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Visual assessment is regarded as the gold standard to evaluate meat colour shelf-life, but it is costly and time consuming. To address this issue, this paper aims to evaluate the number of consumers and days of display that are necessaries in order to assess the colour shelf-life of meat, presented with different methods, all using images. Photographs of thirty-six lamb steaks were taken just after cutting (day 0) and on each of the following days until the 14th day of display under standardized conditions. Images were presented in three different manners: 1) with days of display and animals in random order (Random); 2) days of display in sequential and animals in random order (Sequential); and, 3) days of display and animals in sequential order (Animal); they were presented to 211 consumers who evaluated visual acceptability on a 9-point scale. At day zero, visual acceptability scores were the highest in Animal, followed by Sequential, and then by the Random (P < 0.05) method. Scores decreased over time for all methods tested (P < 0.05). The Random method presented the highest standard

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of adding dried distillers' grains with solubles (DDGS) to the nutritional regimens of ewes at different time periods on reproductive traits, serum hormones and serum metabolites. In Experiment 1, 100 ewes were divided into 4 groups (n = 25) according to diet. The four diets were grass hay (H) alone (group H), H with barley (group H + B), H with DDGS for the whole feeding period (27 d) (group H + DDGS) or H and DDGS for 5 d (d 8-12 of oestrus cycle) (group H + DDGS5). Serum progesterone concentrations were affected by oestrus cycle (p < 0.001), but not by dietary treatments. However, feeding H + DDGS caused significant increases in serum insulin, leptin and growth hormone concentrations (p < 0.05). In Experiment 2, 30 ewes were divided into 2 groups (n = 15), receiving DDGS or soybean meal (SBM) during the prepartum period. Diets had no significant effect on weights of dams or lambs at birth; however, the weaning weights of lambs born from ewes of group DDGS were significantly higher (p < 0.05). Moreover, serum glucose, blood urea nitrogen, triglyceride and beta hydroxybutyric acid (BHBA) concentrations during the prepartum period were affected by dietary treatments and by time (p < 0.001). During the prepartum period, BHBA concentrations of ewes fed SBM were higher, while BHBA levels decreased during the last weeks of pregnancy regardless of diet. Lamb serum immunoglobulin G concentrations increased from 1 h to 24 h after birth (p < 0.001). Colostrum of ewes fed SBM had higher fat-free dry matter (DM) and protein contents in comparison to colostrum of ewes fed DDGS (p < 0.05). In conclusion, DDGS can be included as protein source in pregnancy rations up to 15% of DM to obtain reproductive performance outcomes equal to or exceeding those obtained with SBM.

This study examined how inclusion of dried distillers' grains with solubles (DDGS) in finishing lamb diets for different periods affects some physiological indicators and meat quality. A total of 40 male lambs were divided into four groups according to feeding regimen during the 120‐day finishing period as follows: C120: no DDGS included in diet for 120 days; D120: DDGS included in diet for 120 days; D75: no DDGS included in diet for 45 days + DDGS included in diet for 75 days; D45: no DDGS included in diet for 75 days + DDGS included in diet for 45 days. Dietary inclusion rate of DDGS was 27.5%. Fattening performance and rumen parameters were not affected by treatment. Feeding regimens had no significant effect on meat quality except the instrumental tenderness and juiciness score. DDGS fed lambs had higher level of total trans fatty acids and n‐6/n‐3 ratio in meat. 10t‐C18:1, 11t‐C18:1 and 9c,11t conjugated linoleic acid contents of adipose tissue were higher in all the DDGS groups compared with C120 lambs (p < .001). These results suggest that soybean meal can be replaced with corn DDGS in lamb diets for up to 120 days during the finishing period with no adverse effects on some physiological response feedlot performance and meat quality.

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IntroductionThe welfare of breeding boars is often overlooked, resulting in limited scientific data to foster discussion of the topic. We aimed to investigate the effect of different boar housing conditions on their offspring’s emotionality.MethodsEighteen boars were housed in three different conditions: crates (C; n = 6), pens (P; n = 6), or enriched pens (E; n = 6). Boars were distributed by semen quality (SQ; high, medium, or low). Three semen pools were used to inseminate 13 gilts housed in outdoor paddocks. At 25 days of age, 138 suckling piglets were subjected to open field (OF), novel object (NO), and elevated plus-maze (EPM) tests. Saliva was collected before and after the OF and NO tests to measure cortisol concentrations. At the end of the experiment, hair samples were collected for DNA paternity tests. Piglets were classified based on their behavioral responses using hierarchical cluster analysis of the principal components extracted from factor analysis of mixed data. The variables were reduced to seven principal components (dimensions, Dims), which explained 73% of the total variation, and were analyzed using linear mixed models. The models included each Dim as a dependent variable, paternal treatment and body weight (BW) as fixed effects, and paternal SQ as a random effect. Kruskal−Wallis and Wilcoxon rank-sum tests were used to compare the cortisol concentration ratios (before and after the OF and NO tests) between groups.ResultsThere was an effect of treatment on Dim 3 (EPM; activity/fear), with higher values in C piglets than E piglets (p = 0.047). Although C piglets had significantly higher values than P piglets in Dim 4 (EPM; anxiety; p = 0.029) and Dim 6 (NO; inactivity far from the object/exploration; p &lt; 0.0001), the effect of the paternal treatment × BW interaction was significant in both dimensions (p &lt; 0.05). The cortisol ratio in E piglets was greater than that in P and C piglets (p &lt; 0.05).Discussion and conclusionOur findings indicate that boar breeding environments affect the stress response and emotionality (anxiety, fear, and exploration) of their offspring.

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