Objectives were to investigate the effects of prolonged gestational and/or postnatal heat stress on performance and carcass composition of market weight pigs. Pregnant gilts were exposed to gestational heat stress (GHS, 28°C to 34°C, diurnal) or thermal neutral (18°C to 22°C, diurnal) conditions during the entire gestation or during the first or second half of gestation. At 14 wk of age (58 ± 5...

This study was carried out to assess the effect of breed, sex, post-weaning nutrition, live weight at slaughter and their interactions on the cholesterol content in carcass fat of lambs. The carcasses were obtained from lambs of three indigenous Greek dairy breeds of sheep, the Boutsko (B), Serres (S) and Karagouniko (K) breed. After weaning (at approximately 42 days), the lambs of the three br...

Fatness is one of the major factors affecting the market value of hogs and hog carcasses. The preference of consumers for the leaner cuts of meat and the competition of vegetable oils have resulted in comparatively low prices for lard, fat cuts, and very fat hogs. Breeders and research workers are consequently endeavoring to select and establish types and strains of hogs that will produce the m...

This study was conducted to compare carcass EPD predicted using yearling live animal data and/or progeny carcass data, and to quantify the association between the carcass phenotype of progeny and the sire EPD. The live data model (L) included scan weight, ultrasound fat thickness, longissimus muscle area, and percentage of intramuscular fat from yearling (369 d of age) Simmental bulls and heife...

The purpose of this study was to investigate the closed-house cage density near outlet that affected production carcass, non-carcass, and abdominal fat finisher phase broilers ascertain number could produce ideal amount low fat. experiment employed a completely randomized design with four treatments: T0 (10 birds per square meter), T1 (12 T2 (14 T3 (16 meter). It replicated five times using dif...

The objective of this study was to estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations of body weight at 6 weeks of age (BW6), as well as final carcass yield, and moisture, protein, fat and ash contents, using data from 3,422 F2 chickens originated from reciprocal cross between a broiler and a layer line. Variance components were estimated by the REML method, using animal models for evaluating random ...

Sires representing seven diverse breeds were mated to Hereford cows over four years and the progeny slaughtered. Highly marbled Jersey and Wagyu crossbred cattle had softer fat (6% lower melting point) than the other breeds. The Angus crosses marbled like Jersey and Wagyu, but had harder fat similar to the very lean Belgian Blue. Hereford, South Devon and Limousin crosses had harder fat than An...

A total of 480 pigs was used in an experiment conducted in a commercial research facility to determine the influence of fat additions to the growing-finishing diet on pig performance and carcass composition. Adding fat to the diet from 80 to 265 lb increased ADG and F/G by 1 and 2%, respectively, for each 1% added fat. The growth response was greatest during the initial phase of the trial (80 t...

An experiment involving crosses among selection and control lines was conducted to partition direct and maternal additive genetic response to 20 yr of selection for 1) weaning weight, 2) yearling weight, and 3) index of yearling weight and muscle score. Selection response was evaluated for efficiency of gain, growth from birth through market weight, and carcass characteristics. Heritability and...

Every 3 mo for a 2-yr period, two weaned Holstein steer calves (94.5 kg) were randomly assigned to each of four slaughter age groups (3, 6, 9, and 12 mo). Urea dilution was performed before slaughter, and urea space (US) was calculated as total volume and as a percentage of body weight (BW) and empty body weight (EBW). The relationships between US (kg, % EBW and % BW), BW, and EBW and carcass s...