Weighing experimental animals and designs for water capture and distribution

• Grant number: 15/24116-3
• Support Opportunities: Research Grants - Technical Reserve for Institutional Research Infrastructure
• Start date: February 01, 2016
• End date: January 31, 2017
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Animal Husbandry - Genetics and Improvement of Domestic Animals
• Principal Investigator: Claudia Cristina Paro de Paz
• Grantee: Claudia Cristina Paro de Paz
• Host Institution: Instituto de Zootecnia. Agência Paulista de Tecnologia dos Agronegócios (APTA). Secretaria de Agricultura e Abastecimento (São Paulo - Estado). Nova Odessa , SP, Brazil

Abstract

The research center located at Sertaozinho-SP (Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte/Instituto de Zootecnia) has about 2200 ha divided into grazing, facilities and environmental reserve areas. Various beef cattle researches can be developed at Center facilities, which involves: 2000 animals from Nellore, Guzera, and Caracu breeds; 150 individual pens for feedlot; GrowSafe automatic feeding system, with capacity for 100 animals in growth phase, recording individual feed intake and feeding behavior; paddocks with rotational grazing system; pastures of different species; squeeze chute, scales and handling pens. This Center realizes the Feeding Performance Test for more than 60 years, with evaluation and selection of superior animals for the traits: weight gain and, more recently, residual feed intake. In addition, Instituto de Zootecnia keeps the Ethics Committee on the Use of Animal Experimentation, in which all research projects involving animals are evaluated. And provides for Produção Animal Sustentável (PPG-PAS) graduation students the use of facilities (animals, laboratories, library, classrooms, housing, etc) located at Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte and in the other parts of the institution. To expand research projects in Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte, the center revitalization and modernization is running through actions such as laboratories renovation and expansion, farm hydraulic and electrical system reform, housing expansion, auditorium and administrative building upgrade, laboratories and classrooms building to attend PPG-PAS program at Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte/Sertãozinho. These actions aim to fully meet research, teaching and extension carried out at Centro APTA Bovinos de Corte from Instituto de Zootecnia. (AU)