Determination of the moisture content of white and yellow corn from ohaji in imo state of nigeria using the dry-weight technique

The water content determination of two maize species (Yellow corn- and White corn- ) located at Ohaji in Imo State of Nigeria were considered in this study. This was motivated by the regular reported cases of the seed post-harvest spoilages, especially in the local communities. And the moisture content of a particular seed could vary according to the various location of crop, presumably due to the soil texture. The moisture content of a given crop seed can influence its storage value, as well as its choice of selection during manufacturing processes. It was, thus, necessary to determine the moisture content of the two maize species (white and yellow corn) from Ohaji in Imo State of Nigeria, in order to identify their dispositions, especially during storage. Modified High Constant Temperature Oven method, as prescribed by the International Seed Testing Association (which involves preliminary pre-drying and grinding), was employed, at a temperature of 102oC. This involved the use of dry-weight technique, which is expressed as a percentage of the dry weight of the seeds. The procedure for each sampling was replicated accordingly, and the mean value identified as the actual result. The moisture content for Sample A (white corn) was found to be 31.7%, while that of Sample B (yellow corn) was found to be 21.5%, which shows that the yellow corn would always have longer storage value than the white corn. As any change in the seed moisture content has a way of affecting its storage life, it is advisable not to store the white corn longer than it could be applied in the yellow corn for a better storage value.Keywords: Determination, Moisture Content, White Corn, Yellow Corn, Dry-weight Basis

PENGEMBANGAN METODE PENETAPAN KADAR AIR BENIH SAGA POHON (Adenanthera pavoninaL) DENGAN METODE OVEN SUHU RENDAH DAN TINGGI

Pengujian kadar air benih secara umum telah diatur oleh International Seed Testing Association untukberbagai keperluan, namun beberapa komoditi belum diatur secara jelas termasuk benih saga pohon. Oleh karenaitu pengembangan uji kadar air pada benih saga pohon dirasa perlu untuk dilakukan. Penelitian ini bertujuan untukmengembangkan uji kadar air benih saga pohon dengan dua metode oven yaitu suhu rendah dan tinggi. Penelitiandilaksanan di Lab. Agroekoteknologi, Universitas Trilogi sejak September-Desember 2016. Penelitian terdiri atasdua percobaan yaitu dengan metode oven suhu rendah (103±2)oC dan suhu tinggi (133±2)oC yang keduanyamenggunakan Rancangan Acak Kelompok dua faktor yaitu perlakuan benih saat di oven dan lamanya pengovenan.Untuk metode oven suhu rendah, faktor perlakuan benih saat di oven terdiri atas tiga taraf yaitu benih utuh, benihdibelah dua, benih dihaluskan dan lamanya pengovenan terdiri atas empat taraf yaitu 17 jam, 19 jam, 21 jam, dan23 jam. Untuk metode oven suhu tinggi, faktor perlakuan benih saat dioven terdiri atas tiga taraf yaitu benih utuh,benih dibelah dua, benih dihaluskan dan faktor lamanya pengovenan terdiri atas lima taraf yaitu 1 jam, 2 jam, 3jam, 4 jam, dan 5 jam. Hasil percobaan menunjukkan bahwa kadar air benih saga pohon dapat dilakukan denganmetode oven suhu rendah selama 17 jam dengan perlakuan benih dibelah dua atau selama 19-23 jam denganperlakuan benih utuh. Pengujian kadar air dengan metode suhu tinggi untuk perlakuan lamanya pengovenan dapatdilakukan selama 1 jam dan untuk perlakuan benih saat di oven dapat dilakukan dalam keadaan benih utuh.Kata kunci: benih utuh, benih dibelah dua, benih dihaluskan, lamanya pengovenan.ABSTRACTInternational Seed Testing Association generally rules the testing method of seed moisture content forvarious purposes. However, some commodities have not been clearly regulated including saga seeds. Therefore,the development of seed moisture content testing for saga seeds is considered necessary. The objective of the studywas to develop seed moisture content testing using two oven methods, namely low and high constant temperature.It was conducted at Integrated Lab. of Agroecotechnology, Department of Agroecotecnology, Trilogi Universitystarting from September to December 2016. Two experiments which were low constant temperature oven method(103±2) oC and high constant temperature oven method (133±2) oC were tested using two factors randomizedgroup design. The factors were seed treatment in the oven and period of seed drying. Low constant temperaturemethod used 3 levels of seed treatment (whole seed, half seed, and ground seed, respectively) and 4 levels of dryingperiod (17, 19, 21, and 23 hours, respectively). While high constant temperature method used 3 levels of seedtreatment (whole seed, half seed, and ground seed, respectively) and 5 levels of drying period (1, 2, 3, 4, and 5hours, respectively). The results showed that saga moisture content could be determined using low temperaturemethod with 17-hour drying period for half seeds or 19-23 hours of drying period for whole seeds. As for hightemperature method, seed moisture content testing could be done when seeds were dried for 1 hour, while for seedtreatment in the oven conducted for whole seeds.Key words: whole seed, half seed, ground seed, period of seed drying.

Modelling the effect of high, constant temperature on food intake in young growing pigs

Performance in pigs is greatly reduced during periods of heat stress through a reduction in voluntary food intake (VFI). However, little information is available as to what extent growth in piglets is affected by high temperature. The objective of this study was therefore to quantify the change in VFI as affected by environmental temperature. Piglets, initially 15·5 (s.e. 1·9) kg body weight (BW), were individually housed and exposed over a period of 17 days to either 19, 21, 23, 25, 27, 29, 31, 33, or 35ºC. Animals had ad libitum access to a starter diet and water. VFI was measured daily whereas BW was determined twice weekly. Over the 17 days, daily VFI and BW gain were proportionately 0·48 and 0·51 lower at 35ºC than at 19ºC. Due to the reduced VFI at high temperatures, the average BW during the experiment was greater at low temperatures than at high temperatures. Consequently, part of the difference in VFI is directly due to temperature and part may be explained by cascading, indirect effects (i.e. the increased BW). To account for this, VFI was expressed as a power function of BW (VFI = aBWb). It was assumed that environmental temperature affected the scalar (a) through a quadratic or a ‘plateau-linear decline’ function of temperature. The VFI appeared relatively constant between 19 and 25ºC (0·096 (kg/day)/(kg BW0·83)) and decreased thereafter. Between 25 and 35ºC, VFI decreased on average by proportionately 0·28 in a 20-kg pig.

Fast Thermal Cycling - Enhanced Electromigratton Failures in Si/TiSi2W-Ti/Al-Si-Cu Multilayer Contacts

Failure mechanisms of TiSi2/W-Ti(15%)/Al-Si(l%)-Cu(2%) multilayer thin film contact to silicon shallow junction (0,25 μm) have been investigated. Both a fast temperature cycling (with 300 ms thermal cycle period) and a high constant temperature were used as means for the degradation processes acceleration. We have shown that stress time could be reduced by the factor of 10 or more if the temperature of adjacent contact region was cycled by a pulsed electrical current passed through the semiconductor region lying under the investigated contacts. Our data have also indicated that W-Ti barrier layer serves to reduce drastically the electromigration degradation of thin film contacts for failures caused by an increase in junction leakage on the one hand and on the other hand it serves to intensify the electromigration degradation caused by an increase in contact resistance. These distinctions have been explained through structural-morphological investigations of the contact layers surface morphology. They showed a reduction in size of crystallines of the sputter deposited Al-Si-Cu top layer with W-Ti barrier layer present.