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This study was conducted to investigate the effects of different mixture ratios of sorghum (S) and cluster bean (CB) on fermentation parameters, nutritional composition, and gas-methane production of mixture silages. Five different mixture ratios (100%S, 75%S+25%CB, 50%S+50CB, 25%S+75%CB and 100%CB) were used in this study. Effects of mixture ratios on entire parameters were highly significant (p ≤ 0.01). Decreasing ADF and NDF ratios and increasing crude protein, ash and oil contents and condensed tannin levels were observed with increasing cluster bean ratios of the mixtures. However, cluster beans reduced WSC and lactic acid and increased pH, butyric acid and ethanol contents. The lowest Fleig score was obtained from cluster bean silage (100%CB). The lowest gas-methane production was obtained from cluster bean silage and the greatest ME and NEL values were obtained from sorghum silage (100%S). The best OMD values were obtained from sorghum silage and 75%S +25%CB mixture silage. The present findings revealed that a 50%S+50%CB mixture yielded high nutritional composition and good fermentation parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of fossil fuels for generating power has leaded to the reduction of fossil fuel resources and many adverse influences involving climate change and environmental pollution. Solar energy has a potential to provide eco-friendly energy with a great energy supply for producing heat and electricity. Basic parts of the system are the collector, chimney and turbine. The collector is a vital component of the system and its geometrical features noticeably influence the power plant efficiency. In the current work, a three dimensional computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulation of a SCPP based on the Manzanares prototype is performed to scrutinize the impact of collector entrance height (He) ranging from 0.75 m to 2 m on the solar chimney power output. Computational model is developed by employing RNG k-ε turbulence and discrete ordinates (DO) coupled with solar ray tracing models through ANSYS Fluent software. The model is validated using measured data published in the literature. The numerical results reveal that reducing He improves maximum velocity (Vmax), power output and pressure difference in the turbine at the expense of decreasing air mass flow rate. The highest velocity of 19.45 m/s is achieved with He = 0.75 m and Vmax enhances by 36.20% compared to base model with He = 1.85 m at 1000 W/m2. Besides this configuration provides the maximum power output of 66.51 kW and augments power output to 31.74% compared to the base case at 1000 W/m2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]