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Observations were made over a period of three years on a total of 336 West African Dwarf (WAD) ewes that were mated to four rams in rotation. Out of a total of 753 lambs obtained, 459 (61%) were produced in the wet season as compared to 294 (39%) produced in the dry season. More lambs were produced as a result of multiple birth (twins and triplets) in the wet than in the dry season. Consequently, the average birth weight of the wet season lambs (1.58kg) was lower than the average birth weight (1.66 kg) of the dry season lambs. Despite this initial disadvantage, the wet season lambs had a higher average weaning weight (9.11 kg) than the dry season lambs (7.83 kg). The effects of season on pre weaning lamb mortality was minimal while the effects of type of birth were quite apparent. Lowest pre-weaning lamb mortality values were recorded for single lambs, followed by twins and triplets, in ascending order. The data also showed that a slightly higher proportion of the male lambs reached weaning age than female lambs. This observation could be associated with reported inverse relationship between lamb birth weight and mortality found in literature.

A total of 48 New Zealand White (NZW) rabbit was used for the phenotypic estimation study. After two weeks of birth, the kittens were introduced to commercial grower mash (CGM) and were fed solely on the commercial grower mash diets with the following characteristics; 17.5% crude protein, 16% crude fibre and 2500 kcal/kg diet digestible energy ad libitum. Morphometric traits such as Fore Limb (FL), Hind Limb (HL), Body Length (BL), Thigh Girth (TG), Abdominal Circumference (AC) and Leg Length (LL) in NZW rabbit were measured on the rabbit with the aid of measuring tape in centimetre (cm) at 4, 8 and 12 weeks of age. The first measurement was taken on the day of weaning (4 weeks). The data obtained was analysed using the simple linear correlation procedure of SAS analytical package to obtain the correlation between the various morphometric traits studied. The study lasted for 12 weeks. From the study the phenotypic correlations obtained were all positive and ranged between moderate (0.47, the lowest value) and high (0.89, the highest value) correlated value for all ages considered for the NZW rabbit. The result further showed that BL was highly correlated (

Made available in DSpace on 2019-10-06T17:14:03Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2019-01-01 Two trials (E1 and E2) were performed to assess the behavior of eight Holstein dairy cows with 367 ± 58 kg of body weight and 10.52 ± 0.08 kg of milk yield. A 4 × 4 Latin square design (four periods of lactation and four levels of solar blockage) with four paddocks was used. Each paddock contained a wood shading structure covered with a cloth that blocked 30% (T1), 50% (T2), 70% (T3), or 100% (T4) of direct solar radiation. In the first trial (E1) each shade structure was located approximately 40 m from the feeder and water troughs; in the second trial (E2), the distance was reduced to 5 m. Air temperature (TA, °C), relative humidity (RH, %), wind speed (U, ms−1), black globe temperature (TG, K), mean radiant temperature (TMR, K), radiant heat load (RHL, W m−2), and local shortwave radiation (RS, W m−2) were recorded at 15-min intervals from 08:00 to 17:00 h. Four behavioral activities were recorded: grazing, eating at the feed trough, ruminating, and idling. For each of these activities, animal posture (lying or upright) and location (under shade or exposed to sunlight) were recorded. The meteorological conditions showed similar variations from 8:00 to 17:00 h between the two trials. However, the air temperatures in E1 were lower (± 2 °C) than those in E2. In a PCA analysis, the first and the second principal components explained 56.87% and 21.85%, respectively, of the total variation in the behavioral variables. Under the E1 conditions, the animals did not seek shade, whereas in E2, the dairy cows spent 35 ± 5% of their time lying and idling in the shade. At a solar radiation blockage of 100%, cows were in the shade more than 60% of the time due to the intensity of solar radiation, which was 722.19 ± 14.59 W m−2 at 11:45. In a PCA analysis, the first and the second principal components explained 65.18 and 22.3%, respectively, and 87.48% together, of the total variation in the original variables. Consequently, it was possible to develop a shade index (IST) based on the first two components. In E1, animals spent very little time in the shade, spending only 0.15% of total time under the shade, irrespective of blockage. However, E2 cows used shade, reaching almost 80% of time under the shade, at midday, when the blockage was 100%. Graduate Program of Animal Science São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane Road, w/n Innovation Group of Biometeorology Behavior and Animal Welfare (INOBIO-MANERA) São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane Road, w/n Innovation Group of Biometeorology Behavior and Animal Welfare (INOBIO-MANERA) São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Natural Sciences and Engineering Graduate Program of Animal Science São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane Road, w/n Innovation Group of Biometeorology Behavior and Animal Welfare (INOBIO-MANERA) São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Agricultural and Veterinarian Sciences, Prof. Paulo Donato Castellane Road, w/n Innovation Group of Biometeorology Behavior and Animal Welfare (INOBIO-MANERA) São Paulo State University (Unesp) School of Natural Sciences and Engineering

Thai native cattle (Bos indicus) have high fertility rates and strong mothering abilities; however, their slight size, slow growth rate and low meat quality have not proved suitable for a commercial fattening system. Their progeny from crossbreeding with exotic sire particularly the Bos Taurus could present greater production performance. Lowline Angus sires and frozen semen were used to produce Lowline Angus x Thai native crossbreds. All cattle were raised in the same condition which was mainly through a grazing system. Throughout 5 years of data collection, calves' gender, birth weight, and weight gains were recorded until 1 year of age. There was no interaction effect between calves' gender, breed, and birth season on weight at birth and yearling, as well as growth rate. The birth weight of male calves (14.0 kg) were greater than female calves (13.3 kg). The calves' birth weights did not differ between levels of Lowline Angus blood, but all crossbred males were found to be significantly bigger than indigenous females. It must be noted that yearling weight did not differ between breeds. However, females 75% Lowline Angus, 25% Thai native crossbred (139.3 kg) weighed significantly higher than Thai native purebred females (115.9 kg). The calves' birth weights had positive correlation with Lowline Angus blood levels: birth weights increased when Lowline Angus blood levels were increased. The sharpness in the growth curve of Lowline Angus crossbreds was higher than purebred Thai indigenous cattle. Moreover, the 25% Lowline Angus crossbred had the highest graph slope as opposed to the 50% or 75% Lowline Angus crossbred. The growth performance of Lowline Angus x Thai native crossbred was shown unsuccessful under low-quality grazing situation. Additive effect of the crossbred presented quite low but well adapted to tropical environment. Greater productivity performance of the crossbred possibly will be excess with a higher quality feedlot condition.

Objetivou-se avaliar a qualidade da predição das exigências de energia para vacas leiteiras do sistema de Oliveira (2015) para condições tropicais, em comparação aos sistemas AFRC (1993), NRC (2001), Feed into Milk (THOMAS, 2004), INRA (2007), CSIRO (2007) e Moraes et al. (2015). Utilizou-se observações de quatro experimentos de alimentação de vacas leiteiras do tipo rotativo, totalizando 181 observações de consumo de nutrientes digestíveis totais (NDT) de 16 dietas experimentais. O conjunto de dados construídos apresentou uma ampla variação nas características dos animais (produção de leite entre 6,1 a 36,5 kg/dia), dieta e consumo de NDT (4,0 a 16,6 kg/dia). O sistema energético de Oliveira (2015) explicou 83% do consumo de NDT observado, superestimou o consumo de NDT em média 0,35 kg/dia e apresentou raiz quadrada do erro médio de predição (RQEMP) de 12,2% do valor observado. Os sistemas AFRC (1993), NRC (2001), Feed into Milk (THOMAS, 2014) e Moraes et al (2015) apresentaram RQEMP similares (P > 0,05) ao sistema de Oliveira (2015), indicando similaridade na acurácia para predizer as exigências de energia para vacas leiteiras em condições tropicais. Recomenda-se ainda investigar a adequação destes sistemas energéticos em experimentos de longa duração.Palavras-chave: acurácia; energia; sistemas nutricionais. EVALUATION OF ENERGETICS SYSTEMS FOR DAIRY COWS ABSTRACT: The objective was evaluate accuracy and precision of the estimated energy requirements for lactating dairy of the Oliveira (2015) system to tropical condition, compared to AFRC (1993), NRC (2001), Feed into Milk (THOMAS, 2004), INRA (2007), CSIRO (2007) and proposed by Moraes et al. (2015). Four rotative feeding trials were used as dataset, totalizing 181 observations of total digestible nutrient (TDN) intake from 16 diets. Dataset had wide variation in animal performance (milk yield between 6.1 to 36.5 kg/day), diet and TDN intake (4.0 to 16.6 kg/day). The Oliveira (2015) system explained 83% of the observed TDN intake, over-predicted TDN intake by 0.34 kg/day and presented root mean square error of prediction (RMSPE) of the 12.2% of the observed TDN intake. AFRC (1993), NRC (2001), Feed into Milk (THOMAS, 2014) e Moraes et al (2015) systems had similar RMSPE (P > 0.05) to Oliveira (2015) system, indicating similar accuracy to predict energy requirement for dairy cows under tropical conditions. We recommended to investigate the adequacy these systems in long term feeding trials.Keywords: accuracy; energy; nutritional systems.

Tropical condition in Southeast Asia has contributed around 30% of post harvest damage as it provide optimum condition for the growth of Sitophilus spp. pest. Therefore, this study was aimed to investigate the effect of wedusan extract on controlling Sitophilus spp. Growth. Wedusan extract was given in different level of concentrations. The research used the Randomized Complete Design. Wedusan ( Ageratum spp.) extract affected the imago mortality of Sitophilus spp. There were two kinds of Wedusan extract used in this study, dried extract (DE) and fresh extract (FE). Sitophilus imago were put into bottles filled with organic rice and were treated with Wedusan extract. The mortality level was obsered at 24 Hours After Application (HAA), 48 HAA, and 72 HAA. The highest toxicity was found by the treatment of dried extract of wedusan 5 tablets, by LC50 55% on 24 HAA and 82.25% on 72 HAA. Extract of dry matter has higher toxicity effect than fresh extract. The application of wedusan extract is eviromental friendly and specific-range against pest. It is promising for future development as natural product in agriculture area.

The research aims to evaluate the physical characteristics of dried bio-slurry produced by treatment combination of drying and turning period in tropical conditions. Research material used fixed-dome digester model with a capacity of 12 m3and cattle dung from Simmental crossbreed. Physical characteristics of bio-slurry were obtained by combining treatments between drying period (15 and 30 days) and turning period (each turning process in 7 and 10thday) as follows: T1 (15 days and 7thday), T2 (15 days and 10thday), T3 (30 days and 7thday), T4 (30 days and 10thday). The chemical compound of fresh bio-slurry was analyzed as initial information. The humidity, temperature, and color data were analyzed using analysis of variance and further analyzed using Tukey’s test. Also, the chemical compound and pH used descriptive analysis. The study obtained that the chemical composition of fresh bio-slurry was moisture content (89.53%), C-organic (37.27%), nitrogen (48.92ppm), phosphor (1.71%), potassium (3.89%), and C/N ratio (7.454). Besides, the treatment showed a significant difference (P0C and 7 respectively. Therefore, treatment combinations can be applied to make dried bio-slurry as fertilizer in tropical conditions.

OBJECTIVE High NH3 emissions from poultry houses are reported to have negative impacts on health, welfare and safety of birds and humans, and on the environment. Objective of the present study was to determine the effects of two litter amendments on the NH3 levels in broiler closed houses under hot-humid conditions. METHODS Giving a completely randomize design, nine closed houses, each housed 32,500 birds on paddy husk litter, were randomly allocated into two treatment (Mizuho; a bacterial culture mix and Rydall OE; an enzymatic biocatalyst) and control groups. NH3 levels were determined thrice a day (0600, 1200, and 1800 h), at three heights from the litter surface (30, 90, and 150 cm), at 20 predetermined locations of a house, from day 1 to 41. RESULTS Rydall significantly reduced the NH3 level compared to control and Mizuho. NH3 levels at 30 cm were significantly higher than that of 90 and 150 cm. The NH3 levels at 30 cm height were higher than 25 ppm level from day 9, 11, and 13 in Mizuho, control, and Rydall groups, respectively to day 41. NH3 levels at 150 cm height were higher than maximum threshold limit of 50 ppm for human exposure from day 12, 14, and 15 in Mizuho, control, and Rydall groups, respectively to day 33. Being significantly different among each other, the NH3 level was highest and lowest at 0600 and 1800 h. Litter amendments had no significant effects on growth performance. Rydall significantly increased the litter N content on day 24. CONCLUSION It was concluded that the NH3 levels of closed house broiler production facilities under tropical condition are so high that both birds and workers are exposed to above recommended levels during many days of the growing period. Compared to microbial culture, the enzymatic biocatalyst was found to be more effective in reducing NH3 level.

The present study, a part of a series of studies carried out to explore the possibility of beetroot cultivation in the tropics on highlands, was designed to investigate the growth and betacyanin content of beetroot plants in response to water deficit in a tropical condition. The water deficit was executed through varied watering intervals consisting of once three (as control), four, five, six and seven days. A randomized block design with five replicates was used to impose the treatments. The effect of water deficit was found to reduce the leaf water content, the biomass production (total dry weight) and the root yields of beetroot plants. Root dry weight decreased by more than 20% and 50% with the watering interval once four and seven days respectively compared with that once three days. The betacyanin content of roots was not influenced by the water deficit when expressed per unit volume of fresh root extracts (340.5 ± 60.1 mg/l), and increased when expressed per unit root dry weight. It is suggested that an optimal supply of water, for instance watering once three days, is necessary to obtain beetroot plants growing optimally and producing a high root yield and betacyanin content of roots.

Banana is a wonderful commercial fruit with several health edges. Banana is additionally helpful in many ways in our day to day life. Banana is cultured in all districts of the world. Bananas are developed in tropical condition. The expansion and development of the crop are greatly influenced by factors such as temperature, humidness and soil wetness. A wireless sensor observance system is developed to determine temperature, humidness and soil wetness. The collected data is stored in the SQLite database in Raspberry Pi along with the time stamp, and the data is displayed on the local web host server. Temperature data is compared with the optimum temperature values using fuzzy rules. Based on the fuzzy rules, an alert is remitted to the farmer through email. This helps the farmer to keep track of the growth of the fruit and reduce the loss that happens because of low or high temperatures.

This research study was carried out for 16 weeks to evaluate the effect of ambient storage conditions on the physical properties of soybean. Two soybean varieties named Pb-1 and PM-13 were used for the experiment. The hardness, bulk density, moisture content and thousand seed mass changed significantly within the storage period (P less than 0.05). Hardness and bulk density of seeds increased with time while thousand seed mass and moisture content decreased with storage time in both varieties. The ‘L’ and ‘a’ color values were not changed significantly with storage time however, the ‘b’ color values were significantly altered with storage time in both varieties. Seed physical property changers are directly affected to its processing conditions such as grading, separation, drying and grinding. Therefore, soybean processing conditions and processing power requirements required to be altered accordingly.

The global animal production is increasing as expected to meet world demand for food, especially for meat products. This research aimed to investigate the effect of two types of roofs (clay and fiber-cement tiles) in a tropical area on the thermal comfort of farrowing sows and piglets. Twelve sows and forty-eight piglets were observed during summer in the Southeast region of Brazil. Climate variables, thermal comfort and surface temperature (sows and piglets) were assessed. The type of roofs clearly affected the piglets' surface temperature during all studied periods, but the results were not similar in the sows' surface temperature. Temperature and humidity index found was high in the building with fiber-cement tiles. The pen location in the housing also influenced the piglet surface temperature. Controlling temperature fluctuation in piglet housing is crucial; therefore, providing adequate rearing environment in tropical condition might help pig productivity as well as farmer profitability.

Made available in DSpace on 2018-11-26T17:16:32Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2016-10-01. Added 1 bitstream(s) on 2021-07-15T14:32:00Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 S0100-69162016000601229.pdf: 497639 bytes, checksum: 421a9d17ff4172eba4e02fb428c42157 (MD5) Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq) The increasing of global demand for food has required more efficiency in the production process. Transportation represents a source of body dehydration for pigs transported from farm to slaughterhouses. This study aimed to evaluate the effects of the distances on the body dehydration of pigs transported to slaughter in tropical conditions. We analyzed 350 pigs shipments with a total of 68,588 heads using statistical software SAS by anova, means and corr procedures. The results showed a liveweight loss estimated at 12% which was increased gradually as the distance increased as pigs were deprived of water for a long time. The most cost-effective distance for the pigs' transportation under tropical condition is within the range below 100 km, where there were not detected weight losses (p < 0.05). Univ Paulista, Sao Paulo, SP, Brazil Sch Sao Paulo State Univ Julio de Mesquita Filho, Tupa, SP, Brazil Sch Sao Paulo State Univ Julio de Mesquita Filho, Tupa, SP, Brazil

Although Bali (native breed of Indonesia) cattle has already adapted to tropical conditions, but this breed was reported to be in heat stressed under the high ambient temperature. This study was conducted to evaluate the effect water sprinkler on the physiological responses of Bali cattle during the hot season. Two groups of 6 young Bali males were used in this study. The animals were kept individually in an animal house and fed with rice straw and native grasses supplemented with rice bran and urea multinutrients molasses block. The first group (control group) was kept without water sprinkler and the second group (treatment group) was treated with an individual water sprinkler located about 1 m above the animal. The water sprinklers were applied for 6 consecutive days, three times a day (8.00, 12.00 and 16.00 hr.) each lasting for 30 minutes. The physiological responses (body temperature, respiration rate and pulse rate) and ambient temperature were measured at 05.00, 09.00, 13.00, 17.00, 21.00 and 01.00 hr. Daily water intake was recorded. Mean ambient temperature at 05.00, 09.00, 13.00, 17.00, 21.00 and 01.00 hr. were 20.50º, 32.17º, 37.33º, 30.00º, 21.67º, and 20.33ºC, respectively. Treatment group showed a significant (P

This study aims to determine the composition of surfactants in the sea surface microlayer (SML), underlying water (ULW) and atmospheric particles (AP). Surfactants were determined colorimetrically as methylene blue active substances (MBAS) and disulphine blue active substances (DBAS) for anionic and cationic surfactants, respectively. The concentration of dissolved inorganic nutrients (DIN) in ULW was determined so as to indicate the influence of ULW to the surfactants in SML. The results showed that the concentration of MBAS and DBAS in SML at both stations ranged between 0.05 and 0.31 μmol L−1, and between 0.19 and 0.59 μmol L−1, respectively. Surfactants in ULW influence the concentration of surfactants in SML (r = 0.65, p

The associations among yield-related traits and the pattern of influence on rice grain yield were investigated. This evaluation is important to determine the direct and indirect effects of various traits on yield to determine selection criteria for higher grain yield. Fifteen rice genotypes were evaluated under tropical condition at five locations in two planting seasons. The experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with three replications across the locations. Data were collected on vegetative and yield components traits. The pooled data based on the analysis of variance revealed that there were significant differences (p<0.001) among the fifteen genotypes for all the characters studied except for panicle length and 100-grain weight. Highly significant and positive correlations at phenotypic level were observed in grain weight per hill (0.796), filled grains per panicle (0.702), panicles per hill (0.632), and tillers per hill (0.712) with yield per hectare, while moderate positive correlations were observed in flag leaf length to width ratio (0.348), days to flowering (0.412), and days to maturity (0.544). By contrast, unfilled grains per panicle (-0.225) and plant height (-0.342) had a negative significant association with yield per hectare. Filled grains per panicle (0.491) exhibited the maximum positive direct effect on yield followed by grain weight per hill (0.449), while unfilled grain per panicle (-0.144) had a negative direct effect. The maximum indirect effect on yield per hectare was recorded by the tillers per hill through the panicles per hill. Therefore, tillers per hill, filled grains per panicle, and grain weight per hill could be used as selection criteria for improving grain yield in rice.

Pesticides though formulated to be biologically degradable, few herbicides reported to cause surface and groundwater contamination which needs the monitoring of herbicide residues in environment continuously. Thus, to monitor the persistence and residues in crops, imazethapyr degradation studies were conducted in soil with groundnut cropping under Indian tropical condition. A groundnut field was treated with different doses of imazethapyr as early post emergence. Results showed that the degradation of imazethapyr in soil and groundnut plant followed first order reaction kinetics irrespective of the dose. The residue of imazethapyr persists in soil up to 60 days at higher rates of application while it persists up to 30 days in plant with the calculated half life of 2.8 to 7.4 days in soil and 5.1 to 5.9 days in plant. At the time of harvest, the residue of imazethapyr in soil, groundnut haulm or pods were below the detectable limit of 0.008 mg/kg across different doses of application. However, the continuous and inappropriate use in light textured soils may cause groundwater contamination and bioaccumulation in plant system. Hence, a pre harvest interval of 75 days must be allowed after the application of imazethapyr for the weed control in groundnut.

A meta-analysis of feeding trials was performed to determine the metabolizable energy requirement for maintenance (MEm) and efficiency of utilization of the metabolizable energy intake (MEI) for milk production (kL) of Bos taurus and Bos taurus × Bos indicus crossbreds dairy cows in the tropics. The database contained 231 treatment means (n = 148 Bos taurus and n = 83 Bos taurus × Bos indicus) from 60 feeding trial studies. A linear regression of MEI with milk energy output adjusted to a zero energy balance (EL(0), MJ/kg BW0.75/day) was fitted using a mixed model with the study as the random effect and the genotype (G) as dummy variable (Bos taurus = 0 and Bos taurus × Bos indicus = 1). The MEm was calculated as the intercept and kL as the reciprocal of the slope of the regression. The dairy cow genotype affected the MEm requirements (P = 0.05) and tended to affect kL (P = 0.08). The equation fitted was MEI (MJ/kg BW0.75/day) = 0.754 (±0.076) − 0.196 (±0.102) × G + [1.522 (±0.126) + 0.368 (±0.210) × G] × EL(0). Thus, Bos taurus × Bos indicus crossbred dairy cows have MEm requirement that was 26% lower (0.558 ± 0.103 vs. 0.754 ± 0.076 MJ/kg BW0.75/day) but kL tended to be 19% lower (0.53 ± 0.10 vs. 0.66 ± 0.05) than Bos taurus cows. These results support the hypothesis that Bos taurus × Bos indicus crossbred dairy cows have a lower MEm, but lower net energetic efficiency for milk production than Bos taurus dairy cows. This study may contribute to adjustments in feeding system energy recommendations for dairy cows under tropical condition.

During winter, different types of sheds were constructed to reduce lamb mortality. A study was conducted to assess the effect of different types of housing on the behavior of Malpura lambs during the winter in semiarid tropical condition in terms of suckling, feeding, lying, standing, social interaction, and oral stereotype. Sheds are constructed to reduce winter mortality. This study was carried out for a period of 1 month during winter (January-February). Twenty-one lambs of aged 3-5 weeks were divided into 3 groups of 7 animals each such as G-I (control, n = 7), G-II (bamboo dome, n = 7) and G-III (thermocol-insulated cold-protected shed, n = 7). The G-I lambs were maintained in normal asbestos roofed shed (side wall wire net, curtains at night time), whereas G-II lambs were maintained in a local hand-made bamboo dome structures. G-III lambs were kept in thermocol-insulated (roof and doors were made up of asbestos, thermocol, and polyvinyl chloride sheet, brick side wall) roofed shed from 6:30 pm to 7 am. The lambs were exposed to their mother in the morning (7 am to 7:30 am) and evening (5:30 pm to 6 pm) for suckling. Lambs were provided with ad libitum green fodder, dry roughage, and concentrate in an open area from 8 am to 5:30 pm. Behavioral recording was carried out for 1 animal from each group daily (once weekly for each animal) by 3 people (1 person for 1 lamb). G-III lambs showed higher weekly body weight gain and higher milk intake. Total feeding time was 22.44% higher in G-III compared to G-I lambs. Drinking time was higher in G-I lambs compared with those in the other groups. Standing time was significantly higher ( P

In many urban and peri-urban areas of developing countries, shallow wells and untreated water from urban rivers are used for domestic purposes, including drinking water supply, population bathing and irrigation for urban agriculture. The evaluation and monitoring of water quality are therefore necessary for preventing potential human risk associated with the exposure to contaminated water. In this study, physicochemical and bacteriological parameters were assessed in an urban river (named Kokolo Canal/Jerusalem River) draining the municipality of Lingwala (City of Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo) and in two shallow wells used as drinking water supplies, during the wet and dry seasons in order to estimate the seasonal variation of contamination. The faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) isolated strains (Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Enterococcus (ENT)) from water and surface sediment, were characterized for human-specific bacteroides by molecular approach. The results revealed very high faecal contamination of water from the shallow wells, and of water and sediments from the river, during both wet and dry seasons. During the wet season, E. coli reached the values of 18.6x105 and 4.9x105 CFU 100 mL-1 in Kokolo Canal and shallow wells, respectively; and Enterococcus reached the values of 7.4x104 and 2.7x104 CFU 100 mL-1. Strong mutually positive correlation was observed between E. coli and ENT, with the range of R-value being 0.93 < r < 0.97 (p-value < 0.001, n=15). The PCR assays for human-specific Bacteroides indicated that more than 98% of 500 isolated FIB strains were of human origin, pointing out the effect of poor household sanitation practices on surface water but also on groundwater contamination. The water samples from the shallow wells and Kokolo Canal were highly polluted with faecal matter in both seasons. However, the pollution level was significantly higher during the wet season compared to the dry season. Physicochemical analysis revealed also very high water electrical conductivity, with values much higher than the recommended limits of the World Health Organization guideline for drinking water. These results highlight the potential human health risk associated with the exposure to water contamination from shallow wells and Kokolo Canal, due to the very high level of human FIB. Rapid, unplanned and uncontrolled population growth in the city of Kinshasa is increasing considerably the water demand, whereas there is a dramatic lack of appropriate sanitation and wastewater facilities, as well as of faecal sludge (and solid waste) management and treatment. The lack of hygiene and the practice of open defecation is leading to the degradation of water quality, consequently the persistence of waterborne diseases in the neighbourhoods of sub-rural municipalities, and there is a growing threat to the sustainability to water resources and water quality. The results of this study should encourage municipality policy and strategy on increasing the access to safely managed sanitation services; in order to better protect surface water and groundwater sources, and limit the proliferation of epidemics touching regularly the city.

The contemporary market is in demand of more power with expenditure of as less amount of energy as possible. Hence the scientists nowadays have shifted their concentration to design processes to meet this need. In this paper, the use of HP PC LEDs have been proved to be more efficient and environment friendly and have better scope of improvement in future than other lighting sources. The paper also focuses on the results of Quantitative Accelerated Lifetime Test and useful life estimation of LEDs making use of LM 80 and TM-21 has been done to facilitate the knowledge of users about the specifications of a particular company and comparison has been done to understand the trend of different companies. Thus this paper will facilitate the readers for making a choice of lighting source. This also opens the scope for further development of the LEDs by examining the reason of the degradation and finding the percentage contribution of each component element in the degradation to enhance its performance.

Serum biochemical traits constitute important panels in the clinical diagnosis prognosis and treatment of livestock diseases via the investigations of myriads of parameters influencing these biochemical references Sixty clinically healthy animals of three extant breeds of Nigerian native sheep Balami Yankassa and Uda were sampled to examine the roles of breed age and sexual dimorphism on aspartate aminotransferase levels in the blood stream of tropically managed sheep We present from our study that breed difference exerted no significance effect on serum aspartate aminotransferase levels of sheep considered but a numerically high levels were obtained in Yankassa plusmn UI dl relative to the least serum AST levels obtained in Uda plusmn IU dl Our findings revealed that sexual dimorphism had no marked influence on the serum AST levels examined but it was found that the AST levels in rams plusmn IU dl were higher relative to the ewes plusmn IU dl In the same trend age had no evident influence on serum AST levels examined Therefore this study affirms that breed age and sexual dimorphism do not provoke abnormally high levels of serum enzyme AST in the blood serum of sheep managed under tropical condition

Concern of this work is analysis and short-term electricity demand forecasting under tropical condition using fuzzy approach. Two different demand models are proposed for dry season and rainy season to forecast a total load demand in Makassar, Indonesia for 24 hours ahead in each season. Based on the typical characteristic of seasonal demand, three inputs (time of load, temperature, and type of day) are used for load model in dry season, and four inputs (time of load, temperature, type of day, and rainfall) for load model in rainy season. Meanwhile, output is estimated load in related seasons. Some forecasting error analyses are applied to models. Under tested cases, both seasonal models have good forecasting results with MAPE values smaller than 2.95%. Estimated demand values when holidays and non-holidays in each season which are relatively close to actual load have confirmed effectiveness of the fuzzy based models.

A uniform design (UD) was used to construct models to explain the growth response of Japanese quails to dietary metabolizable energy (ME), and digestible methionine (dMet) and lysine (dLys) under tropical condition. In total, 100 floor pens with seven birds each were fed 25 UD different diets containing 25 ME (2808-3092 kcal/kg), dMet (0.31-0.49% of diet), and dLys (0.91-1.39% of diet) levels from 7 to 14 d of age. A platform of artificial neural network based on UD (ANN-UD) was generated to describe the growth response of the birds to dietary inputs using random search. Artificial neural networks of body weight gain (BWG) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) were optimized using random search algorithm. The optimization the ANN-UD results showed that maximum BWG may be achieved with 2995 kcal ME/kg, 0.45% dMet, and 1.18% dLys of diet; and minimum FCR may be obtained with 3000 kcal ME/kg, 0.45% dMet, and 1.17% dLys of diet. The result of this study showed that a ANN and UD hybrid model can be used successfully to optimize the nutritional requirements of quail chicks.

This study aims at improving a solar distillation still by comparing the performance of four types of double slope single basin solar stills to produce adequate amount of potable water in the areas with confined fresh water. These solar stills fabricated with similar shapes. In each solar still a stainless steel basin with the length of 50 cm, width of 30 cm and depth of 8 cm was utilized. The still configurations differed based on inclusion of 2 cm depth of sea sand layer in the basin, a layer of black paint in the basin and use of a 50 W PV-DC heater. The study was conducted to increase the potable water production under Malaysia tropical condition. A comparative research of cumulative water production among these solar stills showed that solar still with black painted basin was the more efficient; producing 234 %, 190% and 148% the potable water produced by a conventional solar still, solar still with sand layer in basin and solar still connected to a PV-DC heater, respectively.

With the increasing cost of fossil fuel to generate power for cooling purposes, there is a need for alternative methods of cooling system that is sustainable and economically viable in producing high quality crops under tropical condition. This study aimed to investigate the effect of ground heat exchanger (GHE) for root-zone cooling on the growth, yield, and economic returns of aeroponically-grown strawberry plants under tropical greenhouse condition. The experiment had two treatments; the root-zone cooling methods (GHE, Air-conditioning Unit (ACU), and Control – no root-zone cooling) and photoperiods (8-hours, 16-hours, and 12-hours). We observed that the root-zone mean temperature under GHE was maintained at 26.75 °C, which was 2.61°C higher than ACU and 2.17°C lower than the control. The GHE and ACU did not significantly differ in terms of plant’s growth with larger and number of leaves, and longer petioles than the control. We found no significant interaction of the treatments on the yield nor difference between GHE and ACU with 181-186 g/plant. Projected benefit cost ratio using GHE is 4.24 and annual return of investment is at 32%. This study underscores the feasibility of GHE application for root-zone cooling under tropical greenhouse condition.