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This experiment aimed to ascertain whether adding chitosan-oligosaccharides (COS) to the diet will affect Mandarah laying hens' productivity and reproductive efficiency. At the age of 34 weeks, 120 laying hens and 12 cocks of the Mandarah chicken strain were separated into four groups, each consisting of 30 hens and three cocks. The 1st group served as a control group, receiving only a basic diet. The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th experimental groups received 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 g/kg of chitosan-oligosaccharides as an addition to the base diet, respectively. According to the findings of this study, the majority of the analyzed attributes differed significantly between treatment groups. Comparing the COS-treated birds to the control birds, the COS-treated birds significantly increased egg production, improved feed conversion, Haugh unit score, shell thickness, fertility, hatchability, ovary weight, and the number of yellow ovarian follicles as well as blood estradiol-17β (E2) and testosterone concentrations. Furthermore, compared to the other treated groups, introducing COS at a level of 0.1 g/kg diet resulted in the best laying rate, egg mass, and feed conversion. The highest percentage of fertility, hatchability of hatching eggs, ovary weight, number of yellow ovarian follicles, and serum E2 concentration was also found in birds fed COS at a dose of 0.2 g/kg feed. In addition, compared to the control diet, COS treatment at 0.1, 0.2, and 0.5 g/kg enhanced relative economic efficiency by 464.43, 457.41, and 352.75%, respectively. It is concluded that chitosan improves economic efficiency, reproductive performance, productivity in laying hens, and overall health when used at 0.1 g/kg diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hot pressing represents a promising consolidation technique for ball-milled bismuth telluride alloys, yet deep investigations are needed to understand its effect on the thermoelectric properties. This paper studies the effect of hot-pressing parameters (temperature and pressure) on the thermoelectric properties of the n-type Gr-Bi2Te2.55Se0.45 nanocomposite. Ultra-high pressure, up to 1.5 GPa, is considered for the first time for consolidating Bi2(Te,Se)3 alloys. Results from this study show that increasing the temperature leads to changes in chemical composition and causes noticeable grain growth. On the contrary, increasing pressure mainly causes improvements in densification. Overall, increments in these two parameters improve the ZT values, with the temperature parameter having a higher influence. The highest ZT of 0.69 at 160 °C was obtained for the sample hot-pressed at 350 °C and 1 GPa for 5 min, which is indeed an excellent and competitive value when compared with results reported for this n-type Bi2Te2.55Se0.45 composition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of low kinetic energy hydrogen ion irradiation on the chemical composition and luminescence intensity of MoS2 nanoflowers (NFs) hydrothermally synthesized is reported. X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) core‐level analysis of the as‐synthesized MoS2 NFs reveals the presence of the 2H‐MoS2 (semiconductor) crystal phase and MoOx. Furthermore, the relative amounts of oxygen and potassium decrease for increasing hydrogen ion irradiation time, whereas the photoluminescence (PL) intensity observed at 1.71 eV increased approximately three times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Indian mackerel and Pangasius fish fillets were both subjected to a hot smoking procedure, and their products were used in the spread preparation. Proximate analysis, physicochemical, microbial and sensory properties were monitored before and after frozen storage for three months. The fat content (12.1%) and nutritional value (215.3 Kcal/100g) of the smoked Pangasius fillets were more than those recorded for smoked Indian mackerel fillets (2.5% & 144.1 Kcal/100g, respectively). During frozen storage of smoked Indian mackerel and Pangasius fillets, moisture content was reduced to 61.25 and 51.8%, while an increment was noticed in salt content (2.73 & 2.45%), pH (6.7 & 6.82), TVB-N (24.94 & 18.55 mgN/100g), TBA (2.4 & 2.98 mgMDA/kg), TPC counts (2.5×10³ & 5.3×10³ CFU/g), and yeast and mold counts (0.97×102 & 1.3×10² CFU/g), respectively. Sensory scores for smoked Indian mackerel and Pangasius fillets ranged between very good and good, and the overall acceptability scores became 38 and 35, respectively, at the end of frozen storage period. By adding feta cheese and ketchup to produce Indian mackerel and Pangasius spreads, the protein content decreased to 21.5 and 19.8%, while carbohydrates (10.2 & 8.5%), fat (4.1 & 13.3%) and nutritional value (163.7 & 232.9 Kcal/100g) increased, respectively. At the end of frozen storage, moisture content decreased to 58.08 and 50.97%, while salt content (3.81 & 2.85%), pH (5.84 & 6.72), TVB-N (33.44 & 23.91 mg N/100g), TBA (2.03 & 2.67 mg MDA/kg), TV counts (7.9×103 & 9.2×103 CFU/g), and yeast and mold counts (3.1×102 & 3.8×10² CFU/g) increased, respectively. Sensory scores for the Indian mackerel and Pangasius spreads ranged between very good and good, and the overall acceptability scores became 39 and 37, respectively. The quality of hot smoked fillets and spreads coincides with Egyptian standards for smoked products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most of the freshwaters worldwide are used for agriculture. Freshwater sources are expected to decline and will not suffice to support the food production needed for the growing population. Therefore, growing crops with seawater might constitute a solution. However, very little work has been done on the effect of seawater stress on wheat, an important cereal crop. The present study aimed to determine whether particular wheat genotypes provided better resistance to seawater stress. A set of 80 highly diverse spring wheat genotypes collected from different countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America was exposed to 50% seawater stress at the early growth stage. Four seeding shoot and root traits were scored for all genotypes. High genetic variations were found among all genotypes for the epicotyl length (EL), hypocotyl length (HL), number of radicles (NOR), and fresh weight (FW). Eight genotypes with high-performance scores of seedling traits were selected. The correlation analyses revealed highly significant correlations among all traits scored in this study. The strongest correlation was found between the NOR and the other seeding traits. Thus, the NOR might be an important adaptive trait for seawater tolerance. The genetic diversity among all genotypes was investigated based on genetic distance. A wide range of genetic distances among all genotypes was found. There was also a great genetic distance among the eight selected genotypes. In particular, the genetic distance between ATRI 5310 (France) and the other seven genotypes was the greatest. Such high genetic diversity might be utilized to select highly divergent genotypes for crossing in a future breeding program. The present study provides very useful information on the presence of different genetic resources in wheat for seawater tolerance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]