No abstract

The current study was conducted to investigate the efficacy of Yucca extract (YE) on ammonia gas emission from litter, evaluate the production performance, carcass characteristics and economic utility in broiler rearing. A trial of 240 day-old commercial broiler chicks was carried out on littered floor for a period of 28 days. The birds were allocated randomly to 3 treatments and a control group with three replications (20 birds/ replication). Feeding management and rearing condition were same for all the groups, as per standard. YE was mixed with drinking water as treatment as follows: 1ml YE per 16 liters of drinking water (T 1), 1ml YE per 20 liters of drinking water (T 2), 1ml YE per 24 liters of drinking water (T 3) and no YE in drinking water i.e control group (T 0). Ammonia level of Yucca treated groups were significantly (P<0.05) lower at the 4 th week of rearing period than control group. A significant difference (P<0.05) was noted on body weight, feed consumption, body weight gain and feed conversion ratio value of the birds treated with YE. Carcass percentage and edible portion were significantly (P<0.05) greater in all treatment groups than control group. Profit per bird and Benefit cost ratio were also higher (P<0.05) in treatment groups than control group. Among the treatments, the performance of T 2 group was better than other groups. This study concluded that application of YE (1ml/ 20 liters of drinking water) has an important role to reduce ammonia gas emission from broiler litter and increase the birds performance.

We investigated zinc protoporphyrin (ZnPP) formation in pork at pH 5.5, identified the contributors to ZnPP formation, and verified the involvement of myoglobin in this process. When pork homogenate was separated into two water-soluble fractions (>10 and <10 kDa) and an insoluble fraction, ZnPP formation was suppressed. ZnPP formation was rescued after mixing of all three fractions. Heating of the soluble <10 kDa fraction did not suppress the formation of ZnPP as opposed to heating of the soluble >10 kDa fraction, suggesting that protein(s) presents in the >10 kDa fraction contributed to ZnPP formation. Components of the soluble 10-30 kDa fractions separated by ultrafiltration were important in ZnPP formation. Exogenous myoglobin was not essential for ZnPP formation. A gel filtration study showed that soluble protein(s) with molecular weight higher than that of myoglobin was involved.Therefore, it was suggested that the soluble <10 kDa fraction, the insoluble fraction, and the soluble 10-30 kDa fraction (excluding myoglobin) are essential for ZnPP formation in pork at pH 5.5. K E Y W O R D Scontributor, myoglobin, pH, zinc protoporphyrin IX | 775 AKTER ET Al.

This experiment was carried out at the rooftop garden of the Department of Agricultural Botany, Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University (SAU), Dhaka-1207, Bangladesh from October 2017 to March 2018 to evaluate the response of tomato to different plant growing structures and composition of growing media in the rooftop garden. The experiment had two factors, factor A- two plant growing structures, viz., S1 = Plastic pot, S2 = Earthen pot and factor B - six different plant growing medium viz. M0 = Soil 100% (w/w) + inorganic fertilizer (IF)/(control), M1 = Soil 80% (w/w) + 20% cowdung (w/w) + IF, M2 = Soil 70% (w/w) + 30% cowdung (w/w) + IF, M3 = Soil 90% (w/w) + 10% vermicompost (w/w) + IF, M4 = Soil 80% (w/w) + 20% vermicompost (w/w) + IF, M5 = Soil 80% (w/w) + 10% cowdung (w/w) + 10% vermicompost (w/w) + IF. The factorial experiment was laid out in a Completely Randomized Design (CRD) with four replications. The experimental results yield contributing characters and yield of tomato significantly influenced by different plant growing structures and various composition of plant growing media and also their combination. Considering plant growing structures, the S1 gave the highest flower clusters per plant, flowers per plant, fruit length and fruit breadth.  The maximum yield of fruits per plant (1.69 kg) was also obtained from plastic pot. The M5 had the highest flower clusters per plant, flowers per plant, fruit length and fruit diameter. The maximum yield of fruits per plant (2.17 kg) was recorded from the M5. The highest yield of fruits per plant (2.15 kg) was obtained from the treatment combination of S1M5. This experimental results suggest that S1M5 be able to increase the fruit yield of BARI tomato14 for rabi season in the rooftop garden.

Three hundred and thirty-six day-old Ross-308 male broiler chicks were used in a 35-day trial to investigate the effect of different concentrations of dietary Zn and phytase on broiler performance and energy utilization. Twelve day-old birds were used for the initial slaughter group to provide baseline body compositional data, while the remaining 324 birds were randomly distributed to six experimental diets. The treatments consisted of a 3 x 2 factorial arrangement with three levels of Zn (low, mid, and high; 30, 40, and 50 mg/kg, respectively) and two levels (0, 500 FTU/kg) of microbial phytase. Each dietary treatment was fed to 6 cages (9 birds/cage). Low Zn diet significantly decreased feed intake and body weight gain at days 1-24. Phytase supplementation improved body weight gain at d 24, irrespective of Zn level. The digestibility of P was improved in birds fed high-Zn diet with phytase supplementation, and the reverse was the case for Fe and Zn digestibility. High dietary Zn increased the Zn and Fe deposition in liver. The activity of AP, CaATPase and Mg-ATPase in the jejunum was high in the phytase supplemented mid-level Zn diet. Phytase supplemented to the mid and high level Zn diets significantly improved most energy utilization parameters. This result indicate that the Zn concentrations used in this study were not inhibitory to phytase activity and broiler performance. Therefore, it can be concluded that dietary zinc level in phytase-supplemented diets could be increased up to 50 mg/kg without any negative effect on phytase-mediated broiler response.