ABSTRACT:The effects of laying hen age and the housing of laying hens in conventional cages, enriched cages, litter system and outdoor system on egg weight and yolk and egg cholesterol concentration were studied. ISA brown laying hens were used in the experiment. The characteristics were measured at 39, 50, 59, 68 and 75 weeks of age. Fifteen eggs were always collected from each housing system. In total, 300 eggs were analyzed. There were not any significantly different results in the eggs from the hens living in the different housing systems or from the age of laying hens on the weight of eggs. But the housing system and the age of hens had a significant (P ≤ 0.01) effect on both yolk and egg cholesterol concentration. The concentration of yolk and egg cholesterol was the lowest (P ≤ 0.01) in the enriched cages (12.5 mg/g yolk and 211.2 mg/egg) and the highest in the litter technology (14.1 mg/g yolk and 242.6 mg/egg). Further, there was a significant (P ≤ 0.01) influence of the interaction between the housing system and the age of hens on egg weight and on yolk and egg cholesterol concentration.

The purpose of the present study was to ascertain whether it is possible to substitute animal protein in a pig diet with lupine of Sonet cultivar or amaranth grain or dried surface biomass of amaranth when one type feed ration is used during the entire period of fattening, and to investigate its impact on growth efficiency and health of pigs. Its role in feed conversion, carcass characteristics, meat quality and sensory parameters was analyzed.Four groups of pigs (n = 10, 5 males and 5 females) with the body weight of 24 kg were fed semi-ad libitum for 90 days the following diets: control group (C) -diet containing 3% of fish meal, experimental group (1) -diet containing 5% of non-heat-treated amaranth grain and 5% of dried surface biomass of amaranth, experimental group (2) -diet containing 5% of popped (heattreated) amaranth grain and 5% of dried surface amaranth biomass, experimental group (3) -diet containing 10% of lupine seed meal. Animal protein substitution in diets with amaranth (group 1, 2) or lupine (3) did not result in significant differences (p > 0.05) in average daily body weight gain in comparison with the control group (C -0.83 and 0.82, 0.80 and 0.79 kg in groups 1, 2 and 3, respectively). The differences in feed conversion were non-significant (2.69 to 2.79 kg/kg of body weight gain). The tested diets did not adversely affect animal metabolism, and significantly lower concentrations (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) of total protein, glucose and triacylglycerol in animals of group C ranged within physiological limits. No significant differences between control and experimental animals were found in carcass characteristics, meat and sensory qualities. Lupine supplementation of the diet positively affected the tenderness and taste of meat. Animal protein, performance, feed conversion, blood biochemistry, intramuscular fat, sensory parametersAfter the limitation of animal-derived feeds in animal nutrition, concern has been expressed as to what substances to use to replace the high-quality raw material previously used for the preparation of combined feeds without adverse effects on the health status and performance of fattened pigs. Although it is very difficult to replace animal protein, leguminous plants (soy, pea and lupine), oil plants (oilseed rape and sunflower) and pseudocereals (amaranth) may be considered. Predominant use of imported soy as a feed component for monogastric animals has been limited by price and moreover, heat treatment is necessary for inactivation of anti-nutrient substances. Some cultivars of soy also contain oestrogen-like substances (Sommer 2003).It follows from the present situation that it is necessary to use vegetable feeds of inland production and of high nutritional quality that are available for a reasonable price. The seeds of lupine cultivars meet these requirements from an aspect of high protein content, adaptability to various climatic conditions and sufficient yield. According to the most recent studies, lupine has been classified as one of eight prospective protein sour...

Our study was conducted to determine the effect of production factors (breed, sex) and aging time on the textural properties of beef using instrumental measurement of tenderness. Meat was obtained from Galloway, Simmental, Charolais, Czech Fleckvieh breeds and their crossbreeds. Meat was either unaged or aged for 14, 28 or 42 days. The tenderness was characterized by Warner-Bratzler test and compression test using Tira-test device. The cooking loss of meat juice was also evaluated. Analysis of variance at 5% significance level showed that tenderness was influenced by all tested factors (breed, sex, aging time). The shear force decreased with aging of meat. The correlation between shear force and compression test was 0.257 (p ≤ 0.001). The differences in tenderness were found among breeds. The highest initial shear force was measured in Simmental (151.98 N). Compression test showed better tenderness in Czech Fleckvieh and Galloway than in Simmental, Charolais and crossbreeds. Meat from bulls was significantly (p ≤ 0.001) less tender than from heifers. There was a significant (p ≤ 0.001) increase of cooking loss of meat juice during aging from 25.3% after slaughter to 34.0% after aging period. The research results could be useful for determination whether specific cattle breeds can produce tender meat with good aging patterns. According to findings of the current study it is especially necessary to emphasize that factor of aging time exceeded the influence of breed and sex on tenderness. The study also suggests extending of aging period to 6 week to assure tenderness of beef.

ABSTRACT:The purpose of the present study was to evaluate the effect of soya replacement (50 or 100%) with whole (WL) or dehulled seeds (DL) of white lupine cv. Butan in the diets for market pigs. The experiment was performed on 50 pigs in equal numbers of barrows and gilts with the initial mean body weight (BW) of 18.3 ± 2.1 kg, fed isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets for 100 days. In the experimental starter pigs (18 to 35 kg BW), the mean daily body weight gain (BWG) was 0.61 to 0.64 kg and was insignificantly lower by 1.5 to 6.2% in comparison with the pigs fed the control soya diet (SBM). The diet intake was also lower by 5.4 to 6.8% and could result from a higher content of crude fibre. In the grower and finisher diets, no side effect of high lupine levels on the feed intake was evident. The intake of DL diets was higher in comparison with the soya diet. The feed efficiency of the finisher diets was insignificantly higher (P > 0.05) for experimental diets (WL 50, WL 100, DL 100) in contrast to the control diet. The differences among diets containing WL or DL seeds were insignificant. During the experiment, no adverse effect of lupine on the health of pigs was observed and no significant differences in the parameters of market pig meat, nutrition quality of meat and sensory analysis were detected. The inclusion of lupine in diets resulted in a significantly lower n-6/n-3 ratio of polyunsaturated fatty acids (P < 0.01) in meat lipids (5.15 to 5.33) in comparison with soya (8.75). It follows from the obtained results that the tested lupine variety seeds are a source of high-quality protein that can be an alternative to soya in the diets for market pigs.

29Due to the fact that the use of feed of animal origin in the nutrition of monogastric animals has been limited, an essential problem arose as how to replace a high quality animal protein without adverse effect on animal health and performance. Most European countries are dependent on imported soy, which is a source of protein for poultry and pig diets. The heat treatment of soy is necessary for inactivation of anti-nutritional substances. Moreover, some soy cultivars contain estrogen-like agents (Sommer, 2003). The use of alternative home prepared diets with a high nutritional value and of reasonable price is attractive. Lupine seeds meet these requirements among leguminous plants cultivated in our country.According to a prospective study (Dijkstra et al., 2003) lupine has been included among eight potential vegetable sources of protein for the use in feed and food production. The seeds of sweet lupine cultivars (Lupinus albus, L. angustifolius, L. luteus) contain 28 to 48% crude protein (CP) in dry matter (DM), which depends on the lupine cultivar and ABSTRACT:The purpose of the present study was to assess the effect of diets for market pigs with 20% inclusion of lupine seeds, cv. Amiga, on the performance, health status, carcass characteristics, fatty acids (FA) profile of meat lipids and nutritional and sensory parameters of meat. Another purpose was to increase the nutritional value of a cereal-lupine diet (E1) by supplementation with lysine, methionine, threonine (E2) or fat (E3) and to perform a comparison with control diets containing animal protein (C1) or soy (C2). The experiments were performed on 50 pigs (50% males, 50% females) with initial body weights of 35.6 ± 2.2 kg, fed isonitrogenic and isoenergetic diets partly ad libitum for 90 days. Feed intake was not adversely affected by lupine inclusion. The daily body weight gain (BWG) was significantly higher (P < 0.05) in group E3 in comparison with the cereal-lupine diet group (E1) and the other groups by 12.6 to 15.9% during the initial 30 days of experiment. The highest BWG (0.88 ± 0.07 kg/kg) during the entire experimental period was obtained with the fat containing diet (E3); that was non-significantly higher by 2.3 to 10.0% in comparison with the other diets. The feed conversion rate was reduced in groups E3 and E2 (2.55 and 2.58 kg/kg BWG) by 3.1 to 7.6% in comparison with groups C1, C2 and E1. No adverse effect of the lupine containing diet was observed on the carcass characteristics or the nutritional quality of the meat. Optimum content of linolenic acid in lupine seeds had a favourable effect on n-6/n-3 polyunsaturated FA ratio in meat lipids of group E3 in comparison with groups C1 and E1 (P < 0.05). By sensory meat analysis, significantly better characteristics were found for texture, juiciness (P < 0.01, P < 0.05) and taste in E3 in comparison with groups C1, C2 and E1. The obtained results indicate that animal and soy protein may be replaced with lupine, tested in the present study, in case a diet is supplemented with amino acids an...

ABSTRACT:The objective of this paper was to determine basic components of pork and beef (fat, protein, water content) using FT NIR spectroscopy. The samples were analysed on an FT NIR Nicolet Antaris device in a reflectance regimen. Reference results from classical analyses were used for the calibration of the device. Calibration models were created using PLS algorithm (method of partial least squares) and verified by cross-validation. High correlation coefficients (R) of calibration were calculated (fat 0.998; protein 0.976; water 0.994), and subsequently of validation as well (fat 0.997; protein 0.970; water 0.993) and very low standard deviations of the calibration and validation (SEC, SEP). No statistically significant differences between the reference and predicted values of determination were detected in Z-test. According to the published results, the NIRS method has a high potential to replace an expensive and time demanding chemical analysis of meat composition.

HAVLÍČEK, M., NEDOMOVÁ, Š., SIMEONOVOVÁ, J., SEVERA, L., KŘIVÁNEK, I.: On the evaluation of chicken egg shape variability. Acta univ. agric. et silvic. Mendel. Brun., 2008, LVI, No. 5, pp. 69-74 Although recently reported models for determining egg shape are highly accurate, certain com pli cated measurements or computations are to be performed. Thus relatively simple and attainable analysis methods of chicken egg shape variability were chosen and used for the purpose of presented research. Sample of 250 eggs of ISA BROWN strain was examined. Geometrical parameters were measured and calculated with following expression of their coeffi cient of variation -namely egg length 3.56 %, egg maximum width 2.84 %, shape index 3.80 %, surface area 5.08 %, and egg volume 7.23 %. The second method consisted in shape quantitative measuring by the score of the principal components of elliptic Fourier descriptors (EFDs). The fi rst four principles components which could explain over 99 % of the egg shape variations were found to be very good measures of the monitored phenomenon. It was found that 87.41 % of the total shape variation can be accounted to length to width ratio. Usefulness and relevance of the shape index usage was confi rmed. chicken egg, shape variability, elliptic Fourier analysis

Abstract. The mean values of shortening force at fracture of egg found out during the five-month observation period ranged between 0.17 and 0.19 mm in 231 hens of seven initial laying lines and strength of eggshell ranged from 29.05 N to 36.46 N. The mean values of shortening force at fracture decreased with age of hens from 0.18–0.22 mm at 28 wk of age to 0.12–0.15 mm at 46 wk of age. Similarly, strength of eggshell decreased from 31.35–37.68 N to 27.91–34.50 N in same time period. Index of shape, ratio of eggshell and albumen to total egg weight also decreased with increasing age of hens. The highest ratio of abnormal eggs was found in both Bar Plymouth Rock lines (BPR A and BPR B) – 7.5% and 8.3% resp. The lowest ratio was found in lines Rhode Island Red (RIR C) – 2.1% and Susex Light (SU) – 2.4 %. The ratio of cracked eggs ranged from 0.9 % to 3.9 %, the ratio of double-yolked eggs was 0.5%–3.2% and the ratio of eggs without shell was 0.4 %–1.5 %. The calculated coefficients of correlation between shortening of egg and index of shape were mainly positive with rp = 0.41 (P < 0.05) and rp = 0.49 (P < 0.01). The correlations between shortening of egg and total number of eggs were mainly negative with rp = −0. 34 (P < 0.05) and rp = −0. 46 (P < 0.01). Similar correlations existed also between shortening of egg and ratio of cracked eggs, i.e. rp = −0. 44 (P < 0.05) and rp = −0. 46 (P < 0.01). The correlations between shortening and total number of abnormal eggs were mainly negative rp = −0. 39 (P < 0.05) and rp = −0. 53 (P < 0.01). The relationships between strength of eggshell and shortening of egg are characterized by positive correlations – rp = 0. 40 (P < 0.05) and rp = 0.55, (P < 0.01). Positive correlations existed also between strength of eggshell and index of shape (from rp = 0. 37 (P < 0.05) to rp = 0.59 (P < 0.01)). Correlations between strength of eggshell and ratio of eggshell ranged from rp = 0.44 (P < 0.01) to rp = 0.74 (P < 0.01). Mainly negative correlations were found out between strength of eggshell and number of eggs rp = −0. 34 (P<0.05) and rp = −0. 44 (P < 0.01), similarly between the strength of eggshell and cracked eggs rp = −0. 40 (P < 0.05) and rp = −0. 52 (P < 0.01). Negative correlations existed between strength of eggshell and total number of abnormal eggs (rp = −0.45 to rp = −0.53 (P < 0.01)). This means that both eggshell shortening and strength may be used when selecting lines for egg quality.