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Publications

NIBIOs employees contribute to several hundred scientific articles and research reports every year. You can browse or search in our collection which contains references and links to these publications as well as other research and dissemination activities. The collection is continously updated with new and historical material.

2012

Abstract

In Norway, most lambs are slaughtered at the end of the grazing season in September. An increased demand for fresh meat during the off-season may change this pattern. Castration of male lambs is not permitted, and off-season slaughtering may affect the acceptability of the meat. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of gender on meat quality from Norwegian White Sheep lambs slaughtered in September at the age of five months. Twenty-nine male lambs and 46 female lambs were included in the experiment. Loin samples of M. Longissimus dorsi were analysed for sensory profile. Meat from male lambs had higher scores for the less pleasant sensory attributes of cloying (P < 0.05) and rancid (P = 0.08) flavour, and lower scores for the more pleasant attributes of sour and sweet taste (P < 0.05 for both attributes) compared to meat from female lambs. The differences were more apparent between lambs grazing ryegrass than between lambs fed a concentrate and roughage diet. It is concluded that even at the normal slaughtering time in September, significant differences between genders may occur.

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Abstract

The aim of this experiment was to investigate the effect of increasing the number of ewes per nipple drinker on water intake, feed intake and drinking behaviour of ewes. A group of 30 1¾ year old, pregnant ewes of the Norwegian Dala breed were exposed to three treatments, each treatment lasting one week: 7.5 ewes per nipple drinker (N7.5: four nipple drinkers), 15 ewes per nipple drinker (N15: two nipple drinkers) and 30 ewes peer nipple drinker (N30: one nipple drinker). The experiment was performed both in January (week 4–6, replicate 1) and replicated in April (week 13–15, replicate 2). The ewes were kept in insulated building and had free access to good quality hay. Water metres were connected to the pipeline for water supply and water wastage was collected and weighed. In addition, the daily intake of hay was recorded and the ewes were video recorded the three last days of each experimental period. Total drinking time per individual was calculated from observations of drinking behaviour from the video, as were also incidents of queuing and displacements. Both water and feed intake was higher in replicate 2 than in replicate 1. Increasing the number of individuals per nipple drinker had no effect on water intake in replicate 1, whereas in replicate 2 the water intake was (mean±SE) 3.5±0.3; 4.2±0.1 and 4.9±0.1 l/ewe and day in the treatments N7.5, N15 and N30, respectively (P<0.05). Regardless of replicate, the time spent drinking increased significantly when number of ewes per nipple drinker increased. Queuing was not affected by increasing the number of ewes per nipple drinker. In replicate 1 the number of displacements increased significantly when the number of individuals per nipple drinker increased (N7.5=7.6±1.7; N15=15.0±4.2 and N30=36.7±5.2; P<0.05) and the same trend could be seen in replicate 2, although not significant. In conclusion, one nipple drinker with an acceptable flow rate can serve up to 30 ewes without negatively affecting water and feed intake

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Abstract

Two feeding experiments were performed to study the effects of silage botanical composition, regrowth interval and α-tocopherol supplementation on the fatty acid (FA) composition and α-tocopherol, β-carotene and retinol concentrations of milk. In Exp. 1, 24 Swedish Red dairy cows were fed two- or three-cut red clover–grass silages (R2 and R3, respectively) or two-cut birdsfoot trefoil–grass silage (B2). In Exp. 2, 16 Norwegian Red dairy cows were fed short-term ley silage with red clover (S3) or long-term ley silage with white clover (L3) in combination with the supplementation of RRR-α-tocopheryl acetate (1600 mg/day). The FA proportions in the milk and the recoveries of C18:2n-6 and C18:3n-3 were higher on the red clover diets R2 and S3 than on B2 and L3, respectively, and the n-6/n-3 FA ratio was also higher on the red clover diets. Shorter regrowth interval increased both the concentrations of FA in silage and the proportions of unsaturated FA in milk. Intakes of α-tocopherol, β-carotene and lutein were higher on B2 than on R2 due to higher silage intake on B2. However, the highest intake was seen on diet R3 due to the higher concentrations in the silage mixture. In Exp. 2, intakes of α-tocopherol, β-carotene and lutein were higher on L3. However, not all of these differences affected the milk, since the only significant differences related to silage diet in the two experiments were a higher milk α-tocopherol concentration on L3 than on S3 and a slightly lower β-carotene concentration on B2 than on R2. Supplementation with α-tocopherol increased milk α-tocopherol concentrations from 0.77 to 1.05 and from 1.07 to 1.24 mg/kg milk for S3 and L3, respectively, but did not affect milk FA composition. A higher concentration of antioxidants in the feed could be beneficial as a larger proportion of the animal's vitamin requirements would be met by the forage and the need for supplementation might decrease.

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Abstract

The presented article deals with the assessment of combined impact of temperature and flow of oxidising atmosphere, its oxygen concentration and heat flux on the ignition time of isotactic polypropylene (PP). The ignition time was determined in a specially adapted hot air Setchkin furnace at temperatures (450 and 600 °C), density of heat flux (12.4 and 26.4 kW m−2), flows of oxidation mixture (6 and 8 L min−1) and volume oxygen concentrations (3, 9, 15, 21, 27, 33, 39, 45 and 50 %). Obtained data allows us to assume that the temperature influence on PP induction period of ignition increases with decreasing flow rate of oxidising atmosphere. At the flow of oxidising mixture equal to 6 L min−1 and temperature of 600 °C, oxygen concentration had only a negligible impact on the the induction period of ignition in the analysed period. From the presented results, the induction period of ignition depends on the temperature and also on the flow rate of oxidising mixture and oxygen concentration in it. In addition, heat flux has a significant influence on the induction period. However, the quantification of the heat flux influence was not possible with the applied experimental device.

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to examine the effect of grazing on different pasture types and hay feeding on dairy goat milk fatty acid (FA) composition in early and late grazing season. Eighty goats were grouped according to genotype and lactation, and randomly divided into two groups (Early and Late) with approximately 8 weeks difference in mating and kidding dates. Goats within each of the two groups were further allocated to four forage treatment groups: R, forest rangeland pasture; C, cultivated pasture; HH, high quality hay; HL, low quality hay. The goats in Early were subjected to forage treatments in early grazing season, while the goats in Late received the forage treatments 8 weeks later. The most abundant FAs were C16:0 and C18:1c9 followed by C14:0 and C18:0. The milk proportion of the short and medium chained fatty acids (C6:0-C14:0) and C16:0 was higher (P < 0.0001) in Late than in Early grazing season, whilst the proportion of long chained FAs (C18:0, C18:1c9, C18:1t11, C18:2c9, 12, C18:2c9t11 and C18:3c9, 12, 15) were lower (P < 0.001). Goats grazing R yielded less milk (1.5 vs. 2.0 kg/d, P < 0.001) but with higher milk fat content (46 vs. 37 g/kg, P < 0.001) than C. The milk from goats on R had lower (P < 0.01) proportion of medium chained FAs (C10:0-C14:0) and C18:2c9, t11 but higher (P < 0.05) proportion of C18:0, C18:2c9,12 and C20:0 than C. Grazing compared to hay gave milk with lower proportion of medium chained FAs (C12:0-C14:0) and C16:0 but higher proportion of the long chained FAs C18:0, C18:1t11, C18:3c9, 12, C18:2c9, t11, C18:3c9, 12, 15, C20:0 than hay feeding. Higher supply of energy may explain higher proportion of de novo synthesised low and medium chained FA and lower proportion of long chained FA on C than on R, whilst higher supply of FA from mobilized fat may explain higher milk proportion of long chain FA in Early than in late season. Moreover, goats on pasture had likely higher supply of FA from dietary fat, which explain higher milk proportion of the long chained FA than on hay.

Abstract

Norwegian goat milk production is based on summer grazing on diverse forest or alpine rangeland, and the quality of these pastures is important for milk quantity and quality. We used n-alkanes and long chained alcohols found in plant wax as markers to estimate diet composition in goats grazing on a heterogeneous rangeland during two periods in summer; early (beginning of July) and late (end of August). The goats were fitted with GPS collars that recorded their position. Preliminary results show a diverse diet, where ferns, sedges, blueberry (Vaccinium myrtillis) and birch were preferred in early summer. In late summer the diet was particularly diverse, coinciding with a general decline in plant quality.

Abstract

The objective was to examine the effect of pasture type, and of grazing compared with hay feeding, on milk production and quality from dairy goats in early and late grazing season. Eighty goats were grouped according to genotype and lactation, and randomly divided into two groups with approximately 8 weeks difference in kidding date and start of feeding experiment, in Early and Late grazing season. At the start of the feeding experiment the goats were divided into 4 forage-treatment groups: R,forest rangeland pasture; C, cultivated pasture; HH, high quality hay; HL, low quality hay. Group R yielded less milk (1.5 vs. 2.0 kg d–1) and lower milk protein content (32 vs. 33 g kg–1), but higher milk fat (46 vs. 37 g kg–1) and DM content (120 vs. 113 g kg–1) than group C. Free fatty acids (FFA) content in milk was not affected by pasture type. The effects of pasture type on milk yield and milk constituents were similar in early and late grazing season. Grazing resulted in similar milk yield but higher milk fat (42 vs. 34 g kg–1), protein (32 vs. 30 g kg–1) and DM (117 vs. 106 g kg–1) content, and lower content of FFA (0.22 vs. 0.34 mEq L–1) than hay feeding