The effects of purified non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) fractions (soluble, guar gum (SOL) and insoluble, cellulose (INSOL)) NSP fractions on digesta passage rate, retention time and voluntary feed intake was studied in grower pigs. Compared to control, adding SOL+INSOL increased digesta viscosity, slowed digesta flow rate and increased retention time in the total tract. Voluntary feed intake a...

The main objective of this study was to investigate the role of diet-induced thermogenesis (DIT) in feed intake regulation in cockerels selected for high (R+) or low (R-) residual feed intake. The selection criterion was defined as the difference between observed feed intake and feed intake predicted by regression between feed intake and BW, BW gain, and egg mass production. Furthermore, the ef...

Improving feed efficiency in dairy cattle is a costly and complex challenge, due to the difficulty in measuring individual animal feed intakes and the need to consider energy demands for growth, lactation, maintenance, health, and fertility. Research projects are underway in several countries to provide genomic breeding values for dry matter intake or residual feed intake of dairy bulls based o...

The purpose of this paper is to review our understanding of the involvement of central and peripheral factors in the control of feed intake in ruminants. The regulation of body weight under various states of energy need depends on an animal's ability to control feed intake to meet these needs. In the central nervous system (CNS), the ventromedial and lateral hypothalamus appear to be the areas ...

Intensive selection by poultry breeders over many generations for economically important production traits such as growth rate and meat production has been accompanied by significant changes in feed intake and energy balance. For example, the modern commercial broiler, selected for rapid growth and enhanced muscle mass, does not adequately regulate voluntary feed intake to achieve energy balanc...

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) has major impacts on beef cattle production worldwide, but the understanding of host animal genetic influence on illness is limited. This study evaluated rectal temperature, weight change and feed intake in Bos indicus crossbred steers (n = 366) that were challenged with BVDV Type 1b, and where family lines were stratified across three vaccine treatments of mo...

Heat stress has negative effects on biological defense mechanisms such as the immune response in chickens, and organs of the immune system, such as the spleen, are atrophied by heat stress in broiler chickens. In order to assess heat stress-induced functional changes of immune mechanisms in the spleen of broiler chickens, expression of genes encoding splenic cytokines (Th1 type, Th2 type, and p...

Die Dissertation wurde mit dankeswerter finanzieller Unterstützung der Stiftung Schleswig-Holsteinische Landschaft angefertigt. Water is one of the most important foodstuffs of a dairy cow – the average amount of 87% water in 1 kg of milk may confirm this thesis (Winchester and Morris, 1956). To ensure good animal health, performance and welfare status, a sufficient supply of water is essential...

the effects of selko-ph (s; 1 ml/l drinking water); termin-8 (t; 2 kg/ton feed) and neogermicin (n; 2 l/ton feed) on gastrointestinal tract (git) ph, microbial population, ileal digestibility and broiler performance were investigated. the lowest feed intake (fi) was attained by chickens fed diets supplemented with s group in all periods (p

Routine clinical test weighing was carried out on 100 bottle-fed infants to assess the accuracy of the procedure; the feed intake was measured by weighing the feeding bottles before and after feeding. Test weight was found to be an unreliable indication of feed weight, underestimating the amount of feed actually taken at test weight values below 60 g, and overestimating the amount of feed taken...