Nutritional status of Lusitano broodmares on extensive feeding systems: body condition, live weight and metabolic indicators

Articles in International JournalsThe present research aimed to evaluate the effects of foaling season and feeding management in extensive systems on the nutritional status of Lusitano broodmares throughout the gestation/lactation cycle, by assessment of body condition (BC), body weight (BW), and some blood metabolic indicators. Four groups of Lusitano broodmares (A, B, C, D) were monitored during four years, in a total of 119 gestation/lactation cycles. All mares were kept on pasture, and A and B mares were daily supplemented. Monthly, mares were weighed and BC evaluated. Suckling foals from these mares were also monitored for BW and withers height. Glucose, non-esterified fatty acids, urea and albumin concentrations were determined in blood. BW changes were influenced by reproductive stage and foaling season (P<0.001), reflecting also pasture availability. Changes on BC were observed (P<0.05), although with small amplitudes within each group. Higher scores were reached at the end of spring, decreasing 0.25 point until late summer. Early foaling had also a marked effect, hindering the recovery of BC along the cycle. Glucose values decreased from late gestation to early lactation (P<0.05) and lower levels were recorded during the summer months. Uremia was mainly influenced by the reproductive stage (P<0.05). Under nutrition was not detected. Foals born in February-March had higher average daily gain than those born in April-May (P<0.05), probably reflecting differences in milk production of the mares. BC and BW changes and, particularly, blood indicators showed an overall balanced nutritional status, reflecting an adaptation to feed availability and climate.Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technolog

Intercalibration of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS experiment at start-up

Calibration of the relative response of the individual channels of the barrel electromagnetic calorimeter of the CMS detector was accomplished, before installation, with cosmic ray muons and test beams. One fourth of the calorimeter was exposed to a beam of high energy electrons and the relative calibration of the channels, the intercalibration, was found to be reproducible to a precision of about 0.3%. Additionally, data were collected with cosmic rays for the entire ECAL barrel during the commissioning phase. By comparing the intercalibration constants obtained with the electron beam data with those from the cosmic ray data, it is demonstrated that the latter provide an intercalibration precision of 1.5% over most of the barrel ECAL. The best intercalibration precision is expected to come from the analysis of events collected in situ during the LHC operation. Using data collected with both electrons and pion beams, several aspects of the intercalibration procedures based on electrons or neutral pions were investigated