TO THE PROBLEM OF LUPIN USE FOR FEEDING OF AGRICULTURAL ANIMALS AND POULTRY

Grain legumes are the main source for valuable forage plant protein lupin included. Protein content in seeds of narrow-leafed lupin is 33–37%, in white lupin it makes 34–39% and in yellow one it is 39–44%. Lupin green mass is the valuable forages; crude protein content is 18–23% in its dry matter. In case of nutritive elements green mass of lupin-and-grasses’ and lupin-and-cereals’ mixtures is more complete. The best crop components in mixed crops for lupin are oat and maize. Silage of lupin green mass and grasses mixture is a valuable feed for agricultural animals. Maize-and-lupin mixture stands out from the green mass yield, and nutritional value is the best at lupin-and oat and lupin-and-rape silage. Grain haylage made of green mixture is used as feed if it’s of high maturity degree and if its moisture is 50–55%. Valuable power-and-sugar-protein concentrate has been developed in the Institute. It could be used for feeding of agricultural animals and poultry. It’s recommended to use pre-processing — extrusion or granulation to increase feed value of lupin seeds. It will improve lupin taste quality and increase digesti-bility.

A Study on CuO-Al2O3 Infiltration by Aluminium

This paper reports preliminary studies regarding a new fabrication process for aluminium alloy matrix particulate reinforced composites, which uses ceramic preforms with alumina and tailored amounts of reactive copper oxide, CuO. An Al2O3-CuO mixture with 75 mol% CuO was selected, aiming at a 10-40vol% reinforcement phase fraction in the final composite, after aluminium infiltration. Molten aluminium infiltration progress was studied as a function of ceramic’s composition, doping, and infiltration time. The resulting microstructures were investigated by OM, SEM, FESEM and EDS in order to establish the liquid aluminium infiltration profile at the metal/ceramic interface. Infiltration experiments showed that the 3CuO (s) + 2Al (l) → 3Cu (l) + Al2O3 (s) redox reaction is triggered at the experimental conditions used, but the infiltration process is slow and does not go to completion. The use of NaOH as a doping agent promotes effective infiltration of molten aluminium upon the ceramic green mixture.

Failure of concordance of the Farnsworth D15 test and the Nagel anomaloscope matching range in anomalous trichromatism

The Farnsworth D15 test (D15) was developed for use in occupational guidance. People with significant color deficiency, including all dichromats are expected to fail and people with slight color deficiency are expected to pass. Pass is a circular results diagram and fail an interlacing pattern with one or more red-green isochromatic errors (Farnsworth, 1947). The Nagel anomaloscope is a “gold standard” reference test for identifying and classifying red-green color deficiency. The matching range on the red/green mixture scale indicates the severity of the discrimination deficit. Pass/fail results for the D15 are presented for 107 protanomalous and 410 deuteranomalous trichromats and compared with the anomaloscope matching range. Thirty-six percent of the subjects examined failed the D15. Protanomalous trichromats are able to utilize perceived luminance contrast to obtain good results on the D15 but 42% of these subjects failed the D15 compared with 35% of deuteranomalous subjects. Failure of the D15 was clearly related to the Nagel matching range in deuteranomalous trichromatism but not in protanomalous trichromatism. For example, 84% of deuteranomalous subjects with matching ranges > 30 scale units failed the D15 but only 2% with matching ranges < 9 scale units were unsuccessful. In comparison, 53% of protanomalous subjects with matching ranges > 15 scale units and 33% of subjects with matching ranges < 5 scale units were unsuccessful. Protanomalous trichromats with apparently minimal color deficiency are therefore shown to have poor practical hue discrimination ability as measured with this test.

Methane emission from tropical savanna <i>Trachypogon sp.</i> grasses

Methane flux measurements from the soil-grass system were made during the wet season in unperturbed plots and plots where standing dry and green Trachypogon sp. grasses were clipped to just above the soil surface. Results support the surprising discovery that vegetation emits methane. The results of this work allows to infer that the savanna dry/green mixture of grasses produce methane at a rate of ~10 ng m−2 s−1, which is in agreement with early published soil-grass system fluxes. An extrapolation of this flux to the global savanna produces an annual emission much lower than the CH4 production recently suggested in the literature. On the other hand, during the wet season savanna soil consume CH4 at a rate of ~4.7 ng m−2 s−1. Therefore, the tropical savanna soil-grass system would make a modest contribution to the global budget of methane.

Methane emission from tropical savanna <i>Trachypogon sp.</i> grasses

Methane flux measurements from the soil-grass system were made during the wet season in unperturbed plots and plots where standing dry and green Trachypogon sp. grasses were clipped to just above the soil surface. Results support the surprising discovery that vegetation emits methane. The dry/green mixture of grasses produce methane at a rate of ~10 ng m−2 s−1, which extrapolated to the global savanna would produce an annual emission of ~5 Tg, much lower than the production recently suggested in the literature. On the other hand, during the wet season savanna soil consume CH4 at a rate of ~4.7 ng m−2 s−1, producing a global sink of ~1.3 Tg yr−1. Therefore, the tropical savanna soil-grass system would make a modest contribution to the global budget of methane.