Dehorning is a common practice in cattle farming, although it can generate a pain-induced response. Meta-analysis can provide new insights into animal welfare. Dehorned cattle showed higher cortisol concentration, whereas local anaesthesia did not reduce cortisol level and these animals tended to vocalise more. Finally, with the lack of pain-specific measures, the choice of indicators of welfare and their relationship with dehorning may be difficult.

This study aimed to identify genomic variation regions in two Sicilian dairy cattle breeds. Several copy number variant regions were identified using two different algorithms implemented in SVS GoldenHelix and PennCNV software. A lot of annotated genes and quantitative trait loci were found within copy number variant regions involved in milk production, reproduction and behaviour, the immune response, and resistance/susceptibility to infectious diseases.

The identification of the best crossbred sires is not an easy task as these animals are composed of distinct genetic materials from different breeds. The objective of the present study was to compare different models under ridge regression methodology to identify the best method for selecting crossbred bulls. This selection is a requisite to guide future multiracial genetic evaluations. The model that contemplated all tested effects (breed additive, complementary, heterosis and epistatic loss, both direct and maternal) proved to be the best.

Fat tail in sheep represents a valuable energy reserve for future climate changes. By comparing genotypic data of Italian thin-tail sheep with six fat-tail sheep of the Mediterranean area we provide evidence that genes involved in fat deposition, energy storage and adaptation to desert areas play a role in the fat-tail phenotype.

Several issues have been raised about conventional electrical stunning methods. We studied the effect of different electrical stunning systems on welfare indicators. High frequency head-to-back removes the potential for pain. High frequency head-to-back does not induce cardiac arrest like low frequency head-to-back stunning making it appropriate for halal.

The unexpected losses of genetically valuable animals has led to possibilities to preserve their genetic material. This study aimed to evaluate viability of frozen–thawed bull semen collected from the bull cauda epididymis after cooling at 5°C for 24 h. The results revealed that cooling of epididymides before the recovery of sperm cells was efficient in preserving epididymal sperm viability.

Equine chorinic gonadotrophin is a hormone produced by the pregnant mare that can be used to stimulate the gonadal activity. Administration of equine chorinic gonadotrophin to rams increased their sexual behaviour both during the breeding and the non-breeding seasons, and may be used to increase ram sexual behaviour.

The commensal gut microbial communities play an important role in the health and production efficiency of growing-finishing pigs. This study analysed the pig gastrointestinal microbiota by pyrosequencing from phylum to species level. It will broaden our perspective of pig gastrointestinal microbial ecology and provide a scientific basis for the animal production.

Nutritional requirements for calves are not yet well established. Aspects such as environment, genetics of the herd, and characteristics of feed should be considered. Therefore, this study presents information on the estimates of energy and protein requirements for crossbred calves fed with milk replacer. Calves up to 60 days may require higher energy and protein requirements due to immunological challenges. The replacer, although supplemented with amino acids, is less efficiently used by calves when compared with milk.

Calcium requirements recommended by the NRC (1994) based on large-type ducks might not be applicable to Sheldrake ducks. Dietary calcium requirements of Sheldrake ducklings were investigated and estimated at 0.60% and 0.64–0.87% based on maximal weight gain and bone mineralisation. The results provide the reference data for the feed formulation of small-type ducks.

Adding grain to the diet of dairy cows reduced methane emissions, but different grains could have different sized effects. Cows fed similar amounts of wheat or corn grain produced similar volumes of milk, but cows fed wheat had lower milk fat concentration and lower methane emissions than cows fed corn. The inclusion of wheat in the diet of dairy cows has the potential to be an effective strategy to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.

Using high quality cassava top silage (CTS) will increase nutrients for ruminant production. CTS can be well consumed by cattle and enhanced rumen fermentation efficiency and reduced methane production. Feeding CTS can be a good fodder and reduce global warming.

Fatty acid profile plays an important role in meat quality, as it is related to differences in organoleptic attributes, and meat nutritional value. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of feeding concentrates that included alternative ingredients on the intramuscular fatty acid profile of feedlot lambs. The concentrate rich in fibrous by-products might improve the fatty acid profile of meat fat from a nutritional point of view.

Severely phosphorus-deficient cattle demonstrate pica, a behaviour where materials such as sticks, soil and old bones are investigated and chewed. This behaviour has been considered innate. An experiment demonstrated that bone chewing in phosphorus-deficient cattle is primarily a learned behaviour conditioned by a positive post-ingestive feedback metabolic response to the deficiency of an essential mineral. This behavioural response allows severely deficient grazing animals to obtain additional dietary phosphorus from a concentrated source of phosphorus in natural rangelands.

Bacterial arthritis in sheep is a painful and debilitating condition that is widespread across all sheep-raising regions and climatic zones of Australia. The aim of the present study was to investigate the economic cost of arthritis in lambs presenting to an abattoir in southern Australia using a combination of the prevalence of arthritis detected during meat inspection, condemnation rates, trim weight and carcass weight, and GR fat measurement.

Tick-borne bovine babesiosis is a problem for cattle production systems in Brazil. Repeatability and correlation coefficients were estimated for traits associated with tick resistance and level of infection by babesia in animals of distinct breeds. The breeds exhibited similar characteristics of resistance to babesiosis, but the higher tick resistance of Nelore must have contributed to high prevalence of this breed in Brazilian territory.

Femoral head separation is a frequent disorder affecting performance and welfare of fast growing broiler worldwide. Dietary omega-3 fatty acids and anti-inflammatory additives (meloxicam) were investigated for their effects on histopathological changes and gross lesion of femoral head with burden on modified speed bump. We demonstrated that meloxicam alleviated the lameness as well as deferring histopathological changes at the beginning of femoral head separation.

Pre-slaughter transportation is a stressful event that can affect both meat quality and animal welfare. We administered ascorbic acid to lambs and kids before 3-h transportation. We found that some physiological-stress indicators and meat quality traits were negatively affected, and ascorbic acid could partly reduce the adverse effects of road transportation stress in lambs. Thus, where the effects of stress factors are inevitable, ascorbic acid may be used.

Pre-slaughter factors have paramount consequence on meat quality. The present study evaluated age and body condition effects on meat quality of camels and found that 11–17-year-old camels with medium body condition could provide meat that met the required levels for many quality traits. Variations due to age and body condition dictate the need for designing strategy to supply camels that produce meat with optimum quality traits.

Fatty acids determine the health-promoting properties of meat products, which contain a mixture of muscles and fat. In this paper, we showed that it is possible to estimate the health-promoting properties of such meat products based on fatty acid content in single muscle. These results added beneficial information to improve meat quality and allowed to determine the amount of the meat product that should be consumed by human to meet fatty acid requirements.

Carcass and meat quality of Dexter cattle were analysed and compared with the high-quality standard meat produced by suckler calves. Dexter cattle had an inferior carcass quality and darker meat. Shear force of the M. longissimus thoracis of Dexter beef did not differ from that of Charolais-cross suckler calves. Sensory analysis confirmed the lack of a significant difference in tenderness between meat of Dexter cattle and that of suckler calves, but panellists clearly preferred the Dexter meat because of superior flavour and juiciness.

The dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA) consists of a method that determines the chemical body composition of animals without the need for slaughter. One of the greatest difficulties of using this method for birds is the imprecision of the results, which makes it necessary to conduct standardisation studies. Since birds vary considerably in their individual composition, the DXA method can be useful in following the growth of broiler chickens and the differences among breeds.