Seasonal variations in the nutritive parameters of barley grains for cattle

Non-Peer Reviewe

Chemical characteristics and nutritive values of three oat varieties for ruminants

Non-Peer ReviewedThe objectives of this study were to determine the magnitude of differences among oat varieties of in terms of detailed chemical and nutritional characteristics (including: 1) chemical composition, 2) total digestible nutrient (TDN) and energy values at maintenance and production level for both dairy and beef cattle, 3) protein and carbohydrate subfractions, 4) in situ degradation kinetics of components, and 5) nutrient supply/availability) and provide detailed feeding values for ruminants. Six oat samples comprised of 3 cultivars (CDC Dancer, Derby and CDC SO-I) grown over two years (2005 and 2006) were obtained from the Crop Development Centre at the University of Saskatchewan. The samples were analyzed for DM, CP, EE, GE, starch, ash, NDF, ADF, ADL, NDICP, ADICP, SCP and NPN. Total digestible nutrient (TDN) and energy values (TDN1x, DE3x, ME3x, NEL3x, DE4x, ME4x, NEL4x of dairy, ME, NEm and NEg of beef) at maintenance and production levels for both dairy and beef cattle were determined using NRC-2001 and NRC-1996 chemical approaches. Protein and carbohydrate fractions were determined using the CNCPS system. Rumen degradation kinetics (DM, CP and starch) were determined in situ. The nutrient supply/availability will be estimated using the DVE/OEB system and NRC-2001 model. Detailed chemical composition, TDN and energy values and CNCPS protein and carbohydrate fractions are reported here. The information obtained from this study will be useful for oat breeders and feed industry

New oat improves milk yield and income

Non-Peer Reviewe

Nickel coatings by Inductively Coupled Impulse Sputtering (ICIS)

Inductively Coupled Impulse Sputtering (ICIS) removes the need for a magnetron, whilst delivering equal or higher ion-to-neutral ratios compared to other ionised PVD technologies such as High Power Impulse Magnetron Sputtering (HIPIMS). This is especially advantageous for the sputtering of magnetic materials, as these would shunt the magnetic field of the magnetron, thus reducing the efficiency of the sputtering and ionisation process. ICIS produces highly ionised metal-dominated plasma inside a high power pulsed RF-coil with a magnet free high voltage pulsed DC powered cathode. ICIS operation with magnetic target materials has not been attempted so far. The paper aims to clarify the effects of power and pressure on the chemistry of the deposition flux and is the first investigation of the microstructure of ICIS deposited coatings. Modelling based on the intensity of the optical emission spectra (OES) is conducted for the first time on the excited species of Ni and Ar in relation to the applied RF-power. Sputtered species show a linear intensity increase for increasing peak RF-power and constant process gas pressure. The influence of increasing process gas pressure on the ionisation was studied at a constant peak RF-power for pressures. For pressures below 8 Pa the intensity rises, but then remains constant for pressures up to 26 Pa. The microstructure of Ni coatings shows columnar dendritic or globular growth depending on the ionisation degree. In relation to the film thickness on the top of the substrate, the bottom coverage of unbiased vias with an aspect ratio of 4:1 was 15% and for lower aspect ratios of 1.5:1 was 47.5%. The current work has shown that the concept of combining a pulsed RF driven coil with a magnet-free pulsed DC powered cathode works well for the sputtering of magnetic material in a stable plasma

Hulless barley (Hordeum vulgare l.) with altered starch traits: rumen degradation kinetics

Non-Peer ReviewedThe objective of this study was to determine the effect of new hulless barley lines (zero-amylose waxy, CDC Fibar; 5%-amylose waxy, CDC Rattan; normal-amylose, CDC McGwire and high-amylose, HB08302) on rumen degradation kinetics and in vitro intestinal nutrient digestion with CDC Copeland included as a hulled control. Three dry Holstein cows fitted with rumen cannula were used for measuring rumen degradation of barley varieties. The estimation of intestinal digestion was determined by a modification of the three-step in vitro procedure described by Calsamiglia and Stern with duplicate of each in situ residue. Among the hulless barley lines, CDC Rattan was greater (P<0.05) in effectively degradable starch (EDST: 461 g/kg DM) but reduced (P<0.05) in rumen undegradable protein (RUP: 55g/kg DM) while CDC Fibar was greater (P<0.05) in effectively degradable crude protein (EDCP: 90 g/kg DM) and total digestible protein (TDP: 147 g/kg DM) than other hulless barley lines. CDC McGwire showed greater (P<0.05) in total digestible bypass starch (TDST: 590 g/kg DM), effectively degradable CHO (EDCHO: 581 g/kg DM) and total digestible CHO (TDCHO: 600 g/kg DM) than other hulless barley lines but no significant difference compared to CDC Copeland (P>0.05). HB08302 was greater (P<0.05) in rumen bypass starch (BST: 218 g/kg DM vs. 146 g/kg DM and 155 g/kg DM) and effective degradable NDF (EDNDF: 74 g/kg DM vs. 49 g/kg DM and 52 g/kg DM) than CDC Fibar and CDC Rattan. HB08302 was also greater in total digestible NDF (TDNDF: 93 g/kg DM vs. 62 g/kg DM and 67 g/kg DM) and intestinal digestible rumen bypass starch (IDBST: 180 g/kg DM vs. 122 g/kg DM and 130 g/kg DM) compared to CDC Fibar and CDC McGwire. HB08302 also showed greater (P<0.05) in bypass CHO (BCHO: 179 g/kg DM) and intestinal digestible bypass CHO (IDBCHO: 31 g/kg DM) than other hulless barley lines. Amylose and amylopectin were significantly correlated (P<0.001) to EDCP (r=-0.71, r=0.64) and TDP (r=-0.85; r=0.77), while amylose, ratio of amylose and amylopectin were positively correlated (P<0.01) to EDNDF, TDNDF, BST, IDBST and TDCHO (P<0.05). BCP, IDP, TDP, BNDF were positively correlated to beta-glucan levels (P<0.001) while EDST, TDST, EDCHO and TDCHO were negatively correlated to beta-glucan levels in hulless barley lines (P<0.01). in conclusion hulless barley lines with altered carbohydrate traits have the potential to increase rumen and intestinal nutrient availability to ruminants. Altered beta-glucan levels had a greater effect on rumen carbohydrates and crude protein degradation than altered starch traits

Chirality and Orbital Order in Charge Density Waves

We show that the recently observed chirality in the charge ordered phase of TiSe2 can be understood as a form of orbital ordering. The microscopic mechanism driving the transition between the novel chiral state and the non-chiral charge density wave is discussed, and shown to be of a general form, thus allowing for a broad class of materials to display this type of orbitally ordered chiral charge density wave.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figure

Study of the Effect of RF-power and process pressure on the morphology of copper and titanium sputtered by ICIS

Inductively Coupled Impulse Sputtering is a promising new technique for highly ionised sputter deposition of materials. It combines pulsed RF-power ICP technology to generate plasma with pulsed high voltage DC bias on the cathode to eliminate the need for a magnetron. To understand the effect of power and pressure on the coating morphology, Copper and Titanium films have been deposited in a power-pressure matrix. The RF-power was increased from 2000 - 4000 W. The pressure was set to 6 Pa and 13 Pa respectively. For Copper, the morphology changes from columnar to fully dense with increasing power and the deposition rate drops from 360 nmh-1 to 210 nmh-1 with higher process pressure. Titanium morphology does not change with power or pressure. The deposition rate is lower than predicted by the differences in sputtering yields at 68 nmh-1 for a pressure of 6 Pa

Orbital textures and charge density waves in transition metal dichalcogenides

Low-dimensional electron systems, as realized naturally in graphene or created artificially at the interfaces of heterostructures, exhibit a variety of fascinating quantum phenomena with great prospects for future applications. Once electrons are confined to low dimensions, they also tend to spontaneously break the symmetry of the underlying nuclear lattice by forming so-called density waves; a state of matter that currently attracts enormous attention because of its relation to various unconventional electronic properties. In this study we reveal a remarkable and surprising feature of charge density waves (CDWs), namely their intimate relation to orbital order. For the prototypical material 1T-TaS2 we not only show that the CDW within the two-dimensional TaS2-layers involves previously unidentified orbital textures of great complexity. We also demonstrate that two metastable stackings of the orbitally ordered layers allow to manipulate salient features of the electronic structure. Indeed, these orbital effects enable to switch the properties of 1T-TaS2 nanostructures from metallic to semiconducting with technologically pertinent gaps of the order of 200 meV. This new type of orbitronics is especially relevant for the ongoing development of novel, miniaturized and ultra-fast devices based on layered transition metal dichalcogenides

Temperature dependence of the excitonic insulator phase model in 1T-TiSe2

Recently, detailed calculations of the excitonic insulator phase model adapted to the case of 1\textit{T}-TiSe$_2$ have been presented. Through the spectral function theoretical photoemission intensity maps can be generated which are in very good agreement with experiment [Phys. Rev. Lett. {\bf 99}, (2007) 146403]. In this model, excitons condensate in a BCS-like manner and give rise to a charge density wave, characterized by an order parameter. Here, we assume an analytical form of the order parameter, allowing to perform temperature dependent calculations. The influence of this order parameter on the electronic spectral function, to be observed in photoemission spectra, is discussed. The resulting chemical potential shift and an estimation of the resistivity are also shown.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figures, paper submitted at the Strongly Correlated Electron System conference, Brazil, 200

Time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy with optimized high-harmonic pulses using frequency-doubled Ti:Sapphire lasers

Time- and angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (trARPES) using femtosecond extreme ultraviolet high harmonics has recently emerged as a powerful tool for investigating ultrafast quasiparticle dynamics in correlated-electron materials. However, the full potential of this approach has not yet been achieved because, to date, high harmonics generated by 800 nm wavelength Ti:Sapphire lasers required a trade-off between photon flux, energy and time resolution. Photoemission spectroscopy requires a quasi-monochromatic output, but dispersive optical elements that select a single harmonic can significantly reduce the photon flux and time resolution. Here we show that 400 nm driven high harmonic extreme-ultraviolet trARPES is superior to using 800 nm laser drivers since it eliminates the need for any spectral selection, thereby increasing photon flux and energy resolution to &lt; 150 meV while preserving excellent time resolution of about 30 fs. © 2014 The Authors