Performance of Broiler Chickens Fed Sweet Potato Meal (Ipomoea batatas L.) Diets

Day-old Lohman broiler chicks (n = 120) were fed on five starting diets for 4 weeks in groups of 24 birds. The starting diets contained 0%, 9%, 18%, 27% and 36% sweet potato tuber as a replacement for maize. From the fifth week, the 120 birds were tested in groups of 30 on four finishing diets containing 0%, 15%, 30% and 45% sweet potato tuber as a replacement for maize. The carcass quality was significantly (p>0.05) improved due to a significant (p>0.05) reduction of abdominal fat in the birds fed on the 45% sweet potato finisher diets. However, the birds on the sweet potato diet continually passed wet dropppings, resulting in a significant (p>0.05) reduction in body weight and feed conversion efficiency. The optimum levels of inclusion of sweet potato in the diets were considered to be 27% and 30% for starting and finishing broiler chickens, respectively. Sweet potato diets may be a remedy for fatty broilers.     

Dioscorea alata (Water Yam) as a Replacement for Maize in Diets for Laying Hens

One hundred and twenty-six point-of-lay birds were randomly alloted into six groups of 21 birds each and fed six diets containing 0%, 10%, 20%, 30%, 40% or 50% of Dioscorea alata meal as a replacement for maize, corresponding to 0%, 20%, 40%, 60%, 80% and 100% maize replacement. There were no significant differences (p>0.05) in feed intake, egg weight or feed efficiency between the control diet and the test diets. However, the daily egg production per 100 birds (hen day production), differed significantly (p>0.05) among the treatments. The birds on the control diet and diets with substitution rates of up to 80% laid significantly (p>0.05) more eggs than those on the 100% substitution rate.This shows that D. alata can replace up to 80% of maize or constitute 40% of a laying chicken diet, provided the rations are isocaloric and isonitrogenous. For this to be achieved, more soybean and/or more fish scraps, and more palm oil are needed in the diets containing D. alata than in diets based on maize.     

Tiger,Bengal and Domestic Cat Embryos Produced by Homospecific and Interspecific Zona‐Free Nuclear Transfer

The aim of this study was to evaluate three different cloning strategies in the domestic cat (Felis silvestris) and to use the most efficient to generate wild felid embryos by interspecific cloning (iSCNT) using Bengal (a hybrid formed by the cross of Felis silvestris and Prionailurus bengalensis) and tiger (Panthera tigris) donor cells. In experiment 1, zona‐free (ZP‐free) cloning resulted in higher fusion and expanded blastocyst rates with respect to zona included cloning techniques that involved fusion or injection of the donor cell. In experiment 2, ZP‐free iSCNT and embryo aggregation (2X) were assessed. Division velocity and blastocyst rates were increased by embryo aggregation in the three species. Despite fewer tiger embryos than Bengal and cat embryos reached the blastocyst stage, Tiger 2X group increased the percentage of blastocysts with respect to Tiger 1X group (3.2% vs 12.1%, respectively). Moreover, blastocyst cell number was almost duplicated in aggregated embryos with respect to non‐aggregated ones within Bengal and tiger groups (278.3 ± 61.9 vs 516.8 ± 103.6 for Bengal 1X and Bengal 2X groups, respectively; 41 vs 220 ± 60 for Tiger 1X and Tiger 2X groups, respectively). OCT4 analysis also revealed that tiger blastocysts had higher proportion of OCT4‐positive cells with respect to Bengal blastocysts and cat intracytoplasmic sperm injection blastocysts. In conclusion, ZP‐free cloning has improved the quality of cat embryos with respect to the other cloning techniques evaluated and was successfully applied in iSCNT complemented with embryo aggregation.     

卤虫无节幼体和配合饵料饲喂诸氏鲻虾虎鱼效果比较

为比较卤虫无节幼体(Arternia nauplii)和配合饵料的饲喂效果,分别采用两种饵料饲养30日龄的诸氏鲻虾虎鱼(Mugilogobius chulae)75d,比较存活、生长和全鱼成分。结果表明,卤虫组的存活率较高(≥52%),显著高于配合饵料组(14%～21%);配合饲料组的相对增重率(GW)为2 916.8%～3 998.7%,特定生长率(SGR)为4.5～5.0,生长效果优于卤虫组(GW为1 826.5%～2 101.7%,SGR为3.9～4.1);全鱼成分测定,卤虫组的水分、粗蛋白、粗脂肪、灰分含量分别为72.7%、19.5%、4.7%、3.0%,配合饵料组的分别为70.5%、18.7%、5.8%、3.5%,两组没有显著差异。适当延长饲喂卤虫无节幼体的时间,然后采用配合饵料进行饲养,能提高存活率并获得较好的生长效果。     

Evaluation of Cheetah and Leopard Spermatozoa Developmental Capability after Interspecific ICSI with Domestic Cat Oocytes

The ICSI procedure is potentially of great value for felids, and it has not been extensively studied in these species. The objectives of this work were to determine the best conditions for ICSI in the domestic cat (DC) to generate interspecific embryos by injecting cheetah (Ch) and leopard (Leo) spermatozoa. Firstly, DC oocytes were matured with insulin–transferrin–selenium (ITS) or without it (MM) and cultured using atmospheric (21%) or low (5%) oxygen tension after ICSI. The group ITS‐5%O₂ showed the highest blastocyst rate (p < 0.05), 20.9% vs 8.7%, 7% and 6.5%, for MM‐21%O₂, MM‐5%O₂ and ITS‐21%O₂, respectively. The best conditions were used to generate the interspecific embryos, together with ionomycin activation (Io) after ICSI. Interspecific embryos resulted in high rates of blastocysts that were not positively affected by Io activation: 32.6% vs 21% for Ch and Ch‐Io, 9.8% vs 21% for Leo and Leo‐Io, and 20% vs 17.4% for DC and DC‐Io. We also evaluated DNA‐fragmented nuclei of experiment 1 and 2 blastocysts, using TUNEL assay. The fragmented nucleus proportion was higher in the ITS‐5%O₂ group, 67.6%. Surprisingly, interspecific blastocysts showed the lowest fragmented nucleus proportion: 27% and 29.9% for Ch and Leo, respectively. We concluded that ITS and 5%O₂ improve blastocyst formation in DC, although with a concomitant increase in DNA fragmentation. Most importantly, cheetah and leopard spermatozoa were able to generate blastocysts without artificial activation, which suggests that developmental capacity of wild felid spermatozoa can be evaluated by interspecific ICSI. This technique should be used to assist wild felid reproduction.     

污泥茶渣堆肥发酵过程酶活性变化

对污泥茶渣等物料进行堆肥发酵,结果表明:不同物料配比堆肥第3d均进入高温(75℃)降解阶段,持续时间16～18 d.污泥含量40％～50％处理的全氮、速效氮含量高于污泥含量30％的处理;处理D全氮含量最高,达19.17 g·kg-,各处理全氮平均值大小顺序为D＞E＞C＞B＞A;处理E速效氮含量最高,为1171mg·kg...     

Ultraslow electron spin dynamics in GaAs quantum wells probed by optically pumped NMR

Optically pumped nuclear magnetic resonance (OPNMR) measurements were performed in two different electron-doped multiple quantum well samples near the fractional quantum Hall effect ground state nu = 13. Below 0.5 kelvin, the spectra provide evidence that spin-reversed charged excitations of the nu = 13 ground state are localized over the NMR time scale of about 40 microseconds. Furthermore, by varying NMR pulse parameters, the electron spin temperature (as measured by the Knight shift) could be driven above the lattice temperature, which shows that the value of the electron spin-lattice relaxation time tau1s is between 100 microseconds and 500 milliseconds at nu = 13.     

Evidence of soft-mode quantum phase transitions in electron double layers

Inelastic light scattering by low-energy spin-excitations reveals three distinct configurations of spin of electron double layers in gallium arsenide quantum wells at even-integer quantum Hall states. The transformations among these spin states appear as quantum phase transitions driven by the interplay between Coulomb interactions and Zeeman splittings. One of the transformations correlates with the emergence of a spin-flip intersubband excitation at vanishingly low energy and provides direct evidence of a link between quantum phase transitions and soft collective excitations in a two-dimensional electron system.