Effect of Dietary Oregano and Rosemary Essential Oil Supplementation on Growth Performance and Cecal Microbiota of Broilers

In this study, the effect of dietary supplementation of oregano and rosemary essential oils (EO) on growth performance and cecal microbiota of broilers were investigated. A total of 450 1-d-old male Ross-308 broilers were divided into 5-experimental groups (10 replicates of 9 chickens): a Control (C), fed a basal diet; four treatments, which received a basal diet supplemented with oregano and rosemary EOs individually (O, 300 mg/kg oregano EO; R, 300 mg/kg rosemary EO) and combined (OR1, 150 mg/kg oregano EO + 150 mg/kg rosemary EO; OR2, 200 mg/kg oregano EO + 200 mg/kg rosemary EO). Body weight (BW), feed intake (FI), body weight gain (BWG), feed conver-sion ratio (FCR), and cecal microbiota (coliforms, clostridia and lactobacilli) were determined weekly, and at 42 d, re-spectively. BW in R (p < 0.05) and OR2 (p < 0.001), and BWG and FCR in OR2 (p < 0.05) were significantly higher than C at 42 d, despite no difference in FI in any group during experimental period. Counts of cecal coliforms (p < 0.001) and clostridia (p < 0.01) decreased, and lactobacilli (p < 0.001) increased substantially between C and treatment groups. Results indicated that combined oregano and rosemary EO (200 mg/kg ea) supplementation significantly increased BW and BWG, improved FCR in 1-42 d, lowered coliform and clostridial, and increased lactobacilli counts suggesting a beneficial shift in cecal microbiota.Bursa Uludag Uni-versity Scientific Research Unit Grant [HDP (V) -2014/45]ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This study was funded by the Bursa Uludag Uni-versity Scientific Research Unit Grant, Project No: HDP (V) -2014/45

Characterisation and mechanical modelling of polyacrylonitrile-based nanocomposite membranes reinforced with silica nanoparticles

In this study, neat polyacrylonitrile (PAN) and fumed silica (FS)-doped PAN membranes (0.1, 0.5 and 1 wt% doped PAN/FS) are prepared using the phase inversion method and are characterised extensively. According to the Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy analysis, the addition of FS to the neat PAN membrane and the added amount changed the stresses in the membrane structure. The Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) results show that the addition of FS increased the porosity of the membrane. The water content of all fabricated membranes varied between 50% and 88.8%, their porosity ranged between 62.1% and 90%, and the average pore size ranged between 20.1 and 21.8 nm. While the neat PAN membrane’s pure water flux is 299.8 L/m2 h, it increased by 26% with the addition of 0.5 wt% FS. Furthermore, thermal gravimetric analysis (TGA) and differential thermal analysis (DTA) techniques are used to investigate the membranes’ thermal properties. Finally, the mechanical characterisation of manufactured membranes is performed experimentally with tensile testing under dry and wet conditions. To be able to provide further explanation to the explored mechanics of the membranes, numerical methods, namely the finite element method and Mori–Tanaka mean-field homogenisation are performed. The mechanical characterisation results show that FS reinforcement increases the membrane rigidity and wet membranes exhibit more compliant behaviour compared to dry membranes