The more frequent the opportunities for piglets to suckle, the higher their milk intake and subsequent liveweight gain during lactation (Newberry and Wood-Gush 1984). Studies of sows in communal farrowing systems revealed that suckling frequency decreased from week 2 of lactation onwards (Houwers, Buré and Koomans 1992; Boe 1993). The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of two different space allocations on the suckling frequency of group housed sows and on litter performance to day 17 of lactation.

Four groups of four multiparous sows were allocated to one of two pen areas, in a loose house farrowing system from 5 days before the expected farrowing date until the oldest litter was 21 days of age. The two pen areas provided 13.4m2 (L) and 8.6m2 (S) per sow respectively. A row of four farrowing enclosures, fitted with heated piglet creep areas and deeply bedded with straw, were provided, within an otherwise unbedded pen.

Several organic acids have been accepted by the EU as non toxic food grade additives, to control spoilage and maintain fresh appearance in raw meat. Research has confirmed the antibacterial effect of certain organic acids such as acetic, propionic, sorbic, fumaric and citric acids on fresh beef (Anderson 1992; Dickson and Siragusa, 1994, Podolak et al., 1996). However many of these trials have been focused on spraying the acids onto the surface of meat, while little attention has been given to evaluating their effectiveness when mixed into ground beef. The work described here deals with the effect of a mixture of organic acids on the microbial contamination and appearance of minced meat.

Forequarter muscles from three beef carcasses were removed 48h after slaughter. The meat from each carcass was cut into cubes and kept separate during storage for a further 24h at 2 °C. Half of the meat from each carcass was treated with a commercial preparation (BOMBAL, Van Hees; FISPAK Ltd.) containing the following organic acids; sodium acetate, sodium ascorbate, citric acid and ascorbic acid at a rate of 5g BOMBAL/kg of diced meat.

Knowledge of the genetic and phenotypic relationships for muscle fibre characteristics with meat and eating quality in pigs is required by the pig breeding industry for two reasons. Muscle fibre traits, determined from muscle biopsy, could be used as genetic predictors of meat and eating quality traits and, secondly, if responses in meat and eating quality traits are partially due to changes in muscle fibre traits, then selection criteria can be designed to compensate for such responses. The current study estimated the genetic and phenotypic relationships for muscle fibre traits with meat and eating quality traits.

The study consisted of 160 Large White pigs from lines divergently selected for lean growth rate on ad-libitum or restricted feeding regimes, lean food conversion ratio and daily food intake for seven generations in the Edinburgh lean growth selection experiment. Within each selection line, there were 10 pairs of full-sibs. Boars and gilts were tested from 30 kg, individually penned and fed a diet consisting of 224 g CP/kg DM and 15.9 MJ DE/kg DM.

Nutritional recommendations to improve the human diet are to increase the P:S ratio and to decrease the n-6:n-3 ratio of food (Department of Health 1994). However, increasing the degree of unsaturation of meat lipids may alter the flavour of the cooked meat and can increase its susceptibility to oxidative changes such as lipid rancidity and colour deterioration. We have studied these quality aspects in meat from three breeds of lambs fed different fats.

Seventy two entire ram lambs of three genotypes were used in a 3x4 factorial design: Suffolk x Lleyn, Frieslands x Lleyn and Soay lambs were fed diets, for an average of 80 days, containing one of four fats at 50g/kg supplemented with 200 IU/kg vitamin E: 1, control, 2, linseed, 3, fish oil and 4, fish oil plus linseed (50:50). Sensory assessment was performed on loin chops grilled to an internal temperature of 74°C which were rated using 100mm unstructured line scales. For colour and lipid oxidation measurements, 10mm thick leg steaks were aged for 10 days in vacuum at 1°C then repacked in modified atmosphere (O2:CO2,75:25) and displayed under light at 4°C for 6 days.

The physiological basis of the widely differing growth rates between broiler and layer chickens is still poorly understood. Recurrent findings have included differences in rates of protein breakdown, especially in young birds (1.2- fold to 10- fold higher in layers e.g. Muramatsu et al., 1987; Flannery and Beynon, 1991). Ubiquitin is abundant in many tissues including muscle. It has important functions including the tagging of proteins for degradation by ATP-dependent and lysosomal pathways, and a role in cell surface receptor down-regulation; transcription of its mRNA is increased in many catabolic states in mammals (Attaix et al., 1994; Strous et al., 1996). The aim of this experiment was to test the hypothesis that differing regulation of ubiquitin pathways might be responsible in part for the divergence of growth rates seen in chicken breeds.

Week-old male broiler (Ross No.l) and layer (ISAbrown) chicks were randomly assigned to cages, as pairs of the same breed. Chicks had free access to water and a standard crumb starter diet. Birds were slaughtered at four weeks and rapidly dissected. Tissues were snap-frozen in liquid nitrogen and stored at -70°C until use.

Understanding the influence of the weather on the energy requirements of horses living outdoors during winter is essential when estimating feed requirements. Measurements of heat production from live horses have only been made at different air temperatures. The influences of other weather parameters, such as precipitation and wind speed, which are known to increase the rate of heat loss in other domestic stock, have not been researched for horses. The aim of this study was to measure the effect of wetting the upper body surface of Shetland ponies in winter coat on their rate of heat production (W/kg) and on their skin and body temperatures (°C ).

Two mature Shetland pony stallions (178 and 200 kg liveweight) in full winter coat (coat parameters over the back; mean depth 2.38 cm; mean length 3.25 cm; mean density 79.25 mg/cm2), and in good body condition (condition score 2; Pollock, 1980), were housed at ambient temperature (range 2 - 9.5 °C) in an open-sided shed and fed meadow hay at maintenance energy requirements (NRC, 1989).

Cereal grains are often subjected to physical processing before being fed to equids. However, little information is available on how physical processing of cereals affects degradation dynamics in equids. This experiment examines the effect of two physical processing methods (micronisation and extrusion) on in situ degradation of barley in the caecum of ponies

Three caecally fistulated mature Welsh-cross pony geldings (approx. LW 270kg) were offered ad libitum grass hay plus minerals. Incubation bags (monofilament polyester 6.5 x 20cm, 41μm pores, 16mg/cm2 sample size) containing either unprocessed barley (UB), micronised barley (MB) or extruded barley (EB) were incubated in the caecum for fixed times according to both a forward (0, 2, 4, 6, 12, 8, 24, 48h) and reverse (48, 24, 8, 4, 12, 6, 2, 0h) incubation sequence. For each feedstuff residues from each time were bulked within pony and across incubation sequence for subsequent analysis of dry matter (DM) and starch (STC). Degradation profiles were fitted to the DM and STC disappearance data according to Ørskov and McDonald (1979).

Any method to increase the utilisation of nutrients from feeds given to horses exercised on a regular basis is important. Commercially-available dried yeast cultures, used as supplements to equine diets have been shown to increase the digestibility of gross energy and enhance the retention of N in yearling horses (Glade and Biesik, 1986). There is however, limited information on whether the increase in digestibility of GE or enhancement in retention of N occurs in mature horses (Glade and Campbell-Taylor, 1990). The aim of the research reported here was to determine the effect of a dried live yeast culture on the digestibility of nutrients from a mixed diet given to riding school horses.

Six 2 and 3 year old riding school horses (mean live-weight 433 (s.e. 11.1) kg) were allocated to three balanced 2 x 2 Latin squares with two treatments and two periods of 3 weeks. The first 14 days of each period was a preliminary and the last 7 days was for measurement. The horses were housed individually (bedded on saw dust) and given 13.5 kg DM hay and 3.0 kg DM concentrate mix as a base diet. The base diet was either supplemented with 10 g dried yeast culture (S) or not supplemented (N).

The mobile bag technique (MBT) has recently been used to provide single time point estimates of feed digestibility in both the small intestine (Macheboeuf et al 1996) and the whole tract of equids (Hyslop and Cuddeford 1996). This experiment develops the use of the MBT as a method to study the dynamics of the digestive process over time in the whole tract of ponies.

Three mature Welsh-cross pony geldings (270 kg LW) were offered ad libitum threshed grass hay plus minerals. Two sizes of mobile bag (6 x 1 cm Ø - large & 4 x 1 cm Ø - small) made from monofilament polyester with a 41 μrn pore size containing either 200 or 130 mg of feed respectively were used. Bags containing either dehydrated alfalfa (DHA), threshed grass hay (THAY), dehydrated grass (DHG) or grass hay (HAY) were introduced directly into the stomach via a naso-gastric tube in batches of 22 (14 large and 8 small). Batches of bags were administered twice daily on days 1, 2, 8 and 9 of a 14 day period according to an incomplete latin square experimental design giving a total of 44 bags per feed in each pony. On recovery in the faeces, dry matter (DM) disappearances were calculated for each bag.

Many mature, non-pregnant, non-lactating equids are often kept in circumstances where they are expected to perform only light physical work or activity eg: a childs pony. Consequently their maintenance energy and protein needs can often be met at very restricted feed intake levels. Conversely, when they are housed during the winter months it is believed desirable to manage such animals on unrestricted ad libitum feeding regimes in order to allow the animals to exhibit their natural feed intake pattern and consume forage on a little and often basis throughout the daily feeding period. However, ad libitum access to the diet may lead to such animals becoming excessively fat. These conflicting needs of low energy and protein requirement coupled with the desirability of unrestricted access to the diet could both be met, at least in part, if a low quality forage is available ad libitum. This study examines the voluntary feed intake and apparent digestibility in vivo of a mature threshed grass hay offered ad libitum and determines its ability to meet the predicted energy and protein needs of mature ponies.

De-hydrated forages are often fed to equids in the UK in place of more traditional grass hay, particularly where individual animals are known to have a sensitivity to dusty, mouldy hay which may play a part inducing respiratory problems such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). One such alternative forage is short-chop de-hydrated grass. However, there is very little information available on voluntary feed intake (VFI), apparent digestibility and nutrient intake parameters when de-hydrated grass is offered to equids compared with traditional grass hay. This study examines the VFI and apparent digestibility in vivo of a short-chop de-hydrated grass compared with a traditional grass hay and determines their ability to meet the predicted energy and protein needs of mature ponies.

Six mature Welsh-cross pony geldings with a mean liveweight (LW) of 281 kg (s.e.d. 0.89) were individually housed and offered ad libitum access to either short-chop de-hydrated grass (DHG) or traditional grass hay (HAY) plus 60 g/h/d minerals. The DHG and HAY were made from the same 2nd cut perennial ryegrass sward cut on the same day.

There is increased interest, in using sugar beet pulp (SBP) products in equine diets as a major source of fibre in place of traditional forages. It has been observed that voluntary feed intake (VFI) was lower when SBP products were included in the diet of dry sows compared to other fibrous foodstuffs (Brouns, et al 1995). Equids are similar to pigs in respect that fibrous feed components must pass through the stomach and small intestine before reaching the hindgut; the primary site of fibre fermentation. This study examines the VFI and apparent digestibility in vivo of two SBP based diets and determines their ability to meet the predicted energy and protein needs of mature ponies.

Five mature Welsh-cross and three mature Shetland pony geldings with a mean liveweight (LW) of 219 kg (s.e.d. 2.2) were individually housed and offered 2 kg/d dry matter (DM) of a mature threshed grass hay (THAY), 60 g/h/d minerals and ad libitum access to either soaked molassed sugar beet pulp (MSBP) or soaked unmolassed sugar beet pulp (USBP).

During winter, voluntary food intake (VFI) and growth decreased in light horse weanlings given ad libitum access to a forage/concentrate diet (Cymbaluk et al, 1989). These changes were attributed to decreased ambient temperatures. However, photoperiodically entrained seasonal changes in VFI and growth are documented in other Northern ungulates (Moen, 1978) and may comprise an adaptation to changes in forage availability. Throughout their evolution, horses experienced similar environmental pressures and may demonstrate similar photoperiodic adaptations. This study characterised changes in VFI and growth in pony colts maintained under an artificial photoperiodic regime.

Seven, 2 year-old pony colts of Welsh Mountain type (182.4 ± 5.4 kg), were obtained from pasture (53°N). Animals were individually housed in loose-boxes, within a light-proof building. Measured quantities of a complete pelleted diet (gross energy = 16.7 MJ.kgDM-1), calculated to exceed appetite by at least 1 kg, were offered daily.

Previous studies in sheep and cattle have demonstrated that the urinary excretion of purine derivatives (PD) provides an index of the intestinal flow of microbial protein (Chen et al. 1990). Yak is the most important ruminant species in Tibetan Plateau. It was of interest to establish whether the approach of PD excretion to estimate microbial protein supply is applicable in yaks. The objective of this work is to measure the effect of fasting and different levels of feeding on PD excretion in yaks.

The feeding experiments were carried out in Xi-ning, China at an altitude of 3100m and a latitude of 36.8° N. Six 5-year old female yaks were used and 3 experiments were completed.

The marker technique has been used widely in trout digestibility studies due to practical difficulties in obtaining “true” faeces samples directly from fish. However this technique is also relatively difficult and there are few good systems for faeces collection. Reliable data on raw material digestibilities are therefore scarce. Traditionally, chromic oxide has been used as a marker. However this substance can give rise to skin allergies in humans and has been implicated as a carcinogen. Jagger et al., (1992) suggested that titanium dioxide could be used successfully as a digestibility marker in pig diets. The present study was designed to determine the digestibility of four feed ingredients for trout (prairie meal, maize distillers, soya 50 and extruded wheat) and to evaluate the use of chromic oxide or titanium dioxide as a digestibility marker in fish diets.

Each test ingredient was included in a basal diet at 0, 100, 200, 300 and 400 g/kg. Titanium dioxide and chromic oxide were included in the basal diet at 1 and 3.7 g/kg respectively.

To date, attempts to account for reported differences in digestive efficiency of camelids and ruminants have focused on factors such as stomach motility and the retention time of feed particles. The physical breakdown of forage into particles small enough to pass through the reticulo-omasal orifice is one of the major factors influencing the rate of passage of digesta from the reticulo-rumen in ruminants. Two of the main processes involved in particle size reduction are chewing (pre- and post-regurgitation) and microbial fermentation. While the characteristic vertical and horizontal jaw movement which occurs during mastication in the camelid is believed to allow for efficient use of the premolars and molars in cutting and grinding fibrous feeds, there have been no comparative studies to verify this, and to assess the contribution of chewing to differences in digestibility coefficients. The aim of this experiment was to directly compare particle breakdown during chewing by guanacos and sheep.

Although camelids are not taxonomically classified as ruminants, they are functional ruminants. Their digestive system includes a compartmentalised forestomach with a microbial population, and they have apparently evolved the same general characteristics of regurgitation and remastication of food. In vitro digestibility results for camelid diets produced using feeds and rumen liquor from conventional ruminants have been reported. However, the assumption that donor liquor from a true ruminant species is a valid substitute for that from a camelid species has not been verified. The aim of this experiment was to compare these different sources of digesta as inocula for in vitro dry matter disappearance (DMD) determinations.

Biotin is a water soluble vitamin which has a well proven function in corboxylation reactions in animal tissues. It is well documented that biotin deficiency in mammals causes pathological changes in the skin and its appendages such as desquamative dermatitis and alopecia. Previous work (Tahmasbi et al 1996) has suggested that deficiency of biotin in the culture medium reduced the viability of wool hair follicles in vitro by mechanisms unknown, but which may involve interference with cell division and or differentiation. The objective of this work was to investigate the effect of biotin deficiency and adequacy on cell proliferation and DNA synthesis as determined by incorporation of [methyl-3H]thymidine in isolated mohair follicles.

Enzymes catalysing the conversion of methionine to cysteine via the transulphuration pathway are found in liver and kidney of sheep (Radcliffe and Eggan, 1974), but their presence has not been established in the hair follicle. The aims of this study were (a) to establish the presence of transulphuration and (b) to determine quantitatively the conversion of methionine to cysteine in isolated secondary hair follicles of the Angora goat.

Exposure to long day photoperiod is known to stimulate milk secretion in dairy cattle, but the mechanism has not been determined. Melatonin (MEL), which is produced by the pineal gland, is stimulated during darkness and has been known to mimic the short day signal when administered during long day exposure. Preliminary evidence has suggested that long term MEL treatment sensitizes lactating goats to subsequent long light exposure (Knight, 1993). The present study was undertaken to test if repeated short cycles of MEL would prime goats to subsequent long light effect on milk yield.