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USDA/CSREES Projects
Betaine and
Choline Supplementation to Enhance Mohair Production
Objectives:
- Measure responses to an
increased dietary supply of betaine and choline in Angora goats on fiber
growth rate, composition, and quality
- Measure responses to an
increased supply of betaine and choline in dairy goats on milk production
and composition
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Seasonal
Manipulations to Improve Cashmere and Meat Returns in Goats
Objectives:
- Quantify the natural seasonal
cycle of cashmere growth. This is essential to permit the extension of
existing technology from other countries to the U.S. Practical
recommendations on harvest dates for cashmere will be provided and the
window of opportunity for chemical defleecing treatments will be defined.
- To quantify the response in
fiber growth and breeding cycles of two methods of melatonin treatment
applied in April in the U.S. This represents an attempt to improve both
meat and cashmere returns from U.S. goats following a single spring
melatonin treatment.
- To determine whether
shedding, following the cessation of a spring melatonin treatment, can be
prevented by the suppression of plasma prolactin concentration. This
objective seeks to greatly enhance the magnitude of cashmere response to
melatonin treatment, without compromising meat production.
- To determine the effect of
chemical defleecing agents on fiber growth and quality in cashmere goats.
This technology seeks to harvest cashmere with minimal guard hair
contamination while retaining the guard hair fleece on the goat for protection
from cold.
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Environmental
and Physiological Control of the Growth and Properties of Mohair
Objective:
- Investigate effects of and
interactions between environmental and physiological controls of mohair
growth and quality
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Exogenous
Hormone and Nutritional Manipulation to Increase Fiber Production
Objectives:
- Investigate the interactions
among growth hormone, insulin-like growth factor I, insulin, and thyroid
hormones for mohair growth and skin metabolism
- Define the role of growth
hormone in skin metabolism and mohair growth and determine whether growth
hormone has the potential to improve mohair production and quality
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The Evaluation
of Various Feedstuffs for Milk Production by Lactating Dairy Goats
Objectives:
- Study interactions between
levels of ruminally undegraded protein and digestible energy in lactating
dairy goat diets
- Determine influences of
differences in dietary ingredient composition to vary the time of maternal
tissue replenishment on milk production by dairy goats
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Enhancing Browse
Utilization by Goats
Objectives:
- Investigate the chemical
composition and potential nutritive value of browse with emphasis on the
tannin content, type, and limitation to digestion
- Explore relationships among
supplemental polyethylene glycol, tannin content in forage, and forage
utilization by ruminants in order to increase intake of tannin-containing
forages
- Determine if once-daily
supplementation with polyethylene glycol will enhance goat control of
noxious brush and weeds
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Postruminal
Nitrogen Supply for Fast Growing Meat Goats
Objectives:
- Determine the level of
dietary crude protein required for goat kids of different growth potential
- Determine the influence of both
level and source of supplemental protein on ruminal fermentation,
postruminal nitrogen supply, and performance of rapidly growing goat kids
- Determine the influence of
dietary level of ruminally undegraded protein on ruminal fermentation and
postruminal nitrogen supply as well as performance of kids with different
growth potential
- Determine the compleentary
nature of different sources of ruminally undegraded protein on postruminal
amino acid supply as well as performance of kids with different growth potential
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Nutrient
Requirements of Goats: An Update and Reevaluation
Objective:
- Compile and review
literature experiments conducted since publication of NRC (1981)
concerning nutritional requirements of goats in order to update and
reevaluate exisiting requirement recommendations and(or) develop more
appropriate and accurate alternate systems
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