Engineering the Structure of Multi-thread Fancy Bouclé Yarn: Individual Effects of the Number of Wraps and the Overfeed Ratio

This study is about the influence of the number of wraps and the overfeed ratio on the fancy bouclé yarn structure. The bouclé yarns of this study were made on a hollow-spindle spinning system. The number of wraps and the overfeed ratio were increased incrementally and individually in two different experiments. It was found that there were significant linear relationships between increasing the overfeed ratio and increasing the number and size of fancy bouclé profiles, but at the expense of decreasing their circularity ratio and changing the bouclé yarn morphology. However, increasing the number of wraps made a significant linear reduction to the size of fancy bouclé profile but without affecting their number. This study aids bouclé yarn manufacturers to increase their understanding of the structure and aesthetics of bouclé yarns. It also shows them how the morphology of bouclé profiles may change when the overfeed ratio or the number of wraps is changed. In particular, variants of bouclé profiles may appear, which can increase the potential for those variants to attract the attention of designers and consumers. It also can strengthen the manufacturers’ capabilities to satisfy the needs of a wide range of consumers, by creating a wider range of novelty clothing.

The effects of compound treatment of Aspergillus oryzae and fibrolytic enzyme on in vitro degradation, gas production and fermentative profile of maize silage and sugarcane silage

The present study was conducted to evaluate the effect of a live culture of Aspergillus oryzae (A; CCT4359) and fibrolytic enzyme (E; Fibrozyme Alltech Inc.) on fibre digestibility by a gas production bioassay and in vitro degradation of maize silage and sugarcane silage. A completely randomized design trial was performed to evaluate: A doses (0, 20, 60 and 100 mg/l), E doses (0, 160, 320 and 480 mg/l) and roughage source (R; maize and sugarcane silage) in a 4 × 4 × 2 factorial arrangement. The inclusion of increasing doses of A and E increased dry matter and neutral detergent fibre in vitro digestibility linearly, but for E this effect occurred only in maize silage. There was a linear increase in the potential for gas production at the highest dose of A only in sugarcane silage, with no effect on lag time (L). Increasing doses of E increased the volume of gases produced linearly, and a trend of linear reduction of L, regardless of the roughage. There was a linear reduction in ammonia-nitrogen concentration in response to increasing doses of A and E, and an increase in acetic acid concentration at the highest dose of A, regardless of roughage. The additives had no synergistic effect on gas production and digestibility, but were efficient in altering the fermentative pattern, demonstrating the potential to increase fibre degradation.

Effects of graded levels of kolanut husk on the performance of cockerels

Eighty black Nera cockerel chicks were randomly alloted to four dietarey treatmants containing 0, 10, 20 and 30% kolanut husk meal (KHM) for twelve weeks. Significant differences (P<0.05) in feed intake, weight gain and feed conversion ratio were observed. Dietary inclusion of KHM depressed (P<0.05) growth rate feed conversion ratio and nutrition uilization of cockerels birds. There were linear reduction (P>0.05) in nitrogen retention and apparent crude fibre digestibility (ACFD) of cockerels birds at each incremental KHM dietary levels. This indicated that KHM could be effeciently utilized by cockerels up to 205 dietary level above which the depression in growth rate occurs.