In captivity colobine monkeys o�en display a so� to watery faecal consistency, in contrast to their wild conspecifics, which usually display well-formed faeces. It has been suggested that dietary fibre, and possibly also dietary water content is related to faecal consistency. To further test this assumption we pooled data on 15 individual feeding periods from six feeding trials with colobine mo...

The concept of a more liberal attitude towards carbohydrate consumption in diabetics is almost as old as the discovery of insulin. Indeed, some of the most elegant studies in this respect were performed by Himsworth (1933). Since then, Kempner has fed rice diets to insulin-requiring diabetics with a large measure of success (Kempner et al. 1958), and these contained over 90% of all energy in ca...

The integrated generation of solid fuel and biogas from biomass (IFBB) is particularly designed for the conversion of semi-natural and high biodiversity grassland biomass into energy. This biomass is problematic in common energy conversion techniques, e.g. biogas conversion or combustion, because of its chemical composition. The IFFB process separates the material into a fibre rich solid fuel a...

Dairy production system in developing countries mainly depends on forage plants and crop residues as major portion of the Ruminants diet. The majority dry matter crops is made up fibre whose digestibility limited rumen ecosystem. Use exogenous fibrolytic enzymes (EFE) gaining popularity recent days they overcome limitations other methodologies which are used to improve fibre. Due microbial enzy...

Trianthema portulacastrum (common farm weed in tropical countries) contains 21.5 ± 1.2% crude protein, similar to Lucerne with relatively low structural carbohydrate (neutral detergent fibre: 43.6 ± 3.1%). The mineral profile of T. portulacastrum was well above the critical level as far as calcium (0.3%), magnesium (0.2%), iron (50 ppm), copper (8 ppm), zinc (30.0 ppm) and manganese (50 ppm), w...

In order to investigate the effect of different levels of niacin supplementation on growth, nutrient utilization, their balance and blood biochemical profile, 15 male buffalo calves (9-10 months of age, 88.4±4.37 kg average body weight) were divided into 3 equal groups each of 5 calves, following a completely randomized design, and fed individually for 120 days with wheat straw and concentrate ...

Resistant glucan (RG) and hydrogenated resistant glucan (HRG) are newly developed non-digestible carbohydrate materials that decrease lifestyle-related diseases. The bioavailability of RG and HRG was investigated by in vitro experiments using human and rat small intestinal enzymes and by in vivo experiments using rats in the present study. Oligosaccharides, which are minor components of RG and ...

The positive effects of dietary fibre on health are now widely recognised; however, our understanding of the mechanisms involved in producing such benefits remains unclear. There are even uncertainties about how dietary fibre in plant foods should be defined and analysed. This review attempts to clarify the confusion regarding the mechanisms of action of dietary fibre and deals with current kno...

The results of three successive experiments were compared in order to analyse the chronology of absorbed energy amounts resulting from enzymatic or microbial digestion, respectively. These experiments were undertaken in the pig to study the absorption kinetics of reducing sugars and amino-nitrogen formed during enzymatic digestion and of volatile fatty acids (VFA) formed through the action of t...

India is endowed with a rich genetic diversity of plant species. The less important, so-called underutilized remained uncared for and remained mainly confined to natural wild, semi-wild and semi-domesticated conditions. Kachnar (Bauhinia variegata Linn.) is one of them with green buds and pink flowers. It is a multipurpose plant species used traditionally as vegetables and also have therapeutic...