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Orientador: Flávio Dutra de Resende / Banca: Ricardo Andrade Reis / Banca: Marco Antonio Alves Balsalobre / Resumo: Objetivou-se verificar o efeito da suplementação de baixo consumo, sobre o desempenho de novilhos Nelore mantidos em pastagem de Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu. O período experimental foi de julho de 2008 a março de 2009 e foi divido em duas fases, secas e águas. Os tratamentos durante o período da seca constituíramse de um controle, sal com uréia, e suplemento mineral enriquecido, este que era acrescido de proteína verdadeira e aditivos. Já no período das águas avaliou-se um tratamento controle, sal mineral e suplemento mineral enriquecido. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi inteiramente casualizado, em esquema de parcela subdividida. No caso da avaliação conjunta das duas fases o delineamento utilizado foi inteiramente casualizado, em esquema fatorial 2 x 2, sendo os fatores os tipos de suplementação em cada uma das fases. Realizaram-se avaliações de pasto e pesagem dos animais a cada ciclo de avaliação dentro dos períodos estudados. No período da seca foi observada diferença estatística em função dos tratamentos avaliados somente no terceiro ciclo. Os animais que receberam suplementação mineral enriquecida (proteína mais aditivos) ganharam 0,600 kg/dia, contra 0,517 kg/dia daqueles receberam sal com uréia. No primeiro e segundo ciclo os tratamentos não apresentaram diferença significativa em relação ao ganho, 0,307 e 0,113 kg/dia. No período das águas os animais que receberam suplementação mineral enriquecida ganharam mais peso do que os animais que receberam suplementação mineral, 0,800 e 0,696 kg/ dia. Concluiu-se que a suplementação mineral acrescida de proteína e aditivos, permite incrementos no ganho de peso dos animais mantidos em regime de pastejo na ordem de 15% / Abstract: The objective was to test the effect of low intake supplementation on performance of Nelore steers grazing Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu. The experiment was from July 2008 to March 2009 divided into two phases, wet and dry seasons. The treatments during the dry season consisted of a control, a salt urea, and mineral supplement, that it was increased with true protein and additives. In the wet season we evaluate a control treatment, mineral salt and a supplement mineral enriched. The lineation experiment was completely randomized in parcel scheme subdivided. In the case of joint evaluation of the two phases, the lineation was completely randomized in scheme factorial 2X 2, the factors being the type of supplementation in each phase. Evaluations were performed on grazing and animals weighed each evaluation cycle within the periods studied. During the dry season was a statistical difference in the treatments evaluated only in the third cycle. The animals that received mineral supplementation enriched (protein more additive) gained 0.600 kg/day, against 0.517 kg/day those who received salt with urea. In the first and second cycle the treatments showed no significant difference in relation to gain, 0.307 e 0,113 kg/day. In wet season the animals receiving mineral supplementation enriched gained more weight than animals receiving just mineral supplementation, 0.800 e 0.696 kg/day. Concludes the mineral supplementation enriched with protein and additive, allows greater weight gains than animals kept in grazing to order 15% / Mestre

O cultivo do milho safrinha tem se expandido consideravelmente nos ultimos anos. Porem devido as condicoes ambientais contrastantes entre safra e safrinha, deve ocorrer pronunciada interacao genotipos x safras, indicando que os genotipos selecionados para a safra podem nao ser adequados para a safrinha. Assim, os objetivos deste trabalho foram investigar a magnitude e natureza da interacao genotipos x safras e a necessidade de conduzir programas de melhoramento de milho distintos para o cultivo de safra e safrinha. Foram utilizadas 100 progenies S1fs derivadas do cruzamento entre as linhagens endogamicas L08- 05F e L38-05D, as quais foram retrocruzadas com ambas as linhagens genitoras e, posteriormente, estas foram cruzadas com a linhagem endogamica L02-03D para obtencao de 200 testecrosses (100 RC1 TC e 100 RC2 TC ). Os testecrosses obtidos foram avaliados nos ambientes de safra e safrinha em dois anos agricolas no municipio de Piracicaba/SP no delineamento ?¿-latice com duas repeticoes por ambiente por ano. Os caracteres analisados foram producao de graos (PG), prolificidade (PROL), acamamento e quebramento de plantas (ACQ), altura de planta (AP) e de espiga (AE), posicao relativa da espiga (PRE), florescimento masculino (FM) e feminino (FF) e intervalo entre florescimentos (IF). Diferencas entre as medias nas duas safras foram significativas para todos os caracteres, reduzindo significativamente a PG na safrinha devido a menor disponibilidade hidrica. A variancia genetica dos testecrosses para PG na safrinha foi inferior a da safra para os testecrosses RC2 TC , enquanto que para os testecrosses RC1 TC a variancia genetica nao diferiu de zero na safrinha. Consequentemente, o coeficiente de herdabilidade na safrinha para os RC1 TC nao diferiu de zero e os RC2 TC apresentaram coeficientes de herdabilidade de magnitudes similares nas duas safras. Para os demais caracteres as magnitudes das variancias geneticas e coeficientes de herdabilidade diferiram entre as safras e os dois grupos de testecrosses. As magnitudes dos componentes da interacao testecrosses x safras mostraram que o tipo complexa explica a maior parte da interacao, sendo causada pelas baixas magnitudes de correlacoes entre os caracteres nas diferentes safras. As respostas diretas e indiretas a selecao mostraram que a selecao direta foi mais eficiente que a indireta em todas as situacoes, com excecao daquelas em que nao foi detectada variancia genetica na safrinha. As respostas a selecao baseadas nas medias das safras resultaram em progressos na safra e na safrinha proximos aos observados pela selecao direta. Porem, a coincidencia de testecrosses selecionados em ambas as safras foi muito baixa para os dois testecrosses. Assim, os resultados deste estudo sugerem que os programas de melhoramento de milho devem ser distintos para safra e safrinha. / Maize second crop season, known as gsafrinhah, has increased considerably in the last years in Brazil. However, because of the different environmental conditions between the two crop seasons strong genotype by environment interaction is expected to occur, and then maize genotypes selected in the first crop season (known as gsafrah) could not be those ones that would be selected in the safrinha. Thus, objectives of this research were to investigate the magnitude and the nature of the genotype x crop season interaction and whether separate maize breeding programs for each crop season should be conducted. One hundred S1Ls progenies developed from a population produced from the cross of inbred lines L08-05F (P1) and L38-05D (P2), were backcrossed to both parental inbred lines and, subsequently, these backcrosses were crossed to the inbred line L02-03D giving rise to the 200 testcrosses, thereafter named as TBC1 and TBC2 for the backcrosses to P1 and P2, respectively. The testcrosses were evaluated in two crop seasons in two years at the Piracicaba city, Sao Paulo State, in the ?¿-lattice designs with two replications per crop season and year. The traits analyzed were grain yield (GY), prolificacy (PROL), plant lodging (PL), plant (PH) and ear (EH) heights, ear placement (EP), days to anthesis (DA), days to silking (DS), and anthesissilking interval (ASI). Significant differences for the means of all traits in the two crop seasons were detected, and GY reduced significantly in the safrinha because of the moisture stress. The magnitude of the genetic variance for GY in the safrinha was inferior to that in the safra for the TBC2, and for the TBC1 this parameter did not differ from zero in the safrinha. Consequently, the heritability coefficient in the safrinha for the TBC1 did not differ from zero and the TBC2 presented similar magnitudes of the heritability coefficients in both crop seasons. For the other traits, the magnitudes of the genetic variances and of the heritability coefficients were different between the crop seasons and for the two sets of testcrosses. The magnitudes of the components of the interactions testcrosses x crop seasons showed that the complex type i.e., the cross-over interaction type, accounted for the major part of the interactions, which were due to the low magnitudes of the correlations of the traits in the two crop seasons. Estimates of the direct and indirect responses to selection showed that the direct selections were more efficient than the indirect selections, except to that trait in which the genetic variance did not differ from zero in the safrinha. The responses to selection based on the means of the two crop seasons presented similar magnitudes of the direct responses in both crop seasons. However, the coincidence of testcrosses selected in the two crop seasons was very low for both sets of testcrosses. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that separate maize breeding programs should be conducted for each crop season.

Submitted by Renata Lopes (renatasil82@gmail.com) on 2016-12-13T12:21:07Z No. of bitstreams: 1 isabelmartinelecorrea.pdf: 473111 bytes, checksum: fef90be37cc2eb87e8dcbc88e8d3a4a5 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Adriana Oliveira (adriana.oliveira@ufjf.edu.br) on 2016-12-15T14:08:57Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 isabelmartinelecorrea.pdf: 473111 bytes, checksum: fef90be37cc2eb87e8dcbc88e8d3a4a5 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-12-15T14:08:57Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 isabelmartinelecorrea.pdf: 473111 bytes, checksum: fef90be37cc2eb87e8dcbc88e8d3a4a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-02-23 / CAPES - Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / Os protozoários ciliados do rúmen integram a microbiota ruminal e junto das bactérias, fungos e protozoários flagelados participam da digestão fermentativa nos ruminantes. Entretanto, o papel desempenhado por estes microorganismos no metabolismo do hospedeiro apresenta pontos controversos os quais se devem em parte, à complexidade da dinâmica populacional e às relações estabelecidas com o hospedeiro e demais microorganismos ruminais. Objetivou-se caracterizar as populações de protozoários ciliados no rúmen de ovinos mestiços Santa Inês, verificando os efeitos da estacionalidade e aspectos relacionados às variações diurnas destas populações. Foram utilizados cinco ovinos mestiços Santa Inês, fistulados no rúmen, mantidos em pastagem natural de caatinga, no estado de Pernambuco, Brasil. As coletas foram realizadas em julho de 2005, período correspondente à estação chuvosa, e em janeiro de 2006, durante a estação seca. A composição botânica da dieta dos animais foi determinada através da análise da extrusa. Os horários de coleta das amostras de conteúdo ruminal seguiram o tempo de soltura dos animais, sendo a primeira coleta antes de se soltar os animais (zero hora) e às duas, quatro, seis, oito e dez horas após o animal estar em campo, sendo as amostras fixadas em formalina 18,5% (v/v). A dieta alimentar dos ovinos durante a estação chuvosa foi predominantemente composta por espécies vegetais herbáceas e na estação seca por espécies arbustivas o que retrata o efeito da xvi estacionalidade no hábito alimentar dos ovinos. Foram identificados e quantificados organismos dos gêneros Dasytricha, Diplodinium, Diploplastron, Entodinium, Eodinium, Elytroplastron, Enoploplastron, Epidinium, Eremoplastron, Eudiplodinium, Isotricha, Metadinium e Ophryoscolex, sendo os gêneros Enoploplastron e Eodinium observados apenas na estação chuvosa. Diplodinium, Elytroplastron, Metadinium e Ophryoscolex não apresentaram variações na concentração de suas populações em função da estação do ano. Observou-se a predominância de organismos do gênero Entodinium nas estações chuvosa e seca; entretanto, na estação seca houve significativo decréscimo na concentração deste gênero, e aumento de outros entodiniomorfos e de isotriquídeos. O número total de protozoários foi significativamente reduzido durante a estação seca. Diploplastron e Entodinium apresentaram variações na concentração de suas populações em função do horário de amostragem. O número de ciliados em divisão não apresentou correlação com o horário de amostragem, sendo que a estabilidade das taxas de divisão parece contribuir para a manutenção das concentrações dos ciliados no rúmen. O pH ruminal apresentou correlação negativa com o tempo de amostragem, não estando correlacionado com o número de protozoários, provavelmente porque as variações observadas compreenderam valores considerados ideais para o estabelecimento e manutenção das populações de protozoários no rúmen. Foi constatado o comportamento predatório de Elytroplastron sobre Enoploplastron, Epidinium e Entodinium; além de canibalismo entre organismos do gênero Elytroplastron. Evidências do comportamento alimentar foram obtidas através do registro da ingestão de fibras e formação de grânulos de amido no citoplasma, o que evidencia a atividade celulolítica e amilolítica atribuída a estes microorganismos no ambiente ruminal. / The ciliate protozoan of the rumen are part of the ruminal microbiota, and together with bacteria, fungus and flagellate protozoa, they participate of the fermentative digestion of the ruminants. However, there are controversial aspects about the hole of these microorganisms it the metabolism of the host, in part due to the complexity of the population dynamics, and also to the interrelations between protozoan, the host, and other ruminal microorganisms. The objective of this work was to characterize the ciliate protozoa populations in the rumen of Santa Inez crossbred sheep, verifying the effects of the seasonality and also aspects related to the diurnal changes of these populations. It was used five sheep fistulated in the rumen, maintained in natural pasturage of caatinga (scrubland) vegetation at the state of Pernambuco, Brazil. The samples were collected in july 2005 (rainy season) and january 2006 (dry season). The composition of animals diet was determined through the extrusa analysis. The samples were obtained at intervals of two hours, being the first sample took before the releasing of the animals, in a total of six samples. The samples were fixed in formalin at 18, 5% (v/v). The feed composition of the sheep during the rainy season was predominantly composed of herbaceous species, and at the dry season by species shrub, denoting the effect of the seasonality on the sheep feed habits. It was identified and quantified Dasytricha, Diplodinium, Diploplastron, Entodinium, Eodinium, xviii Elytroplastron, Enoploplastron, Epidinium, Eremoplastron, Eudiplodinium, Isotricha, Metadinium e Ophryoscolex. Eodinium and Enoploplastron genders were observed just at the rainy season. Diplodinium, Elytroplastron, Metadinium and Ophryoscolex didn’t show variations in the population concentration as a function of the season. It was observed the predominance of the gender Entodinium at both seasons; however, at the dry season it was noted significant decrease in the concentration of this gender, and increase in greater ophryoscolecidae and Isotrichidae. The total number of protozoa was significantly reduced during the dry season. Diploplastron and Entodinium showed variations in their populations concentrations, due to the time of sampling. The number ciliates undergoing division was not correlated with the sampling times. Stable division rate appears to contribute to maintenance of ciliates concentrations in the rumen. The ruminal pH was negatively correlated with sampling times, and was not correlated with the number of protozoa, probably because the variations observed included parameters considered ideal for establishment and maintenance protozoa populations of rumen. It was observed predatory behavior of Elytroplastron on Enoploplastron, Epidinium and Entodinium; besides cannibalism between organisms of the Elytroplastron gender. The registration of fiber ingestion and starch granules formation at the cytoplasm indicates cellulolytic and amilollytic activities, attributed to these microorganisms in the ruminal environment.

O cultivo do milho safrinha tem se expandido consideravelmente nos ultimos anos. Porem devido as condicoes ambientais contrastantes entre safra e safrinha, deve ocorrer pronunciada interacao genotipos x safras, indicando que os genotipos selecionados para a safra podem nao ser adequados para a safrinha. Assim, os objetivos deste trabalho foram investigar a magnitude e natureza da interacao genotipos x safras e a necessidade de conduzir programas de melhoramento de milho distintos para o cultivo de safra e safrinha. Foram utilizadas 100 progenies S1fs derivadas do cruzamento entre as linhagens endogamicas L08- 05F e L38-05D, as quais foram retrocruzadas com ambas as linhagens genitoras e, posteriormente, estas foram cruzadas com a linhagem endogamica L02-03D para obtencao de 200 testecrosses (100 RC1 TC e 100 RC2 TC ). Os testecrosses obtidos foram avaliados nos ambientes de safra e safrinha em dois anos agricolas no municipio de Piracicaba/SP no delineamento ?¿-latice com duas repeticoes por ambiente por ano. Os caracteres analisados foram producao de graos (PG), prolificidade (PROL), acamamento e quebramento de plantas (ACQ), altura de planta (AP) e de espiga (AE), posicao relativa da espiga (PRE), florescimento masculino (FM) e feminino (FF) e intervalo entre florescimentos (IF). Diferencas entre as medias nas duas safras foram significativas para todos os caracteres, reduzindo significativamente a PG na safrinha devido a menor disponibilidade hidrica. A variancia genetica dos testecrosses para PG na safrinha foi inferior a da safra para os testecrosses RC2 TC , enquanto que para os testecrosses RC1 TC a variancia genetica nao diferiu de zero na safrinha. Consequentemente, o coeficiente de herdabilidade na safrinha para os RC1 TC nao diferiu de zero e os RC2 TC apresentaram coeficientes de herdabilidade de magnitudes similares nas duas safras. Para os demais caracteres as magnitudes das variancias geneticas e coeficientes de herdabilidade diferiram entre as safras e os dois grupos de testecrosses. As magnitudes dos componentes da interacao testecrosses x safras mostraram que o tipo complexa explica a maior parte da interacao, sendo causada pelas baixas magnitudes de correlacoes entre os caracteres nas diferentes safras. As respostas diretas e indiretas a selecao mostraram que a selecao direta foi mais eficiente que a indireta em todas as situacoes, com excecao daquelas em que nao foi detectada variancia genetica na safrinha. As respostas a selecao baseadas nas medias das safras resultaram em progressos na safra e na safrinha proximos aos observados pela selecao direta. Porem, a coincidencia de testecrosses selecionados em ambas as safras foi muito baixa para os dois testecrosses. Assim, os resultados deste estudo sugerem que os programas de melhoramento de milho devem ser distintos para safra e safrinha. / Maize second crop season, known as gsafrinhah, has increased considerably in the last years in Brazil. However, because of the different environmental conditions between the two crop seasons strong genotype by environment interaction is expected to occur, and then maize genotypes selected in the first crop season (known as gsafrah) could not be those ones that would be selected in the safrinha. Thus, objectives of this research were to investigate the magnitude and the nature of the genotype x crop season interaction and whether separate maize breeding programs for each crop season should be conducted. One hundred S1Ls progenies developed from a population produced from the cross of inbred lines L08-05F (P1) and L38-05D (P2), were backcrossed to both parental inbred lines and, subsequently, these backcrosses were crossed to the inbred line L02-03D giving rise to the 200 testcrosses, thereafter named as TBC1 and TBC2 for the backcrosses to P1 and P2, respectively. The testcrosses were evaluated in two crop seasons in two years at the Piracicaba city, Sao Paulo State, in the ?¿-lattice designs with two replications per crop season and year. The traits analyzed were grain yield (GY), prolificacy (PROL), plant lodging (PL), plant (PH) and ear (EH) heights, ear placement (EP), days to anthesis (DA), days to silking (DS), and anthesissilking interval (ASI). Significant differences for the means of all traits in the two crop seasons were detected, and GY reduced significantly in the safrinha because of the moisture stress. The magnitude of the genetic variance for GY in the safrinha was inferior to that in the safra for the TBC2, and for the TBC1 this parameter did not differ from zero in the safrinha. Consequently, the heritability coefficient in the safrinha for the TBC1 did not differ from zero and the TBC2 presented similar magnitudes of the heritability coefficients in both crop seasons. For the other traits, the magnitudes of the genetic variances and of the heritability coefficients were different between the crop seasons and for the two sets of testcrosses. The magnitudes of the components of the interactions testcrosses x crop seasons showed that the complex type i.e., the cross-over interaction type, accounted for the major part of the interactions, which were due to the low magnitudes of the correlations of the traits in the two crop seasons. Estimates of the direct and indirect responses to selection showed that the direct selections were more efficient than the indirect selections, except to that trait in which the genetic variance did not differ from zero in the safrinha. The responses to selection based on the means of the two crop seasons presented similar magnitudes of the direct responses in both crop seasons. However, the coincidence of testcrosses selected in the two crop seasons was very low for both sets of testcrosses. Therefore, the results of this study suggest that separate maize breeding programs should be conducted for each crop season.

Bakgrund: Fotbollssupportrarna i Stockholm är kända för sin entusiasm, sitt engagemang och den emotionella anknytningen de har till sina klubbar.  Syfte: Studien syftar till att med utgångspunkt ur den kärlek och lojalitet som fotbollssupportrarna till AIK, Djurgården och Hammarby har, undersöka vilka faktorer som motiverar dem till att köpa säsongskort till lagens hemmamatcher i Allsvenskan. Baserat på teorierna Relationsmarknadsföring, The Commitment-Trust theory, Maslows Behovshierarki, social identitetsteori och konsumentlojalitet skapas ett fundament som ger möjlighet till olika synsätt och infallsvinklar för att undersöka de faktorer som motiverar ett köp av säsongskort.  Metod: Med utgångspunkt ur tidigare teorier har metodtriangulering genomförts i studien som är av tvärsnittsdesign. En semistrukturerad intervjuguide har tagits fram som legat till grund för studiens kvalitativa undersökning. En representant från vardera av de tre klubbarna intervjuades och spelades in. Genom att transkribera och koda intervjuerna kunde därigenom svaren härledas och kopplas ihop med teorierna. Med en fortsatt utgångspunkt ur teorierna utformades en enkät med stöd  ur svaren från intervjuerna där studien kompletterades med en kvantitativ del för att kunna ge en mer generaliserad bild av vad som motiverar fotbollssupportrar till säsongskortsköp.  Slutsats: Studien visar att känslan av samhörighet och tillhörighet är avgörande faktorer för säsongskortsköp. Fotbollssupportrar som känner en stark tillhörighet och kan identifiera sig med fotbollsklubben köper säsongskort för att de är en så stor del av deras liv och denna lojalitet får dem att till och med stötta klubben endast för stöttandet skull utan någon större egen vinning såsom att få gå på match. / Background: Football fans in Stockholm are famous for their enthusiasm, commitment and the emotional attachment they have to their clubs.  Purpose: The study aims to investigate what factors that motivate fans to buy season tickets to the clubs home games in Allsvenskan, the top division of Swedish football. With a starting point from Relationship marketing, The Commitment-Trust theory, Maslow's Hierarchy of needs, Social identity Theory and Consumer loyalty a basis is founded for studying the motivating factors from different angles of approaches. By analyzing the theories and their view of the motivating factors towards buying season tickets, the goal is to reach an understanding of what motivates a purchase.  Method: With a starting point from previous theories the method used in the study is method triangulation. By one semi-structured interview guide which has been the basis for the qualitative investigation, a season ticket holder from each one of the three investigated football clubs has been interviewed. The interviews were recorded and transcribed. By coding the interviews they were analyzed and compared with the theories. Therefore a quantitative survey was handed out to give a more general picture of what factors that motivate football fans to purchase season tickets.  Conclusion: The study shows that the sense of affinity and belonging are determining factors towards a purchase of a season ticket. If football fans do feel a strong sense of belonging and can identify with the club they tend to be more likely to buy season tickets since it's such a big part of their lives and this loyalty tends to make them support the club just to support it without any significant gain like for example attending a match.

Projektet syftar till att utforska turismsektorns dynamik med fokus på förlängning av turistsäsongen, med Åre och Visby som jämförelseobjekt. Genom en djupgående dokumentanalys och intervjuer med personer inom destinationernas turismsektor identifieras kritiska faktorer för framgångsrik och hållbar destinationsutveckling. Frågeställningarna inkluderar strategier för att attrahera turister året runt och samarbetsformer för att förlänga säsongen. Resultaten visar att båda destinationerna har unika strategier baserade på geografiska och klimatiska förutsättningar. Åre satsar på vinter och sommar och vill ses som en åretrunt-destination medan Visby arbetar med att utvidga sommarsäsongen till höst och vår. Samarbeten mellan olika aktörer, såsom kommuner och näringsliv, är avgörande för att hantera utmaningarna med lågsäsonger. Slutligen framhävs att för att vara en ledande turistdestination som Åre och Visby, krävs både strategiskt arbete för att locka turister året runt och effektiva samarbeten inom turismsektorn.  The thesis aims to explore the dynamics of the tourism sector with a focus on extending the tourist season, using Åre and Visby as comparative subjects. Through in-depth document analysis and interviews with stakeholders in the destinations' tourism sectors, critical factors for successful and sustainable destination management are identified. Key inquiries include strategies to attract tourists year-round and forms of collaboration to extend the season. The results reveal that both destinations have unique strategies based on geographical and climatic conditions. Åre focuses on winter and summer tourism, striving to be a year-round destination, while Visby aims to extend its summer season into the fall and spring. Collaborations among various stakeholders, such as municipalities and businesses, are crucial for addressing off-peak season challenges. Ultimately, it is emphasized that to be leading tourist destinations like Åre and Visby, strategic efforts to attract tourists year-round and effective collaborations within the tourism sector are essential.

Master of Science / Department of Animal Sciences and Industry / Christopher D. Reinhardt / Angus steers (n = 17,919) fed at a single feedlot in southwestern Kansas between 1997 and 2007 were used to evaluate the effects of various demographic and phenotypic characteristics (season of arrival, geographic origin, health status, rate of gain, quality grade, and yield grade) on feedlot health, performance, and carcass traits. Cattle were not commingled and were predominantly preconditioned and backgrounded prior to shipment to the feedlot. Season of arrival was categorized as winter (December, January, and February), spring (March, April, and May), summer (June, July, and August), or fall (September, October, and November). Regions were: SC = Texas, Oklahoma, and New Mexico; C = Colorado and Kansas; NC = Montana, Nebraska, and Wyoming; and SE = Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia. Steers that originated in SC had the poorest ADG (P < 0.01) and those originating in C had the greatest ADG, HCW, and quality grade (P < 0.01). Steers that arrived during fall had the lowest ADG and those arriving during the summer had the greatest morbidity (P < 0.01). Morbidity decreased and performance increased with increasing initial BW; quality grade was only minimally related to arrival BW in steers which were not treated for disease. After accounting for yield grade differences, the association between morbidity and carcass quality and between quality grade and heavier final BW and HCW were diminished, although ungraded cattle had lower ADG, final BW, and HCW (P < 0.01). Increasing yield grade from 1 and 2 to yield grade 3 increased percentage Choice by 12.1 points (P < 0.01); there was no additional gain in quality grade moving to yield grade 4 and 5. More rapidly gaining steers were heavier and fatter at marketing; this translated to greater quality grade in all but steers with initial BW > 375 kg. Performance was very similar among cattle which graded Prime, Choice, and Select, suggesting that producers do not need to choose between performance and quality grade; instead, much of the difference in quality grade can be explained by differences in yield grade.

There were some wide variations in cotton variety performance at five planting dates among locations and years. However, on an average, DP 90 and DP 77 performed best when planted between 28 March and 24 April. Stoneville 506 and DP 50 averaged best for May plantings and DP 20, Stoneville 112, and DP 50 averaged best for early June plantings.

No description available.