JWSS - Journal of Water and Soil Science

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Two experiments were designed and conducted to evaluate the effect of tallow and the nutritional value of millet and the effect of substituting millet for corn on the performance of laying hens. In the first experiment, the nitrogen corrected true metabolizable energy (TMEn) of tallow and millet was determined. Also the digestibility of dry matter (DM), protein, fat and crude fiber of millet was determined using the Sibbald's method. In the second experiment, with a completely randomized design and in a factorial arrangement, the effect of different levels of substitution of corn (0.0, 25, 50 and 75%), introduction of tallow at various amounts of 0, 3 and 6 percent, and also the effect of processing millet (ground and unground) on the diet of HY-Line layers from 26 to 38 weeks of age were studied. The criteria used were egg production rate, egg weight, egg output, feed intake, and feed conversion ratio. The results from the first experiment showed that screening millet increased its true metabolizable energy. Furthermore, crude fiber digestibility increased as a result of introducing fat into the diet (p<0.05). The results from the second experiment revealed that grinding millet had no significant effect on the performance of laying hens, but feed conversion ratio tended to improve in diets containing ground millet. Substitution of any amount of millet for corn significantly improved egg weight, egg output, and feed intake (P<0.05). Introduction of tallow by 6% significantly increased feed intake (P<0.05) too.

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Two experiments were conducted to evaluate the nutritional value of millet and tallow for broiler chickens. In the first experiment, the nitrogen corrected apparent metabolizable energy (AMEn) of millet and tallow were determined by the method of Sibbald. In the second experiment, a 3×5 factorial experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of 3 levels of tallow and 5 levels of substitution of corn with millet in broiler diets. Animal fat was included in the diets at levels of 0%, 3% and 6% and millet was replaced for corn at levels of 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100%. Each diet was tested in 4 replicates including 12 chicks per replicate. Live body weights, feed consumptions and feed conversion ratios were determined weekly for all replicates. The AMEn of unground, ground, screened and ground and tallow were 3260, 3204, 3237 and 8166 Kcall/kg, respectively. Replacement of corn by millet at all levels did not have any adverse effect on body weight, feed consumption and feed conversion ratio at 56th day of age. Body weights, feed consumptions and feed conversion ratios were significantly increased (p<0.05) with increasing animal fat. The results indicated that millet has high energy value and appears to be at least equal to corn in promoting weight gains in broiler chickens.

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The objective of this study was to evaluate the characteristics of millet silage prepared in laboratorial mini silos and to determine the effects of additives on its fermentation quality. Whole millet (Panicum milliaceum) was harvested at milk and soft-dough stages of maturity, left untreated or treated with ground barely, molasses, formic acid, lactic acid producing bacteria, and combination of molasses plus inoculant, and were ensiled in a completely randomized design in 2×6 factorial arrangement. Stage of maturity had no significant effect on NDF and ADF, buffering capacity, residual water soluble carbohydrate, acid detergent insoluble nitrogen, ammonia nitrogen and in vitro dry and organic matter digestibility however, values for dry matter, crude protein and pH were significantly different. Loss of dry matter, elevated NH₃-N (24% of total nitrogen) and increased butyric and acetic acid levels (.2 and 1.33% DM, respectively) in control silage indicated clostridial fermentation. Between treatments, the lowest NH₃-N was observed for silages treated with formic acid. Molasses and molasses plus inoculant produced higher lactic acid and lower butyric acid. Higher in vitro dry matter and organic matter digestibility showed positive effects of additive usage compared to control group. Addition of molasses and molasses plus inoculant resulted in higher in vitro dry matter digestibility (63.1 and 64.3 %, respectively), but no significant differences were observed between barely, formic acid and inoculant treated silages. Results of this study clearly showed the need for adding a source of water soluble carbohydrates to millet in order to obtain a good quality silage. Also inoculation of lactic acid bacteria does not necessarily promote homolactic fermentation if insufficient amounts of water soluble carbohydrates are presented.

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In order to examine the responses of proso millet (Panicum miliaceum) to drought stress at different growth stages, four breeded genotypes and a local one of proso millet were selected and planted in a split-plot design with five irrigation treatments and three replications.This experiment was conducted in two locations, Birjand and Sarbisheh. Irrigation treatments included well - watered, drought stress at vegetative stage, ear emergence stage, seed filling stage and vegetative and seed filling stages which were considered as main- plots. The first five mentioned genotypes were considered as sub-plots. Drought stress. caused a great reduction in grain yield and WUE at ear emergence stage. This reduction represented itself in the number of seed per ear and the weight of seeds, but it didn’t have any effects on the number of ear. At ear emergence stage, the drought stress increased the floret death and loss of weight of seeds which resulted in the reduction in the harvest index of both ear per plant and seed per plant. Comparison of genotypes indicated that since K-C-M.4 had a greater number of ears and K-C-M.9 had heavier seeds that had higher grain yield. These two genotypes had the highest WUE and their harvest indices were relatively higher. Due to the salinity of water and infertility of soil in Birjand, the grain yield was lower compared with Sarbisheh. In summary, it can be said that genotype K-C-M.4 proved to be more suitable for both areas.

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In this study the effects of irrigation with raw or diluted municipal effluents along with foliar micro-nutrients fertilizer spray were examined on the growth, yield and mineral nutrient in foxtail millet plants. The experimental design was a split-plot with three irrigation sources (namely raw sewage, 50% diluted sewage and well water) as main-treatment and four combinations of Mn and Zn foliar spraying as sub-treatments, which were applied with three replications. The experiment was conducted at the Zabol University research farm during 2009. The applied municipal effluents contained higher levels of macro and micro-nutrients than the well water. The experimental results indicated that irrigation of plants by raw or diluted sewage improved the measured growth parameters and productivity of foxtail millet plants. In addition macro and micro-nutrients concentrations were improved. These improvements were attributed to the presence of high levels of essential nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus, and organic matters in wastewater. Manganese and Zn supplied through sewage water alone were not able to raise the productivity of millet to the level obtained through fertilizers at the recommended level, which indicated that additional nutrients through fertilizers are required to obtain higher productivity of millet under sewage farming. Despite the differences in nutrients concentration among different irrigation water sources, the micro-nutrients foliar spray did not affect concentration of macro and micro-nutrients in foxtail millet plant. Overall, the results suggest that municipal sewage could be efficiently utilized as an important source of water and nutrients in growing foxtail millet Sewage water irrigation did not have any appreciable harmful effect on crop productivity.