Average Daily Gains of Brahman-Crossbred and English × Exotic Feeder Heifers Exposed to Low, Medium, and High Levels of Stable Flies (Diptera: Muscidae)

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Brahman-crossbred and English × Exotic feeder heifers were exposed to low (5 per leg), medium (12 per leg), and high (30 per leg) stable fly, Stomoxys calcitrans (L.), population levels to test relative tolerance of these cattle breeds to stable flies. The Brahman-crossbred heifers were tolerant to stable Hies only when they were 12–13 mo old. At the same age, the English × Exotic heifers sustained reductions in average daily gain (ADG) at all three stable fly population levels of 0.22 kg/d (11.2%). At 14–15 mo of age, both breeds were affected only by the high stable fly level. The reduction in ADG was ≈0.16 kg/d (10.6%) for both breeds. Stable fly numbers on the heifers varied with time of day. Both breeds appeared equally attractive to stable flies. With or without stable flies, the Brahman-crossbred heifers consistently gained less weight than the English × Exotic heifers by 0.24 kg/d (15%).
Keywords

This publication has 0 references indexed in Scilit: