Effect of Supplementation of Different Concentrate Rations on Weight Gain, Milk Yield, and Composition of Cross Bred Buffalo Cows

A field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effect of three concentrate supplements with different metabolizable energy (ME) levels on weight gain, milk yield and composition in milking buffalos. Sixteen Murrah × non-descriptive crossed bred milking cows (720±50kg) were used. Animals in treatment 1 (T1) were fed only with forages while animals in other three treatments were given 90% forages +10 % concentrate. The three treatments were Commercial concentrate feed (T2) (ME (Kcal/kg): 2500 ±0.75), farm made concentrate feed (T3) (ME (Kcal/kg): 2733.25±2.32) and experimental feed (T4) (ME (Kcal/kg): 2933.03±2.15). Experimental design was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with four treatments and four replicates. Forage intake was reduced, when feeding concentrate rations with high energy and CP, recording highest reduction with T4 followed by T3 and T2. Significant enhancement (P0.05) and also highest values of weight gain, milk yield, fat, protein, and solid non-fat were observed with T4. Conclusion can be drawn that, higher milk yield with better composition could be obtained by feeding high energy rations formulated with low cost, locally available ingredients

Conversion of ergosterol in edible mushrooms to vitamin D2 by UV irradiation

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Compassionate conservation and elephant personhood

Baker and Winkler (2020) advocate a rehabilitation program that would end the oppression of elephants — not by severing human-elephant relations, but by enabling human-bonded elephants to live a full life. We consider this program within a compassionate conservation framework, which recognises all sentient beings as persons. From this vantage point, we gaze further into the future to ask what direction just human-elephant relations could take: What could emerge from a human-elephant relation once elephants are no longer enslaved and requiring rescue? We envisage a future — beyond captivity and rewilding — of elephant sovereignty

Compassionate conservation and elephant personhood

Baker and Winkler (2020) advocate a rehabilitation program that would end the oppression of elephants — not by severing human-elephant relations, but by enabling human-bonded elephants to live a full life. We consider this program within a compassionate conservation framework, which recognises all sentient beings as persons. From this vantage point, we gaze further into the future to ask what direction just human-elephant relations could take: What could emerge from a human-elephant relation once elephants are no longer enslaved and requiring rescue? We envisage a future — beyond captivity and rewilding — of elephant sovereignty

ASSOCIATION BETWEEN AMBIENT AIR POLLUTION AND ACUTE CHILD-HOOD WHEEZY EPISODES IN COLOMBO

ThIS study analyses the air pollution data from the continuous. fully aurom.ucd. .uubrcnt ,\II'quality monitoring station operated at Colombo Fort and the records of dally uuc ndancc. atthe Colombo Lady Ridgeway Children Hospital (LRH), lor episodes ()I severe wheelingwhich required nebulizer therapy as an immediate treatment over a period oj (Jill' vcai from1" July yg to 30'h June yyDaily lIlaXII1ILlln one-hour averages of Sulphur Dioxide (S02) and Oxides of Nitrogen (NO,)have been used as the indicator parameters for air pollution. It was observed that thechanging pattern of both pollutants is consistent (r > 0,6) throughout the period of the study,It wa- also observed that the incidence of the daily nebulization rate and daily maximumone-hour ambient sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen were normally disnihutcd over thestudy period.In this study. the date of occurrence of the maximum and the minimum air polluuon levelsderived from daily maxima of Sulphur Dioxide (S02) and Oxides of Nitrogen (NO,) in eachweek (from Sunday to Saturday) were compared with those of daily attendance with acutewheeling at the LRH.Out of fifty one (51) weeks, the occurrence of the highest nebulization at the highestpolluted day (with respect to sulphur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen) and the lowestnebulization at the lowest polluted day in each week throughout the year was highlysigni Iicaru (binonual test. p=O,(5).This study clearly indicates that there is a strong association between ambient air pollution(with respect to Sulphur Dioxide and Oxides of Nitrogen) and acute child hood wheezingepisodes. 111 Colombo.

Automated acoustic detection of Geoffroy's spider monkey highlights tipping points of human disturbance

As more land is altered by human activity and more species become at risk of extinction, it is essential that we understand the requirements for conserving threatened species across human-modified landscapes. Owing to their rarity and often sparse distributions, threatened species can be difficult to study and efficient methods to sample them across wide temporal and spatial scales have been lacking. Passive acoustic monitoring (PAM) is increasingly recognized as an efficient method for collecting data on vocal species; however, the development of automated species detectors required to analyse large amounts of acoustic data is not keeping pace. Here, we collected 35 805 h of acoustic data across 341 sites in a region over 1000 km2 to show that PAM, together with a newly developed automated detector, is able to successfully detect the endangered Geoffroy's spider monkey (Ateles geoffroyi), allowing us to show that Geoffroy's spider monkey was absent below a threshold of 80% forest cover and within 1 km of primary paved roads and occurred equally in old growth and secondary forests. We discuss how this methodology circumvents many of the existing issues in traditional sampling methods and can be highly successful in the study of vocally rare or threatened species. Our results provide tools and knowledge for setting targets and developing conservation strategies for the protection of Geoffroy's spider monkey

Acute postprandial gut hormone, leptin, glucose and insulin responses to resistant starch in obese children: a single blind crossover study

Introduction: Resistant starch (RS) has beneficial effects on postprandial glucose metabolism in both animals and adults. Hitherto, there have been no studies in children of the acute metabolic and hormonal effects of RS-containing meals. Objectives: We aimed to compare serial plasma glucose, insulin, gut hormone, leptin profiles and satiety scores in obese children after meals containing variable amounts of RS. Methods: This was a single blind, non-randomised, crossover study of 20 obese children aged 10–14 years old without comorbidities. Three test meals containing rice (M1), rice cooked with coconut oil (M2), rice cooked in coconut oil with lentils (M3) were given in sequence after a 12-hour fast . Blood samples were analysed for glucose (PG), insulin, leptin, glucagon-like polypeptide (GLP) 1, ghrelin and peptide YY (PYY) at appropriate times between 0 and 180 min. Results: Meal M2 resulted in significantly lower postprandial glucose values compared with meal M1 (maximal incremental glucose, ∆Cmax, p<0.05; area under the curve, ∆AUC0–3, p<0.01) and meal M3 (maximal concentration, Cmax, p<0.01; ∆Cmax, p<0.001, and ∆AUC0–3p<0.01). M2 also produced lower insulin values compared with M1 (p<0.05). Postprandial ghrelin was significantly higher after M1 compared with M3 (p<0.05). PYY, GLP1 and median satiety scores were not significantly different between the three meals. Conclusion: This study shows that M2, the meal containing RS alone, induced beneficial effects on acute postprandial glucose, insulin and ghrelin concentrations in obese children without diabetes. Acute postprandial satiety scores were not significantly affected by the three meals. Trial registration number: SLCTR/2020/007

Effect of gamma and electron beam irradiation on the physico-chemical and nutritional properties of mushrooms: a review

The short shelf-life of mushrooms is an obstacle to the distribution and marketing of the fresh product. Thus, prolonging postharvest storage, while preserving their quality, would benefit the mushroom industry as well as consumers. There has been extensive research on finding the most appropriate technology for mushrooms preservation. Gamma, electron-beam and UV irradiation have been shown to be potential tools in extending the postharvest shelf-life of fresh mushrooms. Studies evaluating the effects of ionizing radiation are available mainly in cultivated species such as Agaricus bisporus, Lentinus edodes and Pleurotus ostreatus. This review comprises a comprehensive study of the effects of irradiation on physico-chemical parameters (weight, colour, texture and pH), chemical compounds including nutrients (proteins, sugars and vitamins) and non-nutrients (phenolics, flavonoids and flavour compounds), and on biochemical parameters such as enzymatic activity of mushrooms for different species and from different regions of the world.The authors are grateful to the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT, Portugal) for financial support to the research centers CIMO (PEst-OE/AGR/UI0690/2011) and REQUIMTE (PEst-C/EQB/ LA0006/2011). A.S. Fernandes and A.L. Antonio thank FCT, POPHQREN and FSE for their Grants (SFRH/BD/76019/2011 and SFRH/ PROTEC/67398/2010, respectively)

Non-cationic proteins are associated with HIV neutralizing activity in genital secretions of female sex workers.

CAPRISA, 2015.Abstract available in pdf