Resumo -O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o desempenho de mudas sem proteção (de cercas ou estacas) de quatro espécies de leguminosas arbóreas e uma mistura eqüitativa dessas espécies, introduzidas em pastagens de Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu e Panicum maximum cv. Tanzânia, na presença de gado. O delineamento experimental foi o inteiramente ao acaso, em esquema fatorial 2x5, duas gramíneas (marandu e tanzânia) e quatro espécies de leguminosas (Mimosa artemisiana, Pseudosamanea guachapele, Enterolobium contortisiliquum, Acacia farnesiana e uma mistura dessas espécies), com três repetições. Avaliaram-se: altura da muda, diâmetro do caule, diâmetro da copa, sobrevivência da muda, freqüência de pastejo e ocorrência de formigas. As diferenças estatísticas entre as médias da variável canônica principal, pelo teste de Scott-Knott, indicaram a formação de três agrupamentos, tendo-se destacado o grupo formado pelos tratamentos M. artemisiana e mistura de leguminosas, nos dois pastos, mais E. contortisiliquum e A. farnesiana, nos pastos dos capins marandu e tanzânia, respectivamente. Diferenças entre as médias dos tratamentos relativas a cada variável, calculadas por meio de intervalos de confi ança de Bonferroni, mostraram que mudas de M. artemisiana apresentaram maior altura e sobrevivência em pasto de capim-marandu. Mudas dessa leguminosa, sem proteção, são indicadas para ser introduzidas, nas pastagens de capim-marandu da região, na presença do gado.Termos para indexação: Brachiaria brizantha, Mimosa artemisiana, Panicum maximum, pastejo, sistema silvipastoril, sobrevivência. Establishment of leguminous trees in marandu and tanzânia pasturesAbstract -The objective of this work was to evaluate the performance of nonprotected (by fences or pickets) seedlings of leguminous tree species and an equitable mix of these species, introduced in pastures of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu and Panicum maximum cv. Tanzânia, in the presence of cattle. The experimental design was a completely randomized one, in a 2x5 factorial arrangement, with two grasses (marandu and tanzânia) and four leguminous species (Mimosa artemisiana, Pseudomanea guachapele, Enterolobium contortisiliquum, Acacia farnesiana), and a mix of these species, with three replicates. Evaluations were made for: seedling height, stem diameter, canopy diameter, seedling survival, pasture frequency and ant occurrence. The statistical difference between the means of the main canonical variable, by the test of Scott-Knott, indicated the formation of three groups, standing out the one formed by M. artemisiana and mixture of leguminous in the two pastures, plus E. contortisiliquum and A. farnesiana in pastures of marandu and tanzânia grass, respectively. Differences between the means of treatments for each variable, calculated by means of Bonferroni's intervals of confi dence, showed that M. artemisiana presented the greatest height and seedling survival in the pasture of marandu grass. This leguminous seedlings, without protection, are indicated to be introduced i...

-This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary metabolisable energy (ME: 3.25, 3.40, 3.55, or 3.70 Mcal kg −1 ) and weaning weight (WW: light 4.0±0.7 kg, and heavy: 6.3±0.6 kg) on productive response and energy utilization of weaned piglets. Sixty-four male piglets were housed in 32 metabolic cages (two animals per cage) during the first 14 d postweaning. At day 15, only one animal per cage was kept until day 28. Body composition, energy, and nutrient deposition rates and energy utilization efficiency were measured through a comparative slaughter procedure. Piglets with light WW had a poorer feed conversion ratio and lower weight gain and feed intake when expressed per live weight. Increased ME led to greater daily fat deposition in the empty bodies (defined as weighted mean of the carcass + organs + blood, no intestinal content), while light WW piglets had a reduced protein deposition. Light WW piglets increased heat production with increased ME, but no effect was seen for the heavy WW piglets. By contrast, heavy WW piglets increased empty body gross energy as ME increased, while no influence was observed on light WW piglets. Increasing dietary energy levels did not contribute to the subsequent growth performance of piglets that were lighter at weaning. The lack of interaction between weaning weight and dietary ME content on growth performance does not support the hypothesis that light piglets at weaning do not exhibit compensatory growth because of limitations in energy intake.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of acetic, propionic, and formic (50%) organic acids and mannanoligosaccharide (50%) on growth performance, digestibility, and faecal score in challenged weaned piglets. Twenty male piglets (5.57 ± 0.32 kg of BW; 21-24 days of age) were housed individually in metabolic cages for 28 days in an acclimatised room. The treatments were composed of the inclusion (0.1%; n = 10) or not (n = 10) of additive in the diet. The experimental design was completely randomised with two treatments, 10 replicates, and one piglet per replicate. The nutritional matrix was supplemented with 10% of barley and 35.9 to 34.0% of soybean meal in the pre-starter diet (3-14 days post-weaning) and the starter diet (15-28 days post-weaning), respectively, to cause an intestinal challenge. Diets did not include any antimicrobial or growth promoters. Weekly, the animal and the leftover diet were weighed to evaluate growth performance. Digestibility was evaluated through total faeces and urine collection. Piglets fed diets with additive had 8.7% greater weight gain (P < 0.05) compared to those piglets in the control treatment in the starter phase. For other growth performance responses there was no treatment effect. Similarly, the inclusion of additive in the piglet diets did not affect the faecal score or the energy and nutrient digestibility. In the starter phase and throughout the experimental period, piglets fed diets with additive had 18.37% and 15.07% greater nitrogen (N) intake and 19.53% and 16.05% greater N retention, respectively, compared to piglets in the control treatment (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of additive composed by organic acids and mannan-oligosaccharide does not improve energy and nutrient digestibility but increases the N retention and weight gain in weaned piglets in the starting phase. Key words: Nutritional additive. Intestinal challenge. Pigs. Prebiotic. ResumoO presente estudo foi realizado com o objetivo de avaliar os efeitos da suplementação de ácidos orgânicos, acético, propiônico e fórmico (50%) e mananoligossacarídeo (50%), sobre o desempenho, digestibilidade e escore fecal de leitões desafiados. Assim, vinte leitões (21 -24 d idade), machos castrados, com peso inicial de 5,57 ± 0,32 kg foram alojados em gaiolas de metabolismo por 28 dias, em sala climatizada. Os tratamentos foram compostos pela inclusão (0,1%; n = 10) ou não (n = 10) do aditivo à dieta. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado com dois tratamentos, 10 repetições e um animal por repetição. Utilizou-se 10% de cevada e 35,9 e 34,0% de farelo de soja na matriz nutricional da dieta pré-inicial (de três a 14 dias pós desmame) e inicial (de 15 a 28 dias pós desmame), respectivamente, com o objetivo de causar um desafio intestinal para os leitões. Não foi usado nenhum tipo de antimicrobiano ou promotor de crescimento. Diariamente o escore fecal foi registrado e semanalmente foi feita pesagem das sobras de ração e dos animais para avaliação do desempenho. A digestibilidade foi a...

We investigated the dietary supplementation of protected organic acids and essential Oils P(OA+EO) in pullets raised under commercial conditions. A total of 208,000 pullets Lohmann at 2-weeks-old were assigned to receive 1 of 2 treatments: T1, control diet used in the farm; T2, control diet and P(OA+EO) at 300 g/t (fumaric, sorbic, citric and malic acids + thymol, eugenol and vanillin microencapsulated in hydrogenated vegetable fat - Jefo Nutrition Inc. Canada). P(OA+EO) was supplemented from 2 to 18 weeks and the trial lasted 21 weeks. At weeks 6, 12 and 21, 12 pullets/treatment were used for blood sampling and necropsy for ISI – I See Inside. A completely randomized design consisting of 2 treatments, each with 12 replicates of 1 hen/replicate, was used. To evaluate intestinal integrity, birds were inoculated with fluorescein-isothiocyanate labelled dextran (FITC-d) and blood samples were collected after 1.5 h. The macroscopic ISI score of alterations were classified to be presented as: overall health ISI (sum of the scores assigned for intestine, liver, proventriculus, annex glands, locomotor, and respiratory systems) and macro-intestinal ISI (sum of the scores assigned for duodenum, jejunum, ileum, and cecum). The histologic intestinal ISI alterations were evaluated in the ileum. A low ISI index represents better health status. Pullets on P(OA+EO) had lower (P&lt; 0.001) levels of FITC-d recovered in the blood, which is related to reduced leaky gut. They also presented lower overall health ISI score at weeks 6 (P = 0.002) and 12 (P = 0.003), lower macro intestinal ISI score at weeks 6 (P = 0.0001) and 21 (P = 0.004) and, lower histologic intestinal ISI score of alterations at weeks 6 (P = 0.09), 12 (P = 0.0006), and 21 (P&lt; 0.0001), which is associated to better overall health. In addition, at week 21, pullets on P(OA+EO) did not present Eimeria oocysts while the control treatment did (P&lt; 0.0001). In conclusion, the blend of protected organic acids and essential oils evaluated can be used to improve intestinal and overall health status in commercial pullets.

This study aimed to evaluate the effects of dietary metabolizable energy (ME; 3.40, 3.60, or 3.80 Mcal/kg) and weaning weight (WW; 4.5 ± 0.4 and 6.7 ± 0.5 kg) on nitrogen balance (NB) and gross energy metabolizability in weanling piglets. In total, 32 barrow piglets were individually housed in metabolic cages for 28 d in a 2x3 factorial arrangement with five barrows per treatment. Only light and 3.80 ME and heavy and 3.40 ME/kg treatments had six barrows per treatment each. The diets were formulated to maintain a constant nutrient to ME ratio. Nitrogen balance was evaluated in three periods through total collection of feces and urine. Heavy piglets had 14% greater N intake, absorption, and retention in starter and total periods (P<0.05). The increasing in the levels of dietary ME linearly augmented N intake, absorption, and retention during starter and total periods (P<0.05). The dietary ME levels linearly increased energy metabolizability in all periods (P<0.05). In conclusion, heavy weaned piglets had better efficiency in nitrogen retention. Besides, increasing dietary ME levels can improve the N retention and the metabolizability of dietary energy.

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of acetic, propionic, and formic (50%) organic acids and mannanoligosaccharide (50%) on growth performance, digestibility, and faecal score in challenged weaned piglets. Twenty male piglets (5.57 ± 0.32 kg of BW; 21-24 days of age) were housed individually in metabolic cages for 28 days in an acclimatised room. The treatments were composed of the inclusion (0.1%; n = 10) or not (n = 10) of additive in the diet. The experimental design was completely randomised with two treatments, 10 replicates, and one piglet per replicate. The nutritional matrix was supplemented with 10% of barley and 35.9 to 34.0% of soybean meal in the pre-starter diet (3-14 days post-weaning) and the starter diet (15-28 days post-weaning), respectively, to cause an intestinal challenge. Diets did not include any antimicrobial or growth promoters. Weekly, the animal and the leftover diet were weighed to evaluate growth performance. Digestibility was evaluated through total faeces and urine collection. Piglets fed diets with additive had 8.7% greater weight gain (P < 0.05) compared to those piglets in the control treatment in the starter phase. For other growth performance responses there was no treatment effect. Similarly, the inclusion of additive in the piglet diets did not affect the faecal score or the energy and nutrient digestibility. In the starter phase and throughout the experimental period, piglets fed diets with additive had 18.37% and 15.07% greater nitrogen (N) intake and 19.53% and 16.05% greater N retention, respectively, compared to piglets in the control treatment (P < 0.05). In conclusion, the addition of additive composed by organic acids and mannan-oligosaccharide does not improve energy and nutrient digestibility but increases the N retention and weight gain in weaned piglets in the starting phase. Key words: Nutritional additive. Intestinal challenge. Pigs. Prebiotic. ResumoO presente estudo foi realizado com o objetivo de avaliar os efeitos da suplementação de ácidos orgânicos, acético, propiônico e fórmico (50%) e mananoligossacarídeo (50%), sobre o desempenho, digestibilidade e escore fecal de leitões desafiados. Assim, vinte leitões (21 -24 d idade), machos castrados, com peso inicial de 5,57 ± 0,32 kg foram alojados em gaiolas de metabolismo por 28 dias, em sala climatizada. Os tratamentos foram compostos pela inclusão (0,1%; n = 10) ou não (n = 10) do aditivo à dieta. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado com dois tratamentos, 10 repetições e um animal por repetição. Utilizou-se 10% de cevada e 35,9 e 34,0% de farelo de soja na matriz nutricional da dieta pré-inicial (de três a 14 dias pós desmame) e inicial (de 15 a 28 dias pós desmame), respectivamente, com o objetivo de causar um desafio intestinal para os leitões. Não foi usado nenhum tipo de antimicrobiano ou promotor de crescimento. Diariamente o escore fecal foi registrado e semanalmente foi feita pesagem das sobras de ração e dos animais para avaliação do desempenho. A digestibilidade foi a...

The objective of this paper was to investigate the availability of betaine present in fine wheat bran (FWB) in diets for growing pigs. We used thirty crossbred intact males, housed individually in metabolic cages and distributed in a randomized block design, with five treatments and six replicates. Blocks consisted of two periods of 15 days. Average initial body weights were 32.00±1.30 and 44.90±1.32 kg, in the first and second periods, respectively. Treatments were modified only at the level of methionine plus cysteine (Met+Cys) required and the Met+Cys sources, consisting of a negative control (NC), formulated with 80% of Met+Cys requirements, and four positive controls (PC): PC Met-NC supplemented with 1.2 g kg −1 of DL-methionine; PC Bet-NC supplemented with 0.9 g kg −1 of anhydrous betaine; PC FWB-diet formulated with FWB; and PC FWB+Met-PC FWB supplemented with 1.0 g kg −1 of DL-methionine. No differences were observed on performance-related variables or on the digestibility coefficient of dry matter. Conversely, the digestibility coefficient of crude energy was lower when pigs were fed FWB and could be associated to the higher fiber content of FWB feeds. Digestible energy of feeds was higher for FWB diets, while the metabolizable energy of FWB diets did not differ from PC Met and PC Bet. Nitrogen intake and apparent absorption were lower when pigs were fed FWB, but nitrogen retention, protein utilization, and biological value of the feed protein were the same among PC treatments, indicating that nitrogen from diets was used by pigs with the same efficiency, and is supported by no differences in performance-related variables. The FWB composition showed 12 g of betaine kg −1 , which is available to maintain nitrogen retention and performance.

RESUMO:O objetivo do presente estudo foi determinar uma medida de capacidade tamponante a partir da linearização de curvas de titulação de diversos ingredientes de dietas animais, em faixas de pH do 8,0 ao 2,0, e avaliar a aditividade desta análise obtida com diferentes misturas de ingredientes, através da comparação entre valores estimados e mensurados. A medida linearizada da CT foi obtida transformando-se os dados de pH por meio da função Y = EXP(1/pH), e a taxa linear de tamponamento (TLT) foi calculada como o inverso da inclinação da regressão linear entre a medida transformada de pH e a quantidade de ácido adicionada, expressa em mEq H + /g de amostra seca. A aditividade da TLT foi avaliada por meio da análise de regressão linear entre os valores mensurados e estimados para as misturas de ingredientes, e foi comparada a outras medidas: acidez titulável, quantidade de ácido necessária para a redução do pH inicial da solução até o pH 2,0; acidez titulável padrão, quantidade de ácido necessária para reduzir o pH da solução do 8,0 ao 2,0; e a capacidade tamponante, obtida dividindo-se os valores da acidêz titulável pelo intervalo de pH do 8,0 ao 2,0. A TLT (mEq H + /g). O método de linearização mostrou-se adequado para ajustar os dados das curvas de titulação dos materiais avaliados, tendo todas as classes de ingredientes estudadas apresentado R 2 superior a 0,88 e erro padrão residual menor que 0,11 mEq H + /g. A TLT foi a medida que apresentou melhor aditividade (DP= 15,59, b= 1,13, a=0,11, R 2 = 0,43), sendo a medida que demonstrou maior potencial para se estimar, através dos ingredientes de uma mistura, a capacidade tamponante de dietas completas.Palavras-chave: acidez titulável; propriedádes físico-químicas; taxa linear de tamponamento ABSTRACT: This study aimed to determinate a linearization method of titration curves for determination of buffering capacity (BC) in ingredients of various classes in a pH range of 8.0 to 2.0 and, to evaluate the additivity of this measure obtained with different blends of those ingredients through the comparative between the values observed and measured. The linearized measure of BC was obtained by the conversion of pH data, through the function Y = EXP(1/pH). Linear buffering rate (LBR) was calculated as inverse of the slope of the linear regression between the transformed measure of pH and the amount of acid added, expressed as mEq H + /g sample dry mater. The additivity of the LBR was evaluated using linear regression analysis between measured and calculated values for the blends. It was compared to the others measures as: titratable acidity -amount of acid required to