Community Food Store Types Availability is Associated with Fruit and Vegetable Consumption in North Carolina

Despite the nutritional guidelines promoting consumption of fruits and vegetables, the level of fruits and vegetable consumption is drastically below the recommended levels nationally, as well as at the state levels. Among factors that may influence consumption of fruits and vegetables, it is held that factors within the food environment such as the availability of retail types that are conducive for easy access to fruits and vegetables within communities may be presenting barriers to purchase. We employ multilevel modeling approaches to investigate the determinants of fruit and vegetable intake in North Carolina, accounting for food environment factors. Results of the study indicate that availability of supermarkets and full service restaurants is associated positively with fruits and vegetable consumption while fast food outlets are associated negatively. Other smaller store types were not statistically significant. Individual factors including age, being female, employed, income and education all were positively associated with fruits and vegetable consumption. The significant positive association of area level food environmental factors with the consumption of fruits and vegetables indicates a complementary role for intervention directed at improving the availability of supermarket type stores so as to impact healthy food purchases and consumption.Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

The “Made in USA poultry label” and consumer choice in Ghana

Market survey data from Ghana was used to gain understanding of consumers’ attitudes, preferences for foreign food products, and the role product country of origin plays in the demand for poultry. Intention to purchase poultry from the US was anchored on product packaging, quality, expiry date and country of origin.Country of origin, consumer preference, poultry demand, Ghana, US exports., Agribusiness, Industrial Organization, Marketing, Q13, Q17,

Biophysical economic analysis of nutrient and sediment management practices in the Mississippi Alluvial Valley

Conventional drainage systems and poorly drained soils tend to increase row crop agriculture nutrient and sediment effluent loads. Best management practices help reduce row crop production environmental pollution. This dissertation looked at nutrient and tillage management practices that could help farmers address future total maximum daily loads (TMDLs) for the Cabin-Teele sub-watershed, within the lower Mississippi River Basin. The dissertation had two objectives. The first objective was to examine the economic and environmental impact of tillage and nutrient management practices in reducing agricultural pollutants to meet TMDL requirements. Relative cost effectiveness of different tillage and nutrient management practices were analyzed as part of this objective. The second objective was to evaluate and compare social net economic benefits of achieving specific sediment and nutrient criteria reductions; nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment reductions individually, and concurrently (reducing all three simultaneously) given a set of agronomic practices in the watershed. Results showed reduced tillage system were preferred to either conventional tillage or conservation tillage in Cabin-Teele because of their higher net revenue per acre. Additionally, the intermittent occurrence of hardpan soils (due to heavy rainfalls) in this watershed required disking every four to five years to help maintain yields. Simulated results showed that nitrogen fertilizer management, and conservation tillage, were cost-effective in helping reduce nutrient effluent runoff. Changes in tillage management helped producers reduce sediment loading in the watershed. In the scenario with nutrients and sediment reduced simultaneously, the most binding cropland pollutant was phosphorus

Effect Of Feeding Different Supplements On The Performance Of Yankasa Rams Offered A Basal Diet Of Cowpea Hay In The Semi Arid Region Of Nigeria.

The research was conducted at the Department of Animal Science Teaching and Research Farm Modibbo Adama University of Technology, Yola, Nigeria. A total of 12Yankasa rams aged 6-12 months  and weighed 15.5-20.5kg were studied. The rams were randomly divided into 4 treatments of 3 animals/treatment in a completely randomised design (CRD). The treatments were :T1 (cowpea hay only adlib, control), T2 (cowpea hay adlib + cotton seed cake), T3 (cowpea hay adlib + brewers waste) and T4 (cowpea hay only adlib + maize bran).  Inadequate quantity and quality of feeds during the dry season lead to reduced feed intake and weight loss in small ruminants in the tropics.  Therefore it calls for supplementation of feeds which will increase feed intake and reduce loss weight of small ruminants. The research aimed at evaluating the dry matter intake, water intake, weight gain and appropriate feed combination of feeding small ruminants in the Semi-arid Region. The research lasted for 74 days plus adjustment period of two weeks. Results showed that the highest dry matter intake (947.7g/a/d/) was recorded in rams fed cowpea hay supplemented with cotton seed cake while the lowest (844.69/h/a/d) was obtained in rams fed cowpea hay only. The dry matter digestibility ranged from 52.4% - 61.7%, CF varied from 51.0%-59.3% and CP digestibility ranged between 60.3% -68.2%. The highest live weight gain (115.3g/h/d) was recorded in those rams that were fed cowpea hay supplemented with cotton seed cake and the least in T1 (control 85.7g/h/d). Water intake ranged from 2.9 – 3.4 lit/h/d. Cowpea hay supplemented with cotton seed cake is highly recommended for feeding small ruminants in the Region because these feed combinations gave highest dry matter intake and live weight gain. KEY WORDS: Adlib, Brewer’s waste(BW). Cowpea hay, cotton seed cake(CSC) Maize bran(MB), Live weight gain, Yankasa

Superdeformation and hyperdeformation in the 108^{108}Cd nucleus

The superdeformation and hyperdeformation in $^{108}$Cd have been studied for the first time within the framework of the fully self-consistent cranked mean field theory, namely, cranked relativistic mean field theory. The structure of observed superdeformed bands 1 and 2 have been analyzed in detail. The bumps seen in their dynamic moments of inertia are explained as arising from unpaired band crossings. This is contrary to an explanation given earlier within the framework of projected shell model. It was also concluded that this nucleus is not doubly magic SD nucleus

EVALUATION OF EXPORT PROMOTION PROGRAMS ON TRADE OF HIGH-VALUED AND PROCESSED FOOD PRODUCTS: IMPLICATIONS FOR NORTH CAROLINA AGRIBUSINESS

International Relations/Trade,

DETERMINANTS OF UNSAFE HAMBURGER COOKING BEHAVIOR

We used a national hamburger preparation survey to estimate a simultaneous equation model of food safety knowledge, attitudes, and hamburger cooking behavior. The results suggest that food safety risk perceptions, palatability attributes, and food safety knowledge play important roles in determining food preparation behavior.Consumer/Household Economics, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety,

Public health nutrition intervention to evaluate the nutritional impact of the Ghana School Feeding Programme in Lower Manya Krobo (LMK) district, and enhancing its effectiveness through a nutrition intervention

School feeding interventions like many other donor dependent nutrition interventions in low-income countries have often been described to be ineffective or unsustainable because they are designed with donor specific nutritional interests, which often do not reflect the indigenous dietary preference and patterns of target populations. In Ghana, over half a million school children depend on the school meals as their main stable source of food for the day however there have been several reports of lack of nutritional impact of the due to the dependence on non-indigenous foods. The aim of this study was to develop school meals (SCm) for the Ghana School Feeding Programme (GSFP) in the Lower Manya Krobo District by employing local agricultural produce as food-to-food fortification. The study is based on the tailored functional food recipe concept that seeks to enhance the effectiveness of nutrition interventions by employing indigenous knowledge of food composition and food processing to improve micronutrients profile of local available foods without compromising palatability. Maize, sweet potatoes, soybeans, Moringa oleifera, palm nut oil, anchovies were processed using traditional methods. Each SCm was formulated using nutrition data from FAO West African-Food-Composition-Table to contain at least 40% DRI for protein. AOAC (2009) methods were used to analyse the nutritional content of the SCm and two sets of sensory tests were performed to determine acceptability. In all, five SCm were developed and per 100g of each SCm, carbohydrate (with crude fibre) and protein content ranged from 68.07g to 49.18g and 16.32g to 27.52g respectively whilst fat content ranged between 4.1g and 19.4g. Calcium content ranged from 284mg to 960mg whilst iron and zinc contents range between 7.17g to 11.17g and 0.97g to 1.59g respectively. In the sensory test, SCm coded FSM123, FSM101 and FSM579 had highest mean overall acceptability scores of 7.58±0.56, 7.74±0.81 and 7.71±0.70 respectively. The efficacy and effectiveness of the SCm were tested in a 6 months pilot nutrition n (180) and 9-month scale-up intervention (n=330) together with a control group and a GSFP group. After initial deworming and malaria screening, the intervention the GSFP group received the normal school meals, the control group received three portions of fruit as incentive the SCm group receive 15g weight bases of SCm meal together with nutritional education. The results showed that participants in the SCm treatment group had an average 3.24% increase in height (p≤0.05) and 13.08% increase in weight (p≤0.0.5) over the intervention periods. There was also a 17% decrease in anaemia prevalence compared 11% decrease in the control and 9% decrease in GSFP. The results illustrate that the application of indigenous knowledge, and innovation in of nutrition could be a plausible tool in enhancing the nutrient content of school meals. The SCm seems to provide some leverage and resilience against further malnutrition and when combined with deworming, malaria treatment buttressed with behaviour change communication provided greater nutritional impact on height and weight relative to the other groups in the study

Performance of Yankasa Rams Fed Andropogon gayanus (Gamba Grass) Hay Supplemented with Faidherbia albida (Acacia) Pods

A 91-day feeding trial was conducted to determine the effect of supplementing gamba grass (Andropogon gayanus) hay with acacia (Faidherbia albida) pods on the performance of Yankasa rams. Twelve yankasa rams, aged between 6 – 8 months with average live weight of 17kg were subjected to four dietary treatments, each consisting of three replicates in a randomized complete block design. The four dietary treatments were T1 (Gamba grass hay + 0% acacia pods), T2 (Gambas grass hay + 10% acacia pods), T3 (Gamba grass hay + 20% acacia pods) and T4 (Gamba grass hay + 30% acacia pods). The result showed that rams fed T1 recorded the least feed intake and weight again than T2, T3 and T4 which were supplemented with acacia pods.   The live weight gain of Yankasa rams in the supplemented diets were not significantly (P<0.05) different. The water intake of the rams was not significantly (P<0.05) affected by the acacia pods supplementation. The nutrient digestibility was significantly (P<0.05) affected by the acacia pods supplementation. Rams fed supplemented diets had significantly (P<0.05) improved nutrient digestibility than those fed the unsupplemented diet. The study revealed that gamba grass hay when supplemented with acacia pods  at 20% DM intake would significantly (P < 0.05) lead to increased live weight gain of Yankasa rams. Keywords: Performance, Yankasa rams, Gamba grass hay, Acacia pod