Australian governments have policies that mandate the blending of ethanol with petrol, setting up competition for grain between the cattle feedlot and ethanol production industries. This investigation documents the annual fluctuations in grain supply in three major feedlotting regions and determines the capacities to support both a feedlot and an ethanol production industry. Northern New South Wales can support both, the Murrumbidgee region can in all but drought years and southern Queensland struggles in all but years of highest grain yield.

Biogenic amines (BAs) are products of microorganism metabolism, being useful indicators of protein deterioration in foods. BAs increase as food hygienic quality decreases. The present review aims to discuss BAs in food/feed and their implication on health. Only histamine has safety limits established by worldwide legislation. There is need to broad the scope of BAs in food and feed to guarantee the quality of these products.

Visual scores are widely used in breeding programs in Brazil. However, as they are categorical data, the model to obtain the breeding values must be chosen carefully. If scores are attributed in relation to the average of the management group of animals, linear animal models can be used. However, when the score is evaluated in relation to an ideal type of animal or performance level, threshold animal models are recommended.

In heat-stress conditions, tremendous economic losses occur in the poultry industry. This study was to evaluate heritable responses to tolerance through generations were selected for high body weight in high ambient. Heat tolerance is inherited through generations. Selection procedure for heat tolerance can be used to optimise the productivity traits of commercial broiler strains reared under hot climate conditions.

Dairy Gyr (Bos indicus) × Holstein (Bos taurus) cattle are widely used in tropical regions. The oocyte quality is essential to in vitro production (IVP) success and for this reason, the simulated physiological oocyte maturation (SPOM) system was applied on these animals and was able to prolong the meiotic arrest, which can offer the oocytes more similar in vivo conditions and contribute to improve the IVP.

Hydrolysates from pork liver can be a potential substitute for artificial preservatives commonly used in meat industry, owing to their antioxidant and antimicrobial action in addition to therapeutic use. Enzymatic hydrolysates obtained from pork liver were evaluated for their antioxidant and antimicrobial activity. The results showed that pork liver hydrolysate can be used as a natural preservative for enhancement of storage life of meat products.

The bacterial-cell recycling by protozoal engulfment is considered responsible for the N utilisation efficiency in ruminants’ rumen. This work discovered for the first time that long-chain fatty acids on rumen microbial protein recycling relate to their degree of unsaturation, with α-linoleic acid possessing a better ability. The findings might be used to suppress bacterial-cell recycling and enhance bacterial protein yield in the rumen.

Livestock farming has been concerned with changing the environment, and therefore, search strategy sustainability of the system, developing diets and management strategies to mitigate methane emissions. The goal of the present study was to assess the combined effects of high- or low-starch supplements with or without a source of oil on intake, digestibility, performance, and CH₄ emissions of Nellore bulls. Soybean grain supplementation is effective at reducing enteric CH₄ emissions from Nellore bulls grazing on tropical pasture.

With the consideration of maximising nutrient utilisation, diet synchrony was investigated in the present research. Diets with a higher synchrony index improved nitrogen utilisation and digestibility of organic matter and neutral detergent fibre and cow productive performance and immunity status. The integration of synchrony index in a ration system would improve cow welfare and productive performance.

Threonine is the third essential amino acid, and plays an important role in improvement of growth and regulation of lipid metabolism. Dietary threonine supplementation increases growth performance of ducks, and threonine deficiency increases accumulation of hepatic lipid by disturbing the lipid synthesis, transport and oxidation of ducks. Knowing the action of dietary threonine on lipid metabolism opens the possibility of manipulating more-economic diets adjusted for meat-production ducks.

The measurement of digestibility has been suggested as the preferred method to assess phosphorus and calcium availability for poultry. True phosphorus digestibility of maize and soybean meal were determined to be 33.8% and 42.3%, respectively. True calcium digestibility of soybean meal was determined to be 45.9%. The data of phosphorus and calcium digestibility could be useful for the industry to become more efficient in the use of feed ingredients.

Despite the considerable amount of starch in tropical legume grains (up to 60% of the total grain), it is poorly digested. This study aimed to determine the effect of different processes (heating and soaking) to increase starch digestion. In general, a specific combination of processes is required to improve starch digestion of each of the studied tropical legume grains.

Leucaena is a highly valuable tree legume, which produces high quality feed for cattle in northern Australia and in many tropical countries. However, it contains toxic secondary compounds that have deleterious effects on animal production and health. Since 1984, toxicity has been controlled with a bacterium inoculum supplied as rumen fluid, and more recently as a fermenter cultured inoculum. Our findings indicate that the artificially grown inoculum does not fully protect cattle consuming leucaena from toxicity. Addressing this issue, both with improved inoculum and/or with new alternate solutions for managing toxicity, will have significant implications for improving cattle production and health in tropical regions.

Ruminants developed the ability to produce meat and milk by utilising feeds that humans cannot use. However, during ruminal fermentation of feed, methane is produced, which is a potent greenhouse gas and waste of energy. Strategies to decrease methane emissions from ruminants must be implemented and the use of natural products is likely to be more acceptable to the public than the use of in-feed antibiotics. The present work has demonstrated that essential oils from novel sources can decrease methane production by ruminal microbes in vitro.

Sugarcane silage shows high energy value and is an important feed for beef cattle and dairy cows in tropical regions. Chemical and microbial additives were evaluated with the objective of improving chemical and fermentative characteristics in sugarcane silage. Calcium oxide reduced fibre content and ethanol production in sugarcane silages.

In a tropical savanna environment, beef systems produce a variety of animal types differing in feed efficiency and meat yield, but the environmental impact of the systems is still limited. Growth on pastures in decreasing order were steers, cull cows, yearlings and heifers. Compared to steers, daily methane emissions were lower in cows, but their emissions per kg of edible protein were slightly higher. Trade-offs between growth, carcass characteristics, and methane emissions faced by the beef industry are illustrated but need further study.

The information of forage intake is very important for sheep production systems. Our research aimed to evaluate markers and the faecal collection method to help to estimate dry-matter intake and output of faeces over 3- and 5-day periods. Independent of the method and period evaluated, titanium dioxide was the best marker available for predicting output of faeces in sheep fed fresh Brachiaria brizantha (cv. Marandu) grass on an ad libitum basis.

This experiment deals with grazing management effects on milk production and grazing behaviour of dairy cows, which is an area of interest to those involved in pasture-based dairy industries. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of pasture allowances on forage production, milk yield and composition, and grazing behaviour, so that the pasture managements with low pasture allowances provided better conditions for milk yield per area and provide little measurable changes on grazing behaviour. Thus, farmers may increase stocking rate to reach higher milk production when lactating dairy cows graze mixed pasture swards. However, the impact of higher stocking rates on the persistence of pasture species needs to be investigated.

Female sexual precocity and cow productivity, under grazing conditions, are really important for beef-cattle production systems. This study aimed to explore the relationships between female puberty and potential predictive traits of easy and early measurement, related to the productive and reproductive efficiency. The rib fat thickness at 15 months was a good predictor of age at puberty in British and Argentine Creole breeds heifers, but lose some relevance as early selection criterion.

Lamb survival is crucial for welfare and economic performance of prime lamb production systems. Ewe management guidelines for Australian farmers are based on Merinos and it is unknown whether these guidelines are relevant for all ewe production systems. When managed together, crossbred ewes gained more weight and were fatter than Merino ewes; the current guidelines are therefore likely to be overestimating nutritional requirements or under estimating feed intake, however lamb survival will be optimised by managing single and multiple-bearing ewes differentially.

Grazing cows were fed supplementary mixed rations with or without canola meal. In early lactation, the addition of canola meal resulted in increased yields of milk, milk fat and milk protein when high amounts of ration were offered, but this effect was not seen in late lactation. These data could be used to formulate cost-effective rations for grazing dairy cows.

Smallholder cattle production in many developing tropical countries is compromised by widespread endoparasitism. This pilot study examined the potential for triclabendazole provided in medicated molasses blocks offered to control Fasciola gigantica in smallholder cattle production. The present study indicates that productivity was enhanced when triclabendazole was added to the blocks, delivering parasite suppression or potentially therapeutic doses on medicated molasses blocks.

Immunocastration offers a more welfare-friendly alternative to surgical castration in female pigs. The aim was to compare growth performance, gonadal development, and carcass and meat quality among entire, immunocastrated and surgically castrated female pigs. Results showed that immunocastration has no adverse effects. The two-dose Improvac regimens are especially recommended for application in traditional Chinese female pigs.