Branched Chain Amino Acids: Requirements and Antagonism in the Male Broiler Chick

Experiments were conducted to study the effect of feeding the branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), leucine (Leu), isoleucine (Ile) and valine (Val) to 7-21 day old male broiler chicks. Using the central composite rotatable design, the results of response surface regression analysis showed that optimum body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion values (FC) would be obtained with dietary levels of 1.16, 0.81 and 0.90% for Leu, Ile and Val respectively. Chicks fed a Val deficient diet ad libitum exhibited a ricket-like condition which was characterized by a low Ca content in the bone. The value was 134 as compared to 156 and 172 mg/g dry bone for chicks fed a diet deficient in the three BCAAs and a Val supplemented diet respectively. similar results were obtained when equal amounts of the three diets were given to the birds by using pair feeding and force feeding techniques. Although birds fed the Val deficient diet and those pair fed the BCAA deficient diet had similar BWG, bone measurements (bone ash, dry bone, and bone Ca) were significantly lower (p < 0.05) for the Val deficient group. Serum ca (mg/dl) was not significantly different. Excretion of urinary ca, however, was enhanced by feeding a Val deficient diet as compared to the Val supplemented treatment suggesting that a proper ratio of the BCAAs may be required to form the bone matrix which serves as a base for mineral deposition. Feeding a Val deficient diet significantly (p < 0.05) lowered the protein content of the feathers. The value was 82.7% as compared to 85.0 and 88.0% for all BCAA deficient and Val supplemented diets respectively. Valine deficiency also changed the pattern of feather amino acids by increasing the levels of aspartic acid, glutamic acid, methionine, tyrosine, histidine and lysine. Cysteine level, however, was decreased. High dietary Leu(≥ 3.0%) depressed BWG and FC of ad libitum fed birds. When Ile and Val were simultaneously added to the diet the growth rate and FC were similar to the controls. The ketogenic property of Leu was tested by measuring β-OH-butyrate level in the plasma (mg/1) and found to be nonsignificant

Electronically reconfigurable parasitic antenna array for pattern selectivity

Antenna arrays are commonly used to achieve high gains and beam steering, but they require complex feeding networks. For applications demanding moderate antenna gains (≃6 dB) and planar radiating structures, printed Yagi-Uda antennas can offer many advantages, but clearly, they cannot cover the whole azimuth plane. A symmetric structure made of two Yagi-Uda antennas with two active elements, a shared reflector and two directors of variable length is here presented and demonstrated to have switched beams that cover all the azimuth plane. By lengthening the physical lengths of the directors, they turn to act as reflectors: as a result, this antenna system has the ability to switch between broadside, bidirectional end-fire and two opposite end-fire patterns. The feeding is provided by a balanced parallel strip-slot line without the need for a balun section and thus reducing the overall size of the antenna. A modified design is also presented, obtained by adding a reflector board which allows for higher gains and focused radiation reconfigurability in the half-space. Simulated and measured results of both designs are reported showing good agreement. The antenna has a compact size, wideband characteristics and directive pattern reconfigurability

Early sowing and irrigation to increase barley yields and water use efficiency in Mediterranean conditions

In rainfed Mediterranean areas, early sowings which lead to early growth and maturity to escape terminal heat and drought usually give higher grain yield than late sowings in years when rains come early. We test the hypothesis that early sowing coupled with a small amount of irrigation to ensure earlier emergence increases grain yield significantly, while improving irrigation water productivity. Replicated field experiments were conducted for 4 years in the semi-arid central Bekaa Valley of Lebanon. Barley was sown early, and half of the plots were irrigated with 25-30 mm of water immediately after sowing (EI). Half of the plots also received irrigation around heading stage (LI). Besides yields, other agronomic data were collected throughout crop growth, and the supplemental irrigation water use efficiency (WUESI) was calculated. Our results confirm the hypothesis that in Mediterranean areas early sowing followed immediately with a small amount of irrigation increases barley grain yield significantly. Farmers in the region should seriously consider practicing this technique as it produces a higher WUESI than irrigation at the heading stage.Supplementary irrigation for germination Water productivity Hordeum vulgare Seedling emergence Grain and straw yields Lebanon

Threonine Requirement of the Grower Turkey Tom

Two experiments were conducted to determine threonine requirement for maximum performance and breast and drumstick major muscle relative weights of turkey toms raised from 8-10wk and 11-13wk of age. Also plasma free amino acid concentration in response to feeding a diet with graded levels of threonine was measured. A corn-peanut meal diet was formulated to contain 0.59, 0.72, 0.85, 0.98 and 1.11% threonine and fed to Large White turkey males (British United Turkeys, BUT) in both trials. Each treatment was replicated among 5 and 8 individual cages in experiments 1 and 2, respectively. Two days prior to the end of each trial, blood was removed from the brachial vein of five toms per treatment and analyzed for plasma amino acid concentration. At the end of each experiment, final body weight and feed consumption were recorded and feed efficiency was computed. Birds were then sacrificed and pectoralis major and gastrocnemius muscles were weighed. The 0.85% dietary threonine resulted in the highest weight gain and feed efficiency ratio in the first trial. In the second experiment an increase (P&lt;0.05) in weight gain was also obtained by the 0.85% dietary threonine with no further significant improvement beyond that level. Therefore the current results indicate that the threonine requirement for maximum weight gain of turkey toms raised from 8 to 10 and 11 to 13wk of age is 0.85%. The changes in blood threonine concentration further supported the estimated requirement of threonine obtained from the performance data. Increasing dietary threonine from 0.59 to 1.11% during both growing periods, however, had no effect on pectoralis major or gastrocnemius muscles yield. In conclusion threonine requirement for maximum performance of the grower turkey tom raised from 8 to 13wk of age was 0.85% diet, a value slightly higher than that reported in the literature

Factors affecting road safety compliance in a low- and middle-income country: An observational study from Lebanon.

Road traffic injury is a major public health problem in Lebanon. This study aims to assess compliance with safety measures including seatbelt and helmet use in adults and children, and the prevalence of distracted driving among road users across Lebanon different governorates. It further aims to investigate predictors of compliance with seatbelt and helmet use. A cross-sectional observational field study was conducted at multiple governorates in Lebanon. Data collected included information on vehicles, road users and passengers. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to identify trends in compliance with safety measures and distracted driving, and predictors of compliance. A total of 13,790 road users were observed. The rate of seatbelt and helmet use were 37.4% and 38.9%, respectively, among adults. Distracted behavior was present in 23.7% of car drivers and 22.8% of motorcyles adult riders. Compliance with seatbelt use was lower outside the capital city Beirut [OR = 5.236 (4.566-6.004), P <0.001], in males [OR = 1.688 (1.52-1.874), P <0.001], in drivers of taxi/vans [OR = 1.929 (1.71-2.175), P <0.001] or trucks [OR = 3.014 (2.434-3.732), P <0.001], and vehicles of lower price [OR = 3.291 (2.836-3.819), P <0.001]. Children vehicle passengers were 87.9% while motorcycles pillion riders were 12.1%. The rates for child car restraint and helmet use were 25.8% and 20.1%, respectively. Predictors of failure to use a child restraint system in vehicles were the youngest age group (0-5 years) [OR = 2.06, CI (1.40-3.02), P<0.001], sitting in the back seat [OR = 1.56, CI (1.09-2.23), P<0.001], ridding in the afternoon [OR = 1.43, CI (1.05-1.94), P = 0.02], and being outside Beirut [OR = 2.12, CI (1.41-3.17), P<0.00]. Public awareness efforts and better enforcement of road safety legislations are needed to increase the alarmingly low rates of compliance with safety measures and safeguard lives on the road

Lignocellulose Improves Protein and Amino Acid Digestibility in Roosters and Egg Hatchability in Broiler Breeders

The present work assessed the effect of supplementation of 0.8% dietary Arbocel® RC Fine, a readily available commercial lignocellulose, to poultry feed. In a complete randomized design using 36 individually caged mature dubbed Hy-Line roosters (aged 55 weeks) grouped in 4 treatments with 9 birds per treatment, a digestibility trial was performed to determine apparent and true metabolizable energy values along with digestibility coefficients of protein and amino acid in Arbocel® containing diets. Results showed that 0.8% Arbocel® supplemented diets improved protein digestibility by 6% (P&lt;0.05). Additionally, Arbocel® caused an increase in apparent and true amino acid digestibility in roosters when compared to control diets and controls with 0.8% wheat bran (WB) supplementation. In a second experiment, 26,000 layers and 2,600 roosters aged 33 weeks (Ross 308 broiler breeder strain) were maintained in 6 poultry houses at a commercial breeding farm, with an average of 4330 layers and 433 roosters per house. Performance, egg grade, and hatchability rate were assessed over a post peak period of 6 months. Compared to the control group fed the 0.8% WB diet, the 0.8% lignocellulose dietary supplementation resulted in a decrease (P&lt;0.05) in percent infertility leading to an average increase of 4.07% (P&lt;0.05) in egg hatchability. The Arbocel® fed group had 3.8 more eggs per housed hen compared to control birds. Overall, Arbocel® supplementation at 0.8% resulted in the production of 5.7 more saleable chicks per housed hen during the 6 months trial, a sizeable profit to the farmer

Compact Printed Parasitic Arrays for WLAN Applications

Antenna arrays enable to achieve high gains and to select the main lobe direction; on the other hand, these arrays require a complicated feeding network. In this letter, we show that whenever a radiating structure with a planar geometry is preferable and only a moderate gain (< 6 dB) is required, a microstrip array composed of an active monopole and two parasitic elements is a very simple, yet effective design. The phases of the currents flowing through the active and passive elements determine the main lobe direction and can be adjusted during the design procedure by inserting planar meanders. The active element can be fabricated on the front of a standard FR4 substrate, whereas the ground plane and the parasitic elements are located on the back of the same substrate. We present the design and the experimental characterization of both broadside and endfire arrays working in the wireless local area network (WLAN) band around 2.4 GHz. The design is extremely simple and neat since a balun section is not necessary, therefore the proposed antennas occupy a circuit board area smaller than 0.6 \u3bb 7 0.5 \u3bb

High-gain printed monopole arrays with low-complexity corporate-feed network

Printed monopole antennas fed by microstrip lines can provide a wide bandwidth and can be employed as terminal antennas in RF circuits. In the same perspective, the authors propose a novel planar array in which N + 1 parasitic monopoles, properly placed in a linear array where only N directly-fed monopoles are used, allow a broadside radiation and a gain value close to that of a standard printed array composed of 2N + 1 directly-fed elements. To verify the validity of the proposed design, prototype arrays for the S and C bands, composed of five- and nine-monopoles, are simulated, fabricated and tested. In addition, it is demonstrated that a flat metal sheet placed at 0.25 \u3bb0 from the array board can further increase the directivity of about 3 dB; as a result, the measured gain is ~10 dB for the five-monopole array and 14 dB for the nine-monopole array. Owing to their large fractional bandwidth (30%) and high gain, these monopole arrays may work as external antennas for high-data-rate point-to-point transmissions or for C-band radar sensors

Performance and Carcass Quality of Broiler Chickens Fed a Corn-soybean Meal Diet Containing Graded Barley Levels without or with Enzyme

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate broiler chicken performance, ready-to-cook carcass value, and the size of cut-up parts of the left carcass section in response to feeding a corn-soybean meal diet containing graded levels of Litani (L2), Pamir 35 (P2), or Rihan 03 (R6) barley without or with 0.1% enzyme. In the first experiment, a diet containing 25% L2 or R6 without or with enzyme was fed during the finisher period. Enzyme supplementation of the barley containing diets improved (P&lt;0.01) broiler weight gain and feed conversion values. Enzyme containing diets supplemented with 0, 15, 30, and 45% L2, P2, and R6 were fed from hatch to 42d of age in the second experiment. There was a decrease (P&lt;0.06) in cumulative performance with a concomitant increase (P&lt;0.01) in abdominal fat pad yield when the level of barley was increased to 45%. In the third experiment, diets containing 15, 20, 25, 30, and 35% R6 without or with enzyme were fed from hatch till market age. Enzyme addition improved feed conversion and increased abdominal fat pad yield whereas breast muscle and thigh yields were decreased when barley level exceeded 25% (P&lt;0.01). In conclusion, enzyme supplementation to barley diets improved efficiency of feed utilization but increased abdominal fat yield with no significant effect on breast muscle, thigh, and drum yields. The current findings indicate that levels up to 25% of R6 barley could be incorporated in diets up to market age without affecting broiler production parameters

Nutritional Evaluation of Three Local Barley Varieties and the Impact of Dietary Enzyme on their Apparent Metabolizable Energy

Two experiments were conducted to determine the true metabolizable energy corrected to zero nitrogen balance (TMEn) and true amino acid availability (TAAA) of three local barley varieties, two-row Litani (L2), two-row Pamir-35 (P2), and six-row Rihan-03 (R6) and to study the effect of enzyme supplementation on their apparent metabolizable energy corrected to zero nitrogen balance (AMEn). Forty grams of glucose, corn, or barley variety grains was precision intubated to eight individually caged Babcock B 380 roosters. The TMEn of L2, P2, and R6 (3224, 3419, and 3253kcal/kg, on dry matter basis (DM), respectively) was lower than that of corn (P&lt;0.05). All the TAAA values in P2 and that of methionine, cystine, lysine, threonine, proline, and valine in L2 and R6 were comparable with that of corn. Again, compared to corn, all other TAAA values in L2 and R6 were significantly lower, except for serine, glutamic acid, and isoleucine in R6. In the AMEn experiment, a reference diet containing 55% glucose and diets containing 50% corn or L2, P2, and R6 at the expense of glucose, supplemented with either 0 or 0.1% enzyme, were each fed in 4 replicates (cages) to 4 birds/cage for 4 d, during which total excreta were collected at 48 and 96 h. Enzyme supplementation resulted in an AMEn improvement of 4.33, 11.5, and 17.2% for L2, P2, and R6, respectively with an average AMEn of 3243kcal/kg DM. In conclusion, TAAA in P2 was similar to corn whereas that of some amino acids such as arginine and leucine were lower in L2 and R6. Enzyme supplementation to barley diets resulted in an average AMEn improvement of 11%. The current findings can assist and encourage poultry producers in formulating least cost rations containing local barley varieties