Effect of mycotoxins contaminated corn on growth nutrient digestibility and in vitro rumen fermentation in goats

Two trials (in vivo and in vitro) were conducted to evaluate corn naturally contaminated with mycotoxins, majority being aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on the performance, nutrient digestion and rumen fermentation in growing goats. China Lezhi black goats (12), weighing 16.39 to 16.45 kg, were fed with the diet of 40% concentrate (the mycotoxin naturally contaminated diet containing 74.49 μg/kg AFB1, 2.08 μg/kg AFB2, 59.71 μg/kg DON and 36.51 μg/kg ZEN) for 28 days. The results showed that the contaminated corn had no significant effect on feed intake but decreased the average daily gain (ADG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) in growing goats. Digestibility of crude protein (CP) in the trial group was significantly lower than the control group and the digestibilities of acid detergent fibre (ADF) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) decreased too, but not significantly. Neither volatile fatty acid (VFA) nor pH was significantly different between the 2 groups. The ammonia nitrogen (NH3-N) in the trial group was lower in both in vivo trial and in vitro trial (0 h to 3 h). In in vitro experiment, ruminal fluids were collected from 4 China Lezhi goats and incubated at 39°C for 48 h with control corn or AFB1 contaminated corn. The total gas production and gas production rate in the trial group were significantly lower than the control group. These reductions showed the negative effects of the naturally contaminated AFB1 corn on nutrient digestibility and rumen function in growing goats

Study on controlling factors and developing a quantitative assessment model for spontaneous combustion hazard of coal gangue

Developing a quantitative hazard assessment model for spontaneous coal gangue combustion is imperative to ensuring the safety of coal mining operations. In this study, eight types of coal gangue from different coalfields were used to determine the controlling factors for spontaneous combustion. A variety of physical and chemical characterization methods were employed to investigate the physical and chemical characteristics of the samples. Based on the experimental results, six key parameters were identified, namely the aliphatic C–H components, pyrite sulfur content, physical oxygen absorption capacity, ash content, ignition point temperature, and activation energy for thermal decomposition. The results show that the spontaneous combustion hazard of coal gangue is positively correlated with the first three of these and is negatively correlated with the rest. Using the entropy-weight method combined with the analytic hierarchy process, appropriate weighting factors for each parameter were obtained and used to establish a quantitative assessment model for the spontaneous combustion hazard of coal gangue. This model is expected to enhance the current industrial best practices for the prevention and control of spontaneous coal gangue combustion

A Deep Learning Approach of Vehicle Multitarget Detection from Traffic Video

Vehicle detection is expected to be robust and efficient in various scenes. We propose a multivehicle detection method, which consists of YOLO under the Darknet framework. We also improve the YOLO-voc structure according to the change of the target scene and traffic flow. The classification training model is obtained based on ImageNet and the parameters are fine-tuned according to the training results and the vehicle characteristics. Finally, we obtain an effective YOLO-vocRV network for road vehicles detection. In order to verify the performance of our method, the experiment is carried out on different vehicle flow states and compared with the classical YOLO-voc, YOLO 9000, and YOLO v3. The experimental results show that our method achieves the detection rate of 98.6% in free flow state, 97.8% in synchronous flow state, and 96.3% in blocking flow state, respectively. In addition, our proposed method has less false detection rate than previous works and shows good robustness

Comparison of efficacy of lactic acid bacteria complex and Enterococcus faecium DSM 7134 in weanling pigs

We conducted this study to compare the effects of lactic acid bacteria complex (L. casei, L. rhamnosus, L. lactis, L. plantarum, S. thermophilus, and B. longum) and Enterococcus faecium DSM 7134 in weanling pigs. A total of 120 weanling pigs (24-day-old) were used in a 5-week feeding trial. Pigs were allotted into three dietary treatments: CON, basal diet; LA, CON + 0.1% lactic acid bacteria complex; EF, and CON + 0.1% E. faecium DSM 7134. From days 0 to 14, days 15 to 35, and the overall period, average daily gain was higher (P < .05) in EF than that in CON. Higher gain:feed ratio was also observed in EF compared with CON during the overall period. The apparent total tract digestibility of dry matter, nitrogen, and gross energy was greater (P < .05) in LA and EF compared with CON on days 14 and 35. Faecal Lactobacillus counts were increased (P < .05) and faecal pH was decreased in LA and EF compared with CON on days 14 and 35. Results of the current study indicated that E.faecium DSM 7134 has better effects on growth performance than lactic acid bacteria complex in weanling pigs

Effects of Dietary Supplementation with Vitamin A on Antioxidant and Intestinal Barrier Function of Broilers Co-Infected with Coccidia and <i>Clostridium perfringens</i>

Necrotic enteritis (NE) impairs poultry production and causes great economic loss. The nutritional regulation of diets has the potential to alleviate NE. The present study was conducted to investigate the effects of dietary supplementation with vitamin A (VA) on the antioxidant and intestinal barrier function of broilers co-infected with coccidia and C. perfringens (CCP). In a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement, 336 one-day-old Ross 308 broilers were divided into four treatments with two levels of VA (0 or 12,000 IU/kg) and challenged with or without CCP. The animal trial lasted for 42 days. The results showed that dietary supplemental VA improved body weight gain (BWG) and the feed intake (FI), and the FI was negatively affected by CCP. Additionally, the levels of catalase (CAT) in the serum, total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD), and CAT in the jejunum and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) in the liver decreased with the CCP challenge (p SOD, CAT, GSH-Px1, and GSH-Px3 in the liver and jejunum were upregulated by the CCP challenge (p ZO-1 were also upregulated with the CCP challenge. Dietary supplementation with VA contributed to the intestinal villi height and the mRNA level of Mucin-2 in the jejunum (p SOD, CAT, GSH-Px1, GSH-Px3, ZO-1, and claudin-1 in the jejunum with the CCP challenge (p GSH-Px3 and the levels of SOD in the liver and jejunum were downregulated with the VA supplementation in the diet. In conclusion, dietary VA improved the growth performance and the intestinal barrier function; nonetheless, it failed to alleviate the negative effects of CCP on the antioxidant function in broilers

Study on the Ecological Circulation Agricultural System of Combining Planting and Raising of Berry Tea

Berry tea is a perennial vine. Its scientific name is ampelopsis grossedentata. It belongs to vitaceae and is widely spread in the Tujia people of Xiangxi, Hunan Province. By adopting appropriate agricultural planting technology, rational use of organic selenium fertilizer and nutritional conditioner, we can produce high-quality berry tea with more healthy and even medicinal value and high selenium content, and realize double protection of human health with high selenium content and high flavonoids. Under the existing planting system, through the supplement of breeding links, constructing ecological recycling agricultural system combining planting and raising, not only can greatly enrich the supply of table agricultural products, but also can effectively ensure the high quality and high safety of agricultural products, and can effectively enrich the local agricultural industrial structure

Triassic depleted lithospheric mantle underneath the Paleozoic Chinese Altai orogen: Evidence from MORB-like basalts

Whole-rock geochemical and Sr-Nd-Pb-Hf isotopic analyses were conducted on the Triassic Ashele post-orogenie basalts from the Chinese Altai. The tholeiitic Ashele basalts possess moderate Na2O (2.46-4.52 wt%) but extremely low K2O (<= 0.06 wt%) contents, and are depleted in light rare earth elements (LREE). Their (La/Sm)(N) and (La/Yb)(N) ratios range from 0.78 to 0.88 and from 0.72 to 0.84, respectively, which, together with their low initial Sr-87/Sr-86 (0.7048-0.7052), high epsilon Nd(t) ( + 4.9 to + 5.6) and epsilon Hf(t) ( + 14.3 to + 16.3) values, indicate that the magmas were derived from a depleted mantle source. Their (206)pb/(204)pb and Pb-207/Pb-204 ratios (17.919-18.125 and 15.507-15.522, respectively) also support this interpretation. On the other hand, the Ashele basalts are enriched in Cs, Th and U, but depleted in Rb, Ba, Nb and Ta, possibly due to slight mantle metasomatism by subduction-related fluids. Because there was no record for large-scale thermal activity in the deep mantle during the Triassic, and geological evidence demonstrates reactivation of the Emil's fault, we propose that such a tectonic reactivation affected-the lithospherit mantle and resulted in its partial melting and subsequent generation of the Ashele basalts. This study shows that a depleted lithospheric mantle, not an ancient continental lithosphere, was underneath the Chinese Altai in the Triassic, which was possibly accreted during the Paleozoic orogeny. Therefore, the lithospheric mantle in this area today was possibly evolved from such a depleted mantle modified by consecutive partial melting after the Paleozoic orogeny

Recycled oceanic crust in the form of pyroxenite contributing to the Cenozoic continental basalts in central Asia: new perspectives from olivine chemistry and whole-rock B-Mo isotopes

Cenozoic continental basalts are widespread in central Asia. To explore their source nature and petrogenesis, this study presents an integrated study of olivine chemistry, bulk-rock Ar-40/Ar-39 age and geochemistry as well as Sr-Nd-Pb-B-Mo isotopes for the Miocene (ca. 15.5 Ma) Halaqiaola basalts in the Chinese Altai, central Asia. The Halaqiaola basalts mostly have basanite compositions with high total alkali (Na2O + K2O = 6.89-8.01 wt%) contents and high K2O/Na2O (0.87-1.39) ratios. Compared with partial melting products of mantle peridotite, the basaltic samples possess lower CaO and CaO/Al2O3 but higher TiO2, Zn/Mn and Zn/Fe values. Meanwhile, olivine phenocrysts from these basalts are characterized by lower Ca, Ni and Mn contents but higher Fe/Mn ratios than their counterparts in the peridotitic melts, suggesting a pyroxenite-rich source. Moreover, these rocks show OIB-like trace element patterns (e.g., spikes of Ba, Sr, Nb and Ta and troughs of Th and U), and constant Nd but variable Sr and EM1-like Pb isotopic compositions, and yield light delta B-11 (- 11.0 to - 8.1 parts per thousand) and delta Mo-98 (- 0.40 to - 0.06 parts per thousand) values. The above geochemical data suggest that secondary pyroxenite was likely produced by reaction of recycled oceanic crust with its ambient peridotite and subsequently became the main source for the basanite. Furthermore, their light and variable delta Mo-98 values probably reflect that recycled oceanic crust involved in such pyroxenite was altered with different degrees. In combination with available data from adjacent regions, we propose that the far-field effect of India-Eurasia collision was the first-order factor for the upwelling of dispersive asthenospheric mantle beneath central Asia, subsequent melting of which gave rise to the widespread Cenozoic volcanism