Apilarnil reduces fear and advances sexual development in male broilers but has no effect on growth

1. An experiment was conducted to determine the possibility of stimulating sexual development at an early age in male and female broiler chickens by administration of apilarnil, a natural bee product, in the pre-pubertal period.

2. From 28 to 55 d of age, birds were given apilarnil orally. The effects of low (2.5 g/bird) and high (7.5 g/bird) doses of apilarnil on growth performance, testicular weight, secondary sexual characteristics, blood lipids, testosterone and fearful behaviour were evaluated.

3. Apilarnil administration did not cause a positive effect on growth performance of male and female broilers suggesting that apilarnil did not have an anabolic effect.

4. Apilarnil administration suppressed blood glucose and cholesterol.

5. Birds receiving apilarnil remained immobile for a shorter period in a tonic imobiliy test and showed less home-cage avoidance responses suggesting a lower level of fearfulness.

6. Increases in testicular weight, testosterone concentration and comb growth in males receiving apilarnil implied that it stimulates the sexual maturation at an early age. However, a similar stimulation of secondary sexual characteristics was not observed in females.     

Selective determination of catechin among phenolic antioxidants with the use of a novel optical fiber reflectance sensor based on indophenol dye formation on nano-sized TiO₂

The optical sensor for "tea catechins" was built by immobilizing 2,2'-(1,4-phenylenedivinylene)bis-8-hydroxyquinoline (PBHQ) on TiO? nanoparticles (NPs). The sensor worked by "indophenol blue" dye formation on PBHQ-immobilized TiO? NPs as a result of p-aminophenol (PAP) autoxidation with dissolved O? at pH 10. Among quercetin, rutin, naringenin, naringin, gallic acid, caffeic acid, ferulic acid, p-coumaric acid, catechin, epicatechin, epicatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epigallocatechin gallate, and trolox, only catechin group antioxidants delayed the color formation on NPs, as measured by the reflectance signal at 710 nm. For quantitative analysis, reflectance signal versus time was recorded, and the difference between the areas under curve (ΔAUC) in the presence and absence of catechin was correlated (r = 0.98) to catechin concentration. The selectivity of the sensor for catechins was shown in tea infusions compared to other plant extracts and was ascribed to the nonplanar structure of catechin interfering with the formation of perfectly conjugated indophenol blue on TiO? surface.     

Effect of dietary n-3 series fatty acids on sperm production in the freshwater crayfish, Astacus leptodactylus (Eschscholtz) (Astacidae)

The objective of the present work was to evaluate the effects of three different rates of long chain n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC n-3 PUFA) on the sperm number of Astacus leptodactylus. The experiment was carried out with the four following treatments: control group (not supplemented LC n-3 PUFA), D1 (1 %), D2 (2 %) and D3 (3 %). The sperm number of A. leptodactylus was counted; the reproductive system was weighted; and the macroscopical analysis of the testes and vasa deferentia (DVD) were conducted. In addition, gonado-somatic index (GI) and testes index (TI) were also calculated. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the crayfish fed LC n-3 PUFA supplemented diets (D1, D2, D3) and control in mean sperm number (P < 0.05). The highest sperm number was found for the crayfish fed D3 (6.27 ± 0.14 × 10⁸ sperm/distal vas deferens section). The results also showed that the reproductive system of the crayfish fed D3 and D2 was significantly heavier than that of the crayfish fed the control and D1 (P < 0.05). On the other hand, there was not a significant difference in the testes weight and vasa deferentia weight between the crayfish fed the control and D1, and between the crayfish fed D2 and D3 (P < 0.05). GI of the crayfish fed D3 and D2 was significantly higher than that of the crayfish fed control and D1 (P > 0.05), but there was not a significant difference in the TI of the crayfish fed control, D1, D2 and D3 (P > 0.05). In conclusion, diets containing different levels of LC n-3 PUFA significantly increase the sperm number of A. leptodactylus, and they are crucial for the production of higher number of sperm in this species.     

The Effect of Liquid Smoking of Anchovy (Engraulis encrasicolus,L. 1758) Fillets on Sensory,Meat Yield,Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbon (PAH) Content,and Chemical Changes

In this study, the effects of a commercial liquid smoke flavoring agent and two different brining solutions applied on fillets of anchovy were investigated by performing sensory analyses, meat yield, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) content, and chemical composition analyses. Fillets were brined at 40 and 65% for 4 h at 4°C. Meat yield, sensorial acceptability, and chemical compositions were affected by each brining level. No detectable PAH levels were found in smoke flavoring treated fish samples. Sixty-five percent salt level was rejected by the participants due to high salt content. The results of the study showed that liquid smoke flavoring treatment is applicable to the anchovy fillets, and 40% brining level is recommended.     

Fatty Acid Composition and Oxidative Stability of Fish Oil Products in Turkish Retail Market

The fatty acid composition and oxidative stability of fish oil and syrups available in the Turkish retail market were examined in this study. The major saturated fatty acids in capsules and syrups were palmitic acid (16:0) and stearic acid (18:0). The monounsaturated fatty acid contents of fish oil products have very different results (10.71–50.46%). The results show that the label claims for total omega-3, eicosapentaenoic acid, and docosahexaenoic acid presented a reasonable accuracy for the examined products, but it was noted that some of the results showed a considerable difference with the labels.

The free fatty acid level in fish oil products was generally low (0.13–1.95% of oleic acid). Peroxide value of all examined products was below the limit of 10 meq kg^?1 oils for edible oil as indicated in Codex (1999). It was detected that the p-Anisidine value of fish oil capsules (5.36–8.90) was considerably lower than for fish oil syrups (21.86–26.74). According to our results, the totox value of fish oil capsules evaluated in this study (7.08–17.35) was within acceptable limits. However, fish oil syrups (34.72–38.06) highly exceeded the upper tolerable limit (26).     

Electric current in polymer solution jet and spinnability in the needleless electrospinning process

In this study, the electric current of polymer solution jet was measured during a needleless rod electrospinning process using memory oscilloscope recording. According to the results, electric current of solution jet increases as the polyurethane (PU) and tetraethylammonium bromide (TEAB) salt concentration increase. Especially at 17.5 and 20 wt% PU concentrations, electric current increases dramatically with TEAB concentration. Also, there is a strong relationship between the electric current in the solution jet, spinnability and the spinning performance of the roller electrospinning. Thus, the spinnability of polymer solutions can be easily estimated using this simple method.     

Embryonic and larval development of black skirt tetra (Gymnocorymbus ternetzi,Boulenger, 1895) under laboratory conditions

The embryonic and larval development of black skirt tetra, Gymnocorymbus ternetzi, are described under controlled laboratory conditions. In addition, major histomorphological changes and the allometric growth patterns during larval development have been described. The laboratory‐reared broodstock, that is 1 year of age, were spawned. Hatching occurred 20–21 h after spawning at 24 ± 0.5°C. The cleavage was finished in 2 h and the early blastula stage occurred at 2:04 hours after spawning. The gastrulation started at 3:20 hours and 30% epiboly was observed at 3:34 hours after spawning. Eight‐somite stage was observed at 08:33 hours. And embryonic developmental stage was completed at 21 h after spawning. The newly hatched larvae were 1442 ± 14.3 μm in mean total length (TL). The mouth opened at 3 days after hatching (DAH). The yolk sac had been totally absorbed and the larvae started to swim actively within 3–4 days. Notochord flexion began at 11 DAH. The metamorphosis was completed and the larvae transformed into juveniles at 32 DAH. In this paper, the full developmental sequence from egg to juvenile of G. ternetzi is described for the first time.     

Induction of triploidy in Melicertus kerathurus (Forskal, 1775) with temperature shock

Triploidy in fertilized eggs of Melicertus kerathurus was induced by cold (8, 10, 12°C) and heat (34, 36, 38°C) shock for different duration times (2, 4 and 8 min) after 10 min of post spawning. The best individual treatment produced 64.5% triploid nauplii in cold shock application at a temperature of 10°C for a duration of 8 min. Temperature did not have significant effect (P > 0.05) on triploid rate but duration time had a significant effect (P < 0.05) for individual cold or heat shock. This study demonstrates that because of a wide variety of effective parameters, it is essential to optimize shock conditions for each species strain at each location.