Reassessment of phosphorus and nitrogen discharge from commercial carp feeds

ABSTRACT:   The present study, one in a series to clarify the phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) loading from carp culture, evaluated four commercial diets. The total and available P in these diets varied from 1.57 to 1.86% and from 0.38 to 0.87%, respectively. The control diet, selected based on an earlier experiment, contained 1.40% total P and 0.68% available P. The 7-week feeding trial was performed with juvenile carp. Superior feed gain ratio was obtained for the control diet (1.00) and it varied from 1.19 to 1.56 among the commercial diet groups. Similarly, the control diet showed higher rates of P absorption (43.8%) and retention (33.1%) than the rest (absorption: 18.1–40.9%; retention: 10.7–18.7%). Total P loading (kg/t production) was 10.0 for the control group but ranged from 19.1 to 25.0 among the commercial diet groups. Nitrogen absorption was not markedly different; however, fluctuations in retention resulted in N loading (kg/t production) that ranged between 47.1 and 66.3 among the commercial diets, higher than the 34.8 obtained for the control diet. The available P in the commercial diets rarely matched the requirement level, thereby negatively affecting the waste loading. The superior performance of the control diet underscores the fact that effective formulations help in keeping emission levels low.     

Different combinations of protein ingredients in carp diets for reducing phosphorus loading

ABSTRACT: This study was conducted to gather data on the reduction of environmental phosphorus (P) loading through the formulation of carp diets with different combinations of protein ingredients. Five experimental diets were formulated by substituting fishmeal (FM; 10–20%) with alternative protein sources such as meat meal (MM; 5–15%), blood meal (BM; 5–7%), and defatted soybean meal (dSBM; 6–10%). The control diet used was a commercial carp diet selected based on earlier experiments. Each diet was fed to duplicate groups of juvenile carp three times a day, until satiation for 12 weeks. Feed performance was proportional to the increase in dietary FM levels. Phosphorus absorption ranged between 41.6% and 52.0% among the experimental groups and was 42.6% for the control group, but there were no marked differences in nitrogen (N) absorption rates. Phosphorus retention ranged from 31.4% to 35.7% for the test diets, whereas N retention increased proportionally with dietary FM levels and ranged from 34.7% to 41.7%. The P and N retention values of the control diet were 27.6% and 41.2%, respectively. The total P loading (T-P) increased at the higher FM levels (9.1–10.7 kg/t production), whereas lower FM levels produced higher total N loading (T-N, 34.6–43.1 kg/t production), the figures for the control being 13.9 T-P kg/t production and 35.6 T-N kg/t production. These results indicate that the reduction of FM levels to 10–20% by replacing it with MM, BM, and dSBM in carp diets was effective in reducing the loading of P and N.     

利用图像和机器学习检测大豆作物幼苗期玉米杂苗

在大豆-玉米轮作生产过程中，玉米杂苗会与大豆苗竞争水和肥料，而且很容易遮住大豆苗，影响害虫（如玉米根虫）的防控，降低大豆品质。因此，在大豆幼苗期及时检测出玉米杂苗并对其进行处理非常重要。传统的人工检测方法主观性强、效率低，传感器和算法的发展为自动检测玉米杂苗提供了更好的解决方案。本研究在温室环境下模仿田间条件，待玉米和大豆发芽后，连续5天用因特尔RealSense D435相机采集彩色图像，并人工裁剪幼苗图像区域，在此基础上对图像进行分割和去噪。在采集图像形状、色彩和纹理特征值后， 对所采集的特征值进行权重分析， 保留前10种重要的特征值导入基于特征的机器学习算法中进行模型训练和预测。预测结果表明，支持向量机模型（SVM）、神经网络（NN）和随机森林（RF）的预测精度分别为85.3%，81.5%和82.6%。将数据集导入GoogLeNet和VGG-16 两种深度学习模型进行训练， 预测精度分别为96.0%和96.2%。VGG-16 模型在区分大豆幼苗和玉米杂苗中有较好的表现，彩色图像和VGG-16 模型组成的系统可以自动检测大豆生长过程中玉米杂苗的情况，为农民提供准确的信息，帮助其进行生产决策和田间管理。     

Balancing protein ingredients in carp feeds to limit dischargeof phosphorus and nitrogen into water bodies

ABSTRACT:   Through a series of experiments, it has been demonstrated successfullythat an appropriate choice of ingredients is primary for achievinga reduction in phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) loading from carpculture. In this final study, four multi-ingredient diets were examined.In addition to the basal ingredients (fish meal 15%, corngluten meal 8%, defatted soybean meal 10%, blood meal3–5%), three of the test diets (PF, MM, and SP)contained 6% each of either poultry feather meal, meatmeal or soy protein concentrate, respectively, and the fourth diet(PMS) had each of the three aforementioned ingredients includedat 3%. These diets had crude protein < 35%,digestible energy > 3.5 kcal/g,available P between 0.65 and 0.66% and total P rangingfrom 1.26 to 1.36%. The diets were fed to juvenile carpduring a 12-week feeding trial. The highest growth was obtained forfish fed the MM diet. The absorption and retention rates of P werehigher for the PF diet, whereas these values for N did not showtreatment-related differences. The total discharges per ton fish productionwere estimated to range between 7.8 and 9.2 kg for P andbetween 39.1 and 40.7 kg for N. These were lower than thefigures for Lake Kasumigaura, a main carp culture site, indicatingthat proper balancing of protein ingredients aids in efficientlylowering emissions from aquaculture.     

A laboratory-based assessment of phosphorus and nitrogen loading from currently available commercial carp feeds

ABSTRACT: To clarify the total phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) loading from carp culture, five commercial diets were selected from a major location in Japan, Lake Kasumigaura, for a 12-week feeding trial. These diets were prepared as per the 'Kasumigaura Feed Standard' (crude protein < 35% and digestible energy > 3.5kcal/g), and total P ranged from 1.4% to 2.0%. However, for most of the diets the P available was lower than the requirement level. A control diet was formulated with 25% fishmeal to comply with that standard and contain adequate available P. Duplicate groups of juvenile carp were fed the aforementioned diets to satiation, three times a day, six days a week throughout the trial. Growth performance was significantly higher for the control group and values of P absorption (20.4–47.0%) and retention (14.0–36.3%) varied widely among the groups. Consequently, the total P loading (kg/t production) values based on retention fluctuated from 14.8 to 26.4 among the commercial diet groups compared with the low level of 8.5 for the control group. Similarly, the total N loading (kg/t production) values varied from 30.9 to 86.0 and was lowest for the control group. A higher whole body lipid and lower bone P and Ca confirmed the deficiency of the dietary available P in commercial diets. Better growth and comparatively less P and N loading rates were observed in the diet that had sufficient available P, not to mention that the control diet ranked best. It was concluded that an inadequacy of available P among the commercial diets affects the growth of carp and produces high P and N loading into the water. Therefore, if the commercial diets do not supply adequate levels of available P to carp, growth is negatively affected and may result in greater waste loading.     

Improved carp diets based on plant protein sources reduceenvironmental phosphorus loading

ABSTRACT:   As part of on-going efforts to reduce environmental phosphorus(P) and nitrogen (N) loading from culture systems, five experimentaldiets were formulated containing 5–15% of fishmeal (FM) and different levels of soy protein concentrate (10–20%),corn gluten meal (3–5%) and defatted soybean meal(2.0–8.5%). These diets had total P ranging between1.04 and 1.29% and available P between 0.62 and 0.63%.A FM-based (43%) commercial diet was used as the controland this diet had total P of 1.87% and available P of 0.82%.Waste loading was calculated after feeding the diets to 3.4 gcarp for 10 weeks. Feed gain ratios were not significantly differentfor fish fed control and experimental diets having 10–15% FM,but the protein efficiency ratio was lower for the control group.The rates of P absorption and retention in the experimental dietgroups were significantly higher than those of the control group.The lowest N retention was obtained for the control group, althoughabsorption was not markedly different among the treatment groups.Total P and N loading (kg/ton production) produced fromthe experimental diets ranged from 7.1 to 8.9 and from 36.1 to 41.3,respectively, whereas the corresponding values for the control dietwere 15.2 and 48.1.     

Genome-Wide Association Analysis and Allelic Mining of Grain Shape-Related Traits in Rice

Excavating single nucleotide polymorphisms(SNPs) significantly associated with rice grain shape and predicting candidate genes through genome-wide association study(GWAS) can provide a theoretical basis for discovery and utilization of excellent genetic resources in rice. Based on 16 352 SNPs, 161 natural indica rice varieties with various grain sizes in southern China were used for GWAS of grain shape-related traits, referring to grain length(GL), grain width(GW), 1000-grain weight(TGW), and grain length/width(GLW). Phenotypic statistics showed that coefficient of variation values for these four traits GL, GW, TGW and GLW were 9.92%, 9.09%, 20.20% and 16.38%, respectively. Each trait showed a normal distribution, and there was a certain correlation between these traits. Through general linear model correlation analysis, a total of 38 significant loci were identified, and a range of 100 kb upstream and downstream of the significant loci was identified as the candidate interval. On chromosome 3, GS3 and q GL3 were found to regulate GL. On chromosome 6, TGW6 and GW6 a were found to regulate TGW. Also, some QTLs related to grain shape were found on chromosomes 5 and 9. Besides that, using sequenced 3 K-germplasm resources, we found that there are 22 overlapped varieties between these two natural populations. Twenty-six SNPs and fourteen haplotypes were identified in five regions of GS3 genes. The detection of multiple candidate genes/QTLs within the candidate interval is beneficial for further excavation of superior rice genetic resources.     

Reduction in elemental waste loading from commercial carp feeds by manipulating the dietary phosphorus levels

ABSTRACT:   The effect of dietary phosphorus (P) manipulation on environmental loading of P and nitrogen (N) from carp was investigated. Two commercial diets (A and B) were re-prepared as four experimental diets A, B, AP, and BP, the latter two being topped up to the required available P level for carp. The total P ranged between 1.52 and 1.99% and water-extractable (or available) P was 0.50, 0.36, 0.62, and 0.63% for A, B, AP, and BP, respectively. A 20% fishmeal diet was chosen as the control and it contained 1.41% total P and 0.67% water-extractable P. Duplicate groups of carp (size, 8.6 g) were fed the test diets for 12 weeks. The best growth performance was that of fish fed the control diet, followed by the test diets supplemented with P. The highest rates of P absorption and retention of P and N were obtained for the control group followed by the AP, A, BP, and B experimental groups. In the case of waste discharge, the reduction in P loading was marginal, but N loading was markedly lower for P supplemented test diets. The control diet was the least-loading diet. Thus commercial carp feed formulations could be improved by incorporating sufficient available P in order to reduce discharges of P and N into the water.     

Phosphorus and nitrogen excretion during growth span of carp kept under two rearing systems

ABSTRACT:   Two feeding trials were performed on carp to investigate phosphorus (P) and nitrogen (N) excretion during their growth span. Trial I was conducted under laboratory conditions by feeding 3.9 g carp an experimental diet (crude protein 34.8%, total P 1.41% and available P 0.67%) for 280 days under controlled conditions. Trial II was performed with 72.8 g carp, feeding them a commercial diet (CP 35.8%, total P 1.62% and available P 0.75%) for 180 days on a practical scale. Fish grew throughout the experiment in trial I, whereas they stopped growing in trial II when the water temperature fell below 15°C. In both trials, P and N content in fish body increased with increasing weight until it plateaued when fish were between 500 and 600 g. The retention rates of the two elements also followed a similar pattern, but decreased beyond the size range mentioned above. In both trials, P and N loading increased with an increase in fish size, but such a pattern was less evident until a bodyweight of 600 g, the trend being more pronounced in trial II. The results of the present study indicate that excretion is higher during the slow-growing stage of carp and is, hence, influenced by fish size.