Nutrition is a potent mediator of developmental plasticity. If food is scarce, developing organisms may invest into growth to outgrow size-dependent mortality (short-term benefit) and/or into an efficient digestion system (long-term benefit). We investigated this potential trade-off, by determining the influence of food availability on juvenile body and organ growth, and on adult digestive effi...

Limited energy intake may result in the down-regulation of cellular defense mechanisms, or if maintained, result in trade-offs with other physiological systems. To examine this, juvenile rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) were fed full-rations (1.17% body weight [BW]/day), half-rations (0.59% [BW]/day), or fasted for 9 weeks followed by refeeding at full-rations. BW and liver somatic index (LS...

the aim followed in the present research was to study the effects of reduction in dietary crude protein on milk production and on blood components in lactating holstein dairy cows when in heat stress. a number of 63 holstein dairy cows (71 ± 16.5 dim) were chosen to be made use of in a randomized complete block design. the cows were randomly assigned to any one of the three experimental rations...