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Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-175). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Missouri-Columbia, 1996. / Typescript. Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 163-175). Also available on the Internet.

Thesis (M.S.)--Brigham Young University. Dept. of Integrative Biology, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Inaug.-Diss.--Heidelberg. / Lebenslauf.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Daniel M. O'Brien / In the manufacturing process one decision that is common to all industries is the sourcing of intermediate goods used in production. The decision to make internally verses to outsource can affect a firm's comparative advantage and increased company profits. This project deals with sourcing trace minerals used in the production of feed for the commercial production of food animals in the United States. From looking at the sources of minerals to the industry to the current market structure of the trace mineral production industry in the U.S. the question is asked whether trace minerals can be sourced differently for the client to gain this advantage. The specific objective of this research project is to determine whether it is more profitable either to purchase or manufacture trace mineral blends for use in feed ration formulations for a number of plants owned by a representative livestock feed company in western Kansas. The company has several feed plants in operation in the central Great Plains region. Does the company have enough volume of trace mineral usage to enable it to profitably produce its own mineral blends at one of its feed plants? If trace minerals can be profitably produced by the company, it will lead to a decrease in feed production cost for all of its plants. It is possible that this study will show that there is a large enough degree of consolidation in the U.S. mineral blending industry that there is little or no "room" or opportunity available in the competitive raw ingredient market to increase margin by self-producing trace minerals verses outsourcing. The rationale behind this perspective is that the supply of trace mineral blends is controlled tightly by a few existing suppliers / manufacturers who have enough market power and the subsequent ability to limit the entry of new firms. The raw ingredients required to produce these blends could not be purchased economically enough to realize any cost savings in the trace mineral production process.

Rainbow trout, about one-year-old, were fed diets containing either glucose (C) or herring oil (F) as the non-protein energy source for a period of two weeks. As well, they were fed each diet at satiation (C-2, F-2) and at levels half that (C-l, F-l). The trout were subsequently fasted and sampled for tissue glycogen, protein, dry matter and glucose-6-phosphatase activity at full feeding and at 2, 4, 8, 10, 13 and 16 days of fasting. The livers of the C-fed fish had 12% wet weight glycogen and the livers of the F-fed fish had 3% wet weight glycogen at full feeding. Upon fasting, glycogen concentrations in the F-fed fish livers fell to basal levels of 1% by 2 days while glycogen concentrations in the C-fed fish livers fell to basal levels only after 10 days. The protein concentration in the trout livers was inversely related to the glycogen concentration. The amount of liver protein in the trout carcass, however, was directly related to dietary carbohydrate levels. Trout liver glucose-6-phosphatase activity increased as fasting progressed but there were no treatment differences in enzyme activity. The muscle of the C-2 fed trout contained .4% glycogen at full feeding. The muscle of the other dietary treatments contained .1-.15% glycogen. It appears that trout muscle stored dietary carbohydrate that was not taken up by the liver or that was not oxidized. Upon fasting there was a depletion in muscle glycogen to basal levels of .05% after 4 days. Thereafter there occurred a rebound in muscle glycogen to levels at or greater than full-fed levels followed by a decline back to basal values. The rebound was greater and peaked earlier (8 days) in the C-fed trout than in the F-fed trout (10 days). Broiler (BR) and White Leghorn (WL) pullet chicks were fed diets, where 25% of the energy was supplied as corn starch (C) or corn oil (F), for a three-week period. The chicks were then fasted and sampled for tissue glycogen, protein and dry matter at full feeding and at 8, 16, 24, 32, 44, 56, 80, 104 and 128 hours of fasting. The BR livers contained more glycogen (3%) than the WL livers (2%) and the C-fed chicks had greater liver glycogen concentrations (3%) than the F-fed chicks (2%) at full feeding. Upon fasting, liver glycogen fell to basal levels of .03% after 8 hours. Thereafter there was a rebound increase in liver glycogen levels to a peak of 1% and a subsequent tapering off. The rebound occurred earlier in the C-fed chicks than in the F-fed chicks. The peak was attained earlier in the WL (32-44 hours) than in the BR (50 hours). The amount of liver protein in the C-fed chicks was higher than that in the F-fed chicks over the entire fasting period. Chick muscle glycogen concentrations were initially higher in the C-fed than in the F-fed chicks and higher in BR (1.2%) than in WL (.8%). Upon fasting, BR muscle glycogen concentrations were maintained while those of WL fell to .3%. There were erratic fluctuations in muscle glycogen levels. / Land and Food Systems, Faculty of / Graduate