Free-access acidified milk feeding is increasingly being adopted to feed dairy and veal calves. Acidification is used to preserve milk and facilitate free-access feeding. There is, however, little controlled research to support the adoption of free-access acidified milk feeding over traditional feeding programs. The objectives of this thesis were to describe the preweaned calf management and feeding practices used on dairy farms in Ontario, Canada, and to investigate the effects of milk replacer acidification and free-access feeding on the productivity and welfare of calves. A total of 140 Ontario dairy producers participated in a cross-sectional study and were surveyed about on-farm calf management and feeding practices. Results from this study documented that there are currently a range of management practices and several different feeding programs being used on farms. Colostrum and milk feeding management are the areas where the most progress has been made in recent years; however, several other aspects of calf management and feeding still warrant improvement. A pilot study was conducted to examine the effects of milk replacer acidification and free-access feeding on the nutrient intake, growth, rumen papillary development and behaviour of calves. A field study was designed to evaluate the effects of a free-access acidified milk replacer feeding program on the pre and postweaning health and growth of dairy and veal calves. A randomized controlled study was completed to investigate how milk replacer acidification, under free-access feeding conditions, affects the pre and postweaning performance and health of veal calves. Results from these studies demonstrated that milk replacer acidification limited calves’ intake of milk replacer by approximately 1 L/d, resulted in more fragmented feeding behaviour, promoted earlier solid feed intake and tended to support improved respiratory health, but had little impact on rumen development or long-term calf performance. Moreover, free-access feeding facilitated larger intakes of milk, resulted in fewer signs of hunger or frustration, and supported greater preweaning growth, but delayed the onset of solid feed consumption and appeared to negatively affect rumen development, compared to restricted feeding. Collectively, these results demonstrate that free-access acidified milk feeding promotes greater early life productivity and enhances calf welfare. / Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Dairy Farmers of Ontario, Ontario Veal Association, National Sciences and Engineering Research Council, Grober Nutrition and 3M Canada

Master of Science / Food Science Institute, Animal Science & Industry / Daniel Y.C. Fung / The objectives of these studies were to determine the antimicrobial effects of sodium lactate (SL) and acidified calcium sulfate (ACS) on frankfurters formulated with and without lactate in the frankfurter formulation. Two studies were performed, one which mimicked home storage, and the other evaluated the effectiveness of SL (12% v/v) and ACS (12% v/v) as antimicrobial dips when used prior to and after inoculation of Listeria monocytogenes on frankfurters formulated without lactate. In the first study, five peeled frankfurters with and without lactate in the formulation were either dipped in SL or in ACS, stabilized for 30 minutes, vacuum packaged and stored for 30 days at 4°C. Controls were also prepared by dipping in 0.1% peptone. After 30 days the packages were opened and frankfurters were dip inoculated, stabilized for 30 minutes, and one frankfurter from each treatment was sampled. All other frankfurters were then placed in storage at 7°C and sampled after an additional 7, 14, and 21 days. For the second study, treatments consisted of five frankfurters that were first inoculated with a five-strain cocktail of L. monocytogenes, stabilized for 30 minutes, then dipped in SL or acidified ACS; or were first dipped in SL or ACS, stabilized for 30 minutes then dip inoculated. Controls were prepared by dip inoculating frankfurters. One frankfurter from each treatment was sampled immediately. The remaining frankfurters were vacuum packaged, stored at 4°C and sampled after 30, 60, 90, and 120 days. For both studies, on sampling days one frankfurter from each treatment was pulsified and plated on Tryptic Soy Agar (TSA) for viable cell counts and Modified Oxford Medium (MOX) for L. monocytogenes counts. The results indicated that SL dipped frankfurters had lower total aerobic counts and L. monocytogenes counts compared with ACS treatments and the controls. Use of lactate formulation in frankfurters resulted in lower bacterial counts of both natural microflora and inoculated L. monocytogenes in frankfurters after prolonged storage at 4 °C. This research indicates that sodium lactate (12% v/v) may be effective as an antimicrobial dip on frankfurters for the reduction of natural microflora and L. monocytogenes.

Metals are essential nutrients for plant health, but not all metals are necessary and can sometimes be harmful towards plants depending on factors such as species, elemental composition in the soil and concentration of a metal. Iron (Fe), which is one of the most abundant metals in the earth’s crust is also one the most important nutrients for plant growth, as it is responsible for metabolism. Lead (Pb) has been widely outspoken to be a harmful pollutant to plants and has been shown in studies to have an impact on a plant’s physiology and morphology. The aim of this study is to analyze whether Pb and Fe influence the metal content of Garden cress (Lepidium sativum). A solution of Pb with the following concentrations; 2.4 g/L, 1.2 g/L, 0.48 g/L, 0.24 g/L, 0.12 g/L, 0.048 g/L and 0.024 g/L were used. Another solution of Fe with the following concentrations; 0.56 g/L, 0.28 g/L, 0.11 g/L, 0.056 g/L, 0.028 g/L, 0.011 g/L and 0.0056 g/L were also used. Then a combined solution of both Pb- and Fe solution were mixed with a volume ratio of 1:1 corresponding to the following concentrations of lead and iron, respectively; 0.024/0.0056 g/L, 0.048/0.0112 g/L, 0.12/0.028 g/L, 0.24/0.056 g/L, 0.48/0.112 g/L, 1.2/0.28 g/L were used. A total of 29 different metal contents were analyzed, which include; Aluminum (Al), silver (Ag), Barium (Ba), Beryllium (Be), Bismuth (Bi), Cadmium (Cd), Cobalt (Co), Copper (Cu), Fe, gallium (Ga), potassium (K), lithium (Li), magnesium (Mg), manganese (Mn), Molybdenum (Mo), sodium (Na), nickel (Ni), Pb, rubidium (Rb), selenium (Se), strontium (Sr), tellurium (Te), thallium (Tl), uranium (U), vanadium (V), zinc (Zn). Before initial analysis, microwave plasma atomic emission spectrometry (MP-AES) was applied with a test sample to evaluate if the acidified digestion method used with nitric acid and hydrogen peroxide was successful enough to be used for the original experiment. It was successful, so the cress samples underwent the same digestion method and were analyzed with inductive coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results showed that Pb overall decreased most metal contents, while Fe seemed to generally maintain a constant metal content of most metals. Fe fed cress seemed to grow the healthiest in appearance compared to Pb fed cress which grew the worst. Mixed solution Pb and Fe cress fed grew worse than Fe fed cress, but better than Pb fed cress. The growth quality was the worst with Pb fed and the best for controlled water fed cress. For mixed Pb and Fe solution fed cress the plants seemed to share similar qualities of both Pb- and Fe solution fed cress, with better growth capabilities than Pb fed cress, but worse than Fe fed cress. The high dilution factor during the sample preparation led to the fact that some trace and ultra-trace elements could not be determined, since their contents were below LOD or LOQ. Adapting the sample preparation procedure to these low concentrations would be a further improvement.

No description available.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-01-26T18:56:33Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao.pdf: 190502 bytes, checksum: 5752f80c9f704bcfdb2fab5cb3f0b55c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-27 / This work evaluated the behavior of phosphorus sources: Arad phosphate, Alvorada phosphorite and Triple Superphosphate in two soils a sandy and a clay 70% basis saturation in the natural acidity condition. The experimental outlining was totally randomized in a factorial scheme (2x2x3x4), being: two soils; three phosphate fertilizer sources; and four doses (0, 100, 200 and 400 Kg ha-1), with four repetitions. The results were submitted to the analysis variation, being taken the retrogression one, adjusting the equations and using as a criterion to the statistical pattern choice the significative F tests from 1 to 5%, and magnitude of determination coefficients. The phosphate fertilizers raised the calcium and the phosphorus proportions in the sand and in the sand-clay soils, both in presence and in absence of liming. The arad, applied in high doses in the acid soils, changed the pH of the sandy and the clay soils were noticed in the treatments that received an Alvorada Phosphorite application, and the highest proportions of the Triple Superphosphate and the Arad showed intermmediate proportions of available phosphorus. / Este trabalho avaliou o comportamento das fontes de fósforo: Arad, Fosforita Alvorada e Superfosfato Triplo em dois solos. - um arenoso e outro argiloso. -, na condição de acidez natural e, após a correção, atingir saturação por bases a 70%. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi inteiramente casualizado, com esquema fatorial (2x2x3x4), sendo: dois solos; três fontes de fertilizantes fosfatados e quatro doses (0, 100, 200 e 400 Kg há -1), com quatro repetições. Os resultados foram submetidos à análise de variância, sendo adotada a análise de regressão, ajustando-se as equações, e tendo-se como critério para escolha do modelo estatístico os testes F significativo a 1 a 5%, e (magnitude dos coeficientes de determinação). Os fertilizantes fosfatados elevaram os teores de cálcio e fósforo nos solos arenoso e argiloso na presença e ausência de calagem. O Arad, aplicado em doses elevadas nos solos ácidos, alterou o pH dos solos arenoso e argiloso. Os menores teores de fósforo disponível no solo foram observados nos tratamentos que receberam a aplicação de Fosforita Alvorada, e os maiores teores para o Superfosfato Triplo e o Arad apresentaram teores intermediários de fósforo disponível.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-07-18T17:51:15Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Dissertacao.pdf: 190502 bytes, checksum: 5752f80c9f704bcfdb2fab5cb3f0b55c (MD5) Previous issue date: 2008-08-27 / This work evaluated the behavior of phosphorus sources: Arad phosphate, Alvorada phosphorite and Triple Superphosphate in two soils a sandy and a clay 70% basis saturation in the natural acidity condition. The experimental outlining was totally randomized in a factorial scheme (2x2x3x4), being: two soils; three phosphate fertilizer sources; and four doses (0, 100, 200 and 400 Kg ha-1), with four repetitions. The results were submitted to the analysis variation, being taken the retrogression one, adjusting the equations and using as a criterion to the statistical pattern choice the significative F tests from 1 to 5%, and magnitude of determination coefficients. The phosphate fertilizers raised the calcium and the phosphorus proportions in the sand and in the sand-clay soils, both in presence and in absence of liming. The arad, applied in high doses in the acid soils, changed the pH of the sandy and the clay soils were noticed in the treatments that received an Alvorada Phosphorite application, and the highest proportions of the Triple Superphosphate and the Arad showed intermmediate proportions of available phosphorus. / Este trabalho avaliou o comportamento das fontes de fósforo: Arad, Fosforita Alvorada e Superfosfato Triplo em dois solos. - um arenoso e outro argiloso. -, na condição de acidez natural e, após a correção, atingir saturação por bases a 70%. O delineamento experimental utilizado foi inteiramente casualizado, com esquema fatorial (2x2x3x4), sendo: dois solos; três fontes de fertilizantes fosfatados e quatro doses (0, 100, 200 e 400 Kg há -1), com quatro repetições. Os resultados foram submetidos à análise de variância, sendo adotada a análise de regressão, ajustando-se as equações, e tendo-se como critério para escolha do modelo estatístico os testes F significativo a 1 a 5%, e (magnitude dos coeficientes de determinação). Os fertilizantes fosfatados elevaram os teores de cálcio e fósforo nos solos arenoso e argiloso na presença e ausência de calagem. O Arad, aplicado em doses elevadas nos solos ácidos, alterou o pH dos solos arenoso e argiloso. Os menores teores de fósforo disponível no solo foram observados nos tratamentos que receberam a aplicação de Fosforita Alvorada, e os maiores teores para o Superfosfato Triplo e o Arad apresentaram teores intermediários de fósforo disponível.

The aim of this work was to go thoroughly throw the already existing HACCP system in the company and to evaluate if the hazard is treated in a good way and to find other more effective approach to prevent the hazard. An effort was focused on the primary processing milk and on the process of the treatment of acidified milk products. While investigating current condition the author has made several experiments focusing on the settled conditions of important process in the production (for ex. pasteurization). Chemical, physical, qualitative and microbial properties were observed on a concrete diary product. The main investigation {--} the simulation of disturbance of the cooling chain - was performed where products were exposed to various temperatures for various time periods. During this test were observed: the temperature, pH and microbial changes in exposed products. Due to results form all observations that where performed in this research its possible to proclaim that the HACCP system is settled in a good way and even if above mentioned situation happen the product is safe.

Phosphorus is frequently a limiting factor for phytoplankton in freshwater ecosystems, because algae and cyanobacteria are able to incorporate it only in a dissolved inorganic form. Phytoplankton evolved several mechanisms to overcome phosphorus limitation. One of them is the production of extracellular phosphatases. These enzymes are excreted on the surface of cells or released to the environment. They hydrolyze organic molecules containing phosphorus, which can be then incorporated by cells. This mechanism can influence the competitiveness of algae living in environments that are characterised by long-term phosphorus limitation (that is caused e.g. by the effect of low pH). In this study the influence of phosphorus concentration and form on extracellular phosphatase activity under laboratory conditions was investigated. The two experimental strains of the genus Coccomyxa (Chlorophyta) were isolated from acidified localities with different phosphorus availability  Plešné Lake and Hromnické Lake. Extracellular phosphatase activity on a single-cell level was measured using the FLEA technique and fluorescence microscopy. The FLEA technique allows direct visualization of phosphatases on the cell surface by incubating the samples with the artificial substrate ELF® 97 phosphate. Extracellular...