BACKGROUND Given its availability and low price, glycerol derived from biodiesel industry has become an ideal feedstock for the production of fuels and chemicals. A solution to reduce the negative environmental problems and the cost of biodiesel is to use crude glycerol as carbon source for microbial growth media in order to produce valuable organic chemicals. In the present paper, crude glycer...

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In organic pig production one of the major challenges is to be able to fulfil amino acid requirements based on organic and locally grown protein feed crops. The pig is an opportunistic omnivore with a unique capacity for foraging above and below the soil surface. It is hypothesized that direct foraging in the range area can pose an important contribution in terms of fulfilling nutrient requirem...

Groups of six to nine Merino Summary lambs were weaned in September (May drop) and December (September drop) on to three types of irrigated perennial pastureperennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne), Ladino white clover (Trifolium repens) and lucerne (Medicago sativa), and one irrigated annual pasture-subterranean clover ( Trifolium subterraneum) . The weight gain of the weaners on white clover was s...

1Division of Angiology, Lausanne University Hospital, Lausanne, Switzerland 2Division of Vascular Medicine, Swiss Cardiovascular Center, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland 3Division of General Internal Medicine, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland 4Department of Internal Medicine, Cantonal Hospital Baden, Baden, Switzerland 5Department of Internal Medicine, University Hospital ...

Four rations that differed in their crude protein and essential amino-acid content were compiled. Digestibility of the crude protein and essential amino-acid contents were determined biologically in a feeding trial using 4 Anglo-Arab stallions. Their respective daily diets were: Diet 1:2 kg cubes, 5 kg tef hay (Eragrostis tef); Diet 2:2 kg cubes, 5 kg lucerne hay (Medicago sativa); Diet 3:2 kg ...

Four cattle, sheep, ponies and donkeys were fed dehydrated lucerne, early-cut hay, later-cut hay or barley straw in a Latin square-based design for four periods of 35 d. In the first sub-period animals were fed the diets ad libitum (1-21 d) and in the second sub-period they were fed the same diet restricted to 0.75 of ad libitum intake (days 22-35). Measurements of forage intake, apparent diges...

In vitro techniques were evaluated to determine the nutritive value of a selection of tanniniferous tree and shrub legumes (Calliandra calothyrsus, Leucaena leucocephala L. diversifolia and L. pallida) compared with lucerne (Medicago sativa). Polyethylene glycol (PEG) was also added to some in vitro fermentations (10 mg PEG/50 mg plant substrate) to assess the effects of tannins on digestion of...

Medicago sativa (lucerne) is used as a traditional plant treatment of diabetes. In the present study, administration of lucerne in the diet (62.5 g/kg) and drinking water (2.5 g/l) reduced the hyperglycaemia of streptozotocin-diabetic mice. An aqueous extract of lucerne (1 mg/ml) stimulated 2-deoxy-glucose transport (1.8-fold), glucose oxidation (1.7-fold) and incorporation of glucose into glyc...