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Fifteen young Holstein Friesian bulls (18 mo of age) were divided into three groups of five. All groups were fed a diet consisting of 60% concentrate and 40% roughage. The control (C) group received a mixture of dry meadow hay, dry lucerne and wheat straw as roughage. The second and third treatment groups were fed a similar mixture of roughage partially substituting wheat straw with wet sugar beet pulp (SBP) at levels of 4% and 8% on a dry matter (DM) basis, respectively. Dry matter intake and feed efficiency ratio (kg DM intake/kg weight gain) of the C group were significantly higher than those of the 4% SBP and 8% SBP groups. Slaughter and carcass traits indicated that there were no significant differences between dietary treatments. The inclusion of 8% SBP significantly improved panel ratings for tenderness, juiciness, beef flavour intensity and general acceptance, as well as number of chews before swallowing and the Warner Bratzler Shear value. Proximate analysis of the meat did not demonstrate differences between meat from the bulls fed C and the SBP diets. It was concluded that wheat straw could be replaced by 8% SBP in the finishing diet for young Holstein Friesian bulls in order to improve feed efficiency and sensory quality characteristics of their meat. ________________________________________________________________________________

This experiment was designed to examine the effects of supplemental vitamin D on laying performance, metabolic profile and egg quality of hens fed diets containing different fat sources and levels. Lohman strains (n = 480) were assigned to one of 10 diets: basal diet (BD), BD plus 2.5 and 5.0% sunflower oil (SO) or tallow (T) at vitamin D provided 1× and 3× of the current recommendation. The experiment lasted from week 30 to 44 of age. Each diet was tested in 12 replicate cages of 4 hens. Production, metabolism, and egg quality data were subjected to three-way ANOVA. Both fats decreased feed intake (FI) as compared to BD. Increasing SO and T levels linearly decreased and quadratically increased FI, respectively. The dietary factors did not affect egg production (EP) and egg weight. Vitamin D supplementation increased and decreased EP when diets contained SO and T, respectively. Feed conversion efficiency (FCE) for hens fed SO was lower than for hens fed T. However, increasing T level improved FCE, whereas increasing SO level worsened FCR. Vitamin D supplementation increased serum vitamin D and glucose concentrations. Vitamin D supplementation also caused a decrease and an increase in serum vitamin D concentration when diets contained SO and T, respectively. Serum glucose concentration for hens fed SO was lower than hens fed T. Increasing fat level linearly increased serum triglyceride and VLDL concentrations, regardless of the fat type. Increasing SO level linearly decreased serum cholesterol concentration. Vitamin D supplementation did not alter lipid metabolites. The dietary factors did not affect serum total protein, Ca, and P concentrations. As compared with BD, feeding SO decreased dry tibia and ash weights more than feeding T. Vitamin D supplementation tended to increase dry tibia weight and decrease tibia ash weight. Eggshell strength and thickness, yolk and albumen indexes, and Haugh unit were not responsive to the dietary factors. Eggshell strength quadratically increased with increasing T level. Yolk color for hens fed SO was lower than for hens fed T. The dietary factors did not affect most of yolk fatty acids. Increasing SO level quadratically decreased yolk C 18:2 concentration. Vitamin D supplementation increased and decreased yolk C 18:2 concentration when diets contained SO and T, respectively. In conclusion, increasing fat level improved laying performance without altering metabolic profile and egg quality. Vitamin D supplementation had minor alteration effects on laying performance, metabolic profile, and egg quality in response to fat feeding.

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