Substitution of Canola Meal for Soybean Meal in Diets for Channel Catfish Ictalurus punctatus

Abstract Canola meal was used in channel catfish Ictalurus punctatus diets at levels of 0, 15.4, 30.8, 46.2 and 61.6%, by progressively replacing (on an equal nitrogen basis) 0, 25, 50, 75, or 100% of solvent-extracted soybean meal in the control diet. The feeds were formulated to contain approximately 29% crude protein and 2,650 kcal of digestible energy/kg on an air-dry basis. Each diet was fed to juvenile channel catfish to satiation twice daily for 10 wk. Fish fed the diets containing the two lowest levels of canola meal (15.4 and 30.8%) had similar weight gains, feed intakes, feed utilization efficiencies, and percent survivals relative to the group fed the control diet. Weight gains and feed intakes declined significantly as the dietary levels of canola meal were increased to 46.2% or higher, probably because of reductions in diet palatability and some impairment of feed utilization due to the presence of increased levels of antinutritional factors, particularly glucosinolates. Whole body percentages for moisture and crude protein were unaffected by the dietary treatments. Body ash contents, however, were lowest for fish fed the control diets but were essentially the same for fish fed the other diets. Fish fed the diet containing 30.8% canola meal had lowest body fat content but this effect may not have been diet related. Values for red blood cell concentration, hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, mean corpuscular hemoglobin and mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration were not affected by dietary canola meal level, but hematocrit was higher (although not always significant) for fish fed the control diet. The results of this study suggest that canola meal can comprise about 31% of the diet of channel catfish by replacing half of the amount of soybean meal used in the control diet without adversely affecting growth or any other aspect of performance.     

Utilization of Hydroxypropylated Waxy Rice and Corn Starches in Korean Waxy Rice Cake to Retard Retrogradation

A traditional waxy rice gel cake in Korea, Injulmi, was prepared with hydroxypropylated waxy rice and corn starches (molar substitutions 0.13 and 0.11, respectively), and the textural and retrogradation characteristics of the cake were compared with a conventional cake made of waxy rice flour. In the pasting viscogram, hydroxypropylated starches exhibited reduced pasting temperatures, but increased peak viscosities compared with the unmodified starches. Under differential scanning calorimetry, the T_g′ and ice melting enthalpy of the starch gel cakes were reduced by hydroxypropylation, which indicated that the modified starches had higher water‐holding capacity than the unmodified starches. The degree of retrogradation, as measured by the hardness of the gel cake and the melting enthalpy, was significantly reduced by hydroxypropylation and hydroxypropylated waxy rice starch was more effective in retarding the retrogradation than hydroxypropylated waxy corn starch     

Effects of water temperature on the gonadal development and expression of steroidogenic enzymes in the gonad of juvenile red seabream, Pagrus major

The effects of water temperature on the development of hermaphroditic gonads in red seabream (Pagrus major) and on mRNA expression of cytochrome P450 aromatase (P450arom) and 11β-hydroxylase were examined. High water temperature suppressed both expression of P450arom and 11β-hydroxylase and the development of oocytes in ovarian portion of hermaphroditic gonads.     

Microencapsulation of bovine spermatozoa

Two experiments were conducted to examine the efficacy of microencapsulation of bovine spermatozoa for use in artificial insemination. In Exp. 1, sperm were encapsulated at three different concentrations (45, 90 and 180 X 10(6) sperm/ml) in either .75- or 1.5-mm (diameter) microcapsules and incubated in vitro for 24 h at 37 C. Unencapsulated samples of each concentration served as controls. Capsule contents were evaluated for percentage of sperm motility and intact acrosomes at 2, 12 and 24 h of incubation. Capsule fragility was evaluated after 24 h incubation. Viability of spermatozoa was not influenced by sperm concentration or capsule size, and compared with controls, cellular injury after encapsulation was not apparent. Fragility of capsules was unaffected by capsule size; however, as the sperm concentration increased, integrity of the capsules decreased (P less than .05). In Exp. 2, using frozen-thawed semen, the effect of egg yolk content, presence of glycerol and viability of spermatozoa on the success of microencapsulation was measured. The extender was 2.9% sodium citrate with glycerol (7% v/v) and either 0, 5, 10 or 15% egg yolk (v/v). Uniformity of capsules in size and shape was evaluated subjectively. Capsule integrity and uniformity were unaffected by glycerol, sperm viability or egg yolk level up to 10% v/v; however, encapsulation of spermatozoa in 15%-yolk buffer increased the heterogeneity in capsule size and shape. Viability of encapsulated spermatozoa was maximal for extenders containing 10 or 15% yolk v/v. Reduced viability for the 5% yolk extender was due to pre-encapsulation injury associated with freezing. Microencapsulation procedures are compatible with sperm viability and can be adapted to an acceptable extender system used in artificial insemination.     

Increased Antifungal Activity of Trichoderma harzianum Transformants That Overexpress a 33-kDa Chitinase

ABSTRACT Transformants of the biocontrol agent Trichoderma harzianum strain CECT 2413 that overexpressed a 33-kDa chitinase (Chit33) were obtained and characterized. Strain CECT 2413 was cotransformed with the amdS gene and its own chit33 gene under the control of the pki constitutive promoter from T. reesei. Southern blotting indicated that the chit33 gene was integrated ectopically, mostly in tandem. Some transformants showed the same restriction pattern, indicating preferable sites of integration. There was no correlation between the number of integrated copies and the level of expression of the chit33 gene in the transformants. When grown in glucose, the extracellular chitinase activity of the transformants was up to 200-fold greater than that of the wild type, whereas in chitin, the activity of both the transformants and the wild type was similar. Under both conditions, the transformants were more effective in inhibiting the growth of Rhizoctonia solani as compared with the wild type. Similar results were obtained when culture supernatants from the transformants and the wild type were tested against R. solani.     

Comparative pharmacokinetics of tylosin or florfenicol after a single intramuscular administration at two different doses of tylosin-florfenicol combination in pigs

Clinical pharmacokinetic profiles were investigated following intramuscular (i.m.) administration to pigs with a commercial tylosin-florfenicol combination product at a dose of 2.5 mg/kg tylosin and 5 mg/kg florfenicol or 10 mg/kg tylosin and 20 mg/kg florfenicol. The quantitation limit (QL) of florfenicol was 0.1 microg/ml, the inter-day and intra-day precision (CV%) were both beow 10%. The quantitation limit (QL) of tylosin was 0.05 microg/mL. The pharmacokinetic characteristics after i.m. doses were fitted by a one compartment open model. A fourfold decrease in the normal dose of each drug (20 mg/kg to 5 mg/kg for florfenicol, and 10 mg/kg to 2.5 mg/kg for tylosin) resulted in a corresponding two fold decrease in each drug of the maximum plasma concentration (C(max)) and the area under curve (AUC) values.     

Comparative genomics of Brassicaceae crops

The family Brassicaceae is one of the major groups of the plant kingdom and comprises diverse species of great economic, agronomic and scientific importance, including the model plant Arabidopsis. The sequencing of the Arabidopsis genome has revolutionized our knowledge in the field of plant biology and provides a foundation in genomics and comparative biology. Genomic resources have been utilized in Brassica for diversity analyses, construction of genetic maps and identification of agronomic traits. In Brassicaceae, comparative sequence analysis across the species has been utilized to understand genome structure, evolution and the detection of conserved genomic segments. In this review, we focus on the progress made in genetic resource development, genome sequencing and comparative mapping in Brassica and related species. The utilization of genomic resources and next-generation sequencing approaches in improvement of Brassica crops is also discussed.