Economic values or weights measure the net economic gain per unit genetic increase of a given trait. These were derived for sow productivity traits for use as weighting factors in a dam line selection index used by purebred or nucleus dam line breeders. The profit function approach was used in order to provide flexibility to alternative production systems, market requirements or population trai...

Boar taint is an offensive odor that affects the smell and taste of cooked pork, resulting mainly from the accumulation of skatole and androstenone in the back fat of intact males. The aim of the study was to estimate genetic parameters for skatole and androstenone and their genetic relationship to production and litter size traits. Concentrations of skatole and androstenone in the back fat wer...

We measured larval growth rates of 2 dominant stream detritivore groups to assess the mechanism underlying declines in invertebrate production following exclusion of terrestrial litter inputs to a forested headwater stream. Larval Tallaperla spp. (Plecoptera:Peltoperlidae) were chosen as representative shredders and non-Tanypodinae Chironomidae (Diptera) were selected as representative collecto...

BACKGROUND To achieve a competitive reproductive performance in organic pig farming is a major challenge for this farming practise. Practices and research data regarding conventional pig production are not always applicable to organic production, why field studies are needed to identify differences in performance between organic and conventional pig farms in order to identify areas for improvem...

Commercial poultry production management practices have been under increased public scrutiny driven by concerns for food safety and animal welfare. Within the United States, wood shavings and raised plastic floors are common flooring systems used in duck production. It is intuitive that each flooring type would present different management challenges influencing physical characteristics of grow...

The mangrove ecosystem is one of the ecosystems with high productivity due to input organic matter from litter. Litter production main supporter fisheries potential, namely as a food source for aquatic biota. On Manomadehe Island, community still continues cut down mangroves be used firewood and building materials. Activities like this will result in damage forest decrease amount litter product...

In arid ecosystems, abiotic processes facilitate the physical and chemical degradation of plant litter to the extent that decomposition models that use climatic and litter composition variables as surrogates for microbial activity are not predictive. The purpose of this study was to estimate the potential contribution of photodegradation to the decomposition of plant litters that varies in arch...

Sow production indicators, including litter size, litter weight, and the length of time that sows remained in the herd (sow longevity), were used to characterize sow performance and profitability. Sow longevity and production records from 148,568 sows in 32 commercial herds from Central Illinois from January 1995 to May 2001 were analyzed using survival and repeatability models, respectively. T...

Global change-induced alterations in litter quality and soil moisture regime will likely impact grassland C and N dynamics, but how these changes interact with edaphic properties across the landscape is unclear. We measured the effects of litter quality, soil type, soil moisture level, and soil drying-rewetting frequency (D-RW) on microbial C and N mineralization of litter and soil organic matt...