Meister Eckhart: Principles of his Mysticism and Metaphysics

Meister Eckhart’s mysticism of the ground of the soul is considered as the inner connection between God and man. The ground of the soul and the ground of God are in reality one ground. Author argues that the term “Ground,” for Meister Eckhart, refers to the uncreated and eternal in the soul, which is also called the divine spark. In this detachment and in this Ground, the birth of God takes place, the unio mystica, which denotes the divinisation of the human being. Meister Eckhart describes the path into this mystical unio as a path of detachment and abandonment or cutting off. Finally, Eckhart’s famous poem Granum Sinapis (mustard seed) is presented as a poetic summary of his mysticism of union with the highest reality of God.

The increase of egg productivity of laying hens when using non-traditional feed and biologically active additives

In poultry farming, feed remains the most expensive part and farmers are constantly trying to optimize diets, both in terms of price and nutrition, so that the poultry can realize its genetic potential. Such feeding diets should maintain the highest productivity of poultry in a normal state of health; contribute to improving the quality of products and reducing the cost of its production. The purpose of the work was the theoretical and experimental justification of the use of new varieties of sorghum, chickpeas, mustard seed processing products, as well as targeted formulations of biologically active additives (premixes, PVMC, NutoVit additive) based on local feed sources, increasing the nutritional value of compound feed, reducing their cost, increasing egg productivity and obtaining complete food and incubation chicken eggs. The nutritional value of a new variety of chickpeas Privo 1, sorghum Kamyshinskoe 75 with different levels of their input into compound feed instead of sunflower presscake and corn grain for young birds and laying hens, respectively, has been studied in the paper. The effectiveness of using different levels of mustard seed processing products – feed concentrate from vegetable raw materials Sarepta and mustard protein-containing feed concentrate Gorlinka in feeding of laying hens instead of the traditionally used sunflower seed presscake and meal. The influence of the premix and the protein-vitamin concentrate Gorlinka based on the products of processing mustard seeds and the additive NutoVit in the composition of compound feed for chickens of the parent and industrial herd has been determined. The use of non-traditional feed and biologically active additives in the diets of young birds and laying hens has a positive effect on the growth and development of young animals, egg productivity of laying hens and egg quality, as well as increases the efficiency of production.

Development of Accelerated Soaking Method for Mustard using Microwave-Assisted Heating

Mustard seeds are generally undergone the soaking process before use in any food application. But soaking mustard in water takes lots of time and energy. Therefore, the present investigation was carried out to study the soaking characteristics of mustard seed in different soaking conditions. The mustard seed was soaking in ambient water, hot water, and microwave heating applications. The initial moisture content of the mustard seed was found to be 12.64 % db. The moisture gain was found to be 55.46 % db in ambient water soaking after 360 min. In the hot water soaking, the moisture gain was estimated to be 68.33 % db, 80.40 % db, and 86.18 % db at 40°C, 50°C, and 60°C, respectively. The moisture gains in microwave-assisted soaking at 0.2, 0.4, 0.6, 0.8 and 1.0 W/g power densities level were found to be 67.77 % db, 67.80 % db, 103.28 % db, 115.08 % db, 131.51 % db, respectively after 10 min. The Peleg model was found to be suitable for describing the soaking characteristics of mustard seed at all soaking conditions with higher R2 values. Among all the soaking methods, microwave-assisted soaking showed the best soaking characteristics of mustard with less time consumption and with more amount of moisture gain. Therefore, microwave-assisted soaking of mustard seed may be recommended for soaking of mustard which is less time-consuming and energy-saving process

A Novel Route of Mixed Catalysis for Production of Fatty Acid Methyl Esters from Potential Seed Oil Sources

Depleting petroleum resources coupled with the environmental consequences of fossil fuel combustion have led to the search for renewable alternatives, such as biodiesel. In this study, sunflower (Helianthus annus), mustard (Brassica compestres) and pearl millet (Pennisetum americanum) seed oils were converted into biodiesel (fatty acid methyl esters) by acid-, base- and lipase-catalyzed transesterification, and the resultant fuel properties were determined. The methyl esters displayed superior iodine values (102–139), low densities, and a high cetane number (CN). The highest yield of biodiesel was obtained from mustard seed oil, which provided cloud (CP) and pour (PP) points of −3.5 and 5 °C, respectively, and a CN of 53. The sunflower seed oil methyl esters had a density of 0.81–0.86 kg/L at 16 °C, CP of 2 °C, PP of −8 °C, and a CN of 47. The pearl millet seed oil methyl esters yielded a density 0.87–0.89 kg/L, CP and PP of 4 °C and −5 °C, respectively, and a CN of 46. The major fatty acids identified in the sunflower, mustard, and pearl millet seed oils were linolenic (49.2%), oleic acid (82.2%), and linoleic acid (73.9%), respectively. The present study reports biodiesel with ideal values of CP and PP, to extend the use of biodiesel at the commercial level.