The feed resource for animals is a major cost determinant for profitability in livestock production enterprises, and thus any effort at improving the efficiency of feed use will help to reduce feed cost. Feed conversion ratio, expressed as feed inputs per unit output, is a traditional measure of efficiency that has significant phenotypic and genetic correlations with feed intake and growth trai...

In the beef production system, 70-75% of the total dietary energy is used for maintenance (Ferrell and Jenkins 1984; NRC 1996; Montaldo-Bermudez et al. 1990). Thus, while only 5% of the total life cycle dietary energy consumption is used for protein deposition in beef cattle, swine and poultry are more efficient at 14 and 22%, respectively. The relatively large size, slow maturity and slow repr...

this study was carried out to assess the effects of alfalfa hay level and replacing corn grain by other grains in starter on daily feed intake, average daily gain (adg) and feed efficiency (fe) of pre and post-weaning dairy calves during the pre and post-weaning periods. for this purpose, a database meta-analysis used in the present study. statistical analyses were performed using proc mixed in...

Blood serum concentration of IGF-I was analyzed to determine its relationship with individual postweaning feed efficiency (gain/feed) of 36 crossbred steer calves fed at three levels of feed intake (n = 12 at each level). Diets consisted of a corn silage-based growing diet for 84 d followed by a 91% concentrate finishing diet for 56 d. Dietary intake levels were at 80, 90, or 100% of ad libitum...

Feed costs account for a large proportion of the costs of pig production representing usually around 50% of the total costs (Aranda and Cleary, 2001). in the Australian pig industry this proportion has been much higher recently due to the shortage of feed resulting from the extensive drought. Selection for feed efficiency is always an important topic, independent of the current drought situatio...

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...

this experiment was designed to evaluate the effect of phenolic components of scrophularia striata powder on feed intake, digestion and fermentation, rumination kinetic and rumen ecosystem in lori-bakhtiari sheep. in this experiment, 12 six months old lambs and average weight 30±1.5 kg were fed with 0 (control), 3 and 6 percent scrophularia striata for one month. feed intake, digestibility, rum...

early weanling and rearing of lambs on milk replacer is an important act to increasing flock productivity. two experiments were carried out to compare the voluntary intake and nutrients digestibility ewe milk and commercial milk replacer and their feeding effects on the growth rate, feed intake and feed efficiency of suckling lambs. in experiment 1, eight lambs (two 4-lamb groups) at 31 to 34 d...