Agriculture

  2008 MAR 17 - (VerticalNews.com) -- "Newly hatched chicks are routinely subjected to varying durations of transport shortly after hatching. Because little is known about the effects of this putative stressor on behavioural development, the present experiment tested for the effects of a simulated long transport-like treatment during the first day of life in two strains of laying hen chicks on growth, the development of perching behaviour, fear of humans (measured as the duration of tonic immobility induced by manual restraint) and the willingness to compete for access to feed," scientists in the United States report ...read more

  2008 MAR 17 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research published in the journal Applied Animal Behaviour Science, "Monoterpenes in plants can adversely affect herbivores. To minimize toxicity, herbivores may regulate their patterns of feeding to limit intake of monoterpenes."

  "We determined if diets with four concentrations of monoterpenes (0%, 1.55%, 3.10%, 4.65% DM) influenced feeding patterns of lambs by measuring food intake and percentage time lambs spent feeding on the four diets. During the first trial, lambs were offered terpene diets ad libitum from 0900 to 1200 h for 6 d; they were then fed a maintenance ration of alfalfa pellets in the afternoon of each day. During the second trial, lambs were offered terpene diets ad libitum from 0900 to 1500 h for 4 d, but they did not receive the maintenance diet of alfalfa pellets. In the first trial, food intake was lower when monoterpene concentrations were high and intake of monoterpenes reached a threshold at 27-28 g/d monoterpenes. All lambs consumed more food in the first hour than during the latter hours of feeding (P < 0.001). While the percentage of time spent feeding was the same for the control-, low-, medium-, and high-terpene groups, lambs fed the high-terpene diet spent more time feeding in hour 3 than lambs fed the control diet (P < 0.05). In the second trial, when alfalfa pellets were not offered as a basal diet, lambs offered the control- and low-terpene diets consumed a relatively large proportion of food during the first hour. Intake remained low for the medium- and high-terpene diets over the 6-h period (P < 0.001)," wrote L.E. Dziba and colleagues ...read more

  2008 MAR 17 - (VerticalNews.com) -- According to recent research from Wagga Wagga, Australia, "Data were gathered on the behavioural and physiological characteristics of five cribbers, six weavers and six non-stereotypic (control) mature Thoroughbred geldings for a period of 16 weeks. The horses were hired from their owners and stabled individually throughout the trial."

  "Cribbers and weavers had been known to stereotype for at least 12 months prior to commencement of the study. Behavioural data were collected using video surveillance. Cribbers stereotyped most frequently (P < 0.001) in the period 2-8 h following delivery of concentrated food, reinforcing the suggestion that diet is implicated in cribbing behaviour. Weavers stereotyped most frequently (P < 0.001) during periods of high environmental activity such as during routine pre-feeding activities and in the hour prior to daily turnout, presumably when anticipation and stimulation were at their highest levels. Cribbers and weavers took longer than control horses to fully consume their ration, suggesting possible differences in motivation to feed, distress levels, satiety mechanisms or abdominal discomfort," wrote H.A. Clegg and colleagues, Charles Sturt University ...read more