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Adequate neutral detergent insoluble fiber (NDF) content in the total diet can improve intake efficiency, prevent rumen disorders, and enhance the health and performance of feedlot-finished beef cattle. We hypothesized that an increase in dietary fiber levels would decrease the productive performance but increase the economic performance of young bulls in confinement. Thus, it was aimed to evaluate the effect of increasing fiber levels on feed intake, wastage, and productive and economic performance of Nellore young bulls finished in confinement. We used 20 Nellore cattle, non-castrated males, 30 months old, and average body weight (BW) of 416.35 ± 2.2 kg distributed in a completely randomized design, kept in individual stalls. Animals were divided into four treatments consisting of four levels of neutral detergent insoluble fiber (NDF) (25%, 30%, 35%, and 40% NDF) in total DM. Nutrient intake, feed conversion, feed waste, body weight (BW) at slaughter, total weight gain (TWG), average daily gain (ADG), hot carcass weight (HCW), and carcass yield (CR) were evaluated. In addition, economic parameters (revenue, food expenses, and gross margin) were calculated and compared. The dry matter (DMI), organic matter (OMI), crude protein (CPI), and ether extract (EEI) intakes showed quadratic behavior. The DMI maximum estimated was 28.5% NDF in the diet. The NDF and ADF intakes showed a positive linear effect and the starch intake had a negative linear effect. There was a significant positive linear effect (P < 0.05) for the variables total mixed ration (TMR) offered and daily and total RTM intake. Minimum RTM wastage was estimated with a diet containing 30% NDF. The maximum points for BW at slaughter, HCW, and ADG were 29.9%; 29.6%, and 25% NDF, respectively. The costs of concentrate and silage showed a positive linear behavior, as did the ADG costs and the carcass equivalent cost (P < 0.05). The maximum point of the revenue estimate (US$/animal) was 29.9% of NDF, 26.1% of NDF for the total expenditure on food (US$/animal), and 32.5% of NDF for the gross margin (U$/animal). In conclusion, the animals fed a 30% NDF diet showed the best performance and economics, in addition to less food waste. We recommend 25 to 32.5% of NDF in the diet to obtain maximum productive and economic performance when finishing Nellore young bulls in confinement., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Economic value (EV), sensitivity of EV and relative economic importance of milk yield (MY), age at first calving (AFC), calving interval (CI) and herd life (HL) traits were estimated for smallholder dairy cattle production in the central part of Ethiopia. The data on biological and economic parameters were collected using household interview and group discussions methods participating 238 farmers who had crossbred dairy cattle. Bio-economic model was used to calculate EV, sensitivity of EV and relative importance of EV. Cost of animal feed takes the highest share which accounted 81.35% of the total expenditure. The overall average profit per farmer expressed in Ethiopia currency (ETB, 1 US-$ = 39.55696 ETB) was 72,458.10 ± 5068 per year. Profitability of crossbred dairy cattle significantly varied (P < 0.05) between zones. Economic value estimated for MY, AFC, CI and HL in ETB were 13.38/kg, -16.19/day, -33.58/day and 79.55/day. The associated EV per additive standard deviation were 6083.62, -1311.59, -1271.05 and 117.73 ETB for MY, AFC, CI and HL, respectively. Analysis of sensitivity to scenario change (± 20%) showed that milk price had positive association with profit and EV, whereas feed price has inversely influenced both profit and EV. The profit obtained by farmers was altered by ± 29.08% and ± 12.31% as milk price and feed price fluctuated by ± 20%, respectively. Similarly, the EV of MY was changed by ± 20% with change in milk price and ± 7% with feed price. Scenario change in feed price (± 20%) has also caused ± 13.63% change on EV for AFC and ± 17.58% for CI. It can be noted that profit and EV of the traits were less sensitive to the change in price of milk, feed and labor. In general, the results of EV and profitability were encouraging for dairy farmers and the estimates can be used as an input for development of breeding program in the study area., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

The objective of this study was to evaluate the economic and financial viability of finishing of two sexes of Brazilian Somalis sheep in feedlot receiving diets with 0 and 15% reduction in the total digestible nutrients and crude protein contents. A completely randomized design was adopted, in a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, with treatments consisting of two sexes (non-castrated males (21.13 ± 5.00 kg) and females (17.99 ± 3.79 kg) and two diets (0 and 15% reduction in the levels of total digestible nutrients and crude protein). Four simulations of productive scenarios were carried out: non-castrated males receiving the diet with 0% reduction; non-castrated males receiving the diet with 15% reduction; females receiving the diet with 0% reduction and females receiving the diet with 0% reduction, for a period of 70 days in feedlot. The highest costs of the system were with feeding and other costs, mainly the acquisition of animals. For both sexes, the 0% reduction diet showed the highest total cost, total revenue, break-even point. Non-castrated males fed a non-reduced diet and females fed a 15% reduction diet had higher net income, rate of return, total productivity, net present value, internal rate of return, profitability index and profitability rate. Less favorable situations were not profitable for any scenario. However, the increase in sales price favorability makes the activity viable. The reduction of total digestible nutrients and crude protein affects the economic and financial viability of Brazilian Somalis sheep. For non-castrated males it is recommended the diet without reduction and for females the diet with 15% reduction of nutrients., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V.)

Background: The current broilers have been greatly optimized for weight gain and breast yield, which necessitates the provision of nutrients-dense diets for maximum potential., Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the effect of finisher diet nutrients density (ND) on energy and protein efficiency, productive and economic performance and breast meat quality of broilers raised until different slaughter age., Methods: A total of 600 23-day-old broiler male chicks (Cobb-500) were assigned to 10 treatments with six replicates and 10 birds each. Experimental treatments were included factorial arrangement of five increment (2.5%) levels of finisher diet ND (92.5%, 95%, 97.5%, 100% and 102.5% as strain recommendation) and slaughtered at 38 or 46 days of age. The relative difference in the energy level of experimental diets was used to increase ND levels at the same ratio., Results: Feed intake (FI) and breast meat quality traits exception water holding capacity (WHC) were not affected by finisher diet ND. In response to increasing finisher diet ND, energy and protein efficiency, productive traits, bio-economic index (BEI) and breast relative weight (BRW) linearly improved. However, residual feed intake and breast meat WHC improved with a quadratic trend. By using broken-line regression analysis, the optimum dietary ND was obtained at 97.5%-102% of strain recommendation. Energy and protein efficiency, feed conversion ratio and BEI deteriorated by prolonging rearing period. The BRW, meat lightness (L*), redness (a*), hue angle (h*) and WHC values for the birds slaughtered at 46 days of age were significantly higher, and cooking loss was lower than those slaughtered at 38 days old., Conclusions: Broilers during the finisher period are not able to regulate their FIs with diet ND. The energy and protein efficiency, productive and economic performance were reduced when broilers were fed diluted diet or the rearing period was prolonged., (© 2024 The Author(s). Veterinary Medicine and Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

We evaluate the potential economic impact of using high-oleic soybeans (HOS) in dairy rations based on a synthesis of results from 5 prior feeding trials. Milk income less feed costs (MILFC) per cow per day is calculated based on assumed increases in milkfat production and increased cost of rations including HOS. The effects of changes in MILFC are evaluated for herds with different numbers of milking cows, and the total volume of HOS required to support different proportions of US dairy cows is calculated. A dynamic supply-chain model assesses the potential market impacts of increases in butterfat supply. The increase in milkfat from the substitution of 5% of ration dry matter with whole HOS (1.4 kg/cow per day) has the potential to increase MILFC by up to $0.27/cow per day or increase the average value of milk by $0.29/45.4 kg for a cow producing 41 kg/d. Changes in MILFC are highly correlated with the price of butter but were positive for butter prices observed from January 2014 to September 2020. The effects of HOS on MILFC suggest the potential for increases in farm profitability of $33,000/yr for a dairy feeding 500 milking cows. Scaled-up use of HOS by US dairy farmers would increase butterfat supplies and lower the butterfat price to a small extent, but these aggregated effects do not offset the positive effects of MILFC at the farm level., (The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).)

Smallholder dairy production in Senegal is important to both livelihoods and food and nutrition security. Here, we examine the economic performance of smallholder dairy cattle enterprises in Senegal, using data from longitudinal monitoring of 113 households. The mean (and standard deviation) of the net returns (NR) per cow per annum (pcpa) was 21.7 (202.9) USD, whilst the NR per household herd per annum (phpa) was 106.1 (1740.3) USD. Only about half (52.2%) of the dairy cattle enterprise had a positive NR. The most significant income components were milk sale followed by animal sale, whilst the most significant cost components were animal feed followed by animal purchase. When households were grouped by ranking on NR pcpa , an interesting trend was observed: whilst the mean NR pcpa showed a fairly linear increase from the lowest to highest NR groups, income and cost did not. Income and costs were both higher for the lowest and highest NR groups, in comparison to the intermediate NR groups. The mean NRs of households grouped by the main breed type they kept were not significantly different from each other, due to large variances within the breed groups. However, the mean total income and costs were significantly higher for households mainly keeping improved dairy breeds (Bos taurus or Zebu × Bos taurus crosses) in comparison to those keeping indigenous Zebu or Zebu by Guzerat crosses. This study highlights the highly variable (and often low) profitability of smallholder dairy cattle enterprise in Senegal. Further actions to address this are strongly recommended., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

The hog industry is the core industry in the field of agriculture and animal husbandry in China, which development is related to the improvement of people's quality of life. The production of the hog industry has been restricted by environmental regulations, which needs to reduce costs and improve efficiency. Based on the data of 29 provinces from 2008 to 2019, this paper aims to use the stochastic frontier analysis method to calculate the cost efficiency of fattening pigs, sows, and piglets in three stages of pig production and focuses on the impact of environmental regulation policies on cost efficiency. The study found that the cost efficiency of fattening pigs, sows, and piglets in China were 0.77, 0.79, and 0.53, respectively, and the efficiency losses were 23%, 21%, and 47%, respectively. The impact of environmental regulation policies on the cost efficiency of fattening pigs showed an ' N ' trend, and the impact on the cost efficiency of sows and piglets showed an inverted ' N ' trend. For fattening pigs, increasing the intensity of environmental regulation, and exceeding the second inflection point of the ' N ' curve can achieve the dual goals of environmental governance and cost reduction and efficiency increase. For sows, reducing the intensity of environmental regulation appropriately can avoid cost-efficiency loss. For piglets, environmental regulation policies have not effectively incentives the cost efficiency of piglets. In addition, raising the level of technology investment in fattening pigs and sows can achieve cost efficiency gains, and can farmers use emerging financial product tools such as ' insurance + futures ' to avoid market risks and efficiency losses., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the performance, hematological responses and economic indicators of juvenile tambaqui Colossoma macropomum fed different levels of partial replacement of corn by glycerol (0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100%). The experiment was conducted for 90 days in the production of aquatic organisms lab at the Nilton Lins University, Manaus, Brazil, in a completely randomized design, and consisted of four treatments, four repetitions and two sampling times. In total, 240 juveniles were used with initial average weight and standard length of 15.32 ± 1,61 g and 8.03 ± 0.22 cm, respectively. The fish were maintained in twenty 310 L water tanks that had a closed system with no reuse, continuous aeration, siphoning and replacement of water every 48 h. Feeding was twice a day with the experimental diets, which contained 28% crude protein. The following parameters were considered: zootechnical checks (weight gain + survival %), welfare (health) (hepatosomatic index + condition factor + viscerosomatic index), economic (Economic efficiency rate + economic profitability index) and hematology (hematology + metabolites + ions). The results of the study show that diets for juvenile tambaqui can contain up to 50% replacement of corn by glycerol without compromising the fishes' development under the conditions studied., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Grain-free pet food options abound in the pet food market today, representing more than 40% of available dry dog foods in the United States. There is currently a dearth of information about the factors that contribute to a dog owner's choice of a grain-free dry dog food and if those factors are similar among countries. Therefore, the primary objective of the current survey was to identify the variables that are predictive of a dog owner's choice of a grain-free dry food across North America (Canada and the United States) and Europe (France, the United Kingdom and Germany). The survey consisted of 69 questions, took less than 15 minutes to complete and was distributed virtually via Qualtrics (Qualtrics XM, Utah, USA). A total of 3,298 responses were collected, equally distributed between countries. Multinomial logistic regression was performed in SPSS Statistics (Version 26, IBM Corp, North Castle, New York, USA). Male respondents, people from France, people who ranked the importance of ingredients in a pet food in the lower quartiles and people who do not rotate their dog's diet to provide variety were less likely to select 'no grain' when choosing a pet food. In contrast, people who believe that their dog has a food allergy, follow more than 5 specific dietary routines in their own diet, do not try to include grains in their own diet, get their information about pet food from online resources or pet store staff and look for specific claims on pet food (such as 'no fillers'), were all more likely to select 'no grain' when choosing a pet food. This survey provides insight into the similarities and differences in decision making among dog owners in North America and Europe and should be considered when exploring the effects of grain-free dog foods on canine health and well-being., Competing Interests: I have read the journal’s policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: Sydney Banton was funded by Rolf C. Hagen, Inc. to complete the research. This does not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Spineless cactus (Nopalea cochenillifera) is widely used in animal feed in semi-arid regions, due to the adaptive characteristics to such conditions and for having high levels of soluble carbohydrates. This research article describes the effect of replacing grain maize with spineless cactus in the diet of dairy goats on dry matter intake, water intake, milk yield, milk physicochemical characteristics and diet production costs. Eight multiparous Anglo Nubian goats were fed diets in which grain maize was replaced with spineless cactus at four levels (0, 33, 66, and 100%) in a double 4 × 4 Latin square design. Milk yield was measured and samples collected in the last three days of each period for physicochemical analysis and for determining nutrient intake. Diet production costs were also determined. Replacing maize with spineless cactus did not influence dry matter intake. Water intake via the drinker decreased linearly in response to the increasing levels of spineless cactus in the diet. The replacement of maize with spineless cactus did not change milk yield or physicochemical parameters. Total feed cost and the percentage of revenue losses from feed decreased with the replacement. Therefore, spineless cactus can fully replace grain maize in the diet of dairy goats, as it does not change dry matter intake or milk yield, but rather reduces feed costs and the drinking-water intake of goats.

This study investigated the possibility of integrating date leaves (DL) as a partial or complete substitute for conventional forage fibre sources into the diet of dairy cows. Nine Holstein cows were assigned to a replicated 3×3 Latin square design, and offered 1 of the 3 diets containing no DL (DL-0), or finely chopped DL partially (50%, DL-50) or completely (100%, DL-100) substituted for lucerne hay and maize silage. The replacement of the forages by DL was established such that the forage NDF (24.5%) was similar across diet despite the decreased forage: concentrate ratio from 0.45:0.55 to 0.33:0.67. Diets were similar in concentration of crude protein and starch, while the indigestible forage NDF (iNDF) increased from 7.2 to 15.4% of DM. Results showed that increasing DL inclusion linearly decreased nutrient intake and digestibility. Moreover, a trend toward a linear decrease in milk yield and percentage of milk protein and lactose were observed with increasing DL proportion in the diet. However, ruminal volatile fatty acids concentration, milk fat content, and feed efficiency were similar across the treatments. A quadratic trend was observed for eating and ruminating time by feeding DL, with the highest values found for cows fed DL-50. Replacing forages with finely chopped DL was effective to meet the fibre requirement, but reduced feed intake and milk yield possibly because of increased forage iNDF. However, conventional forages can be partially replaced with DL in the diet, particularly under forage shortage, because of maintained gross milk yield efficiency and reduced feed cost.

Ximenia americana is one of the most valuable wild edible plants in the world. In different countries, it is utilized as food, medicine, an essential oil source, and the industrial component to other products. In Ethiopia, it was one of the most known and very important plants for a long period of time. It was utilized as food, a medicinal plant, and animal feed. It was also one of the most economically important and culturally valuable plants. But nowadays, it is not adequately available in the country due to deforestation problem in the years. In addition, its economic importance, current status, and medicinal roles are not well documented and understood. As for research studies, it is concluded that unless a collective effort is taken, the existence of this plant is under severe threat and needs to have some measures. This review article is aimed at addressing the abovelined topics in detail and to pinpoint and explain the importance and status of Ximenia americana ., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Getachew Amare Kefelegn and Bizuayehu Desta.)

This study aimed to evaluate the performance of broiler chickens fed on 3 black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) (Hermetia illucens) and Greenleaf desmodium (Desmodium intortum)-based meals. We evaluated growth performance, carcass quality, and profitability under various commercial pathways (doorstep, retail, whole, and assorted). Desmodium and BSFL powders were formulated into 3 ratios: T1 25:75, T2 50:50, and T3 75:25. A commercial feed was used as a control. One hundred and twenty mixed-sex 1-day-old broiler chicks (Cobb) were reared in pens for 42 d in a completely randomized design. The chickens were weighed weekly to monitor their growth rate. After the 42-day rearing period, they were slaughtered for carcass quality evaluation and recording of the weights of internal organs. During the initial growth phase (7-21 d), significant effects of fish meal replacement were found on the chickens' average weight (P < 0.001), average daily body weight gain (P < 0.001), average daily feed intake (P < 0.001), and feed conversion ratio (P < 0.001). However, during the second phase (21-42 d), no significant effect of the replacement was detected except on average daily feed intake (P = 0.003). No significant differences were found in terms of the relative weights of internal organs. It was found that Desmodium-BSFL-based feeds were more profitable than the control feed, and the assorted and retail modes of sale generated more revenue compared to when the chickens were sold at doorstep and on whole-chicken basis. The return on investment was higher for a push-pull adopter compared to a non-adopter. The study found that a BSFL-Desmodium mixture can be a valuable replacement for the protein component in conventional feed and would provide a new impetus for the adoption of push-pull., (Copyright © 2020. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The feeding experiment was conducted at Ofla district, southern Tigray, North Ethiopia, to investigate feed utilization, diet digestibility, and its economic feasibility under different supplementation options. Twenty-four yearling intact growing lambs were used in randomized complete block design with three treatments and eight replications. The treatment diets were T1 (molasses 15% + wheat bran 48% + cotton seed cake 35%), T2 (maize grain 20% + wheat bran 43% + noug seed cake 35%) and T3 (maize grain 20% + wheat bran 33% + dried brewers' grain 45%). The diet was formulated as iso-nitrogenous and each animal has taken daily nutrient requirements according to their body weight. The collected data were analyzed using SAS (2007) statistical software. Economic analysis was done using standard partial budget analysis guidelines of CIMMIT (1988). The crude protein contents of the three treatment rations were comparable across treatments. There was a higher total dry matter intake recorded in animals fed on T3 as compared to the other treatments. The barley straw intake was higher and significant (P < 0.05) for the animals' group in T3 than that of T1 and T2. Animals fed with T3 had significantly (P < 0.05) higher organic matter intake as compared to those fed with T1 and T2. However, there was no significant (P > 0.05) differences in crude protein intake between treatments. The apparent digestibility of dry matter, organic matter, and crude protein had no significant differences (P > 0.05) between treatments. Similarly, the apparent digestibility of neutral detergent fiber and acid detergent fiber was not significantly different (P > 0.05) among T1, T2, and T3. In general, animals that fed on T3 achieved better feed utilization and economic return as compared to the others.

Five isonitrogenous and isocaloric diets [containing 54, 30, 15, 10, and 5% fishmeal crude-protein (CP), dry matter (DM) basis] were prepared by replacing fishmeal with poultry by-product meal plus soybean meal to feed juvenile largemouth bass (LMB, with an initial mean body weight of 4.9 g) for 8 weeks. All diets contained 54% CP and 13% lipids. There were four tanks of fish per treatment group (15 fish/tank). The fish were fed twice daily with the same feed intake (g/fish) in all the dietary groups. Results indicated that the inclusion of 15% fishmeal protein in the diet is sufficient for LMB growth. However, some of the fish that were fed diets containing ≤ 15% fishmeal CP had black skin syndrome (characterized by skin darkening and retinal degeneration, as well as intestinal and liver atrophies and structural abnormalities). The concentrations of taurine, methionine, threonine and histidine in serum were reduced (P < 0.05) in fish fed the diets containing 5, 10 and 15% fishmeal CP, compared with the 30 and 54% fishmeal CP diets. Interestingly, the concentrations of tyrosine and tryptophan in serum were higher in fish fed diets with ≤ 15% fishmeal CP than those in the 54% fishmeal CP group. These results indicated that 15% fishmeal CP in the diet containing poultry by-product meal and soybean meal was sufficient for the maximum growth and feed efficiency in LMB but inadequate for their intestinal, skin, eye, and liver health. A reduction in dietary methionine and taurine content and the possible presence of antinutritional factors in the fishmeal replacements diets containing high inclusion levels of soybean meal may contribute to black skin syndrome in LMB. We recommend that the diets of juvenile LMB contain 30% fishmeal CP (DM basis).

Aquafeed manufacturers have reduced, but not fully eliminated, fishmeal and fish oil and are seeking cost competitive replacements. We combined two commercially available microalgae, to produce a high-performing fish-free feed for Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus)-the world's second largest group of farmed fish. We substituted protein-rich defatted biomass of Nannochloropsis oculata (leftover after oil extraction for nutraceuticals) for fishmeal and whole cells of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)-rich Schizochytrium sp. as substitute for fish oil. We found significantly better (p < 0.05) growth, weight gain, specific growth rate, and best (but not significantly different) feed conversion ratio using the fish-free feed compared with the reference diet. Fish-free feed also yielded higher (p < 0.05) fillet lipid, DHA, and protein content (but not significantly different). Furthermore, fish-free feed had the highest degree of in-vitro protein hydrolysis and protein digestibility. The median economic conversion ratio of the fish-free feed ($0.95/kg tilapia) was less than the reference diet ($1.03/kg tilapia), though the median feed cost ($0.68/kg feed) was slightly greater than that of the reference feed ($0.64/kg feed) (p < 0.05). Our work is a step toward eliminating reliance on fishmeal and fish oil with evidence of a cost-competitive microalgae-based tilapia feed that improves growth metrics and the nutritional quality of farmed fish.

A linear programming model that selects the optimal cropping plan and feeds allocation for diets to minimize the whole dairy farm feed costs was developed. The model was virtually applied on 29 high-yielding Holstein-Friesian herds, confined, total mixed ration dairy farms. The average herd size was 313.2 ± 144.1 lactating cows and the average land size was 152.2 ± 92.5 ha. Farm characteristics such as herd structure, nutritional grouping strategies, feed consumption, cropping plan, intrinsic farm limitations (e.g., silage and hay storage availability, water for irrigation, manure storage) and on farm produced forage costs of production were collected from each farm for the year 2017. Actual feeding strategies, land availability, herd structure, crop production costs and yields, and milk and feed market prices for the year 2017 were used as model inputs. Through optimization, the feeding system was kept equal to the actual farm practice. The linear program formulated diets for each animal group to respect actual herd dry matter intake and fulfill actual consumption of crude protein, rumen-degradable and rumen-undegradable fractions of crude protein, net energy for lactation, neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, forage neutral detergent fiber, and nonfiber carbohydrate. Production levels and herd composition were considered to remain constant as the nutritional requirement would remain unchanged. The objective function was set to minimize the whole-farm feed costs including cash crop sales as income, and crop production costs and purchased feed costs as expenses. Optimization improved income over feed costs by reducing herd feed costs by 7.8 ± 6.4%, from baseline to optimized scenario, the improved was explained by lower feed costs per kilogram of milk produced due to a higher feed self-sufficiency and higher income from cash crop. In particular, the model suggested to maximize, starting from baseline to optimized scenario, the net energy for lactation (+8.5 ± 6.3%) and crude protein (+3.6 ± 3.1%) produced on farm, whereas total feed cost (€/100 kg of milk) was greater in the baseline (20.4 ± 2.3) than the optimized scenario (19.0 ± 1.9), resulting in a 6.7% feed cost reduction with a range between 0.49% and 21.6%. This meant €109 ± 96.9 greater net return per cow per year. The implementation of the proposed linear programming model for the optimal allocation of the nutritional resources and crops in a dairy herd has the potential to reduce feed cost of diets and improve the farm feed self-sufficiency., (Copyright © 2020 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Obesity is a growing problem in UK equine population. Achieving weight loss in obese horses and ponies at risk of laminitis is an important but often challenging objective., Methods: We hypothesised that supplementing poor winter pasture with a mix of barley straw and hay (50:50) rather than hay alone (group B) would lead to weight loss in grazing equids over winter. For this purpose, a group of 40 horses were fed either the straw mix (group A) or hay alone (group B) over winter., Results: Over the study period, all animals in group A (n=25) lost weight with a mean weight change of -27±17 kg, while in group B (n=15) only 3 out of 15 lost weight (20 per cent), and overall, group B gained weight (+6±18 kg)., Conclusions: This study suggests that straw is a cost-effective and low-energy roughage, which may be a useful alternative to hay alone when trying to induce weight loss in grazing equids over winter. There were no episodes of colic or laminitis during the study period in either group., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© British Veterinary Association 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

This study aimed to evaluate different scenarios (year, supplementation level) about economic results of beef cattle production during rearing and finishing phase in Brazilian's tropical pastures. Four scenarios were evaluated in combination with fourteen supplements, and it was originated from some research developed inside Forage Crops and Grasslands section from São Paulo State University among years 2011 and 2014. The economic evaluation was analyzed by operating cost, total operational costs, gross revenue, operating profit, and financial net income. Besides profitability, internal rate of return (IRR), benefit/cost ratio (B:C), and simple payback period (SPP) were calculated too. During rearing phase, the best result was observed for scenario 2 (2012), supplement 3.2 (mineral mix) with values of 11 cycles, 26.3%, 9.30%, and 0.39 for SPP, profitability, IRR, and B:C ratio, respectively. Already to finishing phase, the best scenario was 3 (2013), supplement 10 (multiple supplement with supplementation level equal 1.0% body weight), which obtained 4 cycles, 68.7%, 27.00%, and 2.34 for the same variables above mentioned. Results were consistent being that higher IRR and profitability occurred when using low supplementation level. Hence, the economic responses from different scenarios (years and supplements) can alter the final livestock farm financial statement.

Many discussions following the 2007/08 food price crisis have revolved around the magnitude of the negative impacts that it may have had on food security worldwide. In South-Eastern Mediterranean countries (SEMC), food security is strongly interrelated with several key economic and political issues. Many of these countries are becoming increasingly import-dependent, particularly on cereals, which are the essential raw material for human and animal food and feed. Due to both their economic system structure and consumption, the SEMC are responsible for a third of world cereals imports, whereas they account for only 5% of the world population. Given the set of constraints and this dependence on global markets, SEMC will be probably more exposed to severe swings in agricultural commodity prices in the coming years. In this view, this study examines the dependence structure among global food grain markets and Morocco and provides flexible models for dependency and the conditional volatility GARCH. A copula-based GARCH model has been carried out to estimate the marginal distributions of Morocco and world cereals commodity price changes. The results revealed that the joint co-movement between agricultural commodity price changes around the world and in Morocco, are generally considerable and there exists asymmetric tail dependence.

Changing consumer shopping behaviors, and specifically the shift towards online procurement of goods and services, have altered the retail landscape of nearly all goods, including pet products and services. Whilst it is known and commonly discussed that less retail business for products and medications is being conducted in clinics than in the past, it is not well documented where that commerce is now taking place, and by what customer segments. For cats, dogs, and other pets, specialty food and food in general was purchased by a high percentage of respondents at the physical store. Sixteen-percent of dog owners, 17 % of cat owners and 14 % of other animal owners purchased prescription food at the veterinarian. Ten percent of dog owners, 10 % of cat owners, and 9 % of other animal owners purchased prescription food from the physical store. A high percentage of cat and dog owners purchased flea and tick preventative, heartworm preventative and prescription medications at the veterinarian, followed by the physical store. Using a choice experiment, both dog and cat owners were willing-to-pay a statistically significant positive amount for having their veterinarian, or a veterinarian in their community (who was not their veterinarian) on the veterinary telemedicine call or video when compared to a veterinarian from outside the community. In relation to the willingness to pay (WTP) for a telemedicine veterinary consultation with a veterinarian outside of the pet owners' community, dog owners were willing to pay $38.04 more for a telemedicine veterinary consultation with their regular veterinarian, and $13.38 more for a telemedicine veterinary consultation with a veterinarian in the dog owners' community. Cat owners had a WTP of $38.12 per call or visit for having their veterinarian as the consultant which was statistically higher than their WTP for a veterinarian in their community, $12.74 when compared to a veterinarian outside their community. When comparing the mean price adjusted WTP between cat and dog owners, there were not any statistically significant differences found. Quantifying pet owner willingness to pay for commonly discussed attributes of telemedicine, such as whether a local veterinarian is consulted (versus a veterinarian from outside the community), facilitates veterinary practice management decision making as practices adjust product and service offerings to meet the changing consumer demand of pet owners in today's marketplace., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing interest., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Over recent years, pet owners have started to demonstrate increased sensitivity toward their companion animals, which includes an increase in the attention paid towards their nutrition, seen as a way of safeguarding their pets' welfare. The aim of this study was to identify how pet food quality traits are perceived as being the most important by dog and cat owners. To this end, a survey of dog and cat owners was conducted by means of a questionnaire distributed in pet stores and trade fairs throughout Italy., Results: A total of 935 surveys were collected; 61.8% of which were compiled by female pet owners. The respondents were relatively homogeneously distributed between cat (30.8%), dog (39.4%), and cat and dog (29.8%) owners. A quarter of the owners (25.5%) reported to have asked their veterinarian for advice on which pet food to buy, and almost a third (30.4%) trusted the advice posted on the web sites of well-known brands. "Contains natural ingredients" was the characteristic that obtained the highest mean score (4.3 out of 5). Elderly owners (> 65 years) placed most importance on whether a product had a high price, and least on feed appearance, animal satisfaction, and stool quality. Young owners (< 35y) paid most attention to the stool quality, the percentage of protein in the feed, and the presence of recyclable packaging, and least attention to feed appearance, smell, and animal satisfaction. Feed appearance, smell, a higher cost, and certain label indications (protein content, presence of fresh meat, grain free) were mostly important among the buyers of wet pet food. Some specific differences also emerged between dog, cat, and dog and cat owners., Conclusions: In this survey of Italian pet food buyers, the presence of "natural" ingredients was considered to be the most important indicator of pet food quality, whereas characterized by a high price was considered least important. The data obtained from this survey could be used to help pet food companies identify which pet food quality traits are perceived as important by dog and cat owners.

A study was carried out to evaluate the effect of dietary inclusion of Zymomonas mobilis degraded cassava sifting (ZDCS) on growth response, apparent nutrient digestibility, and ileal digesta viscosity of broiler chickens. Five diets containing undegraded and degraded cassava sifting were formulated to replace wheat offal at 0, 50, and 100% levels. Two hundred and forty (240) one-day-old Marshall broiler chickens were randomly allotted to the five dietary treatments in a completely randomized design (CRD); significant means were separated using Duncan's multiple range test at p < 0.05. The biodegradation of cassava sifting with Zymomonas mobilis significantly increased crude protein content by 44.59% while crude fiber and neutral detergent fiber significantly decreased by 23.08% and 6.38%, respectively. The results showed that birds fed 50% ZDCS had the best (p > 0.05) feed conversion ratio (FCR) at the starter phase. The replacement of wheat offal with 100% ZDCS improved (p < 0.05) the crude fiber digestibility at both starter and finisher phases. Also, the birds fed 100% ZDCS had the lowest (p < 0.05) value of ileal digesta viscosity. The birds fed 50% ZDCS had the highest (p < 0.05) values of gross revenue, gross profit, rate of return on investment, and economic efficiency while the least values for gross profit, rate of return on investment, and economic efficiency were obtained in 100% ZDCS. The study concluded that replacement of wheat offal with 50% ZDCS in the ration of broiler chickens improved FCR, crude fiber digestibility (CFD), and rate of return on investment and economic efficiency.

Dairy farms have been under pressure to reduce negative environmental impacts while remaining profitable during times with volatile milk and commodity prices. Double cropping has been promoted to reduce negative environmental impacts and increase total dry matter yield per hectare. Three dairy farms that double cropped winter annuals and corn were selected from northern and western Pennsylvania. Data were collected from recorded crop and dairy records and financial data for 2016 and 2017. Farms ranged in size from 336 to 511 ha with 233 to 663 cows. Data were used to set parameters for the Integrated Farm System Model, which was then used to simulate 8 scenarios for each farm: current operation; 0, 50, and 100% of corn hectares double cropped; 30% feed price increase with and without double cropping; and 30% feed price decrease with and without double cropping at the farm's current level of double cropping. A 20-yr time period, using weather data that was representative of the actual farms, was used in the Integrated Farm System Model simulation to produce both financial and environmental outputs. Double cropping winter annuals and corn silage increased dry matter yield per hectare by 19%, when comparing 0 to 100% of the corn area double cropped. With all corn land double cropped, net return to management per hundredweight (45.36 kg) of milk increased by 1.8%, N leached per hectare per year decreased by an average of 4.5%, and phosphorus loss was reduced by an average of 9.2% across farms. When feed prices increased by 30%, double cropping increased net return over feed cost and net return to management by 1.6 and 2.2%, respectively, across farms. When feed prices decreased by 30%, double cropping decreased net return over feed cost and net return to management by smaller amounts of 0.13% and 0.11%, respectively, across farms. Modeling indicated that double cropping winter annuals with corn silage can have both environmental and economic benefits when winter-annual silage yields are enough to cover expenses., (Copyright © 2020 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Excessive intake of nutrients can result in decreases in the reproductive efficiency of goat bucks and increase production costs in goat e nterprises. In this study, the aim was to compare the reproductive features of young bucks fed diets for maintenance of growth or were fed ad libitum. Ten bucks were used (n = 5/group), with a completely randomized design. Blood and semen were collected from each animal every 2 weeks for nine collections. Semen was frozen and later analyzed using flow cytometry to compare reactive oxygen species, plasma membrane integrity, acrosome integrity, and membrane lipid peroxidation. Body condition score, sexual behavior, testicular biometry and histomorphometry of the testis, as well as oxidative enzymes and carbonylated proteins, were also evaluated. Animals fed ad libitum had a greater body condition score (3.32 + 0.08 × 2.88 + 0.05), sperm volume (0.68 + 0.04 × 0.52 + 0.03 mL), and testis circumference (25.2 + 0.21 × 24.5 + 0.24 cm) and volume (121 + 5.83 × 107 + 4.38 cm³, left testicle; 116 + 5.26 × 100 + 3.75 cm³, right testicle). Ejaculates of the bucks fed diets to maintain growth rate had a larger number of minor and total sperm morphology defects. There were no differences in testosterone concentrations and sexual behavior. In conclusion, there can be feeding for growth rate maintenance instead of ad libitum feeding, for the reduction in production costs of young bucks without compromising semen quality and reproductive functions., (Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

The objective of this study was to develop a model application to systematize nutritional grouping (NG) management in commercial dairy farms. The model has 4 sub-sections: (1) real-time data stream integration, (2) calculation of nutritional parameters, (3) grouping algorithm, and (4) output reports. A simulation study on a commercial Wisconsin dairy farm was used to evaluate our NG model. On this dairy farm, lactating cows (n = 2,374 ± 185) are regrouped weekly in 14 pens according to their parity and lactation stage, for which 9 diets are provided. Diets are seldom reformulated and nutritional requirements are not factored to allocate cows to pens. The same 14 pens were used to simulate the implementation of NG using our model, closely following the current farm criteria but also including predicted nutritional requirements (net energy for lactation and metabolizable protein; NE L and MP) and milk yield in an attempt to generate more homogeneous groups of cows for improved diet accuracy. The goal of the simulation study was to implement a continuous weekly system for cows' pen allocation and diet formulation. The predicted MP and NE L requirements from the NG were used to formulate the diets using commercial diet formulation software and the same feed ingredients, feed prices, and other criteria as the current farm diets. Diet MP and NE L densities were adjusted to the nutritional group requirements. Results from the simulation study indicated that the NG model facilitates the implementation of an NG strategy and improves diet accuracy. The theoretical diet cost and predicted nitrogen supply with NG decreased for low-nutritional-requirement groups and increased for high-nutritional-requirement groups compared with current farm groups. The overall average N supply in diets for NG management was 15.14 g/cow per day less than the current farm grouping management. The average diet cost was $3,250/cow per year for current farm management and $3,219/cow per year for NG, which resulted in a theoretical $31/cow per year diet cost savings., (Copyright © 2020 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The competitiveness and sustainability of low input cost dairy production systems are generally supported by efficient use of pasture in the diets. Therefore, pasture intake directly affects overall efficiency of these systems. We aimed to assess feeding and grazing management main factors that affect pasture dry matter intake (DMI) in commercial dairy farms during the different seasons of the year. Fortnightly visits to 28 commercial dairies were carried out between June 2016 and May 2017 to record production and price, supplement offered and price, pasture access time (PAT), herbage mass (HM) and allowance (HA). Only farms with the most contrasting estimated pasture DMI per cow (eDMI) were compared as systems with high (HPI; N = 8) or low (LPI; N = 8) pasture DMI. Despite a lower individual milk production in HPI than LPI (19.0 v. 23.3 ± 0.7 l/cow, P < 0.01), daily margin over feeding cost was not different between groups (3.07 v. 2.93 ± 0.15 U$S/cow for HPI and LPI, respectively). During autumn and winter, HPI cows ingested more pasture than LPI cows (8.3 v. 4.6 and 5.9 v. 2.9 ± 0.55 kg DM/cow per day, respectively, P < 0.01) although PAT, HM and HA were similar between groups. Both groups offered high supplementation levels during these seasons, even though greater in LPI than HPI (14.7 v. 9.7 ± 0.7 kg DM supplement/cow per day, respectively, P < 0.01). On the other hand, differences between groups for both pasture and supplement DMI were more contrasting during spring and summer (13.1 v. 7.3 ± 0.5 and 4.0 v. 11.4 ± 0.4 kg DM/cow per day for HPI and LPI, respectively, P < 0.01), with higher PAT in both seasons (P < 0.05) and higher HA during summer in HPI than LPI (P < 0.01). Unlike LPI, during these seasons HPI adjusted offered supplement according to HA, achieving a higher pasture eDMI and making more efficient use of available pastoral resource than LPI. As there was no grazing limiting condition for pasture harvesting in either group, the main factor affecting pasture DMI was a pasture by supplement substitution effect. These results reinforce the importance of an efficient grazing management, and using supplements to nutritionally complement pasture intake rather than as a direct way to increase milk production.

Edible insects are increasingly being considered as sustainable alternatives to fish and soybean meals in animal feed because of their high nutritional quality and environmental benefits. However, successful introduction of a new product to the market depends on the target user's acceptance. Thus, evaluating the potential demand of insect-based feeds would provide relevant information for policy development. The present study assessed farmers' knowledge on edible insects as feed, their acceptance of integrating insect meals in animal feeds and willingness to pay (WTP) for insect-based feed (IBF) using a contingent valuation method. A household survey was conducted among 957 randomly selected farmers including: 409 poultry, 241 fish and 307 pig farmers in four counties in Kenya. Results of the study reveal that over 70 and 80% of poultry and fish farmers, respectively, are aware that insects can be used as a feed ingredient. In addition, over 60 and 75% of poultry and fish farmers, respectively, consider insects as a good component of feed. Poultry, pig and fish farmers interviewed accepted and showed willingness to pay for IBF. Regression analysis indicated that age, gender, education, marital status, distance to feed trader, awareness of insects as feed, attitude towards insects, acceptance of insect species, availability of agricultural inputs, use of commercial feeds, availability of training and market information had a significant influence on the WTP for IBF. Therefore, increased extension services to educate famers on the nutritional benefits of insect meals in animal feeds and existing market opportunities are expected to improve farmers' attitude towards utilization and consequently enhance WTP for IBF, which in return would significantly reduce the existing pressure on conventional fishmeal feed resources. Our findings provide the first insights into the market opportunities of including insect meals in the animal feed value chain in Kenya., Competing Interests: Authors have declared that no competing interests exist

There is considerable interest in improving feed utilization of dairy cattle while limiting losses to the environment (i.e., greenhouse gases, GHG). To breed for feed-efficient or climate-friendly cattle, it is first necessary to obtain accurate estimates of genetic parameters and correlations of feed intake, greenhouse gases, and production traits. Reducing dry matter take (DMI) requirements while maintaining production has high economic value to farmers, but DMI is costly to record and thus limited to small research or nucleus herds. Conversely, enteric methane (CH 4 ) currently has no economic value, is also costly to record, and is limited to small experimental trials. However, breath gas concentrations of methane (CH 4 c) and carbon dioxide (CO 2 c) are relatively cheap to measure at high throughput under commercial conditions by installing sniffers in automated milking stations. The objective of this study was to assess the genetic correlations between DMI, body weight (BW), fat- and protein-corrected milk yield (FPCM), and GHG-related traits: CH 4 c and CO 2 c from Denmark (DNK) and the Netherlands (NLD). A second objective was to assess the genetic potential for improving feed efficiency and the added benefits of using CH 4 c and CO 2 c as indicators. Feed intake data were available on 703 primiparous cows in DNK and 524 in NLD; CH 4 c and CO 2 c records were available on 434 primiparous cows in DNK and 656 in NLD. The GHG-related traits were heritable (e.g., CH 4 c h 2 : DNK = 0.26, NLD = 0.15) but were differentially genetically correlated with DMI and feed efficiency in both magnitude and sign, depending on the population and the definition of feed efficiency. Across feed efficiency traits and DMI, having bulls with 100 daughters with FPCM, BW, and GHG traits resulted in sufficiently high accuracy to almost negate the need for DMI records. Despite differences in genetic correlation structure, the relatively cheap GHG-related traits showed considerable potential for improving the accuracy of breeding values of highly valuable feed intake and feed efficiency traits., (The Authors. Published by FASS Inc. and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).)

Background: Most fish breeding programs aim at improving growth rate and include feed conversion ratio (FCR) neither in the breeding goal nor in the selection index, although decreasing FCR is known to increase farm profit and decrease environmental impacts. This is because FCR is difficult to measure in fish that live in groups and FCR is assumed to have a favourable (negative) genetic correlation with growth, although the magnitude of this correlation is unknown. We investigated the effect of the genetic correlation between growth and FCR on the economic and environmental responses of a two-trait breeding goal (growth and FCR), compared to a single-trait breeding goal (growth only). Next, we evaluated the weights to assign to growth and FCR in a two-trait breeding goal to maximize sustainability of fish production., Methods: We used pseudo-best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) index calculations to simulate a breeding program for sea bass. For the single-trait breeding goal, the trait in the breeding goal and in the index was thermal growth coefficient (TGC) and for the two-trait breeding goal, the traits in the breeding goal were TGC and FCR and the traits in the index were TGC and percentage of fat in the dorsal muscle (an indirect measure of FCR). We simulated responses to selection for genetic and phenotypic correlations between TGC and FCR ranging from 0 to - 0.8. Then, in the two-trait breeding goal, we calculated the economic return and the change in eutrophication when using economic values (EV) or environmental values (ENV)., Results: When the genetic correlation between TGC and FCR was lower than - 0.45, we found major differences in economic returns and in eutrophication between single and two-trait breeding programs. At a correlation of - 0.25, the two-trait breeding goal based on EV increased economic return by 25% compared to the single-trait breeding goal, while using ENV decreased eutrophication by 1.34% per ton of fish produced after one generation of selection., Conclusions: The genetic correlation between TGC and FCR affects the magnitude of economic losses due to omitting FCR in the breeding program. In addition, the genetic correlation affects the importance of choosing EV or ENV to reduce eutrophication and increase profit.

The house cricket, Acheta domesticus L. (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) is one of the most important species of industrialized insects in the United States. Within the past five years the market of cricket powder as a food ingredient has been growing with increasing consumer interest on more sustainable sources of food. However, high labor costs of cricket production and high prices of cricket feed formulations result in cricket powder market prices much higher than other protein-rich food ingredients, making cricket powder only competitive within the novelty food market. In this study new diets formulated using by-products were developed using dietary self-selection followed by regression analysis. Crickets selected among seven different combinations of ingredients. Consumption ratios of food ingredients and by-products were used to determine macro and micro-nutrient intake. Regression analysis was used to determine the individual nutrient intake effect on cricket biomass production. Intake of vitamin C, sterol, manganese, and vitamins B1 and B5 had the most significant impact on live biomass production. Four diets were formulated based on this information and compared with a reference (Patton's 13) and a commercial diet. Although, crickets reared on Patton's diet 13 produced the most dry-weight biomass and developed the fastest, diet 4 (consisting of 92% by-products) generated the most profit (with a cost of $0.39 USD per kg) after an economic analysis that did not include the commercial formulation. Dry-weight biomass production was not significantly different among the four new diets and the commercial diet. This study demonstrated the value of dietary self-selection studies in developing oligidic insect diets and in studies of insect nutrition. This is the first such study involving farmed edible crickets and agricultural by-products. Four new cricket diet formulations contain between 62 and 92% agricultural by-products are included., Competing Interests: I have read the journal's policy and the authors of this manuscript have the following competing interests: The author Aaron T. Dossey as the owner of All Things Bugs LLC is planning to commercialize cricket feeds formulated based on this study, however formulations for commercialization are different than the ones reported in this manuscript. Plans of All Things Bugs to commercialize diets using this study do not alter our adherence to PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Background and Objective: Waste of fish catching and waste of fish fillet processing will cause environmental pollution, but these materials can still be used as raw material for fish feed. The objective of this research was to change fish wastes to be made as fish powder as raw material of fish feed., Materials and Methods: This research employed a completely randomized design with three treatments; Treatment A is artificial feed that uses raw material from trash fish, Treatment B is artificial feed that uses raw material from fish fillet waste and as control is factory-made feed. The silver pompano fish stocking was done with stocking density of 20 fishes m-3. The fishes were cultured for 60 days and they were adapted with formulated feed during 7 days before testing., Results: Fish powder material in Treatment A coming from trash fish waste had good enough protein content by 43.84%, while fish powder material in Treatment B coming from fish fillet waste had lower protein content by 36.3%. The results showed that the control produced better growth activity indicators compared to Treatment A and B. The results of economic analysis showed that Treatment A and B were cheaper to produce compared to control., Conclusion: Fisheries waste both fish catch and fish fillet waste can be used as raw material for making silver pompano fish feed. Utilization of the two wastes has two functions namely saving on aquaculture costs and reducing fisheries waste.

Water is essential in livestock production systems. In typical dairy production systems, 90% of the total water used by a dairy farm is attributed to feed production. Theoretically, ration manipulation is a method to potentially reduce the irrigation water needed for feed crops without dramatically increasing diet costs. However, published quantitative studies on the relationship between feed production and water use that are integrated with linear programming models are scarce. The overall objective of this study was to develop an optimization framework that could achieve a balance between minimization of dietary costs and dietary irrigation water usage, and that could be used as a framework for future research and models for various livestock production systems. Weighted goal programming models were developed to minimize the dietary costs and irrigation water usage for a hypothetical cow under 8 different environmental scenarios. The environmental conditions used a 2 × 2 × 2 factorial design, including 2 atmospheric CO 2 concentrations (400 and 550 ppm), 2 water years (dry and wet), and 2 irrigation methods (furrow and drip). A systematic weighting scheme was used to model the trade-off between minimizing diet cost and minimizing irrigation water use for feedstuffs. Each environmental condition generated a set of distinct diets, which each met the same nutrient requirements of the hypothetical cow but had a different water usage when the weighting scheme was changed from weighting minimum diet costs to minimum irrigation water usage. For water resource planning in areas of dairy production, this set of unique solutions provides the decision maker with different feeding options according to diet cost, water usage, and available feeds. As water was more constrained, dietary dry matter intake increased, concentrations of neutral detergent fiber, ether extract, and energy decreased, and the concentration of lignin increased because less nutritive but more water-saving feedstuffs were included in the diet. Mitigation costs of water usage were calculated from goal programming results and indicated that the potential value of water under water-limited conditions (e.g., in a drought region) was higher than that under water-sufficient conditions. However, a smaller increase in feed costs can initially significantly reduce water usage compared with that of a least-cost diet, which implies that the reduction of water usage through ration manipulation might be possible. This model serves as a framework for the study of irrigation water usage in dairy production and other livestock production systems and for decision-making processes involved in water resources planning in the broader area of animal production., (The Authors. Published by FASS Inc. and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).)

Are insects the farm animal of the future? A key agenda for agricultural production systems is the development of sustainable practices whereby food and feed can be produced in an environmentally efficient manner. These goals require novel approaches to complex problems and demand collaboration between scientists, producers, consumers, government and the general population. The provision of feed for animals is a major contributor to land and water use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Further, overfishing and a reduction in available land and water resources on which crops can be grown has led to an increase in price of protein ingredients such as fish meals and oils and soybean meals. Determination of novel solutions to meet the feed protein requirements of production animals is key to the development of sustainable farming practices. The Australian pork industry aims to develop production systems that efficiently use available resources (such as feed and energy) and limit the production of emissions (such as manure waste and GHGs). Invertebrates (insects e.g. black soldier flies) are naturally consumed by monogastric and aquatic species, yet the large-scale production of insects for feed (or food) is yet to be exploited. Most insects are low producers of GHGs and have low land and water requirements. The large-scale production of insects can contribute to a circular economy whereby food and feed waste (and potentially manure) are reduced or ideally eliminated via bioconversion. While the concept of farm-scale production of insects as domestic animal feed has been explored for decades, significant production and replacement of traditional protein sources has yet to be achieved. This review will focus on the potential role of insect-derived protein as a feed source for the Australian pig production industry.

In theory, a late winter-early spring calving date in temperate grazing systems best matches pasture supply and herd demand, thereby minimizing the need for nonpasture feeds and maximizing profitability. We used a quantitative case study approach to define the effects of season of calving on biophysical and financial performance in a grazing system without the confounding effects of imported feeds (i.e., milk production directly from grazed pasture). A 2-yr production system experiment was established to quantify the effects of changing onset of seasonal calving (i.e., planned start of calving; PSC) from winter (July in the Southern Hemisphere) to spring (October), summer, (January), or autumn (April) on pasture and animal production and profitability. Eighty Holstein-Friesian cows were randomly allocated to 1 of 4 PSC treatments, each of which had a different PSC [mean calving date of January 10 (JAN), April 10 (APR), July 10 (JUL), or October 10 (OCT)]. Data were analyzed for consistency of treatment response over years using ANOVA procedures with year, PSC treatment, and year × PSC treatment interactions as fixed effects. Collated biological data and financial data extracted from a national economic database were used as fixed variables to model the financial performance for the different treatments. A stochastic risk analysis was undertaken, where historical pasture growth and milk price data were used to estimate the probability distributions for stochastic input variables. Gross farm revenue and operating profit per hectare were modeled under 2 scenarios: (A) milk price did not include a premium for milk supplied during the winter, and (B) milk price included a realistic premium for milk supplied in winter. Annual and seasonal pasture growth did not differ between treatments, but the pasture growth (kg of dry matter/ha) and profile of the JUL treatment best matched the lactation nutrient demand profile. In comparison, profiles for JAN, APR, and OCT calving treatments had periods of greater surplus and deficit due to the time of calving and herd demand relative to the pasture growth profile. As a result, the JAN and OCT treatments conserved more pasture as silage and cows consumed a larger proportion of their annual diet as silage. Although the amount of silage conserved and consumed did not differ between the JUL and APR calving treatments, the timing of the silage consumption was different, with silage making up a greater proportion of the diets in the APR treatment 1 to 90 and 91 to 180 d postcalving and being offered to the JUL calving treatment only 271 to 365 d postcalving. As a result of differences in the quantity and proportion of pasture and pasture silage in the lactating diet, the JUL treatment herd tended to produce greater milk, 4% fat-corrected milk, fat, protein, and lactose yields (kg/cow) than the other PSC treatments, which did not differ from each other. Operating expenses per hectare did not differ materially between calving date scenarios, but operating expenses per kilogram of fat-corrected milk and kilogram of fat and protein were 15 to 20% less in the JUL treatment. With or without a realistic winter milk premium, gross farm revenue and operating profit per hectare were greater in the JUL treatment than in the APR treatment, which had greater revenue and profitability than the remaining 2 calving date treatments. In summary, our results indicate that a PSC in late winter is most profitable in a grazing system not importing feed, with or without a realistic price incentive scheme., (The Authors. Published by FASS Inc. and Elsevier Inc. on behalf of the American Dairy Science Association®. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).)

The study was conducted to evaluate the current status and constraints of chicken production among poultry producers in the study area. A high percentage of poultry producers were male (69.2%) and married (53.8%). More than half had at least a tertiary education (53.8%) followed by those with secondary schooling and a primary education. The average age of poultry producers was 33.2 ± 11.0 years and this ranged from 16 up to 65 yr of age. Among all the producers' samples, 36.5% reared chicks while hens were the largest flock type followed by pullets, chicks, cockerels, and cocks. A large proportion of producers (94.2%) provided supplementary feed to their birds and most (82.7%) of them utilized commercial ration. Mostly, 38.5% of poultry producers provide supplementary feed any time depending upon the amount of feed left in the feeding trough. The 3 biggest challenges to producers were sudden outbreak of disease, the cost of commercial feed, and the lack of availability of day-old chicks., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Poultry Science Association.)

This study was conducted to determine an appropriate replacement of fishmeal with amino acids (AAs) and optimized protein levels in practical diets for Oreochromis niloticus with mean initial body weight 12.52±0.63g. Six experimental and a control diet (total 7 diets) divided into two groups, and a control diet (D1) containing 32% protein. The first group contained three diets that included different dietary protein levels, viz. 20 (D2), 25 (D3), and 30% (D4) with AAs when replacing fishmeal by plant protein sources. In the second group, the diets were contained 20 (D5), 25 (D6), and 30% (D7) without AAs. The best growth performance was achieved in fish fed with diet D1. Total feed intake was increased with an increase in dietary protein level with AAs. The specific growth rate showed a similar pattern with a significant difference between control, D4 and D7 compared to other groups. The feed conversion ratio decreased when protein levels in the diets increased. The protein efficiency ratio showed a similar performance, with a slight increase between the control diet and diets with AAs. However, insignificant differences (P>0.05) were observed between diets with and without AAs. An economic evaluation indicated that inclusion of low fishmeal in tilapia diets reduced the price/kg of diets compared to control.

Feed efficiency has been widely studied in many areas of dairy science and is currently seeing renewed interest in the field of breeding and genetics. A critical part of determining how efficiently an animal utilizes feed is accurately measuring individual dry matter (DM) intake. Currently, multiple methods are used to measure feed intake or determine the DM content of that feed, resulting in different levels of accuracy of measurement. Furthermore, the scale at which data need to be collected for use in genetic analyses makes some methodologies impractical. This systematic review aims to provide an overview of the current methodologies used to measure both feed intake in ruminants and DM content of feedstuffs, current methods to predict individual DM intake, and applications of large-scale intake measurements. Overall, advances in milk spectral data analysis present a promising method of estimating individual DM intake on a herd scale with further validation of prediction models. Although measurements of individual feed intake rely on the same underlying principle, the methods selected are largely dictated by the costs of capital, labor, and necessary analyses. Finally, DM methodologies were synthesized into a comprehensive protocol for use in a variety of feedstuffs., (Copyright © 2019 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

This study was conducted to investigate effects of dietary peppermint leaves and menthol supplementations on performance, survivability rate, cost economics, meat physicochemical properties, and carcass characteristics of broiler chicks. A total of 384 1-day-old, unsexed Ross 308 broiler chicks, were divided into 2 experiments. Each experiment included 192 birds that were assigned to 4 dietary treatments that included peppermint leaves at concentrations of 0, 5, 10, or 15 g/kg in the first experiment or menthol at concentrations of 0, 26, 52, or 78 mg/kg in the second experiment. Each treatment had 6 replicate pens with 8 birds. The experiments lasted for 35 D. The peppermint leaves contained 1.48% essential oil that contained 35.1% menthol, and the levels of menthol were selected based on the concentrations in peppermint leaf levels. Body weight and body-weight gain increased with the increase in dietary peppermint leaves (linear, P < 0.01) and menthol concentrations (linear, quadratic, P < 0.01) during the trial periods. In addition, the feed intake linearly increased (P < 0.01) with increasing peppermint leaves or menthol levels and, in turn, caused linear improvements (P < 0.01) in feed conversion values. Interestingly, a lower mortality rate was recorded in the supplementation groups and, therefore, a higher net return was observed. However, pH values and drip loss percentage of breast and leg muscles were not affected by either dietary peppermint levels or menthol levels. Increasing peppermint or menthol levels decreased (P < 0.001) cook-loss percentage of breast and leg muscles. On the other hand, dietary supplementation of peppermint leaves or menthol had no effect (P ≥ 0.05) on the relative weights of dressing, breast, leg, liver, heart, gizzard, spleen, or pancreas. Interestingly, abdominal fat percentage was decreased by either supplemental peppermint or menthol. Hence, the present investigation demonstrates that peppermint leaves can be used as an effective novel nutritional bio-agent up to 15 g/kg to improve the performance of broiler chicks, mainly due to its active component., (© 2019 Poultry Science Association Inc.)

Male calves are purchased from the dairy industry in North America to produce red meat. The price paid for male calves varies widely, and it is unclear which variables influence the price paid for each calf. The objective of this study was to assess how the health traits of calves at the time of arrival and demographic variables affect the breakeven purchase price of a male calf entering the veal industry. A financial model was constructed using the prevalence of health abnormalities, weight at arrival, source of the calf, number of days in the barn, base carcass price, days to mortality, feed costs, season at arrival, interest rate, housing location, carcass dressing percentage, and costs associated with housing, labor, utilities, trucking, and health to calculate the breakeven purchase price and an estimate of profit. Sensitivity analysis was conducted using health variables measured at arrival and demographic variables, including season at arrival and housing location, to identify the factors with the largest impact on the predicted average daily gain, early and late mortality risk, breakeven purchase price, and profit. At the baseline inputs, the average calculated profit was -$5.36 per calf and it was most sensitive to the location of housing where calves were fed and the body weight of the arriving calf. The mortality risk in the first 21 d after arrival (early) was calculated to be 2.2%, whereas the risk of mortality after 21 d (late) was 3.7%. The risks of early and late mortality were most sensitive to the level of dehydration measured at arrival and the season at arrival for the purchased calves, respectively. The calculated average daily gain was 1.12 kg/d and it was most sensitive to housing location. The breakeven purchase price was calculated to be $242.49 per calf, which was most sensitive to the housing location where the calves were fed. The results of this analysis demonstrate that veal producers need to consider many variables before purchasing calves. In addition to overall market conditions, veal producers should factor health characteristics and the expected performance of the calves they purchase into what they are willing to pay for them., (Copyright © 2019 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Consumers perceive that organic meat has superior nutritional properties compared to conventional meat, although the available evidence from commercial samples is very scarce. The present study compared the nutritional composition of organic and conventional beef meat sold at retail, including, for the first time, the bioactive compounds coenzyme Q 10 , carnosine, anserine, creatine and taurine. Sampling comprised two muscles: longissimus thoracis and supraspinatus., Results: Organic beef had 17% less cholesterol, 32% less fat, 16% less fatty acids, 24% less monounsaturated fatty acids, 170% more α-linolenic acid, 24% more α-tocopherol, 53% more β-carotene, 34% more coenzyme Q 10 and 72% more taurine than conventional beef. Differences between organic and conventional samples were clearly dependent on the muscle because longissimus thoracis and supraspinatus showed different patterns of compound accumulation., Conclusion: To our knowledge, a higher amount of bioactive compounds in organic beef meat is reported for the first time in the present study. Retail organic beef had a higher nutritional value than retail conventional beef, which resulted from better-balanced lipid and bioactive compound contents. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Background: Four trials were conducted; the first established optimal cooking time for false codling moth diets using a microwave oven while the other three trials aimed at determining nutrient requirements, testing these, and evaluating alternative cheaper raw materials., Results: Microwave preparation for 8 min, using a 1000 W microwave oven was found to be the optimal cooking time for all treatment diets at 200 g kg -1 moisture. The minimum specification (MS) diet yielded more larvae per jar (mean ± standard deviation) (759 ± 29) than the control (CON) (652 ± 32) diet and the ideal amino acid profile (IAAP) diet (596 ± 46). The third trial subsequently utilized diets formulated according to the MS diet nutrient specifications but using novel and cheaper raw materials (D1 and D2). Production characteristics of diets D1 and D2 was compared to that of CON. Diets D1 and D2 yielded more larvae per jar (D1 = 911 ± 40; D2 = 830 ± 40) than that of CON (428 ± 40) with the added advantage that the newly formulated diets were cheaper., Conclusion: Reduced cost feeds were formulated, mixed and tested which resulted in substantial saving in the mass rearing of the species for integrated pest management. This method shows potential for diet development of other insect species as well. © 2019 Society of Chemical Industry., (© 2019 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Today, we have been witnessing a steady tendency in the increase of global demand for maize, wheat, soybeans, and their products due to the steady growth and strengthening of the livestock industry. Thus, animal feed safety has gradually become more important, with mycotoxins representing one of the most significant hazards. Mycotoxins comprise different classes of secondary metabolites of molds. With regard to animal feed, aflatoxins, fumonisins, ochratoxins, trichothecenes, and zearalenone are the more prevalent ones. In this review, several constraints posed by these contaminants at economical and commercial levels will be discussed, along with the legislation established in the European Union to restrict mycotoxins levels in animal feed. In addition, the occurrence of legislated mycotoxins in raw materials and their by-products for the feeds of interest, as well as in the feeds, will be reviewed. Finally, an overview of the different sample pretreatment and detection techniques reported for mycotoxin analysis will be presented, the main weaknesses of current methods will be highlighted.

There has been a great interest to identify a microbial marker that can be used to predict feed efficiency of beef cattle. Such a marker, specifically one that would allow an early identification of animals with high feed efficiency for future breeding efforts, would facilitate increasing the profitability of cattle operations and simultaneously render them more sustainable by reducing their methane footprint. The work presented here suggests that Prevotella copri might be an ideal microbial marker for identifying beef cattle with high feed efficiency early in their life span and in the production cycle. Developing more refined quantification techniques that allow correlation of P. copri to feed efficiency of beef cattle that can be applied by lay people in the field holds great promise to improve the economy of cattle operations while simultaneously reducing their environmental impact by mitigating methane production from enteric fermentation., (© 2019 Japanese Society of Animal Science.)

This study introduces a new nutritional grouping method, OptiGroup, which maximizes milk income over feed cost (IOFC) using a mixed-integer nonlinear programming optimization algorithm. Analyses compared the OptiGroup with the cluster method, the current state-of-the-art nutritional grouping technique. Analyses were performed using cow-level data from 7 Wisconsin dairy farms. Consistently, the OptiGroup and the cluster were constrained to group cows simultaneously into 2 (low and high nutrient requirements) and 3 (low, medium, and high nutrient requirements) same-size groups. Each diet satisfied the net energy (NE L ) and crude protein (CP) requirements of approximately 83% of the cows in each group by using lead factors based on nutrient density. A control treatment (1-group scenario) was used as a baseline for comparisons. The IOFC, dietary nutrient densities (NE L and CP), and dry matter intake with both methods were computed and compared. The percentage of cows grouped differently and the percentages of primiparous cows and late-lactation (>200 d in milk) cows in each group were also analyzed. Results were as follows: (1) average extra IOFC of $8/cow per yr (2-group) and $12/cow per yr (3-group) by switching from cluster to OptiGroup method; (2) difference between dietary nutrient densities of the groups were reduced under OptiGroup method compared with cluster (i.e., NE L differences in 2 groups were 0.20 Mcal/kg for the cluster vs. 0.11 Mcal/kg for OptiGroup); (3) dry matter intake decreased with increasing group numbers within a grouping method, and decreased from cluster to OptiGroup method with constant group numbers; (4) percentage of primiparous cows was greater in the low group of cluster and in the high group of OptiGroup; and (5) proportion of late-lactation cows tended to be greater in the low group in both grouping strategies. Results indicated that the OptiGroup performed economically better than the cluster because of nutrient savings, even with high feed cost conditions. This study offers a new nutritional grouping paradigm, which could improve herd management on dairy farms. However, animal trials are needed to validate this new nutritional grouping method under farm conditions., (Copyright © 2019 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Our objective was to examine the potential of limit feeding that keeps a previously growing animal at a constant size (termed progressive limit feeding) to maximize profit using a 3D surface to integrate the effects of animal size, feeding rate, and time in the feedlot. The constant size contours of the surface were determined using a combination of results. We used data from a study of growing beef cattle being fed to maintain specified sizes coupled with modern growth rate data for animals fed ad libitum in a feedlot. These feed rate contours were best-fit declining exponentials. They shared the same exponent and they originated on the ad libitum curve, thus defining the entire possible growth surface. The asymptotes of these exponentials coincided with the interspecies mean for the metabolic body size of mature animals. This surface also demonstrated the phenomenon of compensatory growth. We proved that the most profitable growth path across this surface is of a particular form under realistic assumptions. Specifically, we proved that the profit maximizing growth path in the feedlot began with a period of progressive limit feeding and then allowed ad libitum feeding to the same market time as experienced by the standard continuous ad libitum fed animal. The opportunity cost of holding the progressively limit-fed animal longer in the feedlot than the animal fed ad libitum quickly overpowered any profit gained by limit feeding. Consequently the progressively limit-fed animal on the optimal feeding path at sale time was slightly smaller but potentially more profitable than the animal fed ad libitum, both slaughtered at the same time. It may also have an economically favorable body composition. Thus we have demonstrated a process for maximizing profit in the feedlot. The approach involved developing a growth surface to integrate the effects of progressive limit feeding and subsequent compensatory growth. After refinement this same process could be applied to other livestock., (© The Author(s) 2019. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the American Society of Animal Science. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Rotational 3-breed crossbred cows of Montbéliarde, Viking Red, and Holstein (CB) were compared with Holstein (HO) cows for alternative measures of feed efficiency as well as income over feed cost (IOFC) and residual feed intake (RFI) during the first 150 d of first, second, and third lactations. Primiparous and multiparous CB (n = 63 and n = 43, respectively) and HO (n = 60 and n = 37, respectively) cows were fed the same total mixed ration twice daily with refusals weighed once daily. Feed was analyzed for dry matter content, net energy for lactation, and crude protein content. Body weight (BW) was recorded twice weekly. Daily production of milk, fat, and protein were estimated from monthly test days with best prediction. Measures of efficiency from 4 to 150 d in milk (DIM) were feed conversion efficiency (FCE), defined as fat plus protein production (kg) per kilogram of dry matter intake (DMI); ECM/DMI, defined as kilograms of energy-corrected milk (ECM) per kilogram of DMI; net energy for lactation efficiency (NE L E), defined as ECM (kg) per megacalorie of net energy for lactation intake; crude protein efficiency (CPE), defined as true protein production (kg) per kilogram of crude protein intake; and DMI/BW, defined as DMI (kg) per kilogram of BW. The IOFC was defined as revenue from fat plus protein production minus feed cost. The RFI from 4 to 150 DIM for each lactation was the residual error remaining from regression of DMI on milk energy output (Mcal), metabolic BW, and energy required for change in BW (Mcal). Statistical analysis of measures of feed efficiency and RFI for primiparous cows included the fixed effects of year of calving and breed group. For multiparous cows, statistical analysis included breed as a fixed effect and cow as a repeated effect nested within breed group. Primiparous CB cows had higher means for FCE (+5.5%), ECM/DMI (+4.0%), NE L E (+4.0%), and CPE (+5.2%) and a lower mean DMI/BW (-5.3%) than primiparous HO cows. Primiparous CB cows ($875) also had higher mean IOFC than primiparous HO cows ($825). In addition, mean RFI from 4 to 150 DIM was significantly lower (more desirable) for primiparous CB cows than HO cows. Likewise, multiparous CB cows had higher means for FCE (+8.2%), ECM/DMI (+5.9%), NE L E (+5.8%), and CPE (+8.1%) and a lower mean for DMI/BW (-4.8%) than multiparous HO cows. Multiparous CB cows ($1,296) also had a higher mean for IOFC than multiparous HO cows ($1,208) and a lower mean for RFI from 4 to 150 DIM than HO cows., (Copyright © 2019 American Dairy Science Association. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We address the hypothesis that individual cow feed intake can be measured in commercial farms through the use of a photogrammetry method. Feed intake and feed efficiency have a significant economic value for the farmer. A common method for measuring feed mass in research is a feed mass weighing system, which is excessively expensive for commercial farms. However, feed mass can be estimated by its volume, which can be measured by photogrammetry. Photogrammetry applies cameras along the feed-lane, photographing the feed before and after the cow visits the feed-lane, and calculating the feed volume. In this study, the precision of estimating feed mass by its volume was tested by comparing measured mass and calculated volume of feed heaps. The following principal factors had an impact on the precision of this method: camera quality, lighting conditions, image resolution, number of images, and feed density. Under laboratory conditions, the feed mass estimation error was 0·483 kg for heaps up to 7 kg, while in the cowshed the estimation error was 1·32 kg for up to 40 kg. A complementary experiment showed that the natural feed compressibility causes about 85% of uncertainty in the mass estimation error.