The aim of this undergraduate thesis was to formulate advices regarding the use of field beans, cultivated together with spring wheat, as whole-crop silage in feeding to dairy cows. In the thesis, optimal harvest time of the field bean/spring wheat crop, as well as the feeding value and the fermentation quality, was studied. On the research station at Röbäcksdalen in Umeå field bean/spring wheat (70 % respective 30 % of normal seed rate for the pure crop) and pea/oat (70/30) was grown in field experiments both 2002 and 2003. The following year, 2004, the pea/oat crop was excluded and instead field bean and spring wheat was cultivated in three different mixed ratios (field bean/spring wheat; 100:0, 70:30, 30:70). Every year the crops were harvested at four different development stages and the green forages were used in ensiling experiments.

In two Feeding experiments Bacillus induced priming of plant defense was tested for its effect against the generalist insect pest Spodoptera littoralis. The main hypothesis for the study was that Bacillus induced priming would enable the plant Arabidopsis thaliana to defend itself better against this insect herbivore since this priming seems to involve jasmonic acid, known to be important for plant defense to insects. A secondary objective of the study was to examine if any differences in a primed defense capability could be seen between different natural genetic variants (ecotypes) of A. thaliana reflecting habitat differences in pest pressure. The methods used for plant cultivation and Bacillus inoculation were aimed at reflecting conditions that can be expected in an agricultural cropping system. This meant that all plants were cultivated in soil, and the Feeding experiments were conducted with the plants growing intact in the soil system.

This study has focused on testing the following two hypotheses:? Pest resistant plants have higher levels and/or several different kinds of secondary metabolites. ? Induced defensive systems in resistant plants are activated more rapidly than those of susceptible plants. As a background for the test of the hypotheses a short literature study was performed concerning plant defensive mechanisms in Arabidopsis thaliana.

As for today, a large quantity of protein feeds is imported from other countries to be used in the Swedish dairy production. The main import is soya from Brazil. The soya-production in Brazil results in negative consequences for the natural environment in the area, and the long transport of the feeds requires a lot of energy. The organic dairy production in Sweden is, with the highest probability going to be forced to use 100 % organic feed to the cows in the year 2005, due to new EU-rules. These are some of the causes why there are reasons to look closer at the possibilities to feed Swedish cows with only Swedish feeds. In this study, I have looked at the KRAV-rules for organic feeding, where the goal is feeding with only KRAV-approved feeds.

Larvae of Lepidopteran Manduca sexta and Spodoptera littoralis are pests of economical importance in several horticultural and agricultural crops. Knowledge of insect feeding preferences and behavior is crucial in order to find economically and ecologically sustainable solutions to the problems caused by these herbivores. The aim of this thesis was to study the behavior and the induced feeding preferences in larvae of M. sexta and S. littoralis when reared on certain host plants. The hypothesis was that larvae of M. sexta would have an innate preference for plants of the Solanaceae family and therefore discriminate the previously experienced nonhost when faced with the choice between a true host and the previous food source.

AbstractThe Northern Wheatear (Oenanthe oenanthe) is a small insectivorous passerine bird living in open landscapes. Both parents feed the brood of approximately five chicks, but little is known about how each sex allocates their feeding effort. In this study I investigate feeding nest visit differences between male and female Northern Wheatears relative to the age of the chicks, the number of chicks and the quality of the territory for 17 pairs from 2008-2010. Data were collected using automated data loggers to record nest visitation rates during chick feeding, and the sex was determined from nest video cameras. I also examine if the parents? rate of feeding visits changes over the nestling period.

The horse's motivations to forage and eat are behaviors that horse owners should take into consideration when designing the horse's living environment. In today?s housing of horses, horses are often kept alone in boxes and paddocks and are fed with small amounts of energy-rich roughage. Problems that can arise with a shortened feeding-time and long periods of fasting are behavioral changes like stereotypic behaviors and an increased risk for ulcers. A solution to the short feeding-time is that you are feeding roughage in a small mesh hay net, or a so-called Slow-feed net.

Since feeding fodder crops to dairy cows is a heavy and time-consuming but often disregarded line of work, this study wishes to view the different possibilities that are currently available to decrease the time to feed and apply this knowledge on an existing farm. For this purpose, four farms have been studied due to what feeding systems that are currently used and how long time the feeding required. The occurring systems are either mobile, i.e. a feed mixer operated by a tractor witch feeds the cattle via a drivable fodder table, or a stationery mixer, i.e. an electrically powered mixer which fills an automatic feeder.

A plant's defensive ability against herbivore attack can be influenced by many different factors, one of them being domestication. During human selection to improve the yield of plants, the resistance against herbivore attack can have been lowered, due to a trade-off for use of resources between these traits in the plants. In this thesis I investigated the effect of domestication on resistance against herbivorous insects in cotton plants. I used different varieties and species of wild and domesticated cotton in three different experiments. A feeding assay was conducted, the mortality, development time and pupal weight of larvae of the Egyptian cotton leaf worm Spodoptera littoralis was studied. In a second experiment the preference of the root-feeding beetle Agriotes spp.

ABSTRACTObjectiveThe aim of this study was to determine if and what kind of scientific evidence there is for the advice that breast-feeding can reduce the risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The aim was to investigate research on the subject published in the last 15 years.MethodA systematic review without meta-analysis with relevant original articles published in the last 15 years.Main resultsAfter searching for articles 26 relevant articles were used for this study and two were excluded because of poor quality. Mixed results were shown on breast feeding and the risk of SIDS. Breast-feeding seems to have some protective effect but can?t be separated from known risk factors of SIDS.Plain language summaryBreast feeding can be regarded as a preventive measure against SIDS.

The German equine housing system, HIT Active Stable?, are adjusted for keeping horses in groups, and are well establishes in Germany. Now the system attracts attention here in Sweden. The purpose of this study was to investigate if the horses have any be-haviours need of free access to roughages like straw or hay, after they have been visit the concentrate feeding station. A study was carried out at family Krohn?s active stables in Bönningstedt, Germany.

Knowledge about feed racks for feeding forages to horses is lacking. Racks for sheep and cows are sometimes used for horses. Feeding roughage on the ground, or feeding silage bales with the plastic and net still on, can bring on a lot of different problems. The opportunity to control the hygienic quality is small and feed losses can be high. The purpose of this experiment was to investigate how the eating behaviour and consumption of horses were influenced by feeding racks of different constructions. Feed losses and changes in chemical composition of the forage were also studied.

The return of large predators to regions where they were previously extirpated has created a need for knowledge about their effect on prey species, not only their lethal but also their behavioural or risk effects. In this study the behavioural risk effects of brown bear (Ursus arctos) were tested on fallow deer (Dama dama), roe deer (Capreolus capreolus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), moose (Alces alces) and wild boar (Sus scrofa). This was done by using patches of fur to simulate the presence of the novel predator (brown bear), a novel nonpredator (reindeer (Rangifer tarandus) and no fur as control. These three treatments were then compared. The response variables measured were increased vigilance, decreased feeding time and change in patch use.

Swedish horse breeders have generally very few mares producing a few foals a year and the breeders have relatively few traditions, little knowledge and experience to breed foals successfully. It is therefore important to provide adequate information about new findings in horse nutrition. However, there is not much research about feeding the suckling foal to ensure a sound growth. Current feeding recommendations in the literature seems to be different. This gives a confusing message and the information is difficult to apply. This paper reviews some publications in the area of feeding the suckling and weaning foal. Most authors stress that it?s important to start feeding the foal early in life.

The evaluation of the function of the feeding of sheep herds is suggested to involve the work effort, the fulfilment of the nutrient needs of the sheep and the feed waste. Mechanisation of the feeding can be very simple or include high degrees of mechanisation. Three different farms, representing different levels of mechanisation are presented. Descriptions and analysis of the feeding systems including mechanisation, work effort and estimations of the feed waste are made on each farm. The herd with the most advanced feed mechanisation included a rolling feed band and mix wagon. The other farms were partly or little mechanised including ad lib feeding from big bales and manual distribution of hay and concentrates. The most mechanised farm was able to feed a large herd of sheep at a low work effort and little feed waste. However, the investment in machinery has to be weighed against the improved efficiency.