Calf scours are caused by a variety of infectious agents. Oral rehydration therapy solutions are formulated with the objective of correcting dehydration and acidosis. Currently, oral rehydraton therapy does not promote gut healing in diarrheic calves. However, investigators are examining the role of nutrition in promoting gut healing. Previous work has shown that the amino acid glutamine is important in nitrogen transport between tissues and is an indispensable nutrient for rapidly dividing cells such as lymphocytes, fibroblasts and enterocytes. Small intestinal epithelial cells depend mainly on glutamine, glucose, and ketone bodies for their energy under normal physiological conditions. The oxidative substrate preferred by large intestinal epithelial cells appears to be butyrate, followed by acetate, glutamine, and glucose. Research shows that glutamine supplementation increases intestinal protein synthesis. This may be one of the mechanisms by which glutamine exerts its protective effect on gut integrity and mucosal barrier function during critical illness. However, questions concerning the optimum dose and route by which glutamine is to be administered have yet to be addressed. A surgical model was developed to chronically study the nutrient concentration differences across the portal-drained viscera of preruminant calves. The experimental design consisted of a series of infusions conducted on four different study days in each calf. On the study days, 4 separate 1h infusions of acetate, glucose, glutamine, saline (control) were administered intravenously via the jugular vein at 200 mmol/L/h in a different order. Venous and arterial blood were collected over the last 15 min of each 1h infusion. Blood flow was also measured. Intestinal uptake in ìmol/kg^0.75/min was 0.3 ± 1.1 for glutamine and 1.9 ± 3.1 for glucose during saline infusion. During acetate, glucose, and saline infusions, glucose was a greater source of energy than glutamine for the intestine. However, during glutamine infusion, intestinal glutamine uptake (29.9 ± 11.2 ìmol/kg^0.75/min) increased significantly which was associated with a rise in ammonia production (7.0 ± 0.5 ìmol/kg^0.75min). A second experiment was designed to determine if glutamine uptake could be further stimulated either by longer term intravenous infusion or by chronic oral supplementation in neonatal calves. Intestinal metabolism was investigated by measuring nutrient uptake during three intravenous infusions of glutamine over a 5 h period after an overnight fast. Prior to the first infusion, calves diet consisted of milk only. Diet was supplemented with oral glutamine for the second and third infusions. Glutamine was administered via the jugular vein at a rate of 200 mmol/L/h. Venous and arterial blood was collected in duplicate every hour for 5 h. Blood flow was also measured. During glutamine infusion, there was an absolute increase in PDV uptake of glutamine associated with a significant production of ammonia. Feeding glutamine orally did not alter the PDV glutamine uptake. Glutamine infusion did not increase the intestinal uptake of essential amino acids. Neither chronic oral supplementation with glutamine, or infusion for periods longer than an hour, further increased intestinal glutamine uptake. Arterial leucine concentration and intestinal uptake declined during glutamine infusion suggesting that its supply became limiting. Thus glutamine supplementation may require the provision of a mixture of amino acids to be effective.

The objective of this study was to examine the effects of a medium chain triglyceride oil mixture (MCTo), designed to increase energy expenditure and improve lipid profiles containing medium chain triglycerides, phytosterols and n-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil, versus the antioxidant alpha-lipoic acid (ALA). Forty-eight hamsters were fed (i) hypercholesterol emic (HC) control, (ii) HC MCTo, (iii) HC ALA, (iv) HC MCTo/ALA diets for 4 weeks. No effects on food intake, body weight, total body water, lean body mass, fat mass, and tissue thiobarbituric acid-reactive substances (TBARS) were observed. ALA alone had no effect on total cholesterol (TC); however, MCTo feeding increased TC with (p < 0.03) and without (p < 0.003) ALA when compared to control. ALA increased HDL levels compared to control (p 0.04) and MCTo/ALA (p < 0.007) groups. MCTo, with (p < 0.0001) or without (p < 0.006) ALA, increased non-HDL cholesterol levels versus control. The non-HDL:HDL ratio was decreased by ALA compared to MCTo (45%) and MCTo/ALA (68%) (p < 0.0001), a similar trend was seen when compared to the HC control (22%) group (p < 0.14). Triglyceride levels were not altered by any of the dietary treatments. Liver and heart tissue reduced glutathione (GSH) was increased (p < 0.05) by all three treatments when compared to control. Both tissues showed an increase (p < 0.05) in oxidized glutathione (GSSG) when fed ALA compared to all other treatments. Hamsters fed ALA had a lower (p < 0.05) GSH/GSSG ratio compared to all treatment groups. In conclusion, MCTo feeding does not elicit beneficial effects on circulating plasma lipids and measures of body composition. In addition, our results do not clearly support an improvement in oxidative status through supplementation of ALA. However, our results do support the existence of beneficial effects of ALA on circulating lipoprotein content in the hamster.

The effects of vitamin E (VE) and Arginine (ARG) on humoral and cellular immunity in chickens were investigated in two experiments. The humoral immunity was measured by antibody responses to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) and maternal antibody titers to the infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), while the cellular immunity was studied using the cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity test to phytogemagglutinin (PHA) and by counting subpopulations of T-lymphocytes. We used two levels of ARG: normal (NARG, 1.2% in feed) and high ARG (HARG, additional 0.3% in drinking water or 1% in feed in experiments 1 and 2, respectively); and three levels of VE were given: 40, 80, and 400 IU/kg feed in experiment 1, and 40, 80, and 200 in experiment 2. / HARG improved the antibody response to SRBC compared with NARG ( P&lt;0.01 for experiment 1 and P&lt;0.013 for experiment 2) 4 days after injection in both experiments. In experiment 1, the VE80 birds maintained higher antibody titers to SRBC (P&lt;0.001) than the VE40 and VE400 birds 4, 8 and 16 d after inoculation. In experiment 2, the antibody titers to SRBC were higher in the VE80 birds compared with the VE200 birds at days 5, 8, and 12 after inoculation (P&lt;0.001). Maternal antibody titers (log10) to the IBDV were higher in the HARG than in the NARG diet in 17-day-old birds (P&lt;0.001) and higher in the VE80 than in the VE40 birds (P&lt;0.001), yet similar to those of the VE200 birds. No interactions were found between ARG and VE. / Naive birds fed HARG exhibited a higher response than NARG birds (P&lt;0.05) to PHA-P at d 17 and to PHA-M at d 41, but, after a second exposure, high ARG levels did not have an effect. Also, in naive birds, the effects of VE were not significant at d 17, but showed an influence after a second exposure in 41-d-old birds. / The percentage of T-helper (Th) and T-cytotoxic (Tc) cells in the blood of 29-d-old birds were not different between ARG levels (P=0.07 and P=0.06, respectively), but Th cells were higher in the VE80 and VE200 birds than in the VE40 birds, and Tc was higher in the VE80 than in the VE40 birds (P=0.02). The B-cell:T-cell ratio was higher in the HARG than the NARG birds (P=0.01) and in the VE40 compared with the VE80 and VE200 birds (P&lt;0.001). Neither ARG nor VE had an effect on the ratio of Th:Tc cells, nor on the percentage of immature T-lymphocytes. / A combination of high levels of ARG and high levels of VE (80 IU/kg of BW) has an important immunomodulation effect on the cellular and humoral immune responses in broiler chickens, improving both maternal antibody titers against the IBDV and antibody titers against SRBC. A combination of ARG and VE increases the proportions of Th and Tc cells, the B-cell:T-cell ratio, and growth performance. The evidence suggests that ARG and VE play complementary and regulatory role on immune response and may enhance the resistance of broilers to infectious diseases. / Key words. Arginine, vitamin E, humoral immunity, cell-mediated immunity, lymphocyte, ELISA. / L'effet de la vitamine E (VE) et l'arginine (ARG) sur les systèmes hummoraireet cellulaire de l'immunité a était évalué chez la volaille dans deux recherches. Lesystème hummoraire de l'immunité a était évalué en utilisant les paramètres tels que laproduction d'anticorps après une injection des globules rouge provenant des moutons(SRBC) et le niveau d'anticorps maternelle après une infection avec les virus causantla maladie 'infectious bursal disease' (lBDV), tandis que les effets sur le systemcellulaire de l'immunité avaient aussi été évalués en utilisant les paramètres comme'cutaneous basophil hypersensitivity test to phytogemagglutinin (PHA)' et endéterminant la concentration des lymphocytes T. Deux concentrations de ARG avaientété utilisées: normale (NARG, 1.2 % de la diète) et une concentration élevée (HARG,additionel 0.3 % dans l'eau ou 1 % dans les diètes); et 3 concentrations de VE: 40, 80et 400 lU/kg dans les diètes dans la première recherche et 40, 80, et 200 lU/kg dans ladeuxième recherche.

Broiler production is an important animal production enterprise with potential to make high returns. Increasing feed efficiency and early body weight gain has always been a top priority in the broiler industry. The general objective of broiler nutrition is to maximise production performance and profitability . Nutrition is of major importance in raising chicken, and feed is a major input in poultry production systems, accounting for over 60% of total production costs in commercial poultry sector Renkema (1992). The cost of feed is therefore often a constraint especially in developing countries. For instance, Onyenokwe (1994) observed that high cost of feed ingredients in many African countries has caused many poultry farmers to abandon the industry. The continued rise in feed prices is due to competition for some of the ingredients with human e.g. sorghum, wheat and maize. Broiler farmers are therefore forced to use combinations of feed ingredients of low cost to obtain savings and avoid any further loss of profits. It is therefore important to give special attention to feed and feeding since the rate of feed consumption increases rapidly with advancing age of the birds and good nutrition is reflected in the bird's performance and its products. The profitability of a broiler enterprise depends on the efficient conversion of feed to meat. Broilers have the ability to convert the feeds into meat with a high efficiency. For instance Morris and Njuru (1990) reported that broilers have much higher daily rates of protein deposition than layer chicken strains. This implies that fast-growing strains would require greater daily protein intakes than slow-growing ones. In the past, the major criteria for assessing the performance of broilers has been growth rate and feed conversion ratio (FeR). Diet specifications and feeding programmes have been aimed at maximising these two parameters whereby overall flock performance is calculated based on the total weight of chicken produced from total feed deliveries. With the new developments in understanding of nutritional factors affecting broiler growth and carcass composition, it is now possible to apply sophisticated and yet efficient approaches to feeding broilers. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2005.

Considerable understanding of the functioning of semi-arid systems is still needed to enable range managers to formulate management policies, with a degree of confidence. Long term data sets that encompass a wide range of interactions between the various major components of a semi-arid system (vegetation, herbivory, animal performance, landscape and rainfall), are unfortunately rare but essential to provide sufficient depth of data to adequately test various hypotheses about rangeland dynamics. This study comprises an analysis of a ten year data set derived from two cattle stocking rate trials in the semi-arid savanna of KwaZulu/Natal. Statistical analysis revealed that the most pronounced and rapid compositional change was due to rainfall, but that stocking rates between 0.156 and 0.313 AU ha ¯¹ had an important effect as well. Sites on steeper slopes with heavy stocking rates, exhibited the greatest amount of compositional change between 1986 and 1996 (40 Euclidean points in heavy stocking rate treatments on slopes vs 21-24 Euclidean points in heavy stocking rate treatments on flatter land, or 11-24 Euclidean points in low stocking rate treatments). Heavy stocking rates in conjunction with low rainfall tended to cause decreases in densely tufted perennial grasses and increases in annuals and weakly tufted perennials. Multiple regression analysis revealed that seasonal peak grass production (measured as disc height) declined between 1986 and 1996 only at those sites on steeper slopes with heavy stocking rates. The camps that declined in productivity also underwent the greatest degree of compositional change. The decline in grass productivity in certain high stocking rate camps did not translate into a decline in cattle performance. Depending on rainfall, cattle gained on a seasonal basis between 112 and 241 kg at low stocking rates, 82 and 225 kg at medium stocking rates and 84 and 217 kg at high stocking rates Rainfall, compared with stocking rate, accounted for the greatest amount of variance in seasonal peak grass production and cattle performance. Cattle performance had a strong curvilinear response to rainfall, which also proved to be a better predictor of cattle performance than grass biomass. There were no clear trends in soil physical and chemical characteristics between low and high stocking rates that could provide convincing evidence that loss of soil nutrients was an important mechanism of range degradation. The total standing crop of plant nitrogen but not of phosphorus tended to decline at high stocking rates. Plant nutrient and van Soest analyses suggested that forage quality was higher at heavy stocking rates. The results of this study generally supported traditional concepts of rangeland dynamics with regard to rainfall and grazing effects on compositional change and seasonal grass production. The results were important in being able to show quantitatively that heavy stocking rates result in a decline in grass production and that this effect is dependent on an interaction between stocking rate and landscape position or slope, and that there is a link between a decline in seasonal grass production and compositional change. The results also highlighted areas for future research that would be useful for furthering our understanding of various aspects of rangeland dynamics and mechanisms of degradation. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1998.

In this experiment, the effects of (1) lipid type (soy bean oil, tallow and fish oil), (2) the period the fish oil was provided and (3) a dietary supplement containing conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), selenium (Se), vitamin E and vitamin C on pig performance and pork quality were studied. Forty-eight female pigs (PIC hybrids, with a mean live weight of 16.19 kg ± 1.56 SD) were obtained from a single commercial operation in the North Island of New Zealand. The pigs were rank ordered by weight and assigned to one of six dietary treatment groups. The diet base was either a combination of animal and plant feedstuffs (AT and PTS), plant feedstuffs only (PO, POS) or plant feedstuffs combined with fish oil (PFSe and PFSl). The diets also differed depending on the presence or absence of the nutritional supplement SanoviteTM and a vitamin C supplement. SanoviteTM is a trademarked dietary supplement containing CLA (BASF, Auckland, New Zealand), organic Selenium (Alltech Inc., Nicholasville, KY) and vitamin E (Morel et al., 2008). Diets POS, PTS, PFSe, PFSl contained SanoviteTM and a vitamin C supplement. Diets PO and POS were used to establish the effect of the supplementation with SanoviteTM and the vitamin C supplement. Pigs fed diet PFSe received plant feedstuffs and fish oil with supplement between days 1 and 35 and then diet POS up to day 84. Pigs fed diet PFSl received diet POS between days 1 and 35; plant feedstuffs and fish oil with supplement between days 36 and 56 and then diet POS up to day 84. Pigs in group PFSe and PFSl both received the same total amount of fish oil per pig (2.52 l/ 2.31 kg). Between days 1 and 56 of the experiment grower diets were fed, and finisher diets were fed between days 57 and 84 of the experiment. The pigs were kept in pens of six, but fed individually twice daily (at approximately 8 am and 3.30 pm) according to a fixed feeding schedule. Water was available at all times. Individual feed intakes were measured daily and live weight recorded weekly. Faeces were collected once a day during two days in week five of the trail for digestibility determination. Carcass quality characteristics determined at the abattoir included carcass weight and back fat thickness as measured at the end of the slaughter line. Meat quality assessments were performed on the Semimembranosus muscle (SM) from one of the topside cuts of each pig. Measurements of fatty acid profile (loin and backfat) and the Se content (lean meat) were conducted in Singapore by Mrs. J. Leong (MSc). In this study plant or animal feedstuffs, lipid type, SanoviteTM and vitamin C supplementation had no significant effects on growth performance and carcass quality. There were no differences in apparent faecal digestibility characteristics for dry matter (DDM) and organic matter (DOM) in the un-supplemented animal (AT) and plant based (PO) diets. Lipid type had a significant effect on the digestibility of ash (DA), and an increased ratio of unsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid resulted in increases in DDM and DOM. DDM and DOM increased when soybean and linseed oil (POS) were used instead of tallow (PTS) or fish oil (PFS). The main differences in DDM, DOM and DA were observed between diets PO and POS. A positive effect of selenium, vitamin E and CLA supplementation is suggested. Increased cooking temperatures reduced tenderness (higher mean, peak force, yield force and peak force – yield force) and increased cooking loss. There was a significant negative relationship between ultimate pH and relative lightness (L*). There were highly significant positive correlations between all three measurements of expressed juice, and there was a significant positive correlation between cooking loss at 60 and 70oC (P<0.01) but correlations between expressed juice values and cooking loss were not significant. The P-values for the contrasts for cooking loss at 70 0C were significant for all contrasts except for AT vs PO and PFSe vs PFSl. For all other contrasts, the P-values for cooking loss at 70 0C were significantly higher in group POS than for groups PO, PTS and PFSe+PFSl. The P-value for (Peak force – Yield force) at 70°C was significantly higher in samples from group PFSe than for samples from group PFSl. The P-value for the myofibrillar fragmentation index (MFI) was significantly higher for group AT in contrast to group PO. Group POS had a significantly higher P-value for MFI in contrast to groups PO, PTS and PFSe and PFSl. Group POS had a lower P-value for sarcomere length in contrast to groups PFSe and PFSl. Group PFSe had a significantly higher P-value for sarcomere length in contrast to group PFSl. Group PFSe had a significantly higher P-value for expressed juice percentage loss in weight in contrast to group PFSl. Supplementing with SanoviteTM increased the Se content (P = 0.002) in lean meat as analysed by J. Leong (2010, personal communication). In general it was concluded that an increase in the ratio of unsaturated fatty acid to saturated fatty acid (U/S) in the diet resulted in higher levels of unsaturated fatty acids in loin and backfat. The fatty acid profile in the diet reflected the fatty acid profile of pork. Backfat of pigs fed diets including soybean and linseed oil contained higher levels of linoleic and α-linolenic acids. Diets PO and POS were used to establish the effect of the supplementation of CLA. The backfat of pigs fed diet POS contained higher levels of CLA (C18:2-trans-10, cis-12) and α-linolenic acid than pigs fed diet PO. The loin of pigs fed diet POS contained higher levels of palmitoleic and linoleic acid and CLA (C18:2-cis-9, trans-11) and lower levels of oleic acid than pigs fed diet PO. The use of fish-oil as a lipid type resulted in the highest levels of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (DPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) in loin and backfat. The loin and backfat of pigs fed fish-oil in the second part of the grower phase (PFSl) contained higher levels of EPA, DPA and DHA than pigs fed fish-oil in the first part of the grower phase (PFSe). By enriching the swine diet with long-chain omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC n-3 PUFA) it was possible to increase the EPA, DPA and DHA content of pork. Enriching pork with LC n-3 PUFA will contribute to achieving standards for adequate intake (AI), but might not be suitable to reach suggested dietary targets (SDT). In conclusion, it was possible to change the pork composition by dietary manipulation without compromising pig performance and meat quality. There were a few significant effects from treatments on meat quality characteristics, but differences reported in this study were small and relatively unimportant. A negative influence of the dietary regime on palatability and meat processing was expected, but these issues are beyond the scope of this experiment.

The Kahne rumen sensor (bolus) is a device developed to measure temperature, pressure and pH in non-fistulated animals. This bolus allows real-time monitoring of the rumen environment, which could help preventing health problems such as rumen acidosis in cows. It is less invasive to use boluses compared to other technologies that measure the ruminal pH (e.g. rumenocentesis). Kahne boluses and transceivers are commercially available in the market. Several studies on the relationships between data recorded by the bolus and actual data recorded by independent devices were conducted. The bolus temperature and pressure were compared with actual temperature and pressure under controlled conditions. The pH drift was studied by comparing the difference between bolus and direct measurement over time. The capture of the data was calculated for each bolus in various experiments to examine the factors affecting the data capture rate of the boluses. Animal to animal variation was studied using boluses in a group of cows fed and managed under uniform conditions. An animal experiment involving fistulated cows eating two different diets was performed using boluses to monitor the changes of ruminal pH. There was no apparent interruption to normal animal behaviour as a result of using boluses. Regression relationships between bolus measurements and actual data for both temperature and pressure were developed and used for calibration of bolus data. The pH drift was a problem, as the regression relation between the pH difference and the time for one bolus from one experiment could not represent this bolus on other experiment. The data capture rate on the hourly basis ranged from 0 to 100%, but was usually between 30 to 70%. The data capture rate was affected by many factors and further studies to identify these factors are needed. A study of animal to animal variation suggests that in a comparison of 2 treatments, a minimum 3 cows per group would be required to detect the standard deviation of 0.11 for a pH difference of 5% of the mean (approximately 0.35 pH units). Seventeen cows per group would be required to detect the standard deviation of 0.33 for the same difference. The boluses effectively monitored the ruminal pH change in cows easting two different diets and the profile of change of pH was successfully analysed. Feeding 7.6 kg baleage twice a day cause pH to decrease at 0.009 pH units per minute during feeding, while offering a similar quantity of grass and hay once a day resulted in a decrease of 0.0009 pH units per minute during feeding. The beginning of pH increase was about 1 hour following feeding and continuous during resting and rumination. The level of pH increase did not differ significantly for two diets.. The Kahne devices appear to have advantages compared to other technologies for the measurement of parameters of the rumen environment on a real-time basis. Boluses are especially good at intensively monitoring the temperature, pressure, and pH in the rumen. The major limitations of this technology to be used are the data capture rate and the pH drift. By improving the limitations found in the experiment, the Kahne rumen sensor could become very useful for both scientific research and under commercial conditions for monitoring animal health.

Exposure of the fetus to adverse conditions in utero may result in developmental adaptations that alter metabolism and postnatal growth of the offspring. This thesis investigated the effects of dam size and nutrition during pregnancy on growth, metabolic function and lactational and productive performance of the female offspring to two years of age. Four-hundred and fifty heavy (60.8 kg ± 0.18) and 450 light (42.5 kg ± 0.17) dams were randomly allocated to ad libitum or maintenance nutritional regimens from days 21 - 140 of pregnancy, under pastoral grazing conditions. From one week prior to lambing, all dams were fed ad libitum until weaning. After weaning, female progeny were managed and fed under pastoral conditions as one group. Maternal nutrition during pregnancy affected lamb growth to weaning, however, after weaning lamb growth was affected by dam size. Dam size had no effect on glucose metabolism, adrenal function or fat metabolism in 16-month-old female twin offspring. Dam nutrition during pregnancy had a minor effect on glucose metabolism and no effect on adrenal function or lipolysis, however, it did possibly affect gluconeogenesis and/or glycogenolysis, with increased glucose production in ewes born to maintenance-fed dams. Ewes born to dams fed maintenance showed greater milk production, lactose percentage, lactose and crude protein yield. Ewes born to heavy dams showed greater milk production and lactose yield. Dam size had no effect on reproductive performance of the female offspring. Being born to a larger dam showed no advantages over being born to smaller dams, for number of lambs born and weight of lambs at birth and weaning. ‘Grand’dam maintenance nutrition increased lamb birth and weaning weight and lamb growth rates of the ‘grand’offspring. Ewes born to maintenance-fed dams could have an advantage over ewes born to ad libitum-fed dams in physiological stressful situations in life as their liver may be able to supply more glucose to support their growing conceptus and milk production to increase the chances of survival of their offspring. These results indicate that it is possible to programme the offspring by feeding their dams differently during pregnancy under grazing conditions. With a better understanding of how offspring can be programmed through different maternal nutritional regimens, it may be possible to significantly increase the production potential of the New Zealand ewe population.

This PhD thesis consists of nine chapters describing aspects of the subsistence farms of western Nepal in general, and a need-based evaluation of multipurpose fodder trees (MFT) as a source of dry-season forage for ruminants in particular, as a basis for mitigating the current high rate of land degradation and loss of productivity in livestock production systems in the region. Understanding the complex farming systems that provide a living for 65% of the 27.1 million people in Nepal is the key to designing effective programmes of research and development. Evaluation methods include review of past work, farmers group workshops to identify current practice in the use of MFT in Nepal, studies on biomass production of Artocarpus lakoocha and Ficus glaberrima trees older than 50 years in Nepal and the propagation of F. benjamina, comparison of the feeding preferences of sheep for alternative browse species, and study of the nutritive value of alternative forage diets for lactating buffalo. Reviews showed 2.2 million cattle and 1 million buffalo are an extra burden to steep land where productivity is declining at the rate of 1.25% per year. Indigenous knowledge identified Ficus glaberrima with its three varieties (Maghe, Chaite and Jethe), A. lakoocha, F. benjamina and Bassia butyracea as the best four MFT for renovating degraded lands. A survey study showed significantly higher dry matter (DM) production by F. glaberrima than A. lakoocha (154 vs 91 kg DM /tree/year) during dry periods at low altitude (800 - 1000m). There was no significant difference in production of fat - corrected milk (FCM ) between buffalos eating A. lakoocha, F.glaberrima or a diet of 53% straw and 47% F. glaberrima (DM basis). Metabolisable energy balance (MJME/day) was greater in Artocarpus than Ficus, with the mixed diet intermediate (+1.60, -0.34 and -12.94 MJ ME/buffalo/day respectively, relative to requirements, P=0.0318). When fed together in an indoor trial, poplar (48% = 106 g DM/sheep/day) and willow (43% = 95 g DM/sheep/day) were preferred to Ficus benjamina (8% = 18 g DM/sheep/day) by sheep, reflecting the greater maturity and structural strength of leaves of Ficus. These results are used to develop recommendations for choice of MFT species and management strategies to improve the sustainability and productivity of livestock systems incorporating fodder trees

Thesis (M.S.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2008. / Includes appendix. Title from PDF title page (viewed May 27, 2009) Includes bibliographical references (p. 69-73)