Optimizing the technique for replacement of unicellular algae with agricultural by-products in feeding Artemia urmiana and parthenogenetic Artemia

In order to assess the maximum replacement possibility of unicellular green algae with cheap food sources for feeding Artemia, two strains of Artemia urmiana and parthenogenetic Artemia were fed under laboratory condition using wheat bran, soybean meal and 50/50% mixed diet of wheat bran/soybean, each in 12 different concentrations together with different rations of Dunaliella salina for 15 days. The results were compared with those fed only on algae D. salina as control group. At the end of the experiment, control groups in each two strains (with 9.11mm growth and 86.25% survival in A. urmiana and 8.55mm growth and 85% survival in parthenogenetic Artemia) had almost the best condition. In A. urmiana treatments 95.8-88% replacement for algae of wheat bran, treatment 94% replacement for algae of soybean and treatments 97-94% replacement for algae of mixed wheat bran/ soybean showed no significant differences with control in both growth and survival. In parthenogenetic Artemia treatments 94-82% replacement for algae of wheat bran, treatments 91-88% replacement for algae of soybean and treatments 91-82% replacement for algae of mixed wheat bran/soybean showed no significant differences with their control in both growth and survival. According to the results, it seems that single-cell algae and their production requires exorbitant spending and personnel which can be replaced with easily affordable agricultural wastes, without need to specialized staff

Comparison of the growth, survival and nutritional value of Artemia using various agricultural by-products and unicellular algae Dunaliella salina

Because of limitations of production of unicellular green algae (especially in large volumes), this study aimed to culture Artemia using three sources of cheap agricultural by-products that were coupled with small amounts of unicellular algae Dunaliella salina. The results of growth and survival, biomass production, individual wet weight, wet and ash percent, FCR and SGR and nutritional value of experiments groups were compared with that of the control group that was reared on a diet completely consisting of green algae. At the end of day 15, although best results in the case of growth and survival and biomass production were obtained in the control, the results of all evaluated parameters experimental treatments were comparable to the control

Multimeric recombinant M2e protein-based ELISA: A significant improvement in differentiating avian influenza infected chickens from vaccinated ones

Killed avian influenza virus (AIV) vaccines have been used to control H5N1 infections in countries where the virus is endemic. Distinguishing vaccinated from naturally infected birds (DIVA) in such situations however, has become a major challenge. Recently, we introduced the recombinant ectodomain of the M2 protein (M2e) of H5N1 subtype as a novel tool for an ELISA based DIVA test. Despite being antigenic in natural infection the monomer form of the M2e used in ELISA had limited antigenicity and consequently poor diagnostic capability. To address this shortcoming, we evaluated the use of four tandem copies of M2e (tM2e) for increased efficiency of M2e antibody detection. The tM2e gene of H5N1 strain from Indonesia (A/Indonesia/CDC540/2006) was cloned into a pMAL- p4x expression vector and expressed in E.coli as a recombinant tM2e-MBP or M2e-MBP proteins. Both of these, M2e and tM2e antigens reacted with sera obtained from chickens following live H5N1 infection but not with sera from vaccinated birds. A significantly stronger M2e antibody reaction was observed with the tM2e compared to M2e antigen. Western blotting also supported the superiority of tM2e over M2e in detection of specific M2e antibodies against live H5N1 infection. Results from this study demonstrate that M2e tetramer is a better antigen than single M2e and could be more suitable for an ELISA based DIVA test.Farshid Hadifar, Jagoda Ignjatovic, Simson Tarigan, Risa Indriani, Esmaeil Ebrahimie, Noor Haliza Hasan, Andrea McWhorter, Sophie Putland, Abdulghaffar Ownagh, Farhid Hemmatzade

Slaughterhouse Wastewater Treatment by Combined Chemical Coagulation and Electrocoagulation Process

Slaughterhouse wastewater contains various and high amounts of organic matter (e.g., proteins, blood, fat and lard). In order to produce an effluent suitable for stream discharge, chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation techniques have been particularly explored at the laboratory pilot scale for organic compounds removal from slaughterhouse effluent. The purpose of this work was to investigate the feasibility of treating cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater by combined chemical coagulation and electrocoagulation process to achieve the required standards. The influence of the operating variables such as coagulant dose, electrical potential and reaction time on the removal efficiencies of major pollutants was determined. The rate of removal of pollutants linearly increased with increasing doses of PACl and applied voltage. COD and BOD5 removal of more than 99% was obtained by adding 100 mg/L PACl and applied voltage 40 V. The experiments demonstrated the effectiveness of chemical and electrochemical techniques for the treatment of slaughterhouse wastewaters. Consequently, combined processes are inferred to be superior to electrocoagulation alone for the removal of both organic and inorganic compounds from cattle-slaughterhouse wastewater