• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.377-381
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• 2002

The growth rate, feed conversion efficiency and carcass characteristics of nine native Malpura (M) and eight Awassi ${\times}$ Malpura half bred (AM) male lambs were compared under intensive feeding on 60:40 concentrate and roughage based composite feed. Weaning body weight was similar in the two genetic groups while finishing body weight, total body weight gain and average daily gain during the experiment were higher (p<0.01) in AM than M lambs. The feed conversion efficiency was lower in M than AM lambs with 15.7 and 19.8 per cent feed conversion efficiency, respectively, in the two genetic groups. The dressing yield in terms of preslaughter weight or empty live weight was however similar in the two genetic groups. The loin eye area was also greater (p<0.01) in AM than M lambs. The cutability was similar for the two groups amounting to 33.2, 13.3, 13.2, 23.3 and 16.6% of half carcass, respectively, for leg, loin, rack, neck and shoulder and breast and foreshank. On an average the separable lean, fat and KOH bone content of the half carcass were 48.3, 16.8 and 23.3% for native M and 54.1, 15.0 and 19.0% for AM lambs, respectively. It is concluded that growth rate and feed conversion efficiency were better in Awassi ${\times}$ Malpura half bred than native Malpura lambs while dressing yield and cutability of standard cuts were similar in the two genetic groups.

• Journal of Nutrition and Health
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• v.22 no.6
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• pp.539-546
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• 1989

This study was carried out to investigate the effect of addition of cellulose in the diet on the metabolism in rat fed high and low level of zinc. The experimental animals were consisted of 24 male weaning rats of Sprague-Dawley strain(mean weight 72.3g), and they were devided into 4 groups of 6 rats and fed experimental diets for four weeks. Dietary zinc levels used were 10 ppm, and 300ppm and cellulose levels were 2.5% and 10% of diet by weight. Throughout the experimental period, feed consumption and body weight gain were measured and feed efficiency ratio was calculated. The weight of live, kidney and spleen were measured, and the contents of zinc in feces, urine, liver, kidney, spleen and serum were determined. The results obtained are summarized as following ; 1. Body weight gain in high zinc-adequate cellulose group was significantly higher than the other groups. Feed consumptions were significantly higher in high zinc groups and no significant difference was found with dietary cellulose levels. 2. Fecal zinc excretions of four groups were not different at the first week, but at the end of fourth week, high zinc groups experince significantly more zinc excretion than low zinc groups, and also high cellulose groups had higher zinc contents in the feces than the adequate ones within the same zinc levels(p<0.05). There was no significant difference in the urinary zinc excretion. 3. The weights of liver, kidney and spleen were heavier in the high zinc groups than the lower ones, and higher in the high cellulose groups(p<0.05). The liver zinc contents were significantly lower in the low zinc and high cellulose groups. However zinc contents in the kidney and serum were not influenced by dietary zinc level but by cellulouse level. High cellulose diet lowered serum and kidney zinc concentrations(p<0.05).

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.418-424
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• 2006

This experiment was conducted to explore the efficacy of lacquer (Rhus verniciflua) supplementation on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, carcass traits and serum biochemical values in commercial broilers. Eight hundred and forty Hubbard broiler chicks (1d old) were randomly distributed and allotted to four dietary treatments for five weeks. Each treatment had 5 replicates with 42 birds each. The dietary treatments were (1) control (2) 1% lacquer, (3) 2% lacquer and 4) 4% lacquer supplied as meal in the diet. Supplementation with lacquer improved weight gain (p = 0.0960) showing a linear trend during the starter phase (0-3 wk), but weight gain, feed intake and feed conversion ratio remained unaffected at the finisher phase (4-5 wk) and overall (0-5 wk). The nutrient digestibility studies conducted after 18 and 35 days of experimental feeding showed a linear (p<0.05) increase in digestibility of CP and ether extract at both measurement timess. The carcass studies were conducted on two birds per replicate (10 per treatment) at the end of both 3 and 5 wk. The dressing percentage, liver weight, heart weight, abdominal fat and the breast meat expressed as a percentage of live weight, did not differ significantly due to treatments at both phases. The serum cholesterol and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) showed a linear decrease (p = 0.0683 and p = 0.0322, respectively) as the level of supplementation increased at 3 wk; at 5 wk serum cholesterol, HDL and triglyceride levels decreased significantly showing a positive linear effect of lacquer on fat metabolism. The meat color values such as lightness, redness and yellowness did not reveal any significant trend. Overall, it could be concluded that lacquer supplementation at higher levels did not affect growth performance, but had a positive impact on fat metabolism by influencing fat digestibility and reducing serum cholesterol and triglyceride.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.497-505
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• 2000

Thirty piglets weaned at 24.5 d of age ($6.9{\pm}0.5kg$) randomly alloted to 3 treatments were used to investigate the effect of dietary tallow on average performance, digestibility of nutrients, metabolic utilization of energy and body composition at 25 kg. Weaned piglets respond to increasing levels of dietary tallow from 0 to 4% and 8% by digestive and metabolic adaptation. Apparent fecal digestibility of fat (AFDf) was highly correlated with the level of dietary tallow (X as % of fat extracted after HCl hydrolysis) by the following curvilinear equation of regression: $AFDf=33.8+6.9X-0.3X^2$. Feed intake expressed as DE was only significantly increased at the higher inclusion level of tallow. But neither average daily gain, nor feed conversion was affected by the addition of fat. On the other hand, body composition at 25 kg was equally affected, by both levels of supplementary fat; dry matter and energy content in the body were significantly higher (p<0.01) in piglets receiving tallow. As a consequence, the energy cost of the live weight gain was also increased from 23 to 24.7 MJ DE/kg (p<0.02) and the efficiency of energy deposition was decreased from 3.2 to 2.8 MJ DE/MJ deposited energy (p<0.01) in the presence of dietary tallow. An increase in the level of fat stimulated the activity of pancreatic lipase up to a constant value of $22{\pm}1.4IU/mg$ protein but conversely depressed the activity of amylase from 300 to 100 IU/mg of protein. The activity of liver acetyl CoA carboxylase and malic enzyme in the perirenal fat were low lind not affected by dietary fat; the activity of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase was high. Opposite to that, the activity of acetyl CoA carboxylase and malic enzyme in the perirenal and backfat were higher than in the liver and both were significantly reduced by the inclusion of fat in the diet. A direct deposition of dietary fat has been demonstrated by increasing the energy and lipid content of the empty body weight gain between 7 and 25 kg of live weight, and decreasing the efficiency of digestible energy utilization.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.425-430
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• 2006

Three hundred and sixty sexed 3-day-old broiler chicks were divided randomly into six treatment groups (control, antibiotic and black cumin at four levels) of 60 birds each. Black cumin seeds at 0.5%, 1%, 2% or 3% and avilamycin at 10 mg/kgt were added to the basal diet and their effects determined on feed intake, daily live weight gain, feed conversion ratio and carcass characteristics. There were no significant differences in daily feed intake at 21 and 42 days (p>0.05). Average daily gain was significantly different between the treatments. The birds fed the diet containing 1% black cumin seeds and antibiotic were the highest average daily gain, followed by those the other treatment diets and negative control (p<0.05). From 1 to 42 days of age, feed conversion ratios were improved significantly by supplementation with 1% black cumin seeds and with antibiotic (p<0.05) by approximately 5% compared to the control group. Similarly, the highest cold carcass, thigh, breast, wing, neck and liver weights were observed in the 1% black cumin and antibiotic groups (p<0.05). Accordingly, 1% supplementation of black cumin seeds to diets could be considered as an alternative natural growth promoter for poultry instead of antibiotics.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.1171-1177
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• 2008

The performance of growing rabbits fed Ruzi grass (Brachiaria ruziziensis), head lettuce (Lactuca sativa) residue, Mimosa pigra and water spinach (Ipomoea aquatica) was studied in an experiment using 64 rabbits (4 males and 4 females per treatment) of 2 breeds, New Zealand White and a crossbred between New Zealand White and native breed. The rabbits had an average initial weight of 668 g, were about 6 weeks old and were housed in individual pens. The foliages were fed ad libitum and a commercial concentrate was fed at a restricted level of 2% of body weight on a dry matter (DM) basis. In the digestibility experiment, the rabbits, 4 per foliage and males only, were fed the same foliages as in the growth experiment but without concentrate. Daily weight gain was lower in the group fed Ruzi grass, 14.8 g/d (p<0.001) compared to 17.6, 18.5 and 18.4 g/d for head lettuce, Mimosa pigra and water spinach, respectively. Feed intake and feed conversion ratio were lowest for the rabbits fed water spinach, 66 g DM/d and 3.6 kg DM/kg live weight, respectively. The New Zealand White breed had a higher daily gain than the crossbred rabbits (p<0.05), 18.0 and 16.7 g/d, respectively. There were no significant differences in feed intake, growth or feed conversion ratio due to sex. The digestibility coefficients of DM, organic matter, crude protein, crude fiber, neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber were significantly lower (p<0.001) in the rabbits fed Ruzi grass. Breed and sex had no effect on digestibility. In conclusion, feeding head lettuce residue, Mimosa pigra and water spinach resulted in higher growth rate and digestibility than feeding Ruzi grass and can be recommended as alternative feeds.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.11
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• pp.1585-1590
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• 2002

Thirty female goats of local breed (mature weight 28 kg), weighing 11 to 18 kg, were used in a growth experiment with the objectives to evaluate the effect of different levels of Gliricidia sepium leaves in a diet of Guinea grass (Panicum maximum) on feed intake, weight gain and apparent digestibility. The goats were allotted to five treatments, consisting of 5 levels, 0 (GL-0), 20 (GL-20), 30 (GL-30), 40 (GL-40) and 50% (GL-50) of Gliricidia sepium leaves in the diet based on the energy requirements of the goats. Another six female goats were used to study the digestibility of three dietary treatments, GL-0, GL-30 and GL-50, according to a double $3{\times}3$ Latin square arrangement. The crude protein (CP) content in Gliricidia was higher and the neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) lower than in the Guinea grass. Increasing the amount of Gliricidia leaves resulted in similar intake of total dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), NDF and ADF among treatments, but CP intake increased with increasing Gliricidia in the diet. The highest total DM intake was 3.0% of body weight in the GL-20 diet. The highest daily live weight gain was 43 g/day in the GL-30 diet. Inclusion of 30% of Gliricidia leaves improved the apparent DM, OM and CP digestibility compared to 0% or 50% inclusion. NDF and ADF digestibility declined with increasing levels of Gliricidia leaves in the diet.

• Korean Journal of Veterinary Research
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.93-103
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• 2010

This study investigated the potential effects of amitraz on the pre- and postnatal development, behavior, and reproductive performance of offspring of parent rats given amitraz during pre-mating, gestation, and lactation. The test chemical was administered via the drinking water containing 0, 40, 120, and 360 ppm to male rats from 2 weeks before mating to the end of 14-day mating period and to females from 2 weeks before mating, throughout mating, gestation and lactation up to weaning. Based on fluid consumption, the male rats received an average of $0,\;5.7{\pm}1.33,\;13.2{\pm}2.08,$ and $35.8{\pm}3.42$ mg/kg/day amitraz, and the female rats received an average of $0,8.7{\pm}4.42,\;20.1{\pm}9.60,\;and\;47.6{\pm}22.38$ mg/kg/day amitraz, respectively. At 360 ppm, an increase in the incidence of abnormal clinical signs, a suppression in the body weight gain, a decrease in the food consumption and litter size, an increase in the post-implantation loss, and a decrease in the seminal vesicle weight were observed in the parent animals. In addition, a suppression in the body weight gain, a decrease in the grip strength, a delay in the negative geotaxis, an increase in the pre- and post-implantation loss, and a decrease in the number of live embryos were observed in the offspring. At 120 ppm, suppressed body weight gain and reduced food consumption were observed in the parent rats. Suppressed body weight gain and decreased grip strength were also observed in the offspring. There were no signs of either reproductive or developmental toxicity at 40 ppm. Under these experimental conditions, the no-observed-adverse-effect level of amitraz for parent rats and their offspring was estimated to be 40 ppm in rats.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.1453-1457
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• 2002

The experiment was conducted to find out the effect of 4 feeding systems on growth, feed intake, eating behavior, lactation performance, gestation period, post-partum heat period, conception rate and parasitic infestation of Black Bengal goat. Twenty four does of approximately 1 year of age were randomly selected for 4 treatment (feeding systems) groups having 6 replications in each. Treatments were stall feeding ($T_1$), tethering ($T_2$), restricted grazing ($T_3$) and grazing ($T_4$). $T_1$ group was housed continuously and adequate amounts of natural grass were supplied for ad libitum feeding. $T_2$ group was tethered for grazing natural grass from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. being moved at one hour intervals. Goats of $T_3$ group were allowed grazing from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. $T_4$ group was grazed from 8 a. m. to 4 p.m. Concentrate supplement was given at the rate of 150 g per day per goat for all of the treatment groups. Duration of experiment was 219 days. Daily live weight gain was significantly (p<0.05) higher in case of stall fed goats than that of others. DM intake also significantly (p<0.05) differed among the treatment groups and was 3.40 3.95, 3.76 and 4.05 per cent of their live weight for stall feeding, tethering, restricted grazing and grazing groups, respectively. Rate of rumination was significantly (p<0.05) higher in case of tethering group of goats than that of others. Birth weight of kids, milk yield, lactation period and post-partum heat period were significantly higher in case of stall fed goats than others. Tethering group showed significantly (p<0.05) higher litter size than others. Infestation rate of Fasciola was significantly (p<0.05) higher in the grazing group. In conclusion, it may be stated that among these feeding groups overall performance of stall fed goats was more satisfactory, and that the tethering group showed better performance than the others.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.661-666
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• 2005

The effects of pre-partum feeding management in terms of birth weight, growth, metabolic profile and immunity of calves were studied using 24 crossbred (Bos taurus${\times}$Bos indicus) cows, divided into three equal groups. The dietary treatments included feeding of either 3.0 kg concentrate/head/d throughout the 60 d pre-partum (T$_1$), or 3.0 kg concentrate during 60-22 d pre-partum and thereafter at an increased allowance at 0.25 kg/d during the next 21 d till it reached 1% of live weight (T$_2$). The third group of cows was fed similar to T$_2$, except that the concentrate feeding during 60-22 d pre-partum was reduced to 2.0 kg (T$_3$). All the groups had access to ad libitum green fodder throughout. The results revealed that the mean daily dry matter (DM) intake by the cows was similar (p>0.05) among the three groups during the 60 days of the pre-partum but T2 animals tended to gain more live weight (41.25 kg) than T$_1$ (38.12 kg) and T$_3$ (36.25 kg). The body condition score of the cows did not change appreciably over the experimental period. The mean birth weight of the calves was 24.00${\pm}$1.10, 24.63${\pm}$1.17 and 23.25${\pm}$1.19 kg for the three groups, respectively, with the corresponding average daily gain of 154.2, 155.0 and 169.7 g during the subsequent 60 days; both these parameters did not vary significantly ascribable to prepartum feeding regimens of their dams. The total immunoglobulin (Ig) concentration in the colostrum was 6.31${\pm}$0.34, 5.80${\pm}$0.21 and 6.13${\pm}$0.30 g/dl for the three groups, respectively, showing no influence of dietary treatments. The mean serum Ig levels (T$_1$ 2.10${\pm}$0.09, T$_2$ 2.05${\pm}$0.09 and T$_3$ 2.10${\pm}$0.12 g/dl) of calves at 5 d of age were similar among the dietary groups as was the case with various serum biochemical constituents. It is concluded that the variations in pre-partum dietary management elicited no significant influence on the calf performance including the immune status.