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...

Pigs from four sire lines were allocated to a series of low energy (LE, 3.15 to 3.21 Mcal ME/kg) corn-soybean meal-based diets with 16% wheat midds or high energy diets (HE, 3.41 to 3.45 Mcal ME/kg) with 4.5 to 4.95% choice white grease. All diets contained 6% DDGS. The HE and LE diets of each of the four phases were formulated to have equal lysine:Mcal ME ratios. Barrows (N = 2,178) and gilts ...

Five hundred thirty-four steers were evaluated over a 2-yr period to develop and validate prediction equations for estimating carcass composition from live animal ultrasound measurements and to compare these equations with those developed from carcass measurements. Within 5 d before slaughter, steers were ultrasonically measured for 12th-rib fat thickness (UFAT), longissimus area (ULMA), rump f...

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...

The effects of selected herbal dietary supplements on the growth performance and carcass quality of broiler chicken were investigated. Three hundred and eight day-old, male broiler chicks of Indian River strain were randomly allotted to seven experimental diets namely negative control, 0.0125% flavomycin (positive control), 0.1% Moringa leaf powder (MLP), 0.05% Moringa leaf powder, 0.035% Zigbi...

In this study, a total of 163 young-bull carcasses belonging to seven Spanish native beef cattle breeds showing substantial carcass variation were photographed in order to obtain digital assessments of carcass dimensions and profiles. This dataset was then analysed using machine learning (ML) methodologies to ascertain the influence of carcass profiles on the grade obtained using the SEUROP sys...

Real-time ultrasound is a useful technology for measuring carcass composition in live animals and to select future seedstock for carcass merit. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the use of ultrasound to predict the amount of fat and muscle in Iberian pigs. A total of 163 Iberian pigs were ultrasonically scanned one day before slaughter, and carcass composition was also dete...

the possibility of in vivo carcass trait prediction using the ultrasound measurements obtained between 12th and 13th ribs was studied. attention was paid to several carcass traits such as carcass backfat thickness (cbft), carcass longissimus dorsi muscle (clma) and carcass weight (hcw). also, the effects of the flock, as the fixed effects, and body weight (bw), as covariate, on these traits wer...

The effects of contrasting photoperiods (16L:8D vs 8L:16D) and ambient temperatures (5 C vs 18 C vs 31 C) on performance traits of ewe lambs have been evaluated. Seventy-two lambs were paired and allotted to one of six treatment groups in a 2 x 3 factorial experiment. The lambs were fed a pelleted diet ad libitum. throughout the 14-wk study (i.e., as lambs progressed from 12 to 26 wk of age). A...

This investigation aimed to study polymorphism of growth hormone (GH), growth hormone receptor (GHR), and insulin like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) genes and their associations with growth and carcass traits in Mazandaran native chicken. 200 male chicks were reared and slaughtered at 12 weeks of age. Traits including live weight at 4, 8 and 12 weeks of age, body weight and weights of heart, liver, g...