Nitrogen balance, production performance, and plasma metabolites of lactating buffaloes in response to varying dietary protein levels.

Protein imbalance in dairy rations affects N balance and milk N efficiency (MNE) resulting in extra N excretion to the environment. The objective of this study was to investigate the changes in N balance, milk production, and plasma metabolites of lactating buffaloes in response to different dietary crude protein (CP) supplies. Six multiparous Nili Ravi buffaloes in mid-lactation were used in this experiment in a 3 × 3 Latin square design. The treatments were diets with 9.26, 10.0, and 11.4% of CP on DM basis. All the diets were iso-caloric (2.05 Mcal metabolizable energy/kg of DM), whereas oat silage was mixed with the respective concentrate and offered once daily as total mixed ration. Milk fat content and yields of actual milk, 4% fat corrected milk, milk fat, protein, and lactose increased by 3.97, 9.63, 11.8, 6.23, and 6.57%, respectively. Milk protein content tended to increase linearly with increasing dietary CP levels. Milk N secreted as g/d increased, while as percent of N intake decreased. The resulting decrease in MNE (13.7%) was 3.45 greater than the increase in milk yield observed by increasing dietary CP from 9.26 to 11.4% of DM. Total manure N increased linearly in terms of g/d and tended to increase as percent of N excreted. Excretion rate of N also increased linearly by 32%. In conclusion, milk yield, milk fat, protein, and lactose yields increased; however, decreased MNE indicates relatively greater N losses as observed by increased N excretion rate when CP level increased from 9.26 to 11.4% in the diet of lactating buffaloes.

Optimizing planting geometry for barley-Egyptian clover intercropping system in semi-arid sub-tropical climate.

Intercropping legumes with cereals has been a common cropping system in short-season rainfed environments due to its increased productivity and sustainability. Intercropping barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) with Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum L.) could increase the grain yield of barley and improve resource use efficiency of the intercropping system. However, non-optimum planting geometry has been a hurdle in the adaptation of barley-based cropping systems. This study was aimed at optimizing the planting geometry, and assess the productivity and profitability of barley-Egyptian clover intercropping system. Ten different planting geometries, differing in number of rows of barley, width and number of irrigation furrows and planting method were tested. Intercropping barley with Egyptian clover improved 56-68% grain yield of barley compared with mono-cropped barley. Barley remained dominant crop in terms of aggressiveness, relative crowding coefficient and competitive ratio. The amount of water used was linearly increased with increasing size of barley strip from 3 to 8 rows. The highest water use efficiency (4.83 kg/cf3) was recorded for 8-row barley strip system with 120 cm irrigation furrows compared to rest of the planting geometries. In conclusion, 8-rows of barley planted on beds with Egyptian clover in 120 cm irrigation furrows had the highest net income and cost benefit ratio. Therefore, it is recommended that this planting geometry can be used for better economic returns of barley-Egyptian clover intercropping system. However, barley strips with >8 rows were not included in this study, which is limitation of the current study. Therefore, future studies with >8 barley rows in strip should be conducted to infer the economic feasibility and profitability of wider barley strips.

Formation of carbyne-like materials during low temperature pyrolysis of lignocellulosic biomass: A natural resource of linear sp carbons.

The exploration, understanding and potential applications of 'Carbyne', the one-dimensional sp allotrope of carbon, have been severely limited due to its extreme reactivity and a tendency for highly exothermic cross-linking. Due to ill-defined materials, limited characterization and a lack of compelling definitive evidence, even the existence of linear carbons has been questioned. We report a first-ever investigation on the formation of carbyne-like materials during low temperature pyrolysis of biobased lignin, a natural bioresource. The presence of carbyne was confirmed by detecting acetylenic -C≡C- bonds in lignin chars using NMR, Raman and FTIR spectroscopies. The crystallographic structure of this phase was determined as hexagonal: a = 6.052 Å, c = 6.96 Å from x-ray diffraction results. HRSEM images on lignin chars showed that the carbyne phase was present as nanoscale flakes/fibers (~10 nm thick) dispersed in an organic matrix and showed no sign of overlapping or physical contact. These nanostructures did not show any tendency towards cross-linking, but preferred to branch out instead. Overcoming key issues/challenges associated with their formation and stability, this study presents a novel approach for producing a stable condensed phase of sp-bonded linear carbons from a low-cost, naturally abundant, and renewable bioresource.