The objective of the study was to evaluate chemical composition, in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), and growth performance of weanling Boer-goats supplemented with cowpea seed hulls (CSH) and commercial concentrate / feed (CF) with natural pasture as basal diet. Weanling Boer-goats (n=36) were assigned to 3 treatments comprising of 4 animals each (2 bucklings and 2 females) replicated t...

the objective of the study was to evaluate chemical composition, in vitro dry matter digestibility (ivdmd), and growth performance of weanling boer-goats supplemented with cowpea seed hulls (csh) and commercial concentrate / feed (cf) with natural pasture as basal diet. weanling boer-goats (n=36) were assigned to 3 treatments comprising of 4 animals each (2 bucklings and 2 females) replicated t...

Proper pasture management is important in promoting optimal forage growth and reducing runoff and nutrient loss. Pasture renovation is a management tool that improves aeration by mechanically creating holes or pockets within the soil. Pasture renovation was performed before manure application (poultry litter or swine slurry) on different pasture soils and rainfall simulations were conducted to ...

Ammonia-oxidizing bacteria and ammonia-oxidizing archaea are commonly found together in soils, yet the factors influencing their relative distribution and activity remain unclear. We examined archaeal and bacterial amoA gene distribution, and used a novel bioassay to assess archaeal and bacterial contributions to nitrification potentials in soils spanning a range of land uses (forest, pasture, ...

The movement of frugivores between remnant forests and successional areas is vital for tropical forest tree species to colonize successional habitats. The response of these species to the spatial structure of pasture tree cover is largely unknown. We studied avian frugivores that were found in primary forest edges and large pastures in eastern Amazonia, Brazil. We determined how the small-scale...

Four studies were conducted to a similar experimental design in the U.S. to evaluate the effectiveness of doramectin injectable administered to yearling stocker cattle in the control of gastrointestinal nematodiasis over the subsequent grazing period. Studies were conducted in Wisconsin (WI) and Arkansas (AR) during the summer season. The other two studies were conducted in Georgia (GA) and Mis...

Members of the phylum Acidobacteria are among the most abundant soil bacteria on Earth, but little is known about their response to environmental changes. We asked how the relative abundance and biogeographic patterning of this phylum and its subgroups responded to forest-to-pasture conversion in soils of the western Brazilian Amazon. Pyrosequencing of 16S rRNA genes was employed to assess the ...

Milk production of fall-calving dairy cows during subsequent summer grazing was evaluated in two consecutive years using a total of 80 mid- to late-lactation Holsteins. Cows calved during September and October and grazed from April to August in the following year. In yr 1, 27 cows grazed a native grass pasture and 13 cows grazed a native grass-clover mixed pasture containing 26% red clover and ...

Successful pasture-based milk production systems pivot on balancing dairy cows’ feed requirements with seasonal and annual fluctuations in pasture production. In order to maximise cow production from grazing dairy systems, it is necessary to reach an efficient utilization of grazed grass for feeding cows and the development of appropriate grazing management systems designed to maximize daily pa...