Effect of honey and syrup diets enriched with 1,3-1,6 β-glucans on honeybee survival rate and phenoloxidase activity (Apis mellifera l. 1758)

β-glucans can activate the animal innate immune system by acting as immune-modulators and inducing various stimulatory effects. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of 1,3-1,6 β-glucans administered orally for 96 h on Apis mellifera workers (newly emerged and nurse bees). β-glucans were included in honey and syrup. Survival rate and phenoloxidase activity were measured. In both newly emerged and nurse bees, β-glucans supplementation did not affect survival rate (p > 0.05). Conversely, phenoloxidase activity was higher in both newly emerged bees (p = 0.048) and nurse bees (p = 0.014) fed with a honey diet enriched with β-glucans compared to those fed with only honey. In both the newly emerged and nurse bees, no statistical differences in phenoloxidase activity were recorded between the group fed with a syrup-based diet enriched with β-glucans and the control group (p > 0.05). The absence of significant variation in survival suggests that the potential negative effect of β-glucans in healthy bees could be mitigated by their metabolism. Conversely, the inclusion of β-glucans in a honey-based diet determined an increase of phenoloxidase activity, suggesting that the effect of β-glucan inclusion in the diet of healthy bees on phenoloxidase activity could be linked to the type of base-diet. Further investigations on β-glucans metabolism in bees, on molecular mechanism of phenoloxidase activation by 1,3-1,6 β-glucans, and relative thresholds are desirable. Moreover, investigation on the combined action of honey and β-glucans on phenoloxidase activity are needed

Quantification and characterization of the environmental impact of sea bream and sea bass production in Italy

While the production of fish from aquaculture has grown steadily over the years worldwide, some environmental concerns have emerged. In this study, the environmental impacts and main hotspots of a typical Italian sea bass and sea bream offshore farm were analysed. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology was applied with a “cradle to farm gate” perspective and 1 ton of fish at harvest size as the functional unit. The results confirm that feed is the main hotspot and contributes across impact categories always at least 60%, with the exception of marine eutrophication driven instead by nutrient emissions. In some impact categories, infrastructure and farm operations also have a relevant impact (about 30%). The impacts of this case study are slightly lower than those found in the literature, and this is mainly due to prior attention of the company to feed formulation. An alternative scenario was also explored, by reducing the amount of uningested feed, showing a reduction in the Global Warming Potential by 6% and in marine eutrophication by up to 10%. The application and evaluation of new technologies (e.g., automated feed dispenser, use of alternative cage materials) could be explored in future research

The effect of Aspergillus niger as a dietary supplement on blood parameters, intestinal morphology, and gut microflora in Haidong chicks reared in a high altitude environment

Aim: The effects of the inclusion of Aspergillus niger in the diet of Haidong chicks reared in the Qing-Zang high altitude area (China) under hypoxic conditions. Materials and Methods: A total of 720 Haidong chicks were randomly divided into six groups and fed diets supplemented with 0%, 0.5%, 0.75%, 1.0%, 1.25%, and 1.5% of A. niger to determine blood parameters, intestinal morphology, and gut microflora in Haidong chicks reared in a high altitude environment. Results: Packed cell volume (PCV), red blood cell (RBC) count, white blood cell count, and hemoglobin concentration increased in the groups fed diets containing A. niger. The administration of A. niger in 1.0% and 1.25% significantly decreased the concentration of Escherichia coli in the cecum, while the concentration of Bifidobacterium and Lactobacillus in the cecum and ileum was increased in the treated groups. When compared to the control groups, villi height, crypt depth, and goblet cell density in the intestine was raised, in general, in the groups treated with A. niger. Conclusion: These findings suggest that 1.25% A. niger as dietary supplement may improve the resistance to ascites among birds reared under hypoxic conditions

Multi-Criteria DEXi Analysis for the Selection of Crop Species for Saltwater Aquaponics

Saltwater aquaponics is a sustainable alternative system for food production. The success of this system largely depends on the selection of both fish and plant species, for which several features and criteria must be considered. This paper aims to identify the most suitable plant species for saltwater aquaponics by using a multi-criteria decision-making method also based on current literature. One simple model that contained one root criterion, four aggregated criteria, and four sub-criteria was created using DEXi software. The same model was evaluated considering two different salinity levels in the recirculating water: 10 (brackish water) and 35 (sea water) g L-1. The relevance of the model structure was evaluated by the sensitivity analysis, through the 'plus/minus-1 ' analysis. Our results suggest that Salicornia europaea L. and Portulaca oleracea L. were suitable species for saltwater aquaponics at 35 g L-1. Moreover, at 10 g L-1, the suitable candidates were: Salicornia bigelovii Torr, S. europaea L., Beta vulgaris ssp. maritima (L.) Arcang, Atriplex hortensis L., and P. oleracea L. The DEXi analysis resulted in being an easy and effective tool to select proper species in similar contexts. DEXi can help to identify the hotspots of production processes, according to our results. Since the selected species are wild edible species or minor crops, the availability of their seeds is one of the main constraints of their cultivation in saltwater aquaponics

Fishmeal replacement with hermetia illucens meal in aquafeeds: Effects on zebrafish growth performances, intestinal morphometry, and enzymology

Fishmeal (FM) is still the most important protein source in aquafeeds. However, due to the reduction of wild fish stocks used for FM production, its manufacturing it is now unsustainable. Insect meal represents a valid alternative to FM, due to the low carbon footprint of its production and its high nutritional value. The aim of this study was to investigate the potentials of replacing FM with black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) meal (HIM) in aquafeeds, using zebrafish as the animal model. Four diets were formulated with increasing HIM/FM replacement rate (the control diet contained 20% FM). Mortality rates, growth performances, and feed consumptions were measured, and fish intestine samples were collected for histological and enzymatic analysis. After 49 days, all groups almost tripled their initial body weight (cumulative body weight gain ranged between 143.9 and 155.2 mg), and no statistically significant differences among treatments were observed in relation to growth performances and histological traits. Contrarily, trypsin, alkaline phosphatases, and alpha amylase–glucoamylase activities were significantly reduced when the FM replacement rate was increased. In conclusion, HIM may represent an alternative to FM, since no adverse effects were observed when it was included up to 20% in the zebrafish diet, even when replacing 100% of the FM

Predicting WNV circulation in Italy using earth observation data and extreme gradient boosting model

West Nile Disease (WND) is one of the most spread zoonosis in Italy and Europe caused by a vector-borne virus. Its transmission cycle is well understood, with birds acting as the primary hosts and mosquito vectors transmitting the virus to other birds, while humans and horses are occasional dead-end hosts. Identifying suitable environmental conditions across large areas containing multiple species of potential hosts and vectors can be difficult. The recent and massive availability of Earth Observation data and the continuous development of innovative Machine Learning methods can contribute to automatically identify patterns in big datasets and to make highly accurate identification of areas at risk. In this paper, we investigated the West Nile Virus (WNV) circulation in relation to Land Surface Temperature, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and Surface Soil Moisture collected during the 160 days before the infection took place, with the aim of evaluating the predictive capacity of lagged remotely sensed variables in the identification of areas at risk for WNV circulation. WNV detection in mosquitoes, birds and horses in 2017, 2018 and 2019, has been collected from the National Information System for Animal Disease Notification. An Extreme Gradient Boosting model was trained with data from 2017 and 2018 and tested for the 2019 epidemic, predicting the spatio-temporal WNV circulation two weeks in advance with an overall accuracy of 0.84. This work lays the basis for a future early warning system that could alert public authorities when climatic and environmental conditions become favourable to the onset and spread of WNV

A catalog of new Blazar candidates with Open Universe by High School students

Blazars are active galactic nuclei whose ultra-relativistic jets are coaligned with the observer direction. They emit throughout the whole e.m. spectrum, from radio waves to VHE gamma rays. Not all blazars are discovered. In this work, we propose a catalog of 54 new candidates based on the association of HE gamma ray emission and radio, X-ray an optical signatures. The relevance of this work is also that it was performed by four high school students from the Liceo Scientifico Statale Ugo Morin in Venice, Italy using the open-source platform Open Universe, in collaboration with the University of Padova. The framework of the activity is the Italian MIUR PCTO programme. The success of this citizen-science experience and results are hereafter reported and discussed.Comment: Proceedings of the 12th Cosmic Ray International Symposium (CRIS 2022), 12-16 September 2022, Naples (Italy). Send correspondence to: [email protected], [email protected]

Effect of different protein sources on lamb growth and carcass characteristics

Five pelleted diets, based on barley, a roughage and five different protein sources (soybean meal solv. extd. (SBM), sunflower meal solv. extd. (SUN), sweet white lupin seeds (L), SBM/SUN, SBM/L) were investigated in a growing trial on 30 male Apennine lambs. Feeding consumption was not significantly affected by the diets however, lambs receiving the diet containing lupin, as main protein source, trended towards better feed conversion rates. Diets did not significantly affect final live weight, average daily gain, feed conversion rate and protein efficiency ratio (PER); also these parameters appeared slightly better in the lambs receiving the diet containing lupin, as main protein source. There were no significant differences in slaughtering animal performances among the diets. Results obtained indicate that sweet white lupine and sunflower meal can replace soybean meal as protein supplement