(allowed to eat according to appetite). Generally, this allows for maximum performance because energy consumed above the maintenance requirement is available for gain. However, recent work suggests that limit-fed animals may have better feed efficiency. This has economic importance in that changes in feed efficiency have three times the impact on cost of gain as an equal change in rate of gain....

Residual feed intake (RFI) is a unique measure of feed efficiency (FE) and an alternative to traditional measures. The RFI is defined as the difference between the actual feed intake of a pig and its expected feed intake based on a given amount of growth and backfat. Therefore, selecting pigs with a low RFI (LRFI) results in a more feed-efficient animal for a given rate of growth. Our objective...

An accurate feed formulation is essential for optimizing feed efficiency and minimizing feed cost for swine and poultry production. Because energy and amino acid (AA) account for the major cost of swine and poultry diets, a precise determination of the availability of energy and AA in feedstuffs is essential for accurate diet formulations. Therefore, the methodology for determining the availabi...

The aim of the present experiment was to examine the effect of coccidia challenge and natural betaine supplementation on performance, nutrient utilization, and intestinal lesion scores of broiler chickens fed suboptimal level of dietary methionine. The experimental design was a 2×2 factorial arrangement of treatments evaluating two levels of betaine supplementation (0 and 960 g betaine/t of fee...

Producing organic fish diets requires that the use of both fishmeal and fish oil (FO) be minimized and replaced by sustainable, organic sources. The purpose of the present study was to replace FO with organic oils and evaluate the effects on feed intake, feed conversion ratio (FCR), daily specific growth rate (SGR) and nutrient digestibility in diets in which fishmeal protein was partly substit...

There is a need in the feed industry for a rapid means of evaluating the nutritive value of feeds and feed ingredients. Chemical analysis provides only basic information and most of the laboratory techniques take too long for this information to be of use in feed formulation at the feed mill. Near infrared reflectance spectroscopy (NIRS) has been proposed as an alternative means of predicting n...

In a growth trial with pigs, the effect of the inclusion of 150 and 300 g of Lupinus albus seeds/kg of feed in the diet was investigated. Parameters studied were: growth, feed utilization, digestibility of nutrients, slaughter and carcass characteristics. Spray dried whole egg powder, a speci®c inhibitor of lectins in L. albus seeds was also added (50 g/kg of feed), with the aim of verifying wh...

the effects of a multi enzyme were evaluated on performance and nutrient digestibility in african domesticated ostrich at 14 months ages. there were three treatments as; common diet (1), common diet plus multi enzyme (0.350 gkg -1) (2) and common diet plus multi enzyme (0.700 gkg -1) (3). 18 ostrich were used in this experiment (6 birds per treatment). there was significant effect of enzyme sup...

Feeding and digestibility trials with growing-finishing pigs were carried out to investigate the effects of liquid feed and fermented liquid feed on live weight gain, feed conversion ratio, nutrient digestibility and plasma urea nitrogen (PUN). The treatments were: a basal diet (BS, dry feed), non-fermented liquid feed (NFLF, water added immediately before feeding), fermented liquid feed (FLF, ...

In mid-season prime lamb production it is essential to optimise lamb performance from grazed pasture to minimise costs and so improve margins from sheep production. This is achieved by continuously supplying high feed value herbage for the duration of the grazing season. Feed value is a combination of nutritive value (i.e. digestibility) and intake characteristics (which is a combination of her...