Dry matter and minerals in the aerial part of the banana tree ‘BRS SCS Belluna’

Genotypic variation in Actinidia deliciosa fruit size and carbohydrate content

Assessment of sugar and starch in intact banana and mango fruit by SWNIR spectroscopy

The influence of a single application of fertiliser N (0, 50, 100 and 150 kg N ha−1) applied in either autumn, early winter, late winter, early spring or late spring on selected nutritive and mineral parameters of a perennial ryegrass-white clover pasture was investigated over a three-year period. Responses were measured over one regrowth cycle five weeks after the application of N treatments. A sample of the plant material harvested was separated into grass and clover fractions. Dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), in vitro organic matter digestibility (IVOMD), phosphorus (P) and calcium (Ca) content were determined for each sample. Winter applications of fertiliser N, in combination with the higher N rates, resulted in higher ryegrass CP contents. Clover CP content was decreased (P=0.05) with spring (early and late) applications, but fertiliser N rate did not appear to affect clover CP content. The highest IVOMD values for both ryegrass and clover were recorded in winter. Increased fertiliser N rate resulted in lower DM contents with the lowest DM produced during winter, while the highest DM contents were produced where no fertiliser N was applied in spring. P content was significantly influenced by season of application and fertiliser N rate in ryegrass and only by season of application in clover. The highest mineral concentrations were found in winter. The rate and season of fertiliser N application as used in this study did not negatively affect pasture mineral content and quality, but care must be taken to protect the grazing animal from the potential negative effects of high forage N contents on animal health.

This study evaluated the nutritive value of signalgrass (Urochloa decumbens Stapf R. D. Webster) and sabiá (Mimosa caesalpiniifolia Benth.), and animal performance in grass monoculture pastures and in silvopastoral system (SPS) in the early development stage, in the Agreste of Pernambuco. Four treatments were evaluated in a randomized block design with three replications: signalgrass + Eucalyptus spp.; signalgrass + sabiá; signalgrass monoculture and sabiá monoculture. Holstein × Zebu crossbred calves (170 ± 15kg BW) were managed under continuous stocking with variable stocking rate (SR). The dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF), and in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD) of signalgrass and sabiá were assessed, as well as forage allowance (FA), stocking rate (SR), average daily weight gain (ADG) and weight gain per area (WGA) over eleven evaluation cycles (March 2019 to January 2020). Signalgrass had the highest DM contents in March 2019 and January 2020 (456 and 507gkg-1, respectively), while for IVDMD the highest values ranged from 436 to 547gkg-1 (April to August 2019). Sabiá presented the highest's IVDMD (311 and 381gkg-1 DM) and DM content (385 and 416gkg-1) and lowest CP (110 and 82gkg-1 DM) and NDF (568 and 500gkg-1 DM) in November 2019 and January 2020, respectively. FA and SR decreased throughout the evaluation cycles. ADG (0.38kg animal-1day-1) and WGA (17.89kgha-1 28days-1) did not differ among treatments, with weight loss in the period of low water availability. In the early development stage of the trees, SPS does not affect the nutritive value of signalgrass, nor the animal performance.

Agronomic performance and genetic diversity of the root crop yam bean (Pachyrhizus spp.) under West African conditions

The high permeability of polyethylene (PE) films to O2 seems to be one of the main drawbacks of wrapped bale silage. The aim of this work was to compare the microbial and fermentation quality of high dry matter (DM) content alfalfa bales wrapped with a commercial PE film (six layers) and with two new different stretch films (four layers) with 18- and 370-fold lower permeability than PE (MB and HB, respectively). Four field trials were conducted near Turin, Italy, on alfalfa stands. After 420 d of bale storage, the fermentation profiles, bale surface covered by molds, mold and yeast counts, and DM losses were evaluated. Both oxygen barrier films reduced DM losses and mold spoilage in comparison to the commercial PE film. The bale surface covered by molds was kept below 15% with four layers of MB film, whereas it ranged from 20% to more than 50% with six layers of PE film. The more reduced O2 permeability of the HB film further reduced the surface mold, keeping it below 7%. The results show clearly that reduced film permeability to oxygen is a key factor in successfully ensiling alfalfa at high DM content in wrapped bales for long storage periods because it reduces plastic usage without increasing costs.

Two experiments evaluated how grass silage quality can be manipulated by various management options. In Experiment 1, silage characteristics were evaluated at two dry matter (DM) contents and treated with additives presenting different modes of action. Timothy grass was ensiled at low (224 g/kg) and high (534 g/kg) DM contents and five additives were applied: 1. control (C), 2. homofermentative lactic acid bacteria inoculant (HO), 3. heterofermentative lactic acid bacteria inoculant (HE), 4. salt-based additive (SA) and 5. Formic- and propionic-acid-based additive (FPA). A higher DM content and FPA restricted silage fermentation, and additive effects were generally greater in low rather than high DM silages. The chemical additives SA and FPA resulted in the highest aerobic stability, while the HE improved it at a high DM content. In Experiment 2, the low DM content grass was ensiled utilizing resin acids, as follows: 1. C, 2. FPA, 3. Resin acid oil (FOR) at 13 L/t, 4. FOR at 26 L/t, 5. Resin acid soluble in water (ROS) at 13 L/t and 6. ROS at 26 L/t. Wilting combined with additives improved the preservation characteristics of grass silages (Experiment 1), but resin acid products failed to modify silage fermentation compared to the control (Experiment 2).

Nitrogen (N) is an essential nutrient in crop production. However, it is also a serious environmental pollutant. Therefore, maximising crop utilisation of applied fertiliser N, with minimal N losses to the environment, is crucial. The N fertiliser effect from cattle slurry, which accounts for 75 percent of all manure spread in Sweden, is generally low. Its high dry matter (DM) content leads to slow infiltration and this poses a risk of large ammonia losses after slurry application. A high DM content also means a high carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio, which reduces the plant availability of nitrogen. The focus of this PhD project was to study measures to increase the nitrogen fertiliser value of cattle slurry, through treatments that reduce the slurry’s C/N ratio and subsequently increase nitrogen availability to crops, combined with measures to reduce ammonia losses after slurry application. Crop utilisation of slurry N, expressed as Mineral Fertiliser Equivalents (MFE), was measured through harvest measurements in field trials and a pot experiment, and ammonia losses were measured in separate field experiments. Nitrogen availability depending on slurry and bedding material properties was investigated in two soil incubation experiments. Both solid-liquid separation and anaerobic digestion of cattle slurry, which reduces the slurry’s C/N ratio, increased slurry MFE. The relationship between slurry C/N ratio and nitrogen availability was also confirmed in the two incubation studies. Acidification of slurry with sulphuric acid effectively reduced ammonia losses from all slurry types. For untreated and digested slurry, this was also reflected in increased MFE values, but not for separated slurry. Slurry application with trailing shoes did in most cases not increase slurry MFE compared to trailing hoses. The study shows that there is potential to increase the N fertiliser value of cattle slurry, however, there are no simple solutions, and to achieve maximum effect, different measures must be combined.

Cassava (Manihot esculanta. Cratz) is one of the most important food crops that constitute a considerable portion of the daily diet of the people and also serves as one of the major source of carbohydrate. Despite its importance, production of cassava in Ethiopia has different constraints and opportunities. Among which, shortage of improved varieties is the first and the most important one. It is mainly cultivated by small resource poor farmers on smallholding plots of land. Average storage root yield obtained per a given plot of cassava is as low as 100 tons per hectare despite the potential yield of 600 tons per hectare per year. This low yield might be due to the cultivation of local, low yielding, late maturing cultivars. To contribute to alleviating the problem and provide farmers other alternative varieties, Hawassa Agricultural Research Center, in collaboration with Jimma and Sekota Agricultural Research Centers, conducted evaluation of cassava clones in potential and moisture stressed agroclimatic conditions of the country. Jima and Hawassa sites represent potential agroclimatic condition, while Amaro and Sekota represent moisture stressed areas. A total of seven cassava clones namely AWC-1 (MM 96/5280), AWC-2 (MM 90/5280), AWC-3 (MM 96/7151), AWC-4 (MM96/1871), AWC-5 (MM96/3868) and Kello (standard check) were evaluated by using randomized complete block design replicated three times. The evaluation was carried out for two consecutive years, from 2012 to 2014. The combined analysis result indicated that there was statistically significant difference among the clones tested and the locations where the experiment was conducted. The clone AWC-1 (37.17 t/ha) followed by AWC-2(35.52 t/ha) and AWC-5 (35.51 t/ha) gave the highest storage root yield but there was no statistically significant difference in the total storage yield among the clones AWC-2, AWC-3 and AWC-5. In the same way, the highest dry matter content was recorded from the clones AWC-2 (51.8%), AWC-3 (48.5%) and Kello (49.1%). Among the locations tested, the best result was obtained from Amaro (35.14 t/ha) which is characterized by its low moisture stress, indicating that cassava can resist/tolerate low moisture stress and give comparative yield provided that other factors are not limited. Thus, those clones with the highest storage root yield and dry matter content were promoted for variety verification and will be released for wider production. Key words: Cassava, moisture stress, potential, storage root, dry matter

The objective was to cover and discuss the characteristics of haylage that makes it an alternative of forage conservation. The haylage is based on the dry matter content after a wilt process, then baled similar to hay and wrapped with plastic films in order to be conserved under anaerobic fermentation. The dry matter content after wilt exceeds 500 g kg-1. Conserved forages with high content of dry matter present stabilization at high pH, which favors bacteria of the genus Clostridium. The pH of the haylage, because it has a high content of dry matter in its confection, limits the capacity of bacterial fermentation, it does not produce sufficient acid and becomes resistant to pH drops, this characteristic must be considered along with other factors. The preservation quality of haylage cut under the same conditions of the hay presents similar chemical composition, therefore, when the haylage is preserved under ideal conditions, it is an alternative to replace the hay. The definition and characteristics of haylage clearly expresses that it is an alternative conservation to hay and silage.

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as características físico-químicas, a qualidade nutricional e a suscetibilidade ao esverdeamento pós-colheita de tubérculos de cultivares de batata. Utilizou-se o delineamento experimental de blocos ao acaso, com cinco repetições. Os tratamentos consistiram de 11 cultivares (Ágata, Ambra, Annabelle, Asterix, Atlantic, Cupido, Daisy, Fontane, Innovator, Markies e Voyager). As cultivares Ágata, Ambra, Annabelle, Cupido e Voyager apresentam tubérculos com polpa de menor firmeza (6,82 a 8,25 N) e baixos teores de matéria seca (14,46 a 17,57%), carboidratos (10,97 a 12,51%) e amido (10,21 a 12,26%), adequados para o mercado fresco, a preparação de massas e o uso culinário. Já as cultivares Atlantic, Fontane e Innovator apresentam polpa firme (9,14 a 9,55 N) e elevados teores de matéria seca (19,68 a 21,63%), carboidratos (14,49 a 15,90%) e amido (14,29 a 15,74%), adequados para fritura. As cultivares Asterix e Markies apresentam teores intermediários dessas características e são indicadas para o preparo de massas e fritura. As cultivares Innovator e Markies apresentam melhor qualidade nutricional, com elevados teores de minerais (P, K, Mg, Cu e Mn) e de proteína, enquanto as cultivares Ágata e Ambra apresentam menor qualidade nutricional e proteica. A cultivar Voyager apresenta maior esverdeamento pós-colheita que as cultivares Annabelle, Fontane, Markies, Ambra e Atlantic.

The chemical composition and water extractable dry matter (DM) of foliages from Erythrina (Erythrina variegata), Fig (Ficus racemosa), Jackfruit (Artocarpus heterophyllus), Jujube (Ziziphus jujuba Mill), Kapok (Ceiba pentandra) and Mango (Mangifera indica) and the feed intake, digestibility and N retention when feeding these foliages were studied in two experiments. In Experiment 1, 12 male goats, 3.5 months old and weighing 14.6 kg, were randomly allocated to a diet consisting of one of the foliages in a change-over design with three periods. The foliages were offered ad libitum at the level of 130% of the average daily feed intake. The Erythrina foliage had a low content of DM and condensed tannins (CT) and a high concentration of crude protein (CP) in leaves plus petioles (193 g/kg DM) and stem, while the Mango foliage had a low CP (69 g/kg DM) and high DM content. The other foliages were intermediate. High content of CT was found in the leaves plus petioles of Jackfruit foliage and in the stem of Fig and Mango foliage. There was a difference in feed intake, nutrient intake, apparent digestibility and N retention between the foliages, with Erythrina, Jackfruit and Kapok foliage being significantly higher in these parameters than Fig, Jujube and Mango foliage. The water extractable DM could be used to estimate N retention, but not DM digestibility in this study. In Experiment 2, 4 male goats weighing 13.4 kg and 6 months old were allocated to a 4x4 Latin square design. The treatments were: water spinach ad libitum and Fig, Jujube or Mango foliage ad libitum +0.5% of BW as water spinach DM. Feed intake, apparent digestibility and N retention were not significantly different among the foliage diets, but higher than for water spinach alone (p<0.05). Supplementation with water spinach to a diet consisting of low quality foliages such as Fig, Jujube and Mango, increased DM and CP intake, apparent digestibility and N retention, compared to feeding these foliages as sole feeds.

A total of 57 sweet potato genotypes with high dry matter content and resistant to sweet potato virus disease (SPVD) were characterized using four simple sequence repeat (SSR) markers. The germplasm included 20 genotypes identified as having high dry matter content and 25 accessions tolerant to SPVD in a study conducted in Tanzania in 2008. The total number of alleles within the 57 genotypes across 4 loci was 395, with an average of 4 alleles per locus. The unweighted pair group method with arithmetic mean (UPGMA) and analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) using generated SSR data, grouped the 57 genotypes into two major clusters, with mean pair-wise genetic distance of 0.55. No specific grouping was observed in relation to SPVD resistance, dry matter content and geographic location. The four microsatellites markers distinguished the 57 Tanzanian sweet potato genotypes into two major clusters. The relatively high level of genetic diversity indicates broad genetic base for sweet potato breeding in Tanzania. The results obtained demonstrate the efficiency of SSR marker technique for the assessment of genetic relationships and distinguishing between Tanzanian sweet potato genotypes. The findings of this of this study, provide valuable information to breeders to facilitate cost effective germplasm conservation and development of improved sweet potato varieties resistant to SPVD and containing high dry matter. Key words: Simple sequence repeat (SSR), Ipomoea batatas, cluster analysis, genetic diversity.

Vegetable growing in open ground is a demanded branch of plant growing in the southern zone of the Russian Federation. The choice of safe growing technologies and irrigation systems, as well as the selection of the vegetable crops most productive and adaptive varieties and hybrids plays an important role in stabilizing yields. The aim of the research was to substantiate scientifically agrotechnical methods for increasing the sweet pepper fruits productivity and quality when stored in the south of the Russian Federation conditions. Studies showed that an improvement in nutrition against the background of sufficient moisture supply for vegetable plants in the root layer, especially during the period of fruit formation. entailed a proportional increase in yield from 90 and more t/ha of marketable products. At the same time. the largest increase was noted on the Pompeo F1 hybrid: on the variant, subject to the elements of agricultural technology, for obtaining 50 t/ha - 33.5 t/ha, for obtaining 90 t/ha - 21.4 t/ha. The amount of biochemical substances in sweet pepper fruits was closely dependent on its variety and hybrid, irrigation regime, ripening degree and storage duration. On the fifth day of storage, the quality of fruits of the ripening biological degree decreased on average on varieties by 23.6-27.7%, the ripening technical degree is 1.1-1.2 times higher. When stored for twenty days, there was a deterioration in the market condition due to the fruit wilting and the decrease in quality indicators. In the Pompeo F1 hybrid. regardless of the fruit ripening degree and the applied irrigation regime, a higher content of dry matter, the amount of sugars. ascorbic acid and a lower content of nitrates were noted.

The intake by young sheep of Lolium multiflorum cv. Midmar (ryegrass) with dry matter (DM) contents of between 10.2% and 20.5% was studied. Intake was measured on pasture, while at the same time herbage was cut and fed either fresh or dry indoors. Additional variables were sward height at pasture and chop length indoors. Quality parameters did not change much between DM contents studied. Intake of wet herbage remained fairly constant irrespective of DM content, suggesting that moisture levels exert a controlling influence on intake. Organic matter (OM) intake increased dramatically with DM content, from 47.4 to 87.4 g kg−1 W0.75 day−1. Sward height did not influence OM intake significantly, but chop length of cut herbage did. At low DM content the long chop length depressed intake, possibly because of increased chewing and rumination times, while no effect was observed at higher DM contents. It was concluded that if the intake of Midmar ryegrass is to be maximized the DM content of pasture should be at le...