First Observations of Long-Lived Meteor Trains with Resonance Lidar and Other Optical Instruments

In November 1998 the earth passed through a maximum in the cometary material responsible for the yearly Leonids meteor shower. The meteor storm event produced numerous examples of long-lived chemiluminescent trails--visible to the naked eye over New Mexico, where a major observation campaign was centered. One trail was detected for over an hour with a CCD camera employing a narrow sodium filter, and many others were observed for over ten minutes each. For the first time, sodium densities in such trails were measured while also being imaged in sodium light. We have verified one source of long-lived light emissions--a sodium-catalyzed reaction involving ozone--but it is far too weak to explain the visibility of such trails. In addition, we present a new explanation for the cylindrical shell appearance long reported for chemiluminescent trails and show that ozone depletion by chemical processes is a possible explanation for this phenomenon

Effects of different specialty protein sources on growth performance of starter pigs

Two hundred and ten weanling pigs were fed diets containing either soybean meal, spray-dried blood meal, spray-dried red blood cells, select menhaden fish meal, or synthetic amino acids. From d 0 to 7 postweaning, pigs fed either spray-dried whole blood meal or red blood cells had greater ADG and ADFI than pigs fed select menhaden fish meal or added synthetic amino acids. However, from d °to 14 and 0 to 21, no differences in growth performance occurred among pigs fed the various protein sources. However, pigs fed added synthetic amino acids had poorer ADG compared with the mean for pigs fed the other protein sources.; Swine Day, Manhattan, KS, November 21, 199

Determining the Influence of KemTRACE Cr and/or Micro-Aid on Growth Performance and Carcass Composition of Pigs Housed in a Commercial Environment

A study was conducted to determine the interactive effects of chromium propionate (KemTRACE Cr; Kemin Industries Inc., Des Moines, IA) and Micro-Aid (Yucca schidigera-based product; Distributors Processing Inc., Porterville, CA) on growth performance and carcass composition of finishing pigs housed in a commercial environment. There were a total of 1,188 pigs (PIC 337 × 1050; initial BW = 60.3 lb) with 27 pigs/ pen and 11 pens/treatment. Pigs were split by gender upon arrival at the facility, with 5 blocks of each gender and a final mixed sex gender block. Gender blocks were randomly allotted to groups of 4 pen locations within the barn. Diets were corn-soybean meal-dried distillers grains with solubles-based and were fed in 5 phases. All nutrients were formulated to meet or exceed NRC (2012) requirement estimates. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 2 factorial with main effects of Cr (0 vs 200 ppb) or Micro-Aid (0 vs 62.5 ppm). There were no Cr × Micro-Aid interactions observed for growth or carcass measurements. Overall, ADG and F/G were not influenced by treatment. Adding Cr alone increased (P = 0.048) ADFI, and inclusion of Micro-Aid resulted in a marginally significant increase (P = 0.076) in ADFI. For carcass characteristics, HCW, loin depth, and percentage carcass yield were not influenced by treatment. Backfat depth tended to increase (P = 0.055) and lean percentage was decreased (P = 0.014) when Cr was added to diets. In summary, no synergistic effects were observed from feeding Cr and Micro-Aid in diets fed to finishing pigs housed in a commercial environment. Only marginal differences were observed from adding Cr or Micro-Aid with increased ADFI observed from feeding either. Finally, diets containing added Cr tended to be associated with carcasses having more backfat and less lean suggesting the increased ADFI was not utilized for increased muscle deposition

Influence of Chromium Dose and Feeding Regimen on Growth Performance and Carcass Composition of Pigs Housed in a Commercial Environment

A study was conducted to determine the effects of increasing chromium propionate (KemTRACE Cr; Kemin Industries Inc., Des Moines, IA) and feeding regimen on growth performance and carcass characteristics of finishing pigs housed in a commercial environment. There were a total of 1,206 pigs (PIC 337 × 1050; initial BW = 63.2 lb) with 27 pigs/pen and 9 pens/treatment. Pigs were split by gender upon arrival at the facility, with 4 blocks of each gender and a final mixed gender block. Gender blocks were randomly allotted to groups of 5 pen locations within the barn. Diets were corn-soybean meal-dried distillers grains with solubles-based and were fed in a 5-phase feeding program. Treatments were arranged as a 2 × 2 + 1 factorial with a control diet containing no added Cr, or diets containing either 100 or 200 ppb of Cr fed during the grower (dietary Phases 1 and 2; 63 to 138 lb BW) and/or finisher (dietary Phases 3, 4, and 5; 138 to 307 lb BW) periods. For growth performance, there was no effect of changing Cr supplementation between the growing and finishing periods. Therefore, only linear and quadratic effects of increasing Cr within growth period were considered using all treatments, as well as linear and quadratic effects of the 3 treatments fed increasing Cr for the full duration of the study. Increasing Cr during the grower period decreased (quadratic, P \u3c 0.001) ADG and worsened F/G. During the finisher period, increasing Cr tended (quadratic, P = 0.061) to improve F/G, with the best F/G observed in pigs fed 100 ppb. Overall, increasing Cr had no impact on ADG or ADFI; however, F/G was optimized (quadratic, P = 0.018) when pigs were fed 100 ppb of added Cr. Carcass characteristics were not influenced by added Cr level or Cr feeding regimen. In summary, increasing dietary Cr supplementation elicited minor changes in growth performance with the best F/G observed with 100 ppb of added Cr

Stability of commercial phytase products under increasing thermal conditioning temperatures

Citation: De Jong, J. A., DeRouchey, J. M., Tokach, M. D., Goodband, R. D., Woodworth, J. C., Jones, C. K., . . . Bergstrom, J. R. (2016). Stability of commercial phytase products under increasing thermal conditioning temperatures. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 101-101. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-214The objective was to determine the stability of 4 commercial phytase products exposed to increasing thermal conditioning temperatures. The 4 commercial products used were: Quantum Blue 5G (AB Vista, Marlborough, United Kingdom); Ronozyme Hi Phos GT (DSM Nutritional Products, Parsippany, NJ); Axtra Phy TPT (Dupont, Wilmington, DE), and Microtech 5000 Plus (Guangdong VTR Bio-Tech Co., Ltd., Guangdong, China). The phytase products were mixed as part of a corn-soybean meal-based swine diet at a concentration recommended by the manufacturer to provide a 0.12% aP release. Diets were exposed to each of 4 thermal conditioning temperatures (65, 75, 85, and 95°C) for approximately 40 s and the entire process was repeated on 4 consecutive days to create 4 replicates. Samples were taken while feed exited the conditioner and before entering the pellet die. Phytase activity was determined from complete feed samples before conditioning to establish a baseline diet phytase activity level for each product. Phytase stability was measured as the residual phytase activity (% of initial) at each conditioning temperature. There were no product × temperature interactions for conditioning temperature, throughput, or residual phytase activity. As expected, as the target temperature was increased, conditioning temperature increased (linear, P < 0.001) and conditioner throughput decreased (linear, P < 0.001). As target temperature increased, phytase activity decreased (linear, P < 0.001) for each product. There was a significant phytase product main effect which was primarily caused by Microtech 5000 Plus having decreased (P < 0.05) phytase activity when compared to all other products at all conditioning temperatures. In summary, increasing conditioning temperatures decreased phytase stability regardless of product. In addition, Microtech 5000 Plus had decreased residual phytase activity (% of initial) when compared to all other products

Stability of commercial phytase products stored under different environmental conditions

Citation: De Jong, J. A., DeRouchey, J. M., Tokach, M. D., Goodband, R. D., Woodworth, J. C., Jones, C. K., . . . Bergstrom, J. R. (2016). Stability of commercial phytase products stored under different environmental conditions. Journal of Animal Science, 94, 114-114. doi:10.2527/msasas2016-241A 300-d study evaluated the stability of 4 phytase products stored under varied environmental conditions. The 4 products were: 1) Quantum Blue 5G (AB Vista, Marlborough, United Kingdom); 2) Ronozyme HiPhos GT 2700 (DSM Nutritional Products, Parsippany, NJ); 3) Axtra Phy TPT (Dupont, Wilmington, DE); and 4) Microtech 5000 Plus (Guangdong VTR Bio-Tech Co., Ltd., Guangdong, China). Products were stored as pure forms at ?20, 4, 22, or 35°C (75% humidity), or in a vitamin or vitamin trace mineral (VTM) premix at 22 and 35°C (75% humidity). Samples were stored in paper bags and sampled on d 30, 60, 90, 120, 210, and 300. Stability was determined as amount of residual phytase activity (% of initial). For pure forms, all interactive and main effects of product, time, and temperature were significant (P < 0.05). From d 30 to 300, products had similar reductions in phytase activity at the 3 highest temperatures; however, Quantum Blue 5G, Ronozyme HiPhos GT 2700, and Axtra Phy TPT had reduced (P < 0.05) phytase activity compared to Microtech 5000 Plus at ?20°C. As storage time increased, residual phytase activity was reduced (P < 0.05) regardless of product and storage temperature. Also, when product was stored at 4 and 22°C, phytase activity was improved compared to ?20 and 35°C. For vitamin and VTM premixes, a time×temperature × product interaction (P < 0.05) was observed as a result of, Axtra Phy TPT and Microtech 5000 Plus having reduced residual phytase activity (P < 0.05) compared to the other 2 products when stored at 22°C, while activity of Axtra Phy TPT was reduced (P < 0.05) even further than the other 3 products when stored at 35°C regardless of form. From d 30 to 300, Axtra Phy TPT and Microtech 5000 Plus had the lowest (P < 0.05) residual phytase activity compared to the other 2 products. The VTM had decreased (P < 0.05) residual phytase activity compared to the pure product and vitamin premixes. In conclusion, phytase stored for longer than 90–120 d at 35°C or ?20°C in pure form, or when stored as a VTM premix had reduced residual phytase activity

The Effect of Live Yeast and Yeast Extracts on Growth Performance of Nursery Pigs Weaned from Sows Fed Diets with or without Yeast Additives

A total of 340 weaned pigs (241 × 600, DNA; initially 11.2 lb BW) were used in a 45-d study to evaluate previous sow treatment (control vs. yeast additives) and nursery diets with or without added yeast-based pre- and probiotics (Phileo by Lesaffre, Milwaukee, WI) on growth performance. At placement in the nursery, pigs were housed by pen based on previous sow treatment and randomly assigned to 1 of 2 dietary treatments with 5 pigs per pen and 17 replications per treatment. Treatments were arranged in a 2 × 2 factorial with main effects of sow treatment (control vs. yeast-based pre- and probiotic diet; 0.10% ActiSaf Sc 47 HR+ and 0.025% SafMannan) and nursery treatment (control vs. yeast-based pre- and probiotic diet; 0.10% ActiSaf Sc 47 HR+, 0.05% SafMannan, and 0.05% NucleoSaf from d 0 to 7, then concentrations were lowered by 50% from d 7 to 24). All pigs were fed a common diet from d 24 to 45 post-weaning. Progeny from sows fed diets with yeast additives had increased (P \u3c 0.05) ADG, ADFI, and BW from d 0 to 24 and d 0 to 45. However, pigs that were fed yeast additives in the nursery had an overall (d 0 to 45) tendency for reduced ADG (P = 0.079) and lighter ending BW (P = 0.086). In conclusion, offspring from sows fed a live yeast and yeast additives had increased ADG, ADFI, and BW. However, feeding live yeast and yeast additives only in the nursery tended to reduce ADG and ending BW

The Effect of Two Combinations of Direct Fed Microbials on Growth Performance of Nursery Pigs Weaned from Sows Fed Diets with or without Yeast Additives

A total of 330 weaned pigs (Line 241 × 600, DNA; initially 12.7 lb BW) were used in a 38-d nursery study to evaluate previous sow treatment (control vs. yeast additives) and nursery diets with different combinations of direct fed microbials (DFMs; Phileo by Lesaffre, Milwaukee, WI) on nursery pig growth performance. Pigs were placed in pens across two nursery rooms at weaning then pens were assigned to 1 of 3 dietary treatments with 6 pigs per pen and 8 to 10 replications per treatment. Treatments were arranged in a 2 × 3 factorial with main effects of sow treatment (control vs. yeast additives; 0.10% ActiSaf Sc 47 HR+ and 0.025% SafMannan) and nursery treatment (control; DFM 1, 0.05% of SafMannan from d 0 to 38 and NucleoSaf at 0.05% from d 0 to 10 and 0.025% from d 10 to 24; or DFM 2, 0.10% MicroSaf from d 0 to 38 and NucleoSaf at 0.05% from d 0 to 10 and 0.025% from d 10 to 24). Data were analyzed using linear mixed models using the nlme package of R with fixed effects of sow treatment, nursery treatment, and their interaction, and nursery room serving as the random effect. During the first ten days post-weaning, progeny of sows fed yeast additives had improved (P \u3c 0.05) ADG, ADFI, and G:F. In fact, while pigs weaned from sows fed yeast additives entered the nursery at a lighter (P \u3c 0.001) BW compared to pigs weaned from sows fed the control diet, by d 10 there was no difference (P \u3e 0.10) in BW between the two groups. Offspring from sows fed yeast additives tended to have improved (P = 0.069) overall F/G. Pigs fed DFM 2 had increased (P \u3c 0.05) ADG from d 24 to 38, and improved end of nursery BW compared to pigs fed the control diet. In conclusion, feeding yeast additives to sows had a positive impact on progeny growth in the early nursery, while the addition of DFMs in nursery diets had more impact on growth later in the nursery period

The Effect of Live Yeast and Yeast Extracts Included in Lactation Diets on Sow and Litter Performance

A total of 80 sows (Line 241; DNA Genetics) across three farrowing groups were used in a study to evaluate the effect of feeding live yeast and yeast extracts to lactating sows on sow and litter performance. Sows were blocked by BW and parity on d 110 of gestation and allotted to 1 of 2 dietary treatments. Dietary treatments consisted of a standard corn-soybean meal lactation diet or a diet that contained yeast-based preand probiotics (0.10% Actisaf Sc 47 HR+ and 0.025% SafMannan; Phileo by Lesaffre, Milwaukee, WI). Diets were fed from d 110 of gestation until weaning (approximately d 19). A tendency (P = 0.073) was observed for increased feed intake from farrowing to weaning when sows were fed a diet with yeast additives compared to the control diet. There was no evidence (P \u3e 0.10) that sow treatment influenced any other sow or litter performance criteria. In conclusion, feeding live yeast and yeast extracts tended to increase feed intake during lactation but did not influence other sow or litter performance measurements

Effect of Chromium Propionate Level and Feeding Regimen on Finishing Pig Growth Performance and Carcass Characteristics

A total of 1,206 pigs (PIC 359 × 1050; initial BW = 107.9 lb) were used in an 84-d study to evaluate the effects of added dietary chromium (Cr; KemTRACE chromium propionate, Kemin Industries Inc., Des Moines, IA) and feeding regimen on growth performance of finishing pigs housed under commercial conditions. Pigs were placed in mixed-gender pens (27 pigs per pen), blocked by BW, and randomly assigned to 1 of 3 dietary treatments (15 pens per treatment). Diets were corn-soybean meal-based with added dried distillers gains with solubles, and were fed in 4 phases. Treatments were: 1) control, no Cr in grower or finisher formulas; 2) 200 ppb of Cr fed in both grower and finisher; and 3) 200 ppb of Cr fed in grower and 100 ppb fed in finisher. The grower phase was from 108 to 202 lb and the finisher phase was 202 to 273 lb. There was no evidence (P ≥ 0.197) of treatment differences in the grower period. In the finishing period, added Cr resulted in a marginally significant increase (linear; P = 0.061) in ADG (2.03, 2.02, 2.08 ± 0.022 lb/d; 0, 100, 200 ppb added Cr, respectively) with no evidence of an effect (P ≥ 0.148) on ADFI and F/G. For the overall period, there was marginal significance that at least one treatment differed from another (P = 0.086) for ADG. When compared directly, addition of 200 ppb Cr in both grower and finisher increased (P = 0.037) ADG, compared to control with pigs fed 200 ppb added Cr fed in grower, followed by 100 ppb fed in finisher intermediate (1.97, 1.98, and 2.01 ± 0.013 lb/d; 0, 200/100, and 200/200 ppb added Cr, respectively). There was no evidence (P ≥ 0.526) of differences in overall ADFI and F/G. Percentage carcass yield was reduced (P = 0.018) in pigs fed 200 ppb added Cr for both the grower and finishing periods compared to other treatments. There was no evidence of differences (P ≥ 0.206) in HCW, loin depth, backfat, or percentage lean between treatments. In summary, adding 200 ppb of Cr in both grower and finisher formulas increased finishing ADG, led to a marginally significant improvement in overall ADG, but reduced carcass yield