Rain water harvesting for water efficiency and management

Water being one of the world’s basic resources and one of the most essential needs to life, could be considered the nature’s precious gift to the living being. Although this resource was available in plenty till recently, due to urbanization, increase in population, industrialization and for large scale enterprises the shortage of water in the world has become evident. Furthermore, due to implications of climate change on rainfall patterns, with extremities of weather giving rise to floods and droughts there is growing concern globally about appropriate strategies to be adopted as far as the built environment is concerned for proper management and harvesting of rain water. Thus globally a Millennium Development Goal has also been set and rain water harvesting has emerged as an important issue in the international scenario. It has been highlighted at the third World Water Forum held in Kyoto, Japan, in the context of Millennium Development Goals and the issue of sustainability, at the Global Ministerial Environmental Forum in Korea, which has led to formulation of many networks and policies. The famous proclamation by King Parakramabahu the Great in (1153-1186 AD) could be considered as one of earliest policy statements, on water resources development and management in Sri Lanka, which highlights rain water harvesting. “Let not allow a single drop of water falling as rain flow into the sea without being used for the benefit of mankind”. This shows the wisdom and commitment of ancient kings and people to conserve and efficiently manage water resources by building tanks specially in the dry zone and the design and construction of complex water collection and distribution systems such as in the Sigiriya rock fortress. The Government of Sri Lanka in June 2005 accepted a “National Policy on Rain Water Harvesting & Strategies”. Sri Lanka has used rain water for both domestic and agricultural purposes for many centuries and the institutionalized rain water harvesting became a practice in Sri Lanka in 1995, under the World Bank funded Community Water Supply and Sanitation Project. This project initiated the emergence of the Lanka Rain Water Harvesting Forum (LRWHF). A major challenge is the need to have a delivery of the stored rain water, for which gravity flow and hand/manual pumping has been the economic option the use of Solar Energy is being promoted specially in rural areas where there is no main grid power available. Another challenge is the public Health concern due to the comparatively stagnant nature of rain water harvesting. There has been a significant increase in the use of rain water harvesting in Sri Lanka, which has proved to be a boon to rural people, particularly for domestic water supplies in water scarce situations. An estimated thirty thousand systems are presently in operation, scattered over a large number of districts. Interestingly, several large scale projects have also been implemented in the urban context, and this too is likely to increase in the future. With a National policy on Rain Water Harvesting and other legislation in effect, Sri Lanka stands to benefit significantly by the appropriate use of this technology

Broilers fed a low protein diet supplemented with synthetic amino acids maintained growth performance and retained intestinal integrity while reducing nitrogen excretion when raised under poor sanitary conditions

The present study investigated the effects of supplementing a low protein (LP) diet supplemented with key essential amino acids (AA) to broilers on growth performance, intestinal tract function, blood metabolites, and nitrogen excretion when the animals were maintained under various sanitary conditions for 35 D after hatching. Three hundred eighty-four one-day-old male broilers (Ross 308) were randomly allotted to groups that received one of 6 dietary treatments in a 2 × 3 factorial arrangement (i.e., 2 environmental conditions and 3 dietary treatments) to give 8 replicates per treatment. Broilers were challenged with 2 environmental conditions (sanitary vs. poor sanitary). The dietary treatments were (1) high protein (HP) diet, (2) LP diet, and (3) LP diet with synthetic key essential AA (LPA): the LP diet was supplemented with synthetic AA up to the required levels for broilers. On day 14, birds consumed the LP diet impaired growth performance compared with those fed the HP diet, while the average daily weight gain-to-feed conversion ratio of birds fed the LPA diet improved to the level of birds fed the HP diet under poor sanitary conditions (P < 0.05). Broilers raised under poor sanitary conditions and fed the LP diet displayed higher (P < 0.05) zonula occludens (ZO-1) expression on day 14 than broilers fed either the HP or LPA diet. Under sanitary conditions, birds fed HP and LPA diets showed higher villus height and crypt depth compared with those of broilers fed the LP diet on day 35. Moreover, broilers raised in the poor sanitary environment had higher (P < 0.05) serum endotoxins than those raised in the sanitary environment. Broilers fed the LPA diet showed reduced (P < 0.05) nitrogen excretion on days 14 and 35 compared with those fed the LP and HP diets independent of the environment. In conclusion, the LPA diet did not impair growth performance under poor sanitary conditions for 14 D after hatch while resulting in lower nitrogen excretion in any environment conditions throughout the experiment

Survey of potential sites for installation of hydraulic ram pumps

The overall objective of the project was to identify a few sites, selected from one or more districts which would be suitable for the installation of a ram pump system. In August 1993 a workshop was held at the University of Moratuwa on the "Use of Hydraulic Ram Pumps for Rural Water Supply and Irrigation". Following this workshop, a pilot project was implemented at Bulathsinhala in collaboration with the National Water Supply and Drainage Board. The project supplied water to a rural school and several houses in Niggaha. There is now an increasing awareness and interest in the use of ram pumps in Sri Lanka. The University of Moratuwa is actively involved in the technology transfer process. The PALM Foundation (Nuwara Eliya) has already implemented several ram pump projects. The locations selected through this project have covered the districts of Gampaha, Kegalle, Ratnapura, Nuwara Eliya and Colombo. Ram pumps are particularly useful in areas that are hilly and do not have electricity. These can be used for water supply and irrigation. This project has been funded by the University of Moratuwa

The apparent metabolizable energy requirement of male Korean native ducklings from hatch to 21 days of age

A study was conducted to determine the apparent metabolizable energy (AME) requirement of Korean native ducklings for hatch to 21 d of age. A total of 336 one-day-old male Korean native ducklings were used in a completely randomized design having 8 dietary treatments to provide a range of AME content from 2,600 to 3,300 kcal/kg (i.e., 100 kcal/kg disparity). Eight experimental diets containing varying levels of AME were formulated to meet the NRC (1994) nutrient specifications. Ducklings were randomly allocated to 48 pens (6 replicates per treatment and 7 ducklings per pen) and were offered their respective diets on an ad libitum basis for the period of study. Body weight and feed intake were measured weekly to calculate feed conversion ratio, energy intake, and protein intake. Two ducklings per pen (n = 6) were euthanized via cervical dislocation to weigh empty body and drumsticks at the conclusion of the experiment. Data were fitted to both linear-plateau and quadratic-plateau models for estimation of the AME requirements for Korean native ducklings for hatch to 21 d of age. The estimated AME requirements were 2,953, 3,007, and 2,950 kcal AME/kg diet for maximum daily gain, daily feed intake, and for minimum feed conversion ratio, respectively

Reducing the dietary omega-6 to omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid ratio attenuated inflammatory indices and sustained epithelial tight junction integrity in weaner pigs housed in a poor sanitation condition

The present study was conducted to determine the effect of reducing dietary n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio on the performance, inflammatory response and gut morphology of PWD challenged with sanitary and poor sanitary conditions in weaned pigs, and to test the hypotheses that (1) exposure to an poor sanitary environment will increase indices for inflammatory response; and (2) reducing n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio in diets for weaned pigs will attenuate the inflammatory response induced by the environmental challenge. A total of 108 male pigs [Duroc×(Yorkshire×Landrace); initial BW 7.1±0.5kg] weaned at 21days of age were randomly allocated to one of 3 dietary treatments and 2 environmental conditions (sanitary vs. poor sanitary) to give 6 replicate pens per treatment with 3 pigs per pen. The dietary treatments were 3 graded levels of n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio (i.e.,20:1, 10:1 and 4:1) formulated using tallow, safflower oil, and a vegetable and fish oil blended product. One pig per pen (n=6) was euthanized on d 0, d 7 and d 14, to collect blood and small intestinal tissue samples. Pigs exposed to a poor sanitary environment tended (P<0.10) to grow more slowly and utilized feed less efficiently (P<0.05) compared with the pigs housed in sanitary conditions. Housing weaned pigs in a poor sanitary environment increased (P<0.05) the incidence of diarrhoea. Furthermore, a poor sanitary environment increased (P<0.001) the occludin diffusion in the ileal epithelium of weaned pigs and increased plasma concentrations of TNF-α (P<0.05), COX-2 (P<0.05), PGE2 (P<0.01) and LTB4 (P<0.05) on d 14. Reducing the n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio improved (P<0.05) both ADG and FCR but reduced (P <0.01) the incidence of diarrhoea over 14days after weaning, and they tended to attenuate (P<0.10) the diffusion of the transmembrane tight junction protein occludin at the apical intercellular region of the ileal epithelium. Moreover, reducing the n-6:n-3 ratio in the diet attenuated the increased inflammatory indices induced by the environmental challenge. Correlation analysis indicated that n-6 PUFA intake of individual pigs positively correlated with plasma concentrations of IL-1β (P<0.01), TNF-α (P<0.05), PGE2 (P<0.01) and COX-2 (P<0.05). Our results indicated that housing pigs in a poor sanitary environment after weaning increased inflammatory responses and reduced growth performance. Reducing the n-6:n-3 PUFA ratio to 4:1 attenuated the inflammatory responses observed after weaning in both environment on d 7 and in the poor sanitary environment on d 14