Before making a comparison of grass-fed vs. grainfed beef it is necessary to first define these two beef types. An animal is considered grass-fed, according to the USDA Grass Fed Marketing Claim Standards, when grass and forage are the “feed source consumed for the lifetime of the ruminant animal, with the exception of milk consumed prior to weaning. Animals cannot be fed grain or grain by-prod...

Recent studies pointed out that live insects and their products (meals oils) are suitable protein fat sources can be used in the nutrition of farmed monogastric animals. This is as an alternative to traditional plant-derived animal-derived feedstuffs. To date very little information available concerning effects dietary inclusion on feed digestibility performance ruminant The aim this editorial ...

The development of the non-woolled Dorper sheep breed is briefly reviewed. Despite the large number of Dorpers in South Africa, precious little research results have been published on its nutrition under harsh, arid grazing conditions, especially since this has been an objective for creating and developing the breed. Results from the limited number of trials with free ranging Dorpers on natural...

This review focuses on phytase functionality in the digestive tract of farmed non-ruminant animals and the factors influencing in vivo phytase enzyme activity. In pigs, feed phytase is mainly active in the stomach and upper part of the small intestine, and added phytase activity is not recovered in the ileum. In poultry, feed phytase activities are mainly found in the upper part of the digestiv...

The acquisition of hypsodont molars is often regarded as a key innovation in the history of ruminant ungulates. Hypsodont ruminants diversified rapidly during the later Neogene, circa 15-2 Myr ago, and came to dominate the ruminant fossil record in terms of species diversity. Here we show that hypsodont clades had higher speciation and diversification rates than other clades. Hypsodont species ...

Recurrent droughts and soil degradation have had an adverse impact on food security and have increased malnutrition in Zambia. This has necessitated the promotion of conservation farming and diversification of food production. Velvet beans (Mucuna pruriens) is a crop that offers excellent soil conditioning properties and produces large quantities of beans of high protein and energy content. How...

Equations to describe gas production profiles, obtained using manual or automated systems for in vitro fermentation of ruminant feeds, were derived from first principles by considering a simple three-pool scheme. The pools represented were the potentially degradable and undegradable feed fractions, and accumulated gases. The equations derived and investigated mathematically were the generalized...

There is a growing massive generation of cafeteria food leftover from Ethiopian public higher education institutions, hospitals, hotels, restaurants and other catering providers that could be diverted into economic opportunities. Converting in to livestock feed an alternative feasible option reduce cost, enhance productivity environmental health impacts. This review aimed synthesize, discuss do...

Aim: To determine the metabolizable protein (MP) content of common indigenous feedstuffs used in ruminant nutrition using in situ method. Materials and Methods: Nine ruminant feeds such as maize grain (MG), groundnut cake (GNC), mustard oilcake (MOC), cottonseed cake (CSC), deoiled rice bran (DORB), wheat bran (WB), berseem fodder (BF), maize fodder (MF) and sorghum fodder (SF) were included in...

The purpose of this review article is to discuss the role probiotics in animal nutrition and health. In last 15 years, have become increasingly popular many production systems. Inadequate scientifically-based, all-encompassing, unified data on effects monogastric ruminant animals prompted current review. Feed supplements containing live microorganisms, known as probiotics, are shown improve int...