Effects of total replacement of corn silage with sorghum silage on milk yield,composition, and quality

Background： In the last years, difficulties occurring in corn cultivation（i.e., groundwater shortages, mycotoxin contamination） have been forcing dairy farmers to consider alternative silages. Some experiments conducted on lactating cows have proven that the total replacement of corn silage with sorghum silage did not reduce milk yield.However, this kind of substitution involves supplementing sorghum-based diets with grains, to compensate for the lower starch content of sorghum silage compared to corn silage. Change of silage type and inclusion of starch sources in the diet would influence rumen fermentations, with possible effects on milk composition（i.e., fatty acid profile） and coagulation properties. A worsening of milk coagulation properties would have a negative economic impact in Italy, where most of the milk produced is processed into cheese.This study was designed to compare milk composition and quality, with emphasis on fatty acid profile and coagulation properties, in dairy cows fed two diets based on corn or sorghum silage.Results： The sorghum diet reduced milk yield（P = 0.043） but not 4% fat corrected milk（P = 0.85）. Feeding sorghum silage did not influence milk contents of protein（P = 0.07） and lactose（P = 0.65）, and increased fat content（P = 0.024）.No differences emerged for milk concentrations of saturated（P = 0.61） and monounsaturated fatty acids（P = 0.50）,whereas polyunsaturated fatty acids were lower（P 〈 0.001） for the sorghum diet. Concentrations of n-6（P 〈 0.001） and n-3 fatty acids（P = 0.017） were lower in milk of cows fed the sorghum diet. Milk coagulation properties did not differ between the two diets, except the ＂a30＂（the curd firmness, expressed in mm, 30 min after rennet addition）, that was lower（P = 0.042） for the sorghum diet.Conclusions： Feeding a forage sorghum silage, properly supplemented with corn meal, as total replacement of corn silage maintained milk composition and did not influence negatively milk coagulation properties, which have a great economic relevance for the Italian dairy industry. Thus, silages obtained from forage sorghums could have a potential as substitute of corn silages in dairy cow diets.

SOLUTIONS TO A CLASS OF PARABOLIC INHOMOGENEOUS NORMALIZED p-LAPLACE EQUATIONS

In this article, we prove that viscosity solutions of the parabolic inhomogeneous equationsn＋p/put-△p^Nu=f（x,t）can be characterized using asymptotic mean value properties for all p ≥ 1, including p = 1 and p = ∞. We also obtain a comparison principle for the non-negative or non-positive inhomogeneous term f for the corresponding initial-boundary value problem and this in turn implies the uniqueness of solutions to such a problem.

Scale adaptive simulation of vortex structures past a square cylinder

The scale adaptive simulation（SAS） turbulence model is evaluated on a turbulent flow past a square cylinder using the open-source CFD package OpenF OAM 2.3.0. Two and three-dimensional simulations are performed to determine global quantities like drag and lift coefficients and Strouhal number in addition to mean and fluctuating velocity profiles in the recirculation and wake regions. SAS model is evaluated against the Shear Stress Transport k-ω（SST） model and also compared with previously reported results based on DES, LES and DNS turbulence approaches. Results show that global quantities along with mean velocity profiles are well-captured by 2-D SAS model. The 3-D SAS model also succeeded in providing comparable results with recently published DES study on Reynolds shear stress and velocity fluctuation components using about 12 times lower computational cost. It is shown that large values of the SAS model constant result in too dissipative behavior, so that proper calibration of the SAS model constant for different turbulent flows is vital.