• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.1
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• pp.57-71
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• 2009

Crop-livestock mixed farming systems depend on the efficiency with which nutrients are conserved and recycled. Home-grown forage is used as animal feed and animal excretions are applied to cultivated crop lands as manure. The objective of this study was to develop a mixed farming system model for dairy cattle in Japan. The model consisted of four sub-models: the nutrient requirement model, based on the Japanese Feeding Standards to determine requirements for energy, crude protein, dry matter intake, calcium, phosphorus and vitamin A; the optimum diet formulation model for determining the optimum diets that satisfy nutrient requirements at lowest cost, using linear programming; the herd dynamic model to calculate the numbers of cows in each reproductive cycle; and the whole farm optimization model to evaluate whole farm management from economic and environmental viewpoints and to optimize strategies for the target farm or system. To examine the model' validity, its predictions were compared against best practices for dairy farm management. Sensitivity analyses indicated that higher yielding cows lead to better economic results but higher emvironmental load in dairy cattle systems integrated with forage crop production.

• Water Engineering Research
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• v.4 no.2
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• pp.59-68
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• 2003

The applicabilities and validities of two methodologies fur the prediction of THM (trihalomethane) formation in a water pipeline system were proposed and discussed. One is the multiple regression technique and the other is an artificial neural network technique. There are many factors which influence water quality, especially THMs formations in water pipeline systems. In this study, the prediction models of THM formation in water pipeline systems are developed based on the independent variables proposed by American Water Works Association(AWWA). Multiple linear/nonlinear regression models are estimated and three layer feed-forward artificial neural networks have been used to predict the THM formation in a water pipeline system. Input parameters of the models consist of organic compounds measured in water pipeline systems such as TOC, DOC and UV254. Also, the reaction time to each measuring site along pipeline is used as input parameter calculated by a hydraulic analysis. Using these variables as model parameters, four models are developed. And the predicted results from the four developed models are compared statistically to the measured THMs data set. It is shown that the artificial neural network approaches are much superior to the conventional regression approaches and that the developed models by neural network can be used more efficiently and reproduce more accurately the THMs formation in water pipeline systems, than the conventional regression methods proposed by AWWA.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.11
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• pp.660-668
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• 2023

This study aimed to investigate the growth performance of far eastern catfish (Silurus asotus) on outdoor fish farms to obtain basic data for the domestic eastern catfish aquaculture industry. An outdoor fish farm was directly monitored from June 2018 to October 2019 to determine the farming conditions, growth performance, and water quality. The growth performance in 2017 was analyzed using data from the same fish farm. Three years of monitoring showed that the fish farm required approximately 5-6 months between stocking, harvesting, and selling an S. asotus batch. The growth parameters, namely, the weight gain rate (WGR), specific growth rate (SGR) for culture periods, SGR for feeding periods, and feed coefficient rate (FCR), were 4,664.7%, 1.27%, 2.43%, and 1.25 in 2017; 6,452.0%, 1.52%, 2.79%, and 1.42 in 2018; and 3,270.0%, 1.11%, 2.12%, and 1.38 in 2019, respectively. Moreover, the WGR was two-fold higher in 2018 than 2019, whereas the FCR was more effective in 2019 than 2018, presumably because of the stocking density. No mass mortality was observed during the water quality analysis. The results of this study provide basic data for the development of the catfish industry.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.28 no.2
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• pp.207-214
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• 2015

The effects of high carbohydrate diet on growth, serum physiological response, and hepatic heat shock protein 70 expression in Wuchang bream were determined at $25^{\circ}C$ and $30^{\circ}C$. At each temperature, the fish fed the control diet (31% CHO) had significantly higher weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio and hepatic glucose-6-phosphatase activities, lower feed conversion ratio and hepatosomatic index (HSI), whole crude lipid, serum glucose, hepatic glucokinase (GK) activity than those fed the high-carbohydrate diet (47% CHO) (p<0.05). The fish reared at $25^{\circ}C$ had significantly higher whole body crude protein and ash, serum cholesterol and triglyceride, hepatic G-6-Pase activity, lower glycogen content and relative levels of hepatic growth hormone (GH) gene expression than those reared at $30^{\circ}C$ (p<0.05). Significant interaction between temperature and diet was found for HSI, condition factor, hepatic GK activity and the relative levels of hepatic GH gene expression (p<0.05).

• Resources Recycling
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• v.16 no.5
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• pp.41-45
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• 2007

Tetramethylorthosilicate (TMOS) and silica nanopowder were synthesized from the waste silicon sludge containing 15% weight of silicon powder. TMOS, a precursor of silica nanopowder, was firstly prepared from the waste silicon sludge by catalytic chemical reaction. The maximum recovery of the TMOS was 100% after 5 hrs regardless of reaction temperature above $130^{\circ}C$. But the initial reaction rate became faster while the reaction temperature was higher than $150^{\circ}C$. As the methanol feedrate Increased from 0.8 ml/min to 1.4 ml/min, the yield of reaction was not varied after 3 hrs. Then, silica nanopowder was synthesized from the synthesized TMOS by flame spray pyrolysis. The morphology of as-prepared silica nanopowder was spherical and non-aggregated. The average particle diameters ranged from 9 nm to 30 nm and were in proportional to the precursor feed rate, and precursor concentration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.440-447
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• 2009

Domestic ruminant animals are reared in diverse production systems, ranging from extensive systems under semi-arid and tropical conditions with poor feed resources to intensive systems in temperate and cold areas with high quality feed. Nitrogen (N) recycling between the body and gut of ruminants plays a key role in the adaptation to such diverse nutritional conditions. Ammonia and microbial protein produced in the gut and urea synthesized in the liver are major players in N-recycling transactions. In this review, we focus on the physiological factors affecting urea production and recycling. Sheep and buffalo probably have higher abilities to reabsorb urea from the kidney compared with cattle. This affects the degree of urea-N recycling between the body and gut at both low and high N intakes. The synthesis and gut entry of urea also differs between cattle bred for either dairy or beef production. Lactating dairy cows show a higher gut entry of urea compared with growing cattle. The synthesis and recycling of urea dramatically increases after weaning, so that the functional development of the rumen exerts an essential role in N transactions. Furthermore, high ambient temperature increases urea production but reduces urea gut entry. An increase in total urea flux, caused by the return to the ornithine cycle from the gut entry, is considered to serve as a labile N pool in the whole body to permit metabolic plasticity under a variety of physiological, environmental and nutritional conditions.

• Journal of Environmental Science International
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• v.29 no.10
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• pp.1011-1014
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• 2020

The purpose of this study was to investigate the egg freshness and eggshell characteristics of old laying hens by adding sea urchin shell powder to the feed of such hens to achieve the objectives continuously pursued by environmental management, such as business profitability and waste resource utilization. A total of 90 Hy-Line Brown layers (66 weeks of age) were randomly divided into 2 treatments with 3 replicates, each of which consisted of 15 older layers, for 4 weeks. These treatments included a control (i.e., 0%) and 2% sea urchin shell powder. The 2% supplementation of sea urchin shell powder increased the Haugh unit (HU) at 2 and 4 weeks and eggshell strength at 4 wks compared to the controls (p<0.05). The HU at 0 weeks, eggshell thickness from 0 through 3 weeks, and eggshell strength at 0 and 2 weeks were not different between treatments (p>0.05). These results suggest that the addition of 2% sea urchin powder to the feed of laying hens improves egg freshness and eggshell strength in old laying hens.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.13 no.12
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• pp.1779-1787
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• 2000

Southern and south-western Australia is a typical mediterranean environment, characterised by wet, cold winters and dry, hot summers. The evaporation rate varies significantly in summer, resulting in a high salinity of drinking water for grazing animals. In addition, a large amount of land in the cropping areas is affected by salt. Puccinellia, tall wheat grass and saltbushes have been planted to improve the soil condition and to supply feed for grazing animals. Animals grazing these areas often ingest an excessive amount of salt from soil, forage and drinking water which can reduce feed intake, increase the water requirement, depress growth and affect body composition as demonstrated in sheep. While the deer industry has been successfully developed in these regions, the potential impact of excessive salt intake on deer production is unknown. The salt tolerance has been well defined for sheep, cattle and other livestock species, but the variation between animal species, breeds within species, maturity status and grazing environments makes it impossible to apply these values directly to deer. To optimise deer production and effectively use natural resources, it is essential to understand the salt status of grazing deer and the impact of excessive salt intake on growth and reproduction of deer.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.845-851
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• 2006

Spent compost wheat straw is an available by-product from edible mushroom production, which constitutes a potential pollutant and is cost effective for disposal. This study was conducted to determine the nutritive value as ruminant feed of spent wheat straw compost from Agaricus bisporus mushroom production. The compost was provided from a mushroom farm, the casing soil was removed from the whole compost, and then it was sun dried and sampled for chemical analysis. An experiment was conducted, in which four wheat straw-based diets comprising control (I), 10% spent straw (II), 20% spent straw (III) and 30% spent straw (IV) were tested in a cross-over design using 8 sheep. Dry matter intake (DMI) was 74.0, 73.8, 70.2 and 57.1 and organic matter intake (OMI) was 62.7, 63.4, 58.0 and 44.4 g per kg $BW^{0.75}$ for diets I, II, III and IV, respectively, which, were significantly (p<0.05) lower for diet IV. Digestible OMI was respectively 33.1, 32.6, 30.6 and, 20.2 g per kg $BW^{0.75}$ on the four diets which were significantly (p<0.05) different between the treatments. Inclusion of spent compost straw up to 20% of the diet did not affect the digestibility of DM, OM, CF, ADF and NDF, but the diet containing 30% compost straw had statistically (p<0.05) lower digestibilities. Nitrogen balance was also significantly (p<0.05) different between the treatments.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.18 no.8
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• pp.1153-1156
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• 2005

An experiment was conducted with three hundred and twenty broiler chickens to evaluate the influence of supplementation of probiotic on growth, microbiological status and carcass quality of chickens. The probiotic contained similar proportions of six strains of variable organisms namely Lactobacillus acidophilus, Lactobacillus casei, Bifidobacterium bifidum, Aspergillus oryzae, Streptococcus faecium and Torulopsis sps and was fed at 100 mg/kg diet. The body weight and feed conversion of probiotic fed groups were superior (p<0.05) compared to the control group in the 4th, 5th and 6th weeks. The chickens fed the diet with probiotic had lower (p<0.05) numbers of coliforms and Campylobacter than chickens fed the control diet. All chickens' carcasses on the control diet were positive for Salmonella while only 16 of the 40 carcasses were positive from chickens fed diets containing probiotic. The leg and breast meat of probiotic fed chickens were higher (p<0.05) in moisture, protein and ash, and lower in fat as compared to the leg and breast meat of control chickens.