Commercial broilers are fed exclusively pelleted diets; this is due to research that has demonstrated numerous benefits to feeding pellets. The first objective was to investigate the effects of modest improvements in pellet quality on two modern broiler strains. Regardless of strain, feeding 80% pellets improved broiler performance from d 28 to 42. The second objective was to investigate the effects of feed form and liquid application method on feed augering segregation and subsequent broiler performance. In general, percent pellets steadily decreased across location throughout feed augering. Also, phytase segregation occurred throughout augering and was exacerbated in post-pellet liquid application diets. When the augered diets were fed to broilers, 75% pellets and post-pellet liquid application diets improved performance. The final objective was to investigate the change in percent pellets as feed was augered throughout an entire commercial poultry house. Ultimately, creating high-quality pellets decreases pellet attrition and improves broiler performance.

This project evaluates the survival and initial growth response of oak seedlings produced under special nursery protocols (?enhanced? seedlings) compared to nursery-run oak seedlings of the same species, and the influence of various cultural practices on these same nursery stocks. Survival did not differ significantly between nursery stocks. Significant differences in survival among competition control treatments did occur. Intensive competition control regimes using glyphosate can negatively impact seedling survival if seedlings come in contact with herbicide spray drift.Nursery-run seedlings had significantly greater growth and many were larger than enhanced seedlings after two growing seasons. Height growth was typically greater with seedlings receiving less intensive competition control, while groundline diameter (GLD) growth was greatest with seedlings receiving more intensive competition control. Subsoil and auger planting typically resulted in greater growth than normal hand planting. Fertilization improved growth in certain areas, but the effects diminished after the first growing season.

The coastal regions in Greece have long been a topic of discussion, since vast regions of coast has changed drastically from the Neolithic period until our modern-day perception of them. Coastal reconstructions with data from drilling cores help geoarchaeologists get a better understanding of how the prehistoric settlements related the coast, and how the landscape and seascape around them looked. This thesis aims to better understand the coastal reconstructions of Asine, Peloponnese made by Eberhard Zangger and how archaeological finds can be used as a complementary material in creating these reconstructive maps. The insides of the drilling cores, their placement and the quantity of them are important factors for a geoarchaeological study, and this paper aims to better understand the quality of the coastal reconstructions of Asine. With new archaeological finds of Neolithic ceramics in the Asine area, together with early Helladic finds, this paper explores the possible uncertainty of the modern reconstructions. This paper reaches its natural conclusion in the Hellenistic Asine, where the theory of a harbor in the area is discussed from different possibilities of coastal reconstructions, and how Zanggers reconstruction relates to the Hellenistic architectural remains. The discussion also brings other comparative studies in light and differences between Zanggers coastal reconstructions and other reconstructions of similar nature are confronted.