The role of bacteria in animal development, ecology and evolution is increasingly well understood, yet little is known of how animal behaviour affects bacterial communities. Animals that benefit from defending a key resource from microbial competitors are likely to evolve behaviours to control or manipulate the animal's associated external microbiota. We describe four possible mechanisms by whi...

The effects of the proportion of concentrates in grass silage-based diets and of restricted dry matter (DM) intake were examined using 156 Simmental cross Friesian steers which were initially 389 kg live weight. The animals were reared on high-forage diets until 14 months of age and were then given grass silage ad libitum and supplemented with rolled barley which constituted (1) 0, (2) 120, (3)...

Weanling crossbred pigs (Sus scrofa; 72 barrows and 72 gilts; BW = 7.4 ± 1.1 kg) were used to evaluate dietary supplemental trace mineral (Cu, Fe, Mn, and Zn) source (inorganic vs. organic) and deletion (0, 2, 4, and 6 wk preharvest) on growth performance, carcass characteristics, and pork quality. Pigs were blocked by BW, ancestry, and sex, and randomly allotted to 24 pens, and fed a diet cont...

Boars, barrows and barrows implanted with testosterone or testosterone propionate via polydimethylsiloxane (Silastic) capsules were placed on test in individual pens at 10 weeks of age. Each animal was slaughtered at 110 kg and evaluated for growth rate, efficiency of feed utilization, carcass merit and the incidence of objectionable odors (boar taint). Five capsules of testosterone or testoste...

The La Brea Tar Pits, the world's richest and most important Late Pleistocene fossil locality, offers unsurpassed insights into southern California's past environments. Recent studies at Rancho La Brea document that insects serve as sensitive and valuable paleoecological and taphonomic indicators. Of the thousands of fossil bird and mammal bones recovered from the Tar Pits, insect trace damage ...

A multi-trait selection index designed to improve the overall economic performance of hill sheep, including both maternal and lamb traits, has been developed and tested in a selection experiment over 7 years. Two versions of the index were tested, with different economic weights applied to the traits, on two different hill farms: one version including maternal and growth traits; the other versi...

This article reports on the use of comprehensive two-dimensional gas chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (GC×GC-TOFMS) for forensic geotaphonomy application. Gravesoil samples were collected at various depths and analyzed for their volatile organic compound (VOC) profile. A data processing procedure was developed to highlight potential candidate marker molecules related to the decom...

to investigate the possibility of using ultrasound to estimate carcass composition, 38 moghani male lambs were made use of. subcutaneous fat depth (usft) and longissimus dorsi muscle depth (ulmd) and area (ulma) were assessed in the site between 12th and 13th ribs by using ultrasound equipped with an 8 mhz probe. the lambs were then slaughtered. carcasses were cold stored at 4°c for 24 hours an...

In a 4-yr study, early-weaned Simmental steers (n = 192) of known genetics were individually fed to determine genetic, performance, and carcass factors explaining variation in carcass value and profitability. Steers were weaned at 88.0 +/- 1.1 d of age and pen-fed a high-concentrate diet (108.99 dollars/t) for 84.5 +/- 0.4 d before allotment. Calves were implanted with Synovex C at weaning and ...

The objectives of this study were to study the relationship between in vivo ultrasound measurements and cold carcass measurements at 4 anatomical points of the backbone, and to establish regression equations to estimate carcass composition within the cold carcass weight range for Ternasco lambs (8 to 12.5 kg) by using ultrasonic measurements taken at a single location. Measurements of subcutane...