A note on the use of electronic doors for individual feeding of group-housed lambs

The aim of this study was to establish relationships between chemical and physical parameters of wheat with performance and digestibilities of feed components in broiler chickens fed on wheat-based diets. Ninety-four wheat samples were selected for inclusion in four bird trials. Birds were housed in individual wire metabolism cages from 7 to 28 d and offered water and feed ad libitum. Dry matter intake (DMI), liveweight gain (LWG) and gain:feed were measured weekly. A balance collection was carried out from 14 to 21 d for determination of apparent metabolizable energy (AME), ME:gain, dry matter retention, oil and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) digestibility. At 28 d the birds were humanely killed, the contents of the jejunum removed for determination of in vivo viscosity and the contents of the ileum removed for determination of ileal dry matter, starch and protein digestibility. When wheat parameters were correlated with bird performance data, it was found that specific weight was not significantly (p>0.05) related to bird performance. Bird DMI, LWG and gain:feed were best correlated (p<0.05) with the rate of starch digestion, although the coefficients of correlation (r) were still low (0.246 to 0.523). A negative relationship (p<0.01) between AME and total (r = −0.432) and soluble (r = −0.304) non starch polysaccharide (NSP) was observed in this study. Thousand grain weight (TG) was positively correlated with DMI (r = 0.299), LWG (r = 0.343) and gain:feed (r = 0.371). When establishing multiple regression relationships, correlation coefficients greater than 0.8 were achieved for DMI, LWG, gain:feed and ileal crude protein digestibility. However, the economics involved in determining the parameters involved in the regressions make the process impractical.

Daily methane (CH4) emissions and dry matter intake (DMI) were measured on 14 mature ewes (3–4 years old) and 13 lambs when the lambs were 13, 17, 25 and 35 weeks of age. During the four CH4 measurement periods, all animals were kept in individual metabolism cages and fed pasture cut daily and fed at 1.5 times maintenance. Feed was offered in equal amounts at 0800 and 1500 hours daily. Methane emissions were measured using the sulfur hexafluoride tracer technique and values reported were the mean of measurement on 4–5 days for each animal. In the intervals between CH4 measurements, ewes and lambs grazed separate paddocks containing predominantly ryegrass. Daily CH4 emissions for the ewes ranged from 21.5 to 22.5 ± 1.50 g/day and were significantly higher than those of the lambs which ranged from 10.7 to 17.5 ± 1.50 g/day. Averaged across all four periods, the overall mean CH4 emission for lambs was 8% lower (P &lt; 0.05) than for ewes (21.9 v. 23.8 ± 0.95 g CH4/kg DMI). However, within each measurement period, the emissions of CH4/kg DMI from lambs was significantly lower (P &lt; 0.05) than those of ewes only in the fourth period when the lambs were 35 weeks of age (17.9 v. 21.9 g/kg DMI for lambs and ewes, respectively). The pasture offered to both ewes and lambs in this period was of higher quality than in the other periods (organic matter digestibility of 80% DM v. 68–71% DM at other times) and CH4 emission per kg DMI was lower in both groups of animals than in the other periods. This study supports the hypothesis that young sheep have lower CH4 emissions per unit of intake than mature animals. However, the age at which the lambs produced similar CH4/kg DMI to adult sheep could not be determined precisely because of the changes in pasture quality between different measurement periods.

In the first experiment the liveweicht responses of steers managed under feed lot, semi-intensive und continuous grazing systems were evaluated. Three systems (molasses/urea, sorghum or grazing alone) and three diets (sunflower meal/hay, leucaena/grasss or legume/grass) , two cattle breeds (Hereford or Belmont Red) and two levels of zeranol implantation (0 or 3 6 mg) were used as experimental treatments. Steers fed sorghum grain under feed lot condition exhibited the highest liveweight gain (1.54 kg/d). However, steers fed molasses/urea exhibited low liveweight gain (0.72 kg/d) managed under similar condition. Similarly steers given grain supplementation managed under either semi-intensive or continuous grazing system exhibited higher liveweight gains compared with steers supplementation with molasses/urea. Irrespective of the management system steers supplementation with molasses/urea had significantly (P< 0.05 ) lower dry matter intakes compared with steers supplementation with grain. In continous grazing situation, steers with access to leucaena /grass exhibited lower liveweight gain (0.81 kg/d) than steers supplemented with 2.5 kg of sunflower seed meal (0.91 kg/d). In general, the liveweight gain of steers grazing the B.decumbens was superior to steers grazing the P .plicatulum pasture. The liveweight gain of steers implanted with zeranol not significantly different to control animals. The liveweight gain of both breeds of cattle (Hereford and Belmont Red) in this experiment was similar. The effect of inclusion of sorghum grain into molasses diets on dry matter intake, liveweight gain, nitrogen utilization and volatile fatty acid fermentation patterns in rumen fluid of steers was invest.gated in the second experiment. Inclusion of small amounts of grain (33%) into molasses resulted in a significant (P<0.05) increase in dry 0 7 5 matter intake (from 9 6 to 127g/kg 0.75 /d) , liveweight gain (from 543 to 965g/d), apparent nitrogen retained (from 22.3 to 62.4%) and percentage of propionic acid concentration (from 15 to 22.2%) in rumen fluid of steers. Formaldehyde treatment of cereal grain resulted in decreased volatile fatty acid and ammonia production in the rumen fluid in-vitro. In a subsequent experiment the effect of formaldehyde treatment of sorghum and pigeon pea (3g formaldehyde /100 g CP) grain on liveweight gain on lambs was eveluated. Subsequently the efficacy of formaldehyde treatment of grain (wheat and sorghum) on the extent and the sites of digestion of starch and protein in sheep was investigated. Sheep fed formaldehyde treated sorghum grain showed higher liveweight gains (122 g/d) when compared with sheep fed untreated grain (61 g/d). Formaldehyde treated wheat or sorghum fed to sheep fitted with ruminal and abomasal canulae showed a significant increase in microbial nitrogen (78 and 76% for wheat and sorghum) and starch (46 and 55% for wheat and sorghum) flow from the stomach. Although the total organic matter flow from the stomach was not significantly different between the treated and untreated grain, the amount of non-microbial organic matter flow to the intestine of sheep given treated grain was significantly higher than that for sheep given untreated grain.Cattle fed formaldehyde treated sorghum grain (3g formaldehyde/100 g CP) under feed lot conditions had similar liveweight gains (1.16 kg/d) to steers fed untreated grain (1.24 kg/d). Inclusion of sodium bentonite in the feed (at 2 or 4%) had no effect on either dry matter intake or liveweight gain of steers. Grain and molasses/urea fed to cattle, sheep and goats showed that animals fed grain had higher dry matter intake, nitrogen retention and liveweight gain than did those fed molasses/urea diets. However, cattle given the molasses diet exhibited significantly higher molar percentage of butyric acid (41.7%) and lower percentage of propionic acid (15.1%) in the rumen fluid compared with sheep and goats (6.2 and 30.2% butyric and propionic acid respectively) given the similar diet. Bucks fed grain diet exhibited higher liveweight gain (7 0 9 g/kg 0.9 /d) , feed conversion efficiency (6.4) and apparent 0 9 nitrogen retention (55.3%) than did does (5 g/kg 0.9 /d, 9.0, 29.4% liveweight gain, feed conversion efficiency and percentage apparent nitrogen retained respectively) given the similar diet. However, no significant differences in liveweight gain and nitrogen retention was recorded between wethers and ewes.Finally the effect of supplementation with either grain (1.1 kg/head/d) plus sunflower meal, sodium propionate (65 g/head/d) plus sunflower meal or sunflower meal plus intraabomasal infusion of glucose (200 g/head/d) of steers given molasses plus sunflower meal diet was examined. Steers given grain or propionate supplements exhibited significantly (P<0.05) h igher liveweight gains (933 and 898 g /d respectively) compared with steers given molasses plus sunflower meal (703 g/d). Steers given either grain, propionate supplements or glucose infusion exhibited higher percentage of apparent nitrogen retention (37.9, 35.7 and 37.2 respectively), 0 7 5 glucose entry rates (15.6, 13.9 and 16.9 g/kg 0.75 /d respecively) , plasma insulin concentrations ( 64.5, 48.8 and 69.8 mU/L respectively compared with steers given molasses plus sunflower meal ( 18.5 %, 12.1 g/kg0.75/d and 20.5 mU/L for apparent nitrogen retained, glucose entry rate and plasma insulin concentration respectively). The plasma urea nitrogen concentrations of steers given either grain, propionate supplement or intra-abomasally glucose infusion of steers (37.6, 40.3 and 35.9 mg/L respectively) were significantly (P<0.05) lower than did steers given molasses plus sunflower meal (59.8 mg/L).It was concluded from these studies that inclusion of small amounts of grain (1.1 kg/head/day) in molasses diets resulted in increased dry matter intakes and rumen propionic acid concentrations which in turn resulted in increased supply of glucose to the tissues and*thus sparing amino acids resulted in increased nitrogen retention and higher growth rate of steers.

Effects of groundnut haulms supplementation on millet stover intake, digestibility and growth performance of lambs

: Fifteen Karadi male lambs ( live-weight 25 + 0.377 kg and 5 months old) were used to study the effect of feeding lambs with untreated straw(US) or urea treated straw (UTS) or fungi treated straw (FTS) respectively on daily dry matter intake(DMI), live weight gain(LWG) and some liver and kidney functions [glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (GOT) , glutamate pyruvate transaminase (GPT) and urea-N,(SUN) ] as well as serum glucose ( SG) ,total protein (STP) and cholesterol (SC) of karadi lambs. Results revealed that PTS treatment improved DMI and LWG as compared with US or UTS treatments . There were not different among different experimental groups in SG. Generally all the concentration means of SG were within the normal range of sheep .SUN pointed out to (P<0.05) differences among treatments in favor of chemical treatment which recorded the highest (P<0.01) SUN concentration in comparison with the other treatments . The SUN level ranged from 10 to 25 mg/dl. STP was significant (P<0.01) differences among treatments in favor of fungal treatment which recorded the highest (P<0.01) STP (4.20 mg/dl) in comparison with the other treatments.SC values indicate a significant (P<0.05) differences among treatments in favor of urea and fungi treatments which was the lowest (P<0.05) in comparison with the control group (untreated) . GOT and GPT values showed a significant differences among different experimental groups. However, higher (P<0.05) GOT and GPT values were assessed for urea group (10 3 and 28 IU/L), respectively. While, fungi treatment had an intermediate values for GOT and GPT (86 and 24 IU/L.) respectively . On contrast, the control groups recorded the lowest (P<0.05) GOT and GPT values, (65and 20 IU/L). In conclusio n, according to the results its seem that the possibility of biological methods of straw treatment has a great appeal as an alternative to the use of expensive chemicals. Key words: Lambs, chemical and microbial treatments, performance, blood parameters, barley straw

The utilization of abundantly available animal feed grade wheat (AFW) as a replacement for conventional and costly cereal supplement in lamb feeding to lower the cost of mutton production was explored. Thirty‐five growing lambs divided into five equal groups and were fed diets containing 0, 118, 235, 353 or 470 g kg−1 AFW replacing equal quantity of maize. The diets were fed in the form of composite feed mixture, which had a roughage (Prosopis cineraria leaves) to concentrate ratio of 25:75. Dry matter intake (DMI) was not different in these groups, ranging from 35 to 42 g kg−1 body weight, while AFW inclusion linearly (P &lt; 0.05) reduced DMI. The digestibility coefficients of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP) and cellulose were not affected by AFW addition, whereas neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre digestibility coefficients were reduced (P &lt; 0.05). The digestible CP content (142.7–162.7 g kg−1 diet) increased (P &lt; 0.01) linearly with increased AFW inclusion levels. However, AFW additions did not affect metabolizable energy (ME) value of diet (10.2–10.5 MJ kg−1 diet DM). Digestible CP intake was similar but digestible DM and OM intake tended to decrease (P &lt; 0.05) linearly when expressed in terms of g kg−1 W0.75. ME intake (MJ d−1) was not different among the diets but showed linear (P = 0.041) reducing trends with increasing AFW levels in diet. The efficiency of ME and N utilization for unit gain was also not affected by AFW incorporation. N retained as g d−1, percentage of intake and percentage of absorbed ranged from 15.4 to 19.5 g, 49.7% to 60.3% and 62.6% to 74.6%, respectively. Intake and utilization of dietary N was not affected but urinary N excretion reduced (P &lt; 0.05) linearly by AFW. Daily microbial N (MN) flow estimated by urinary purine derivative excretion was significantly (P &lt; 0.01) higher for lambs fed a diet with AFW 235 g kg−1 (3.05 g MN) and 353 g kg−1 (2.51 g MN) compared to without AFW diet (1.31 g MN). MN when expressed as g kg−1digestible organic matter intake (DOMI) and microbial protein g kg−1 digestible organic matter apparently fermented in rumen (DOMR) followed a similar trend. During the growth trial, lambs fed diets containing AFW (353 g kg−1), which replaced 75% maize had higher total gain (14 kg, P &lt; 0.05) and average daily gain (ADG 154 g, P &lt; 0.05). However, feed efficiency (feed consumed kg−1 live weight gain) was not different. Rumen pH and microbial enzyme activities studied 4 h post feeding revealed that AFW did not affect rumen pH, which ranged from 5.95 to 6.30. Similarly, carboxymethyl cellulase and β‐xylosidase enzyme activities were not different among treatments, but AFW inclusion linearly (P = 003) increased carboxymethyl cellulase enzyme activities. The α‐amylase enzyme activity differed significantly (P &lt; 0.05) and was highest (22.6 IU) in groups where AFW replaced maize completely. It was concluded that, in lambs reared under intensive system for mutton production on high concentrate diets, conventional and costly energy supplements like maize can be replaced up to 75% with a low‐cost animal feed grade wheat to economize on cost of production. However, more studies are required to confirm these inclusion levels for greater economic returns. Copyright © 2007 Society of Chemical Industry

A bull beef finishing experiment was conducted with the objective of comparing physical performance of constrasting genotypes of suckler-bred bull beef animals finished intensively on a cereal-based diet at approximately 12 to 13 months of age. Nine bulls per genotype were drawn from weaned, bull calves born to one of two dam types (Belgian Blue×Holstein/Friesian (BB) or Simmental×Holstein/Friesian (SIM)) and which had been sired by one of two contrasting sire types (Aberdeen Angus (AA) or Charolais (CH)). Bull calves were weaned at approximately 8 months of age and the finishing experiment ran from approximately 9 months of age until slaughter at 12 to 13 months of age. Cereal-based concentrate diets were offered to all bulls on an ad libitum basis throughout the experimental finishing period. Dry matter intake (DMI), live-weight gain (LWG), food conversion ratio (FCR), and carcass slaughter characteristics were quantified.Average daily LWG was 2·07, 2·11, 2·34 and 2·65 kg/day, average FCR was 5·14, 5·06, 4·70 and 4·12 kg DMI per kg LWG and average age at slaughter was 387, 381, 374 and 366 days for the AA/BB, AA/SIM, CH/BB and CH/SIM bulls respectively. These figures showed that CH sired bulls grew faster ( P&lt;0·001), finished at an earlier age ( P&lt;0·01) and had better food conversion ratios ( P&lt;0·01) than AA sired bulls. CH sired bulls also produced heavier carcasses (P&lt;0·001) with better conformation ( P&lt;0·001) than AA sired bulls. Average cold carcass weights (CCW) at slaughter were 309, 318, 348 and 365 kg and average conformation scores (15-point scale) at slaughter were 9·28, 10·28, 12·39 and 12·75 for the AA/BB, AA/SIM, CH/BB and CH/SIM bulls respectively. Finished bulls from SIM dams had higher LWGs (P&lt;0·01) and produced heavier carcasses (P&lt;0·05) than bulls from BB dams. No statistically significant differences in fat score (15-point scale) were seen between any of the breed combinations with fat scores of 7·50, 7·25, 6·75 and 6·75 for the AA/BB, AA/SIM, CH/BB and CH/SIM bulls respectively. No significant differences in average daily food intake were observed between breed combinations in the experiment with average daily DMI being 10·6, 10·6, 11·0 and 10·9 kg/day for AA/BB, AA/SIM, CH/BB and CH/SIM bulls respectively.Overall, there was little evidence to suggest that the rate of bull LWG declined to bring about any meaningful reduction in productivity as average bull live weight increased from approximately 9 months of age until slaughter at 12 to 13 months of age. When finished on a nutrient-rich, cereal-based concentrate diet, excellent animal performance and commercially acceptable carcasses can be produced from the UK suckler herd using genetically superior sires of either traditional UK or continental beef cattle breeds. Results from this study indicate that CH sired bulls out-performed AA sired bulls, especially when produced from SIM cows.

1. Three consecutive studies were done with 12 wheat samples (4 per study), each of different variety (6 containing the 1B/1R rye translocation) to examine the effects of wheat variety, presence of 1B/1R and interactions with xylanase addition (Avizyme 1310). The wheat varieties covered a wide range of in vitro viscosity (6.3 to 19.8 cps). In each study 64 male, Ross broilers were individually caged and given the diets ad libitum from d 7 to 28. Bird performance, viscosity of ileal contents and diet metabolisability (AME) were measured. 2. The diets contained (g/kg): wheat 790, casein 134, dicalcium phosphate 21.4, potassium bicarbonate 10.8, sodium bicarbonate 7.5, soya oil 10, arginine 5, minerals etc . 21.3. 3. Within each study there were large differences in dry matter (DM) intake between varieties but the variety effect was significant ( P <0.01) only in study 2. Liveweight gain (LWG) differences mirrored DM intake, being significant ( P <0.01) in study 2. Mean gain:food was unaffected by variety in any study. 4. Calculated wheat AME (MJ/kg DM) ranged from 13.4 to 14.4 in study 2 ( P <0.05), the values for studies 1 and 3 lying within this range. 5. Across all 3 studies, in vivo viscosity (proximal ileum) ranged from 5.0 to 37.6 in the absence of enzyme and from 3.9 to 12.1 with enzyme addition; in studies 1 and 2 variety differences were significant ( P <0.05). 6. Enzyme addition had no effect on DM intake or LWG but gain:food tended to be improved (NS), metabolisability of energy (ME:GE) was increased ( P <0.01) by 2.2% and calculated wheat AME by 4% while in vivo viscosity was reduced ( P <0.001). 7. There were no significant differences in DM intake, LWG, gain:food, ME:GE or calculated wheat AME concentration associated with the presence of the 1B/1R translocation and no interactions between enzyme and 1B/1R. 8. There were poor relationships between either gain:food or wheat AME concentration and in vitro or in vivo viscosity. There was no significant relationship between AME concentration and either specific weight or thousand grain weight. 9. It was concluded that (a) variety differences tended to be small (b) there was no negative impact of the 1B/1R rye translocation with the diet formulation used (c) in vitro viscosity failed to predict satisfactorily any aspect of performance with the high wheat/low fat diet formulation used.

An outdoor grazing study conducted with 45 pregnant, dry dairy cows for 47 days during the winter period measured dry matter (DM) utilisation, DM intake, forage disappearance, body condition score (BCS) and liveweight (LW) of cows fed 11 (K11) or 14 (K14) kg of kale DM per day or 11 (G11) kg DM Italian ryegrass per cow per day. Cows were offered 3 kg DM barley straw/cow/day at 0800 h and their daily forage allowance at 0900 h. Within 6 hours of being offered a fresh forage allocation, cows had consumed more than 86% of their apparent daily DM intake with cumulative DM intake of 10.4, 10.5 and 7.3 kg DM/cow for K11, K14 and G11, respectively. Daily percentage DM utilisation averaged over the 47 days of the trial was higher for K11 (96%) and K14 (88%) than for G11 (70%), leading to higher apparent daily DM intake for K14 (12.1 kg) and K11 (10.5 kg) than for G11 (7.9 kg DM). Liveweight and BCS gain during the 47 days were higher for K14 (45.4 kg LW and 0.3 BCS units) and G11 (46.8 kg LW and 0.3 BCS units) than for K11 (30.1 kg LW and 0.2 BCS units). This study indicates that compared with offering the common industry allowance of 11 kg kale DM/cow/day, increasing the allowance to 14 kg kale DM/cow/day or offering grass at 11 kg DM/cow/day may lead to higher BCS and LW gain, although all regimes failed to meet expectations of cows gaining 0.5 BCS units during the winter feeding period.

A study was carried out to determine the effect of replacing the cake portion of concentrate mixture with 5 parts polyethylene glycol (PEG)‐6000 in a complete feed block (CFB) containing Prosopis cineraria leaves on the performance, rumen fermentation pattern and rumen enzyme profile of kids under an intensive system of rearing. Eighteen weaners of Sirohi goat of similar body weight (16.0 ± 0.5 kg) and age (90 ± 5 days) were divided into three equal groups. They were housed in individual cages in a side open asbestos roof shed with mud floor. All the kids received CFBs containing 50 parts P cineraria leaves and 50 parts concentrate mixture. CFB offered to the first group had high protein (183.8 g kg−1; HP), that offered to the second group had low protein (131.3 g kg−1; LP) and that offered to the third group had low protein (124.7 g kg−1) but contained PEG‐6000 (LP‐PEG). The concentrate mixtures in LP and LP‐PEG were without groundnut cake, whereas in LP‐PEG, groundnut cake was replaced by barley and 5 parts PEG‐6000 were incorporated. CFBs were similar in their nutritive value except for crude protein (CP). Prosopis leaves utilized in the CFB contained (g kg−1 dry matter) 129.1 CP, 535.5 neutral detergent fibre, 395.8 acid detergent fibre and 222.8 acid detergent lignin. There were significant differences in dry matter intake (g day−1) between HP (1102), LP (1108) and LP‐PEG (1194); the trend in Metabolizable energy intake was similar. During the growth trial, LP kids consumed maximum amount of feed (76.91 kg) followed by HP (75.73 kg) and LP‐PEG (73.12 kg). However, maximum feed efficiency (feed consumed kg−1 live weight gain) was recorded in LP‐PEG kids (9.59) followed by HP (10.64) and LP (11.60). These differences were statistically significant (p &lt; 0.05). Although there was no significant difference in the digestibility of dry matter among the groups, there was significant difference in the digestibility of CP, neutral detergent fibre and acid detergent fibre. The digestibility of CP was 0.591, 0.484 and 0.645, that of neutral detergent fibre was 0.397, 0.308 and 0.499 and that of acid detergent fibre was 0.168, 0.154 and 0.282 in HP, LP and LP‐PEG, respectively. Rumen metabolites studied 6 h after feeding revealed that there were significant (p &lt; 0.05) differences in the concentrations of ammonia N, tri‐chloro acetic acid precipitable N and total volatile fatty acids among the three groups, but not pH. The rumen enzyme concentrations showed significant (p &lt; 0.05) differences for α‐amylase, whereas the differences were non‐significant for CMcase and protease. After 90 days of feeding trial, the maximum weight gain was recorded in LP‐PEG (7.62 kg) followed by HP (7.23 kg) and LP (6.53 kg). It can be concluded that, when kids are reared under an intensive system on complete feed blocks containing Prosopis leaves, high protein concentrate can be replaced with a low protein concentrate containing 5 parts PEG, which would not only alleviate the negative effects of tannin but would also spare expensive groundnut protein. Copyright © 2005 Society of Chemical Industry

Lysine and methionine are the most limiting amino acids for ruminants; their inclusion in the free form is not effective, since they are quickly degraded by ruminal microorganisms, making the fulfillment of the requirements of metabolizable protein difficult. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of including different levels of lysine and methionine, protected from ruminal degradation, in the diet of lambs; more specifically, their effects on intake, digestibility, nitrogen balance and ingestive behavior. The experiment was conducted at the Experimental Farm Capim Branco, Federal University of Uberlândia, from September to October 2016. Five 1/2Dorper x 1/2Santa Inês lambs, at approximately eight months of age and an average weight of 50 kg, were distributed in a 5x5 Latin square design, with five treatments and five replicates. The treatments consisted of different levels (0 g, 8 g, 16 g, 24 g and 32 g) of lysine and methionine added to the diet, protected from ruminal degradation (MicroPEARLS LM ®). The feed was composed of corn silage and concentrate (30V: 70C), offered twice daily at 08h00 and 16h00. The experiment lasted 75 days and was divided into five phases. Each phase lasted 15 days, with 10 days for adaptation of the animals and five days of data collection. The animals were kept in individual metabolic cages, with a feeder, drinker and salt shaker. A digestibility assay was performed to determine the consumption and apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber and acid (NDF/NDA). Urine volume and density, stool weight and fecal score, nitrogen balance and ingestive behavior were recorded. In relation to metabolic and body weight, DM intake (kg day-1) presented a positive linear response with the inclusion of amino acids, as well as the CP intake, NDF intake, ingested nitrogen and nitrogen balance, which were positive in all treatments. There was no difference (P &lt; 0.05) in the digestibility coefficients of DM, CP and NDF. Water consumption was high in all treatments, but did not differ by treatment (P &gt; 0.05). Ingestive behavior was not influenced (P &gt; 0.05). The inclusion of up to 32 g of protected lysine and methionine increases DM and nutrient intake, without negatively affecting digestibility. The high CP intake induced an increase in the urinary nitrogen excretion, and consequently, an increase in the energy expenditure.

SUMMARYThe effects of dietary deficiencies of phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) were studied in 28 lambs allotted to seven treatments for 18 weeks. The lambs in four treatments were offered roughage-based dietsad libitumcontaining high (H) or low (L) levels of P (4·13 or 0·98 g/kg dry matter (DM)) and N (108 or 68 g crude protein/kg DM). The lambs in the remaining three treatments were fed the same quantities of DM of the HNHP diet as the lambs receiving the three deficient diets (HNLP, LNHP and LNLP). A dietary deficiency of P caused a reduced DM intake and liveweight gain, lower yields of N and DM in carcass muscle and reduced DM, N and P contents of bone. A dietary deficiency of N resulted in reductions in DM intake, liveweight gain, DM digestibility, N balance, and in carcass muscle and bone DM and N. The deficiencies of N and P were not additive in lowering food intake but were additive in reducing the mineralization of the bones. The DM intake of the lambs offered their dietsad libitumwas closely correlated to the log of the plasma inorganic P and urea N concentrations (R =0·72). Feeding lambs with restricted quantities of diet HNHP resulted in higher liveweight gains and DM and N digestibilities than when any of the deficient diets were offered. Measurement of the N content of the lambs by a neutron capture gamma ray analysis technique showed that the changes were occurring progressively over the experimental period. The P content of the metatarsal bone, measured by a neutron activation technique, showed progressive changes. Although the faecal endogenous losses of P were related to P intake, high urinary losses were observed in those lambs which had their food intake limited by low dietary N alone, or had their food intakes restricted. The total endogenous P losses of the lambs were most closely dependent upon the DM intake and plasma inorganic P together. The efficiency of P absorption was high (&gt; 0·75) in all lambs except for those given the HNHP dietad libitum. The glucose entry rate was reduced in the lambs offered diets deficient in either N or P. Mechanisms by which the N and P deficiencies reduce DM intake are discussed.

1. A 3 × 3 × 2 factorial experiment studied the interactions of fat source (tallow, soya, tallow:soya [2:1] blend), wheat level (700, 350, 0 g/kg) and enzyme inclusion (Avizyme 1300, absent, present) in diets for broilers fed ad libitum in individual cages from 7 to 35d. Bird performance, fat digestibility, viscosity of ileal contents and diet metabolisability (AME) were measured. 2. There were no significant effects of fat source on bird performance. However, there was a significant effect on fat digestibility, which was highest for soya and lowest for tallow. Diet AME content was also significantly affected by fat source and reflected differences in fat digestibility. 3. Dry matter (DM) intake, liveweight gain (LWG) and gain:food were all reduced at 700 g wheat/kg. Viscosity of ileal contents increased with increasing wheat inclusion. 4. There were no significant effects of enzyme on DM intake or LWG but gain:food was improved by 2%. Diet AME content was increased with enzyme addition, the effect being greatest (9%) with tallow at 700 g wheat/kg. 5. Viscosity of ileal contents was reduced and fat digestibility increased with enzyme addition and there were significant wheat enzyme interactions attributable to no differences with zero wheat but marked responses to enzyme at 700 g wheat/kg. 6. The results confirm important interactions between wheat content and fat composition in relation to fat digestibility, AME content and food efficiency.

1. The aims of this study were to investigate the potential of near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) to predict the chemical and physical characteristics of wheat and also to predict the nutritive value of wheat for broiler chickens. 2. A total of 164 wheat samples, collected from a wide range of different sources (England, Northern Ireland and Canada), varieties and years, were used in this study. 3. Chemical and physical parameters measured included specific weight, thousand grain weight, in vitro viscosity, gross energy, nitrogen, neutral detergent fibre (NDF), starch, total and soluble non-starch polysaccharides (NSP), lysine, threonine, amylose, hardness, rate of starch digestion and protein profiles. 4. A total of 94 wheat samples were selected for inclusion in three bird trials and included at 650 g/kg in a typical UK starter/grower diet. Birds were housed in individual wire metabolism cages from 7 to 28 d and offered water and food ad libitum. Dry matter intake (DMI), live weight gain (LWG) and gain:feed ratio were measured weekly. A balance collection was carried out from d 14 to 21 for determination of apparent metabolisable energy (AME), ME:gain and dry matter retention. At 28 d the birds were humanely killed, the contents of the jejunum removed for determination of in vivo viscosity and the contents of the ileum removed for determination of ileal dry matter, starch and protein digestibility. 5. The wheat samples were scanned as whole and milled wheat, both dried and undried and NIRS calibrations, first excluding and then including the Canadian wheat samples, were developed. 6. NIRS calibrations for milled wheat samples may be useful for determining specific weight (R cv² = 0·75, for milled wheat dried), nitrogen (R cv² = 0·983 for milled and dried) and rate of starch digestion (R cv² = 0·791 for milled, dried and undried). 7. NIRS calibrations for whole wheat samples (undried) may be useful for determining wheat nutritive value, with good predictions for live weight gain (R cv² = 0·817) and feed conversion efficiency (R cv² = 0·825). 8. Inclusion of the Canadian wheat samples in the NIRS analysis provided additional robust calibrations for gross energy (R cv² = 0·86, dried and milled) and starch content (R cv² = 0·79, undried and milled). 9. This study shows that NIR is a useful tool in the accurate and rapid determination of wheat chemical parameters and nutritive value and could be extremely beneficial to both the poultry and wheat industry. 10. Further extension of the dataset would be recommended to further validate these findings.

1. This study used 4 wheat cultivars (Brigadier, Chaucer, Consort, Reaper) from three locations (Crossnacreevy, C; Downpatrick, D; Limavady, L), which had given rise to differences in wheat specific weight (SW), to examine the relationships between apparent metabolisable energy (AME) concentration, broiler performance and wheat SW. 2. The diets contained (g/kg): wheat 744, casein 142, blended vegetable fat 50, dicalcium phosphate 22, potassium bicarbonate 10.8, sodium bicarbonate 7.5, arginine 5, methionine 2, binder 8, trace minerals/vitamins 7.2, titanium dioxide 1.5. The diets were heat-treated (80°C for 2 min) prior to pelleting (3 mm die). 3. SW ranged from 63 to 77 kg/hectolitre (hl), averaging 66, 69 and 76 kg/hl at D, C and L, respectively. In vitro viscosity of the wheat samples ranged from 5.2 to 17.5 cps and thousand grain weight (TGW) from 33.4 to 47.3 g. Mean TGW was similar at C and D (38.7, 37.0 g) but higher at L (43.1 g). In vitro viscosity was similar at C and L (11.2, 10.2 cps) but somewhat higher at D (14.4 cps). Crude protein (6.25 N) ranged from 116 to 147 g/kg and tended to be higher at D. Starch, which ranged from 612 to 656 g/kg, was least at D (617 g/kg) and greatest at L (641 g/kg). 4. Crude protein, crude fibre and total non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) were negatively correlated with SW, the R 2 being respectively 0.38 (P <0.05), 0.16 (NS) and 0.45 (P <0.05). TGW and starch concentration were positively correlated with SW (R 2=0.70, 0.44, respectively). There was a weak (NS) negative relationship (R 2=0.19) between in vitro viscosity and SW. For both TGW and in vitro viscosity, correlations improved when variety was taken into account (R 2=0.95, 0.92, respectively). 5. There were no significant effects of variety on dry matter (DM) intake or live weight gain (LWG). Gain: food was significantly higher (P <0.05) for Consort than for the other three varieties and the metabolisable energy ratio (ME:GE) just failed to attain significance (P =0.062). Calculated wheat AME (MJ/kg DM) was significantly (P <0.05) higher for Consort than for the other three wheats. There was a good correlation (R 2=0.49) for the total data set between gain:food and ME:GE. In vivo viscosity varied from 13.6 to 28.6 cps for individual treatments and was significantly affected by variety (P <0.001). 6. Although there were no significant differences in DM intake or LWG due to site the values for L (SW 76) were 6 and 5% lower, respectively, than for D (SW 66). Gain:food was lower (P <0.05) for C (SW 69) than for D. ME:GE, wheat AME and ME:gain were not significantly different between sites. 7. There was a weak (R 2=0.18) positive relationship between ME:GE and SW corresponding to a 2.5% increase in energy value for a 10 kg/hl increase in SW and no relationship between gain:food and SW. When variety was taken into the regression the slope was similar but R 2 increased to 0.82. 8. ME:GE and wheat AME concentration were negatively correlated with wheat in vitro viscosity (R 2=0.64, 0.55, respectively). 9. It was concluded that in vitro viscosity appears to provide a better basis than SW for prediction of the nutritive value of wheats of unknown variety. If the variety is known then SW could be used to predict energy value. However, the effect of quite a large change in SW (10 kg/hl) was relatively