Inclusion of camelina meal as a protein source in diets for farmed Atlantic cod Gadus morhua

Camelina meal Camelina sativa (CM) is a potential protein source in aquaculture feeds, because of its crude protein level (39%) and essential amino acids. Two feeding experiments were conducted with Atlantic cod Gadus morhua. Cod in Experiment I (19.4 g fish^?1) were fed diets with 0%, 12% or 24% CM for 9.5 weeks at 10°C; and cod in Experiment II (14.4 g fish^?1) were fed diets with 0%, 15%, 30% or 40% CM for 13 weeks at 10°C. Growth, lipid and amino acid tissue composition were compared amongst cod fed varying levels of CM. In Experiment I, cod could tolerate the highest level of CM inclusion (24%) without affecting growth compared to cod fed the control diet. In Experiment II, growth performance was significantly affected at 30% CM inclusion compared to the control treatment, and cod fed 15% CM displayed some signs of depressed growth (reduced feed intake and weight gain). Both treatment and duration were interacting factors (P = 0.015) that determined growth performance when comparing both experiments. Muscle tissue composition was relatively unaltered with less than 30% CM inclusion; however, multivariate statistics revealed significant differences in muscle tissue fatty acid composition between cod fed 40% CM and the control diet. The tissue amino acid profile was generally unaltered because the dietary amino acid profile was consistent after CM inclusion. A few antinutritive compounds in CM may have affected palatability in diets with greater than 30% CM inclusion, which may have resulted in reduced growth performance.     

Theileria parva: the immune status of calves born of dams immunised against East Coast fever

Eight Friesian cross cows three months pregnant to a single Friesian bull were immunised against East Coast fever by infection with Theileria parva (Muguga) sporozoite stabilate and treatment with pyrrolidino-methyl tetracycline. They were challenged with the homologous stock four times before calving and a fifth time after calving, and resisted all five challenges which killed all of the five groups of five susceptible controls. Calves born to these hyperimmunised dams were fully susceptible on challenge with the same stabilate, as were susceptible cows from the same farm and their calves. In both instances the calves died three to seven days earlier than the cows which were approximately 10 times heavier. These results show that one- to two-month-old taurine calves from artificially immunised dams are not protected from experimental T parva sporozoite challenge and that there is no inherent calfhood resistance to East Coast fever.     

Evaporation and redistribution of salts in a silt loam soil as affected by tillage induced soil mulch

Soil water evaporation, redistribution of surface applied salts and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity were determined in field plots of a silt loam soil kept either untilled or tilled to a depth of 5 cm 2–3 days following irrigation. The hydraulic gradients measured were comparatively steeper and the zone of zero flux during drying occurred at greater depths in untilled than tilled soil. Tillage induced soil mulch reduced evaporation losses; its effectiveness, however, decreased during high external evaporative demand conditions. Some empirical relations to determine evaporation utilizing more easily accesible parameters, such as surface soil water content or suction and U.S. open-pan evaporation, were established for predictive purposes. Due to reduction in upward movement of water, shallow tillage resulted in decrease in upward movement of salts and thus, increased the efficiency of leaching during intermittent ponding. The empirical relationship describing the leaching process showed a net saving of 12.7% in water required to attain 70% removal of surface accumulated salts. Increase in unsaturated hydraulic conductivity of soil due to salinization was also observed.     

The Effect of Storage on Ammonia Concentration in Canine Packed Red Blood Cells.

Objective: To determine the effect of storage on ammonia concentration in canine packed red blood cell (pRBC) units.
Design: In vitro and in vivo study.
Setting: University Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Interventions: Ammonia concentration was measured in 7 units of canine pRBC prepared in citrate-phosphate-dextrose (CPD) and Adsol^a on Days 1 and 35 of storage. Ammonia was measured in 4 additional units of canine pRBC on Days 0, 7, 14, 21, 28, and 35. Plasma ammonia was also determined in 5 anemic dogs receiving pRBC.
Measurements and Main Results: Ammonia concentration increased from 73 ± 15 mmol/L (mean ± SD) on Day 1 to 800 ± 275 mmpl/L on Day (p<0.001). When measured every 7 days in 4 units of canine pRBC, ammonia concentration increased from 23 ± 8 mmol/L on Day 0 to 179 ± 13 mmol/L (Day 7), 276 ± 56 mmol/L (Day 14). 383 ± 47 mmol/L (Day21), 466 ± 30 mmol/L (Day 28), and 562 ± 27 mmol/L (Day 35) (p<0.05 for all comparisons). In a preliminary study, plasma ammonia concentration measured in blood samples from 5 anemic dogs without primary liver disease immediately before and after transfusion with 5–10 ml/kg of stored pRBC remained in the normal reference range.
Conclusions: The ammonia concentration in stored canine pRBC increased markedly with time. In this preliminary study, ammonia concentrations in dogs without primary liver disease did not increase above the reference range after transfusion with pRBC.     

The oil content and fatty acid composition of various genotypes of cauliflower,turnip and radish

Seeds of thirteen genotypes of cauliflower, four of turnip and seven of radish were analysed for oil content and fatty acid composition. Turnip and radish had higher oil content as compared to cauliflower. Oleic, linoleic + eicosenoic and erucic acids were the major fatty acids in the oils of these seeds. Levels of erucic acid were in the order of radish < turnip < cauliflower. Compared to cauliflower and turnip seeds, radish seeds contained higher amounts of palmitic, oleic, and linolenic + eicosenoic acids and lower amounts of linoleic and erucic acids.     

Genetic diversity of bitter gourd (Momordica charantia L.) genotypes revealed by RAPD markers and agronomic traits

Bitter gourd or bitter melon (Momordica charantia L.) is considered as minor cucurbitaceous vegetable in spite of having considerable nutritional and medicinal properties. Although some reports on genetic diversity based on morphological characterization are available, no work has been conducted to estimate genetic diversity using molecular markers in this crop. In the present study, 38 genotypes of M. charantia including few commercially cultivars collected from different parts of India based on agro-ecological zones were analysed for diversity study both at morphological and molecular levels. Genomic DNA was extracted from young healthy leaves following the procedure of Doyle and Doyle [Doyle, J.J., Doyle, J.L., 1990. A rapid DNA isolation procedure from small quantity of fresh leaf material. Phytochem. Bull. 119, 11–15]. Pair-wise comparison of genotypes was calculated as per the procedure of Jaccard [Jaccard, P., 1908. Nouvelles recherches sur la distribution florale. Bull. Soc. Vaud. Sci. Nat. 44, 223–270]. Dendrogram was constructed using the unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averages (UPGMA) and the computation for multivariate analysis was done using the computer programme NTSYS-pc Version 2.0 [Rohlf, F.J., 1998. NTSYS-pc Numerical Taxonomy and Multivariate Analysis System, Version 2.01. Exeter Software, Setauket, NY, USA]. Diversity based on yield related traits and molecular analysis was not in consonance with ecological distribution. Among 116 random decamer primers screened 29 were polymorphic and informative enough to analyse these genotypes. A total of 208 markers generated of which 76 (36.50%) were polymorphic and the number of bands per primer was 7.17 out of them 2.62 were polymorphic. Pair-wise genetic distance (GD) based on molecular analysis ranged from 0.07 to 0.50 suggesting a wide genetic base for the genotypes. The clustering pattern based on yield related traits and molecular variation was different.     

Replacement of fishmeal by two types of fish protein hydrolysate in feed for postlarval shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei

After filleting of tilapia, the material remaining is discarded and this waste represents about 700 g/kg of fish body volume, corresponding to carcass and viscera. These leftovers are important sources of proteins that can be used as feed in aquaculture industry by producing protein hydrolysates. In this study, two protein hydrolysates of tilapia were produced, with one (FPH1) and two (FPH2) hours of hydrolysis. The nutritional composition of the hydrolysates showed desirable levels of crude protein and essential amino acids. Electrophoresis revealed peptides ranging from 10 to 250 kDa. In addition, caseinolytic activity was recorded by zymogram. The hydrolysates were incorporated separately in experimental diets to replace fishmeal at distinct levels: 0, 40, 80 and 120 g/kg, totalizing seven diets named 0 (control), 40H₁, 80H₁, 120H₁, 40H₂, 80H₂ and 120H₂. A 45‐day feeding trial was carried out to evaluate the zootechnical performance of postlarvae fed these diets. In conclusion, the use of FPH2 as a substitute for fishmeal promotes better shrimp growth than FPH1 and allows higher levels of substitution. In addition, it is recommended a 60 g/kg fishmeal replacement by FPH2 to improve growth.