Effects of faba bean tannins on the growth and histological structure of the intestinal tract and liver of chicks and rats

1. Diets containing a freeze‐dried tannin extract from faba beans (Vicia faba L.) at concentrations of 0, 8 and 16 g/kg were fed to growing chicks and rats.

2. Chicks fed on the tannin‐containing diets exhibited a high mortality and significant decreases in body‐weight as well as lower food intakes and higher food intake:weight gain ratios (P<0.01). In rats there was no mortality but the growth and food intake were adversely affected (P< 0.05).

3. Histological changes occurred in the ileal mucosa of chicks. Atrophy and shortening of villi with distortion of their architecture were observed. Similar histological disorders but less pronounced were also found in rats.

4. Histopathology of the liver of both chicks and rats showed an hydropic degeneration of hepatocytes, clearly more severe in the former than in the latter.     

The role of mesoscale tracer transports in the global ocean circulation

Ocean models routinely used in simulations of the Earth's climate do not resolve mesoscale eddies because of the immense computational cost. A new parameterization of the effects of these eddies has been implemented in a widely used model. A comparison of its solution with that of the conventional parameterization shows significant improvements in the global temperature distribution, the poleward and surface heat fluxes, and the locations of deep-water formation.