Effects of Probiotic on Turkeys and Laying Hens

Previous studies (A.S. Series 78-7, 77-20 and 76-10) have shown probiotics to have beneficial effects upon growing turkeys under some conditions of stress. There was no response with laying hens in a study reported on last year (A.S. Series 78-7)

Effect of Pelleting and Bacitracin Form on Egg Production

Bacitracin-MD and zinc bacitracin at 0, 10, 20 and 40 g per ton levels were individually added to a 13.2% protein low density mash diet (Table 1). In addition, the control and diets containing 40 g of antibiotics per ton were pelleted to investigate the effects of antibiotics and/or pelleting on egg production parameters and feed consumption. Twelve 24-week old pullets were initially used for each treatment replicated eight times using randomized complete block designs. Feed and water were provided ad libitum

Grower Diets for Layer Pullets Using Corn or Oats

In previous studies with low-protein (12%) diets for growing pullets, the diets that have supported the best subsequent production and with the least mortality and layer feed have contained some oats. Last year\u27s results showed a 30% oats diet to be just as good in that regard as one containing 80% oats. A 12% protein diet with only corn as the grain component caused the hens to produce at a 2.7% lower rate of production (440 hens per treatment, significant at 0.05)

Performance Of Layers As Affected By Grower Diets And Pelleting 12 And 16% Protein Diets

Previous studies at this station have shown significant advantages for using grower diets relatively higher in fiber content. This study was conducted in part to evaluate the use of oat hulls for which frequently there is no demand for this purpose. During the layer phase, the effects of pelleting were examined

Effects of N-Acetylcysteine on auditory brainstem response threshold shift in rabbits exposed to noise and carbon monoxide

Problem statement: Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) is one of the most important occupational disease in worldwide. NIHL has been found to be potentiated by simultaneous Carbon monoxide (CO) exposure. Exposure to noise plus CO is common in occupational and environmental settings. Free radicals have been implicated in cochlear damage resulting from exposure to noise and due to CO hypoxia This study examined whether N-Acetylcysteine (NAC) administration cause attenuation of Auditory Brainstem Response (ABR) threshold shifts resulting from noise exposure and noise plus CO exposure. Approach: Forty-two rabbits were divided into seven groups including control, noise+ saline, noise+ CO +saline, noise+ NAC, noise+ CO+ NAC, CO+ NAC and NAC alone. ABR was assessed before exposure, 1 hour and 14 days post exposure. Results: The administration of 325 mg kg-1 of NAC prior, following and post exposure to noise or noise plus CO recovered permanent ABR threshold shift at 1 and 2 kHz almost to the baseline and provided significant attenuation in permanent ABR threshold shift at 4 and 8 kHz in subjects which were exposed to noise but it did not block the potentiating of threshold elevation by CO exposure (extra threshold loss by combined exposure) at 4 and 8 kHz. Conclusion: NAC provides protective effect against hearing loss resulting from noise exposure and simultaneous exposure to noise plus CO. © 2010 Science Publications

Non-linear flexural behaviour of RC columns including bar buckling and fatigue degradation

An advanced fibre-based modelling technique is developed to characterise the non-linear flexural behaviour of rectangular reinforced-concrete (RC) columns by accounting for the influence of inelastic buckling and low-cycle fatigue degradation of vertical reinforcement. The proposed uniaxial material model of reinforcing steel is calibrated using 22 rectangular RC column tests. The influence of inelastic buckling of vertical reinforcement on the non-linear cyclic response of rectangular RC columns is investigated. The calibrated model is capable of accurately predicting the non-linear response of rectangular RC columns up to complete collapse by taking into account the additional failure modes of the RC columns

The Interplay Between θ\theta and T

We extend a recent computation of the dependence of the free energy, F, on the noncommutative scale $\theta$ to theories with very different UV sensitivity. The temperature dependence of $F$ strongly suggests that a reduced number of degrees of freedom contributes to the free energy in the non-planar sector, $F_{\rm np}$, at high temperature. This phenomenon seems generic, independent of the UV sensitivity, and can be traced to modes whose thermal wavelengths become smaller than the noncommutativity scale. The temperature dependence of $F_{\rm np}$ can then be calculated at high temperature using classical statistical mechanics, without encountering a UV catastrophe even in large number of dimensions. This result is a telltale sign of the low number of degrees of freedom contributing to $F$ in the non-planar sector at high temperature. Such behavior is in marked contrast to what would happen in a field theory with a random set of higher derivative interactions.Comment: 14 pages, 1 eps figur

Arthrospira platensis: a novel feed supplement improves meat eating quality of Australian lamb

Feeds and feeding account for a substantial cost of sheep production, hence the quest for alternative sources of nutrients that can facilitate fast growth in prime lambs without comprising meat eating quality is a continuous research endeavour. This study examined the effect of daily oral drenching of grazing prime lambs with a highly nutritious and edible blue-green microalga commonly referred to as Spirulina (Arthrospira platensis) for nine weeks on meat eating quality and consumer acceptability. The prime lambs were weaners from Merino ewes sired by Dorset, White Suffolk, Black Suffolk and Merino rams randomly allocated to 3 levels of Spirulina supplementation (0, 10 and 20% wt/vol) with 8 lambs per treatment. The lambs were balanced by gender (ewes and wethers), body condition score (average of 3.1 ± 0.4) and body weight (average of 37.6 ± 5.2 kg). Lambs were slaughtered in a commercial abattoir and Longissimus dorsi muscle samples barbequed. A consumer tasting panel subjectively evaluated the sensory meat eating qualities of tenderness, juiciness, aroma, appearance and overall liking. The data were subjected to statistical analyses utilizing the GLM procedures in SAS with sire breed, sex, Spirulina level and their second-order interactions fitted as fixed effects and sire as a random variable. The consumer panel detected highly significant (p<0.001) differences in meat tenderness with the high supplementation group being the least tender (6.8 ± 0.2) compared with the low (7.6 ± 0.2) and control (8.0 ± 0.2) treatments out of a maximum possible score of 10. These results indicated that Spirulina supplementation at a 10% inclusion level produced leaner, healthier meats with relatively little impact on overall eating quality when compared with meat from animals at either 0% or 20% supplementation levels. This will enable prime Iamb producers to make informed decisions regarding the most economically viable use of Spirulina in their flock in targeting potential new niche markets. The study also supports the hypothesis that Spirulina lowers intramuscular fat levels and improves meat tenderness at low levels of supplementation without detrimental effects on eating quality

Surface Operator, Bubbling Calabi-Yau and AGT Relation

Surface operators in N=2 four-dimensional gauge theories are interesting half-BPS objects. These operators inherit the connection of gauge theory with the Liouville conformal field theory, which was discovered by Alday, Gaiotto and Tachikawa. Moreover it has been proposed that toric branes in the A-model topological strings lead to surface operators via the geometric engineering. We analyze the surface operators by making good use of topological string theory. Starting from this point of view, we propose that the wave-function behavior of the topological open string amplitudes geometrically engineers the surface operator partition functions and the Gaiotto curves of corresponding gauge theories. We then study a peculiar feature that the surface operator corresponds to the insertion of the degenerate fields in the conformal field theory side. We show that this aspect can be realized as the geometric transition in topological string theory, and the insertion of a surface operator leads to the bubbling of the toric Calabi-Yau geometry.Comment: 36 pages, 14 figures. v2: minor changes and typos correcte