Influence of betaine on milk yield and fatty acid composition in lactating dairy goats

Two groups of 30 goats were selected to determine the effects of added betaine (4 g/kg) on diets of MurcianoGranadina dairy goat. After an experimental period of 3 months no significant differences between groups were observed for milk yield, chemical composition and somatic cells count in milk. Feeding betaine supplemented diets increased relatively the proportions of short chain fatty acids (C6:0 to C 10:0) and significantly (P<0.05) increased the proportions of medium chain fatty acids (C12:0 to C15:0) in milk fat. Thus betaine feeding maybe considered beneficial for producing milk good for human health. © GSP, India.This work was supported by a technological contract between Universidad Politecnica de Valencia and Danisco Animal Nutrition, the Research Project AGL2003-01712.Peer Reviewe

Development of a NASA 2018 Mars Landed Mission Concept

Fundamental to NASA's Mars Exploration Program (MEP) is an ongoing development of an integrated and coordinated set of possible future candidate missions that meet fundamental science and programmatic objectives of NASA and the Mars scientific community. In the current planning horizon of the NASA MEP, a landed mobile surface exploration mission launching in the 2018 Mars launch opportunity exists as a candidate project to meet MEP in situ science and exploration objectives. This paper describes the proposed mission science objectives and the mission implementation concept developed for the 2018 opportunity. As currently envisioned, this mission concept seeks to explore a yet-to-be-selected site with high preservation potential for physical and chemical biosignatures, evaluate paleoenvironmental conditions, characterize the potential for preservation of biosignatures, and access multiple sequences of geological units in a search for evidence of past life and/or prebiotic chemistry at a site on Mars