Key parameters of head-heart electrical stunning need to be adapted to improve stunning effectiveness and meat quality in pigs of different genetic lines.

Adjustment of key parameters of electrical stunning of pigs is necessary to better respect animal welfare and avoid impairments of meat quality. In the present study, we analysed the effect of genetic line, stunning program and genetic line × stunning program interactions on stunning effectiveness, carcass and meat quality traits in 10,338 pigs from five different genetic lines in a German slaughterhouse using electrical stunning (two-cycle method head/heart current). Genetic line, stunning program and its interaction significantly influenced stunning effectiveness and pH in the semimembranosus muscle. Backup stunning rates ranged from 1.59 to 5.01% in the five genetic lines, and were significantly decreased (2.85%) in program 1 using a current of 1.3 to 1.35 A, 800 Hz and 1 s for the head-cycle compared to program 2 (4.73%) with 1.8 A, 100 Hz and 4.5 s. We suggest to consider genetic line × stunning program interactions when adjusting officially defined stunning parameters for head-heart electrical stunning.

Resting Escherichia coli as Chassis for Microbial Electrosynthesis: Production of Chiral Alcohols.

Chiral alcohols constitute important building blocks that can be produced enantioselectively by using nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (phosphate) [NAD(P)H]-dependent oxidoreductases. For NAD(P)H regeneration, electricity delivers the cheapest reduction equivalents. Enzymatic electrosynthesis suffers from cofactor and enzyme instability, whereas microbial electrosynthesis (MES) exploits whole cells. Here, we demonstrate MES by using resting Escherichia coli as biocatalytic chassis for a production platform towards fine chemicals through electric power. This chassis was exemplified for the synthesis of chiral alcohols by using a NADPH-dependent alcohol dehydrogenase from Lactobacillus brevis for synthesis of (R)-1-phenylethanol from acetophenone. The E. coli strain and growth conditions affected the performance. Maximum yields of (39.4±5.7) % at a coulombic efficiency of (50.5±6.0) % with enantiomeric excess >99 % was demonstrated at a rate of (83.5±13.9) µm h-1 , confirming the potential of MES for synthesis of high-value compounds.

Spatial distribution of calcium in food, water and soil and its possible influence on rickets disease in Northern Nigeria.

Since the 1990s, children of the Gbagyi tribe in Northern Nigeria have been suffering severe rickets with an incidence of up to 40% in the children's generation. The disease seems to be prevalent in an area of approximately 100 km(2) south-east of Kaduna. According to broad medical studies in that area, there is no evidence for a genetic disposition but for a nutritional cause of the disease. A lack of calcium was found in blood and was calculated to originate from diet. We therefore checked parent material, soil, maize cobs (Zea mays) and drinking water for their specific Ca contents from a region with rickets problem (study area A) and compared the results to Ca amounts in similar samples from a region where rickets is unknown among the Gbagyi population (study area B). It thereby became apparent that there are no differences in mineralogical composition of the parent material between the study areas, but that Ca contents in soil, maize cobs and drinking water are 47.6%, 26.6%, respectively, 79.1% lower in study area A compared to study area B. This result suggests that there may indeed be a nutritionally and/or environmentally influence on rickets disease. Nevertheless, further research on this topic is required.