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Nutritional characterization and the antioxidant properties of sweet orange and red grapefruit peels
No full textSweet oranges (Citrus sinensis) and red grapefruit (Citrus paradisi) are fruits consumed
frequently in the world, being part of the human diet for decades due to high nutritional and medicinal values. These are excellent sources of vitamin C, a powerful natural antioxidant that builds the body's immune system. Their consumption (natural or processed) generates more quantities of shells and wastes that cause pollution of the environment under incorrect handling conditions. The study was conducted to analyze the potential of orange and grapefruit peels, from a chemical point of view, to determine the nutritional value for inclusion in broiler feed. The orange peels were characterized by a 5.42% crude protein and 1.04% crude fat vs. 5.78% and 0.80% grapefruit. The total content of polyphenols (mg acid galic /g) determined was higher with 36.01% in grapefruit peels compared to those of oranges. Antioxidant capacity was determined by two in vitro methods. The grapefruit peels were characterized by a high antioxidant capacity (288.49 mmol /kg equivalent ascorbic acid) with 51.39% higher than the values of the orange peels, in the first method. For the second method, the determined antioxidant capacity was with 61.20% higher than the orange peels (95.46 mmol/ kg equivalent vitamin E). Based on these results, the analyzed byproducts fulfill the necessary conditions to be integrated into the animal feed, and they will be tested in an experiment on broiler chickens in order to improve the nutritional quality of the meat
Effect of market participation on food security among smallholder sorghum farmers in Kwara State, Nigeria
No full textIt is paradoxical to note that food insecurity remains a menace among many African farmers’ households. There are arguments for and against smallholder farmers' market participation as a pathway for ensuring household food security. The paper therefore examined the market participation- food security relationship using smallholder sorghum farmers in Kwara State, as a case study. Primary data were obtained from 112 sorghum farming households using the semi-structured interview survey method. Descriptive
statistic (frequencies and percentages), Crop output market participation index, Logistic regression model and Tobit regression model was used to analyse the data obtained. The result revealed that market participation positively and significantly contributes to the food
security status of the sorghum farmers. Also, household size, farm output quantity, access to market information, access to credit and farm power types were the factors influencing the level of market participation in the study area. Therefore, all factors that will aid farmers' market participation should be pursued
Effects of citrus rootstocks on some plant nutrient elements absorption of grafted cultivars
No full textCitrus rootstocks have
prime effects on the size of tree and fruit,
quality of fruit and micorhyza
dependence, which make difference in
their leaf mineral elements concentration
in leaf of grafted cultivars on them. A pot
factorial experiment with two factors
including rootstocks (sour orange,
Citrange, Rough Lemon, Citrumelo and
Yozo) and grafted cultivars (Thomson
Navel, Sanguine, Unshiu Tangerine) was
carried out in farm conditions with three
replications. The studied traits were
concentrations of elements in leaves
including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium,
sulfur, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc
and copper. The result of analysis of
variance revealed significant mean
squares of variety, rootstock and their
interaction effects for the elements in
leaves. Citrumelo rootstock had mainly
effect on nutritional elements in leaves.
Unshiu mandarin with Citrumelo
rootstock had the most amount of nitrogen
and sanguine variety with Citrange
rootstock made the highest concentration
of phosphorus and potassium in leaves of
the grafted cultivar. Significant positive
correlation of K with Fe and Zn indicating
that all rootstocks with high mean value
of K in leaf of grafted cultivar will have
high amount of Fe and Zn. Significant
positive correlation also detected between
N and P of leaf of grafted cultivars in
combination with different rootstocks;
therefore, most of combinations with high
mean value of N had also high mean
value of P. Unshiu Tangerine had high
variation for P, but Thomson Novel had
lowest variation for this mineral element.
Due to Significant positive correlation of
S with Mg and Mn, most of rootstocks
with high amount of S in leaf of grafted
cultivar had high mean values of Mg and
Mn in their leaf of grafted cultivars
The importance of quinoa (Quinoa Chenopodium willd.) cultivation in developing countries: a review
No full textQuinoa is a dicotyledonous species for seeds and, therefore, is not known as a cereal grain and is a pseudograin, which is introduced nowadays as a new crop in the world. Population growth and the need for more food put additional pressure on the environment, especially on water resources and agronomic ecosystems. This has led to more attention
to plants that grow at different latitudes and altitudes. Climatic and environmental changes affect agricultural inputs, especially water resources. So, the best way of adapting to the current situation is the introduction of low-water, saltresistant, and drought-tolerant plants to the recent climatic changes. Water scarcity has become a serious problem in many countries. This restriction has had a significant impact on the development of countries. The plants which grow in arid and semi-arid regions are often exposed to adverse environmental factors, such as drought or salinity. Salinity and drought stress, more than any other factor, decrease crop yields around the world. These two abiotic stresses are the main limiting factors for crop production, especially in arid and semi-arid regions of
the world. Quinoa is an exceptional plant that can adapt to adverse conditions and
can serve as a solution to the challenge of global food security. Recent droughts that
occurred in the world have prompted governments to include plants in their
development plans, which are adapted to the country's existing water and soil conditions and have high nutritional value. This way, quinoa cultivation can ensure their food security in the coming years
Monitoring lameness in a dairy cows farm
No full textLameness has an important impact on milk production, welfare and farm profitability. Monitoring cattle was done in a
farm A with 1000 Holstein from Bacău County, in the east of Romania. The indices used to evaluate the herd lameness
were: incidence rate of lameness for treated cases, recurrence rate of lameness for treated cases, lameness index,
monthly incidence rate and monthly recovery rate of lameness. Data collected from each lame cow included its unique
identification, a locomotion (mobility) score, the identity of the lame leg(s) and any other pertinent information. We were
focused on four most common lesions associated with lameness: sole ulcers, white line disease, digital dermatitis and
interdigital necrobacillosis. In the farm A, percentage of lame cow with score 2 was 25, and the percentage of severely
lame (score 3) was 5, much higher comparing to the targets. All other lameness indices were much higher comparing to
the targets of a normal farm, which may explain the fertility problems and a decreased milk production during the last
2 years. Once lame cows have been identified, they should be examined, diagnosed and treated as soon as possible. A
combination of early detection and effective treatment may have a number of benefits to the cow, herd and farm
Yield at 75 European soybean varieties from different maturity groups in the climatic conditions of the Transylvanian Plain
Get PDFSoybean being the most important legume plant for grains, the high protein and oil content determines many uses, which leads to expansion of soybean crop areas. The experiment was conducted at Agricultural Research and Development Station Turda (ARDS Turda) in the climatic conditions of the 2018 and 2019. Biological material included 75 Romanian varieties (12) and foreign genotypes (63), from different maturity groups (000 - II). The rainfall and temperature varied in the two-year study which determined differences on average yield obtained for each maturity group. The highest average yield for the maturity groups 00, 0, I, II was obtained in the climatic conditions of the year 2019, instead the behavior of the very early genotypes (000) was different, the year 2018 being more favorable. The maturity group recommended till now for the Transylvanian Plain was very early (000) and early (00), but from the data presented the highest yields were obtained by the maturity groups 0 (2719 kg/ha), I (2895 kg/ha) and I + II (2732 kg/ha). A continuation of the study is required, to establish the suitable maturity group for the new conditions of Transylvanian Plain
Impact of staphylococcus aureus and methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) on uterine disease in dairy cattle after parturition
No full textThe aim of this study was to identify vaginal flora in Black and White Romanian cows diagnosed with
puerperal endometritis. The cows studied came from two dairy farms, were in the first 4 weeks post-partum
and had various puerperal diseases with variable pathological evolution. The dinamics of isolation of
different bacterial species from lochia or vaginal discharges was made in four periods of the puerperium.
Bacteriological examination was performed in accordance with routine laboratory techniques, including
typical colony morphology on usuale culture media, chromogenic agar, Gram stain, type of hemolysis,
characteristic growth on Baird-Parker (BP) agar and biochemical tests. In the course of puerperium,
approximately 22,2% of microorganisms detected in the 18 cases were represented by the Staphylococcus
aureus, what means that may be a significant pathogen of puerperal infection. Isolation in 11,1% of cases of
methicillin-resistant stains of Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is important in terms of direct impact on
human and animal health
The energy and environmental potential of waste from the processing of hulled wheat species
No full textOrganic farmers farming on arable land have often had, in addition to the cultivation
of common species of cultivated crops (such as wheat, rye, triticale or potatoes), interest in the
cultivation of marginal crops such as hulled wheat species (Einkorn, Emmer and Spelt wheat).
The production of marginal cereals has seen significant developments in the European Union related
to the development of the organic farming sector. Just the average annual organic production of spelt
in the Czech Republic reached more than 9000 tons in 2018. The cultivation of these cereals requires
post-harvest treatment in the special method of dehulling. The waste emerging after dehulling of
spikelet (i.e., chaff) accounts for about 30% of the total amount of harvest and can be used as an
alternative fuel material. When considering the energy utilization of this waste, it is also necessary to
obtain information on the energy quality of the material, as well as environmental aspects linked to
their life cycle. For evaluating the energy parameters, the higher and lower heating value, based on
the elemental (CHNS) analysis, was determined. The environmental aspects were determinate
according to the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology where the system boundary includes
all the processes from cradle to farm gate, and the mass unit was chosen. The SimaPro v9.1.0.11
software and ReCiPe Midpoint (H) within the characterization model was used for the data expression.
The results predict the energy potential of chaff about 50–90 TJ per year. The results of this study show
that in some selected impact categories, 1 kg of chaff, as a potential fuel, represents a higher load on
the environment than 1 kg of lignite, respectively potential energy gain (1 GJ) from the materials
The study of broomrape diversity in different sunflower cultivating countries based on morphological arameters of parasite seeds
No full textThe root holoparasite Orobanche cumana Wallr. produces a very high number of extremely small seeds, which remain viable in the soil for decades and could be easily disseminated through the use of machinery or contaminated seeds. Due this fact and considering the global scale of sunflower seeds exchange, the control of parasite is extremely difficult. Currently broomrape is present in the majority of sunflower cultivation countries and spreads very quickly to new areas. In this context, it is of interest to analyze and highlight distinctive morphological features of O. cumana seeds collected from different European and Asian countries, such as the Republic of Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Serbia, Spain, Turkey and China. The morphometric analysis (seed length, width and length/width ratio) of broomrape samples did not show significant differences in their size. O. cumana seeds ranged between 0.316-0.393 mm x 0.148-
0.176 mm, with a L/W ratio of 2.022-2,596. A moderate positive correlation (r=0.485) between length and width of broomrape seeds has been revealed. The mean value of L/W ratio in all investigated populations (38) was around 2.3, being in agreement with the results obtained by other authors and showing that O. cumana has preferentially elongated shape of seeds comparative to other broomrape species. Comparing to other studies, the mean value of L/W ratio was higher than 2.0 (2.18) even in Chinese populations. The coefficients of variation indicated low values, especially in the case of seed length (6.73-19.56%), which suggests a moderate level of intrapopulational variability, all studied populations being relative homogenous. The analysis of Euclidean distance showed small distances (0.001-0.577) between broomrape populations, the most distant being those collected from Seville (Spain), Tulcea (Romania), Xin Jiang (China),
ORSR11 (Serbia), Popeasca and Sarata Mereseni (Republic of Moldova) and Edirne, Kesar (Turkey) in different combinations
Research regarding effect of monosodium glutamate on health of laboratory mice
No full textUtilization of food additives represents a technique which is more and more present in modern
food industry but this one doesn’t have always favourable effects on human organism but on contrary.
The study carried out by us aimed to present the impact of one of the most controversial food additives,
monosodium glutamate, on organism of laboratory mice and implicit on human organism. Research
were carried out on three mice batches, each with 10 individuals, from which one was the control
batch LM and two experimental batches LE1 and LE2. Mice from LM received specific nourishment
and the animals belonging to the other two batches received besides that specific food different doses
of monosodium glutamate, respectively 3% at batch LE1 and 5% for batch LE2. Experimental mice
have enjoyed water at their discretion during the whole research period. Research took place during a
period of 28 days. In the whole period has been monitored feed consumption, dynamic of corporal
mass, and at the end were gathered blood samples for study of some haematological indexes and some
parameters connected with blood biochemistry. At the end of the study we observed that MSG induced
higher corporal mass gains with 38.4–59.4% at mice from experimental batches face to the ones from
control batch, and feed consumption was higher with 7.5–13.8% at experimental batches face to the
same reference batch – fact which leads to obesity. Blood analysis show the fact that at animals from
experimental batches was recorded a qualitative degradation of blood and very high deviations for the
majority of analysed sanguine biochemical parameters. Those aspects show a severe degradation of
mice’s health state which formed the experimental batches