Anaerobic ensiling of raw agricultural waste with a fibrolytic enzyme cocktail as a cleaner and sustainable biological product

The increasing expansion of agricultural activities have resulted in an unending production of agricultural waste which constitutes environmental nuisance, if not properly disposed. In most developing countries, this waste is burnt causing environmental problems and health challenges. The utilization of biodegraded ensiled agricultural waste, as an energy source, in livestock nutrition is proposed as a viable solution of reducing pollution. Agricultural waste such as straws is carbohydrate-rich materials that have a large potential as a dietary energy source for ruminants. This study aimed to determine the effect of anaerobic ensiling of raw agricultural waste with a fibrolytic enzyme cocktail as a cleaner and sustainable biological product for animal feed. Ten samples of 1 kg each of wheat straw, corn stalks and sugarcane bagasse were ensiled with enzyme cocktail at 0, 1 or 3 mL/kg dry matter of feed. Before ensiling, feed samples were chopped at 5 cm and moistened to a relative humidity of approximately 50% and then kept for 30 d in plastic bales. Feed type enzyme level interactions were observed (P < 0.01) for nutrient contents and fermentation kinetics. Increasing the level of enzyme cocktail increased (P < 0.01) crude protein and ether extract contents but decreased organic matter and non-structural carbohydrates contents of the three feeds. The enzyme cocktail also decreased (P < 0.01) neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, cellulose and hemicellulose contents of corn stalks and sugarcane bagasse. The high level of the enzyme cocktail increased (P < 0.05) methane production from corn stalks but decreased it from sugarcane bagasse. Fermentation parameters response to ensiling differed among the ensiled feeds. It can be concluded that anaerobic fermentation of enzyme-treated agricultural waste and feeding it to livestock is one of the viable ways of utilizing this waste which otherwise could have constituted nuisance and pollution to the environment, if incinerated or improperly disposed

Influence of Insoluble Dietary Fibre on Expression of Pro-Inflammatory Marker Genes in Caecum, Ileal Morphology, Performance, and Foot Pad Dermatitis in Broiler

In a low-fibre diet destined for broilers, the effects of two lignocellulose products and soybean hulls were evaluated regarding their effect on ileal morphometric parameters, caecal gene expression, foot pad dermatitis, and performance. A total of 5040-day-old broilers (Ross 308) were allotted to four treatments and fattened for 36 days applying a three-phase feeding program. The control diet consisted of corn, wheat, and soybean meal. Experimental diets were supplemented with 0.8% lignocellulose product 1, 0.8% lignocellulose product 2, or 1.6% soybean hulls. Tissue samples for caecal expression of inflammation-related genes and ileal morphometries were collected on day 21. Gizzard pH and weights were recorded, and foot pad scores were evaluated at day of slaughter (day 36). In starter (day 1–10) and finisher phase (day 28–36), no effect on the performance was observed. In grower phase (day 11–27), fibre-supplemented diets showed significantly heavier body weights and daily weight gains (p < 0.05). Daily feed intake, feed conversion ratio, and gene expression analysis were unaffected by dietary fibre supplementation. Positive effects regarding ileal morphometrics (higher villi) and foot pad health occurred in fibre-supplemented diets. In conclusion, fibre supplementation improved performance in grower phase and showed beneficial effects regarding ileal morphology and foot pad dermatitis

Assimilation of crowd-sourced surface observations over Germany in a regional weather prediction system

Near-surface temperature and humidity observations over Germany, comingon the one hand from the citizen weather station’s network Netatmo and onthe other hand from synoptic weather stations, were assimilated into the lim-ited are mode of the Icosahedral Nonhydrostatic Model with 2-km resolution(ICON-D2). For that we use the Kilometre-Scale Ensemble Data Assimilation(KENDA) system and a bias-correction approach that improves the assimila-tion of the observations by taking into account the diurnal cycle of temperatureand humidity variables. Our results show that the assimilation of bias-correctedobservations from Netatmo stations reduces the forecast error considerably;meanwhile, the assimilation of Netatmo observations without bias correctionleads to a strong warm bias with a negative impact on forecast performance.In contrast, for the assimilation of synoptic observations the usage of ourbias-correction approach does not lead to any significant decrease in the fore-cast error, yet reduces the bias for the diurnal cycle of synoptic stations. Overall,it can be concluded that the forecast quality can gain from assimilating Netatmodata, provided an effective bias-correction approach is applied

Extracts Prepared from Feed Supplements Containing Wood Lignans Improve Intestinal Health by Strengthening Barrier Integrity and Reducing Inflammation

Lignans are known to exhibit a broad spectrum of biological activities, indicating their potential as constituents of feed supplements. This study investigated two extracts derived from the feed supplements &lsquo;ROI&rsquo; and &lsquo;Protect&rsquo;&mdash;which contain the wood lignans magnolol and honokiol (&lsquo;ROI&rsquo;), or soluble tannins additional to the aforementioned lignans (&lsquo;Protect&rsquo;)&mdash;and their impact on selected parameters of intestinal functionality. The antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties of the extracts were determined by measuring their effects on reactive oxygen species (ROS) and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in vitro. The impact on intestinal barrier integrity was evaluated in Caco-2 cells and Drosophila melanogaster by examining leaky gut formation. Furthermore, a feeding trial using infected piglets was conducted to study the impact on the levels of superoxide dismutase, glutathione and lipid peroxidation. The Protect extract lowered ROS production in Caco-2 cells and reversed the stress-induced weakening of barrier integrity. The ROI extract inhibited the expression or secretion of interleukin-8 (IL-8), interleukin-6 (IL-6), interleukin-1&beta; (IL-1&beta;) and tumor necrosis factor &alpha; (TNF&alpha;). Moreover, the ROI extract decreased leaky gut formation and mortality rates in Drosophila melanogaster. Dietary supplementation with Protect improved the antioxidant status and barrier integrity of the intestines of infected piglets. In conclusion, wood lignan-enriched feed supplements are valuable tools that support intestinal health by exerting antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and barrier-strengthening effects

Assimilating synthetic land surface temperature in a coupled land–atmosphere model

A realistic simulation of the atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) depends on an accurate representation of the land–atmosphere coupling. Land surface temperature (LST) plays an important role in this context and the assimilation of LST can lead to improved estimates of the boundary layer and its processes. We assimilated synthetic satellite LST retrievals derived from a nature run as truth into a fully coupled, state‐of‐the‐art land–atmosphere numeric weather prediction model. As assimilation system a local ensemble transform Kalman filter was used and the control vector was augmented by the soil temperature and humidity. To evaluate the concept of the augmented control vector, two‐day case‐studies with different control vector settings were conducted for clear‐sky periods in March and August 2017. These experiments with hourly LST assimilation were validated against the nature run and overall, the RMSE of atmospheric and soil temperature of the first‐guess (and analysis) were reduced. The temperature estimate of the ABL was particularly improved during daytime as was the estimate of the soil temperature during the whole diurnal cycle. The best impact of LST assimilation on the soil and the ABL was achieved with the augmented control vector. Through the coupling between the soil and the atmosphere, the assimilation of LST can have a positive impact on the temperature forecast of the ABL even after 15 hr because of the memory of the soil. These encouraging results motivate further work towards the assimilation of real satellite LST retrievals