Growth Performance and Carcass Evaluation of Quails Fed Graded Levels of Water Soaked Sweet Orange Peel Meal (SOPM)

An experiment was carried out at Plateau State College of Agriculture Garkawa Poultry unit to investigate the effect of inclusion levels on performance and carcass characteristics of Japanese quails  feds water soaked sweet orange peel meal (SOPM). Two hundred and sixteen (216) two weeks old Japanese quails were randomly allocated to six dietary treatments of thirty six quails each in three replicates of twelve quails in a completely randomized design. Inclusion levels of water soaked SOPM were 0, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25% and were used to replace maize. Body weights were taken weekly. The results showed that water soaking significantly (p<0.05) reduced the mean final body weight gain  for 10 -25% inclusion levels and feed conversion ratio for the same treatments were higher than the control diet and 5% inclusion level. There were no significant differences for initial live weight and feed intake. Carcass result differed (P<0.05) significantly for final live weight, bled weight and kidney for internal organs among treatments while other parts did not differ (p>0.05) significantly. It was concluded that 5% water soaked SOPM can be recommended in Japanese quail diets. Key Words: Sweet orange peel meal, Water soaking, Growth performance, Carcass characteristics, Japanese quai

Physicochemical Assessment of Ground Water Quality from Borehole and Hand Dug Wells around Obajana Community, Lokoja, Kogi State, Nigeria

The groundwater qualities of Obajana in Kogi State were determined. The study consisted of the determination of some heavy metals and physicochemical properties of drinking water samples. The samples were analyzed for the following parameters iron, copper, manganese, zinc, lead,using AAS Varian AA240FS. Nitrates, sulphate, phosphate, colour, dissolved solids, electrical conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen (DO), biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), temperature, turbidity, total hardness and total alkalinity using standard method. The data showed the variation of the investigated parameters in samples as follows: temperature 26-30oC,  pH 5.53-7.89, electrical conductivity (EC) 6.210-339.670 μS/cm, total hardness 50.00- 424.20 mg/l, alkalinity 1.10-145.67mg/l, turbidity 0.00-34 FTU, colour 5-15TCU, phosphate 0.02-0.760 mg/l, nitrate 10.24-48.20mg/l, sulphate  24.70-222.13mg/l, dissolved oxygen 0.2-1.8 mg/l,  BOD 0.2-1.0mg/l, COD 1.1-3.2mg/l, Cu 0.00.1-0.10mg/l , Fe 0.01-0.060mg/l, Zn 0.029-5.046mg/l, Mn  0.0-0.44mg/l and Pb 0.0348-1.046mg/l. The concentrations of some of the investigated parameters in the drinking water samples from the research region were above the permissible limits of the World Health Organization standard for drinking water quality guidelines. lead was found to exceed 0.01mg/l which is the WHO maximum limit, also zinc and manganese were found to exceed the WHO maximum limit of 3.0mg/l and 0.1mg/l

Health and nutrition claims for infant formula: international cross sectional survey

OBJECTIVES To review available health and nutrition claims for infant formula products in multiple countries and to evaluate the validity of the evidence used for substantiation of claims. DESIGN International cross sectional survey. SETTING Public facing and healthcare professional facing company owned or company managed formula industry websites providing information about products marketed for healthy infants delivered at full term in 15 countries: Australia, Canada, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States in 2020-22. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES Number and type of claims made for each product and ingredient. References cited were reviewed and risk of bias was assessed for registered clinical trials using the Cochrane risk of bias tool, and for systematic reviews using the Risk Of Bias in Systematic reviews tool. RESULTS 757 infant formula products were identified, each with a median of two claims (range from 1 (Australia) to 4 (US)), and 31 types of claims across all products. Of 608 products with >= 1 claims, the most common claim types were "helps/supports development of brain and/or eyes and/or nervous system" (323 (53%) products, 13 ingredients), "strengthens/ supports a healthy immune system" (239 (39%) products, 12 ingredients), and "helps/supports growth and development" (224 (37%) products, 20 ingredients). 41 groups of ingredients were associated with >= 1claims, but many claims were made without reference to a specific ingredient (307 (50%) products). The most common groups of ingredients cited in claims were long chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (278 (46%) products, 9 different claims); prebiotics, probiotics, or synbiotics (225 (37%) products, 19 claims); and hydrolysed protein (120 (20%) products, 9 claims). 161/608 (26%) products with >= 1 claims provided a scientific reference to support the claim-266 unique references were cited for 24 different claim types for 161 products. The reference types most frequently cited were clinical trials (50%, 134/266) and reviews (20%, 52/266). 28% (38/134) of referenced clinical trials were registered, 14% (19/134) prospectively. 58 claims referred to 32 registered clinical trials, of which 51 claims (27 trials) related to a randomised comparison. 46 of 51 claims (90%) referenced registered clinical trial outcomes at high risk of bias, and all cited systematic reviews and pooled analyses, carried a high risk of bias. CONCLUSIONS Most infant formula products had at least one health and nutrition claim. Multiple ingredients were claimed to achieve similar health or nutrition effects, multiple claims were made for the same ingredient type, most products did not provide scientific references to support claims, and referenced claims were not supported by robust clinical trial evidence

An approach based on nematode descriptors for the classification of ecological quality (EcoQ) of the Malaysian coasts

Free-living marine nematodes were employed in ecological studies and were proven to be suitable bioindicators of pollution-induced effects on the benthic domain. This study represents the first attempt to use nematode descriptors in order to assign ecological quality (EcoQ) status to areas along the Sarawak coasts, thus integrating the methods actually applied by the Department of Environment (DOE). Three nematode parameters, i.e. colonizer–persister percentage, maturity index (MI), and Shannon diversity index (Hˈ), were used, as they are recognized as the best descriptors of EcoQ status in coastal habitats. The thresholds applied to the nematode parameters for the Sarawak study sites showed predominantly moderate and bad EcoQ status, with the exception of the Similajau site, which being close to a national park was found to have good EcoQ. The sites with the worst EcoQ were characterized by low salinity values, suggesting riverine inflows as a primary source of pollution, likely from the discharge of untreated wastes. This was confirmed by both the Hˈ and MI indices, which showed a close positive relation with salinity. Results obtained for the Niah site may suggest that “traces” of pollution were left in the nematode assemblages that could not be detected from other parameters of the water column. This investigation shows that analysis of nematode descriptors could be effectively applied to ecological assessment criteria within environmental policies of rapid growth countries such as Malaysia. Furthermore, it certainly suggests the need for management and conservation actions in the Sarawak coasts aimed at more sustainable use of the marine resources to prevent the loss of biodiversity