Clay Pots Research Articles

THE EARTHENWARE IN BIRTH AND BURIAL RITUALS

The given article highlights functions and artistic peculiarities of the earthenware of the late 19th – first half of the 20th cc. in birth and burial rituals. Birth rituals can be subdivided into three major cycles, i.e. the delivery process, post-delivery time and christening. While helping a woman to give birth the midwife followed all the traditions and often used earthenware items. Therefore, in various cycles of birth-related rituals people made use of ceramic bowls, jars and pots. In Ukraine as well as in other countries of the world, particularly the Czech Republic there used to be a tradition to bring food for the new mother. It was usually done by her neighbors or godmother of her child. For instance, pots served for the grain, twin-jars for two types of dishes, jars for the broth etc. While christening the baby people used a pot with porridge that was eventually crashed. This honorable duty was assigned by the midwife to the person who put the biggest sum of money for the baby іnto the plate, in most cases it was the baby’s godfather. Sometimes all the guests together hit the pot with a stick, a rolling pin or crashed it at the corner of the table. During christening the midwife treated the guests to homemade vodka (“varenukha”) pouring it from ceramic jars. In burial customs and rituals people used mugs or cups, bowls for “kolyvo” (i.e. a dish based on boiled wheat that is used liturgically in the Eastern Orthodox Church for commemoration of the dead), large pots for the night requiem, jars with “lanterns” etc. People in Hutsulshchyna, Boykivshchyna and other regions of Ukraine believed that the soul of the deceased person stays at home for three days after death and that is why they usually put a jar (or a cup) with water (more rarely vodka) at their head for the soul to be able to drink whenever it flies back home. Mugs by potters from Bubnivka in Vinnytsya region were also connected with burial rituals. These earthenware items served two purposes: people filled them with water and put on the window near the dead person’s body; besides that, during the night requiem people used them for kolyvo and put on the table. In the late 20th c. a round loaf of bread (“kalach”) was put on top of the mug and a candle was attached to the side. Since the early 20th c. potters started producing rather large jugs with a nose and a wide neck with a special “lantern” for the candle (such works can be found in museums in Kyiv, Vinnytsіa, and Saint-Petersburg). People often called them “jars with lanterns” and used for honey and kolyvo. The surface of these vessels had an orange background and was lavishly decorated with geometrical and vegetative ornaments and the motives that were typical of local works. There was a small “nest” for the candle near the handle or in the middle of the corpus under the nose. It is interesting that an orange-glazed jar from Cherkasy region has four “nests” for candles. After washing the dead person’s body in a special vessel (mostly a pot) people sometimes put it at the crossroads, on the border of villages, buried in the house (under “the red corner” to keep the house spirit in), in the yard or under the shed, threw into the river, put on a very high pole etc. In Mykytyntsi in Ivano-Frankivsk region when the dead person was brought outside people surrounded the coffin with nicely decorated bowls that were later given away for free. In some villages of Zakarpattya (to the east of Khust) all the participants of the funeral received little cups. As a reverberation of the old Slavonic burial ritual we can name such actions as putting a bowl with a dish into the grave, crashing a pot after the dead person’s body was taken outside the house, leaving a pot upside down on the grave etc.

Use of an earthen clay pot refrigerator with a thermoelectric cooler for extending farm produce shelf life

Conventional cold storage systems increase the risk of damage and are no longer used for the long-term storage of agricultural products. Thus, newer affordable and energy-efficient storage systems are required for enhancing the shelf life of farm produce. We investigated the coefficient of performance (COP) of an earthen clay pot refrigerator with a thermoelectric cooler (TEC) and explored cooling strategies to enhance cooling and electrical performance for increasing the shelf life of farm produce. We used MATLAB Simulink to analyze Peltier TEC module efficiency. The intrinsic characteristics, including the Seebeck coefficient (α), thermal conductivity (K), and electrical resistance (R), were determined, forming the basis of the Peltier module in MATLAB Simulink. Thermal characteristics such as COP and cooling capacity were studied as a function of system voltage (Vin) and current (Iin). The model was equipped with a 12 V/6 A, 60 W TEC and was verified by simulation investigation. We also used psychrometric measures (e.g., wet bulb, dry bulb, and dew point temperatures and relative humidity) to determine the extent of wetness or dryness of an object and monitor other temperatures of the clay pot refrigerator. The results revealed that the ambient temperature and cold and hot side temperatures fundamentally affected TEC performance. The TEC extended the shelf life of tomatoes, potatoes, and spinach by 60% compared to those stored under ambient conditions, thereby reducing their wastage. In conclusion, earthen refrigeration using TEC doubled the shelf life of farm produce compared to storage under ambient conditions, saving money, resources, labor, and supplies and enabling the development of efficient and environmentally friendly refrigeration systems.

A Low-Cost Solution for Arsenic in Water: Integrating ZVI Technology into Ceramic Pot Filter: MatiKalp

A Low-Cost Solution for Arsenic in Water: Integrating ZVI Technology into Ceramic Pot Filter: MatiKalp

Interaction between Armenian clay-based ceramics and model wine during storage

Wine made or stored in clayware ceramic pots attracts the attention of consumers, but this practice is less studied than when classic stainless steel tanks or wood barrels are used. It is known that wine can be influenced by the container in which it is aged. To analyse the influence of ceramics on the chemical composition of wine, Armenian clay-based ceramic tablets were immersed in model wine and aged from 1 hour up to 16 months at 25 °C in darkness. The concentrations of 26 elements (namely: Al, B, Ba, Be, Ca, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Hg, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Mo, Na, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sr, Ti, V, W and Zn) in 19 samples were determined by ICP-AES analysis. Proton time domain NMR relaxometry was used to characterise the iron redox processes that occurred in the model wine in contact with a ceramic. A fast increase in the pH of the model wine in contact with the bare ceramic tablet (from 2.35 to 5) was recorded in 4 days. The coating of the ceramic tablets with beeswax showed a significant effect on the interaction between the model wine and the ceramic.

A new brick-type using grape stalks waste from wine production as pore-agent

Under the motivation of the Agenda 2030, increasing efforts have been addressed to the introduction of green products into the marketplace, enhancing awareness on eco-labelling and supporting the industrial sustainable development. This study investigates the re-use of waste generated by wine production (10 vol % of milled grape stalks were added to a standard clay body) as a new primary resource in making high porous bricks. Results demonstrate that the combustion of grape stalks during the firing process gives several advantages, in particular related to the formation of macro-pores (up to 4 cm). Large pores, in fact, make this experimental new brick-type a high-quality material both in terms of insulating performances, drastically reducing the heat transmission, and of resistance in environmental stressed conditions, specifically where salts or temperatures around 0 °C (for cycles of ice formation) can occur.

BROODING PRACTICES OF LOCAL CHICKEN PRODUCERS AND ON-STATION EVALUATION OF NOVEL BROOD NEST ON HATCHABILITY OF CHICKEN EGG AT GAMO ZONE, SNNPR, ETHIOPIA

A survey was conducted at Gamo Zone of SNNPR, Ethiopia, to assess the indigenous practices of incubation, brooding, egg selection practices, broody hen selection practices, and causes of hatchability failure. Multistage sampling procedures were employed to select woredas, sample kebeles, and respondents, in which two districts were selected by purposive sampling technique; stratified purposive techniques were employed to select nine sample kebeles, and purposive random sampling techniques were used to select a total of 385 respondents. Pretested structured questionnaire and focused group discussion were employed to generate data. All generated survey data were analyzed using descriptive statistics of SPSS 16. Broody hens were the sole means of egg incubation and chick brooding. Broody hens are selected based on plumage color, egg yield, body weight (size), and mothering ability. Eggs laid at home were the predominant sources of incubation and were selected mainly based on egg type, egg age, and egg size. Clay pots, plastic, bamboo cages, and cartons were used as egg-setting materials, and grasses, straws, cotton seeds, feathers of broody hens, and clothes were used as bedding materials. October–December was the most preferred while July–September was the worst months of the year to incubate eggs and to achieve the best hatchability eggs. Environmental temperature, lack of proper laying nests, and post handling were the critical causes of the failure of egg hatchability in the study area. The total number of eggs incubated using a novel nest was 16 eggs. A comparatively high number of chicks were hatched during the second phase (7–12) from the number of eggs set. There is a strong need for training of chicken producers in increasing hatchability performances through the preparation of proper brooding nest or laying nest, egg selection, feeding, housing, health care, proper post handling, and chick management to increase their economic returns. Community-based holistic improvement programs are also very imperative to design to improve the genetic potential through selective breeding and conservation of the indigenous chicken genetic resources. Further research on hatchability performance evaluation of the indigenous chickens both on-farm and station as well as the effect of the 12 months of the year on incubation and hatchability of eggs.

The Principles & Practices of Water Consumption According to Ayurveda- A Cross- Sectional Survey

Well-balanced water (Pana) and food (Aahar) input are essential. Ayurvedic literature outlines certain rules for proper food intake and Ahar, retaining vigor and life duration. In water, trace elements can be found in high concentrations. Children, pregnant women, and the elderly have higher water requirements. Drinking water can be processed in a variety of ways using natural methods. The context of Ayurveda mentions the benefits of drinking Ushnodaka (warm water). In Ayurveda, there are various advantages of drinking water. The benefits of drinking warm water were also emphasized in Ayurveda. Drinking water habits are crucial for good health because dietary habits are important for a person's lifestyle. The aim and objective of the study were to understand the domestic cause of lifestyle illnesses associated with improper water consumption habits and to create awareness regarding water consumption practices. Data was gathered from the general public who suffer from lifestyle diseases and those ready to participate. The data was collected with the specially designed inquiry form and a standard Prakriti (physical and mental constitution of the body) questionnaire. 250-sample size, among which 40% were male and 60% female. It was found that most of the population belongs to Kapha dominant Prakriti, i.e., 149 (59.6%), whereas 45 (18%) and 56 (22.4%) population was of Vata & Pitta dominant Prakriti, respectively. 80.4 % of people drink water in seating positions, and 56% directly swallow water. 70% of people drink normal water, and 44 % drink clay pot water in summer. Type II diabetes is the most common lifestyle disorder. A reduction in water intake triggers type II diabetes. It has been discovered that people do not immediately drink water after getting out of bed, which causes gradual weakness. Instead, people drink water before a meal, which helps them to lose weight. The intake of one glass of water before going to bed reduces Vata and Kapha and prevents indigestion.

The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe

Reviewed by: The Middle Daughter by Chika Unigwe Delight Ejiaka CHIKA UNIGWE The Middle Daughter Ann Arbor, Michigan. Dzanc Books. 2023. 312 Pages. THE MIDDLE DAUGHTER is set in contemporary Enugu in the heart of eastern Nigeria. It revolves around a family who suffered tragic loss and the ways their trauma-coping mechanisms complicate life, while commenting on Nigeria's upper-middle-class echelon and the dichotomy of moving up or down the social ladder through marriage. It explores the vulnerability of grief and fragility of relationships. It takes a cursory look at the family unit and considers how pressure can pull apart a once steady family structure, while shedding light on the healthcare system, women's reproductive rights, "surrogacy," and baby factories in Nigeria. The first line of the novel, "I fear the man who is my husband," is bench-pressing so many thematic weights. It layers a sense of foreboding by piquing the reader's curiosity and foreshadowing events connected to abuse. The story opens with news of Udodi's death, the first daughter, who pursued higher education in the United States and crashed in an accident a week before her return to Enugu. After her death, the family is thrown into irreconcilable grief that feels impossible to escape. Unigwe writes, "Udodi's death was the beginning of the raging storm but at that moment, we thought that the worst had already happened, and that life would treat us with more kindness." Nani, the protagonist and middle child, is othered in so many subtle ways. The names of the first and last daughters start with a U: Udodi and Ugo. Both names signify peace and abundance, respectively. However, the middle child's name starts with an N: Nani. Aside from being othered by the lettering of her name, Nani means "scarcity," a direct contrast to the abundance and goodwill of her sisters' names. The otherness that was prophesied in her name manifests consistently and drives her into exile for several years. Nani is engrossed in her grief and numb to the advancement of the people in her life who are "successfully" navigating their pain. Her desire for visibility through subtle acts of rebellion leaves her vulnerable and creates the domino that upends her life. She experiences debilitating levels of scarcity, deprivation, and violence till she shatters like a clay pot left to burn in the kiln for too long. The book features multiple POVs from other major characters. It is punctuated by The chorus, a series of poems, narrated by Udodi, who lyricizes the cultural and mythological context of the characters' lives through an omniscient lens. The writing in the book is compelling and grounds the reader in its scenes. The novel is fast-paced and plot-driven with great character development that propels the reader through the pages. There are so many life-altering events that the reader will be left gasping for air. Unigwe raises the stakes of the story with every chapter until it crescendos and leaves the audience devastated. Delight Ejiaka University of Nevada, Las Vegas Copyright © 2023 World Literature Today and the Board of Regents of the University of Oklahoma

Amazonian Kichwa of the Curaray River: Kinship and History in the Western Amazon

Studies of contemporary Amazonian societies have always been in dialogue with the theoretical concerns of the anthropology of the day. Whether these themes are environmentally, philosophically, or politically founded (or, less often, economically founded), their sharpest focus is a single village. Rarely have anthropologists deliberately aimed to provide regional-level studies, incorporating people and societies that have related to each other, and continue to do so, over long periods of time. The connections across a region include marriage, friendship and ritual relations, and political alliances, as well as raiding, fighting, and enslavement. The success of this book is to have provided such a study in the Ecuadorean Amazon, for Pastaza Province, encompassing the Kichwa ethnolinguistic group of Sápara, Canelos Runa, Achuar, Napo Runa, Gaes, and Andoas peoples and, more recently, some Waorani kindreds.The main part addresses the kinship relations and the qualities of the memorized landscape of contemporary regional society in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The six chapters cover various perspectives concerning how regional society is made and remembered. Indigenous concepts of kinship are key: the llacta (the residential cluster), the ayllu (the extended kin group covering different environments), and the runa (self-identified collectivity). Mary-Elizabeth Reeve builds on the proposal that kinship is practically based in the sense that living and working together forms closeness. To maintain long-distance ties between kin means visiting regularly, exchanging food and knowledge, and participating in festivals, all of which creates a “mutuality of being,” following Marshall Sahlins (p. 147). These relations are reinforced with more formal ones of ritual alliance and friendship, such as godparenthood, and more recently shared political ambitions across ethnic groupings. Movement and travel along rivers and forest paths through settlements and towns (called purina in Kichwa) are continuous elements of each chapter. These social relations are supported by regionally shared forms of healing by shamans and women's skills concerning the making of ceramic pots and the quality of their designs. The attachment to the landscape, and territory, is constituted by stories and myths, which circulate among kinsfolk on a regional level.While each chapter is clearly part of a whole, each could stand on its own in terms of topic and treatment. The writing mixes concise theoretical contextualization and regional comparison with vignettes, particular episodes that took place during the author's fieldwork experience. These vignettes effectively deepen the argument and provide a fine-grain word picture of individuals and their lives. This change of focus makes for compelling and attractive reading and will ensure that the book appeals to a variety of audiences. It also matches a core notion at work in this volume—namely, scale and the levels at which regional society works.Scale is essentially a spatial concept from geography and has been used by social theorists to refer to the way that actors assemble and organize sociopolitical relations across spaces. The analytical significance of scale is to provide flexibility in spatial and temporal terms for the configuration of these relations. Here, kinship is the most important of these scales as it enables Reeve to look at the micro level and scale out to the regional level. Also considered from this perspective in the concluding chapter are Indigenous political organizations in Ecuador and the ways in which their alliances have moved from the regional to the national level. Furthermore, what scale lends the argument in this book is temporal depth. Based on historical understanding of regional society over the last 400 years, Reeve knows that the reach and power of regional society is in flux. Today the dynamics of regional society have been curtailed by the border closure with Peru in the 1940s and incursions by non-Indigenous people, but in the past Amazonian Kichwa societies were larger and stronger, supported by ethnogenesis after colonial-era epidemics. Yet Reeve was only able to understand how this historical regional society was internally made by doing fieldwork in Pastaza and observing the way in which kinship connected people across the region. This fieldwork started in the early 1980s and has intermittently continued to the present day, providing a remarkable series of ethnographic insights that have been enriched by archival documentation (analysis of which Reeve has published elsewhere). This historically informed ethnography is a major achievement. It is hoped that the book will stimulate further such approaches in the future.

Influence of Fermentation Container Type on Chemical and Microbiological Parameters of Spontaneously Fermented Cow and Goat Milk.

Fermented goat milk is an artisanal beverage with excellent nutritional properties. There are limited data on its physicochemical properties, fatty acids, phenolic acids, and on any insight on microbiota. The aim of this research was to conduct a pilot study to compare these parameters in raw cow and goat milk before and after spontaneous fermentation in a clay pot and glass container at 37 °C for 24 h. Both types of milk and fermentation containers significantly affected the pH, acidity, proximate composition, viscosity, and whiteness index of fermented milks. A total of 17 fatty acids were identified in fermented milks, where palmitic, stearic, and myristic were the main saturated acids, and oleic and linoleic acids were the main unsaturated ones. These profiles were primarily influenced by the type of raw milk used. Three to five phenolic acids were identified in fermented milks, where quinic acid was the major phenolic compound, and salviolinic acid was identified only in raw goat milk. Preliminary metataxonomic sequencing analysis showed that the genera Escherichia spp. and Streptococcus spp. were part of the microbiota of both fermented milks, with the first genus being the most abundant in fermented goat milk, and Streptococcus in cow's milk. Moreover, Escherichia abundance was negatively correlated with the abundance of many genera, including Lactobacillus. Overall, the results of this pilot study showed significant variations between the physicochemical properties, the fatty and phenolic acids, and the microbial communities of goat and cow fermented milk, showing the opportunity to further investigate the tested parameters in fermented goat milk to promote its production.

Effects of Storage Methods on Sprouting and Nutritional Quality of Ginger (ZingiberofficinaleRosc) Rhizomes in Different Storage Periods

Purpose: Harvested ginger rhizomes are highly vulnerable to damage during postharvest storage due to soil borne pathogens or pest attack. Experiments were conducted to evaluate the effects of storage methods required for sprouting and maintaining the nutritional quality of ginger rhizomes under different storage periods in the laboratory. 
 Methods: The rhizomes were stored inside five different storage methods viz., refrigerator, clay pots, pit lined with sand, pit lined with sawdust and black polythene bag with twelve perforations at three different storage periods of one, two and three months. The experiment was laid out in a complete randomized design and randomized complete block design for laboratory and field experiment respectively, replicated three times. Data were collected on temperature, percentage weight loss of stored rhizomes, percentage sprouting, plant height, number of leaves, leaf area and nutritional quality of ginger rhizomes. Data were subjected to analysis of variance using Statistical Analysis System Software (SAS, 2005). Differences among treatment means were compared using Least Significance Difference (LSD) at 5% probability level.
 Results: The storage methods significantly (P≤0.05) influenced the percentage sprouting, weight loss, growth parameters and nutritional quality of ginger at various storage periods. The highest growth parameters were recorded from rhizomes stored for three months while the least value was recorded from rhizomes stored for one month. Highest percentage sprouting (94.90%) was recorded from rhizomes stored inside pit-sawdust followed by polythene (85.25%) while least percentage sprouting (66.28 %) was recorded from refrigerator. Rhizomes stored inside clay pots recorded least percentage weight loss of 27.89% closely followed by pit-sawdust (28.45%) and retained the nutritional quality of ginger at various storage periods while rhizomes stored inside refrigerator recorded highest percentage weight loss of 62.78.%.
 Conclusion: In conclusion, storage of rhizomes inside pit-sawdust as well as clay pots for a period of three months before planting produced better ginger growth on the field and maintain the quality of stored rhizomes.

Thermal Analysis of a Clay Pot Utilized for Cooling Water and Storing Vegetables/ Fruits

ABSTRACT In addition to supplying cooled water, clay pots can also be used to store fruits, vegetables, and even medicines that need to be kept at a moderate temperature. The authors recommended storing perishable things submerged inside the clay pot filled with water in locally accessible polythene bags. In the present paper, a mathematical model to determine the preservation temperature has been developed and validated for the climate of Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. The convective coefficient between the pot and the surrounding air has been determined. Experiments were performed by loading a pot with apples/tomatoes. It is seen that with a load up to 10 W, the preservation temperature is between 20 and 25°C during summer for the climate of Raipur. The cost of cooling water and storing product is Rs 0.11/kWh (US$0.00146/kWh). The load test reveals that apples can be stored inside for about 8–9 days, whereas tomatoes can be stored up to 7 days inside the pot.

Water saving and water productivity under buried clay pot and drip irrigation systems for cabbage in Rwanda

This research evaluated the effects of Clay Pot Irrigation System (CPIS) on water saving and water productivity compared with Drip Irrigation System (DIS) as micro-irrigation systems in cabbage production in Rwanda. This research was conducted at the Rwanda Polytechnic/Integrated Polytechnic Regional College Huye (RP/IPRC Huye) farm (2°35′48″ S and 29°44′21″ E, Elevation of 1769 m above sea level), in Huye district of Rwanda. The experimental designed was a Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three treatments and three replications. The experimental treatments were Clay pot irrigation system, Drip irrigation system, and the control treatment (No irrigation). The soil type was a sand clay loam. The clay pots used were manufactured by mixing clay and sand at the ratio of 4:1 and dried with burning dry grass. Pots were buried under the soil up to their necks, with about 2 cm of their top above the surface of the surrounding. The crop variety used for the study was Zawadi F1 of cabbage produced by the East African Co. Seed, which is adaptable under the agroclimatic conditions of the Huye district of Rwanda. Crop water requirement and irrigation scheduling were estimated by using CROPWAT 8.0 software. Organic manure (20 tons ha-1) was applied for whole trial during tillage, Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium/ NPK 17-17-17 (300 kg ha-1) was uniformly applied around the seedling (ring application) and Urea (300 kg ha-1) was split applied, first after three weeks of transplanting, and the second application was five weeks after transplanting. The water productivity of CPIS was 36.17 kg m-3 for DIS was 25.4 kg m-3, while the control was 31.1 kg m-3. The results of this research show that CPIS increases water productivity and water saving. Water saved is 40.23% when CPIS is compared with DIS. Clay pot irrigation system can be a viable option for water scarce areas, particularly for small-scale farmers looking to improve their productivity with their small holdings of land in sandy and drier environments. Key words: CPIS, DIS, Water saving, Water productivity, Clay pots, CROPWAT, Rwanda

Cattle feeding tendency of Anopheles mosquitoes and their infection rates in Aradum village, North Wollo, Ethiopia: an implication for animal-based malaria control strategies

BackgroundSurveillance of indoor and outdoor resting malaria vector populations is crucial to monitor possible changes in vector resting and feeding behaviours. This study was conducted to assess the resting behaviour, blood meal sources and circumsporozoite (CSP) rates of Anopheles mosquito in Aradum village, Northern Ethiopia.MethodsMosquito collection was conducted from September 2019 to February 2020 using clay pots (indoor and outdoor), pit shelter and pyrethrum spray catches (PSC). The species of Anopheles gambiae complex and Anopheles funestus group were identified using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was done to determine CSP and blood meal sources of malaria vectors.ResultsA total of 775 female Anopheles mosquitoes were collected using the clay pot, PSC and pit shelter. Seven Anopheles mosquito species were identified morphologically, of which Anopheles demeilloni (593; 76.5%) was the dominant species followed by An. funestus group (73; 9.4%). Seventy-three An. funestus group screened by PCR, 91.8% (67/73) were identified as Anopheles leesoni and only 2.7% (2/73) were found to be Anopheles parensis. The molecular speciation of 71 An. gambiae complex confirmed 91.5% (65/71) of Anopheles arabiensis. The majority of Anopheles mosquitoes were collected from outdoor pit shelter (42.2%) followed by outdoor clay pots. The majority of the blood meal of An. demeilloni (57.5%; 161/280), An. funestus sensu lato 10 (43.5%) and An. gambiae (33.3%; 14/42) originated from bovine. None of the 364 Anopheles mosquitoes tested for Plasmodium falciparum and Plasmodium vivax sporozoite infections were positive.ConclusionSince the Anopheles mosquitoes in the area prefer to bite cattle, it may be best to target them with an animal-based intervention. Clay pots could be an alternative tool for outdoor monitoring of malaria vectors in areas where pit shelter construction is not possible.

Variations of residual trihalomethane concentration in pipe-borne water during different in-house practices

Abstract This study was conducted to investigate the effect of different in-house practices on trihalomethane (THM) level fluctuations in pipe-borne water. Common in-house practices such as boiling, unboiling, boiling water with headspace/non-headspace, storage vessels materials, storage practices, and storage time were investigated to study residual THM and their percentage. Vessels made of plastic (P), clay (C), stainless steel (SS), glass (G), and aluminium (Al) were used for the study. Prime trihalomethanes of CHCl3, CHBrCl2, CHBr2Cl, CHBr3, and total of those four THMs (TTHMs) were measured, and removal/formation percentages were calculated. Results revealed that the percent change of TTHM varies based on the boiling practice as follows: open boiling TTHM > close boiling with headspace TTHM > close boiling without headspace (CBWH) TTHM. The following order was observed for residual TTHM for 6 h storage in the vessels; for CBWH water storage in open vessels C < G < P < SS < Al and close vessels C < G < P < SS < Al; and for unboiled water storage in open vessels SS < C < Al < P < G and close vessels C < P < Al < SS < G. In conclusion, the lowest concentration of residual TTHM was found in the boiled water stored in a clay pot and recommended as an in-house practice to reduce TTHM.

English

In Tanzania, a small-scale salt enterprise supplies salt which is mainly consumed within the country. However, the producers often lack appropriate production knowledge. The purpose of this study was to assess salt processing and handling practices at Nkonkilangi village in Singida region, Tanzania. A cross-sectional study design was used to collect data. Scheduled interviews with 63 out of 100 producers were conducted using semi-structured questions. The producers were exclusively women (100%) with primary school education (98%) and aged from 20 to 60 years (90.5%). Although 33.3% of the producers attended food processing and hygiene training, none used improved methods. The traditional method used involved mixing three soil types locally known as Nkuluse, Mbuga and Sepa, or Nkoko in the ratio of 1:1:1 (v/v/v). Brine is obtained by leaching the soil with water in perforated clay pots. Majority (63.5%) of the producers boil brine for 1 - 2 h for salt recovery, up to 5 batches per day. Three buckets of brine yield 1 bucket of salt. Two-thirds of the producers clean equipment and containers without detergents. More than 84% of the salt producers identified sand as major contaminant, whereas 47.6% of the processers use pieces of plastics and broken guards to stir salt during cooking. The salt is conditioned and packed for delivery. Despite the fact that salt fortification is mandatory in the country, none of the processers fortified the salt with iodine. Majority were neither aware of the nutritional benefits of fortification (90.5%) nor of the legal implications of selling non-iodized salt (79.4%). Therefore, proper control and monitoring of small-scale mining in Tanzania is essential for assuring quality and safety of salt.   Key words: Salt, salt quality, iodized, salt mining, contaminants, soil, plastic, Nkonkilangi.

Assessment of Dairy Production System, Handling, Processing and Utilization Practices in South Ari and Malle District of South Omo Zone, Ethiopia

Milk is produced, processed and utilized in different parts of Ethiopia and the majority in rural areas is processed at the household level into milk products using traditional technologies and marketed through informal channels. This study was initiated to assess and describe the traditional knowledge of milk production, handling, processing and utilization practices in South Ari and Malle district. Three dairy potential Kebeles from each district were selected via a purposive sampling procedure. Then, 196 households were selected through a systematic random sampling procedure. Data were collected using a semi-structure questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS (Version 23) software. There was a significant difference (P < 0.05) in livestock composition across the study districts. About 75% in South Ari and 72.9% in Malle have their own grazing land. Feed shortage (73%) and improved breed access (26%) in South Ari, and feed shortage (52.1%), drought (44.8%) in Malle were among the main constraints affecting dairying. About 65% of South Ari used plastic buckets for milking and clay pots for fermentation and churning. In Malle 88.5% used calabash containers for milking, accumulation and churning. The average days of raw milk fermentation before churning in South Ari and Malle were 4.2±0.1 and 2.9±0.0 days. The average butter-making time was 63.4±1.8 minutes in both districts. The amount of milk fermented and butter produced from this fermented milk is significantly different (P < 0.05) across districts. Nearly 95% of South Ari milk is traditionally processed into yogurt, butter, buttermilk and cheese; and used for home consumption and marketing. However, in Malle 72.9% of yogurt and buttermilk processing is used for home consumption; and 26% of butter processing is only used for marketing. It is possibly concluded that dairy production was commonly practiced and it was a good source of income in both districts. Therefore, it is vigorous to support the dairy linkage with extension services by enhancing the input provision.

From the Editors

From the Editors

A Pot Bellows Fragment from Tel Megadim, Israel

ABSTRACTThis brief communication brings to light a previously unpublished ceramic fragment of a vessel that is identified as a pot bellows. The fragment was found at Tel Megadim, located in the coastal Carmel region of Israel. The importance of this discovery is that its Middle Bronze Age IIC date fixes the “turning point” between Middle Bronze Age stone pot bellows and ceramic pot bellows, a type that became popular in the Late Bronze Age and later, somewhat earlier than previously suspected.

Pre-extension Demonstration and Evaluation of Improved Milk Churner in Horo Guduru Wollega Zone of Oromia, Ethiopia

This study was conducted to evaluate the performance of improved plastic milk churner in relation to the local clay pot churner in Horo district. A total of thirty households were selected from three rural kebeles where milk processing for butter making has long tradition. The evaluation of both churners was carried out by using 7 liters of milk obtained from local and crossbreeds and with reference to the result obtained significantly higher quantity of butter (0.39 kg/7liter) at P>0.5 was obtained from improved churner than traditional clay pot (0.27kg/7liter). Furthermore, the traditional mechanism of butter processing took significantly longer churning time (70 minute on average) than improved churner (46 minute). In conclusion, improved churner was preferred to local one for its ability to yield better amount of butter, more butter making efficiency and shorter churning time it required. Using improved churner could also contribute for reducing gender disparity through participating men in milk churning process. Therefore, the technology ought to be promoted and extended to other small scale dairy producers outside the study area Keywords: Butter, Clay pot, Milk churner, Tradition DOI: 10.7176/CER/15-1-02 Publication date: February 28 th 2023