Maize and peas that have undergone physical processing are used routinely in cereal mixes for equines. However, little information is available on how physical processing of maize and peas affects degradation dynamics in equines. This experiment examines the effect of two physical processing methods (micronisation and extrusion) on in situ degradation of maize and peas in the caecum of ponies

Two caecally-fistulated mature Welsh-cross pony geldings (approx. LW 270kg) were offered ad libitum grass hay plus minerals. Incubation bags (monofilament polyester 6.5 x 20cm, 41? m pores, 16mg/cm2 sample size) containing either unprocessed maize (UM), micronised maize (MM), extruded maize (EM), unprocessed peas (UP), micronised peas (MP) or extruded peas (EP) were incubated in the caecum for fixed times according to both a forward (0, 2, 4, 6, 12, 8, 24, 48h) and reverse (48, 24, 8, 4, 12, 6, 2, 0h) incubation sequence. For each feedstuff residues from each time were bulked within pony and across incubation sequence for subsequent analysis of dry matter (DM) and starch (STC).

The fatty acid and vitamin E concentration in the diets of growing pigs are known to affect backfat and meat quality. The aim of this study was to determine the effects of substitution of a carbohydrate dietary source (maize) by a series of oils on the fatty acid (FA) composition of backfat and marbling fat at slaughter. Vitamin E concentration in muscle (longissimus dorsi ) was also determined.

Several methods have been introduced to estimate the optimum level of dietary nutrients such as metabolisable energy (ME), crude protein (CP), and lysine (Lys) in broiler chicken production. Performance optimisation is usually measured as maximising body weight gain and minimising adjusted feed conversion ratio (Adj FCR). One useful method is to model a system that requires an explicit mathematical input-output relationship. Group method of data handling-type neural network (GMDH-type NN) and genetic algorithm (GA) is used to model and optimise an output in an imprecise environment (Yao, 1999). The purpose of this study was to apply the GMDH-type NN and GA methods to provide an optimised formula for broiler chicken performance based on the dietary level of ME, CP, and Lys.

Contamination of pig feed with enteric pathogens such as salmonellae has implications for the dissemination of salmonellosis in pigs and subsequent spread of these organisms through the food chain to humans. Liquid feed has the potential to be a vector for enteropathogens unless it is sterilised. However, if liquid feed is fermented with lactic acid bacteria (LAB), the production of lactic acid and consequent reduction in pH have an antimicrobial effect that can eliminate potential pathogens from the feed. The objective of this study was to determine whether the temperature at which fermented liquid feed (FLF) is fermented and maintained and the length of fermentation time affect the ability of Salmonellae to survive in the feed.

Creep feeding enhances weaning weight (King et al., 1998) and may also enhance early post-weaning growth rate, both of which are positively correlated to subsequent performance (Miller et al., 1999). When preweaning feeds are offered, current practice in the UK is to feed either dry feed from day 14 to weaning or acidified milk replacer from days 3 to 18. Intakes of dry feed pre-weaning are generally low whereas liquid feeds are consumed more readily. Our objectives were 1) to offer creep feed as a gruel to test whether this would enhance intake of creep and provide an alternative to milk replacer, and 2) to provide all three forms of supplementary feeding together to determine whether this further increased performance. Piglets receiving no supplementary pre-weaning feed were the negative control.

Patterson et al. (2004, 2005) obtained positive intake and milk production responses to the inclusion of maize silage in grass silage-based diets under Northern Ireland conditions. However, fermented whole crop and high dry matter (DM) milled urea/urease-treated whole crop wheats both increased forage intake, but had no significant effect on milk production. The aim of the present study was to further investigate the milk production potential of milled high DM whole crop wheat, in both urea-treated and ‘fermented’ forms, and fermented triticale whole crop, as a partial replacement for grass silage.

It is well known that transportation exposes livestock to stress which impairs welfare and affects productivity. Recent studies in pigs have investigated mortality during transport (Warriss & Brown 1994) and effects of loading density (Lambooy & Engel 1991) on welfare. Recent investigations in sheep have focused on the effects of handling and transport on bruising (Jarvis & Cockram 1994). Little attention has been focused on specific welfare guidelines which take into account the requirements of particular species. In the present study we compared the behavioural and physiological responses of pigs and sheep during road transport with a view to establishing whether guidelines of welfare should be species specific.

The efficiency of nitrogen (N) utilisation in dairy cows fed grass silage diets is normally low and is related to an impaired utilisation of N in the rumen. Choice of carbohydrate type may affect this efficiency, influencing milk production and composition, and changing the output of N in faeces or urine. This experiment was undertaken to examine the effect of different iso-energetic supplements containing contrasting energy sources on N utilisation and milk production in early/mid lactation dairy cows fed early cut partially wilted grass silage.

Six iso-energetic supplements were formulated as treatments; four to contain 160 g CP/kg DM and contrasting carbohydrate sources, viz.: neutral detergent fibre (NDF; wheatfeed, 350 g/kg, molassed and unmolassed sugar beet pulp 412 g/kg); low degradability starch (LDS; maize grain 500 g/kg, wheat 237 g/kg); high degradability starch (HDS; wheat and barley grain 812 g/kg); and soluble sugars (SS; molasses, 525 g/kg, citrus pulp, 125 g/kg).

Fungal treatment has been recently considered as a promising method for improving the nutritive value of straw (Zadrazil et al., 1997). Several studies have been conducted to identify species of white-rot fungi for assessing their ability to improve the nutritive value of straw (Yamakamwa et al., 1992). Since there are many species of fungi in nature, there is an interest in characterising of some species. The objectives of this experiment were to study the effect of five Pleurotus fungi on the chemical composition, in vitro digestibility and in sacco degradability of wheat straw and evaluate their effect in upgrading the nutritive value of lignicellulosic materials.

The most common and intractable condition which leads to lameness in cattle is claw horn disruption (CHD). Although many risk factors have been associated with CHD, such as calving and housing, the mechanisms of tissue damage are unknown. It is proposed here that this chronic condition results from failure of the suspensory apparatus of the hoof, leading to solear ulcers and white line disease. The aim of this study is to develop methodologies which permit quantitative evaluations of the relationships between connective tissue biochemistry and the biomechanical properties of supportive structures of the hoof.

The project, conducted at ADAS Pwllpeiran, was based on mating individuals from several sources in Wales, using multiple ovulation and embryo transfer (MOET) to generate substantial numbers of progeny per sire and dam combination. The project represents the first attempt to create co-operative links between Welsh Mountain sheep breeding groups in Wales. The current analysis was conducted to determine whether sire and dam origins affected weaning weight.

The efficiency of utilisation of grass nitrogen for milk protein production tends to be low, because rumen fermentable energy sources limit the amount of diet amino acids that are incorporated into microbial protein. As a consequence, absorption of ammonia from the rumen and excretion of high-N waste products is considerable. Previous studies (Miller et al., 1999) have shown that the efficiency of use of feed N can be increased in late-lactation dairy cows by feeding ryegrass bred to contain a high concentration of water soluble carbohydrates (WSC). The objective of this study was to investigate milk production and N partitioning in early lactation dairy cows using the same high WSC ryegrass variety, AberDove.

Herrero et al. (1996) found that NIRS was able to calibrate and cross-validate the static values of gas produced from the incubation of Kikuyu grass using manual in vitro gas production. However, the fermentation kinetic coefficients were not calibrated satisfactorily by NIRS. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of NIRS as a means of predicting fermentation and the France et al. (1993) model parameters obtained from the automated in vitro gas production experiments for a range of concentrate feeds.

Thirty-eight milled (1 mm) samples representing three typical concentrate feed types were scanned over the infra-red region covering 1100 to 2300 nm using an NIRS systems 6500 spectrometer. Optical data recorded as log 1/Reflectance were transformed to their standard normal variates and detrended values (SNV-D).

The open-field test can be used to measure temperament in dairy cows (Kilgour, 1975). Temperament or emotional reactivity reflects an animal’s ability to cope with an environmental change or challenge (Lawerence et al, 1991; Manteca & Deag, 1993), and consequently assessment of this can be effective in the development of novel production systems. The aim of this experiment was to identify temperament differences between two breeds of dairy cattle, Dutch Holsteins (DH) and Norwegian Dairy Cattle (NC), in two production systems.

The re-grouping of sows is a common procedure in pig production systems and is one which can have adverse consequences for both welfare and production (Arey and Edwards, 1998). Sows in an indoor dynamic group system, in which group structure was changed repeatedly, had a high rate of returns to service which may have been due to them receiving greater levels of aggression (Rigat et al., 1998). The aim of this experiment was to determine the effects of re-grouping on sow aggression and how this affected behaviour, immune function and productivity.

Apoptosis is a physiologically active process whereby cells die in a programmed manner (Stenn et al 1993). Growth of hair occurs as a consequence of proliferation and differentiation of the epidermal cells in the bulb of the hair follicles. Reduction of hair growth or loss of follicle viability may arise from reduction in proliferation, and also from apoptosis of epidermal hair shaft-forming cells. Increases in apoptosis have been associated with reduction in expression of the apoptosis inhibitor bcl2 (Lindner et al 1997). Previous studies (Tahmasbi et al 1998) have shown that biotin deficiency reduced the viability of mohair follicles and thymidine uptake in vitro. The aim of this work was to investigate the presence of apoptosis and bcl2 in follicles which maintained growth or were quiescent following culture in media unsupplemented or supplemented with biotin.

Scrapie is a transmissible spongiform encephalopathy (TSE) and belongs to a category of incurable diseases that include BSE in cattle. An association exists between the Prion-Protein (PrP) genotype of an animal and the risk of developing disease after exposure (Tongue et al., 2004). This PrP genetic information is the basis of the National Scrapie Plan (NSP) which aims, through genotyping, to eradicate those individuals which have the susceptible alleles. Studies into scrapie risk (Jeffrey et al., 2002) have highlighted several alleles which confer scrapie susceptibility. The NSP have used these alleles to categorise individuals according to risk with group one being most scrapie resistant to group five being least resistant. VRQ alleles are synonymous with infection however the ARQ affords susceptibility but not the disease itself. Genotype may however not be the sole indicator of scrapie risk. There is an inference of a relationship between phenotypic characteristics (hornedness, coat colour) and scrapie risk. These alternative indicators of scrapie risk may affect the final choice of susceptible individuals. Scrapie risk studies carried out on the Shetland Isles (Jeffrey et al., 2002) investigated the alleles concerned with scrapie infection. Results confirmed that VRQ alleles are synonymous with scrapie infection however the ARQ alleles, even though they afford susceptibility, do not necessarily confer disease, the animal still has to be exposed to the scrapie agent. Using survey-type questionnaires, the study investigated any potential relationship between the PrP gene, coat colour and hornedness.

Feeding of lowland sheep on straw-based systems during pregnancy and in early lactation has shown that ewe and lamb performance can be satisfactory, providing adequate compound supplementation is fed (Davies and Chapple, 1995). Whole barley and soya bean meal has been the standard ration. However, soya bean meal is imported and may not be fully traceable. Maize or barley distillers fed with beans could provide traceable protein to replace soya bean meal in sheep diets. Experiments with housed early-lambing ewes and ewes suckling twin lambs at grass have shown that traceable feeds, based on molassed sugar beet and either maize or barley distillers grains, can replace a barley/soya supplement when fed with straw based diets in late pregnancy or at grass (Chapple et al., 1999 and 2000). The objective of this work was to evaluate the effects on ewe and lamb performance of feeding sugar beet feeds with distillers grains and beans to March-lambing ewes on a straw-based system.

Lambs are born hypoimmunocompetent and are dependent on the absorption of immunoglobulin G (IgG) from colostrum for immunity in early life, similar to the situation with vitamin E (vit. E), which is also involved in maximising immunocompetence (Puls, 1994). High-level iodine supplementation during late gestation period of the ewe results in the production of progeny with an impaired ability to absorb colostral IgG and vit. E post partum (Boland et al., 2006). Iodine is essential in the synthesis of the thyroid hormones, thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3; McDonald et al., 2002) that regulate the metabolic pattern of most cells and play a vital role in the process of cellular differentiation, growth and development in the foetus and neonate (Stanbury, 1996). The objectives of this experiment were to determine the effects of offering supplementary iodine for the final three weeks of pregnancy on serum vit. E, IgG, T3 and T4 concentrations at 1h, 24h and 72h post partum.

Non-digestible oligosaccharides (NDOs), including fructo-oligosaccharides (FOS) and trans-galacto-oligosaccharides (TOS), are not digested by endogenous enzymes, but may be fermented by bacteria such as lactobacilli and bifidobacteria (Tomomatsu, 1994). Thus, dietary NDOs may alter fermentation characteristics of the microflora of the host. In this experiment, in vivo and in vitro fermentation characteristics of NDOs in weaner pigs were studied, using the cumulative gas production technique (Theodorou et al.,1994).

A NDO-free control diet (CON), with oatshuskmeal (OHM) as a fibre source, and this diet with 40 g FOS (FOS40) or TOS (TOS40) per kg (w/w against cellulose) was restrictedly fed for 7 weeks (2.6*Em) to 3 groups of four 35-day old individually housed weaner pigs. Total faeces were collected from day 13-18 to determine crude fibre digestibility. Pigs were fitted with a PVTC-cannula on day 21 (Van Leeuwen et al, 1991). Inocula for gas production were anaerobically prepared from faeces (day 14-16) and ileal chyme (day 33-35, via PVTC-cannula). Samples were diluted (1:4) with sterile saline and filtered through cheese cloth. Five ml filtrate were injected into airtight bottles, containing 80 ml growth medium and no substrate (BLA) or 0.25 g FOS, TOS or OHM as sole energy source.