Jailton S. Bezerra Júnior

This study evaluated Saanen goats' milk yield and quality on diets where dried distillers' grains with solubles (DDGS) partially or fully replaced soybean meal (SBM). Fifteen goats were randomly assigned to three treatments-SBM, SBM+DDGS, and DDGS diets-using a 60:40 forage-to-concentrate ratio, with five replicates each. The experiment covered four phases (1-30, 31-60, 61-90, and 91-120 days in milk). Wood's nonlinear Bayesian model estimated the lactation curve, and Tukey's test assessed milk quality. No significant differences (p > 0.05) were found in body weight, dry matter intake, daily milk yield, or milk quality. However, initial milk yield, peak production rate, and decline rate differed significantly (p < 0.05) among diets. The SBM+DDGS diet proved viable from kidding to 120 days, enhancing milk production and optimizing diet efficiency.

This study assessed the effect of different periods of post-hatch fasting on animal performance and breast and digestive system growth in European quail. Quail chicks were distributed in a completely randomized design, with four fasting periods (0, 24, 36, and 48 hs) and four replications of 40 birds per treatment. In 1 to 14-day-old chicks, weight gain decreased with increasing fasting time. Compensatory gain was observed from 15 days of age onward. Fasted quail had a lower length and relative weight of the digestive system than fed animals for up to 14 days. Histologically, the duodenal villus height was significantly lower in 3-day-old quail fasted for 36 hs than in those fasted for 48 hs, but this effect was not observed at 7 days. Scanning electron microscopy showed no differences in the small intestinal mucosa between fasted and fed birds at 3 days of age. Post-hatch fasting reduced the relative weight of the breast in quail aged 1 to 14 days but did not affect type IIa and IIb fiber diameter at 35 days. On the basis of these results, it is recommended that European quail raised for meat should not be fasted for more than 48 hs post-hatch.