ALBERT

Beschreibung: SUMMARYThe present study was conducted to determine the effects of a polysaccharide of Atractylodes macrophala Koidz (PAM) as a dietary additive on growth performance, immunoglobulin concentration and IL-1β expression in weaned piglets. One hundred and twenty Landrace×Yorkshire piglets weaned at 28 days old (body weight 7·5±0·07 kg) were assigned to five treatment groups (three pens/group, eight piglets/pen) fed maize/soybean-based diets supplemented with 0, 3, 6 or 9 g of PAM/kg diet or antibiotics (0·4 g flavomycin/kg+0·13 g olaquindox/kg). The experimental period was 28 days. With increasing PAM supplementation levels, average daily gain was greater (quadratic, P

Beschreibung: The origin and significance of pimple mounds (low, elliptical to circular dune-like features found across much of the south-central United States) have been debated for nearly two centuries. We cored pimple mounds at four sites spanning the Ozark Plateau, Arkansas River Valley, and Gulf of Mexico Coastal Plain and found that these mounds have a regionally consistent textural asymmetry such that there is a significant excess of coarse-grained sediment within their northwest flanks. We interpret this asymmetry as evidence of an eolian depositional origin of these mounds and conclude they are relict nebkhas (coppice dunes) deposited during protracted middle to late Holocene droughts. These four mounds yield optically stimulated luminescence ages between 2400 and 700 yr that correlate with well-documented periods of eolian activity and droughts on the southern Great Plains, including the Medieval Climate Anomaly. We conclude vegetation loss during extended droughts led to local eolian deflation and pimple mound deposition. These mounds reflect landscape response to multi-decadal droughts for the south-central U.S. The spatial extent of pimple mounds across this region further underscores the severity and duration of late Holocene droughts, which were significantly greater than historic droughts.

Beschreibung: SummaryDry-matter intake (D.M.I.) from Panicum maximum(guinea grass) was studied in digestibility trials with Holstein and water buffalo bulls and in a feeding trial with lactating cows.Differences in voluntary D.M.I. per unit body weight0·73 between the Holsteins and water buffaloes were not significant. Average D.M.I. for all bulls in all main trials was 2·16 kg per 100 kg B.W. Average D.M.I. by the lactating cows was 2·08 kg per 100 kg B.W., for all practical purposes the same as for the bulls.D.M.I. was not related to stage of maturity or season of harvest of the guinea grass. Intakes of digestible protein, T.D.N., and digestible energy in different seasons and at different growth stages were related to the percentage of those nutrients in the grass.Correlation coefficients were 0·68 between D.M.I. and B.W.0·73, 0·59 between D.M.I. and T.D.N. content, and 0·58 between D.M.I. and crude protein content, D.M.I. was not closely related to dry-matter content (r = 0·30) or crude fibre content (r= 0–01) of the guinea grass.

Beschreibung: Fifteen digestibility trials were conducted in the wet, early dry, and late dry seasons in the Philippines. Panicum maximum (guinea grass) was fed at growth stages of 1–4 months to Bos taurus (Holstein), Bos indicus (Red Sindhi), and Bos bubalis (water buffalo) bulls.Significant differences were shown between digestibility coefficients from water buffaloes and those from Holstein cattle, the former having a 5–7 % advantage in most cases. Ratios of volatile fatty acids in rumen fluid from the two species were not different. Separate tables of digestible protein, TDN and digestible energy values for guinea grass were computed for cattle and water buffaloes.

Beschreibung: SUMMARYGestating female pigs received either a low or a high intake per day of diets containing either a low or high protein concentration. A change in the composition of both diets occurred after 2 years, when the protein quality of the high protein diet was improved and the energy content of both diets was increased. Vitamin A determinations were carried out on 245 piglet livers and 32 pairs of kidneys and lungs at birth from 47 sows. The livers, kidneys and lungs of 16 sows were also analysed for vitamin A after approximately 4 years on experiment. Vitamin A was detected at birth with antimony trichloride in the liver of the piglet, but not in the kidney or lung. The sow's kidney was found to contain only small amounts and lung tissue only traces.A dietary vitamin A level of 4800 i.u./kg during the breeding life of healthy sows, or 8600 i.u./day during gestation, was adequate from the point of view of both a constant storage in piglet livers at birth over eight to ten parities and a relatively high concentration remaining in sow livers after that period. This conclusion is in line with recommendations of the Agricultural Research Council (1966).As a consequence of differences in both the condition of the sows and in their responses in the two periods, the results for each period are presented separately. In the first 2-year period, when the sows received a relatively low intake of dietary protein during gestation (between 248 and 317 g protein/sow/day), and a low energy intake; that is, when protein was used for energy production, the liver vitamin A storage of the piglet at birth was increased by raising either the daily protein intake during gestation to 352 g, or the food intake from 1·8 to 2·3 kg/sow/day. Liver vitamin A and N concentrations were negatively correlated with liver weight, but increasing dietary protein concentration raised liver weight and its vitamin A content. Liver vitamin A per piglet was not affected by litter size.A conclusion may not be drawn concerning the contribution of dietary energy to the differences in response between periods, because in addition to dietary changes other differences occurred between periods. Nevertheless, in the second 2-year period, when energy intake during gestation was adequate for normal growth and development, a difference of 150 g in protein intake/sow/day (363 g against 208 g) had no effect on liver weight or its vitamin A content. Furthermore, there was no significant treatment effect on total protein or albumin concentrations in the serum of the sow.

Beschreibung: SUMMARYAn experiment, involving 68 female pigs, was undertaken to measure the effects of two diets differing in protein content, and of two patterns of feeding. The animals were housed in an enclosed building. The experiment extended through several parities; culled sows were replaced by gilts during the experiment, the whole course of which lasted 5 years.The diets were given at the rate of 1–8 or 2–3 kg per day throughout gestation, but the rate was reversed during the 5-week lactation so that, for litters of eight to nine pigs sows in each treatment group received the same quantity of food per parity. As a result of unsatisfactory performance, dietary composition was changed after 2 years so that for the last 3 years the digestible energy contents were higher.Treatments significantly influenced gestation live-weight gain, lactation weight loss and gestation backfat gain. The lower rate of gestation feeding was associated with low or negative gestation weight increases after the third to fourth litters, and a greater apparent rate of decline with increasing age in birth and 3-week weight per piglet. The high gestation, low lactation, rates of feeding led to slightly greater litter size and lower weaning weights per pig. A daily intake of 208 g crude protein and 8'3 g lysine appeared to meet the sow's requirements throughout gestation.In the pregnant sow feeding area, winter air temperatures were on average 16 °C below those in the summer, but were rarely below freezing point. Winter backfat gain was lower than, and gestation gain only half that in the summer. Litter size was also greater following summer pregnancies and 3-week weight per pig was greater following winter pregnancies. Independent of litter size, birth and 3-week weight per pig were positively correlated with gestation gain within treatment and season. The apparent positive correlation of litter size at 3 weeks with gestation backfat and weight gain was not found at birth. Litter size at birth was negatively correlated with gestation gain within season. The percentage of fertile matingswas less for matings between 1 September and 31 January. This coincided approximately with the reduced litter size (alive) which occurred following winter gestations.Lactation weight loss and 3-week weight per pig declined with increasing age of sow and the degree of weight loss was unrelated to subsequent litter size.The apparent effect of seasons and treatments on litter size at birth appeared not to be an obvious function of changes in live weight, which were also marked between seasons and treatments, but level of food intake in early gestation may have affected litter size independently. It was concluded that birth weight especially in the older sows, was associated with the rate of food intake in gestation, and possibly also in lactation, and with gestation empty weight gain.

Beschreibung: Ultrapotassic plutons from several domains of the Variscan orogenic belt have been in turn interpreted as syn- to post-orogenic due to their age spread, but assessment of their geodynamic setting and source regions is still open to interpretation. In the Svoge region (Bulgaria), at the southern margin of the Balkan orogen, peralkalic plutons are hosted within Ordovician pelites. The main intrusion, with lamproitic affinity, which hosts monzodiorite xenoliths and a polyphase syenite suite, was emplaced at a shallow level. 40Ar–39Ar dating by step-heating of amphibole and biotite yielded a Early Carboniferous intrusion age for the main body (337 ± 4 and 339.1 ± 1.6 Ma). The lamproite intrusion is silica-rich compared with bona fide lamproites and characterized by moderate LILE and LaN/YbN enrichments. Sr and Nd isotopic data (initial ϵNd in the range −4.87 to −5.88) suggest an origin in a depleted lithospheric mantle, possibly refertilized by eo-Variscan subduction. The high-K syn-tectonic plutonism in several zones of the Variscan orogen (Bohemian, Austro-Alpine, Vosges, French and Corsica domains) is consistent with a derivation of high-K magmatism from partial melting of metasomatized mantle following the subduction along the collision front between Gondwana and Laurasia.

Beschreibung: A numerical description of heterogeneous propellant combustion enables us to examine the spatial and temporal fluctuations in the flow field arising from the heterogeneity. Particular focus is placed on the fluctuations in a zone intermediate between the combustion field (where reaction is important) and the chamber flow domain, for these define boundary conditions for simulations of the turbulent chamber flow. The statistics of the temperature field and the normal velocity field are described, and characteristic length scales and time scales are identified. The length scales are small compared to any relevant length scale of the chamber flow, and so the boundary conditions for this flow at any mesh point are statistically independent of those at any other mesh point. But the temporal correlations at a fixed point are significant, and affect the nature of the chamber flow in a variety of ways. We describe the fluctuations in the head-end pressure that arise because of them, and contrast these results with those calculated using a white-noise assumption.