Y. H. Moon has completed his PhD in ruminant nutrition at the age of 31 years from GNU in Korea and works in the university as a professor for 20 years. He has published more than 100 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as an editorial board member of repute.

A hundred twenty six Hanwoo steers (8-9 month of age) were used to know the correlation between blood composition and carcass traits. Steers fed the formula feed and rice straw(30 heads) or total mixed rations(96 heads) and were slaughtered at 30 month of age. Blood samples were corrected from jugular vein at the growing(8-12mo), early fattening(13-23mo) and late fattening(24-30mo) phases. Blood metabolites and hormones were analyzed and determined the correlation coefficients and regression equations with carcass traits.Average concentrations of retinol, insulin and leptin were 1.10IU, 30.34ng and 235.35ng per ml of blood plasma, respectively, and blood retinol has negative correlations significantly(P<0.01) with insulin and leptin. With the age of steers, blood insulin and total protein decreased, but blood retinol, AST, glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride were increased. At the late fattening phase, significant(P<0.01) negative correlations occurred between blood retinol concentration and marbling score, and also blood total protein and longissimus muscle area of 13th rib, and obtained the regression equations as follows; Marbling score(1-9) = -0.009×Retinol(IU/100 ml) +9.125(R2 = 0.643) Ribeye muscle area(㎠) = -0.250×AST(U/L)+112.498 (R2 = 0.450) From the results obtained in the current study, it might be possible to make a high marbled beef by control the blood retinol content during the fattening phase in steers.

Vanja completed her Bachelor of Science (Honours) in AnimalBiology with distinctionat the University of Guelph in January 2014. She is currently furthering her knowledge in the field of animal nutrition by pursuing a Master’s degree by thes is under the supervision of Dr. Vern Osborneat the University of Guelph.

Thisprojectis part of alargertaskpursuing thedevelopment of naturallyproduced,health-contributing, polyphenol-enrichedmilkproductsthat are derived from byproductplantmatter from agriculturalsources. Apple pomace (AP), an abundantagricultural by product in Canada has a high polyophenolcontent (1000-1415g gallic acid equivalent/100g dry weight).17,36The objective of thisstudyis to evaluate the effects of in vitrorumendigestion on the totalpolyphenolcontent and free radical scavengingactivity of AP. AP will be collectedfresh andkeptat -20°C untilanalysis. Rumeninoculumwill be collected from a mature lactating cow and in vitrodigestionwill be performedfor 24 and 48hr of digestion in an ANKOM RF Gas Production System as per manufacturer’s instructions.3Afterdigestion, the sampleswill be centrifugedat 26 940g and filteredthrough 0.2um polyethersulfonefilters to removebacterial cells.10Allsamples (treated and untreated) will be freezedried and ground, afterwhichpolyphenolswill be extracted by solventextraction (80% methanolat21°C for 1hr).33 Fast Blue BB assay for totalpolyphenolquantificationand 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavengingactivityassaywill be performed on allsamples in triplicate with 3 technical replicates to assess the extent of polyphenoldegradation in the rumen33.The fraction of polyphenolsremainingafterin vitro digestionwill be roughlyrepresentative of the amountavailablefor absorptioninto the cow’sbloodstream and subsequently the mammarygland.

My name is Liwen He, a PhD candidate of China Agricultural University, majoring in animal nutrtion and feed science and specifying in ruminant nutrition; has published 4 SCI papers and my research subject is about efficient use of crop straw in livestock.

To investigate the effects of sulfur on the nutrition value of DDGS for beef cattle, in vitro cultivation was conducted for 72 h with the rumen fluid collected from steers, setting different sulfur levels (0.346%, 0.692% and 1.038%) and various sulfur sources (Na2SO4, Na2SO3, Na2S2O3 and Na2S), monitoring the fermentation parameters (dry matter digestibility, gas production and its rate) and model predicted indicators (organic matter digestibility, metabolizable energy, net energy, microbial protein, partitioning factor and gas yield). The results showed that, high sulfur level (0.692% and 1.038%) only decreased (P<0.05) asymptotic gas production (b), while different sulfur sources resulted in various parameters, more specifically, sulfur from Na2SO4 and Na2S produced more gas (P<0.05) with faster rate (P<0.01) of gas production than those of Na2SO3 and Na2S2O3, while Na2SO3 had the highest b and inverse for Na2SO4 (P<0.01), which tended (P=0.09) to produced lower total volatile fatty acids than the others; sulfur from Na2SO4 and Na2S also had a lower (P<0.01) DMD in 24h, MCP, PF24 and a higher (P<0.01) OMD, ME, NEm, NEg, GY24 than those of Na2SO3 and Na2S2O3. These results suggest that DDGS with different sulfur content ranging from 0.346% to 1.038% have a similar feed value and dietary sulfur source exerts a great effect on its nutrition value for beef cattle.

My name is Yawei Zhang, a PhD candidate of China Agriculture University, majoring in animal nutrition and feed science and specifying in ruminant nutrition; has published 2 Chinese core journal article at the first author.

Three crop straws (rice, corn and wheat) were chosen to study the effects of steam explosion on in vitro gas production and rumen fermentation and in Sacco NDF disappearance and bacteria attachment. The results showed that the steam explosion significantly increased the 96 h gas production (GP) (P<0.05) and the rate of GP of the three straws (P<0.05). The steam explosion also significantly increased the concentration of total volatile fatty acid (VFA) and the molar proportion of propionate (P<0.05), while significantly decreased the concentration of non-ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) and the molar proportion of acetate and the ratio of acetate to propionate (A:P) (P<0.05). The activity of enzyme β-glucanase, avicelase and carboxymethyl cellulose (CMCase) were increased significantly following the pretreatment of steam explosion (P<0.05), which presented no significant effect on the activity of xylanase (P>0.05). The steam explosion significantly increased the neutral degradable fiber (NDF) disappearance when the straws incubated in sacco for 24, 48 and 96h (P<0.05). The value a(immediately disappear fraction)and b(potentially degrade fraction) of the model were both increased significantly when the straws pretreated by steam explosion (P<0.05). For bacteria attachments, the steam explosion significantly increased the attachment of F. succinogenes (P<0.05), but showed no effects on the attachments of R. flavefaciens and R. albus(P>0.05).Resultsin the present study indicated that the steam explosion could be widely used to enhance the nutritive value of crop straws for itsfunction of improving their digestibility, rumen fermentation and bacteria attachment (F. succinogenes).

Julio CezarDadalt, Connie Gallardo and Gustavo do Valle Polycarpo are PhD students in the University of Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. MessiasAlves da TrindadeNeto is Professor in the same University with more than 60 papers in reputed journals.

The ileal-cannulated pig model,for amino acids (AA) determination in pigs, uses animals older than six weeks due to difficulties related to implanting the T-cannula in distal ileum of younger pigs and complications during the post-surgical recovery. However, to properly formulate the diet of weaned pigs, the nutritive value of feed ingredients should be determined with younger pigs. Thus, twenty five postweaned piglets were used to determine the apparent (AID) and standardized (SID) ileal AA digestibilities of full-fat rice bran(FFRB) with or without multicarbohydrase (MC) and phytase (Phy) supplementation. Piglets were weaned at 23 d of age and individually housed in digestibility cages until 42 d of age. A completely randomized experimental design with a 2 × 2 (with or without MC and Phy) factorial treatment arrangement was used to determine the effects of enzymes. Reference diets (RD - 5% casein) was replaced by 30% of FFRBwith or without MC, Phy or MC+Phy. A RD was used to quantify endogenous AA losses. Ilealdigesta was collected at slaughter (about 6 weeks of age).The AID and SID of the indispensable amino acids, without enzymes, were on average 18% and 6%, respectively, lower than the values described in the literature (NRC, 2012). The MC increased the AID and SID of all AA in FFRB, whereas Phy increased only the proline digestibility (P < 0.05). The MC is an alternative to improve the AA digestibility in FFRB, whereas the Phy does not change the most part of AA digestibility.

Connie Gallardo and Julio Cezar Dadalt are PhD students in the University of Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. Messias Alves da Trindade Neto is Professor in the same University with more than 60 papers in reputed journals.

Canola meal (CM) is an important ingredient in the feeding poultry. However, CM has antinutritional factors that induce reduction on nutrient digestibility. Exogenous enzymes in poultry diets could improve the nutritional value of some vegetable feedstuffs. The objective of this study was to evaluate the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), apparent metabolizable energy (AME), ash, calcium (Ca), phosphorus (P) and neutral detergent fiber (NDF) inCM, with or without multicarbohydrase (MC) and phytase (Phy) supplementation, using broiler chickens.Day-old male broilers (245) were allocated to five treatments in a randomized complete design.Each treatment had seven replicate cages with seven broilers per replicate. Reference corn diet was replaced by 30% of CM on ATTD determination. A completely randomized experimental design with a 2 × 2 (with or without MC and Phy) factorial treatment arrangement was used to determine the effects of enzymes. Data were submitted to variance analysis using SAS 9.2. The ATTD of DM and AME improved (P < 0.05) with isolate enzymes addition. Interaction (P < 0.05) was observed between enzymes on ATTD ash, CP, Ca and P and a trend (P = 0.06) for NDF digestibility. For all nutrients and AME, the treatments with enzymes showed higher digestibility coefficients than the control diet. The results confirmed that MC and Phy combination in CM produces greater benefit for broiler chick compared to isolated enzymes.

Julio CezarDadalt, Connie Gallardo and Tiago W. de Almeida are PhD students in the University of Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil. MessiasAlves da TrindadeNeto is Professor in the same University with more than 60 papers in reputed journals. Fabio Enrique LemosBudiño is an animal Science Researcher in Animal Science Institute.

The ileal-cannulated pig model,for amino acids (AA) determination in pigs, uses animals older than six weeks due to difficulties related to implanting the T-cannula in distal ileum of younger pigs and complications during the post-surgical recovery. However, to properly formulate the diet of weaned pigs, the nutritive value of feed ingredients should be determined with younger pigs. Thus, twenty five postweaned piglets were used to determine the apparent (AID) and standardized (SID) ileal AA digestibilities of textured soy flour (TS) with or without multicarbohydrase (MC) and phytase (Phy) supplementation. Piglets were weaned at 23 d of age and individually housed in digestibility cages until 42 d of age. A completely randomized experimental design with a 2 × 2 (with or without MC and Phy) factorial treatment arrangement was used to determine the effects of enzymes. Reference diets (RD - 5% casein) was replaced by 30% of TSwith or without MC, Phy or MC+Phy. A RD was used to quantify endogenous AA losses. Ilealdigesta was collected at slaughter (about 6 weeks of age). The SID of AA in TS, without enzymes, was greater than 90%. There was interaction (P< 0.05) between enzymes on AID and SID of Ser and Tyr. Phytase supplementation improved the SID of Arg, His, Glu and Pro (P< 0.05), while the MC improved the SID (P< 0.01) of His, Cys, Glu, and Gly. The MC and Phy improve the digestibility of some AA in textured soy flour.

He is awarded PhD in Animal Science from MiniaUniversty, Egypt; he has extended his valuable service in field of Animal Science & Veterinary Medicine, for several years and has been a recipient of many award and grants. His international experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. His research interests reflect in his wide range of publications in various national and international journals.

A total number of 256 unsexed, one day old Arbor acres broiler chicks were used to study the effect of using distillers dried grains with solubles (DDGS) at different levels (0, 5, 10, 15%) treated without or with enzyme (avizyme 1500) at level 0 and 1gm / kg diet on some blood parameter of broiler chicks. Birds were distributed under eight dietary treatment in a factorial arrangement (2 enzyme X 4 DDGS levels).The experimental treatments started from one day old until 6 weeks of age, all diets and water were supplied ad-libitum.At 3rd and 6thweek of age, blood samples were collected from wing vein of four chicks from each experimental groups in two blood collected tubes to study some the blood picture(RBC's, PCV, Hb, and WBC’s) and some serum biochemical parameters.The obtain results indicated that, Generally, in spite of adding enzyme there were significant differences between DDGS levels in RBC's, PCV and Hb. Birds fed dietary 15% DDGS recorded the highest (P≤ 0.01) values of RBC's, PCV% and Hb % compared with other treatments.Birds fed dietary DDGS at all levels recorded significant (P≤ 0.05) difference in globulin and highly significant (P≤ 0.01) differences in total protein, albumin and glucose at the end of the experiment. During 21 days of age adding avizyme 1500 enzyme to broiler diets significantly (P≤ 0.01) increased serum total protein, albumin, globulin and glucose compared with diets without enzyme. While, during 42 days of age adding enzymes to broiler diet significantly reduced total protein and albumin, although, reduced globulin with no significant difference compared with control diet. According to the interaction between DDGS levels and enzyme additions , birds fed dietary 5%, 15% DDGS without enzyme and 10 % with enzyme recorded the greatest significant (P≤ 0.01) values of GOT and GPT compared to other groups. While, birds fed control diet was recorded the lowest value of GPT compared to other treatments at the end of experiment.

He is awarded PhD in Veterinary Medicine. He holds a Master Degree (MSc) in Veterinary Science and Medicine, followed by a Bachelor’s Degree Veterinary Science and Animal Science. His international experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. His research interests reflect in his wide range of publications in various national and international journals.

This study was initiated with the aim of comparing the growth performance, immunity response and the change in duodenum microbiota of Arbor Acres broiler chicks that maintained during summer season with providing two distinguished sources of beneficial micro-organisms that were self developed undefined anaerobic culture isolated from the digestive tract of adult healthy broilers (competitive exclusion; CE) and commercial probiotic based on some Bacillus spp bacteria. Two hundred 1-day-old unsexed chicks (averaged 41 g), divided equally into five groups of four replicates each, were reared during June-August months. Experimental groups were ordered according to the following regime: 1: A control group was fed the basal diet without treatment, 2: One dose oral gavage with 1 ml (1 x 1010 cfu) of CE/chick administrated at day-1 post-hatch within 6 hours after chicks had been arrived to the farm, 3: Two doses oral gavage with CE/chick (1 x 1010 cfu, each), administrated twice; 1st time at day-1 post-hatch within 6 hours after chicks had been arrived to the farm and another repeated dose (1x1010cfu/ml) at day 11 of age (starter), 4: Chicks were fed on the basal diet supplemented with Microguard (0.1 g/kg diet), only during starter period and then chicks were switched to the control diets during grower and finisher periods and 5: Chicks were fed on the basal diets supplemented with Microguard (0.1 g/kg diet) during starter and grower and not during finisher feeding. Results obtained could be summarized as follow; -Providing CE twice or commercial probiotic preparation significantly increased weight gain (WG; P=0.05), while all tested groups significantly improved feed conversion ratio (P=0.001) of broiler chicks only during grower period compared to the control. - Total beneficial anaerobic bacteria were significantly (P=0.002) higher with gavaging CE twice against the other treatments evaluated while total aerobic bacteria that are composed not beneficial species were not significantly affected by treatments. -Supplementation with CE or commercial probiotic significantly increased white blood cell count’s (P=0.001) and lymphocytes percent (P=0.001), while heterophils percent (P=0.001) and heterophils to lymphocytes ratio (P=0.001) were significantly decreased with tested supplements compared to the control. Also, providing CE or commercial probiotic to broiler chicks significantly increased serum IgA (P=0.036) and antibodies Titers against Newcastle Disease Virus (P=0.004) compared to the control. It can be recommended that providing probiotics, either in the form of undefined beneficial culture from healthy adult chickens or commercial defined preparation can improve the performance of broiler chicks during summer months.

Juan Manuel UriarteLopez,is Master of Science in UniveridadAutonoma of Sinaloa in Mexico. He has published more than 25 articles in leading journals, he works as a teacher animal nutrition for 27 years at the School of Veterinary Medicine UAS in Culiacan Mexico.

To determine the effect of the substitution of soybean meal and sorghum for cull chickpeas and peanut meal on apparent digestibility of nutrients in growing diets for pigs; six crossbred pigs (BW = 39.1 ± 1.7) were used in a replicated Latin Square Design. Pigs were assigned to consume one of three diets: 1) Diet with 17.78 % CP and 3.27 Mcal ME/kg, containing sorghum 69.5 %, soybean meal 28 %, and premix 2.5 % (CONT); 2) Diet with 17.73% CP and 3.28 Mcal ME/kg with sorghum 42.5 %, cull chickpeas 40%, soybean meal 12.0%, vegetable oil 3 %, and premix 2.5 % (CHP), and 3) Diet with 17.9 % CP and 3.26 Mcal ME/kg with sorghum 51.4 %, cull chickpeas 30%, peanut meal 14 %, vegetable oil 2%, and premix 2.5% (CHPN). Pigs were individually placed in metabolic crates (0.6 × 1.2 m). The adaptation period was 6 days and sample collection period was 4 days. From each diet and period, one kg of diet was taken as a sample and the total fecal production was collected. Feed Intake (2.19, 2.24 and 2.26 kg/day) was not affected by treatments (P>0.05) for CONT, CHP and CHPN, respectively. Apparent digestibility of DM (82.05, 82.91 and 83.9 %) was similar (P >0.05) across treatments. Apparent digestibility of crude protein was not altered (P>0.05) by CHP and CHPN inclusion. (78.35, 78.47 and 79.23%). It’s concluded that cull chickpeas and cull chickpeas-peanut meal can be used in growing pig diets without affecting nutrient digestibility.

He is awarded PhD in Veterinary Medicine. He holds a Master Degree (MSc) in Veterinary Science and Medicine, followed by a Bachelor’s Degree Veterinary Science and Animal Science. His international experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. His research interests reflect in his wide range of publications in various national and international journals.

Forty eight Sudan desert lambs were used in a-2month fattening trial to evaluate the effect of natural gastro-intestinal parasitic infection on fattening performance of old (2 years) and young (milk teeth) lambs fed iso-nitrogenous high (12.24 MJ/kg) high and low (10.35 MJ/kg) energy diets. Average daily gain, final body weight and total body weight gain showed a significantly (P< 0.001) high differences. Infection along with low energy played a very important role resulting the worst performance plus high mortality. Significant differences were recorded in slaughter weights, the highest one was that of old lamb group, treated for internal parasites and given high energy diet (39.67kg). It was 40.76% higher than the lowest treatment group which was the young infected given low energy diet. Empty body weight, dressing percentage and muscle percentage were (P< 0.05) higher in the treated groups. carcass weight, carcass characteristics, whole sale cuts, loin composition. No significant differences concerning evaporation ratio, Meat physical and chemical attributes plus non carcass components except for alimentary tract fill and full rumen (P< 0.01). Significant differences in carcass characteristics were recorded, carcass weight of old lambs treated for internal parasites and given high energy diet was 9.86% higher than their counterpart left naturally infected. Both hot and cold empty body weights and dressing percentages were greatly affected by internal parasitic infection and dietary energy level. The best dressing percentage was for the old lamb group treated for internal parasites and offered high energy diet which was 56.59% (based on empty body weight) while that of old infected group fed low energy diet was only 44.13%. Carcass and wholesale cuts yields were not significantly affected. Muscle percentage was significantly (P< 0.05) higher in the treated groups whether given high or low energy diet than their counter part contr. Gut and rumen fills increased significantly (P< 0.01) in the low energy groups whether treated or left naturally infected, but they were higher in the treated groups. Foregut fill percentage of the treated low energy group was 24.97% while their counterpart control group was 15.97%. Physical and subjective meat quality attributes and meat chemical compositions were not significantly affected. Postmortem of slaughtered and dead lambs revealed severe damage of the internal organs. Parasitic infection decreased in 25% of the infected lambs and no egg shed was detected, however 25% of the infected lambs died and fifty percent of the lambs remained infected until the end of the experiment. Weekly evaluation of blood glucose level revealed no significant differences between treatments. Margin percent of sales of old lamb group that was treated for internal parasites and fed high energy diet was 23.80% while that of old group of lambs that was left naturally infected and fed low energy diet lost 10.18% of their total cost. Although the group of young lambs treated for internal parasites and given high energy diet came in the second rank in term of performance, but they achieved the best profit (5.7%) more than the profit of group of old lambs treated for internal parasites and given high energy diet because they consumed less dry matter.

Akande T.O. completed his PhD from Ladoke Akintola University of Technology. He is a Senior Lecturer at Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife. He has published more than 15 papers in reputed journals and has been serving as a reviewer of peer review journals of repute.

A study was conducted to determine fungi profle, proximate content of mouldy corn and the mitigating potential of tocopherol and pyridoxine dietary supplementation on performance, blood profiles and liver histology of broiler chickens fed mouldy corn based diets. Two batches of corn were obtained. The first batch, physically devoid of mould was used to prepare the control, diet 1; the second batch,mouldy cornwas used to prepare other three diets. Diet 2 contained mouldy corn without supplementation, diets 3 and 4 with tocopherol and pyridoxine supplementation respectively. The four dietary treatments in three replicates lot of 10 birds per replicate were completely randomised. The results showed that five different fungi were isolated from infected corn identified as (Aspergillusglacus,Rhizopusstolonifer, Aspergillus flavus, Fusariumoxysporum,ScopulariopsisbrevicaulisAspergillus species were more prevalent. The activities of the fungi depleted carbohydrate, protein and lipid contents by 17%, 37% 54% respectively while crude ash declined by 6%. The mouldy diets significantly (P<0.05) reduced body weight gain and consequently depressed (P<0.05) their feed conversion ratio whereas feed intake was not significantly (P>0.05) affected. There were significant depletion (P<0.05) in PCV values across the treatments and higher (P<0.05) retention of urea in the blood of birds fed mouldy diets. Serum glucose, total proteins, alanine transferase and aspartate transferase of birds were not significantly different (P>0.05). Liver histology showed that birds fed mouldy diets had varying degree of infiltration in the central veins. It was concluded that mouldiness compromised feed nutritive values, reduced performance and impaired the liver of the experimental birds while tocopherol and pyridoxine suppressed or ameliorated the effect differently.

Mr Adejola Yusuf Adewale has completed his Master program (Monogastric animal nutrition) from Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Nigeria and he is about starting his phD. He is currently lecturing at Federal College of Agriculture, Ibadan in the department of Animal Production Technology. He has published two papers in reputable journals and one proceeding paper.

This study was conducted to investigate the effects of two herbal feed additives with or without grits on growth performance and nutrient digestibility of broiler chickens. One hundred and forty-four day-old Cobb broiler chicks were randomly assigned to six treatments of twenty four birds per treatment with three replicates of eight birds each. Six dietary treatments were formulated with the inclusion of Moringaoleifera leaf meal (MOLM), Garcinia kola seed meal (GKSM) and grits. Diet 1 was the control, diet 2 contained 1000ppm of MOLM, diet 3 contained 1000ppm of GKSM, diet 4 contained 1000ppm of grits, diet 5 contained 1000ppm of MOLM + 1000ppm of grits and diet 6 contained 1000ppm of GKSM + 1000ppm of grits.The proximate composition revealed that MOLM had higher crude protein (21.96%), crude fat (4.87%), crude fibre (15.61%) and ash (9.32%) than those found in GKSM. The results of the growth performance revealed that all the parameters were not affected by the dietary treatments at both starter and finisher phases. The nutrient digestibility results obtained showed that only crude fibre and ether extract were affected by the dietary treatments. The birds on treatment 2 had the highest crude fibre digestibility (63.73%) while those on treatment 4 had the highest ether extract digestibility (80.54%). Conclusively, all the feed additives had no influence on performance indices of broiler chickens, inclusion of MOLM at 1000ppm and grits at 1000ppm in broiler diet increased the utilization of ether extract and crude fibre digestibility respectively.

Dr. Shanker Raj Barsila has completed his PhD at the age of 32 years from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETH Zurich), Switzerland. He is currently the Assistant Profesor of Animal Science at Agriculture and Forestry University (AFU), Rampur Chitwan Nepal. He has published many papers in reputed journals and has been serving also as a lead researcher in the field of rangelnads management and grazing ecology at AFU, Nepal.

The cattle × yak hybrids (Dimjo Chauries) have similar high altitude tolerance and have the advantages of heterosis in comparison to purebred yaks. Effects of grazing by season, the parity on milk yield as it relates to the composition of Dimjo Chauries, are unknown in the Kanchenjunga Conservation Area (KCA) of Nepal.To do so, a common transhumant route was identified at 4100 m a.s.l which was grazed both during upward (summer-July) and downward (September-early winter) herd movement. Milking Dimjo Chauries of 2nd, 4th and 6th parities each having six lactating animals selected at similarity in daily milk yield, days of parturition within each group. Daily milk yield and milk composition were analyzed for 7 days by following a 7 days long adapatation period at both measuring periods. Daily milk yield, energy corrected milk yield and fat content were significantly affected (P<0.05) by season and parity and their interactions. Highest daily milk yield was obtained from 6th parity hybrids (5 kg/day) in July and the least was observed for 2nd parity groups in September (1.5 kg/day). Milk fat content was highest at September for 4th parity hybrids (about 8%). Milk protein and lactose content higher at July (3.32% protein vs. 4.67% lactose) than at September (3.22% protein and 4.54% lactose respectively as expected due to advancing lactation and vegetation. Research results revealed that Dimjo Chauries above 4th parity could be promising for commercial herding as has been shown from their higher daily milk yield and daily outputs of milk constituents.

He is awarded PhD in Veterinary Medicine. He holds a Master Degree (MSc) in Veterinary Science and Medicine, followed by a Bachelor’s Degree Veterinary Science and Animal Science. His international experience includes various programs, contributions and participation in different countries for diverse fields of study. His research interests reflect in his wide range of publications in various national and international journals.

Newcastle disease (ND) is one of the most important poultry disease because of its widespread distribution and economic impact on poultry. The present study was conducted to estimate the longevity of thermostable ND vaccine (NDV strain I-2) in village chickens of Nepal.A total of 56 (27 d old chicks) were allocated randomly into 2 groups (treatment and control) with 28 birds in each group. On d 28, ND vaccine was administered to the treatment group only.Blood sample was collected from experimental birds at 1 day prior to vaccination and 14, 21, 30, 60, 90 and 105 days post vaccination. The serum obtained was titrated for NDV antibody using hemagglutination inhibition test. The data obtained were log transformed and subjected to the SPSS 16.0. The antibody response of treatment group revealed that the log2HI titres were 5.7, 7.0, 7.2, 6.0, 3.7 and 3.1 for 14, 21, 30, 60, 90 and 105 days after vaccination. The treatment group had higher (P<0.05) antibody titre level at 14, 21, 30, 60 and 90 days after vaccination compared to control group however, there was no significant difference in the mean titre level between treatment and control group on 105 days after vaccination suggesting that booster dose is required after 90 days of primary vaccination. Thus, thermostable ND vaccine (strain I-2) produced specific immunity against ND for at least 90 days after vaccination and may be consideredsuitable in Nepalese condition where cold chain maintenance is a huge challenge especially in rural area.

Miss Clarisse UMUTONI has completed her from DVM program in 2012 from Cheikh Anta Diop University. She is currently a PhD student doing her research with International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI). Dr. Augustine Ayantunde issenior livestock scientist. He holds a PhD in ruminant nutrition and has more than 15 years of research experience in ruminant nutrition, rangeland management, analysis of pastoral and agro-pastoral systems, and crop-livestock modelling. His areas of expertise include evaluation of feed resources in the West African Sahel, ruminant nutrition, evaluation and monitoring of natural resource use in pastoral and agro-pastoral systems, assessment of vulnerability of pastoral and agro-pastoral systems in arid and semi-arid sub-Saharan Africa to climate change and variability, and documentation of indigenous ecological knowledge.

A study was carried out to assess existing and potential feed resources and constraints to livestock production in Koutiala and Bougouni districts in Southern part of Mali. A Feed Assessment Tool was used to collect necessary data on livestock production systems and feed resources. The assessment included focus group discussions and individual interviews. Results showed that seasonal shortage in feed supply, animal diseases, absence of stock route and lack of watering point were the major constraints facing livestock production in the study areas..Main feed resources for livestock in the study sites were natural pasture, crop residues, shrub/tree leaves and agro-industrial byproducts especially cereal bran and cottonseed cake. Pastures and green forage (herbage) were the main feed for animal during the wet season (June to October), contributing more than 80% of animal diet during this period. The quantity and quality of pasture declined as the season advances from wet to dry. Results further showed that almost all types of crop residues were used for livestock feeding compared to other uses. Feeding of crop residues mostly began soon after crop harvest in October/early November and extending up to February or early March. Browses tended to form a significant part of the ruminant diet in the late dry season (February to May). The highest dry matter contents of ruminants’ total diet came from grazing (50 and 59% in Koutiala and Bougouni districts, respectively). Crop residue is second to grazing in the provision of the animal’s dietary nutrient requirements. Results show that better integration of crop and livestock systems is critical to whole farm productivity and profitability.