Anaerobic ensiling of raw agricultural waste with a fibrolytic enzyme cocktail as a cleaner and sustainable biological product

The increasing expansion of agricultural activities have resulted in an unending production of agricultural waste which constitutes environmental nuisance, if not properly disposed. In most developing countries, this waste is burnt causing environmental problems and health challenges. The utilization of biodegraded ensiled agricultural waste, as an energy source, in livestock nutrition is proposed as a viable solution of reducing pollution. Agricultural waste such as straws is carbohydrate-rich materials that have a large potential as a dietary energy source for ruminants. This study aimed to determine the effect of anaerobic ensiling of raw agricultural waste with a fibrolytic enzyme cocktail as a cleaner and sustainable biological product for animal feed. Ten samples of 1 kg each of wheat straw, corn stalks and sugarcane bagasse were ensiled with enzyme cocktail at 0, 1 or 3 mL/kg dry matter of feed. Before ensiling, feed samples were chopped at 5 cm and moistened to a relative humidity of approximately 50% and then kept for 30 d in plastic bales. Feed type enzyme level interactions were observed (P < 0.01) for nutrient contents and fermentation kinetics. Increasing the level of enzyme cocktail increased (P < 0.01) crude protein and ether extract contents but decreased organic matter and non-structural carbohydrates contents of the three feeds. The enzyme cocktail also decreased (P < 0.01) neutral detergent fiber, acid detergent fiber, cellulose and hemicellulose contents of corn stalks and sugarcane bagasse. The high level of the enzyme cocktail increased (P < 0.05) methane production from corn stalks but decreased it from sugarcane bagasse. Fermentation parameters response to ensiling differed among the ensiled feeds. It can be concluded that anaerobic fermentation of enzyme-treated agricultural waste and feeding it to livestock is one of the viable ways of utilizing this waste which otherwise could have constituted nuisance and pollution to the environment, if incinerated or improperly disposed

Non-Sagittal Knee Joint Kinematics and Kinetics during Gait on Level and Sloped Grounds with Unicompartmental and Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients

<div><p>After knee arthroplasty (KA) surgery, patients experience abnormal kinematics and kinetics during numerous activities of daily living. Biomechanical investigations have focused primarily on level walking, whereas walking on sloped surfaces, which is stated to affect knee kinematics and kinetics considerably, has been neglected to this day. This study aimed to analyze over-ground walking on level and sloped surfaces with a special focus on transverse and frontal plane knee kinematics and kinetics in patients with KA. A three-dimensional (3D) motion analysis was performed by means of optoelectronic stereophogrammetry 1.8 ± 0.4 years following total knee arthroplasty (TKA) and unicompartmental arthroplasty surgery (UKA). AnyBody^™ Modeling System was used to conduct inverse dynamics. The TKA group negotiated the decline walking task with reduced peak knee internal rotation angles compared with a healthy control group (CG). First-peak knee adduction moments were diminished by 27% (TKA group) and 22% (UKA group) compared with the CG during decline walking. No significant differences were detected between the TKA and UKA groups, regardless of the locomotion task. Decline walking exposed apparently more abnormal knee frontal and transverse plane adjustments in KA patients than level walking compared with the CG. Hence, walking on sloped surfaces should be included in further motion analysis studies investigating KA patients in order to detect potential deficits that might be not obvious during level walking.</p></div

Knee adduction moments during level walking.

<p>Values are presented as mean curves (solid lines) ± standard deviations (SD, shaded areas). Positive values indicate adduction moments. Dotted lines represent the non-OP knee of the TKA group (red) and UKA group (blue). The green rectangle indicates significantly different peak values between the TKA-OP knee and CG (<i>p</i> = 0.001), the UKA-OP knee and CG (<i>p</i> = 0.007).</p

Interlimb differences in peak angles, moments, adduction moment impulses, transverse joint stiffness, FAP-CoM_add within the TKA and UKA-group.

<p>Interlimb differences in peak angles, moments, adduction moment impulses, transverse joint stiffness, FAP-CoM_add within the TKA and UKA-group.</p

Knee internal rotation moments during decline walking.

<p>Values are presented as mean curves ± standard deviations (SD, shaded areas). Positive values indicate internal rotation moments. Dotted lines represent the non-OP knee of the TKA group (red) and UKA group (blue). The green rectangles indicate significantly different peak values between the TKA-OP knee and TKA non-OP knee, the UKA-OP knee and UKA non-OP knee for the first 50% of the stance phase (TKA: <i>p</i> = 0.002, UKA: <i>p</i> = 0.003) as well as 50%–100% of the stance phase (TKA: <i>p</i> = 0.041, UKA: <i>p</i> = 0.015).</p

Knee varus angles during decline walking.

<p>Values are presented as mean curves ± standard deviations (SD, shaded areas). Positive values indicate varus alignment. Dotted lines represent the non-OP knee of the TKA group (red) and UKA group (blue). The green rectangle indicates significantly different peak values between the TKA-OP knee and TKA non-OP knee (<i>p</i> = 0.016), the UKA-OP knee and UKA non-OP knee (<i>p</i> = 0.008) for the first 50% of the stance phase.</p

Subjects' characteristics and spatial-temporal parameters.

<p>Subjects' characteristics and spatial-temporal parameters.</p

Between-group differences in peak knee joint angles, moments, adduction moment impulses, transverse joint stiffness and FAP-CoM_add during level walking.

<p>Between-group differences in peak knee joint angles, moments, adduction moment impulses, transverse joint stiffness and FAP-CoM_add during level walking.</p