A post mortem examination was made on 1324 broiler carcases which arrived dead after being transported to six processing plants. The carcases were dissected and evaluated for trauma and obvious cause of death. Of the birds sent to the plants on the day of collection 0.19 per cent arrived dead and 35 per cent of these were thought to have died as a result of trauma. Haemorrhage associated with dislocation of the femur at the hip was the most common cause of trauma. Ruptured livers and crushed heads were other important traumatic injuries.
The UK is legally required by the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) to improve the environmental quality of inland and coastal waters in the coming years. Historic metal mine sites are recognised as an important source of some of the elements on the WFD priority chemicals list. Despite their contamination potential, such sites are valued for their heritage and for other cultural and scientific reasons. Remediating historic mining areas to control the contamination of stream waters, whilst also preserving the integrity of the mine site, is a challenge but might be achieved by novel forms of remediation. In this study, we have carried out environmental monitoring at a historic, and culturally-sensitive, lead-silver mine site in southwest England and have undertaken a pilot experiment to investigate the potential for a novel, non-invasive remediation method at the site. Concentrations of Pb and Zn in mine spoil were clearly elevated with geometric mean concentrations of 6,888 and 710 microg g(-1), respectively. Mean concentrations of Pb in stream waters were between 21 and 54 microg l(-1), in exceedance of the WFD environmental quality standard (EQS) of 7.2 microg l(-1) (annual average). Mean Zn concentrations in water were between 30 and 97 microg l(-1), compared to the UK EQS of 66.5 microg l(-1) (average). Stream sediments within, and downstream from, the mining site were similarly elevated, indicating transport of mine waste particles into and within the stream. We undertook a simple trial to investigate the potential of hydroxyapatite, in the form of bonemeal, to passively remove the Pb and Zn, from the stream waters. After percolating through bonemeal in a leaching column, 96-99% of the dissolved Pb and Zn in stream water samples was removed.
The Angora goat herd in the UK primarily produces mohair but must, as an enterprise, maximise the return from animals that are surplus to requirement. It has been suggested that the Uk producer should be aiming for fourty percent of financial output from meat and sixty percent from mohair (Thirwell 1988). Compared to cattle and sheep, knowledge of yield and quality of goat meat reared under UK conditions is limited. The role of nutrition and stage of maturity in determining levels and distribution of fat are poorly understood (Warmington and Kirton 1990).The male castrate Angora goat was selected since this constitutes the major source of meat, being generally redundant after two years of age when fibre quality begins to decline. Animals were sequentialy slaughtered at the predetermined ages of six,12, 18 and 24 months to coincide with the commercial practice of shearing Angora goats at six monthly intervals. Fourty animals, typical of those kept for commercial mohair production in the Uk, were reared under a commercial or intensive rearing system. Twenty goats were fed on a grass based, commercial system, representing that fovouring quality fibre production. The remaining twenty were reared intensively on an ad lib. pelleted complete diet containing 8.9 MJ/kg dry matter and 11.4 percent crude protein. Five goats from each diet were slaughtered at the predetermined times. After slaughter the carcases were jointed and then dissected inio lean, fat and bone. The quantity and composition of the intramuscular fat in the longissimus dorsi was determined using the Food and Research Association (1987) method and by use of gas chromatography.
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