Fifty Merino weaner sheep grazing on a wheat stubble at Wongan Hills were fed ad lib. either oat grain mixed with limestone (2% w/w) or just oat grain during the summer and autumn of 1985. The addition of limestone to the oat supplement increased the growth of the sheep from 39 g/day to 83 g/day (P<O.OOl) during the first 70 days of feeding. A summer thunderstorm resulted in a brief germination...

Some effects of l&m endophyte (Acremonium lolioe) on sheep production were evaluated using pure swards of h igh (SO%>) and low (< 5%) endophyte Nui and Ar ik i ryegrass. The proportion of infected t i l lers in high endophyte treatments increased by 19% in 15 months. Ryegrass staggers occurred on both high endophyte ryegrasses being sl ight ly worse on Nui . The peak ryegrass staggers outbreak ...

Grazing areas management is of utmost importance in the Andean region. In the valleys of the Bolivian Cordillera Real near La Paz, pastoralism constitutes the traditional way for people to insure food security and economical sustainability. In these harsh mountains, unique and productive wetlands sustained by glacial water streams are of utmost importance for feeding cattle herds during the dry...

Scrapie is a unique disease whose etiology is through protein infection rather than a biological agent. Genetic polymorphism at 136, 154 and 171 codons provide the susceptibility/ resistance to the disease outbreak. PCR-SSCP has been found to be a robust technique for the identification of genetic variants because of SNP in the ORF (open reading frame) of PrP gene efficiently at low cost, evide...

Diet composition can be estimated in free-ranging animals by the use of n-alkane and long-chain fatty alcohol concentrations in feces. However, this technique involves relatively laborious and costly analytical techniques. Two spectroscopy techniques were investigated as a way of determining whether dietary differences are likely, thus indicating whether the more expensive and labor-intensive t...

Facial eczema, a disease of sheep and, to a lesser extent, of cattle, has long been known in the North Island, New Zealand. The disease is contracted by grazing in pastures infected with the fungus Pithomyces chartarum (Commonwealth Mycological Institute Herbarium no. 74473). Synge & White (1959) isolated from cultures of this fungus a metabolic product which they named sporidesmin. Crystalline...

The genesis of methods for defining the nutritional value of feeds and the nutrient requirements of animals, and their development in the late 19th and early 20th centuries in Europe and the USA are outlined. Current energy and protein feeding systems for ruminants are described. Particular reference is made to the Australian systems which are applicable to grazing animals as well as to those g...

Aims Natural N abundance provides integrated information about nitrogen (N) input, transformation and output, indirectly reflecting N cycling traits within terrestrial ecosystems. However, relationships between natural N abundance and N cycling processes are poorly understood in China. Here, our primary objectives were to (i) examine the effects of grazing at varying levels of intensity on dN o...

Scattered oaks in traditional silvopastoral systems (i.e., “dehesas”) provide important ecological services. However, livestock intensification applied to these over the last century has affected architecture of young oak plants. This unsuitable rangeland management practice jeopardizes long-term system sustainability. Here we examine alterations regenerating plants Mediterranean dehesas under ...

Studies have been made of the digestion of nitrogen (N) and of organic matter (OM) in sheep offered thirteen gramineous roughages of widely differing nutritive value. It was concluded that the true digestibility of crude protein in the intestines ranged from 74 to 82% (mean 78%). These estimates were based on observations that, while metabolic faecal N (MFN) was equal to 0.4 g/100 g OM intake, ...