Body development, carcass, and meat quality of confined lambs fed increasing levels of whole rice meal

The objective of this trial was to evaluate the effect of whole rice meal (WRM) inclusion in the concentrate upon body development, carcass traits, and meat quality of lambs. Twenty-four castrated lambs with an average initial body weight of 17.90?±?2.72 kg were randomly blocked according to two genetic groups (Corriedale and Texel by Corriedale crossbreds). Three isocaloric (11.3 MJ/kg of metabolizable energy) and isonitrogenous (17 % crude protein) diets were offered to the animals for 74 days. Diets consisted of 40 % forage and 60 % concentrate diet, on a dry matter basis, with 0, 15, or 30 % of WRM inclusion into the concentrate. Body growth (after slaughter), carcass, and meat traits were evaluated on each animal. Results obtained indicated that genotype did not affect body growth, carcass, and meat traits except for yellowness. No significant interaction between diet and genotype were detected. Inclusion of up to 30 % WRM did not significantly (P?>?0.05) affect body growth, carcass, and meat traits, except for meat color. Meat luminosity progressively increased (36.32?+?0.055X) while redness (15.13???0.03X) decreased with the inclusion of WRM in the diet, but still remained within acceptable values. The study indicates that WRM may be included up to 30 % in the concentrate replacing corn without adverse effects upon body development, carcass traits, and meat quality of lambs.     

Dietary nano-chromium tripicolinate increases feed intake and decreases plasma cortisol in finisher gilts during summer

Chromium (Cr) is an essential mineral element and has been used in pig diets to improve growth performance, insulin sensitivity, immune response and carcase traits and to reduce heat or other stress responses. The aims of thiss study were to determine the impact of nano-sized chromium tripicolinate (nCrPic) on growth performance, feed efficiency and carcase characteristics of finisher gilts during the summer period. A total of 60 finisher Large White x Landrace gilts were stratified on initial weight and then within strata randomly allocated into two treatment groups in three replicates during mid-summer for 28 days. All pigs were housed in individual pens and had ad libitum access to feed and water. Pigs were fed either a control finisher diet (wheat-based diet containing 13.8 MJ digestible energy (DE) per kilogram and 0.56 g available lysine/MJ DE) or a control diet containing 400 ppb Cr as nCrPic. Dietary nCrPic supplementation increased feed intake by 6 % over the entire study (P?=?0.05). In particular, dietary nCrPic increased average daily feed intake (ADFI) by 8 % (P?=?0.02) during the final 2 weeks of the study. Moreover, dietary nCrPic tended to improve average daily feed (ADFI) over the entire study (P?=?0.09). However, there were no significant effects of nCrPic on feed conversion ratio (FCR), final weight, hot standard carcase weight (HCWT), P2 depth or dressing percentage. Plasma cortisol was decreased by 25 % (P?=?0.06) by dietary nCrPic supplementation. However, there were no effects of nCrPic on plasma glucose, insulin and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), might because of the higher feed intake. In conclusion, this study demonstrates that dietary nCrPic supplementation at 400 ppb can increase feed intake in finisher gilts during mid-summer, suggesting that nCrPic can ameliorate some of the negative effects of heat stress in pigs, possibly via decreased of circulating cortisol.     

Insulin dysregulation

Abnormalities of insulin metabolism include hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance, and these problems are collectively referred to as insulin dysregulation in this review. Insulin dysregulation is a key component of equine metabolic syndrome: a collection of endocrine and metabolic abnormalities associated with the development of laminitis in horses, ponies and donkeys. Insulin dysregulation can also accompany prematurity and systemic illness in foals. Causes of insulin resistance are discussed, including pathological conditions of obesity, systemic inflammation and pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, as well as the physiological responses to stress and pregnancy. Most of the discussion of insulin dysregulation to date has focused on insulin resistance, but there is increasing interest in hyperinsulinaemia itself and insulin responses to feeding. An oral sugar test or in‐feed oral glucose tolerance test can be performed to assess insulin responses to dietary carbohydrates, and these tests are now recommended for use in clinical practice. Incretin hormones are likely to play an important role in postprandial hyperinsulinaemia and are the subject of current research. Insulin resistance exacerbates hyperinsulinaemia, and insulin sensitivity can be measured by performing a combined glucose‐insulin test or i.v. insulin tolerance test. In both of these tests, exogenous insulin is administered and the rate of glucose uptake into tissues measured. Diagnosis and management of hyperinsulinaemia is recommended to reduce the risk of laminitis. The term insulin dysregulation is introduced here to refer collectively to excessive insulin responses to sugars, fasting hyperinsulinaemia and insulin resistance, which are all components of equine metabolic syndrome.     

The Role of Recreational Motivation in the Birding Participation–Environmental Concern Relationship

Previous research has generally not found a strong relationship between participation in outdoor recreation and environmental concern. Research has suggested, however, that the motivation underlying recreation can mediate this relationship for some nature-based recreation groups. We hypothesized that the motivation underlying participation in birding mediates the participation–environmental concern relationship. We collected data via mail-back surveys from 529 American Birding Association members. Using structural modeling, we compared a direct effects model with partial and full mediation models with motivation variables as the mediators. The partial mediation model was weakly supported for two out of three motivation variables. Fit indices showed all models to have less than adequate fit. The results suggested that participation may not lead to environmental concern and that other variables, including motivation, may be more influential.     

The effect of temperature on the clearance of intraperitoneally-injected gonadotropin in the goldfish Carassius auratus

The serum half-disappearance time ($\text{t}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$), metabolic clearance rate and volume of distribution of intraperitoneally administered carp gonadotropin (cGtH) and endogenous GtH levels were determined in sexually mature male and female goldfish, Carassius auratus maintained at 12 ± 1°C or 20 ± 1°C. The results indicated that the rate of serum uptake of the injected cGtH from the peritoneal cavity was greater at 20°C than at 12°C in sexually mature male goldfish. Although increased endogenous serum GtH levels and decreased values of serum $\text{t}{}_{\mathrm{<mtext>1</mtext><mtext>2</mtext>}}$ were associated with the elevated temperature, there was no difference in any of the parameters between sexually mature male and female goldfish acclimated to 12°C.     

Willingness to travel to avoid recreation conflicts in Danish forests

Conflicts among forest visitors have direct effects on the quality of a recreational experience. As the number of visitors to forests close to residential areas increases, as well as the number of different activities, so does the potential for perceived conflicts. According to the literature, expanding knowledge of conflict characteristics and their causes is important for recreation planners and managers who aim to reduce conflicts.In the present study, different forest user groups were identified and categorised according to their pursued activities, and for each group, causes of conflict were identified. Furthermore, a choice experiment was constructed to estimate the distance visitors are willing to travel to encounter few visitors as opposed to many visitors, and thereby potentially experience fewer conflicts. Comparing the marginal willingness to travel (WTT) of different user groups suggests that some groups have a WTT further than the average to reach a forest with ‘Few’ visitors. The average WTT to reach a forest area with ‘Few’ visitors. ‘Mountain bikers,’ ‘Peace and nature lovers’ and ‘Horse riders’ are willing to travel 4 km more than the average per visit to reach a less crowded forest. At the other end of the scale, we find that people who are doing physical exercise are willing to travel 2 km less than the average to reach a less crowded forest.     

Rheological properties of pasta dough during pasta extrusion: Effect of moisture and dough formulation

A study was conducted to investigate the effect of dough formulation and hydration level on the rheological properties of pasta dough during pasta extrusion. Semolina 100%, whole wheat 100%, and the following mixtures semolina-whole wheat (49:51), semolina-flaxseed flour (90:10), whole wheat-flaxseed flour (90:10), and semolina-whole wheat-flaxseed flour (39:51:10) were the formulations used for the experiments. Dough was hydrated at 30, 32, and 34% moisture content. Pasta was extruded with a capillary and a semi-commercial pasta extruder to determine the apparent viscosity of the dough during extrusion conditions and its relationship to the behavior of the dough during pasta processing. Results showed that non-traditional pasta dough behaved like a shear thinning fluid that can be described by the Power Law model. Increased hydration levels and/or presence of flaxseed flour on the dough formulation decreased the apparent viscosity of the dough, which correlated with extrusion pressure, mechanical energy, and specific mechanical energy that were required to extrude the dough in the pasta extruder. The strong correlations found between the apparent viscosity of the dough and the pasta extrusion parameters indicates the possibility of using a capillary rheometer to determine the appropriate hydration level of ingredient formulations before extruding with a pasta press.