Selection for the wide range of traits for which most beef breed associations calculate expected progeny differences focus on increasing the outputs of the production system, thereby increasing the genetic potential of cattle for reproductive rates, weights, growth rates, and end-product yield. Feed costs, however, represent a large proportion of the variable cost of beef production and genetic...

Feed efficiency has a major influence on the unit cost of beef cattle production. Gibb and McAllister (1999) have reported that a 5% improvement in feed efficiency has an economic impact four times greater than a 5% improvement in average daily gain. In addition, the cost of feed is second only to fixed costs in importance to the profitability of commercial beef operations (Basarab, 1999). The ...

Improving feed efficiency in dairy cattle is a costly and complex challenge, due to the difficulty in measuring individual animal feed intakes and the need to consider energy demands for growth, lactation, maintenance, health, and fertility. Research projects are underway in several countries to provide genomic breeding values for dry matter intake or residual feed intake of dairy bulls based o...

A new feed additive, salinomycin, was fed to 70 finishing steers (initial weight of 772lb) and 70 finishing heifers (initial weight of 4951b) for 139 and 145 days, respectively. Salinomycin was fed at 0, 5, 10, 15, and 20 g per ton of a ground corn based diet. Averaged across salinomycin levels, gain was increased 2.6 percent and efficiency of feed use was improved by 7.8 percent. Feed intake w...

Theexperiment was conducted to investigate the growth performance and feed conversion efficiency of crossbred heifer at different age level in Government Dairy Farm in Bogra, Bangladesh. Twelve female crossbred heifers were equally distributed (n=3) into four groups [Group A: (7±2 months), B: (12±2 months), C: (15±2 months) and D: (20±2 months)] according to age and fed concentrate mix, rice st...

since the last decades, hydroponic fodder production systems have been experienced in some parts of the world. during the germination process, the growth of embryo results in the rupture of the seed coat and emergence of a young plant which it reaches to about 20cm height in a week. apparently, the concept of putting one kilogram of seeds into a hydroponic system to obtaine several kilograms of...

SCY-635 is a novel nonimmunosuppressive cyclosporine-based analog that exhibits potent suppression of hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in vitro. SCY-635 inhibited the peptidyl prolyl isomerase activity of cyclophilin A at nanomolar concentrations but showed no detectable inhibition of calcineurin phosphatase activity at concentrations up to 2 microM. Metabolic studies indicated that SCY-635 ...

Research regarding the association between the microbial community and host feed efficiency in cattle has primarily focused on the rumen. However, the various microbial populations within the gastrointestinal tract as a whole are critical to the overall well-being of the host and need to be examined when determining the interplay between host and nonhost factors affecting feed efficiency. The o...

The Nuclear receptor 1 family I member 3 (NR1I3), also known as the Constitutive Androstane Receptor (CAR), was initially characterized as a key regulator of xenobiotic metabolism. However, recent biochemical and structural data suggest that NR1I3 is activated in response to metabolic and nutritional stress in a ligand-independent manner. Thus, we prospected the Bovine NR1I3 gene for polymorphi...