meat in the specialised commercial butchery. Among the numerous factors that can influence horse meat quality, the most important ones are age at slaughter and muscle type; these factors must be considered in the routine slaughtering practice and in further research.

This study evaluated the effect of freezing (−18°C) for 12 months on the qualitative characteristics of breast, thigh and drumstick meat from antibiotic-free, conventional, organic and free-range broilers. Freezing chicken meat did not prevent colour and pH changes or occurrence of lipid oxidation and did not promote a reduction of a_w to levels unfavourable to microbiological development.