LOBSTER FACTS !!!

1. They keep growing forever Or so research suggests. But scientists won’t be able to tell how long lobsters really live because traps aren’t designed to catch the largest lobsters, reports Time.com. “When we catch one that is 20-30 pounds, it’s because a claw got caught in the entrance of the trap, not inside,” says Robert C. Bayer, executive director of The Lobster Institute at the University of Maine. 2. They eat each other “They’re looking for fresh food and what’s around, and if that happens to be another lobster, then it’s dinner,” says Bayer. “One of the reasons lobster culture is not profitable is because they are cannibalistic, and there are lot of expenses that go along with that.” - 3. Females are players—and they make the first move Not much courtship precedes lobster love-making. Females that have just shed their shells send out a pheromone to let the males know they’re in the mood. Usually, lobsters that shed their shells are vulnerable and could be eaten by other lobsters, but when a female says she’s ready to get it on, the male lobster will usually opt to have sex with her over killing her. How do they do it? “I would describe it as the missionary position,” Bayer says. Six to nine months later, eggs appear on her tail, and after another six to 9 months, they hatch. A one-pound-and-a-half female lobster can have between 8,000 to 12,000 eggs, each about the size of a raspberry segment. And they could be from multiple fathers. Females are not monogamous. - 4.They taste with their legs Chemosensory leg and feet hairs identify food. Small antennae in front of their eyes are used for tracking down food that’s farther away. “If you watch a lobster in a tank in a market, you’ll see they’re flipping, looking for food, dissolved substances in the water,” says Bayer. - 5. They chew with their stomachs The grinding structure for breaking up food is called the gastric mill, kind of like a set of teeth on their stomachs, which are right behind the eyes and the size of a walnut in a one-pound lobster. - 6.. They can regenerate limbs “It’s going to take probably a good five years for a one-pound lobster to regenerate a claw that’s about the same size of one that was lost,” says Bayer. But they can do it. - 7.Their shells were once used to make golf balls Shells left over after lobster processing are usually tossed into landfills. So in an effort to make them worth something and keep the money in the lobster industry, a University of Maine professor created golf balls with a core made out of lobster shells. They’re also biodegradable, designed for golfing on cruise ships or courses near oceans and lakes. The problem is they only go about 70 percent of the distance of a regular golf ball. Story source Time.com

HOUSING PIGS IN STYLE!!!

Pigs housed in beautiful and conducive environment,grow faster, better and are less prone to diseases. The role of housing in production can not be over emphasized,look at how pigs are housed for better productivity; look at the Cavite pig city; Read more here;http://www.pigprogress.net/Growing-Finishing/General/2015/9/Cavite-Pig-City-A-city-within-a-city-2673896W/

Grass-fed beef has the lowest red meat cancer risk

Grass-fed beef has the lowest red meat cancer risk

Vietnam raises bird flu alert as dangerous strain detected

Vietnam raises bird flu alert as dangerous strain detected

Global value of processed poultry tipped to rise

Global value of processed poultry tipped to rise The demand for poultry is on the increase thus more revenue is to be generated from the industry.The areas of processing, packaging,transportation and innovative products all make the industry a viable one.

HYDROPONICS AND FOOD SECURITY.

Benefits of hydroponics. 1) There is no need for soil means more food can be grown on less land,this is ideal for a growing, urbanizing global population. 2) Yields can be up to 10 times more than from open field agriculture. 3) The water used can be recycled. 4) Farms can be anywhere, from skyscrapers to shipping containers. 5)Pollution from pesticides and herbicides can be prevented. 6)Local production reduces food miles and transportation costs. , A tech firm Fujitsu , at its Aizu Wakamatsu factory in central Japan is applying cloud-based data analytic s to the production of low-potassium lettuce and spinach.The operation takes place in a dust-free "clean-room" formerly used for semiconductor production. Fujitsu's cloud platform - Akisai - stores and analyses data from lots of sensors in the greenhouses, and enables heating units, ventilation fans and other equipment to be operated remotely."In terms of quality, we have applied the same industrial perspective from semiconductor manufacturing to vegetable cultivation," a Fujitsu spokesman tells the BBC. "Having a control structure that keeps product specifications - the weight and nutrient constituent-parts of lettuce - within a defined range, makes for effective high added-value vegetable production." The company sells the lettuce it produces to hospitals, supermarkets, and hotels - as well as online - and says its cloud service is collecting valuable data that is leading to improved quality and higher yields. Fujitsu's insights and efficiency improvements could also encourage more producers to enter the market and "lead to an increase in younger generations getting into agriculture", the spokesman adds. Story credit;BBC news.

MERS VACCINE !!!

An effective vaccine to protect against the Mers virus is a step closer,european scientists genetically modified a version of the smallpox vaccine to display Mers virus protein on its surface. The vaccine was able to protect camels - the animal reservoir for the virus - from developing Mers virus symptoms. Experts hope the vaccine might stop the virus spreading in camels and may also protect humans at risk from infection. Infections have been reported in 26 countries around the world with the outbreak epi-centre located in the Arabian Peninsula.There are no treatments for Mers but scientists are trying to develop an effective vaccine. One such scientist is Prof Bart Haagmans, who is based at the Erasmus Medical Centre in the Netherlands. He has been busy developing and testing vaccines in camels. A team of scientists drawn from the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, genetically engineered a pox virus called Modified Vaccinia Ankara -MVA - to display Mers virus spike protein on its surface. MVA, related to the virus used to eradicate smallpox, was used to eradicate smallpox and is currently being used to develop vaccines to a variety of viruses like influenza, Ebola and hepatitis C. Importantly it can produce antibodies and killer cells.The Mers spike protein is thought to be a major target for the immune response. The team hoped that by cloaking MVA with this spike they would train the immune system to recognize and kill Mers. The team took the engineered MVA, sprayed it up the noses of camels and injected it into their muscle, and then four weeks later they repeated the vaccination again. When the team exposed the vaccinated animals to the Mers virus the camels developed very mild symptoms. Crucially they didn't develop a runny nose and the amount of virus they produced was very low. Camels that hadn't received the vaccine produced very large amounts of virus and suffered a very runny nose. This indicates that even though the vaccine didn't prevent infection it did reduce the amount of virus that the vaccinated camels produced. story credit BBC news.