Although reproductive performance is one of the most critical components in swine production, it has been one of the most difficult areas for geneticists and animal breeders to improve. Traditional quantitative methods such as selection, inbreeding and cross-breeding have had limited success in this area (Rothschild, 1996). This is primarily due to the low heritabilities, sex-limited nature and...

Plant genetic variation and herbivores can both influence ecosystem functioning by affecting the quantity and quality of leaf litter. Few studies have, however, investigated the effects of herbivore load on litter decomposition at plant genotype level. We reduced insect herbivory using an insecticide on one half of field-grown Betula Pendula saplings of 17 genotypes, representing random intrapo...

Maintaining dry litter that chickens can “work” is a key objective for successful meat chicken production as it reduces the likelihood of health and welfare issues by breaking down working excreta contributing to water evaporation process. Litter turning practice may help reduce moisture content within accelerating drying process when combined with effective ventilation. However, information re...

The objective of the present study was to determine the effect of wood shavings, wheat straw, and their mixture as litter material on growth performance in broilers from 1 d to 42 d of age. A total of one hundred and fifty oneday-old Hubbard chicks were used in our experiment, weighed and assigned at random into 6 pens of 25 birds each. There were two replicates of each of the following three t...

0169-5347/99/$ – see front matter © 1999 Elsevier Science. All rights reserved. PII: S0169-5347(98)01505-5 5 significant long-term changes in nutrient mineralization, which causes major and often unexpected changes in plant species composition. Combined with Foster and Gross’s observation about the strong effects of litter on plant species establishment, these results imply that litter producti...

water and nutrient availability are two major constraints to forage maize production in arid and semi-arid areas; however, the effect of different n levels from organic and inorganic sources on nutrient (i.e., n and p) efficiency under drought stress conditions is not well known for maize faming. thus, a field study was conducted with the objective of determining the effect of n fertilization a...

The reuse of poultry litter is a common practice in the Brazilian poultry industry for flocks of healthy chickens, due to 2 fundamental aspects: production cost and environmental sustainability. Litter is a potentially important source of infection for Salmonella, which requires characterization by microbiological analysis in different aspects of management and reuse. The objective of this stud...

Ammonia (NH3) volatilization from poultry litter results in a buildup of atmospheric NH3 in chicken houses, which is detrimental to both farm laborers and birds. Ammonia loss from litter is detrimental to the external environment because it results in acid rain, as well as low N/P ratios in litter, which increase the likelihood of excessive P runoff into adjacent water bodies. The objectives of...

We studied litterfall dynamic of tree plantations in Dez River floodplain, at 14 to 15 years old. The plantations consist of Populus euphratica Oliv., Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehnh., E. microtheca F. Muell, Acacia farnesiana (L.) Willd., A. salicina Lindl., A. saligna (Labill.) H. Wendl., A. stenophylla Benth. and Dalbergia sissoo Roxb. Litterfall was different between the tree species, and le...

Abstract Peat swamp forest is an important ecosystem in global climate change through its high carbon content and role as a sink. In peat forest, there near-closed cycle of nutrients including carbon. order to better understand the rate plant litter production decomposition, study was carried out three secondary forests Central Kalimantan, Indonesia. Litterfall collection undertaken using trap ...