JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Barley consumption is limited in broiler chicken diet due to their β. glucanas polysaccharide content. The application of synthetic enzymes in poultry diet can increase the barley content. The purpose of this experiment is to study the effect of enzyme supplement-β-glucanas on the performance of broiler chickens, percentage of abdominal fat, intestine weight and economic evaluation of production of one kilogram of meat in diets including different levels of barley and corn. Five hundred forty-one-day-old commercial broiler chickens (Arian) were divided into 45 groups, 12 chickens per group Each one of the 15 experimental diets, in which barley was substituted for corn at levels 0, 25, 50, 75 and 100% with 2 levels of enzymes (0.025 and 0.05%) was fed to 3 groups of chickens for 49 days. All diets were isoenergetic and isonitrogenous. Plant oil was used to make diets isoenergetic. The results showed that the rate of weight increase of broiler chickens decreased as each level of free enzyme barley was replaced at 0.83, 6.08, 12.9, 16.1 %, respectively. The weight gain of the chickens fed with diets including a large amount of barley and 0.05% enzyme didn’t have any significant difference (P < 0.01) with the control group. The chickens fed with diet including barley and 0.025% enzyme didn’t have any significant difference either (except at 75% and 100% barley replacements). Enzyme supplementary at 0.025% and 0.05% levels (especially at 0.05%) caused significant improvement (P < 0.01) in food consumption and feed conversion ratio of chickens fed with diets including barley. Analysing the carcass of these chickens showed that the enzyme used at both levels, especially at 0.05 %, caused a significant decrease (P < 0.01) in abdominal fat (3.62% vs. 4%). It was also seen that the weight of chickens fed with enzyme decreased significantly (P < 0.01) in comparison with chickens fed with free enzyme barley diets (9.57% vs. 14.81 %). The economic calculation results of producing meat in this experiment pointed out that using barley and corn caused reduction in production expenses. The general results of this study showed that barley with enzyme is a suitable replacement for enzyme and further that 0.05% level of enzyme is better than 0.025% level due to its performance and better economic results.

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Macaroni is a food product generally considered as one of the paste products. These products are produced from semolina that is, in turn, produced through special processing of milled durum wheat. In order to examine the effect of α-amylase on macaroni quality, three cultivars, namely Yavarous, Zardak and Altar 84, were chosen from each of which some wheat sprouts were prepared and mixed with unsprouted samples to obtain three ranges of falling numbers of 500-1000, 300-350 and 150-200 seconds.

The results from this study specified that the active presence of α-amylase in the samples reduced cooking time and colouring of the macaroni, while small amounts of the enzyme improved the breakage and modulus of elasticity of the samples. The α-amylase enzyme showed no effect on the colour of semolina and the macaroni stickiness. 

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An experiment was conducted to study the effects of substitution of the different levels (0.0, 10, 20, 30 and 40%) of oat grains for the corn with and without enzyme supplementation (β -Glucanase. 0.0 and 1%) on the performance of the broiler chickens. Four hundred and eighty (480) Arian broiler chicks were employed in a randomized complete block design with 10 treatments and 3 replications (16 chickens for each replicate) from 1-56 days of age. The chicks fed with 10 percent of oats in the diets, supplemented with enzyme, had significantly higher BW than other treatments. While with 40 % oat in diet body weight were significantly decreased. The feed conversion increased with increasing of the oats levels and the enzyme supplementation resulted in lower feed conversion. With increasing oats in the diet, the percentage of carcass weight decreased, but the pancreas weight increased significantly. Conversely, the enzyme supplementation resulted an increase in carcass weight and reduction in the pancreas weight. The percentage of the tibial ash, calcium and phosphorus were unsignificaulty decreased with the increasing of the oat but enzyme lementation resulted an increase in tibial ash, calcium and phosphorus. In the areas where the corn production is limited, including 30 percent of the oats supplemented with enzyme in the diet of the broiler chicks can be beneficial.

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To carry out this study, total DNA was extracted from eggs and from second stage juveniles of several populations of Meloidogyne javanica and Meloidogyne incognita, using phenol / chloroform method. Following extraction, DNA was electrophoresed on 1% agarose gel to determine its quality and quantity. A specific primer pair (C₂F₃ / 1108 23 and 20 nucleotides, respectively) was used to discriminate M. javanica from M. incognita populations using polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Primer annealing sites were located in the 3′ portion of mitochondrial gene encoding cytochrome oxidase subunit II (COII) and in the 16S rRNA gene. Following PCR amplification, electrophoresis of amplified DNA showed 1.7 kb fragment in populations of both species. Digestion of 1.7 kb amplified product with HinfI restriction endonuclease resulted in the generation of two DNA fragments of 0.7 and 1.0 kb in M. javanica and three DNA fragments of 0.3, 0.4 and 1.0 kb in M. incognita. There were no differences in the digestion patterns among various populations of each species examined.

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A feeding trail was conducted to evaluate the effects of diets contaminated with Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) on the performance and blood enzymes of broiler chickens. In a randomized complete-block design with 4 blocks and 4 treatments, 112 day-old male broiler chicks were divided into 16 groups, 7 chicks per. Treatments consisted of three levels of AFB1 in starter diet (0.4, 0.8, and 1.2 ppm) along with a control group (no AFB1). Feed intake and body weight gain were recorded on a weekly basis. On days 7, 14, 21, and 28, one bird from each replicate was weighed, and killed to collect the blood samples, and to weigh its proventriculus, gizzard, duodenum and pancreas, heart, liver, spleen, bursa of fabricius, and brain. Feeding AFB1 significantly decreased feed intake and body weight gain and increased relative weight of liver (p<0.05). Relative weight of brain decreased on day 7 and then showed a significant increase by day 28 (p<0.05). AFB1 significantly (P<0.05) increased serum activity of aspartate amino transferase (AST) and alanine amino transferase (ALT) and decreased serum activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzymes. Generally, this study demonstrated that, alongside other negative effects, AFB1 could also have adverse effect on the brain of broilers.

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In order to study the effect of corn, Ghods wheat, Falaat wheat, and triticale with or without enzyme addition on perormance and digestive tract characteristics, an experiment was carried out by using 288 male broiler chickens in a compeletly randomized design with 4*2 factorial arrangement for 57 days. Enzyme addition significantly decreased both feed conversion ratio of chickens fed Ghods wheat and triticale, and weight gain of chickens fed Ghods wheat. Growth performance of chickens fed Ghods wheat with enzyme was not significantly different compared with corn without enzyme. Enzyme addition decreased ileum relative weight of chickens. Gizzard and proventriculus of chickens fed Falaat wheat and triticale were heavier than those of other treatments. According to the results, enzyme supplementation showed positive effect on triticale and especially Ghods wheat based diets.

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To evaluate effects of different salinity levels on activity of antioxidant enzymes (CAT, APX and GPX) and osmotic components (carbohydrate and proline) in two sorghum genotypes, an experiment was conducted as completely randomized factorial design with three replications in Zabol university in 2007. Three levels of salinity control (0), 100 and 200 mM NaCl and two sorghum genotypes (Payam and Sistan) were compared. Results showed that by increasing salinity levels from 0 to 200 mM NaCl, the activities of these three antioxidant enzymes were significantly increased and the highest level of activity was observed in 200 mM salinity. Payam cultivar had the highest level of APX and GPX enzyme activity in these experiments. salinity significantly changed two osmotic adjustment concentrations (Carbohydrate and proline) and increased their concentrations. The highest proline and carbohydrate were showN in Sistan and Payam, respectively. In this study we found positive correlation between osmotic components and antioxidant enzyme activity. The results showed that in these two sorghum cultivars the two mechanisms help with salinity tolerance. A direct relationship between activity of the antioxidant- enzymes and accumulation of osmotic regulators (carbohydrate and proline) was observed. In Payam genotype, as the activity of the enzymes and accumulation of osmotic regulators increased, the weight of the plants decreased. The decrease in weight could mean some of plant energy is allocated to the production of antioxidant enzymes and osmotic regulators.

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The effects of irrigation, dry farming and drought treatments on the activities of antioxidant enzymes including superoxide dismutase, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase and peroxidase in barley leaves at different generative growth stages under field conditions were investigated. Three senescence parameters including chlorophyll, total soluble protein and rubisco large subunit protein loss, were also studied in order to compare our results to those reported by other researchers. The results showed that leaf relative water content (RWC), chlorophyll and total soluble protein and rubisco large subunit protein content declined with leaf age and the effect of water deficit. The activity of superoxide dismutase declined with the progress of the leaf age on all treatments but ascorbate peroxidase activity declined with leaf age only in irrigated (control) plants. There were no significant differences among developmental stages in catalase activity in control plants, while catalase activity declined in the water dry farming and drought stress conditions. Peroxidase activity increased with the progress of senescence for all of treatments in such conditions. Water deficit stress triggered increases in antioxidant enzymes activities. Results showed that among all studied enzymes, peroxidase has a key role in increasing resistance to oxidative stress on both the senescence stages and drought stress condition in Hordeum vulgare.

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In order to study the effects of salt stress and leaf feeding by ascorbic acid on antioxidant enzyme activity, proline accumulation and lipid peroxidation on leaves and roots of Brassica napus L. cvs. Okapi, an experiment was conducted as a factorial in a completely random design with three replications. Plants were exposed to salt stresses by NaCl solution (200 mM) and foliar were treated by ascorbic acid solution (25mM). Catalase, Superoxide dismutase and peroxidase activity were assayed in shoot and root. Also, malondialdehyde content and proline and chlorophyll in leaves were determined. The results showed that the activity of all antioxidant enzymes (except for SOD in roots) were increased significantly in plants under salt stress, and ascorbic acid application, as a antioxidant decreased their activity in leaves, but in roots it was not effective. Total protein content in leaves and roots decreased significantly under salinity condition. Ascorbic acid treatment increased total protein content under salt stress in both roots and shoots. Measurement of malondialdehyde content in leaves and roots showed that lipid peroxidation was increased by active oxygen species due to salt stress, and ascorbic acid reduced lipid peroxidation only in leaves. Chlorophyll content was also decreased by salinity compared to control. According to the result of present study, ascorbic acid application decreases deleterious effect of salinity.

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Soil enzymes are the catalysts for important metabolic process functions including the decomposition of organic inputs and the detoxification of xenobiotics. The aim of this research was to determine the pattern of variation in the activities of dehydrogenase, urease, lipase and phosphatase enzymes, determining the number of hetrotrophic and degrading bacteria and measuring the soil respiration and yield plants during the bioremediation of oil contaminated soils. To this aim, the soil deliberately contaminated with crude oil at a 1 and 2 wt% rate and in four treatments including: plant multiflorum (T1), plant multiflorum with mycorrhiza inoculation (T2), plant multiflorum with oil degrading bacteria inoculation (T3), plant multiflorum with mycorrhiza and oil degrading bacteria inoculation (T4) was employed for bioremediation of oil contaminated soil. The above parameters were determined in five stages during bioremediation and ultimately for the yield of plants at the end of this period .The results showed that the activity of urease and hydrogenase anzymes were increased or decreased parallel to contaminant increase and decrease. In contrast, the activity of lipase anzyme was decreased with contaminant increase and increased with contaminant decrease. Therfore, it can be a good choice for monitoring of bioremediation of contaminated soils. The results showed that the number of degrading and hetrotrophic microorganisms were increased by increasing the amount of contamination and the number of degrading and heterotrophic bacteria were decreased parallel to contaminant decreasing especially in those samples treated with mycorrhiza inoculation. The plant yield and amount of degradation of oil compounds were highest in mycorrhiza plus degrading bacteria treatment.

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The application of herbicides as organic chemical compounds to control pest and weeds may affect the population and activity of microorganisms, and this may have an influence on biochemical processes that are important for soil fertility and plant growth. The primary objective of this study was to evaluate different loading rates of eradican (EPTC) on soil microbial biomass C and N, microbial biomass C/N ratio and the activities of urease and arylsulphatase under field conditions. In this experiment, loading rates of 6 and 9 L ha-1 eradican were applied to a calcareous soil cultivated with corn (Zea mays L.) and left uncultivated using split-plots arranged in a completely randomized block design with three replications. The experiment was conducted in the Kabootarabad’s Agricultural Research Center, Isfahan. Soil microbial biomass C and N were determined at 30th and 90th days after the onset of experiment and the activities of urease and arylsulphatase were assayed at 30th, 60th and 90th days. Results showed that in soils cultivated with corn microbial biomass C increased with increasing eradican levels and in both cultivated and uncultivated soils microbial biomass N and microbial biomass C/N ratios were increased over the control. At 30th day, urease activity at 6 L ha-1 level reduced, while at 9 L ha-1 level it increased compared with the control soils. At 60 day, there was no significant difference in the urease activity between the treatments. At 90th day, the activity of urease showed slight fluctuations. There was a reduction in arylsulphatase activity of the cultivated soils by increasing the loading rates of eradican during the experiment, and in uncultivated soils no trend was observed. Briefly, the use of eradican can cause either reduced or increased microbial biomass sizes and enzyme activities in calcareous soils These changes, however, depend largely upon the application rate of eradican, time elapsed since eradican application (i.e., sampling date) and the presence or absence of plant

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Iron chlorosis is an important disorder of plane trees (Plantanus orintalis L.) in green space of Isfahan city. Before using reclamation methods for correcting Fe chlorosis, it is necessary to find a suitable index for evaluating plant Fe status. Therefore, activity of glutathione peroxidase (GP) enzyme and concentration of carotenoids and chlorophyll a and b pigments, as physiological indices of active Fe, were compared to total Fe concentration in leaves to evaluate Fe status in plane trees. For this purpose, severity of chlorosis of plane trees at different regions of Isfahan city was recorded. Then, 73 trees with different severity of chlorosis symptoms were selected and their leaves were sampled on July 2009 and 2010. Concentration of Fe, chlorophyll a and b and carotenoids in leaves as well as activity of GP enzyme were measured. Results showed large variation in leaf Fe concentration between young and old leaves and also between leaves with different chlorosis severity symptoms. No correlation was found between leaf Fe chlorophyll concentration and severity of chlorosis symptoms. Also, concentrations of chlorophyll a in young and old leaves with very severe chlorosis symptoms were 44 and 37% smaller than that in young and old leaves with slight chlorosis symptoms, respectively. Concentration of chlorophyll b in young and old leaves with very severe chlorosis symptoms were 40 and 37% smaller than that in young and old leaves with slight chlorosis symptoms, respectively. Concentration of carotenoids varied among young and old leaves with different severity of chlorosis symptoms. Activity of GP in young leaves was also reduced by intensifying severity of chlorosis symptoms. According to the result of the present study, activity of GP enzyme and leaf concentration of carotenoids and chlorophyll a, as suitable physiological indices of active Fe, had close correlation with severity of Fe chlorosis in plane trees. Also, deficiency of active Fe in leaves is a probable reason of chlorosis symptoms in plane trees.

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Urease is one of the most important enzymes in nitrogen cycle. The clay particles (with high surface area) play an important role in the stability of these protein compounds (enzymes) against various environmental factors. In order to examine the interactions between urease with sepiolite and vermiculite, three in vitro experiments were conducted separately in a completely randomized design. Two experiments were carried out with two replications. Treatments included six incubation times (0, 1, 2, 5, 10 and 20 days) and five levels of temperature (10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ˚C). The third experiment was carried out in a factorial arrangement with two replications. Factors included three levels of pH (5, 7 and 9), and six-levels of enzyme concentrations (0.05, 0.25, 1, 5, 15 and 30 units). The results showed that the activity of adsorbed enzyme was more than free enzyme during the incubation time. The optimum temperatures for activity of free and adsorbed enzymes were 30 and 50 ˚C, respectively. It was concluded that enzyme adsorption on clay surfaces increases enzyme stability against environmental changes. Also, the results showed that the highest levels of urease adsorption on sepiolite and vermiculite occurred at pH 9 and 7, respectively. Adsorption isotherms of Enzyme showed that Vermiculite adsorbed urease with higher affinity compared to Sepiolite.

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