Effects of dietary supplementation of peanut skins (Arachis hypogaea) on performance, digestibility, and rumen fermentation of cattle: a meta-analysis.

This study aimed to estimate the magnitude of the effects of dietary inclusion of peanut skins (PS) byproduct (Arachis hypogea L.) on intake, total-tract digestibility, and rumen fermentation of cattle via meta-analysis. Data were collected following the PRISMA methodology. Nine manuscripts and a graduate thesis met the inclusion criteria from 1983 to 2010. The effect size was estimated by calculating the weighted raw mean differences (RMD) between PS vs. control diets. The RMD was compared with a robust variance estimation method followed by a meta-regression and a dose-response analysis fitting the diet characteristics like crude protein content (CP), NDF content, ether extract content (EE), tannin content, and PS level in diet (0 to 40%) as covariates. Dietary PS decreased (P < 0.01) total-tract CP digestibility (52.0 vs. 64.3%), final body weight (371.5 vs. 397.9 kg), and average daily gain (1.14 vs. 1.44 kg/day) among treatment comparisons. Likewise, PS decreased total VFA (92.6 vs. 107.6 mmol/L) and NH3-N (8.22 vs. 12.1 mg/dL), but no effects were observed on rumen pH (6.47 vs. 6.14) and VFA molar proportions. Despite the between-cluster variance, dietary PS increased the ether extract digestibility (77.5 vs. 70.2%) among treatment comparisons. The subset and dose-response analysis revealed that PS should not exceed 8% (DM basis) in the diet to prevent negative effects on CP digestibility and animal performance. In conclusion, the results of this meta-analysis do not support the dietary inclusion of PS in cattle diets beyond 8%.

Effect of cation content of certain ammoniomethacrylate copolymers type A (RL) and B (RS) on their binder property in tableting.

Tablets of salicylic acid (drug model) have been formed using two analogous acrylatemethacrylate copolymers designated here as A and B as binders. A and B differ only in their content of quaternary ammonium (cationic) groups in the ratio 2:1 (A:B). The aim was to investigate the effect of the cationic groups on the tableting characteristics of the formed granules. In the procedure, aqueous dispersions of the polymers of concentrations 1 to 5% w/v were used in a separate experiment for granulation of the salicylic acid powder and then tableted. The final concentration of the binder in the tablets varied from 0.4 to 2% w/w. The parameters assessed were the tablet tensile strength (T) and their brittle fracture index (BFI) which are indicative of the plasto-elasticity of the granules; for instance, a high T value together with a low BFI value are indicative of a high plasto-elasticity. A and B generally displayed a strong binder property as they individually produced hard tablets even at the low concentration 0.4% w/w. As the binder concentration in the tablets increased to 2% w/w. tensile strength (MNm(-2)) increased from 1.08 to 1.80 (tablets of polymer A), 1.08 to 2.02 (tablets of polymer B). BFI values decreased from 0.24 to 0.06 (tablets of polymer A) and 0.16 to 0.04 (tablets of polymer B). These results indicate that the presence of the cationic groups in the polymer structure promoted elastic rather than plastic compression.