1,721,051 research outputs found

    Importance of feed efficiency for sustainable intensification of chicken meat production: implications and role for amino acids, feed enzymes and organic trace minerals

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    Broiler chicken production is expected to increase significantly in the next decades to satisfy the poultry meat demand of a growing world population. In this scenario, one of the most important challenges for the poultry industry is to enhance bird productivity while remaining economically and environmentally sustainable. Feeding represents the major cost in raising of broiler chickens and has important implications for environmental impact, either directly or indirectly. Therefore, improving broiler capacity in converting ingested feed into body growth, which is generally referredto as feed efficiency (often expressed through the feed conversion ratio), is fundamental to promoting a sustainable intensification of poultry production. In this review, we highlight the importance of feed efficiency improvements in terms of overall sustainability for the broiler chicken production chain. Furthermore, the potential of feed additive-based nutritional strategies, such as the dietary administration of crystalline amino acids, proteases, phytases and organic minerals, is critically discussed in the light of their role in supporting the sustainable intensification of this crucial livestock sector

    Effect of different arginine-to-lysine ratios in broiler chicken diets on the occurrence of breast myopathies and meat quality attributes

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    This study was carried out to evaluate the effect of different digestible arginine-to-lysine (dig Arg:Lys) ratio in broiler diets on the occurrence of breast myopathies, productivity, and meat quality traits. A total of 1,755 1-day-old Ross 308 male chicks was randomly divided in 3 experimental groups (9 replications/group): CON, fed a 4 feeding-phases commercial diet (dig Arg:Lys ratio = 1.05, 1.05, 1.06, 1.07, respectively in starter, grower I, grower II and finisher phase), and ARG2 and ARG3 groups fed CON diet supplemented respectively with 20 and 30% higher levels of crystalline L-arginine (dig Arg:Lys ratio = 1.25, 1.25, 1.26, 1.27 and 1.35, 1.35, 1.36, 1.37, respectively). Productive performance was recorded throughout the rearing cycle. At processing (43 d), breasts (n = 150/group) were randomly collected to evaluate the incidence and severity of white striping (WS), wooden breast (WB), and spaghetti meat (SM) defects (3- points scale).Meat quality traits, such as color, pH, drip and cook losses, marinade performances, and proximate composition were determined on 12 fillets/group. Although productive performance and meat quality traits resulted not significantly affected, the occurrence of some breast myopathies was modified by the dietary treatments. ARG2 and ARG3 exhibited a significantly higher percentage of breast without WS compared to CON (28 and 41 vs. 17%, respectively; P < 0.001). ARG3 reported the lowest percentage of breasts with severe WS (11 vs. 27 and 31%, respectively for ARG3, ARG2, and CON; P < 0.001) and the highest of those showing no SM abnormality (81 vs. 69 and 65%, respectively for ARG3, ARG2, and CON; P < 0.01). Furthermore, a numerical reduction of breasts with severe WB was observed in ARG3 (12 vs. 25 and 19%, respectively for ARG3, ARG2, and CON; P = 0.12). In conclusion, the dietary supplementation of arginine to increase the dig Arg:Lys ratio by about 30% in respect to the current recommendations for broiler chickens has positive implications on the occurrence of some breast meat abnormalities

    Dietary conjugated linoleic acid supplementation of laying hen: effects on egg fatty acids composition and quality.

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    In order to assess the effect of dietary supplementation of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) on fatty acid composition and egg quality, a study was carried out on three groups of laying hens, each of 9 subjects, fed diets supplemented with 0, 1.25 and 2.5% CLA. Increasing CLA concentration in diet, yolk CLA concentration increased from 0.15 (Control) to 6.04 and 11.73 mg/kg (CLA 1.25 and CLA 2.50, respectively). The most representative isomer was cis-9, trans-11. The saturated fatty and monounsaturated fatty acid in yolk increased and decreased, respectively, with CLA supplementation. Egg yield and quality traits did not show any significant difference among groups

    Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis

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    The present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed

    Variations on the Author

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    “Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship

    Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis

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    We provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis

    Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts

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    We conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more sophisticated methods

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