The benefits of lemon grass.

Lemongrass (Cymbopogon) is a tall perennial plant from the Poaceae grass family, which thrives in tropical and subtropical regions, such as in India, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, China and Guatemala. This plant grows in dense clumps and has bright green, sharp-edged leaves, similar to grass. Lemongrass is a popular flavoring in Asian cooking — added to curries and soups, or paired with beef, fish, poultry and seafood. Fresh lemongrass is also used to make lemongrass tea. Lemon grass is used to make a refreshing foot bath. Add two drops to a bowl of warm water, and soak your feet for 10 minutes. If your feet are aching, add 2 tablespoons of Epsom salts. Lemon grass can be used as message oil,this is done by mixing with almond oil. Lemon grass can be used to kill fleas and lice on dog's coat. This done by spraying diluted lemongrass oil all over his coat. You can also soak his collar in it, add it to his final rinse after shampooing, or spray it on his bedding.13 Do not use lemongrass oil on your cat, however, as it can be very toxic to felines, and even cause liver damage to them over a period of time. more

East meets West in Indonesian fusion food.

From a restaurant serving burgers and pizzas made with local noodles to a social media star giving street food a touch of haute cuisine, a new wave of innovative chefs are putting a modern twist on Indonesia's traditional fare. New eateries have sprung up rapidly in recent years in the capital Jakarta offering a wide array of foreign foods to cater to a growing consumer class which has emerged after a long economic boom. But rather than focus entirely on cuisine from overseas, some chefs decided to fuse the new influences with age-old Indonesian foods.more

Growing edible fungus is a thriving industry in NE China.

Edible fungus is an ingredient in most Chinese delicacy,thus the growing of edible fungus is thriving fast. The fungus has long been a popular ingredient in many Chinese dishes and also used in Chinese medicine thus growing edible fungus has become an important industry in some regions of the country. Greenhouses are springing up in the country where the edible fungus is grown see

Feline diabetes incidence increases when dry food is the diet.

A new study has shown that feline diabetes incidence increases when dry food is the diet. The study shows the risk of cats fed with dry food developing diabetes ,even cats with normal weight fed with dry foods have a risk of developing diabetes. The study which was conducted by an online survey,had various questions such as age,breed, diet,exercise,neuter/spay status,body weight,medication,exercise and behavior.The result of the survey further provided a platform for classifying the cats based on diet,with cats fed dry food in a section,cats with wet food in another and those fed a combination of the 2 diets types. The research showed that obesity was a precursor for feline diabetes but also that cats with normal weights fed with dry food were at risk of diabetes. The underlying cause is that dry food(kibble) is rich in carbohydrates and all these carbohydrates breakdown to sugars which triggers diabetes. Cats should be fed on low carbohydrate diet and even treats with high carbohydrate level should be avoided.

AI-infected poultry hits grocery shelves in Russia

AI-infected poultry hits grocery shelves in Russia: Russia’s veterinary body Rosselkhoznadzor has discovered several batches of turkey infected with highly pathogenic avian influenza (AI) on supermarket shelves.

Benefits of feeding soaked hay to horses with certain health conditions.

Hay refers to grasses ,herbaceous plants and legumes that are cut,dried and sold to be used as animal fodder. Hay is commonly used in horses, ruminants, rabbits and guinea pigs. Hay is commonly made from grasses,but can also be made from legumes. Farmers also make hay from barley,oats and wheat plants are also used. Hay is usually fed to animals in pen or stalls instead of allowing them to pasture. The benefit of feeding hay is that animals have constant access to feed even when conditions such as drought is experienced and also its the main feed of grazing animal,hence it can supply 100% of fodder required. The process of making hay makes it dry and dusty making it difficult to feed some animals especially those with respiratory conditions hence several methods have been employed to reduce the dusty nature without reducing nutritional quality. Soaking hay is an accepted and most common method of presenting hay to animals. There is a proper method of soaking hay before presentation as soaking for about 30 minutes will reduce the nutritional value of the hay. The key ingredient that is manipulated when soaking is the nonstructural carbohydrates which can either make or mar the purpose of feeding the hay. In obese horses, soaking the grass hays before feeding will reduce the nonstructural carbohydrates in the hay,thus help manage weight as less feed will be consumed by the horses as the moisture content will also promote satiety level thus managing the weight of obese horses. Horses with hyperkalemic periodic paralysis(HYPP), a genetic condition associated with high levels of potassium resulting in muscle twitching and paralysis. Soaking hay reduces the level of potassium it contains,thus feeding soaked hay will be a remedy for horses with HYPP. Horses with insulin resistance and equine metabolic syndrome are sensitive to increase in carbohydrate can be fed on soaked hay to reduce the level of non structural carbohydrates thus preventing laminitis. Horses with pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction(PPID) better known as Cushing's disease ,should be fed with hay with less than 12% non structural carbohydrates .This can easily be achieved by soaking hay to reduce the non structural carbohydrate level . The benefits of feeding soaked hay to horses with certain health conditions outlined above can be sabotaged if soaking is not done properly. Soaking of hay for as little as 30 minutes reduces the nutrient level thus making it useless and of no benefit,hence soaking should be done quickly for about 10-15 minutes to get desired results.

How to use nutrition to heal sick horses.

Nutrition is vital for growth and development in horses, but sick horses also need a healthy plan to stay alive,healthy and recover fast. Sick horses can be difficult to manage if the proper combination of feed is not presented as certain conditions require restrictions of certain food groups to aid healing. Horses with respiratory diseases such as heaves and inflammatory airway disorder should be handled with care as these conditions are intensified with inhalation of particles. Feeding horses with these conditions will require altering typical feed or changing presentation of feed to reduce possibility of inhaling feed particles. Horses with these conditions can be fed using hay cubes or soak the hay for about 10-15 minutes before presentation. Horses can also be fed steamed hay,which will reduce the intensity of dust particles and also sterilize the hay by killing any pathogen in the hay. Hay can also be presented in pelleted form to reduce the chances of inhaling dust particles. When horses have chronic kidney disease ,the aim will be to avoid dietary protein but encourage the normal eating and drinking .Horses with chronic kidney disease fed on dietary protein will urinate excessively thus putting further pressure on kidneys thus protein is not recommended also the amount of calcium must be reduced so as to decrease the amount of substance the kidney must excrete in urine. The horse should be fed high quality hay or keep horses on pasture. Horses that have been off feed for a while or had feed that had restricted energy requirement are prone to hepatic lipidosis which is life-threatening. Horses must be encouraged to eat and a balanced ration presented. The feeding regimen must be aggressive to get the horse back in shape,this can be achieved by using hand feeding or passing of a nasogastric tube.