Morphological characteristics and egg production of forced-moult layers under different moult induction techniques

A study was conducted to investigate the morphological characteristics and egg production of forcedmoult layers. Different feeding patterns designated T1, T2 and T3 representing ad libitum supply of feed and water, no feed but water given ad libitum and no feed or water, respectively, were used to induce moult. T1 served as the control. One hundred and twenty 84-week old layers in their 64 weeks in lay were randomly assigned to each treatment, which was replicated 4 times with 30 hens per replicate.Forced-moult treatments were imposed for 10 days, after which the moulting hens were fed moult diet for 50 days and returned to the same feed as the control. The results of the study revealed that morphological characteristics following moult induction included loss of feathers, dullness of theeyeballs, shriveling and paleness of the comb, wattle and ear lobes. Also the moulting birds emaciated with T2 and T3 losing 18.18 and 25.97%, respectively, of their initial body weights by day 7 of moult induction. The forced-moult groups T2 and T3 stopped egg production by  6 days of moult induction and resumed egg production by day 25. T2 and T3 attained a peak egg production of 71% by the second month following resumption of lay. On the other hand, in the T1 egg production progressively decreased with age

Plasma progesterone profile and ovarian activity of forced-moult layers

Different techniques of moult induction were used to force moult 360 commercial old layers, aged 85 weeks. The techniques were: natural day length with feed and water ad libitum, natural day length with water but no feed, natural day length with no feed and no water, reduced day length with feed and water ad libitum, reduced day length with water but no feed, reduced day length with no feed and no water, designated as T1, T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6, respectively. The T1 served as the control. Sixty hens wererandomly assigned to each treatment which was replicated 3 times. The moult induction period was for 10 days coupled with 50 days of recovery period when the birds were fed low protein moult diet. At day 7, the ovaries of T2, T3, T5, T6 regressed weighing 3.43, 7.03, 5.00, 4.80 g, respectively. These were significantly (P<0.05) lower than the ovarian weights of 34.73 and 35.13 g of T4 and control (T1), respectively. By day 35 of moult induction, the ovaries of T2, T3, T5 showed the greatest recoveryincreasing to 18.53, 20.73, 13.27 g, respectively, while T4 decreased to 13.00 g. The number of large yellow follicles of T2, T3, T5, T6 decreased from 3.33 on day 0 to 0.00 on day 7. By day 21 the large yellow follicles of T2, T3, T5 and T6 started regenerating, ranging between 2.33 and 3.00 and by day 49 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than T4 (1.67). Plasma progesterone levels decreased from between 0.50 and 0.60 ng/ml on day 0 to undetectable levels by days 7 and 14 in T2, T3, T5, T6. By day 21,plasma progesterone levels (ng/ml) started rising in T2 (0.40), T3 (0.33), T5 (0.40), T6 (0.33) although these were significantly (P<0.05) lower than those of T1 (0.77) and T4 (0.81). As the number of large yellow follicles increased, the concentration of progesterone in the plasma increased

The Anti-Nutritional and Proximate Composition of Rain Tree (Samanea saman) Pod Samples

The anti-nutritional and proximate composition of pods of Samanea saman were determined. About 600g of wholesome, cleaned and dried pods were divided into two portions: one portion was ground as whole pod meal while the other portion was deseeded and ground as seedless meal. The removed seeds were ground separately as a sample to obtain three samples namely: whole pod, pulp and seed samples. Triplicate data obtained were subjected to One-Way ANOVA using SPSS software of version 21. Mean values and Fisher’s least significant difference (LSD) were determined for the separation of the means at (p≤0.05). The whole pod had 1.49mg/100g oxalate, 1.97mg/100g hydrogen cyanide, 0.71mg/100g tannins, 27.07mg/100g saponins, 0.51mg/100g flavonoids and 1.71mg/100g alkaloids, which were significantly(p≤0.05) different from that of pulp (1.89mg/100g oxalate, 1.51mg/100g hydrogen cyanide, 0.86mg/100g tannins, 28.46mg/100g saponins, 1.00mg/100g flavonoids and 1.41mg/100g alkaloids) and seed samples (1.39mg/100g oxalate, 1.61mg100g hydrogen cyanide, 0.56mg/100g tannins, 26.51mg/100g saponins, 0.49mg/100g flavonoids and 1.86mg/100g alkaloids). The moisture contents were pulp (19.30%), whole pod (15.50%) and seed (9.20%). Ash content were whole pod (4.70%), pulp (2.90%) and seed (2.60%); Ether extract of whole pod, pulp and seed were 3.31%, 2.52% and 2.66% respectively. The crude proteins were whole pod (13.21%), pulp (10.98%) and seed (21.55%); crude fibre of the plant were whole pod (15.95%), pulp (6.77%) and seed (8.47%). The whole pod had 47.33% carbohydrate which was significantly (p≤0.05) lower than the carbohydrate of pulp (57.53%) and seed (55.52%). The utilization of the pods of S. samana is a significant source of bioactive that if harnessed in the formulation of nutraceutical beverage could offer a whole lot of health benefit to the users

Effect of Fermentation on the Anti-Nutritional Factors and

The effect of fermentation on the anti-nutritional factors and mineral composition of melon seed varieties for Ogiri production was studied. Melon seed varieties such as Citrullus vulgaris, Citrulluslanatus, Colocynthiscitrullus, Cucurbita pepo, Cucurmeropisedulis were respectively sorted, washed, boiled wrapped seed were then boiled again for 2 hours, drained, cooled and allowed to ferment naturally for 86 hours (primary fermentation). The primary fermented sees were then pounded and wrapped in little portions with “ofoala” leaf (Icacinatrichantha olive) and kept in wire mesh near a heat source for another 144 hours (secondary fermentation). Samples were drawn from the raw, boiled and fermented melon seed varieties for the quantitative analysis of mineral content and anti-nutritional prepared with the raw and primary fermented samples. Raw seed of Citrulluslanatus had the highest mineral analysis showed a decline in the boiled samples and secondary fermented sample, compared with the raw and mineral composition ranging from potassium, magnesium, cacium, iron and zinc of 1.21, 1.06, 0.89, 0.45 and 0.41mg/100g respectively followed by raw Citrullus Vulgaris with potassium, magenesium, calcium, iron and zinc of 1.18, 1.02, 0.55, 0.44 and 0.38 mg/100g respectively and 1.11, 0.94, 0.81, 0.38 and 0.31 mg/100gof potassium, magenesium, calcium, iron and zinc respectively in the primary fermented product. Statistical analysis of anti-nutrients revealed a significant reduction (p<0.05) in all the processed melon. There was a significant difference in all the processed melon with lowest anti-nutrient content ranging from alkaloid, saponin, HCN, phytate, tannin and flavonoid (0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.00, 0.03and 0.09 respectively) and Colocynthiscitrullus had the highest anti-nutrient content in the secondary fermentation. Keywords:Fermentation, anti-nutritional factors, Ogiri, mineral content,melon seed varieties

Screening for Developmental Neurotoxicity Using PC12 Cells: Comparisons of Organophosphates with a Carbamate, an Organochlorine, and Divalent Nickel

BACKGROUND: In light of the large number of chemicals that are potential developmental neurotoxicants, there is a need to develop rapid screening techniques. OBJECTIVES: We exposed undifferentiated and differentiating neuronotypic PC12 cells to different organophosphates (chlorpyrifos, diazinon, parathion), a carbamate (physostigmine), an organochlorine (dieldrin), and a metal (divalent nickel; Ni(2+)) and examined indices of cell replication and differentiation for both short- and long-term exposures. RESULTS: In undifferentiated cells, all the agents inhibited DNA synthesis, with the greatest effect for diazinon, but physostigmine eventually produced the largest deficits in the total number of cells after prolonged exposure. The onset of differentiation intensified the adverse effects on DNA synthesis and changed the rank order in keeping with a shift away from noncholinergic mechanisms and toward cholinergic mechanisms. Differentiation also worsened the effects of each agent on cell number after prolonged exposure, whereas cell growth was not suppressed, nor were there any effects on viability as assessed with trypan blue. Nevertheless, differentiating cells displayed signs of oxidative stress from all of the test compounds except Ni(2+), as evidenced by measurements of lipid peroxidation. Finally, all of the toxicants shifted the transmitter fate of the cells away from the cholinergic phenotype and toward the catecholaminergic phenotype. CONCLUSIONS: These studies point out the feasibility of developing cell-based screening methods that enable the detection of multiple end points that may relate to mechanisms associated with developmental neurotoxicity, revealing some common targets for disparate agents

EFFECT OF DIFFERENT DOUGH IMPROVERS ON THE PROXIMATE COMPOSITION, MINERALS, VITAMINS AND SENSORY PROPERTIES OF WHEAT BREAD

Abstract Comparative evaluation of bread made from wheat flour using five different dough improvers was evaluated. The improvers were ascorbic acid, EDC-2000, (etheylen