Archive

93 posts

Food

Thomet A., Sieber R., Gugolz R., Gantenbein-Demarchi C.

Efficient conservation of microorganisms by flow bed-drying

The process of flow bed drying has been used for the conservation of several different products for some time. Preliminary experiments for the conservation of lactic acid bacteria gave positive results. Commercial use of the flow bed-drying technology for the conservation and confectioning of microorganisms used in fermentation processes seems to be realisable, however, further…
Animal production

Dufey P.-A., Chambaz A.

Carcass qulity of steers of six beef breeds

Carcass quality was investigated in 138 steers of the six beef breeds Angus (AN), Simmental (SI), Charolais (CH), Limousin (LI), Blonde d’Aquitaine (BL) and Piedmontese (PI). In one group, steers were slaughtered at the same finishing degree defined by the fat grading class 3 (CH-TAX, optimally fattened), and in the other group, upon attaining an…
Animal production

Kreuzer M.

Potential of rarely used animal feed

Results from experiments on the potential of rarely employed animal feeds are presented. Oilseeds are suitable when fed to growing ruminants in order to modify the product quality (especially the shelf life of the meat) and to reduce methane emission. The oilseeds investigated (canola, sunflower, flax) had a slightly different effect. Sunflower seed, although particularly…
Plant production

Keiser A., Häberli M., Schnyder E., Berchier P., Häni F.

Quality assurance in potato production

In recent years, quality problems in Swiss potato production have increased. In an on-farm experiment on 93 plots all relevant management, site and quality parameters are studied. The results can be summarised as follows: In 2001, only 30% of the plots fulfilled the Swiss quality standard without sorting out damaged tubers. For 19% the quality…
Environment

Bigler F., Babendreier D., Kuske S.

Ecological risks due to biological control of the European corn borer with Trichogramma

The exotic egg parasitoid Trichogramma brassicae, which originates from the northern part of the Black Sea area, is successfully used for biological control of the European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis). In a four years project, we evaluated if mass releases of the parasitic wasp may pose a risk to non-target insect populations, in particular to…
Environment

Herrmann B., Neftel A.

Ammonia exchange with grasslands

As it is generally known, plants can exchange ammonia (NH3) with the atmosphere. Yet, the actual NH3 exchange potential of crops, especially of grassland, has hardly been studied so far. The European project GRAMINAE focused on the influence of climate and management on NH3 exchange between grassland and the atmosphere on different sites throughout Europe.…

Site-specific influences on diffusion of odours released by animal housing systems

The Swiss Agency for the Environment, Forests and Landscape (SAEFL) commissioned the Swiss Federal Research Station for Agricultural Economics and Engineering (FAT) in Tänikon to revise the FAT report no. 476 on minimal distances of animal housing systems (Richner, Schmidlin, 1995). In general, the existing guideline proved to be useful for closed houses with forced…
Animal production

Dufey P.-A., Chambaz A., Morel I., Chassot A.

Fattening performance of steers of six beef breeds

The fattening performance of 138 steers of the beef breeds Angus (AN), Simmental (SI), Charolais (CH), Limousin (LI), Blonde d’Aquitaine (BL) and Piemontese (PI) was investigated over two series. The basic ration fed ad libitum consisted of grass and maize silage in a proportion of 1:2 in the dry matter, which was supplemented with concentrate.…
Plant production

Zanetti S., Herrmann D.

Identification of cereal varieties by means of electrophoresis

The identification of varieties on a seed-material basis is impossible. In addition the differentiation between the cereal Triticale and wheat is often difficult. Due to the high variability of the gliadins the electrophoretic separation of these storage proteins results in variety- and/or species-specific banding pattern. In this study we investigated the gliadin-banding pattern of the…
Food

Collomb M., Eyer H., Sieber R.

Chemical structure and composition of fatty acids in milk fat

Milk fat contains approximately 400 different fatty acids. They can originate directly from the fat of the foodstuffs or the animal tissue, formed either by biohydrogenation in the rumen of the cow or synthesised in the mammary gland. At the present time, the official methods for the determination of fatty acid composition in milk fat…
Plant production

Theiler R.

Development of fennel and bolting

“Fennel is recognised as a long-day plant which develops inflorescence (bolting) at day lengths greater than 14 hours. From the day of planting until bolting the development of the swollen leaf base, “”bulb””, lasts approximately 50 to 65 days, dependent on the variety. The development of the bulb until bolting of different varieties and planting…
Plant production

Steenblock T., Forrer H.-R.

PhytoPRE+2000: a plot specific decision support system on the Internet

Since May 2001, Swiss potato growers are supported by the new internet-based decision support system (DSS) PhytoPRE+2000 to control potato late blight (www.phytopre.ch). Core parameters of this DSS are 1st the actual occurrence of the late blight on national and regional level and 2nd historical (recent) and forecasted weather data to recognise main infection- and…
Environment

Külling D. R., Stadelmann F. X., Candinas T.

Nutrients and pollutants in sewage sludge from 1975 to 1999

The composition of sewage sludge is intensively monitored since 25 years in Switzerland. The nutrient contents have undergone only minor changes. Simultaneously to an increasing production of sewage sludge the nutrient loads have increased during the first 15 years and since remained stable. Except for copper, the load of most heavy metals continuously decreased after…