Designing and evaluation of urea microcapsules in vitro to improve nitrogen slow release availability in rumen.

BACKGROUND: There is a growing interest in the development of novel and innovative vehicles for controlled release of urea into the rumen, aiming to provide ammonia-N for the biosynthesis of proteins of bacterial origin and to prevent urea intoxication by direct feeding to livestock. Urea microencapsulation is a system that can control the release of urea to be slow and steady. RESULTS: The amount of encapsulated urea was 69% of CSU (calcium silicate + urea + Eudragit RS100® + dichloromethane) and 71% of ACU (activated charcoal + urea + Eudragit RS100® + dichloromethane) groups (p > 0.05) The buoyancy of the microcapsules was over 50% after 12 h of agitation in both groups (CSU and ACU), producing significant differences in the volume of the organic phase factor, which was 20 mL at the lowest value (p = 0.0005). The morphology of the microcapsules produced with CSU and ACU showed no significant differences in microcapsule morphology (p > 0.05). The lower temperature (35 versus 40 °C, p = 0.035) retained better morphology of the microcapsules. Regarding the in vitro ammonia-N release kinetics, unprotected urea reached a maximal peak after 6 h, while CSU and ACU took more than 24 h to reach ammonia-N released concentration. CONCLUSIONS: We stabilized the physical factors in the microencapsulation of urea that can allow slow release of rumen fluid. © 2018 Society of Chemical Industry.

Retention of phenylarsenicals in soils derived from volcanic materials.

Sorption of phenylarsenicals including 4-hydroxy-3-nitrophenylarsonic acid (roxarsone), an animal feed additive widely used for growth stimulation, on soils was investigated in batch systems. Phenylarsonic acid, o-arsanilic acid and roxarsone were retained differently by unpolluted, non-sterilized soils. Sorption isotherms were analyzed by the Henry, Tóth and Langmuir-Freundlich equations. The saturation capacity of the Acrisol soil was 3.4 for o-arsanilic acid, 10.9 for phenylarsonic acid and 1.9 g(As) kg(soil)(-1) (dry mass) for roxarsone. The iron content in the soil was not the only factor determining retention of the studied phenylarsenicals. The order of retention on the three soils after 24 h was: roxarsone>o-arsanilic acid>phenylarsonic acid. Besides arsenite and arsenate, new arsenic-containing compounds were detected.

Cambios en las propiedades físicas de un suelo arcilloso por aportes de lombricompuesto de cachaza y estiércol / Changes in physical characteristics of a clay soil by the addition of vermocompost and manure

Se aportaron dosis de 0, 20, 40 y 60Mgúha-1 de una mezcla lombricompostada de cachaza y estiércol bovino (1:1) a un suelo vertisol para evaluar su efecto sobre las propiedades físicas de éste. El aporte de la enmienda se realizó en ene 2003; a partir de esa fecha se mantuvo el suelo sin alteración mecánica durante 18 meses. En jun 2004 se levantó un muestreo que permitió medir la densidad aparente, elaborar láminas delgadas, fraccionar los agregados del suelo de acuerdo a su tamaño y estabilidad, y determinar el carbono total asociado a cada fracción. La estructura y macroagregados se visualizaron por técnicas de láminas delgadas y microscopía. La densidad aparente disminuyó conforme se incrementó la dosis de lombricompuesto (r2= 0,9945, p=0,06). A través de las láminas delgadas se identificó una reconfiguración estructural en la superficie del suelo; en donde se aprecia que en los tratamientos de 40 y 60Mgúha-1 hay un mayor número de macroagregados y espacio poroso. Los resultados del fraccionamiento por tamaños de agregados en húmedo indican que hay una mayor cantidad de macroagregados estables en los suelos que recibieron dosis mayores de la enmienda. Se observó que en los microagregados (<250µm) hay una menor concentración de carbono asociado; mientras que la mayor concentración se observó asociada a pequeños macroagregados (250-500µm)