Waste Recycling for the Eco-friendly Input Use Efficiency in Agriculture and Livestock Feeding

he increasing competition for available resources and inefficient use of those limited resources necessitates the need to improve the use of available resources. If these inefficacies are not corrected, the resource-poor farmers, mainly living in developing countries will be most affected. Yet these resource farmers contribute immensely for food production in developing countries. Smallholder farmers must be proactive and learn to adopt new strategies that can assist them in continuing farming with maximum use of limited agricultural resources and even wastes in agriculture. Several methods are available to improve the use of agricultural wastes, including non-agronomic benefits. Furthermore, we suggest the integration of waste resources, such as from both the trilogy of human– animal–crop wastes. Similarly, inexpensive techniques are encouraged among the farmers, including composting and vermicomposting of human–crop–animal wastes and/or slaughterhouse/abattoir wastes, biocharing of crop and animal wastes as various means of recycling/recovering nutrients in the soil system. Furthermore, the deployment of fungi could also improve the resource use efficiency through mushroom growth and sales, crop residue fermentation to enhance its feed value. Livestock farmers facing nutritional problems can apply microbes through fermentation to reduce antinutritional factors (lignin, tannins) in plants, and improve the safety of kitchen and dairy waste before feeding. Alternatively, farmers are encouraged to raise micro livestock (rabbits, snails, and grasscutters) on their farm to improve the use of resources. On a large scale, nitrogen and phosphorus recovery from cow urine, slurry, human feces, and fermentation of phytate rich plants with phytate on industrial scales is recommended. This chapter aims to provide insight into the methods by which farmers and industries, especially those in developing countries, can improve their available resources for agricuture and as livestock feeds

Termorregulación del búfalo de agua: mecanismos neurobiológicos, cambios microcirculatorios y aplicaciones prácticas de la termografía infrarroja

La regulación de la temperatura es un mecanismo adaptativo que se adquiere con la evolución, ya que solo las aves y los mamíferos (homeotermos o endotermos) tienen la capacidad de generar respuestas fisiológicas al frío y el calor. La termorregulación en animales homeotermos se basa en respuestas fisiológicas y de comportamiento (Guerrero-Legarreta et al., 2019a,b). En el caso de los mamíferos, existen especies con gran capacidad de perder calor a través del sudor (i.e. humano, caballo) así como otras con limitada o nula capacidad de sudoración [i.e. perro, gato, cerdo y búfalo, que poseen muy pocas glándulas sudoríparas] (Ruiz et al., 2012).Fil: Mota Rojas, Daniel. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana; MéxicoFil: Habeeb, Alsaied Alnaimy. No especifíca;Fil: Ghezzi, Marcelo Daniel. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Departamento de Ciencias Biológicas; ArgentinaFil: Ravi Kanth Reddy, P.. No especifíca;Fil: Napolitano, Fabio. Università degli Studi della Basilicata; ItaliaFil: Lendez, Pamela Anahí. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Cuibus, Alex. University of Agricultural Sciences and Veterinary Medicine; RumaniaFil: Ceriani, Maria Carolina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tandil. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Universidad Nacional del Centro de la Provincia de Buenos Aires. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil. Provincia de Buenos Aires. Gobernación. Comision de Investigaciones Científicas. Centro de Investigación Veterinaria de Tandil; ArgentinaFil: Sarubbi, Juliana. Universidade Federal de Santa Maria; BrasilFil: Braghieri, Ada. Università degli Studi della Basilicata; ItaliaFil: Martínez - Burnes, Julio. Universidad Autónoma de Tamaulipas; MéxicoFil: Bertoni, Aldo. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana; MéxicoFil: Gómez Prado, Jocelyn. Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana; MéxicoFil: Orihuela, Agustin. Universidad Autónoma del Estado de Morelos.; Méxic

Applications, challenges, and strategies in the use of nanoparticles as feed additives in equine nutrition

The rapid expansion of nanotechnology has been transforming the food industry by increasing market share and expenditure. Although nanotechnology offers promising benefits as feed additives, their usage in equines is primarily geared toward immunotherapy, hyper-immunization techniques, drug delivery systems, grooming activities, and therapeutic purposes. Nanoparticles could be engaged as alternatives for antibiotic feed additives to prevent foal diarrhea. Gold nanoparticles are proved to provide beneficial effects for racehorses by healing joint and tendon injuries. Because of the poor bioavailability of micro-sized mineral salts, the usage of nano-minerals is highly encourageable to improve the performance of racehorses. Nano-Vitamin E and enzyme CoQ10 for equines are no longer a simple research topic because of the increased commercial availability. Employing nanotechnology-based preservatives may offer a promising alternative to other conventional preservatives in preserving the quality of equine feed items, even during an extended storage period. While nanoparticles as feed additives may provide multitudinous benefits on equines, they could elicit allergic or toxic responses in case of improper synthesis aids or inappropriate dosages. The safety of nano-feed additives remains uninvestigated and necessitates the additional risk assessment, especially during their usage for a prolonged period. To adopt nano-feed additives in horses, there is an extreme paucity of information regarding the validity of various levels or forms of nanoparticles. Further, the currently available toxicological database on the topic of nano-feed additives is not at all related to equines and even inadequate for other livestock species. This review aims to provide new insights into possible future research pertaining to the usage of nano-feed additives in equines

Influence of Corymbia citriodora leaf extract on growth performance, ruminal fermentation, nutrient digestibility, plasma antioxidant activity and faecal bacteria in young calves

The effect of Corymbia citriodora leaf extract on growth performance, nutrient digestibilities, rumen fermentation, and health status of male crossbred Holstein calves was evaluated in the present study. Three treatments were evaluated by mixing C. citriodora leaf extract (CC) at 0 (CC0), 10 (CC10) or 20 (CC20) ml in the milk of the Holstein calves for 15 weeks. By GC/MS analysis, the main compounds identified in C. citriodora leaf aqueous extract were methyl(Z)-9-oleate (12.69 %), oleic acid (12.13 %), 2-methylene-5α-cholestan-3β-ol (11.18 %), and methyl 12,15-octadecadiynoate (7.73 %). A significant decrease was noticed in intakes of milk, calf starter, hay, and total dry matter (DM) in the calves supplemented with leaf extract at 20 ml. The supplementation of leaf extract at 10 ml/calf did not affect the final body weights, average daily gain, and feed conversion ratio, whereas the extract showed a quadratic decrease (P < 0.001) in the body weight gains and feed conversion ratio at 20 ml/calf. Digestibility of DM, crude protein, neutral detergent fiber, and acid detergent fiber decreased quadratically (P < 0.001) with supplementation of C. citriodora leaf extract in milk. The rumen pH and total volatile fatty acid concentration were similar among the treatments, while the molar proportions of volatile fatty acids differed with a decrease in acetate and butyrate and an increase in propionate concentrations in leaf extract supplemented diets. Further, ruminal NH3-N concentration showed a quadratic decrease with increasing levels of leaf extract supplementation. Feeding C. citriodora leaf extract resulted in lower dry matter and neutral detergent fiber degradation, acetate to propionate ratio, protozoan population, and methane production compared to control. Apart from increasing the plasma antioxidant enzymatic activities, the leaf extract supplementation, irrespective of the dosage, showed a marked reduction in faecal pathogenic bacterial counts, indicating an improved health status. The C. citriodora leaf extract could be supplemented at 10 ml/calf/day to improve the health status and manipulate rumen fermentation in mitigating methane production without any negative effects on the growth performance of calves

Assessment of eco-sustainability vis-à-vis zoo-technical attributes of soybean meal (SBM) replacement with varying levels of coated urea in Nellore sheep (Ovis aries).

The contemporary environmental-stewardship programmes primarily aimed at curbing the global warming potential by adopting a multidisciplinary approach. Manipulating the feeding strategies has great potential in reducing the environmental footprints of livestock production. This study intends to assess the effect of soybean meal (SBM) replacement with varying levels of coated urea (SRU) on both zoo-technical (nutrient digestibility, heat increment, and physio-biochemical parameters) and environmental attributes. The coated urea was used to replace the SBM at 0, 25, 50, and 75 percent levels. Eight adult rams (43.02 ± 0.76) maintained in a conventional shed were used in a replicated 4 x 4 Latin square design. Not all the physiological parameters viz. rectal temperature, pulse rate, and respiratory rate were affected (P>0.05)f by varying levels of SRU incorporation. The SRU fed animals had higher (P<0.05) crude protein digestibility compared to SBM fed animals; however, the replacements did not affect the nutrient digestibility coefficients of DM, OM, NFC, NDFap, ADF, and hemicellulose components. The SRU did not affect various biochemical parameters such as serum glucose, total protein, albumin, globulin, urea, creatinine, ALT, AST, Ca, P and T3, and T4 levels; however, post-prandial serum urea N (SUN) values showed a diurnal quadratic pattern (P<0.05) with a dose-dependent relationship. Further, the SBM replacements had no effect on the calcium excretion, while the SRU incorporation decreased the faecal phosphorous content, thereby abating the eutrophication phenomenon. Although the SBM replacements did not affect in vivo water variables and faecal solid fractions, they managed to decrease the land and virtual water requirement along with global warming potential (GWP) of the entire trial. The GWP-perceptual map unveils the fact that replacement of conventional feed ingredients with NPN compounds aids in eco-friendly livestock production. Further, the conjectural analysis of the carbon footprint methodology revealed that agricultural by-products consideration could cause a huge increase in the GWP share of feed consumed, thus compelling the importance of research pertaining to feed production perspective as equal as ruminal methane amelioration

Farming systems in sheep rearing: Impact on growth and reproductive performance, nutrient digestibility, disease incidence and heat stress indices.

The experiment was conducted with an intent to know the effect of different farming systems on the growth performance, nutrient digestibility coefficients, reproductive traits, disease incidence, heat stress indices, and cost economics of Nellore sheep. The study includes two parallel trials to prevent the influence of age on heat stress indices (panting score and erythrocyte osmotic fragility (EOF)). One hundred and twenty lambs (60 ram-lambs and 60 ewe-lambs) were allotted in a randomized block design under extensive, semi-intensive, and intensive systems for trial I, whereas trial II include eighteen rams assigned to the three respective farming systems in a completely randomised design. Both, season (summer) and grazing practice increased the panting score and EOF. The heat stress indices were positively correlated (P<0.01) with dry-bulb temperature and temperature-humidity index (THI) and inversely correlated (P<0.01) to relative humidity. Allotting the sheep to intensive system increased (P<0.001) weight gain and average daily gain with higher effect in males compared to females. The parameters of asymptotic weight (A), integration constant (B), and maturation rate were higher for intensive males. The male Nellore lambs had higher asymptotic weight and lower maturity rate than females, irrespective of the rearing system. Intensive sheep revealed a higher dry matter intake, digestibility coefficients, feed conversion ratio. The instantaneous bite mass (IBM) was higher for Commelina benghalensis, while instantaneous bite frequency (IBF), instantaneous intake rate (IIR) were higher for Cyanodon dactylon and amaranthus viridis, respectively. The proportion of intakes were highest for Stylo hemata followed by Cynodon dactylon and Tridax procumbens species. No differences were observed for the weight at puberty, oestrus cycle length, oestrus duration, conception percent, gestation period, and lambing percent in three rearing systems; however, the age at puberty was lower (P<0.001) and the birth weight was higher (P<0.001) for sheep reared under intensive farming system. Highest disease incidence was observed in rainy and winter seasons, particularly in sheep reared under extensive system. The capital expenditure was same for the three rearing systems, while the recurring expenditure was higher for Intensive farming system. The gross income and net income were higher for intensive system on account of higher weight gains. However, the higher returns per rupee of expenditure project the extensive farming as an ideal rearing system for small farmers and entrepreneurs with a low initial capital