Negative impacts on the environment, bird well-being, and farm worker health indicate the need for abatement strategies for poultry litter NH(3) generation. Type of bedding affects many parameters related to poultry production including NH(3) losses. In a randomized complete block design, 3 trials compared the cumulative NH(3) volatilization for laboratory-prepared litter (4 bedding types mixed...

Riparian habitats provide detrital subsidies of varying quantities and qualities to recipient ecosystems. We used long-term data from three reference streams (covering 24 stream-years) and 13-year whole-stream organic matter manipulations to investigate the influence of terrestrial detrital quantity and quality on benthic invertebrate community structure, abundance, biomass, and secondary produ...

Seedling recruitment limitations create a demographic bottleneck that largely determines the viability and structure of plant populations and communities, and pose a core restriction on the colonization of novel habitat. We use a shadetolerant, invasive grass, Microstegium vimineum, to examine the interplay between seed and establishment limitations – phenomena that together determine recruitme...

The furnished cage is a new housing system for layers. A current trend in furnished cage design is to increase group size and replace the litter box with a mat provided with litter. An experiment was set up to determine the effects of group size and litter provision on laying performance and egg quality of beak-trimmed ISA Brown hens housed in large furnished cages with more than 12 hens. Six t...

The widespread use of forest litter as animal bedding in central Europe for many centuries gave rise to the first litter manipulation studies, and their results demonstrated that litter and its decomposition are a vital part of ecosystem function. Litter plays two major roles in forest ecosystems: firstly, litterfall is an inherent part of nutrient and carbon cycling, and secondly, litter forms...

Tumour necrosis factor alpha (cachectin) was administered to virgin, lactating and litter-removed rats, and subsequent disposal of an oral [1-14C]triolein (glycerol tri[1-14C]oleate) load examined. Absorption of the lipid and 14CO2 production were significantly depressed in all three groups. [14C]Lipid accumulation was decreased in carcass, liver and adipose tissue (brown and white) of virgin a...

The energetics of lactation was measured in two breeds of domestic dog during peak lactation. Labrador Retrievers (30 kg) had larger litter sizes than Miniature Schnauzers (6 kg). During the 7-day experimental period, Labrador pups increased more in mass than Schnauzer pups, both absolutely and relatively. Consequently, the energy demands of the litter, relative to maternal metabolism, were hig...