Optimization of the Production Process of Soft Cheese from Camel Milk Using Linear Programming Technique

It is widely reported that processing camel milk into cheese is a difficult one. In this study, soft white cheese was prepared using conventional cheese making methodology. A three way full factorial experimental design was employed taking cheese yield, fat content, moisture content and sensory quality of cheese as response variables and Total solid of milk, fat content and amount of coagulant (each at 2 levels) as the input variables. A linear programming technique was used to optimize the manufacturing process. Experimental results showed that, the average pH value of the whole milk is determined to be 6.65, titratable acidity 0.17 and specific gravity 1.029. The chemical analyses of whole camel milk on the other hand showed that, the average value of total solid is 10.55%, fat 3.6%, protein 2.49%, ash 0.79%, and Lactose 3.64%. Finally, the optimization result suggested that soft cheese of an acceptable quality and an adjusted cheese yield of 14.57% could be produced by adjusting the fat content of camel milk to 1.82%, total solid level to 14% and using rennet powder at a ratio of 1.5mg (100g)-1. Keywords: Camel milk, Soft cheese, Coagulant, Linear programming

Optimization of the Processing Conditions of Stirred Yoghurt from Camel Milk using Linear Programming Technique

This study focuses on the optimization of the processing conditions of stirred yoghurt made from camel milk to get a yoghurt of acceptable quality. The average pH value of whole camel milk employed in this study is determined to be 6.65, titratable acidity 0.17, and specific gravity 1.029. The chemical composition of whole camel milk on the other hand showed that, the average value of total solid is 10.55%, fat 3.6%, protein 2.49%, ash 0.79% and lactose 3.64%. Stirred yoghurt from camel milk was prepared using conventional yoghurt manufacturing methodology. A three way full-factorial experimental design was conducted taking viscosity of yoghurt (rheological improvement), synersis of yoghurt, and maximum fat level of the yoghurt as response variables and total solid level of milk, fat content of milk and level of pectin as process parameters. Linear programming technique was employed for optimization. Accordingly, the result indicated that good quality of stirred yoghurt (viscosity of 3.06cP) could be produced operating at 12.16% of total solid  content, 0.9%  fat level of camel milk and using commercial stabilizer (pectin) at a ratio of 0.0015%. Keywords: Camel milk, Stirred yoghurt, Linear Programming

Ecological Benefits of Integrated Watershed Management: The Case of Sheka Watershed, Ethiopia

Watershed degradation through soil erosion is one of the main constraints for agricultural productivity. Integrated watershed management (IWSM) was taken as the basic operational unit to tackle this problem. However, its effectiveness in rehabilitation of degraded watershed was rarely evaluated. Therefore, this research was conducted in Sheka watershed, Ethiopia, with the objective of assessing impact of IWSM on selected ecological benefits. Land map units of treated and untreated sub-watersheds were prepared using Geographic Information System software. Sixteen plots with 20m x 20m were randomly formed in the land map units of the two sub-watersheds for soil and woody plants sampling. The results revealed that there were significantly higher woody plants density and diversity, total nitrogen, soil organic matter, available phosphorous and available potassium contents in the treated sub-watershed than the untreated one. Whereas, in terms of soil pH, soil texture and evenness of woody species, the two areas were not significantly different. Total nitrogen was positively and significantly correlated with soil organic matter, woody plants density and diversity. Therefore, IWSM is not only effective in restoring woody species density and diversity, but also in improving soil fertility status. Thus, it is better to introduce IWSM in to the untreated watershed. Keywords: Integrated watershed management, woody plants, treated, untreate

Comparison of the viscosity of camel milk with model milk systems in relation to their atomization properties

To correlate the viscosity of camel milk with its atomization properties, first, the viscosity profiles of camel milk are compared with model milk systems (reconstituted skimmed cow milk powder). Then, atomization experiment was conducted using model milk systems and finally, the findings of the atomization experiments were coincided with the viscosity profiles. The effect of total solids of whole (10% to 40%) and skimmed (7.5% to 30%) camel milks on its viscosity was investigated. At 30% total solids level and a temperature of 20 °C, skimmed camel milk exhibited a viscosity of 7.68 mPa.s whereas whole camel milk 8.96 mPa.s. This value is small compared to suspension of reconstituted skimmed cow milk powder, which reached up to 18.55 mPa.s and to that of suspension of whey protein concentrate (28.15 mPa.s). By raising the total solid from 20% to 30%, it was shown that, the average spray droplet size would be changed from 18.77 to 29.40 µm and the span from 1.76 to 1.55. Based on their viscosity profiles, these values would be obtained for camel milk at total solid values of 35% for whole and 38% for skimmed milks. This would allow camel milk to be concentrated to higher total solid levels than bovine milk

Integrated Control of the White Mango Scale Through Tree Management and Soil Drenching with a Systemic Insecticide in Western Ethiopia

አህፅሮት ነጭ የማንጎ ስኬል ሰይንሳዊ መጠሪያው Aulacaspis tubercularis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) ሲሆን እ.ኤ.አ. በ2010 ዓ.ም. ተከስቶ ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ የማንጎ ምርትን አደጋ ላይ የጣለ ተባይ ነው፡፡ በመላው አገሪቱ በአጭር ጊዜ ተሰራጭቶ የማንጎ ምርትና ጥራት እንዲቀንስ አድርጓል፡፡ ተባዩን ለመቆጣጠር ከሚወሰዱ ርምጃዎች ውስጥ፤ ፀረ-ተባይ መጠቀም፣የተክል አያያዝን ማሻሻልና በጥገኛ ነፍሳት በመጠቀም በሥነ-ሕይወታዊ መንገድ መቆጣጠር ይገኙበታል፡፡ በማንጎ ተክል ውስጥ ተሰራጭቶ የሚሰራ ፀረ-ተባይን በአንድ ሊትር ውሀ በጥብጦ በተክሉ ዙሪያ ማጠጣትና የማንጎን ቅርንጫፎች መግረዝ (የተክል አያያዝን መጠቀም) ነጭ የማንጎ ስኬል ተባይን ለመቆጣጠር ያለውን ፍቱንነት ለመመርመር እ.ኤ.አ. በ2018 እና 2019 ዓ.ም. በምዕራብ ኢትዮጵያ በሚገኙ ሁለት አካባቢዎች ለተከታታይ ሁለት ዓመታት የመስክ ሙከራ ተካሄዶ ነበር፡፡ ለሙከራው በሶስት ድግግሞሽ የተሰራ ራንደማይዝድ ኮምፕሊት ብሎክ የተባለ ዲዛይን ጥቅም ላይ ውሏል፡፡ በውጤቱም የተባዩ ድምር ቁጥር በሁለቱም ዓመታትና በሁለቱም አካባቢዎች ማለትም ኡኬ እና ባኮ ላይ ውጤታማ በሆነ መልኩ ሊቀንስ ችሏል፡፡ ኡኬ ላይ የማንጎ ተክል ቅርንጫፎችን መግረዝና ቲያሜቶክሳም 25በመቶ WG 18ግራም በአንድ የማንጎ ተክል ዙርያ በአንድ ሊትር ውኃ በጥብጦ መርጨት በመጀመሪያው ዓመት የመጀመሪያ ርጭት ወደ ዝቅተኛ የተባዩ ቁጥር (42.23 በቅጠል) ሲያወረደው በዚያው ዓመት ሁለተኛው ዙር ርጭት ወደ 27.83 በቅጠል አድርሶታል፡፡ ይህንኑ ፀረ-ተባይ በተመሳሳይ ሁኔታ በ12 ግራም መጠን መስጠት ደግሞ የተባዩን ቁጥር በመጀመሪያ ዙር ርጭት 86.83 በቅጠል እንዲሆን ሲያደርገው በሁለተኛው ዙር ርጭት ወደ 61.0 በቅጠል እንዲቀንስ አድርጎታል፡፡ ለማወዳደሪያ ምንም ርጭትም ሆነ መግረዝ ያልተደረገባቸው የማንጎ ተክሎች በመጀመሪያው ዙር ርጭት 334.32 ተባይ በቅጠል እንዲሁም በሁለተኛው ዙር ርጭት 591.29 ተባይ በቅጠል የሆነ ከፍተኛ ቁጥር ታይቶባቸዋል፡፡ ባኮ ላይም የተካሄደው ሙከራ ተመሳሳይ ውጤት አሳይቷል፡፡ይህ ምርምር ከላይ የተጠቀሰውን ዘዴ መጠቀም ተባዩን ለመቆጣጠር ተስፋ ሰጪ ውጤት ያስገኘ መሆኑን አመላክቷል፡፡ ይህንኑ ዘዴ ከሌሎች ማለትም ጥገኛ ነፍሳትን በመጠቀም በሥነ-ሕይወታዊ መንገድ መቆጣጠር ዘዴዎች ጋር ማቀናጀት ያለውን ጠቀሜታና ፀረ-ተባዩ በማንጎ ፍሬ ይዘት ላይ ያለውን ተፅዕኖ በቀጣይ ማጥናት ያስፈልጋል፡፡   Abstract The white mango scale insect, Aulacaspis tubercularis (Hemiptera: Diaspididae) is a recent threat to mango production in Ethiopia which was introduced in 2010. It has spread to all mango producing areas of the country within a short period of time reducing the production and quality of mangos. Control measures taken against the white mango scale include the use of chemical insecticides, cultural practices and biological control using parasitoids and predators. Field experiments were conducted in western Ethiopia in two locations for two consecutive years in 2018 and 2019 to evaluate the efficacy of integrated application of a systemic soil drenching pesticide and tree management (pruning) for the control of the white mango scale. Randomized complete block designs with three replications were used for the experiments. The total number of WMS life stages varied significantly among the different treatments throughout the two years and application seasons at both Uke and Bako sites.  At Uke Thiamethoxam 25% WG at 18g/tree + pruning treated trees showed the minimum mean number of WMS life stages per leaf (42.23) and (27.83) followed by Thiamethoxam 25% WG at 12g/tree + pruning treated trees (86.83) and (61.0) in the first and second application seasons respectively. Control trees showed the highest (334.33) and (591.29) number of WMS life stages in the first and second application seasons respectively. Similar trends were observed at Bako. The study has shown that the integrated use of the systemic soil drenching insecticide and tree management can significantly reduce the WMS life stages on infested mango trees indicating that it is a promising approach to the control of the WMS. Integration of these approaches with other management components such as biological control agents and the effect of the systemic insecticide on the content of the edible fruit deserves further study. &nbsp

Grain yield stability of soybean (Glycine Max (L.) Merrill) for different stability models across diverse environments of Ethiopia

Abstract For grain yield stability analysis, genotype by environment interactions are crucial in properly identifying and discriminating between varieties and locations. Hence, this experiment was conducted with the objectives to evaluate the stability of soybean using additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI), multi‐trait stability index (MTSI), weighted average absolute scores biplot (WAASB), Eberhart and Russell regression model, and genotype plus genotype by environment interaction (GGE) biplot analysis for grain yield of soybean genotypes and identified stable genotypes in the different soybean agroecologies of Ethiopia. Twenty‐four soybean genotypes were planted at six soybean environments with RCBD in three replications in the 2015/2016 cropping season. Stability measures, namely, AMMI, AMMI stability value, and GGE biplot analysis were used to identify the high‐yielding and stable genotypes across the testing environments. AMMI‐1 biplot showed Pawe as the ideal environment; Bako as a favorable environment; Asosa an average environment; and the rest namely, Dimtu, Jimma, and Metu as unfavorable environments. On the other hand, AMMI‐2 biplot analysis certain genotypes like Prichard, Spry, Delsoy 4710, and Croton 3.9 were identified as stable genotypes. Bako and Metu were identified as the most discriminating environments. Mega environments and the best yielding soybean genotypes on each mega environment were revealed by the GGE biplot analysis model. For other multivariate statistics used for this study, MTSI, WAASB, and regression models, stable and superior varieties for grain yield were revealed. Through the MTSI, the four genotypes, namely, Liu yue mang, SCS‐1, Clarck‐63k, and AFGAT, were found to be stable and superior over the rest tested genotypes. Overall, the genotypes SCS‐1 and AGS‐7‐1 were stable across soybean growing environments and are recommended for mega environment production

Pulmonary Kaposi Sarcoma: An Uncommon Cause of Respiratory Failure in the Era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy—Case Report and Review of the Literature

Kaposi Sarcoma (KS) is the most common malignancy associated with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and is caused by Human Herpesvirus 8 (HHV 8) or Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus (KSHV). In about 90% of cases Kaposi Sarcoma is associated with cutaneous lesions; however visceral disease can occur in the absence of cutaneous involvement. In the era of Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy (HAART), the incidence of KS has declined. Clinical features of pulmonary KS might be difficult to distinguish from pneumonia in the immunocompromised patients and could lead to diagnostic challenges. First-line treatment of KS is with HAART and the incidence has declined with its use. Systemic chemotherapy may play a role depending on the extent of the disease. We report the case of a young man who presented with pulmonary symptoms and was later found to have pulmonary KS. Interestingly this diagnosis was made in the absence of the classic skin lesions. His disease was complicated by progressive respiratory failure and he eventually died