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Examination of the interval between litters (IBL) of different genotype HLW sows using survival analysis
13-17Views:266In this study our aim was to find out if there is a difference between the genotypes determined for the previously identified mutations of seven genes of the Hungarian Large White in terms of the time spent in production. We identified the previously determined alleles of the seven genes (BF, EGF, ESR, FSHβ, H2AFZ, LEP, PRLR) related to proliferation that were and performed the survival analysis between breeds indicating the risk of culling and the time spent in production on the given farm. Based on the results of survival analysis by Log-rank test, Breslow (Generalized Wilcoxon) and Tarone-Ware test we concluded that they indicated a significant difference in case of the genes BF (Breslow and Tarone-Ware tests) the EGF (Log-rank and Tarone-Ware tests) and ESR (Log rank test) based on which the curves of the survival of the certain genes varied form one another significantly.
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Realisation of customer focus from quality and forage safety aspects in the Hungarian mixed feed production
35-38Views:127Customer focus is one of the main principles of Total Quality Management, and it is inevitable for long term, mutually successful vendorcustomer partnerships. The strictly controlled quality management systems of animal feed industry ensure that product quality meets the expectations of all parties involved and, indirectly the reliability of human food raw materials. Meanwhile, the participants of agricultural production are variably quality conscious, so feed manufacturers support their supply chain and also their customers with professional background and they play a key role in safe food chains from farm to fork.
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Current Conditions and Opportunities of Biofarming in Hungary
150-156Views:125The aim of organic farming is not to maximize income, but to achieve optimal product quality. It is completed by the tightest possible material, and energy flow within the farm. Organic agriculture significantly reduces external inputs by avoiding the use of chemo-synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Instead it works with nature to increase both agricultural yields and disease resistance. Total independence of external resources can not be achieved in Hungary due to the small-scale of organic animal husbandry. Some materials in limited quantities can be purchased from external resources, though the group of these materials is strictly regulated. Organic farming harmonizes with the concept of European multifunctional agriculture, because besides farming, it includes social considerations, as it helps to maintain natural resources and the relationship between people and their environment, and provides a living for those living in the region.
As regards organic farming the fertility of the soil and the health of vegetation can be influenced in various ways. Farmers have to be highly skilled and able to manage a farm with great expertise. Generally it can be stated that as the use of non-organically produced products is limited, the opportunities to correct failures made by the farmer are minimal, contrary to conventional farming. Farmers must be intent on developing the tightest material- and energy flow. This means that organic farms ideally have both animal husbandry and crop production. This energy and skill demanding system of farming is compensated by state subsidies, growing market share and relatively high prices for organic products. -
Carcass and the Meat Quality of Hungarian Lambs
65-71Views:124The author investigated 153 lambs of nine genotypes originating from breeding flocks, and 50 lambs originating from production flocks. The investigations were performed between 1995 and 1998. The authors discuss the evaluation of comformation and fat cover according to EUROP standards. The authors also investigate the proportion of valuable meat by genotype, and – out of the internal value indicators – the dry-matter, protein, fat, connective-tissue and hemin contents comparing the flavour, aroma, tenderness, and oven loss of the different genotypes.
The following findings should be highlighted:
♦ The Hungarian Merino breed should be improved, as – according to EUROP standards, more than 70% of these animals were rated as quality „R”.
♦ Hungarian fattening technology has to be preserved, as the lambs reach the desired slaughter weight within a short period of time, and without over-fattening.
♦ Readiness for slaughter, typical of each genotype, has to be defined, and slaughter at proper weight be achieved.
♦ It has to be re-evaluated whether the Hungarian Merino is the only breed which can be used in Hungary, as none of the investigations really proved the special characteristics and significance of this breed.
The author summarizes the findings of the investigation in five tables. -
Study of The Amount of Produced Animal Manure and Biogas Potential in a 5, 20 and 40 km Zone around Debrecen
64-68Views:87The guiding principle for our research is that decentralized energy supply systems should be located near local consumers. One big, local market for energy from biogas plants in Hajdú-Bihar county is Debrecen. In the course of the investigation of biomass suitable for biogas production in the area of Debrecen, this study determines the quantity of biogas producible from animal manure. Municipalities around Debrecen were examined in circles with 40, 20 and 5 km radius. Livestock data of these settlements stem from the Agricultural Census in year 2000, actualized by the county trend of livestock changes. Manure quantity and biogas potential in these places are estimated with coefficients from the literature and our calculations. In the largest circle, about 1.4 million tons of manure is produced, from which round 94 million m3 biogas can be produced. Biomass produced in the settlements and producible biogas shows a remarkable trend of concentration, which supports our recommendation on the system of energy supply.
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Evaluation of the blood product characteristics of meat meal and hemoglobin with non-invasive methods in the VISNIR wavelength
49-56Views:270The separate collection of poultry slaughterhouse trimmings and blood is partially solved in Hungary. Only properly prepared animal by-products, protein meals can be utilized as animal feed additive. However, different protein meals are appropriate for feeding different animal species. That is the reason why it is important to avoid accidental cross contamination of the products. Meat and blood meal produced on the same technological line, therefore mixing of the products can happen in various proportions during the shift of production.
Thus the aim of this study is to develop a spectral method which will allow to estimate the ratio of meat and blood protein meal in the final product. During the test the products were mixed in different proportions and were examined by the spectral method. Measurements were conducted with AvaSpec 2048 spectrometer in visible (VIS) and in near infrared (NIR) wavelength range (400–1000 nm) to define the spectral differentiation of the different meal products. Significant difference can be detected in spectral reflectance between the meat and blood product in the VIS-NIR range. The blood product has a characteristic spectral property: in the range of 600 and 735 nm reflectance values are increasing following a sigmoid curve. This property is not observed in the case of meat meal: close to linear rising is detected. Effective protein rate and purity detection could be made by Blood Product Sensitive Mixing Index (BPSMI – R930/R600), and by the calculation of inflection point in 600–735 nm.
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Some methodological aspects of animal behaviour during beef cattle grazing
31-35Views:132Ethology, the research field of animal behaviour, during the past half century developed into an independent science and became more important in recent years as the farming industry has turned toward quality production. Farm animals respond for every environmental factor. Essential to know the answers to avoid unpleasant economic consequences. Based on the shepherds’ experience, this science has merged with modern technology, constantly expanding and searching new methods. According to the literature the article summarizes the observation methods in cattle grazing. This paper introduces the beginnings and shows the future trends. Finally we share personal experiences as the Hungarian Grey cattle grazing behaviour at conditions of Hortobágy, Hungary.
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Element content analyses in the Institute for Food Sciences, Quality Assurance and Microbiology
203-207Views:148The role of chemical elements to ensure and promote our health is undisputed. Some of them are essential for plants, animals and human, others can cause diseases. The major source of mineral constituents is food, drinking water has a minor contribution to it, so the knowledge of elemental intake through food is crucial and needs continuous monitoring and by this way it promotes the food quality assurance and dietetics.
With the evolution of spectroscopic methods increasingly lower concentrations could be determined, so the elemental composition of a sample could be more precisely and fully described. Due to the results the gathered knowledge up to the present is supported and new observations can be done helping us to understand such complex systems as biological organisms are.
The quality of a food is determined by the full process of its production, consequently it starts with agricultural production so elemental-analysis usually cover the whole soil – plant – (animal) – food chain, by this way the „Fork-to-Farm” precept is true in elemental analysis field also.
The history of elemental analysis in the University of Debrecen, Centre for Agricultural and Applied Economic Sciences, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences and Environmental Management, Institute of Food Processing, Quality Assurance and Microbiology goes back to 1980s when the so called Regional Measurement Central gave the background for research. The continuous deployment resulted in an obtain of an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer (ICP-AES) in 1988, which extended the scope of examinations due to its excellent performance characteristics
compared to flame atom absorption (FAAS) and flame emission spectrometers (FES). The instrumental park retain up to date correlate to the developing analytical techniques due to acquiring a newer ICPAES in 1998 and an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer in 2004 – which sensitivity is three order of magnitude better compared to ICP-AES. The Institute supports the work with its own ICP-AES and ICP-MS since 2011. -
Agricultural biogas plants in Eastern Hungary
79-81Views:174In the scope of the article, agricultural biogas plants which operate within the region have been analysed together with their linked livestock plants. The study attempts to describe the current condition and future opportunities of the sites. It also covers the description of energy production/use efficiency. The study contains the list of factors determining the economic operation of biogas plants. In the course of the analysis, types, amount and quality of energy produced of different raw materials have been determined within the decentralised energy production.
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Describing Fusarium diseases on maize in 2013 using data from several production sites
60-64Views:225As in other parts of the world, the frequency of weather extremes has increased greatly in Hungary in recent years. This means that maize production is faced with greater risks from all aspects: nutrient replacement, irrigation, plant protection. This is especially true of fusarium diseases. In a continental climate, the pathogens causing the most serious problems are species belonging to the Fusarium genus. They infect the ears, which – besides reducing the yield – poses considerable risk to both human and animal health due to the mycotoxins produced by them. Depending on which Fusarium species are dominant at a given location, changes can be expected in the level of infection and in the quality deterioration caused by the mycotoxins they produce. Fusarium spp. not only damages the maize ears but when pathogen attacks the stalk, the plant dies earlier, reducing grain filling and resulting in small, light ears. In addition, the stalks break or lodge, resulting in further yield losses from ears that cannot be harvested. The degree of infection is fundamentally determined by the resistance traits of the maize hybrids, but also a great role in that region Fusarium species composition as well.
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Evaluation of the relationship between main type traits and longevity in Hungarian Simmental cows
205-209Views:155The Hungarian Simmental cattle is a dual-purpose breed, having good milk and meat production characteristics. Simmental cows have some other important traits, for example, a longer productive life. The longevity or productive life is the time period between first calving and culling. The conformation contributes to productive life, reproduction, and milk production.
The aims of this study were to analyze the longevity of Hungarian Simmental dual-purpose cows, to evaluate the effects of the size of the herd, age at first calving, main type traits (frame, musculature, feet and legs, mammary system), and combination of main type traits (frame and musculature, feet and legs and mammary system).
Animal, age at first calving, herd*calving, musculature, the mammary system as well as the combination of mammary system and feet and legs were significant effects on longevity. The highest risk ratio was observed for cows first calved after 31 months. The risk of culling increased with increasing scores of musculature and decreasing scores of the mammary system. The highest risk ratio was estimated in category 11 (lower scores of mammary system with lower scores of feet and legs). In this case, the risk ratio was 36% higher than the reference group.
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Application of different compost doses in Pinova and Golden Delicious apple orchards
91-94Views:137Nowadays the success vegetable and fruit production are unimaginable without regular nutrient management. The animal husbandry is getting decrease, thereby there is the lack of organic fertilizer and it is suggested to find alternative nutrient supply methods. One of the ways to supply the required nutrients in an environmentally friendly way is the application of composts, which is less widespread so far, which is appropriate for the requirement of organic farming.
From the year of 2010 in each year, compost doses were applied in biological apple orchards in cooperation with the Institute of Horticultural Science. In the function of the years different changes were resulted by the compost treatments in the examined parameters in case of both apple species (Golden Delicious and Pinova). It was concluded that the dry matter, ash, total acids, sugar content and the vitamin C changed versus time and species. It is supposed that the effect of compost treatments is getting visible.
According to the data higher dry matter, total acids and sugar content, (in some cases) ash were measured in case of the apple species Pinova, while the measurements showed higher vitamin C content in case of the species Golden Delicious.
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Analyzing the Efficiency of Dairy Farms by Using the Method of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA)
17-21Views:124In Hungary the dairy sector is in a long-term critical period, the stock has been in constant decline. The consumption of milk and dairy products in Hungary is slightly rising compared to the world tendency, and it is fallen behind the level in 1990. The milk consumption per capita in 2006 was with 75 liters less than the EU-15 average. Dairy enterprise is a very risky activity: the profitability of the enterprise is affected by the fluctuation of feed and animal health products prices from the side of inputs, and by the fluctuation of end-product prices. Under these circumstances it is vital for the
cattle breeders, in order to survive, to harness the reserves in the breeding as effectively as possible. In our research we made a multi-faceted efficiency analysis of an agricultural holding’s three dairy farms. The chosen method for the analysis was Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The
selection of the method is justified by the fact that there is not such a reliable database by which we could define production functions, and that DEA makes possible to manage several inputs and outputs, i.e. multiple decision problems, simultaneously. By using DEA the sources that causes shortfalls can be identified, analyzed and quantified on farms that does not operate efficiently, thus it can help the corporate decision support successfully. In the model inputs are the cost data per one liter milk – feed, medicinal product use, logistic costs -, and the main parameters
concerning the keeping and rearing. Outputs are indicators concerning milk production, milk quality and others. We prepared the model in MS Excel, the linear programming model series were programmed by Visual Basic. After solving the model, in light of the shadow prices we can determine why either of the farms is not efficient. -
Application of yeasts fortified with microelements – Review
101-106Views:159Microelements are increasingly becoming into the focus of interest from both a point of view of nutrition science and feeding. An always growing care must be paid to the microelements coverage both in human and animal organisms because of incorrect alimentation habits and
unsatisfactory feedstuff nutrition value. For the increased supply of the micro-nutrients, enrichment or fortification with microelements can not only be realized with traditional foodstuffs and forage but there are already alternative ways such as single-cell proteins from yeasts directly enriched or fortified with microelements for the purpose.
We would like to draw the attention that the production of these items is more favourable in comparison with traditional foodstuffs or forage since yeasts are capable to multiply microelement levels compared to their original state, and establish organic bonds with them.
For this purpose, we explored and analysed the scientific literature, studies and research results on this subject, that is why we stressed the significance of yeasts, the features and health effects of certain microelements, as well as the possibilities for use of yeasts enriched with micro-nutrients. -
Önitatók konstrukciós és hidromechanikai vizsgálata
52-57Views:115Our research aimed to examine Hungarian automatic drinking system constructions and hydromechanics under laboratory conditions and in operation with special emphasison the small volume, valve types.
Considering that no Hungarian standard of automatic drinking system examination and qualification exists, on the basis of technical literature, the new examination method of automatic drinking systems has been elaborated.
For laboratory measurements, a universal measuring bench was assembled which is applicable to the hydromechanic testing of all automatic drinking systems (cattle, sheep, pig).
Summary of the laboratory measurements:
Upon comparison of the flow capacity of the valves, in the case of same opening values (h/dn), the rubber spring valve of SZI type automatic fountain has the highest flow capacity, although in the case of 100 kPa pressure even this type has only 15-16 l/min value which hardly surpasses the lower limit of the desired 15-25 l/min range.
The loss coefficients of the valves, on investigating in the range 100-200 kPa, showed the lowest value (2,2-5,8) with the steel spring self drinking device.
Summary of the operational investigations:
In the long term operational investigations, the rubber stripped valve and the rubber spring automatic fountains had the most favourable operational reliability values: K4=0,98 and K4=0,94, respectively.
From the aspect of animal operation of the valves, all the Hungarian types are frontal operated, thus such system automatic valve drinking devices can be used only in long and moderately long stands, directed toward the animal.
On the basis of hydromechanical and construction examinations of the Hungarian tied cattle production technology the construction modification of the rubber spring valve of SZI type automatic drinking fountain, which is the most frequantly used in this country, was carried out. Due to design modifications the valve parameters improved significantly.
The goals of the accomplished valve modification were
ζ'sz – loss coefficient to be reduced
q – flow capacity to be increased -
Heat-No-Service: Reproductive lifetime performance of gilts inseminated on first versus second observed estrus in commercial piglet producing herds
77-80Views:320Heat No Service (HNS) is an increasing managerial decision made in commercial piglet producing herds. Performance of gilts has been shown to be influenced by initial decisions made on them at their introduction in the breeding herds. Lifetime Reproductive performance comprising of parity total born piglets and lifetime total born piglets of gilts initially bred on first observed estrus (0HNS) was compared with that of gilts bred on second observed estrus (1HNS). Stored data from Porcitec database consisted of 2.072 gilts bred on first observed estrus (0HNS) and 2.453 gilts bred on second observed estrus (1HNS) totaling to 4.525 gilts. Data was statistically analyzed using the GLM procedure of IBM SPSS version 25. The results showed a significance difference (p<0.001) in lifetime total born performance of gilts bred at 0HNS (mean 93.9) and 1HNS (mean 95.7). There was also a significant difference (p<0.001) of total born piglets in parity 1, 5 and 6 in the 2 groups. There was an observed increased parity total born and lifetime total born when first time insemination of gilts was delayed to second estrus. The findings in this study favor the 1HNS breeding with an overall increased lifetime total born. Gilts inseminated at 1HNS produce 1.57 more pigs for lifetime as compared with those inseminated at 0HNS when observation is made up to P6. Producers in piglet producing herds could re examine their decisions for increased productivity by promoting many gilts into 1HNS but still maintaining the balance between breed targets and production schedules to remain competitive and profitable in the current global swine industry.
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Improvement of black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) growing under marginal site conditions in Hungary: case studies
129-133Views:365In Hungary, black locust (Robinia pseudoacacia L.) is considered as an important exotic stand-forming tree species growing mostly under unfavourable ecological conditions for forest management. Due to climate change effects, its importance is increasing in many other countries, too. As a result of a selection programme, new black locust clones were tested in clone trials. Juvenile growth of 12 micropropagated black locust clones in two plots series established at different dates were evaluated in central Hungary under marginal site conditions. At age of 7 the clone R. p. ‘Bácska’ (‘KH 56A2/5’), at age of 10 the clones R.p. ‘Homoki’ (‘MB17D3/4’) and ‘PV201E2/4’ appeared to be especially promising for mass production. Based on the data obtained from the performed trials, it can also be concluded that tissue culture can be considered as a suitable tool for propagating superior individuals and offers new prospects for the rapid cloning of selected genotypes used for plantation forestry.
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Investigation of the heat shock gene Hsp70 polymorphism in different sheep genotypes
41-45Views:189Nowadays the climate change has an increasing effect on the animals. The warming climate brings up several problems on the area of the animal husbandry, which ones are really important. From the first time the living beings have defensive mechanisms against the heat shock. In current examination we use– from Hungary and from other countries collected –samples of sheep breeds, which are living on different climate. Our fundamental assumption was, that the animals living on other climate adapted to the changes of the environment and there are differeces in their genetic background. These fixed mutations we are looking for in the HSP70 heat shock gene, but we haven’t found any polymorphism yet. We are going to involve further breeds and more individuals in the investigations.
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Bacteria in the milk of sheep with or without mastitis- mini Review
47-52Views:379From a nutritional point of view, sheep milk is more valuable than cow and goat milk and the interest for sheep milk is increasing in many countries. However, sheep milk is easily contaminated during milking, handling, and transport and it is an ideal medium for bacterial propagation. Consequently, sheep milk spoils quite quickly. The proper, clean handling of milk is not only of sanitarian interest, but it also serves the farmers’ interests, because contaminated milk may not be distributed, and is unsuitable for producing good quality products. Following this technological trend, this review addresses the bacterial composition of sheep milk with and without mastitis. Even though sheep milk contains a lot of bacteria, this review article highlighted total plate count, Enterobacteriaceae, coliform, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter, Salmonella spp. and Streptococcus spp. Mastitis in sheep is a vital cause of mortality, reduction in milk production and early culling. The reported risk factors for mastitis in sheep were age, a case of mastitis, breed, husbandry systems, and location. The main priority should be implementation of programs to minimize human pathogenic bacteria and mastitis in raw ewe milk.
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Examination and statistical evaluation of physico-chemical parameters of windrow composting
33-38Views:262The treatment and utilization of plant and animal waste and by-products from agriculture is very diverse. Traditional environmental management practices for waste management have been retained through soil conservation and the applied of recycle degradable organic substances in soil. The management of by-products from agriculture (animal husbandry) is important because a closed loop can be created to utilize by-products (manure, feathers) from the production of the main product (eggs, meat, milk) and to form a raw material for a new product. It is important to treat the resulting by-products, especially deep-litter manure, as it has served as a basis for compost-treated manure to develop an organic-based, soil-conditioning product line. Poultry manure by itself is not suitable as a substrate for aerobic decomposition, so it has to be mixed with other substances (zeolite, bentonite, soil), because of its high nutrient capacity, it is an acidifying substance.
The aim of this study was to compost the mixture of poultry manure and hen manure by the addition of zeolite and to monitor the composting process. It was also our aim to statistically determine the effect of the zeolite on parameters describing the composting process.
The windrow composting experiments were set up in the composting area of the University of Debrecen, Institute of Water and Environmental Management. The composting experiment was 62 days long, during which the main parameters describing the composting process were continuously monitored: temperature (°C), moisture content (w/w%), electrical conductivity (mS/cm), organic matter content (w/w%), examination of nitrogen forms (w/w%). In this study, three factors were investigated: temperature, humidity, and pH. For statistical evaluation, R software and RStudio user interface were used. We developed a repeated measurement model, in which the fixed and random effects were determined for our parameters under study, and the resulting relationships were shown on interaction plots.
Based on our results, the temperature of the prisms has become independent of the ambient temperature and the composting stages can be separated in both the control and the zeolite treated prisms. In the repeated measurement model, we proved that treatment, time and treatment: time interaction were significant at both temperature and pH.
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The effect of feeding different glycerol sources on the performance of lactating sows
99-103Views:186Glycerol is a by-product of the biodiesel industry and it might be a good alternative to moderate the energy deficiency of sows during the lactation period. Preliminary experiments were carried out to test the effect of a powder, solid based “food grade” glycerol source with 72.9% glycerol content (Trial 1) and a liquid “feed grade” glycerol source with 86% glycerol content (Trial 2) on the performance of lactating sows and their litters. Trial 1 was conducted with 5 Hungarian Large White×Hungarian Landrace sows/treatment (313±24.9 kg) and Trial 2 with 12–12 DanAvl (323±17.0 kg) sows and their litters/treatment. Neither the solid, powder based glycerol (Trial 1), nor the liquid glycerol source (Trial 2) had significant effect on the feed intake, reduction in live weight and back-fat thickness, and weaning-tooestrus interval (p>0.05) of lactating sows. In Trial 2, on the 14th, 21st and 27th days of lactation the milk samples were collected and it was found that 50 kg/t glycerol decreased the protein content of milk samples (p<0.05). Glycerol supplementation had no effect on dry matter, fat, lactose content of milk samples (p>0.05). In Trial 2, no significant difference was found between control and experimental sow groups in triglyceride concentration of blood samples and in the activity of liver enzymes (ALT, AST, GGT; p>0.05), but the concentration of plasma glucose and cholesterol increased tendentiously (p<0.10).
Based on our preliminary results, it can be concluded that additional dose trials are needed to perform in order to study the effect of glycerol supplement on milk production and on metabolic processes of lactating sows.
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Survival analysis of sow longevity and lifetime reproductive performance – Review
75-80Views:329Sow longevity plays an important role in economically efficient piglet production. Improving sow longevity results increase in the productivity and profitability of a sow herd. Longevity is a complex trait with many factors that can contribute to a sow having a long and productive life. Not only the sow’s genetics, but also nutrition, environment and the management policies are important. In addition, the removal of non-productive sows along with the introduction of replacement gilts is an essential part of maintaining herd productivity at a constantly high level. The objective of this paper was to summarize the current knowledge about the sow longevity and lifetime performance values, as well as, discusses the survival analysis methods for sow longevity traits. This method can estimate the hazard rate indicating proportional risk of sows being culled at any given time, in addition, it is able to investigate the effects of different factors on longevity. Identifying factors that influence the longevity could assist many commercial pig producers in becoming more efficient.
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Selection of Sport- and Racehorses
3-10Views:121The utilisation of the horse has changed from time to time in response to human needs. For a few decades, it has been serving in several equestrian sports more intensively. It has also been proved that the standards for this kind of performance cannot be established in the way certain characteristics, such as the weight gain or milk production of other animal breeds can. Breeding horses for sporting comprises highly complex selection criteria.
Some of these (e.g. external features, temperament, manageability and intelligence) do not put the breeder in a difficult position, but finding the traits that establishes the safety of sporting achievements poses a genetic problem.
The performance of a horse for sports is a highly complex feature, which cannot easily be assessed or put down in figures. In addition, man plays a decisive role in shaping all kinds of performance of a horse at any given time by not only creating conditions for a better performance, but also by playing an active role in increasing it.
The performance of the horse is mostly defined by its general aptitude to movement, ie., the regularity, clear rhythm and springiness of basic types of strides, as well as the ability to move in a naturally balanced way. Training and riding principles are based on these traits. These two together will determine about 70% of the value of the horse and its adequacy for high performance equestrian sports. In order to avoid subjectivity in determining the above variables and to increase the degree of objectivity, competent expert teams (trainers, judges, other riders) are employed to form an opinion on an individual animal.
Assessing horse performance outside races does not seem to be efficient, as owing to the dominant effects of the environment, the indicator of inheritability is hardly above 0.1.
Free jumping is an especially appropriate means for assessing a horse’s readiness and ability to move in an environment free of disturbing factors. In free jumping, it is especially important to judge the style of the jump. The first phase of jumping – as a sequence of movements – lasts from the moment the fore-feet touch the ground until the moment the hind-feet push off, while the second phase lasts from this moment until touching the ground. The most important task in the first phase is to make the angle of the dip of the body by the supporting fore-feet that is necessary for the jump. The quality of the jump is determined by the jumping and adequately expanded hind-legs. The intensity of pushing off and jumping done by the hind-legs can be inferred, and differences between individuals can be discerned from the shaping of the curve by the hocks and the paths of the pasterns in relation to the withers. -
Optimal age of breeding gilts and its impact on lifetime performance
15-20Views:556Age at first breeding and lifetime reproductive performance was analyzed on 17,558 F1 Landrace x Yorkshire gilts from 9 piglet producing herds of Midwest, United States entered in herds between 1st Jan 2014 and 31st July 2016. At the time of data collection Dec 2018, 15% of the sows were still active in the herds hence excluded from the analysis. Individual gilt data included date of birth, age in days at first mating, piglet total born by parity, lifetime piglet total born and reason for culling. Quality data checks were done before analysis to eliminate all outlier values together with sows that had no entry information for any listed category. The total database of the sows was classified into 6 classes according to age at the first mating in days 170-190(n=754), 191-211(n=4683), 212-232(n=7123), 233-253(n=3385), 254-274(n=1002) and 275-369 (n=611). Piglet total born obtained from each sow during the lifetime production was significantly (P < 0.05) greater for gilts bred between 233-253 days of age at first mating. Gilts that were bred at <233 days appeared to have a higher risk of removal by farrowing productivity as compared to the other groups. However, the results show that the risk of being culled due to health problems and conformation issues increases as the age at first mating is delayed. Overall reproductive failure appears to be the most economical culling reason across all age groups. There is a need to evaluate the best management decisions for gilt initiation in a herd to maximize her lifetime performance. The results indicate that gilts mated for the first time at the right age, 233–253 days, are more productive, both in lifetime total born and have a minimal risk of culling due to farrowing productivity.
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The possibilities of biomass utilization in the field of spatial development
59-63Views:96By joining the European Union, Hungary made a commitment to increasingly utilize renewable energy sources. Keeping in view the agricultural circumstances of Hungary, we can state that biomass utilization has, overall, the greatest range of possibilities to use its products as ‘energy sources’. Biomass raw materials are useful in meeting emission control regulations for environment protection and to reduce climate change. The role of biomass production in spatial and rural development and in rural employment, and also in the decrease of Hungary’s energy dependence, supports development in biomass energy use. My aim in studying biomass utilization is the creation of a micro-regional level, decentralised, agro-energetic system-model for the use of plant and animal biomass for energy purposes, whether naturally or by anthropogenic activity, on agro- and sylvicultural areas, and on animal breeding farms. This model simulation method serves as a planning base for policy-makers during the spatial planning processes. The examination is presently in the stage of data collection. The collection of the basic data of the examination area and the purchase of the necessary equipment, materials and maps has already started. Contact has been made with local stakeholders, municipalities, municipality associations and micro-region managers.