Cordyceps militaris waster medium (CMWM) is a by-product of the edible portion of the fruiting body of Cordyceps fungi. This study was conducted to investigate the effects of the CMWM on the production performance, egg quality and egg yolk cholesterol of laying hens. An in vitro study showed that the reducing power of the CMWM extracts increased linearly with its concentration; at a concentration of 4.0 mg/mL, it reached a level of roughly 60% ascorbic acid at 0.5 mg/mL, while inhibition of lipid peroxidation of the CMWM extracts at 15.0 mg/mL reached nearly 50%. Sixty 22-week-old laying hens (Hendrix) were randomly allocated into 4 groups with 5 replicates, 3 birds per replicate. They were fed diets supplemented with the following levels of the CMWM: 0 (control group, corn-soybean meal), 5.0, 10.0, or 20.0 g/kg dried CMWM groups for 12 weeks, respectively. The results revealed that the 20.0 g/kg CMWM group exhibited significantly decreased feed conversion ratio (FCR) and increased egg white weight compared to the control group at 5-8 and 9-12 weeks. The supplemented CMWM groups showed significantly elevated egg mass in comparison to the control group at 5-8 and 9-12 weeks. There were no effects for egg yolk weight, egg shell weight, shell thickness and egg yolk color between the groups. Those groups which were supplemented with 10.0 and 20.0 g/kg dried CMWM showed significantly decreased egg cholesterol compared to the control group at 9-12 weeks. On the basis of these observations, we concluded that CMWM, a by-product of Cordyceps militaris, could be employed as a new feed additive that offers potential benefits for elevating egg mass and producing lower cholesterol eggs by laying hens.
We report the characteristics of graphene-based terahertz (THz) photodetector based on noise thermometry technique by measuring its noise power at frequency from 4 to 6 GHz. Hot electron system in graphene microbridge is generated after THz photon pumping and creates extra noise power. The equivalent noise temperature and electron temperature increase rapidly in low THz pumping regime and saturate gradually in high THz power regime which is attributed to a faster energy relaxation process involved by stronger electron-phonon interaction. Based on this detector, a conversion efficiency around 0.15 from THz power to noise power in 4–6 GHz span has been achieved.
The SPICA far-infrared instrument (SAFARI), one of instruments of the space infrared telescope for cosmology and astrophysics, requires a calibration source assembly to calibrate the transition edge sensor readout circuits. A high-performance integrating sphere working at SAFARI wavelength (34–230 µm) is essential. A novel process for preparing terahertz integrating spheres was developed. The aluminum surfaces after sandblasting, wet-etching, and gold plating processes demonstrate rough morphology but high reflectance of 0.91 in 1–10 THz. The spatial distribution of the measured output power excellently agrees with the numerical simulation results based on the assumption of uniform surface radiation at the output port.
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