Effects of feeding frequency variation on the growth and survival of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings

A 56-day experiment was conducted to consider the effects of feeding frequency variation on the growth and survival of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings. The frequencies of feeding were once daily, twice daily, once in two days and once in three designated as G1, G2, G3 and G4 respectively. One hundred and twenty fingerlings were stocked into 30 litre plastic aquaria with each tank stocked with ten fingerlings in three replicates under laboratory conditions. A commercial feed was used for the feeding trials with the fingerlings fed at 5% body weight. The fingerlings fed once in three days had the least value of weight and length but were not significantly different (p<0.05). The fingerlings fed once daily had the highest specific growth rate (SGR) of 1.66 and the fingerlings fed once in three days had the least value, which was significantly different from others. Highest survival rate of 73.3% was recorded in fingerlings fed once in two days. The study showed that body composition of C. gariepinus fingerlings was influenced by the different feeding frequencies. Based on the growth performance recorded in this research, once in a day feeding frequency was the best to obtain the highest growth while once in 2 days feeding frequency gave the best survival value in the African catfish fingerlings.Keywords: Feeding frequency, Growth, Survival, Clarias gariepinus

Performance and egg quality characteristics of egg-type chickens as influenced by fluted pumpkin (Telfaria occidentalis) leaf extract

A total of 120 sixteen week old point of lay birds of the Isa Brown strain were used for the experiment to determine the effect of  fluted pumpkin (Telfaria occidentalis) leaf extract (FPLE) administered orally on Laying performance, egg quality characteristics; blood chemistry haematology and serum chemistry for a 12 week period. The birds were randomly assigned to five treatment   groups: control group with no FPLE; 30ml FPLE/litre of drinking water; 60ml FPLE; 90ml FPLE and 120ml/litre FPLE respectively at 3 day intervals. Feed was given ad libitum. Eggs were collected at 2 week interval to determine external and internal egg   qualities. Blood sampling was carried out at the twelfth week of experiment. The results show that FPLE significantly (P<0.05)   increased hen day with birds in group with 120ml FPLE/litre water having higher values than other groups. External egg qualities were not influenced by FPLE inclusion. Internal egg qualities like shell weight and haugh unit were significantly increased by FPLE with birds in group with 120ml/litre FPLE having the highest significant values than birds in control and other groups.    Haematological results show that for packed cell volume (PCV), Haemoglobin were not similar for all the groups in this   experiment. However results for Red blood cell count (RBC) and White blood cell count (WBC) and differential were increased with FPLE intake with birds administered 120ml/litre of FPLE having the highest values for RBC and WBC. Serum chemistry results    show similarities for serum total protein, Albumin, Globulin, Total Cholesterol and Serum Alanine Transaminase (SALT). FPLE has been proven to be a haematinic in rats and broiler chickens; this present result further strengthens this assertion though the results for blood analysis are  contrary to that obtained by the authors for meat type chickens. It can therefore be concluded that up to 120ml FPLE/litre of drinking water can be tolerated by egg type chickens from point of lay phase to early laying phase.Key Words: Fluted Pumpkin, Egg, haematology, Serum Biochemistr

CONDITION FACTOR AND DIETARY COMPOSITION OF Oreochromis niloticus FROM ERO DAM IN IKUN EKITI, EKITI STATE, NIGERIA

This study focused on the condition factor and dietary composition of Oreochromis niloticus in Ero dam, Ekiti State, Nigeria during which a total of 84 specimens of the fish species were examined. In this study, the condition factor (K) of the fish species was higher than 1 and ranged between 3.15 and 4.71 in the males and 3.16 – 4.37 in the females. This showed a good health condition of the fish species. Analysis of the stomach contents of the specimens using frequency of occurrence and numerical abundance method revealed O. niloticus to be an omnivore with phytoplankton as the dominant food item followed by Copepods, Amoeba and insect parts. Results also showed that 90.48% of the sample had food in the stomach while 9.52% were empty

Regeneration and transient gene expression of African Musa species with diverse genomic constitution and ploidy levels

An efficient regeneration protocol, which appeared to be independent of ploidy level and genomic background was developed for Musa spp using apical meristems. The selected species represented major groups of Musa including fertile diploid bananas (AA and BB genomes) , the sterile triploid plantain (AAB) , Cavendish bananas (AM), and tetraploid hybrids (AAAA and AAAB). Multiple shoot regeneration was most efficient from explants cultured on Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 5 mg L -1 of 6-benzylaminopurine. More than 98% shoots transferred to medium supplemented with indole-3-butyric acid developed roots. Transient expression of the 13 glucuronidase (gus A) gene was observed in 60-70% of explants, 48 h after microprojectife bombardment. Organogenesis from apical shoot meristems may offer a simple efficient method for easier transformation of a broad range of Musa spp than the use of embryogenic cell suspensions

Performance and blood biochemistry profile of broiler chickens fed dietary turmeric (Curcuma longa) powder and cayenne pepper (Capsicum frutescens) powders as antioxidants

A 56-day experimental trial was conducted to investigate the performance and blood biochemistry profile of broiler chickens fed dietary turmeric (Curcuma longa) powder (t) and cayenne pepper (Capsicum frutescens) powder (c) as antioxidants. Two hundred and forty three (two-week old) broiler chicks were randomly allotted into nine treatment groups consisting of 27 selected chicks and three replicates of nine birds each. Three levels of t – (0, 200 and 400 g/ 100 kg basal diet) and three levels of c – (0, 100 and 200 g/ 100 kg basal diet) were used to formulate nine dietary treatments (basal diet (B) inclusive) and fed to each groupin two phases, starter (3–4 weeks) and finisher (5–8 weeks) phases in a randomized design. Feed intake and weight gain were highest (p < 0.05) in chicks fed B + 100c diet at the starter phase, while feed conversion ratio was best (p < 0.05) in chickens fed B + 400t + 200c diet at finisher phase. All chickens fed dietary additives had significantly (p < 0.05) decreased serum alanine aminotransferase and low density lipoproteins but increased high density lipoproteins in the starter phase. The hematological count determined indicate poor (p < 0.05) profile in groups fed B + 200c diet. Feeding broiler chicks dietary B + 400t + 200c was recommended for optimal growth performance. However, indices measured in the finisher phase allude that the best (p < 0.05) lipid profile were for chickens allotted B + 400t and B + 200t + 100c diets, while chicks fed B + 200t + 100c diet had overall a better serum count in the finisher phase. Keywords: Turmeric, Cayenne pepper, Broiler chickens, Feed conversion ratio, Serum, Haematolog

Growth performance, haematological characteristic and serum biochemistry of Japanese quails fed with diets containing African pear seed meal

The growth, haematological characteristics and serum biochemistry of one hundred and thirty-five Japanese quails fed diets    containing African Pear Seed Meal (APSM) was investigated in a completely randomised design experiment with five treatments and each treatment was replicated three times. APSM was fed at 0%, 15%, 30%, 45% and 60% levels of inclusion as partial and  total replacement for maize. Data collected included average feed intake (AFI), average weight gain (AWG), specific growth rate (SGR), operating protein efficiency ratio (PER), feed conversion ratio (FCR), haemoglobin (Hb), packed cell volume (PCV), white blood cell (WBC), red blood cell (RBC), Mean corpuscular volume (MCV), mean corpuscular haemoglobin (MCH), mean   corpuscular haemoglobin concentration (MCHC) serum total protein (PRO), Albumin (ALB), glucose (GLU), creatinine (CREAT), cholesterol (CHOL) and Alkaline phosphatase (ALP). Results revealed that the increasing level of inclusion of APSM significantly (P&lt;0.05) depressed the weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, and feed conversion ratio of the birds. The   increasing level of APSM significantly (P&lt;0.05) influenced all the haematological variables except RBC and serum biochemical variables except ALB and CREAT. Birds fed with diet containing 15% had the optimum performance; hence, APSM can be   included at 15% in the diets of quails.Keywords: African pear seed, quail birds, Nutritional values, Haematology, Blood Biochemistr

A circular economy strategy for valorizing industrial saline wastewaters: Techno-economics and environmental impacts

Mussels cooking wastewater (MCW) and fish processing wastewater (FPW) were utilized as feedstocks for the production of polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and triacylglycerides (TAG) at the laboratory scale. This study presents a comparison of the techno-economic and environmental performance of ten circular economy-based and innovative processes, in which PHA/TAG are produced using Mixed Microbial Cultures (MMC), with benchmark wastewater treatments for MCW and FPW. The innovative systems were modeled based on the upscaling of lab-scale data using mass balances, and a centralized downstream processing (DSP) plant was proposed for PHA/TAG extraction. This study is the first to conduct a techno-economic and environmental analysis of a system with a centralized DSP. Consequently, the most favorable operational options were selected based on the techno-economic and environmental performance of the ten proposed scenarios. The techno-economic evaluations demonstrate that treatment costs for MCW and FPW could be reduced by 10% and 40%, respectively, compared to the benchmark treatment. Furthermore, environmental impacts could be significantly reduced (e.g., 10–70% for global warming potential) compared to the baseline scenario by implementing a system expansion approach. Regarding the centralized DSP, the production cost of PHA from MCW falls within a competitive market threshold, ranging from 0.95 to 1.18 €/kg. However, the production costs of PHA and TAG from FPW (1.40–2.21 €/kg PHA and 0.51–0.69 €/kg TAG) are hindered by the lower biomass concentration achieved. Hence, this study demonstrates, for the first time, the potential feasibility of circular economy-based strategies for valorizing saline industrial wastewaters through a centralized DSP approach.BT/Biotechnology and Societ