No abstract

Maize is an important worldwide commodity susceptible to fungal contamination in the field, at harvest, and during storage. This work aimed to determine the occurrence of Fusarium spp. in maize grains produced in the Tagus Valley region of Portugal and the levels of related mycotoxins in the 2018 harvest and during their storage for six months in barrels, mimicking silos conditions. Continuous monitoring of temperature, CO2, and relative humidity levels were done, as well as the concentration of mycotoxins were evaluated and correlated with the presence of Fusarium spp. F. verticillioides was identified as the predominant Fusarium species. Zearalenone, deoxynivalenol and toxin T2 were not found at harvest and after storage. Maize grains showed some variability in the levels of fumonisins (Fum B1 and Fum B2). At the harvest, fumonisin B1 ranged from 1297 to 2037 µg/kg, and fumonisin B2 ranged from 411 to 618 µg/kg. Fumonisins showed a tendency to increase (20 to 40%) during six months of storage. Although a correlation between the levels of fumonisins and the monitoring parameters was not established, CO2 levels may be used to predict fungal activity during storage. The composition of the fungal population during storage may predict the incidence of mycotoxins.

-The objective of this study was to assess the tissue component yields and the physical, chemical and sensory

-The objective of this study was to evaluate the biometric and morphometric measures, regional composition, carcass characteristics and non-carcass components of Santa Inês lambs submitted to levels of corn replaced by cactus pear in the diet. It was used 45 Santa Ines non-castrated male lambs, with average initial live weight of 25.50 ± 0.48 kg as a completely randomized block design with five treatments (0; 25; 50; 70 and 100%) and nine replicates. There was an effect of the diet on slaughter weight, empty body weight, hot and cold carcass, cold carcass weight, shoulder weight and loin weight. Cactus pear can replace up to 75% of corn in diets for feedlot Santa Inês lambs, without compromising production, carcass characteristics and production of non-carcass components.Key Words: buchada, carcass dressing, production systems, retail cuts, semiarid Utilização da palma forrageira (Opuntia fícus-indica Mill) em substituição ao milho sobre as características de carcaça e componentes não constituintes da carcaça de cordeiros da raça Santa Inês RESUMO -O objetivo neste trabalho foi avaliar as medidas biométricas e morfométricas, a composição regional, as características de carcaça e os componentes não constituintes da carcaça de cordeiros Santa Inês, submetidos a níveis de substituição do milho por palma forrageira na dieta. Foram utilizados 45 cordeiros não-castrados da raça Santa Inês com peso vivo inicial de 25,0 ± 0,48 kg, distribuídos em delineamento de blocos ao acaso com cinco tratamentos (0; 25; 50; 75 e 100%) e nove repetições. Houve efeito da dieta sobre o peso ao abate, peso do corpo vazio, peso de carcaça quente e fria, peso da paleta e peso do lombo. A palma forrageira pode substituir até 75% do milho em dietas para cordeiros da raça santa Inês em confinamento, sem comprometer a produção, as características da carcaça e a produção de componentes não constituintes da carcaça.Palavras-chave: buchada, cortes comerciais, rendimento de carcaça, semiárido, sistemas de produção Revista Brasileira de Zootecnia

-The objective of this study was to evaluate the feeding behavior and performance of Santa Ines sheep subjected to different levels of substitution of corn by cactus pear in the diet. Forty-five non-castrated male Santa Inês sheep with initial live weight of 27.50±0.48 kg were distributed in a completely randomized design with five treatments (0, 70, 140, 210 and 280 g/kg DM) and nine replicates. Dry matter and neutral detergent fiber intakes showed quadratic behavior. Times spent eating, ruminating and total ruminating chews showed increasing linear behavior, while the idle time decreased with increasing amounts of dietary cactus. The feeding efficiency (g DM/h) increased linearly, while differences in rumination efficiency of the DM (g DM/h); NDF intake efficiency (g NDF/h) and NDF rumination efficiency (g NDF/h) were not significant. There was no significant effect for the number of ruminated boli and number of ruminating chews per bolus. The number of chews per day increased linearly. These results indicate that cactus pear in substitution of corn had no influence on the feeding behavior of feedlot sheep.