Simulation of Artificial Grain Feeding in Order to Reach Dynamical Bed Stabilisation Along the River Rhine

The Wesel-Xanten stretch of the fiver Rhine between km-812.5 and km-821.5 is one of the reaches where strong erosion leads to high maintenance efforts conceming navigability.In order to improve the naviga- tion conditions without aggravating the flood protection,but also ensuring that the ecological system of the river is not damaged,investigations of the morphodynamical processes in connection with artificial grain feeding ac- tivities have to be carried out by Federal Waterways Engineering and Research...

Using vibrational infrared biomolecular spectroscopy to detect heat-induced changes of molecular structure in relation to nutrient availability of prairie whole oat grains on a molecular basis

Background： To our knowledge, there is little study on the interaction between nutrient availability and molecular structure changes induced by different processing methods in dairy cattle. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of heat processing methods on interaction between nutrient availability and molecular structure in terms of functional groups that are related to protein and starch inherent structure of oat grains with two continued years and three replication of each year.Method： The oat grains were kept as raw（control） or heated in an air-draft oven（dry roasting： DO） at 120 °C for 60 min and under microwave irradiation（MIO） for 6 min. The molecular structure features were revealed by vibrational infrared molecular spectroscopy.Results： The results showed that rumen degradability of dry matter, protein and starch was significantly lower（P 〈0.05） for MIO compared to control and DO treatments. A higher protein α-helix to β-sheet and a lower amide I to starch area ratio were observed for MIO compared to DO and/or raw treatment. A negative correlation（-0.99, P 〈 0.01）was observed between α-helix or amide I to starch area ratio and dry matter. A positive correlation（0.99, P 〈 0.01） was found between protein β-sheet and crude protein.Conclusion： The results reveal that oat grains are more sensitive to microwave irradiation than dry heating in terms of protein and starch molecular profile and nutrient availability in ruminants.

Hog Production in China:Technological Bias and Factor Demand

Technological change and factor biases are estimated by employing a translog cost function based on a new adjusted dataset for China’s hog production sector. Technological change is found not to have been neutral and the factor bias to be statistically significant towards feed grain-saving technology. It is also found that the demand for feed grain is elastic with respect to its own price and that strong substitution relationships exist with respect to some other inputs. Thus, along with technological biases, the changes in input price could affect hog farmer input behaviors and therefore change factor shares of hog production cost in China. In other words, demand for feed grain is very elastic, which results in feed grain-saving technological bias. Two major policy implications can be drawn that rising feed grain prices could significantly reduce the feed grain input on hog farms and developing specialized hog farms could provide more employment opportunities for rural labor in China because feed grain and labor are complementary.

Supply and Demand Levels for Livestock and Poultry Products in the Chinese Mainland and the Potential Demand for Feed Grains

The widening gap between the supply and demand levels for livestock and poultry products in the Chinese mainland poses a significant challenge to the secure supply of feed grains. Therefore, the accurate prediction of the demand potential for feed grains represents a key scientific issue for ensuring food security in the Chinese mainland. This study is based on an analysis of several factors, such as the Chinese mainland’s output, trade volume, apparent consumption of livestock and poultry products, and two different scenarios for predicting the future demand for feed grains are assessed. The results indicate that output and consumption of livestock and poultry products, as well as the country’s trade deficit and the pressure of the supply and demand balance with respect to these products, have been increasing in recent years. The analysis predicts that the demand for feed grains in the Chinese mainland will reach 425.5 or 389.6 million tons in 2030 based on the two scenarios. This finding indicates that with the increasing demand for livestock and poultry products in the Chinese mainland, the demand for feed grains will continue to increase, and the shortfall in feed grains and raw materials will expand further, especially dependence on external sources of protein-rich feed grains will remain high.

Starch digestion rates in multiple samples of commonly used feed grains in diets for broiler chickens

In this study the starch digestion rates in broiler chickens from 18 samples of 5 commonly used feed grains(sorghum,wheat,maize,barley,triticale)were determined.The methodology to determine starch digestion rates in poultry is detailed herein.Starch digestion rates were not significantly different(P-0.128)across the 18 feed grains,which reflects the wide variations that were observed within a given feedstuff.Nevertheless,starch digestion rates in broiler chickens offered wheat-based diets were significantly more rapid by 56.0%(0.117 versus 0.075 min-1;p=0.012)than their sorghum-based counterparts on the basis of a pair-wise comparison.In descending order,the following starch diges-tion rates were observed:wheat(0.117 min-1),barley(0.104 min-1),triticale(0.093 min-1),maize(0.086 min-1),sorghum(0.075 min-1).The implications of these findings are discussed as they almost certainly have implications for poultry nutrition and the development of reduced crude protein diets for broiler chickens.