Indigenous yellow cattle (Bos indicus) and Asiatic swamp buffalo (Bubalus bubalis) are important livestock species in Laos. Data from 2011 showed that the majority of farm households with large ruminants were smallholders, with the average numbers of farm household with cattle and buffalo of 5.3 and 3.4, respectively. This paper identifies the strategic interventions that may increase the supply of cattle and buffalo and improve rural livelihoods in Laos and the Greater Mekong Subregion.

Age effect on gene expression in peripartum dairy cows was investigated. Age effect on peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma and adiponectin was found in adipose tissue, on SLC2A4 in muscle. The age influence on expression of selected genes involved in energy mobilisation and insulin resistance highlights the importance of a genomics approach to assess the metabolic status of dairy cows during the transition period.

The following manuscript presents the estimation of the effect of polymorphism within µ-calpain gene (CAPN1) on the most important slaughter and fattening traits and characteristics of pork quality. The results obtained will be helpful in verification of potential use of CAPN1 gene as a genetic marker in selection. The presented data would be a base for further research in the field of the genetics of quantitative traits in pigs.

The random regression test-day models can be used for accurate and economical genetic evaluation of Sahiwal cattle. The heritability estimates of monthly test-day milk yields were low to moderate in different lactations and the assumption of homogeneous or heterogeneous residual variance gave similar estimates. Random regression model with homogenous or heterogeneous variance can be used for modelling test-day milk yield and breeding value prediction in Sahiwal cattle.

Few studies have focused on the influence of chronic exposure to high ambient temperature on meat quality of finishing pigs until now. We researched it and found that high temperature decreased intramuscular fat content of pigs because of the reduction in feed intake. Independently of its effect on feed intake, high ambient temperature affected the meat quality of finishing pigs by increasing the pH value and inducing a transition of muscle fibre types from IIb to IIx.

Productivity of the sow breeding herd is determined by age at puberty and first litter size. From our study, we know that puberty is delayed by long, but not short, periods of mild feed restriction, and that flush feeding increases ovulation rate but not potential litter size. Our study demonstrates the importance of ensuring adequate nutrition throughout the gilt’s life, and indicates that oocyte quality and uterine capacity, rather than ovulation rate, determine first litter size.

The West African Dwarf (WAD) sheep have potentials to supply a significant portion of dietary milk for human consumption and some consumers in Nigeria perceived its milk to have a better taste and more natural than cow milk. In spite of this, information about detailed nutritional qualities of this milk is unavailable. This study provides information on the nutritional qualities inherent in consumption of milk produced by WAD sheep, changes on udder traits and concomitant variation in milk yield and composition.

Ascorbic acid (vitamin C) is centrally important to the health and welfare of humans and animals and an inadequate supply leads to serious pathologies involving collagen (a key structural protein) integrity. The work presented herein assessed the effect of supplemental ascorbic acid, in association with an exogenous protease, for broiler chickens and it was discovered that adding protease and ascorbic acid to the diet resulted in significant advantages in nutrition, growth and intestinal health. It can be concluded that modern broiler chickens may have a previously unrecognised need for supplemental ascorbic acid and that the benefits from this supplementation may be significantly enhanced by coupling this with exogenous protease to enhance the integrity of the gut and nutrient recovery from feed.

Early lactation dairy cows are frequently in negative energy balance, making them susceptible to serious life-threatening diseases such as ketosis. Because the B-vitamin niacin reduces mobilisation (use) of stored body fat, it may moderate this negative energy balance and reduce blood accumulation of the non-esterified fatty acids that cause ketosis. Low level niacin feeding improved health and production in early lactation cows, but because higher feeding levels had negative impacts, this strategy has limited practical applicability.

Primary vitamin A deficiency occurs during the dry season in northern Australia when cattle graze senesced forage. Injectable vitamin A or an oral β-carotene source from algae failed to replete vitamin A concentrations in cattle fed a poor quality forage diet. Vitamin A-deficient cattle require concurrent protein and vitamin A supplementation to replete vitamin A concentrations when fed poor quality forage.

Due to the increased awareness of health benefits derived from omega-3 fatty acid and consumer demand for value-added pork products, this study focused on dietary inclusion of omega-3 and vitamin E singly or in combination to evaluate growth performance, meat quality and blood profile in finishing pigs. The supplementation of vitamin E alone improved surface longissimus muscle redness and increased IgG concentration in serum, whereas the combination of omega-3 fatty acid and vitamin E reduced cortisol concentration in serum. The changes reported here for IgG and cortisol suggest vitamin E and omega-3 have the potential to improve the immune status of growing pigs.

Arginine nutrition in gestating sows is essential for porcine embryonic and fetal development. However, arginine supplementation in common corn-soybean basal diet is rather expensive. This study investigated low level L-arginine supplementation in wheat-based diets on the pregnancy outcome of gilts. We found that low-level supplementation (0.1%) of L-arginine–HCl of wheat-based diets beneficially enhances the reproductive performance of gilts and is feasible for use in commercial production.

This paper highlights the potential of a novel probiotic to improve the feeding value of an otherwise low quality pelleted diet for ruminants. By inoculating pellets with the spores of Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain H57 we noted encouraging improvements in feed intake and maternal liveweight of pregnant ewes. These improvements appeared to persist into lactation and deserve further investigation in commercial ruminant production systems, particularly the application of a diet based on low quality by-products.

Determining feeding patterns is the first step in understanding acceptability of maize cob-based diets by pigs. The objective of this study was to determine relationships between time spent eating and nutritionally related metabolites in growing pigs. The metabolites were related to the time spent feeding and drinking in pigs. When formulating diets using fibrous ingredients, feed compounders should not only consider only bulk, but also feeding patterns.

Peri-natal lamb survival is a key limitation to sheep production, which may be improved through modifying ewe behaviour. This study showed that pre-lambing exposure of maiden (first-lambing) ewes to mature lambing ewes using the method reported did not increase and may reduce the survival of their lambs. It is recommended that maiden ewes lamb in separate paddocks to mature ewes until more is known regarding the presence of adult ewes may influence lamb survival from maiden ewes.

Guardian dogs have protected livestock from predators for centuries, but how do they work? Repeated occurrences of dingoes/wild dogs inside sheep paddocks patrolled by maremma guardian dogs suggest they guard sheep by preventing interactions not by defending a territory and excluding intruders. Understanding that wild dogs regularly frequent sheep paddocks for hours and sometimes days can be important when considering livestock management practices.

The colour of the light during rearing periods of birds affects their behaviour, performance and welfare. We investigated the effects of light colours on fear reactions and physiology of Mulard ducks. Rearing ducks in blue or green light reduces their fear reactions and physiological responses to stress and improves their welfare compared with rearing them in red or white colour light.

From an economic opinion, high culling rates in pure Holstein cows are of great concern to dairy producers. In order to reduce these problems, dairy producers around the world have started to mate pure Holstein cows to bulls from other breeds. The current study indicates that the first generation crossbred (Brown Swiss × Holstein) has a more stable production performance and adaptability than pure Holstein under subtropical conditions.

Assessment of animal welfare suffering at poultry abattoirs is important because, poor welfare can cause stress and also influence the quality of the meat. Proper electrical stunning conditions can minimise suffering associated with slaughtering, and improve the metabolic changes in muscles responsible for quality meat. To evaluate poultry pre-slaughter stress at the slaughterhouse, clinical signs, electrocardiogram, and electroencephalogram seems not to be feasible and sufficiently rapid parameters. Physicochemical parameters, such as pH and peroxides, might be used as feasible markers of acute pre-slaughter stress and poultry quality meat. Study on Ross broilers (n = 96) indicated that high stunning frequency may improve the quality of poultry meat without aggregating stress.

Agricultural industries face the challenge of maintaining and expanding production to meet global food requirements with fewer resources, while producing lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study quantified energy and water use, land occupation and GHG emissions from beef grain-finishing systems in eastern Australia. Fresh water consumption and stress-weighted water use varied in response to regional water availability for feed production. Energy demand, land use and GHG emissions varied in response to average daily gain, which differed between market types.

Annual calving and fast growth rate in cattle is very vital to cattlemen; however, the challenge remains how to achieve that without incurring an extra cost in supplementary feeding. This study evaluated the use of alternate cheap farm produce feed supplements and the results proved to be the winning formula for all resources constrained livestock farmers. With these farm formulated diets cattle grow faster, calve annually and the returns are higher, meaning resources constrained farmers no longer have problems in maximising livestock production to better their lives and improve the food security of many nations.

The public policies in health suggest population-wide higher intakes of polyunsaturated fatty acids, and lower intakes of saturated fat. Therefore, scientific studies are crucial in providing knowledge to consumers to allow them to assess the pros and cons of eating beef, which in turn has tremendous importance for the global economy. Thus, this experiment demonstrates that the inclusion of linseed oil is recommended as a method for improving the acid linoleic conjugated in the meat of beef cattle.

Consumers are a tendency to the judgment of the meat quality depending on colour. Therefore, it is very important to elucidate the relationships between sets of meat colours and physicochemical characteristic variables. In order to produce a reddish-pink colour pork which is preferred by consumers, we suggest that producer produces the properly adjusted post-mortem pH_{24 h}, the high water-holding capacity and the high moisture content in pork.

Studying the carcass and meat properties of young bulls finished under feedlot temperate conditions of Mexico is very important for meat consumers. Therefore, the effect of six genotypes in Mexico on carcass and meat characteristics of young steers finished under feedlot conditions was tested. Results showed that the crossbred genotypes had better feedlot performance and carcass characteristics.

Because trivalent chromium is difficult for animals to absorb, we used nanosize trivalent chromium to evaluate chromium absorbability in pigs. The study included Control, CrCl₃, chromium picolinate (CrPic), NanoCrCl₃, and NanoCrPic groups. The result shows that nanosize chromium could increase chromium absorbability in pigs. The absorbability of the NanoCrPic was the highest and increased serum and longissimus muscle chromium content.