The potential of dry olive cake in a practical diet for juvenile hybrid tilapia,Oreochromis niloticus × Oreochromis aereus

A feeding trial of 84 days was carried out to evaluate the effects of olive cake (OC) on growth, feed utilization, digestibility of nutrient, haematological values and some blood chemistry parameters of juvenile hybrid tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus × Oreochromis aereus). Four diets were prepared including OC at levels of 0, 120, 240 and 360 g kg^?1. Twenty fish per tank (initial weight 8.58 ± 0.09 g) were randomly distributed into 200‐L fibreglass tanks. Final body weight and specific growth rate of fish fed with diets OC12 were not significantly different compared to fish fed with the control diet. The best feed conversion rate and protein efficiency rate were obtained from the fish fed with the control and OC12 diets. Growth performance, feed conversion rate and protein efficiency rate of fish fed diets with OC incorporation levels of more than 12 per cent tended to decrease significantly (P < 0.05) compared to the control and OC12 diet groups. The apparent digestibility coefficients (ADC) of dry matter significantly decreased (P < 0.05) with the increase of dietary OC levels, whereas the ADC of protein was not affected by dietary treatment. The ADC of lipid of fish fed with control and OC12 diets were significantly (P < 0.05) higher than those of fish fed with OC24 and OC36 diets. Mean corpuscular haemoglobin, cholesterol and triglycerides were affected by dietary OC level. The findings of this study show that OC can be incorporated to diets of juvenile hybrid tilapia up to 120 g kg^?1 without any adverse effect on fish growth and feed utilization.     

EFFECTS OF VARIOUS CROP LOADS AND LEAF FERTILIZER ON GRAPEVINE YIELD AND QUALITY

Crop loads and leaf fertilizers are highly important for yield and quality of grapevine. This research was conducted in the Konya province of Turkey in 2008 and 2009. The effects of crop loads and leaf fertilizers were investigated on yield and quality of Vitis vinifera L. cv. ‘Gök üzüm’. The combined leaf fertilizer (TAR??-ZF) significantly increased quality parameters such as berry length, berry weight, maturity index, juice yield and drying index of grapevine. Increasing crop load values (16, 21, and 26 buds/vine) increased fresh grape yield and juice yield; however, maturity index and drying index decreased in comparison to the control. According to these results, it was suggested that to produce a high yield 26 buds/vine pruning and non-fertilization could be utilized or to increase quality parameters 16 buds/vine pruning, and fertilization may be applied on grapevine cultivation.     

Lesions in the thymus and bone marrow in chicks with experimentally induced chicken infectious anemia disease

One-day-old SPF chicks were inoculated with the Cux-l strain of chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV), and the clinical development of disease and its macroscopic and microscopic alterations in the thymus and bone marrow, were observed. Tissue sections of thymus and bone marrow were stained using the streptavidin-biotin peroxidase method and examined under light microscope for evaluation of antigenic intensities in tissues. Those findings were then compared with blood parameters and ELISA results obtained through collected sera during sacrifice procedures. We sought to determine: the localization of viral antigens in thymus and bone marrow tissues after inoculation, the correlation between antigen intensities and hematologic, serologic and histopathologic findings, definitive diagnostic criteria using histopathologic and immunoperoxidase methods, and the reliability of these methods in the diagnosis of CIAV infection. For this purpose, 83, one-day-old SPF chicks were used. The birds were divided into experimental (n = 52) and control (n = 26) groups. A virus dose of TCID50 of 100,000/ml was administered intramuscularly to every bird in the experimental group. Based on the results of this study, we have suggested that clinical examination, along with macroscopic and microscopic evaluation of the thymus and bone marrow, maybe undertaken starting from day 7 post-inoculation (PI). ELISA, might be of value, as it might give consistent results starting from day 14 PI. However, the most reliable results were obtained through examination of thymus and bone marrow sections from infected birds stained by immunoperoxidase technique, as early as day 4 PI.     

Potential decrease of grass tetany risk in rangelands combining N and K fertilization with MgO treatments

The most practical and effective method to increase dry matter production in rangelands is by adequate fertilization. N and K fertilizers have commonly been used worldwide to increase yield in rangelands. Fertilizers have a significant effect on mineral concentration in the forage. Risk of tetany, causing yield decrease and death in cattle, increases by feeding forage with a ratio of K/(Ca + Mg) ≥ 2.2. The fertilizers containing N and K are the most important factors increasing K/(Ca + Mg) ratio in forages. The present study has aimed to determine whether the tetany risks caused by K and N fertilization may be compensated by Mg fertilization. For this purpose, N (0 and 120 kg ha⁻¹), K (0 and 100 kg ha⁻¹) and Mg (0 and 30 kg ha⁻¹) were applied as combinations of each other. Each plot was separated into three sub-plots sampled on 25 April, 15 May and 5 June to determine Ca, Mg, K concentrations and K/(Ca + Mg) ratio.In this 2-year study, dry matter production in the control plot was 2064 kg ha⁻¹ and nitrogen application increased the dry matter production of the plots by about 100%. Dry weight ratios of grasses increased while legume dry weight ratios decreased drastically in response to N fertilization. An increase was observed in K/(Ca + Mg) ratio with N fertilization due to the fact that legumes have higher concentrations of Ca and Mg than grasses. K fertilization resulted in an approximately 30% increase of K concentration in dry matter. K/(Ca + Mg) ratio in plots where N and K were applied separately was lower than 2.2. However, K/(Ca + Mg) ratio in plots to which N and K were applied in combination was over 2.2, resulting in tetany risk. It is interesting to determine that Mg fertilization did not change Mg concentration in pasture. It was noted that tetany risk did not decrease with the advance of harvest dates. The results indicated that tetany risk caused by N and K fertilizations could not be compensated by Mg treatment. Therefore, it can be concluded that fertilization programmes avoiding legume decrease in rangelands may be useful to prevent the tetany risk.     

Pathological effects of Arcobacter cryaerophilus infection in rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum)

Arcobacter cryaerophilus was isolated from naturally infected rainbow trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss Walbaum), and its pathogenicity was tested by intramuscular injection into 40 healthy 1-year-old rainbow trout at 16 degrees C. The lethal dosage of 50% end point (LD50) for A. cryaerophilus was calculated 2.25 x 10(4) viable cells. Experimental infection caused deaths with gross clinical abnormalities such as degenerated opercula and gills, liver damage, haemorrhagic kidney and serous fluid in swollen intestines. The counts of A. cryaerophilus in kidney, liver and gills of experimentally infected fish ranged from 1.59 x 10(10) colony forming units (cfu)/g to 7.41 x 10(12) cfu/g. The means of erythrocyte (RBC) count, haematocrit level, serum cholesterol, triglyceride, albumin and total protein concentrations in the blood of the experimentally infected rainbow trout group were significantly lower than in the healthy fish. Leukocyte (WBC) counts of the experimentally infected rainbow trout were significantly higher than those of healthy fish. The present work shows that the selected blood characteristics may be good indicators of response to infections in rainbow trout.     

Effects of curcumin on tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 in the late phase of experimental acute pancreatitis

Summary Inflammatory cytokines have been demonstrated to play an important role in the induction and severity of acute pancreatitis (AP) in the recent studies. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of curcumin on inflammatory cytokines, such as tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha and interleukin (IL)-6 in the late phase of AP. The study was conducted on 40 male Wistar Albino rats. The animals were divided randomly into four equal groups. AP was induced by the infusion of 3% sodium taurocholate into the biliopancreatic duct (in groups I and II). Starting on day 20 prior to the induction of AP, rats in group I received daily dose of 100 mg/kg of curcumin, dissolved in 9% ethanol via an intragastric tube. The same procedure was repeated for 6 days following the onset of AP. Group III was infused only on saline solution. Group IV (curcumin control group) received 9% ethanol via an intragastric tube, during the experimental period (totally 26 days). All the animals were sacrificed on day 6 after the collection of blood samples and serum TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels were determined. Tissue samples were taken from pancreas, mesenteric lymph nodes, liver, lungs, spleen and the kidneys for histopathological evaluation. Serum TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels in the group, which received curcumin (group I), were determined to be significantly lower than those of the untreated group (group II) (P<0.05). No statistically significant difference was detected in terms of total histopathological scores in the treatment group versus untreated group. Curcumin has been shown to markedly reduce serum TNF-alpha and IL-6 levels in the late phase of AP, but failed in the prevention of tissue injury.