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Semiconductor manufacturing requires a substantial amount of high-purity water generated through a complex series of treatment processes. Reverse Osmosis (RO) as the most crucial water treatment process contributes the majority of energy consumption and carbon emission in Ultra-Pure Water (UPW) preparation for semiconductor manufacturing. However, there is an opportunity to drive innovation around the current design of feed flow channel in spiral wound RO elements to promote energy efficiency and cost savings. In this study, a novel design of feed channel with 3D printed spacers was compared with conventional design of feed channel with mesh spacers regarding energy consumption. The average head pressure of 3D printed spacer was found to be 20 psi lower than mesh spacer with same permeate flow rate, which achieved a lower specific power of 0.449 kWh/m3, resulting in a 20% energy saving compared with mesh spacer. This study demonstrated that this novel channel construction with 3D printed spacer significantly improves the overall energy efficiency in RO through reduced pressure loss and increased active area, with a potential merit of decreasing the anti-scalant usage and membrane cleaning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ochratoxin A is a foreign substance of natural origin. It can be found in a wide range of commodities, including animal feed. Ochratoxin A is a dangerous contaminant, which can have a negative effect on the health and production of animals. In this study, the incidence of ochratoxin A in a complete feed for broilers (n = 25) and pigs (n = 6) was determined. Ochratoxin A was detected in one sample of pigs feed (16.67 %) and its concentration was 1.221 µg.kg−1. This mycotoxin was not detected in the broiler feed samples. These results indicate that the feed samples collected were safe and do not pose a risk of acute mycotoxicosis in animals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A survey was conducted in three selected kebeles of Kombolcha Regiopolitan City in South Wollo Zone. The selected kebeles were in proximity to brewery factory, Ethiopia. A semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect perception data from purposively selected three kebeles and a total of 57 randomly selected dairy farmers. Data collected were analyzed with a statistical package for social sciences (Version 20) and Microsoft Excel (2010). Smallholder dairy farmers had average herd size of 10.7 and 0.08 hectare total dairy farm per household. Average daily milk yield and lactation length of dairy cows was 10.8 liter/day and 9.5 months, respectively. The majority of farmers (59.6%) reared dairy cows with 50-75% exotic blood. The most smallholder dairy farmers satisfied their feed demand from the market and had a trend of providing both dense and poor quality affordable feed ingredients. Smallholder dairy farmers gave priority to feed different kind of cattle in the order of lactating cows, calve, pregnant, heifers and dry cows and used (100%) wet brewery spent grain as a source of dairy feed. Though, there was a brewery by-product supply deficit for half of year. The majority smallholder dairy farmers delivered brewery by-product directly from the brewery factories and followed by wholesalers and retailers. The majority of smallholder dairy farmers (96.4%) stated that the brewery spent grain was fed and stored freshly using different conservation techniques, and the remaining stored in ensiled (1.8%) and dried (1.8%) forms. Smallholder dairy farmers had no brewery spent grain ensiling practice and feeding brewery yeast to dairy animals. Smallholder dairy farmers indicated that high price due to abnormal market chain and shortage of brewery spent grain supply were the major challenges to sustain dairy industry in the study area, and the majority (40.6%) claimed to get swift solutions at high cost and less accessible brewery by-product.

The article presents the discussion on critical role of aquaculture in global food security, noting its substantial growth to 87.5 million tonnes, which represents nearly half of global aquatic animal production. Topics include the rapid expansion of aquaculture's share of global food production, the significant contributions of South Asia to global fish production; and the shifting dynamics from marine to inland fisheries, particularly in India and Bangladesh.

Research on social psychology has revealed the existence of an affective mechanism in a human group, which is the group members spread their emotions to one another, the emotions of the group members form the group emotion, and the group emotion as a powerful force shapes the group members’ emotions. Current group emotion recognition methods focus on how the emotions of the group members form the group-level emotion but rarely take into account how the group emotion feeds back to the group members instantaneously. This paper proposes a new graph convolutional network architecture to characterize this unique affective mechanism for group emotion recognition. We regard the group members as the nodes of the graph and introduce a pseudo node into the graph to represent the role of the group. This paper uses graph convolutional networks to model the emotional interactions within the group from a static image and constructs an effective emotional representation at the group level for recognition. Experiment results on three widely used datasets for group emotion recognition show that our proposed method achieved superior performance in terms of recognition accuracy compared to the state-of-the-art methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to identify a new feed for Catla catla post larvae. There is no suitable feed in Sri Lanka for post-larvae of Indian carp. A complete randomized design was used. Two feeds were formulated using different nutrient compositions with 32 % and 25 % of the fish meal separately. The formulated feeds were used as treatment one and treatment two. Commercial feed was used as the control. Catla catla post-larvae were stocked at a density of 300 post larvae per m2 in nine cement tanks. Growth parameters were measured every two other days. Feeds were formulated according to the nutrient requirement of Catla catla post larvae. Water quality parameters were measured daily to maintain the water quality at the proper level. T-test preformed in Mini tab 16.0. Total body weight and length were significantly different (p

This study aimed to identify a new feed for Catla catla post larvae. There is no suitable feed in Sri Lanka for post-larvae of Indian carp. A complete randomized design was used. Two feeds were formulated using different nutrient compositions with 32 % and 25 % of the fish meal separately. The formulated feeds were used as treatment one and treatment two. Commercial feed was used as the control. Catla catla post-larvae were stocked at a density of 300 post larvae per m2 in nine cement tanks. Growth parameters were measured every two other days. Feeds were formulated according to the nutrient requirement of Catla catla post larvae. Water quality parameters were measured daily to maintain the water quality at the proper level. T-test preformed in Mini tab 16.0. Total body weight and length were significantly different (p<0.05). The survival percentage was higher in T1. Treatment feeds were not affected by the water quality parameters. Catla catla post-larvae show a maximum increase in length, survival percentage and weight in T1. It was concluded that T1 has a good combination of fish meal for Catla catla post-larvae. This study will help in future feed formulation for post-larvae feeds in developing nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aflatoxins are one of the major factors that affect the quality and safety of feeds. They can be transferred into livestock through contaminated feed and then onto humans via animal sources of food such as milk, meat, and eggs. The objective of this study was to detect and quantify the level of aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1, G2, and total aflatoxin) in dairy feeds, poultry (layer and broiler) feeds, and feed ingredients produced in Addis Ababa. A total of 42 feeds and feed ingredients consisting of dairy feeds (n = 5), poultry broiler feeds (n = 6), layer feeds (n = 6), and feed ingredients (n = 25) were collected from feed factories in the city and analyzed in fresh weigh basis. The aflatoxins were analyzed using high-performance liquid chromatography after clean-up with immunoaffinity columns. Aflatoxin B1 levels in feeds ranged from 51.66 to 370.51 µg/kg in dairy cattle feed, from 1.45 to 139.51 µg/kg in poultry layer feed, and from 16.49 to 148.86 µg/kg in broiler feed. Aflatoxin B1 levels in maize ranged from 2.64 to 46.74 µg/kg and in Niger seed cake from 110.93 to 438.86 µg/kg. Aflatoxin B1 levels in wheat bran, wheat middling, and soybean were below 5 µg/kg. 100% of dairy feeds, 67% of poultry layer, 67% of broiler feeds, and 24% of ingredients contained aflatoxin in levels higher than the maximum tolerable limit set by the US Food and Drug Administration and Ethiopian Standard Agency. This shows the need for strong regulatory monitoring and better feed management practices to prevent consumers of animal-source foods from significant health impacts associated with aflatoxins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Zebrafish have emerged as invaluable model organisms in biological research, offering a cost-effective alternative to rodents. However, the absence of standardized feeding protocols and nutritional requirements poses a significant challenge, potentially compromising the validity of experimental outcomes, particularly in preclinical studies. Our systematic review analyzes a plethora of studies focused on zebrafish feed intake, feeding regimes, and diet compositions. We uncover substantial variability in dietary parameters, notably in crude protein and lipid content. Despite this diversity, energy levels remain quite consistent across zebrafish diets. By using these insights, we propose a novel feeding protocol for zebrafish of different developmental stages, based on a formulated feed optimized for protein and energy content. This protocol might represent the first step towards standardizing zebrafish feeding practices, thereby enhancing experimental reproducibility and data reliability. Zebrafish are one of the most used animal models in biological research and a cost-effective alternative to rodents. Despite this, nutritional requirements and standardized feeding protocols have not yet been established for this species. This is important to avoid nutritional effects on experimental outcomes, and especially when zebrafish models are used in preclinical studies, as many diseases have nutritional confounding factors. A key aspect of zebrafish nutrition is related to feed intake, the amount of feed ingested by each fish daily. With the goal of standardizing feeding protocols among the zebrafish community, this paper systematically reviews the available data from 73 studies on zebrafish feed intake, feeding regimes (levels), and diet composition. Great variability was observed regarding diet composition, especially regarding crude protein (mean 44.98 ± 9.87%) and lipid content (9.91 ± 5.40%). Interestingly, the gross energy levels of the zebrafish diets were similar across the reviewed studies (20.39 ± 2.10 kilojoules/g of feed). In most of the reviewed papers, fish received a predetermined quantity of feed (feed supplied). The authors fed the fish according to the voluntary intake and then calculated feed intake (FI) in only 17 papers. From a quantitative point of view, FI was higher than when a fixed quantity (pre-defined) of feed was supplied. Also, the literature showed that many biotic and abiotic factors may affect zebrafish FI. Finally, based on the FI data gathered from the literature, a new feeding protocol is proposed. In summary, a daily feeding rate of 9–10% of body weight is proposed for larvae, whereas these values are equal to 6–8% for juveniles and 5% for adults when a dry feed with a proper protein and energy content is used. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A supplemental effect of Achyranthes aspera extract (200 mg/kg phytosterol) in diets was evaluated for Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) on growth performance, digestibility, innate immunity, antioxidant capacity, and disease resistance against Vibrio parahaemolyticus. A fish meal and soybean meal‐based control diet (Con; protein 38.0% and lipid 8.7%) was formulated and five other diets were prepared by adding A. aspera extract into Con diet to be 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 mg phytosterol/kg concentration (designated as P05, P10, P20, P40, and P80, respectively). Three replicate groups of 30 shrimp (initial body weight, 0.40 ± 0.001 g) per diet were randomly assigned into 18 acrylic tanks (240 L) and fed one of the diets for 53 days. The growth performance and feed utilization efficiency were significantly higher in shrimp fed P20 and P80 diets than in shrimp fed Con and P10 diets. The dietary phytosterol supplementation improved non‐specific immune response, antioxidant capacity, and apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter and protein of shrimp. The IGF‐binding protein gene expression was also upregulated with dietary phytosterol supplementation. During the challenge test, the disease resistance of shrimp was significantly enhanced against V. parahaemolyticus when shrimp were fed P20 diet. These results indicate that A. aspera extract could be used as a functional feed additive for the improvements in the growth performance, feed efficiency, innate immunity, antioxidant capacity, digestibility, and disease resistance of the shrimp. The optimum dietary inclusion level of the phytosterol seems to be 0.2–0.4 mg/kg diet. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The diet development process for new species includes various steps. Included among these is the investigation of the potential of different feed ingredients so that diets can be formulated with some flexibility to utilize a wider range of resources. Another step is the evaluation of existing diets (designed for other species) when fed to the new species being studied. The sobaity seabream, Sparidentex hasta, is considered a promising fish species for aquaculture in the Arabian Gulf region because of its good adaptation to culture, rapid growth, and high market value. This study investigated the responses to three existing commercial diets on the performance of the fish. Additionally, the digestibility of various locally available protein feed ingredients was also examined with the species. Our findings provide quantitative nutrient digestibility data for different feed ingredients and benchmark the responses of the fish to some locally available commercial diets. These findings provide a foundation to begin formulating nutritionally balanced diets for sobaity seabream from resources found locally. Two separate feeding trials were undertaken to benchmark a series of commercial diets and determine the nutrient and energy apparent digestibility coefficients of a variety of protein-based feed ingredients when fed to sobaity seabream, Sparidentex hasta. In Experiment 1, triplicate groups of fish (initial body weight: 330.5 ± 2.6 g) were fed with one of three locally available diets containing crude protein (CP) levels ranging from 44 to 46% of dry matter (DM), each with ~12% crude fat. Fish grew at around 3.2 g day−1 with a specific growth rate (SGR) of 0.7% day−1. Both the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were significantly better in fish fed diets, which contained the highest (46.4%) crude protein level. Overall, the data from these preliminary studies suggest that the best performance by sobaity seabream was obtained with a diet containing 46% crude protein, 20 MJ/kg, and a protein-to-energy ratio of 23 mg/kJ. In Experiment 2, fish with an initial body weight of 319 ± 7 g were held in 11 tanks and fed reference (D1) and test diets (D2–D11) for 7 days before fecal collection. This process was repeated twice in a blocking arrangement to generate three replicates. Each of the ten test diets contained 30% of a test ingredient, with the remaining 70% proportionally identical to the D1 diet. Diet apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) were measured, and the diet ADCs were then used to derive the protein and energy ADCs for the individual test ingredients. Ingredient protein ADC ranged between 75.5 and 93.9%, while ingredient energy ADC ranged between 66.8 and 81.2%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye, is one of the most promising grain crops. In terms of productivity, the level of metabolizable energy, and the composition of essential amino acids, triticale surpasses rye and is not inferior to wheat. It is resistant to the most dangerous diseases and pests. In terms of nutritional value, triticale can compete with wheat, corn, sorghum, and barley. The presence, however, of antinutrients in triticale such as non-starch polysaccharides, alkylresorcinols, and trypsin inhibitors significantly reduces the biological value of this crop. In the global practice of compound feed production, there are many methods and technologies for processing grain raw materials to increase their nutritional value. Enzymatic treatment and extrusion technologies are worthy of special attention. The high content of triticale in the compound feed of poultry breeder flocks should be used effectively, taking into account the characteristics of triticale varieties and climatic conditions. An optimal triticale level in feed (15% for layer and broiler chicks) may improve body weight gain and reduce feed costs when raising replacement young stock. Layer breeder flocks fed a 20% triticale-based diet may have increased egg production, high viability, and flock uniformity. Producing triticale–soy and triticale–sunflower extrudates and supplementing the diet of poultry flocks with essential amino acids represent promising avenues for maximizing the benefits of triticale. Innovative methods of achieving this goal should be further developed and put into practice, particularly given the expansion of triticale's cultivation areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) have fused molecular imprinting technology with magnetic separation technology, emerging as an innovative material capable of recognizing specific molecules and efficiently separating target substances. Their application to the extraction and purification of mycotoxins has great potential, due to the toxicity and economic impact of these contaminants. In this work, MMIP has been proposed as a sample treatment for the determination of main four aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) in pig feed. The MMIP was formed through the integration of magnetic material (Fe3O4) with commercial molecularly imprinted polymers, avoiding the synthesis step and, therefore, simplifying the process. The analyses were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and the method was validated and limits of quantification (LOQs) between 0.09 and 0.47 ng/g were obtained, below the allowed or recommended levels by the European Union. Repeatability and intermediate precision showed relative standard deviations lower than 10% in all cases and trueness ranged from 92 to 111%. Finally, the proposed method was applied to 31 real pig feed samples, detecting aflatoxins with concentrations between 0.2 and 3.2 ng/g. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Accurate dosing of feed additives is often required to evaluate their effects on rumen fermentation. This can be done using soluble but nonfermentable hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) hard capsules. Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of HPMC hard capsules on the extent and rate of in vitro gas production in eleven feeds. Methods: Six high‐fibre feeds and five concentrates, were weighed into syringes either directly or into HPMC capsules and incubated anaerobically in 30 mL buffered rumen fluid at 39°C. Data obtained from gas production measurements were fitted using the Gompertz model to obtain kinetic parameters for gas production. Results: HPMC hard capsules had no effect on the gas production of the blank sample and concentrate feeds. In contrast, high‐fibre feeds weighed in HPMC showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in total gas production and gas produced within 24 h of incubation. Conclusions: The use of HPMC hard capsules was found to be inappropriate for determining gas production kinetics because fermentation subsides at a certain point when peak fermentation is reached (at TMFR), resulting in a decrease in both total potential gas production and gas production within 24 h of incubation. This is particularly evident when high‐fibre feeds are incubated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Triticale, a hybrid of wheat and rye, is one of the most promising grain crops. In terms of productivity, the level of metabolizable energy, and the composition of essential amino acids, triticale surpasses rye and is not inferior to wheat. It is resistant to the most dangerous diseases and pests. In terms of nutritional value, triticale can compete with wheat, corn, sorghum, and barley. The presence, however, of antinutrients in triticale such as non-starch polysaccharides, alkylresorcinols, and trypsin inhibitors significantly reduces the biological value of this crop. In the global practice of compound feed production, there are many methods and technologies for processing grain raw materials to increase their nutritional value. Enzymatic treatment and extrusion technologies are worthy of special attention. The high content of triticale in the compound feed of poultry breeder flocks should be used effectively, taking into account the characteristics of triticale varieties and climatic conditions. An optimal triticale level in feed (15% for layer and broiler chicks) may improve body weight gain and reduce feed costs when raising replacement young stock. Layer breeder flocks fed a 20% triticale-based diet may have increased egg production, high viability, and flock uniformity. Producing triticale–soy and triticale–sunflower extrudates and supplementing the diet of poultry flocks with essential amino acids represent promising avenues for maximizing the benefits of triticale. Innovative methods of achieving this goal should be further developed and put into practice, particularly given the expansion of triticale’s cultivation areas.

Abstract A supplemental effect of Achyranthes aspera extract (200 mg/kg phytosterol) in diets was evaluated for Pacific white shrimp (Penaeus vannamei) on growth performance, digestibility, innate immunity, antioxidant capacity, and disease resistance against Vibrio parahaemolyticus. A fish meal and soybean meal‐based control diet (Con; protein 38.0% and lipid 8.7%) was formulated and five other diets were prepared by adding A. aspera extract into Con diet to be 0.05, 0.1, 0.2, 0.4, and 0.8 mg phytosterol/kg concentration (designated as P05, P10, P20, P40, and P80, respectively). Three replicate groups of 30 shrimp (initial body weight, 0.40 ± 0.001 g) per diet were randomly assigned into 18 acrylic tanks (240 L) and fed one of the diets for 53 days. The growth performance and feed utilization efficiency were significantly higher in shrimp fed P20 and P80 diets than in shrimp fed Con and P10 diets. The dietary phytosterol supplementation improved non‐specific immune response, antioxidant capacity, and apparent digestibility coefficients of dry matter and protein of shrimp. The IGF‐binding protein gene expression was also upregulated with dietary phytosterol supplementation. During the challenge test, the disease resistance of shrimp was significantly enhanced against V. parahaemolyticus when shrimp were fed P20 diet. These results indicate that A. aspera extract could be used as a functional feed additive for the improvements in the growth performance, feed efficiency, innate immunity, antioxidant capacity, digestibility, and disease resistance of the shrimp. The optimum dietary inclusion level of the phytosterol seems to be 0.2–0.4 mg/kg diet.

Abstract Background Accurate dosing of feed additives is often required to evaluate their effects on rumen fermentation. This can be done using soluble but nonfermentable hydroxypropyl methylcellulose (HPMC) hard capsules. Objectives The aim of the study was to evaluate the effect of HPMC hard capsules on the extent and rate of in vitro gas production in eleven feeds. Methods Six high‐fibre feeds and five concentrates, were weighed into syringes either directly or into HPMC capsules and incubated anaerobically in 30 mL buffered rumen fluid at 39°C. Data obtained from gas production measurements were fitted using the Gompertz model to obtain kinetic parameters for gas production. Results HPMC hard capsules had no effect on the gas production of the blank sample and concentrate feeds. In contrast, high‐fibre feeds weighed in HPMC showed a significant decrease (p < 0.05) in total gas production and gas produced within 24 h of incubation. Conclusions The use of HPMC hard capsules was found to be inappropriate for determining gas production kinetics because fermentation subsides at a certain point when peak fermentation is reached (at TMFR), resulting in a decrease in both total potential gas production and gas production within 24 h of incubation. This is particularly evident when high‐fibre feeds are incubated.

Numerous studies on genetically modified food products indicate their safety and their potential to alleviate hunger worldwide. However, the issue of GM products and feeds remains relevant in the realm of food security. The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive scheme of methods for determining the safety of GM food products and to develop a new method for assessing the safety of GM food products. This new method is based on the use of a biotest and the employment of Paramecium caudatum infusoria. In the study, GTS 40-3 and GTS 40-3-2 (Venus variety) soybeans, MON 00603 (NK 603) maize line, and non-GMO soybeans and maize were used as controls. Infusoria were prepared by culturing them in room temperature water (18- 23°C) without direct sunlight, with the addition of non-GMO yeast powder as a nutrient solution and senna extract. Subsequently, the initial material containing approximately 100 infusoria was transferred to 100 ml flasks and incubated for 2-3 days. At the initial stage of the experiment, from day 1 to day 15, daily records and visual assessments were conducted. The assessment included the quantity of infusoria, motility (chemotaxis), size, shape, and the percentage of dead infusoria. Venus soybeans (GTS 40-3-2) exhibited a toxic effect on the protozoa, which died in repeated trials on the 14th-15th day of feeding. It was observed that infusoria fed with soybeans containing the GTS 40-3-2 (Venus) transformation event changed their shape after 3 days from the start of the experiment. Over the course of 10 days from the beginning of the study, a decrease in movement, motility, and the quantity of infusoria was noted. On the 14th-15th day, mortality was observed. Negative changes were also observed in infusoria that were fed with MON 00603 (NK 603) maize. The application of this method in the practice of assessing the safety of GM food products can provide a preliminary evaluation of long-term effects over a relatively short period

The gut microbiome plays an important role in the metabolism, nutrient absorption and immunocompetency of animals. The dynamics of the microbiota can be influenced by modulatory factors that involve nutrition, environment, health, diseases, etc. Few reports have been documented regarding the effects of different feeds on the fungi microbiome of Suffolk crossed with Tibetan sheep. A total of 30 Suffolk crossed with Tibetan sheep (ST sheep) were selected for the study and randomly divided into five equal groups (n = 6): AZ, BZ, CZ, DZ and EZ. Group AZ was fed with alfalfa and oat grass, whereas group BZ was fed with mixture of concentrated feed, alfalfa and oat grass. Groups CZ, DZ and EZ were fed with concentrated feed #1, #2 and #3, respectively. All experimental animals were fed twice a day for four months, and rectum samples were collected for microbiota analysis. Results revealed that 2,781,461 raw reads and 2,333,239 clean reads were achieved in the ST sheep. When compared with the sheep of groups AZ and BZ (164), the shared amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) between AZ and CZ (109), AZ (113) and DZ (118) as well as AZ along with EZ were fewer. Conspicuous different phyla (8) and genera (56) were examined and compared with free-range sheep in AZ. Genera including Xeromyces, Kazachstania, Cordyceps, Rhodotorula, Pichia, Spor, etc. were found higher in animals in the CZ, DZ and EZ groups. The results of this study provide new insights regarding the effects of different feeds on the fungi microbiome of sheep farmed on the plateau. We concluded that the differences in feed in Suffolk crossed with Tibetan sheep altered their gut microbiota. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Getting to know alternative foods that keep the development of the quality of eggs, it is understood that the feeding of birds is very important for this process, given that meets the nutritional needs in all stages of production, optimizing the growth and its production efficiency, and can be influenced by factors such as management conditions, facilities, nutrition and environment. Given the above objective with this research analyzing the physical parameters of the egg through alternative food such as corn, millet and corn germ. The experiment was conducted at Farm Agua Viva in Luziânia-GO, where they were confined in a thirty laying shed Indian race with the same age, being subdivided by box, with different food. Although the care of raising chickens in any situation are considered, water control it is necessary, lighting, bed and balance, creating a suitable environment, it was observed by analyzing the confined birds and bibliographic reports that you can get quality production and low cost by replacing corn with millet and corn germ. The alternative power is rather an option that combines cost and benefit in relation to the production of eggs from hens Indian race. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sheep plays a vital role as ruminant animal, which contributes to human needs by supplying milk, mutton and cashmere. As lifestyle of people is improved, there is an increasing need for mutton and its products. Fungi are important component of the microbiota and may affect immune and inflammatory responses, digestion, and nutrients absorption. However, little information is available about the fungal microbiota in sheep on the plateau. Forty-five sheep were divided into five groups equally (n = 9) (AL, BL, CL, DL and EL), sheep in CL, DL and EL groups were given grain feeds twice daily. Sheep in AL were fed with alfalfa and oat grasses, and BL was offered with equal amount of alfalfa grass, oat grass and grain feeds. Samples of rumen fluid were collected from sheep for microbiome analysis after a four-month raising period. The microbiota analysis of collected rumen fluid samples revealed 2 333 664 filtered sequences and 3810 amplicon sequence variants (ASVs). Alpha diversity analysis showed obvious different chao1, Shannon_entropy and Simpson in sheep. A total of 7 phyla and 56 genera including potential beneficial fungi like Penicillium, Torula, Filobasidium, Tomentella and pathogenic Rhodotorula, etc. were significantly different in sheep. Our findings provide new insights of the diverse diets on the fungal microbiome of sheep and contribute for better feeding practices of sheep reared on the plateau. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was conducted to determine the proximate composition, dry matter degradability in the rumen and the cost of each feed ingredient used in the formulation. The feed ingredients used in formulating the rations were; watermelon peel, orange peel, groundnut haulms and poultry litter. The dry matter proximate composition ranged from 88 to 92% (F6 to F4). Crude protein was shown to be lowest in F2 (10.0%) and highest in F5 (20.18%) which was probably due to higher proportion of orange peel. Crude fibre recorded in F2 (25.21%) was the highest while F6 (4.0%) was the lowest. Ether extract ranges from 3.9% (F6) to 2.0%(F5). This was probably due to the orange peel content of the ration. The degradation observed ranged from 6.80% to 39.95% at 3 hours, 23.60 to 38.00% at 6 hours and a slight increase (35.15 to 38%) was noticed at 12 hours. It ranged from 35.15% to 52.70%, at 24 hours, 42.20% to 64.80%, at 48 hours and 56.40% to 73.44% at 72 hours. The cost of the formulation recorded showed F4 (N 450) to be the lowest and F3 (N 1250) highest. The outcome of the study showed that F5 and F6 had higher degradability, and crude protein, and moderate cost. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chlorella is one of the most widely accepted Chlorophyta used by many as livestock and aquaculture feed. Nonetheless, different studies on the overall performances of fish reported the unfavourable effect of high‐level supplementations of Chlorella vulgaris. The current study determined the impact of low‐level dietary supplementation of C. vulgaris alongside the different feeding durations and their interactions on the growth hormone (GH), growth performances, serum‐biochemical indices, hepatic function and some immunological parameters of red hybrid tilapia. The fingerlings (mean weight: 14.25 ± 0.01 g, length: 13.5 ± 0.49 cm) were fed diets containing 0, 0.99%, 2.91% and 4.76% of C. vulgaris powder per kilogram dry diet for 90 days. GH, growth performance, serum‐biochemical indices (total serum protein, albumin, globulin, glucose, aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase) and some immunological (respiratory burst and lysozyme activities) parameters of the fish were examined after 30, 60 and 90 days of feeding. The results demonstrated that tilapia fed C. vulgaris–supplemented diets showed increased levels of respiratory burst, lysozyme, albumin and total protein, GH and growth performances (P < 0.05), and the effects were duration dependent. After the 90 days of feeding, there was no adverse effect on the hepatic function of the fish. Besides, low survivability was observed in the control group than in the group fed the experimental diets. The group fed the diet supplemented with 4.76% C. vulgaris had significantly higher (P < 0.05) lysozyme activity throughout the duration of the feeding experiment. These results indicate that C. vulgaris enhanced growth performances, GH concentration, serum‐biochemistry and some immunological parameters of red hybrid tilapia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Zebrafish are one of the most used animal models in biological research and a cost-effective alternative to rodents. Despite this, nutritional requirements and standardized feeding protocols have not yet been established for this species. This is important to avoid nutritional effects on experimental outcomes, and especially when zebrafish models are used in preclinical studies, as many diseases have nutritional confounding factors. A key aspect of zebrafish nutrition is related to feed intake, the amount of feed ingested by each fish daily. With the goal of standardizing feeding protocols among the zebrafish community, this paper systematically reviews the available data from 73 studies on zebrafish feed intake, feeding regimes (levels), and diet composition. Great variability was observed regarding diet composition, especially regarding crude protein (mean 44.98 ± 9.87%) and lipid content (9.91 ± 5.40%). Interestingly, the gross energy levels of the zebrafish diets were similar across the reviewed studies (20.39 ± 2.10 kilojoules/g of feed). In most of the reviewed papers, fish received a predetermined quantity of feed (feed supplied). The authors fed the fish according to the voluntary intake and then calculated feed intake (FI) in only 17 papers. From a quantitative point of view, FI was higher than when a fixed quantity (pre-defined) of feed was supplied. Also, the literature showed that many biotic and abiotic factors may affect zebrafish FI. Finally, based on the FI data gathered from the literature, a new feeding protocol is proposed. In summary, a daily feeding rate of 9–10% of body weight is proposed for larvae, whereas these values are equal to 6–8% for juveniles and 5% for adults when a dry feed with a proper protein and energy content is used.

Two separate feeding trials were undertaken to benchmark a series of commercial diets and determine the nutrient and energy apparent digestibility coefficients of a variety of protein-based feed ingredients when fed to sobaity seabream, Sparidentex hasta. In Experiment 1, triplicate groups of fish (initial body weight: 330.5 ± 2.6 g) were fed with one of three locally available diets containing crude protein (CP) levels ranging from 44 to 46% of dry matter (DM), each with ~12% crude fat. Fish grew at around 3.2 g day−1 with a specific growth rate (SGR) of 0.7% day−1. Both the feed conversion ratio (FCR) and protein efficiency ratio (PER) were significantly better in fish fed diets, which contained the highest (46.4%) crude protein level. Overall, the data from these preliminary studies suggest that the best performance by sobaity seabream was obtained with a diet containing 46% crude protein, 20 MJ/kg, and a protein-to-energy ratio of 23 mg/kJ. In Experiment 2, fish with an initial body weight of 319 ± 7 g were held in 11 tanks and fed reference (D1) and test diets (D2–D11) for 7 days before fecal collection. This process was repeated twice in a blocking arrangement to generate three replicates. Each of the ten test diets contained 30% of a test ingredient, with the remaining 70% proportionally identical to the D1 diet. Diet apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) were measured, and the diet ADCs were then used to derive the protein and energy ADCs for the individual test ingredients. Ingredient protein ADC ranged between 75.5 and 93.9%, while ingredient energy ADC ranged between 66.8 and 81.2%.

Aquaculture is growing rapidly as a food-producing sector and in recent years fishmeal prices have climbed more than two-fold on a global scale. This review of previous studies was performed to contribute to the extant literature on the aquaculture sector to aid cost reduction of aquafeeds by identifying substitute proteins that can replace fishmeal. The review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) using the SCOPUS and WOS (Web of Science), DOAJ (Directory of Open Access Journals), Academia, and PubMed Central databases. A total of 59 articles were included in the synthesis after screening for duplicates and articles that did not conform to the criteria. Results have shown that the 100% replacement of fishmeal with blood meal (BM) did not affect the growth of fish, nor did the 75% to 100% combination of poultry-by-product (PBM), feather meal (FEM), and BM. Moreover, a 10% replacement of fishmeal using seaweed (Gracilaria arcuata) had no adverse effect on the feed efficiency and growth performance of tilapia. Similarly, a 50% replacement of fishmeal using black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), and a 25% replacement using soybean (Glycine max) also showed better results for fish growth. Our review shows that alternative protein can replace fishmeal in the aquaculture sector and reduce the cost of aquafeeds since alternative proteins are much cheaper than the usual fishmeal. Adoption of these alternative protein sources hinges on financial support, start-up incentives for companies, and ongoing studies on waste-to-feed production, which the government can also support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, we investigated the spread of antimicrobial drug-resistant (AMR) microorganisms in five dairy sheep farms in Greece to identify indicators for improved field surveillance. The high percentage of samples of feeds and milk positive to Escherichia coli and Staphylococci, including AMR isolates, recorded in this previous study generated the interest to further investigate the parameters likely to affect positivity of these certain indicators in the same farms. For this reason, 76 samples were collected, comprising milk collected from the raw milk tank (n = 5), swabs from milking shells (n = 48), feeds (n = 6), and home-grown feeds (n = 17). Samples were processed for the detection of the pathogens mentioned above and the assessment of AMR using conventional microbiology and the polymerase chain reaction. The overall percentage of positive samples was 71.1%. The percentage of isolates that were characterised as AMR of those detected was 27.8% (30% Staphylococci, 21.4% E. coli). The results indicate that AMR testing in milking shell swabs is advisable for improving AMR stewardship and should be regarded as complimentary to testing samples from the raw milk tank, because these may not depict the microbial burden of milking shells. Furthermore, the spread and antimicrobial resistance of tested bacteria in feeds are characterised by considerable variability and should therefore be assessed longitudinally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Numerous studies on genetically modified food products indicate their safety and their potential to alleviate hunger worldwide. However, the issue of GM products and feeds remains relevant in the realm of food security. The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive scheme of methods for determining the safety of GM food products and to develop a new method for assessing the safety of GM food products. This new method is based on the use of a biotest and the employment of Paramecium caudatum infusoria. In the study, GTS 40-3 and GTS 40-3-2 (Venus variety) soybeans, MON 00603 (NK 603) maize line, and non-GMO soybeans and maize were used as controls. Infusoria were prepared by culturing them in room temperature water (18-23°C) without direct sunlight, with the addition of non-GMO yeast powder as a nutrient solution and senna extract. Subsequently, the initial material containing approximately 100 infusoria was transferred to 100 ml flasks and incubated for 2-3 days. At the initial stage of the experiment, from day 1 to day 15, daily records and visual assessments were conducted. The assessment included the quantity of infusoria, motility (chemotaxis), size, shape, and the percentage of dead infusoria. Venus soybeans (GTS 40-3-2) exhibited a toxic effect on the protozoa, which died in repeated trials on the 14th-15th day of feeding. It was observed that infusoria fed with soybeans containing the GTS 40-3-2 (Venus) transformation event changed their shape after 3 days from the start of the experiment. Over the course of 10 days from the beginning of the study, a decrease in movement, motility, and the quantity of infusoria was noted. On the 14th-15th day, mortality was observed. Negative changes were also observed in infusoria that were fed with MON 00603 (NK 603) maize. The application of this method in the practice of assessing the safety of GM food products can provide a preliminary evaluation of long-term effects over a relatively short period [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development's objective is to increase productivity and reduce energy consumption in the execution of the technological process of expanded feed preparation while ensuring the necessary quality and safety of the expandates. The rationale for the construction and technological scheme of the feed expander with an improved shaping nozzle has been provided. This nozzle differs in that it consists of a narrowed area of the cylinder, a concave cone, and a crown nut. When heated plasticized mass is moved into the narrowed area of the shaping nozzle, there is an increase in pressure, followed by a sharp decrease after it passes through. This is achieved by increasing the working volume due to the shape of the concave cone. As a result, the plasticized mass expands and exits through the crown nut, forming expandates. Through numerical modelling, the dynamics and distribution of feed mixture components in the cavity between the cylinder of the shaping nozzle and the cone have been determined based on the force of pressure and the force of contact interaction between feed components. This dependence on the radius of narrowing of the cylinder of the shaping nozzle, the radius of the concave cone, and the distance between the cone and the cylinder have been established. Regression equations for the density of the plasticized feed mixture components at the outlet of the shaping nozzle and the maximum pressure required to extrude the plasticized feed components through the shaping nozzle along their movement direction from the specified research factors have been derived. As a result of experimental studies of the compact feed expander, dependencies of the changes in expander productivity, power consumption, specific energy consumption of the expansion process, and the density of obtained expandates have been established with respect to the moisture content of the compound feed, the gap between the cone and the nut, and the screw rotation speed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rough hay and straw, and succulent silage and feeds are essential for feeding ruminants. Their quality depends on the phase of harvesting, technology and method of storage. Digestibility and energy value studies are vital for a balanced diet of ruminants. The aim of the study was to determine the gas production, digestibility and metabolic energy of straw, alfalfa hay and corn silage using in vitro methodologies in fresh and lyophilized rumen fluid. By means of a probe and a vacuum machine we collected inoculum (rumen fluid) from rams 2 - 3 years old from the breed Bulgarian dairy synthetic population (BDSP). An in vitro methodology was used to perform analyzes of rough and succulent feed's with the Ankom RF Gas Production System. Digestibility and metabolic energy was evaluated and gas production was analyzed at four levels: 24, 48, 72 and 120 hours of incubation, with fresh and lyophilized rumen fluid. The obtained results show lower values for digestibility of silage, alfalfa hay and straw in the lyophilized rumen fluid compared to fresh - 68.72%, 62.33%, 29.48% and 64.92%, 58.48%, 26.93% respectively. The values of metabolic energy (ME) in straw are higher in lyophilized inoculum compared to fresh - 5.904 and 5.676 ME, respectively. In alfalfa hay higher values were obtained with fresh rumen fluid 6,813 ME compared to lyophilized 5.637 ME. No differences were found in silage - 5.89 and 5.88 ME. In the case of maize silage, the values are closest in fresh and lyophilized inoculum at 24 hours of incubation - 99.019 and 92.730 dm/mL, respectively. The released gases are lower at the lyophilized rumen fluid by 15.5%, 13.4% and 13% at 48 h, 72 h and 120 h incubation respectively. Gas production in alfalfa hay with lyophilized rumen fluid as well as in corn silage is lower compared to fresh silage. The largest differences were found at 24 hour - 84.41 dm/mL for lyophilisate and 124.67 dm/mL for fresh inoculum. In the wheat straw, gas production at 24 hour is higher in the lyophilized rumen fluid 99.55 dm/mL compared to fresh 88.77 dm/mL. At the following levels, the released gases increase slightly and have close values. The obtained results in metabolic energy have divergent values for alfalfa hay and straw for different types of rumen fluid. Gas production in alfalfa hay as well as in corn silage with lyophilized rumen fluid is lower compared to fresh, and in straw the results for both types of inoculum are similar, with a slight increase in lyophilized rumen fluid. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Determining the regularities of the process of pelleting vegetable raw materials is relevant for the improvement of technologies and technical equipment in order to reduce energy intensity and improve the quality of pellets. The generalization of the results of the research aimed at studying the influence of various parameters on the process of pelleting vegetable raw materials and the quality of feed and biofuel pellets is the purpose of the research. A selection and systematic review of the scientific literature on the subject of the study for the period of 2007-2022 has been carried out. The analysis has proved that heat pre-treatment and moistening of vegetable raw materials, as well as their composition and particle size are the factors that have the greatest impact on the quality of feed and biofuel pellets. Increasing the pressure in the range of 20...200 MPa results in increasing the pellets durability. A die temperature of around 100°C is optimum for obtaining dense pellets of highquality from vegetable raw materials. The design parameters of the pelletizer play an important role in obtaining high-quality pellets when processing vegetable raw materials. The design of the inlet in the form of a tapering cone helps to reduce energy consumption and pelleting pressure. An increase in the ratio of the die channel length to its diameter exponentially increases the pelleting pressure and its energy intensity. The interplay between the physical processes occurring in the pelletizer makes it difficult to interpret the impact of each parameter on the pelleting process, so different authors have different assessments of the contribution of individual factors in producing high-quality pellets. Therefore, the interaction between the individual pelleting parameters and their influence on the results of the process should be examined more precisely.

In this study, Artemia parthenogenetica was fed with either Spirulina (S), yeast (Y), rice bran (R), oat (O) or their combinations in 10 experimental groups in triplicate for 20 days in laboratory conditions and growth, biomass, feed conversion rate (FCR), specific growth rate (SGR), survival rate, crude protein, crude lipid contents were determined. The highest average body length obtained at the end of the experiment was 2.805±0.003 mm in treatments (S) and (SYR), and the highest average individual dry weight was 23.057 µg in treatment (S). The mean biomass changed between 167.2±0.003 mg and 115.7±0.012 mg. The highest biomass value was 20.9 g/m3 in treatment (S), followed by 20.5 g/m3 in treatment (SYR). The highest FCR was found to be similar in (S) and (Y) with 1.14±0.02. SGR was 1.01±0.001 in all experimental groups. The highest survival rate was in treatment (S), and overall it ranged between 78.22±1.78 - 90.64±0.06%. The highest crude protein contents of Artemia were found in (SR) and (S) and the highest lipid content was found in treatment (O). As a result, it is thought that combinations of by-products such as rice bran and yeast together with microalgae will be economical in the cultivation of Artemia parthenogenetica.

Standardization of laboratory animals is the basis for obtaining accurate and stable experimental data, drawing objective and reliable experimental conclusions. The standardization of laboratory animal feeds is an integral part of laboratory animal standardization and an important support to realize laboratory animal standardization. In this paper, we compared the historical process of laboratory animal feeds standardization at home and abroad, outlined the key problems existing in the current domestic work, and put forward targeted countermeasures in order to provide references for the standardization of laboratory animal feeds in China.

Deficit macro and micro-minerals in the ration of lactating Jaffarabadi buffaloes adversely affects growth, milk production and reproduction efficiency. For present study, four villages from each of 5 talukas were selected at random for taking representative samples of soil, feeds, forages and blood plasma of lactating Jaffarabadi buffaloes. Within the village, help was sought from village milk producers and district animal husbandry officer for identification of 3 farmers and collection of representative samples. All the samples were processed and analysed for chemical composition as well as major macro and micro-minerals, using Microwave Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometer (MP-AES). Ca content was high in groundnut haulms (0.95%), but maize forage (0.23%), cotton seed cake (0.16%), cotton seed (0.12%) and maize cake (0.25) were found to be below the critical level (0.30%). The P content in concentrate ingredients was high (0.38-0.68%), but low in roughages (0.07-0.20%). Green jowar (0.18%) and maize cake (0.10%) were deficient in Mg. Feeds and forages were found to be adequate in iron. Abundant level of Cu was found in all feeds and forage. Sugarcane was found deficient in all minerals, except iron, and groundnut haulms (20.70 ppm) were found to be deficient in Zn. The blood mineral profile of the majority of lactating Jaffarabadi buffaloes was adequate. From the present study, it was apparent that soil and therefore forages cultivated in particular region were deficient in P and Zn. Same minerals were adequate in concentrate available in this area. So, to fulfil the requirement of deficient minerals there is need to feed concentrate along with area specific mineral mixture to the buffaloes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, a significant part of our time is spent sharing multimodal data on social media sites such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter. The particular way through which users present themselves to social media can provide useful insights into their behaviours, personalities, perspectives, motives and needs. This article proposes to use multimodal data collected from Instagram accounts to predict the five basic prototypical needs described in Glasser's choice theory (i.e., Survival, Power, Freedom, Belonging, and Fun). We automate the identification of the unconsciously perceived needs from Instagram profiles by using both visual and textual contents. The proposed approach aggregates the visual and textual features extracted using deep learning and constructs a homogeneous representation for each profile through the proposed Bag-of-Content. Finally, we perform multi-label classification on the fusion of both modalities. We validate our proposal on a large database, consensually annotated by two expert psychologists, with more than 30,000 images, captions and comments. Experiments show promising accuracy and complementary information between visual and textual cues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) have fused molecular imprinting technology with magnetic separation technology, emerging as an innovative material capable of recognizing specific molecules and efficiently separating target substances. Their application to the extraction and purification of mycotoxins has great potential, due to the toxicity and economic impact of these contaminants. In this work, MMIP has been proposed as a sample treatment for the determination of main four aflatoxins (B1, B2, G1 and G2) in pig feed. The MMIP was formed through the integration of magnetic material (Fe3O4) with commercial molecularly imprinted polymers, avoiding the synthesis step and, therefore, simplifying the process. The analyses were carried out by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection and the method was validated and limits of quantification (LOQs) between 0.09 and 0.47 ng/g were obtained, below the allowed or recommended levels by the European Union. Repeatability and intermediate precision showed relative standard deviations lower than 10% in all cases and trueness ranged from 92 to 111%. Finally, the proposed method was applied to 31 real pig feed samples, detecting aflatoxins with concentrations between 0.2 and 3.2 ng/g.

Bisphenol analogs (BPs) in livestock urine are important biomarkers to reflect the potential contaminants in food products derived from these animals. Nevertheless, little research has been done on their occurrence in farm animal urine. This work investigated ten BPs in swine and bovine urines collected from two Chinese farms. Results showed that all of these ten BPs were frequently detected in swine and bovine urines. The total mean concentration of the ten BPs (ΣBPs) in sow urines was 59.7 ng/mL, which was significantly higher than that of the boar urine with a mean concentration of 37.0 ng/mL (p < 0.05). On the other hand, the corresponding mean concentration of ΣBPs in dairy cattle urine was 59.6 ng/mL, which was significantly higher than that of the beef cattle urine with 37.0 ng/mL (p < 0.05). The respective mean concentration contribution ratios of BPA to ΣBPs in boar, sow, dairy, and beef cattle urines were only 14.9%, 21.4%, 9.0%, and 14.6%, which clearly indicated that BPA was no longer the dominant BP. The average daily urinary excretion rates of ΣBPs by boar, sow, dairy, and beef cattle were 37.0, 59.8, 167.0, and 36.8 times that of human, which suggested that swine and bovine likely encountered high dosage exposure of BPs in the two Chinese livestock farms. Our results showed that feeds and nutritional supplements as unintentionally added contaminants were the main sources of BPs to swine and bovine. As swine and bovine are important food sources for human being, part of BPs exposed to livestock eventually would enter human body via meat or milk. Therefore, quality controls of these feeds or nutritional supplements are quite important in order to guarantee welfare of livestock as well as protect health of our human beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current aquaculture practices have a detrimental impact on the environment, in particular due to the release of high concentration of nitrogen and phosphorus that can induce eutrophication. To avoid these harmful impacts, phytoremediation could be employed. The phytoremediation of aquaculture wastewater with microalgae has great potential due to its high nutrient removal efficiency and low cost. In microalgae-based bioremediation, algae fix carbon dioxide and release oxygen by photosynthesis and increase biological oxygen demand in contaminated water. It is the use of microalgae to remove pollutants from the environment or to convert them into harmless form. Furthermore, aquatic animals require protein in large quantity, in which microalgae are excellent requirement to solve this need. They are required for larval nutrition either for direct consumption as used for mollusks and shrimp or indirect consumption as in case of live prey fed to small fish larvae. The aim of this review is to converse the role of microalgae in aquaculture and bioremediation of aquaculture wastewater. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, a great deal of concern has been offered to develop safe and environmentally friendly alternatives to harmful agricultural chemicals. As a result, organic agriculture, or organic farming, has gained increasing popularity in recent years and is increasingly distinguished as an integral part of global food production. By definition, organic agriculture is natural agriculture without using chemicals, pesticides, fertilizers, or genetically modified seeds. Instead, the primary goals of organic farming are to maximize the efficient use of soil and its organic elements to improve its sustainability and properties naturally and reduce the demand for chemicals. Furthermore, several epidemiological studies have demonstrated the safety of organic products with a positive relationship between organic food consumption and health. However, before exploring the concept of organic farming in-depth, some questions need to be addressed: What is organic farming? How do conventional and organic farming systems differ? What are the types of organic products? And what is the impact of organic agriculture on food safety? What are the objectives and advantages of organic agriculture? What are organic agriculture’s disadvantages and challenges, and what are the solutions? We address these questions and clarify crucial organic farming concepts in the current literature review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve the robustness and dynamic tracking performance of the stator current control for the long stator linear synchronous motor (LSLSM) used in high-speed maglev train traction system, a composite current control strategy combining a sliding mode current controller (SMCC) and a sliding mode disturbance observer (SMDO) is proposed in this article. First, the LSLSM mathematical model in double feed mode is optimized. Then, an SMCC is designed based on the model. An improved stability criterion is proposed and the SMCC switching gain is obtained quantitatively to meet the current following speed required for the stator changeover process. As disturbance factors, parameter perturbation of the LSLSM and the stator changeover will bring about transient current fluctuations and chattering. Therefore, an SMDO is designed to estimate the disturbances and perform feed-forward compensation for the SMCC, thereby improving the robustness and suppressing the current chattering. Finally, the hardware-in-the-loop experiments verify the effectiveness of this strategy and compare it with the traditional current control strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this work is to recognise phrases and sentences being spoken by a talking face, with or without the audio. Unlike previous works that have focussed on recognising a limited number of words or phrases, we tackle lip reading as an open-world problem – unconstrained natural language sentences, and in the wild videos. Our key contributions are: (1) we compare two models for lip reading, one using a CTC loss, and the other using a sequence-to-sequence loss. Both models are built on top of the transformer self-attention architecture; (2) we investigate to what extent lip reading is complementary to audio speech recognition, especially when the audio signal is noisy; (3) we introduce and publicly release a new dataset for audio-visual speech recognition, LRS2-BBC, consisting of thousands of natural sentences from British television. The models that we train surpass the performance of all previous work on a lip reading benchmark dataset by a significant margin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) industry represent the 71% of aquaculture total world production and demands for novel feeds and better proteins. In this sense, Pacific thread herring (Ophistonema libertate) contains high‐quality proteins suitable to produce protein hydrolysates (PH) with antioxidant activity for tilapia feeds. In this study, two Alcalase herring muscle PH were prepared at 10% and 30% degree of hydrolysis (DH) and were supplemented on two formulated feeds, FH10 and FH30 respectively. One hundred eighty tilapia juveniles were fed with the experimental and a control feed (CF) for 6 weeks and then submitted to an acute stress by temperature increment for 24 hours. The results revealed that organisms fed with the FH10 shown the highest (p < 0.05) weight increment compared to the other feeds, showing a better protein yield. The enzymatic activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and glutathione peroxidase (GPx) measured in Nile tilapia livers was influenced by the experimental feeds, the organisms fed with FH10 exhibited the highest activity in SOD and CAT and the best productive performance, while the tilapias fed with FH30 showed an elevated GPx activity, suggesting that herring muscle PH in feeds are a suitable option to bring a potential benefit for Nile tilapias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]