Introduction Antibiotics have been used as therapeutic and prophylactic treatments to control a variety of bacterial infections in livestock for more than 50 years. Different types of antibiotics have also been fed at sub-therapeutic levels to cattle, poultry and swine to increase productivity and feed efficiency (McDermott et al., 2002). The emergence of antibiotic-resistance in many bacteria ...

Seasonal changes in chemical composition represented by crude protein (CP), In vitro true digestibility (IVTD), and fibre components measured neutral detergent (NDF), acid-detergent (ADF) lignin were evaluated at specified cano­py ages stages of maturity Tridax procumb ens. Samples selected from five harvest dates April, June, August, October, December. Chemical com­position was: highly respons...

Chicory is a perennial plant grown in different parts of the world, used as forage for livestock, as folklore remedies, or as a vegetable addition in human diets. There are several varieties of the chicory plant, known differently globally due to its numerous medicinal, culinary, and nutritional qualities. Most parts of the plant contain a potpourri of nutrients ranging within carbohydrates, pr...

Currently, artificial neural networks (ANN) are being applied to livestock production as alternatives to regression analysis for forecasting egg prices [1, 2], selecting the feed mix in the feed industry [3], and predicting the amino acid composition of feed ingredients [4, 5]. The advantages of ANN have been reported. Unlike regression analyses, ANN do not require that a mathematical model be ...

Congress extended the crop insurance program to livestock with the Agricultural Risk Protection Act (ARPA) of 2000. Two livestock insurance products, Livestock Risk Protection (LRP) and Livestock Gross Margin (LGM), were subsequently approved by FCIC for sale beginning in the summer of 2002. Originally, LRP offered insurance against unexpected declines in the market price of hogs in Iowa. In 20...

Antibiotics have been included in the formulation of feed for livestock production for more than 40 years as a strategy to improve feed conversion rates and to reduce costs. The use of antimicrobials as growth-promoting factors (AGP) in sub-therapeutic doses for long periods is particularly favorable for the selection of antimicrobial resistant microorganisms. In the last years, global concern ...