Determination of in vitro rumen digestibility and potential feed value of tiger nut varieties

Tiger nut (Cyperus esculentus L.), or chufa, is a plant that is found in nature and is cultivated for its edible tubers. The purpose of this study was to determine the chemical composition, nutritive value, and in vitro digestibility of three tiger nut varieties using the in vitro gas production technique. These varieties were Sarışeker (yellow), Introduction 1, and Balyumru (brown). Rumen fluid was obtained from two cannulated Holstein animals. Time-dependent in vitro gas production was monitored at 3, 6, 9, 12, 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours of incubation. The varieties differed in dry matter (DM), crude ash (CA), ether extract (EE), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), and non-fibre carbohydrate (NFC) content (P <0.05). They also differed in the instantaneous volume of gas produced and in time-dependent gas production. Balyumru produced more gas at the onset of incubation than Introduction 1 and Sarışeker. However, over time, the gas produced by digestion of Introduction 1 exceeded the other two varieties. The amounts of gas produced at each time-point were intercorrelated. It is recommended that these results should lead to further evaluation in in vivo studies. Keywords: chemical composition, energy content, in vitro gas productio

HUNGARİAN VETCH (VİCİA PANNONİCA) AND TRİTİCALE (XTRİTİCOSECALE WİTTMACK) SİLAGES, SOWED İN DİFFERENT SEED RATES, TREATED WİTH LACTİC ACİD BACTERİA + ENZYME MİXTURE INOCULANT: I. CHEMİCAL COMPOSİTİON AND SİLAGE FLEİG SCORE

In this study, the effects of LAB+Enzyme inoculant (Sil All4x4, Altec, UK) added to triticale (T) and hungarian vetch (HV) silages planted at different seed rates (HV, 75:25 HVT, 50:50 HVT, 25:75 HVT and T) on the chemical composition and some silage properties were investigated. The research was carried out Gaziosmanpaşa University Agricultural Application and Research Center during the 2015-2016 vegetation period. Field experiment was designed as randomized block design with 3 replicates. The species and mixtures were harvested during the flowering period of the triticale. The crude protein concentration of experimental groups were 13.60%, 7.09%, 7.36%, 8.54% and 9.59% respectively. Besides, Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) + enzyme reduced crude protein and pH levels in silages. However, silage pH did not change among the experimental groups. But LAB+E application significantly reduced the pH level of silage(P<0.001). The addition of LAB+Enzym to pure and mixed silages reduced pH, organic matter, crude protein, but increased NDF, crude ash and Fleig score. Also, the highest NEL value was obtained from 25HV+75T group. As a result, microbial and enzym silage additives have positive effects on the fermentation properties of silage As a result; by sowing hungarian vetch and triticale in a mixture; In terms of silage properties; gave better results than pure cultivation. © 2022, Pakistan Agricultural Scientists Forum. All rights reserved.This work is part of the scientific research project (2015/121) financially supported by Gaziosmanpasa Üniversty. We express our sincerest gratitude to them for their support

Applicability of the Magnetic Barkhausen Noise Method for Nondestructive Measurement of Residual Stresses in the Carburized and Tempered 19CrNi5H Steels

There exist no materials and/or structures of technical importance without residual stresses. The residual stress management concept has gained importance in industrial applications aiming to improve service performance and useful life of the product. Thus, the industry requests rapid, reliable, and nondestructive methods to determine residual stress state. The aim of this article is to investigate the applicability of the Magnetic Barkhausen Noise (MBN) method to measurement of surface residual stresses in the carburized steels. To comprehend the differences in the surface residual stress state, 19CrNi5H steel samples were carburized at 900 degrees C for 8 and 13 hours, and then, tempered in the range of 180 degrees C and 600 degrees C. The MBN measurement results were correlated with those obtained by the X-ray diffraction (XRD) measurements. Microstructural investigations and hardness measurements were also conducted. For this particular study, it was concluded that both techniques give similar qualitative results for monitoring of the residual stress variations in the carburized and tempered steels. Since the MBN method is much faster than the XRD method, from the industrial point of view it is a very strong candidate for qualitative monitoring of residual stress variations. With an appropriate pre-calibration by considering the effect of microstructure, the MBN method may give reliable quantitative results for residual stress

The effect of Ramadan fasting during pregnancy on perinatal outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract Background Although exempt, many pregnant Muslim women partake in the daily fast during daylight hours during the month of Ramadan. In other contexts an impoverished diet during pregnancy impacts on birth weight. The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether Ramadan fasting by pregnant women affects perinatal outcomes. Primary outcomes investigated were perinatal mortality, preterm birth and small for gestational age (SGA) infants. Secondary outcomes investigated were stillbirth, neonatal death, maternal death, hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, gestational diabetes, congenital abnormalities, serious neonatal morbidity, birth weight, preterm birth and placental weight. Methods Systematic review and meta-analysis of observational studies and randomised controlled trials was conducted in EMBASE, MEDLINE, CINAHL, Web of Science, Google Scholar, the Health Management Information Consortium and Applied Social Sciences Index and Abstracts. Studies from any year were eligible. Studies reporting predefined perinatal outcomes in pregnancies exposed to Ramadan fasting were included. Cohort studies with no comparator group or that considered fasting outside pregnancy were excluded, as were studies assuming fasting practice based solely upon family name. Quality of included studies was assessed using the ROBINS-I tool for assessing risk of bias in non-randomised studies. Analyses were performed in STATA. Results From 375 records, 22 studies of 31,374 pregnancies were included, of which 18,920 pregnancies were exposed to Ramadan fasting. Birth weight was reported in 21 studies and was not affected by maternal fasting (standardised mean difference [SMD] 0.03, 95% CI 0.00 to 0.05). Placental weight was significantly lower in fasting mothers (SMD -0.94, 95% CI -0.97 to  -0.90), although this observation was dominated by a single large study. No data were presented for perinatal mortality. Ramadan fasting had no effect on preterm delivery (odds ratio 0.99, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.37) based on 5600 pregnancies (1193 exposed to Ramadan fasting). Conclusions Ramadan fasting does not adversely affect birth weight although there is insufficient evidence regarding potential effects on other perinatal outcomes. Further studies are needed to accurately determine whether Ramadan fasting is associated with adverse maternal or neonatal outcome