Journal of Northeast Agricultural UniversityEnglish Edition最新文献

The core objective of instant study was to check the effectiveness of Aloe vera edible coating on postharvest life and physicochemical characteristics of eggplants under different storage temperatures. For this purpose, different formulations of Aloe vera based coating (non-poisonous) was applied at concentration of 0, 0.1%, 0.5%, and 1.0%, respectively on eggplants. The coated eggplants were stored at two different temperatures [10°C and (30±2)°C] and examined for weight loss, firmness, stem color, shriveling, total soluble solids, pH, acidity, vitamin C, sugar (total sugar, reducing sugar and non-reducing sugar) and N, P, K, Ca and Na for two weeks. The obtained results showed that weight loss, shriveling, total soluble solids, pH, sugar (total sugar and non-reducing sugar) increased and firmness, stem color, acidity, reducing sugar, vitamin C minimized during the storage period. The 0.5% Aloe coating at 10°C showed significant effect and delayed the changes in above parameters. Aloe vera coating remained almost ineffective in altering nutrient homeostasis (N, P, K, Ca and Na) of eggplants. The optimistic results gained in the current study could additionally investigate in larger market experiments and also could extensive to other tropical/subtropical fruits and vegetables.

Plant residue application is an important way to maintain soil productivity. In order to determine whether walnut leaf can be returned to soil or not and get the conditions of efficient decomposition, the effect of walnut (Juglans sigillata Dode) leaf decomposition under various conditions (different temperatures, durations and leaf-soil ratios) upon soil chemicals and biological properties were analyzed. Compared with the original soil, adding walnut leaf to soil could decrease soil pH, increase EC, nutrient contents, microbial quantity and enzyme activities. Total nitrogen, total organic carbon and organic matter increased with the increasing of decomposition duration, temperature and leaf-soil ratio. Enzyme activities changed with different decomposition conditions, but the highest activities of alkaline phosphatase and catalase were associated with the lower temperature (15°C), the highest concentration (10 : 100) and the shortest duration (0 day). Walnut leaves decomposition for 20 or 30 days at 15°C and with 10 : 100 ratio significantly promoted bacteria, fungi and the total microbial quantity. Walnut leaves can be returned to soil because their decomposition could improve relevant indicators of soil fertility, decomposition conditions as shorter durations (20 days), lower temperature (15°C) and higher concentrations of leaves (10 : 100) were the more effective decomposition conditions for walnut leaves.

This study was conducted in Akwa Ibom, Bayelsa and Delta States of the Niger Delta, Nigeria. It examined the level of adoption of aquaculture technologies by Fadama III beneficiaries and assessed the differences in adoption levels on sate basis. Five fish farmers were randomly selected on multiple stage bases from 18 Fadama Users' Groups (FUGs) amounting to 90 farmers as the sample size for this study (n=90). Structured questionnaire was used to elicit information from respondents. Data collected were measured using descriptive and adoption Sigma method analysis. Results obtained revealed that of the 12 selected aquaculture based technologies recommended by Fadama III, the ratio of adoption skills ranged from 1 high: 7 medium: 5 low. The adoption levels followed a sequence of earthen ponds preparation being the highest, and stocking density techniques being the lowest. The overall adoption level was 4.20 which implied that the aquaculture farmers were categorized as medium adopters using the Sigma method scale. It was recommended that farmers with adoption levels at medium and low ranges should be focused upon with more teaching sessions by community facilitators and that other extension workers should emulate the strategies used by Fadama III in developing farmers.

The main purpose of this study was to determine the effect of a corn straw or mixed diet on milk production, milk composition and the expression of genes associated with lactation in mid-lactation Chinese Holstein cows. In this study, 10 healthy Chinese Holstein cows were randomly assigned to two groups and fed with different diets respectively, corn straw (CS) or mixed forage (MF) diet. CS group was fed roughage consisting of 53.8% corn straw only and the forge to concentrate (F : C) ratio [dry matter (DM)] was about 40: 60. MF group was fed roughage consisting of 3.7% Chinese wildrye and 23.4% alfalfa hay, the forge to concentrate (F : C) ratio (DM) was 70: 30. All the cows were fed 8 weeks and body weight, dry matter intake, body condition score, fat, protein, lactose, milk yield, total solid and somatic cell count (SCC) were recorded. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to analyze cow mammary gland samples representing two different diets. The results suggested that different diet types had significant effects on milk yield, lactose, milk fat, milk protein, dry matter intake and somatic cell count in dairy cows, and cows fed MF diet improved milk production and lactation performance clearly (P<0.05). In addition, mRNA expression of genes ACC, mTOR, STAT5, CSN2, PPARγ, FABP3 and PTEN in MF group was extremely significantly higher than that in CS group (P<0.05). mRNA expression of AKT1, FAS, SCD and SREBP1c in MF group was significantly higher than that in CS group (P<0.01). In summary, the milk yield and composition in mixed forage group were significantly improved than those in corn straw group.

The aim of the study was to assess effect of the atipamezole on talezol/xylazine induced expression of c-fos in rat brain. Rats were injected with the mixture of 13.81 mg · kg⁻¹ telazol and 5.21 mg · kg⁻¹ xylazine, following 10 min later 0.522 mg · kg⁻¹ atipamezole injected, and then the cerebral cortex and thalamencephal were removed at 1 h after injected. Level of Fos protein was measured in the brain tissue by western-blot. The results revealed that telazol/xylazine induction Fos protein expression in the thalamencephal and cerebral cortex during the period of anesthesia, atipamezole attenuated telazol/xylazine induction Fos protein expression in the thalamencephal and cerebral cortex. The results indicated that atipamezole could inhibite telazol/xylazine-induced c-fos expression in the rat brain, and played a protective role of neuronal injury.

The insecticidal efficacy of aqueous extracts of R. communis L. and Z. officinales L. was tested in a field study for the control of two important leaf defoliators (Podagrica uniformis and Nisotra sjostedti of okra). The extracts were applied at 10% (w/v) and sprayed every week for five consecutive weeks. R. communis significantly reduced (P<0.05) abundance of the pests on the 2nd day after spraying and increased the yield of okra. Numbers of fruits and weight yields were significantly higher in plots treated with R. communis compared to plots treated with Z. officinales and the untreated control. R. communis had the same weight yield with Karate (synthetic insecticides). The results indicated that R. communis could be used to control Podagrica uniformis and Nisotra sjostedti of okra.

Essential oil (EO) of Nigeria-grown Lippia adoensis leaf was analyzed using gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GCMS) and its fumigant and repellent properties against Callosobruchus maculatus were evaluated. Sixteen compounds predominated by monoterpenes were identified. The major compounds were Eucalyptol (28.36%), α-Terpineol (25.99%), γ-Terpinene (15.24%), α-Pinene (5.08%), 1H-Cyclopropa[a]naphthalene (4.25%) and 1, 3, 6, 10-Dodecatetraene (3.74%). Percentage mortality due to fumigant toxicity was dose- and exposure period-dependent. One hour after treatment (HAT), application of L. adoensis leaf EO at 107 μL · L⁻¹ air caused significantly (p<0.05) higher mortality (50.00%) than 0.00% mortality observed at 0–53 μL · L⁻¹ air, but not significantly (p<0.05) different from 22.50% observed in 80 μL · L⁻¹ air. At 3 HAT, application of L. adoensis EO at 80 μL · L⁻¹ air caused significantly higher mortality (90.00 %) than mortality observed at 0 μL · L⁻¹ air. At 6 HAT, application of L. adoensis EO at 53–107 μL · L⁻¹ air caused significantly higher mortality (100.00 %) than that was observed in the control. The same trend was observed at 12 HAT where 100 % mortality observed in 27–107 μL · L⁻¹ air was significantly greater than 13.33 % observed in the control. At 3 HAT, percentage repellence was significantly (p<0.05) affected by doses. Application of EO at 10–30 μL · cm⁻² caused class V repellence (86.67%–100%) compared with the control which caused class I repellence (0–20%).

The probiotic Bacillus subtilis (B. subtilis) was widely applied in animal production as feed additive. Lysine (Lys) and methionine (Met) were the two most important limiting amino acids in livestock animal feed. Raising Lys and Met contents in B. subtilis would provide better effects for animal production and save Lys and Met supplements. We still didn't know whether Lys-rich and Met-rich protein genes from plants could be transfected into B. subtilis and expressed at a high level so as to improve animal production, such as milk production as an additional diet. The Lys-rich protein gene (Cflr) and Met-rich 10 ku-δ Zein were cloned from pepper anther and maize endosperm, respectively. Then they were constructed into plasmids individually and successfully cotransfected into B. subtilis. Upon IPTG induction, mRNAs and protein expressions could be observed. Lys and Met contents in the fermentation broth were raised by 65.92% and 46.39%, respectively. After feeding 200 g and 400 g · cow⁻¹ · d⁻¹, transgenic B. subtilis fermentation broth, the milk yield, milk protein and milk fat contents all significantly increased. The Lys-rich protein gene (Cflr) and Met-rich 10 ku-δ Zein were successfully transfected into B. subtilis. Contents of Lys and Met in the transgenic B. subtilis obviously raised and the fermentation broth of the transgenic bacteria could effectively improve milk yield and quality.

Since the demand of African Catfish (Clarias gariepinus) is on increase there is need to increase its production so as to meet the protein requirement of the populace. An investigation was conducted for six weeks feeding trial to determine the performance of African catfish (Clarias gariepinus) fingerlings feed diets containing varying replacement level of fish meal with pawpaw seed powder meal (Carica papaya). Fingerlings of Clarias gariepinus were subjected to five different dietary treatments with varying levels of pawpaw seed powder meal. The diets I-V contained 0, 20%, 40%, 60% and 80% replacement levels, respectively. The experiment was carried out in an 80 litres circular plastic bowls, the treatments were in triplicate. Each bowl contained 12 fingerlings. Feeding was done at 3% body weight per day and fishes were weighed every week. Growth parameters such as specific growth rate (SGR), weight gained (WG), food conversion ratio (FCR), protein efficiency ratio (PER) and mortality were determined. Therefore, it could be concluded that fish meal could be replaced up to 80% with pawpaw seed powder meal in the diet of Clarias gariepinus fingerlings to encourage growth, while at 40% pawpaw seed powder meal inclusion mortality was reduced.

The present study focused on analyzing the technical efficiency of rice farms in southwest of Niger. The data from January to March 2015 survey of 148 ms in three districts of south-western of Niger were analyzed by using DEA-Tobit two-step method. In the first step, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was applied to estimate technical, pure technical and scale efficiency. In the second step, Tobit regression was used to identify factors affecting technical efficiency. The results showed that rice producers in southwest of Niger could reduce their inputs by 52% and still produce the same level of rice output. The Tobit regression showed that factors, such as farm size, experience in rice farming, membership of cooperative, main occupation and land ownership had a direct impact on technical efficiency.