Photoluminescence of core-shell nanoparticles made from yttrium stabilized zirconia powder grain coated with alumina

A YSZ@Al2O3 nanocomposite was obtained by Al 2O3 coating on the surface of yttrium stabilized zirconia via a polymeric precursor method. The resulting core-shell structures were characterized by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electronic microscopy and PL spectra. The TEM micrographs clearly show a homogeneous Al2O3 shell around the ZrO2 core. The observed PL is related to surface-interface defects. Such novel technologies can, in principle, explore materials which are not available in the bulk single crystal form but their figure-of-merit is dramatically dependent on the surface-interface defect states. © 2013 This journal isThe Royal Society of Chemistry.

Production, purification, and characterization of a major penicillium glabrum xylanase using brewer's spent grain as substrate

In recent decades, xylanases have been used in many processing industries. This study describes the xylanase production by Penicillium glabrum using brewer's spent grain as substrate. Additionally, this is the first work that reports the purification and characterization of a xylanase using this agroindustrial waste. Optimal production was obtained when P. glabrum was grown in liquid medium in pH 5.5, at 25 °C, under stationary condition for six days. The xylanase from P. glabrum was purified to homogeneity by a rapid and inexpensive procedure, using ammonium sulfate fractionation and molecular exclusion chromatography. SDS-PAGE analysis revealed one band with estimated molecular mass of 18.36 kDa. The optimum activity was observed at 60 °C, in pH 3.0. The enzyme was very stable at 50 °C, and high pH stability was verified from pH 2.5 to 5.0. The ion Mn2+ and the reducing agents β-mercaptoethanol and DTT enhanced xylanase activity, while the ions Hg2+, Zn2+, and Cu2+ as well as the detergent SDS were strong inhibitors of the enzyme. The use of brewer's spent grain as substrate for xylanase production cannot only add value and decrease the amount of this waste but also reduce the xylanase production cost. © 2013 Adriana Knob et al.

Sorghum grain yield, forage biomass production and revenue as affected by intercropping time

Sorghum is an excellent alternative to other grains in poor soil where corn does not develop very well, as well as in regions with warm and dry winters. Intercropping sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] with forage crops, such as palisade grass [Brachiaria brizantha (Hochst. ex A. Rich) Stapf] or guinea grass (Panicum maximum Jacq.), provides large amounts of biomass for use as straw in no-tillage systems or as pasture. However, it is important to determine the appropriate time at which these forage crops have to be sown into sorghum systems to avoid reductions in both sorghum and forage production and to maximize the revenue of the cropping system. This study, conducted for three growing seasons at Botucatu in the State of São Paulo in Brazil, evaluated how nutrient concentration, yield components, sorghum grain yield, revenue, and forage crop dry matter production were affected by the timing of forage intercropping. The experimental design was a randomized complete block design. Intercropping systems were not found to cause reductions in the nutrient concentration in sorghum plants. The number of panicles per unit area of sorghum alone (133,600), intercropped sorghum and palisade grass (133,300) and intercropped sorghum and guinea grass (134,300) corresponded to sorghum grain yields of 5439, 5436 and 5566kgha-1, respectively. However, the number of panicles per unit area of intercropped sorghum and palisade grass (144,700) and intercropped sorghum and guinea grass (145,000) with topdressing of fertilizers for the sorghum resulted in the highest sorghum grain yields (6238 and 6127kgha-1 for intercropping with palisade grass and guinea grass, respectively). Forage production (8112, 10,972 and 13,193Mg ha-1 for the first, second and third cuts, respectively) was highest when sorghum and guinea grass were intercropped. The timing of intercropping is an important factor in sorghum grain yield and forage production. Palisade grass or guinea grass must be intercropped with sorghum with topdressing fertilization to achieve the highest sorghum grain yield, but this significantly reduces the forage production. Intercropping sorghum with guinea grass sown simultaneously yielded the highest revenue per ha (€ 1074.4), which was 2.4 times greater than the revenue achieved by sowing sorghum only. © 2013 Elsevier B.V.

A Spatial and Temporal Prediction Model of Corn Grain Yield as a Function of Soil Attributes

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Rehydration of corn grain with acid whey improves the silage quality

Our objective was to investigate the effects of rehydration with acid whey or water at three moisture levels, as well as the effects of bacterial inoculation, on the fermentation, chemical composition and aerobic stability of corn grain silages. The trial was conducted in a completely randomized design with four replicates in a factorial arrangement as follows: 3 (rehydration with three different moisture levels: 300,350 and 400 mL/kg of corn grain)x 2 (silage inoculated with bacteria or not inoculated (control))x 2 (liquid used in the rehydration: acid whey or water). Overall, corn grain silages rehydrated with acid whey produced more lactic acid than the silages rehydrated with water (13.8 vs. 12.6 g/kg of dry matter (DM), respectively). In addition, increases in the rehydration of corn grain silages promoted decreases (linear) in lactic acid concentration as well as in production of total acids. Although inoculated silages had higher pH as consequence of the rehydration using water at the three levels, these treatments presented high DM recovery. In general, neutral detergent fiber (aNDFom) decreased if inoculant was applied in corn grain silages rehydrated with acid whey. After silos opening, silages rehydrated with 350 or 400 mL/kg (independent of the liquid) had lower aerobic stability than silages rehydrated with 300 mL/kg. Overall, we found that the inoculant did not promote significant changes in the composition of the corn grain silage. In contrast, the potential of the use of acid whey in ensiling corn grain is high, as its addition leads to improvements in the fermentation process and aerobic stability of the silages. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Whole grain diet for Feedlot Lambs

For a lamb feedlot system became competitive it is essential that an equilibrate nutrition and functional feeding management happens naturally. Therefore, this experiment has the objective to evaluate the efficiency of whole corn grain diet on lambs performance and carcass quality parameters and ruminal papillae development. During the experiment twenty Dorper/Santa Inescrossbred lambs were used, divided randomly in two treatments: control diet and whole grain diet. The experimental design was completely randomized design and data analysis done by SISVAR using the Tukey test at 5% of probability. No statistical differences were observed on the characteristics evaluated for performance and carcass as well as the length and width of ruminal papillae. The composition of the diet together with the weight gain potential of the lambs can explain the good average daily weight gain of 0.284 kg. The initial body condition average was 2.1 (thin) and improved at the end of the trial period achieving3.15 (normal). Carcass yield reached 46.24%, the results is between the range ideal for specialty meat breeds ranging from 40 to 50%. The carcass conformation, fat cover conformation and the thickness of subcutaneous fat found can be classified as medians. Also there was no difference in the characteristics of ruminal papillae. Thus, it is concluded that the use of whole grain diet did not influence the characteristics evaluated; and the choice of diet should be made with regard to profitability, simplicity of use and availability of forage in feedlot. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Electrical Properties at Grain Boundaries Influenced by Cr3+ Diffusion in SnO2.ZnO.Nb2O5-Films Varistor Prepared by Electrophoresis Deposition

SnO2-based varistors are strong candidates to replace the ZnO-based varistors due to ordering fewer additives to improve its electrical behavior as well as by showing similar nonlinear characteristics of ZnO varistors. In this work, SnO2-nanoparticles based-varistors with addition of 1.0 %mol of ZnO and 0.05 %mol of Nb2O5 were synthesized by chemical route. SnO2.ZnO.Nb2O5-films with 5 μm of thickness were obtained by electrophoretic deposition (EPD) of the nanoparticles on Si/Pt substrate from alcoholic suspension of SnO2-based powder. The sintering step was carried out in a microwave oven at 1000 °C for 40 minutes. Then, Cr3+ ions were deposited on the films surface by EPD after the sintering step. Each sample was submitted to different thermal treatments to improve the varistor behavior by diffusion of ions in the samples. The films showed a nonlinear coefficient (α) greater than 9, breakdown voltage (VR) around 60 V, low leakage current (IF ≈ 10-6 A), height potential barrier above 0.5 eV and grain boundary resistivity upward of 107 Ω.cm.

Agronomic efficiency and grain quality of upland rice cultivars as a function of nitrogen topdressing

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Maize leaf phytotoxicity and grain yield are affected by nitrogen source and application method

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Feeding high-moisture corn grain silage to broilers fed alternative diets and maintained at different environmental temperatures

The effects of the dietary substitution of dry corn by high-moisture corn grain silage (HMCGS) were evaluated on the performance, nutrient digestibility and serum biochemical parameters of broilers reared in an alternative production system and submitted to different environmental temperatures. A total of 288 one-day-old male Cobb chicks were distributed according to a randomized block design in a 3x4 factorial arrangement: three environmental temperatures (hot, thermoneutral or cold) and four levels of HMCGS in substitution of dry corn (0%, 20%, 40% or 60%). The acid analysis showed that the evaluated HMCGS contained average percentage values of ethanol, lactic acid, and acetic acid (expressed in 100% of dry matter) of 0.7690, 2.7320 and 0.0249%, respectively. Propionic and butyric acids were not detected. Dry corn and HMCGS presented pH values of 5.8 and 3.3, respectively. The inclusion of HMCGS reduced dietary pH, as shown by the values of 5.7, 5.4, 5.1 and 4.8 recorded for the diets containing 0%, 20%, 40% and 60% of HMCGS, respectively. There was no significant interaction between diets and environmental temperature. HMCGS may replace up to 40% dry corn in broiler diets when performance, triglyceride levels, and HDL-cholesterol ratio is considered, and up to 60% when nutrient digestibility is evaluated. High environmental temperature impairs broiler performance, nutrient digestibility, and serum biochemistry, demonstrating the influence of environmental temperature on broiler metabolism and performance.

Intake, performance and estimated methane production of Nellore steers fed soybean grain

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Influence of wood moisture content on modulus of elasticity on tension paralllel to the grain of brasilian species

Periodically, when necessary, standard documents are revised in order to analyze inconsistencies and to include considerations according new realities verified. In this sense, aiming to quantify the wood moisture content influence on modulus of elasticity, it was applied tension tests parallel to the grain for six specimens of different strength classes of wood, considering nominal moisture of 12, 20, 25, and 30% in Brazil. The present paper examine the adequacy of the current Brazilian standard ABNT NBR7190:1997, in review, about the adoption of a first degree equation to describe the influence of wood moisture content for timber structures design. It was obtained a new first degree equation which leads to statically equivalent estimations when compared with results by ABNT NBR7190:1997 equation. However, as recommendations it could be maintain the current expression for the next text of the referred document review, without prejudice to statistical significance of the estimates.