Journal Articles

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http://hdl.handle.net/10204/11487

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Browsing Journal Articles by browse.metadata.impactarea "Aquaculture and Veterinary"

Now showing 1 - 5 of 5
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    Appraising waste from fed aquaculture animals as a food source for sea cucumbers
    (2025-09) Onomu, Abigail J; Suleman, Essa
    Nutrient-rich solid waste and effluent water from aquaculture remain a major problem for aquaculture in terms of environmental impact. Integrated multitrophic aquaculture (IMTA), where lower trophic level species consume the waste of fed animals, has been proposed as an alternative for sustainable aquaculture. The use of deposit-feeding sea cucumbers as extractive species in IMTA has attracted research and commercial interest in recent times, due to their low trophic level, high commercial value as food for humans, and ability to ingest sediment containing organic matter, bacteria, protozoa, diatoms, and detritus. Still, the suitability of using faecal waste from fed aquaculture animals as a potential feed requires further studies to ensure not only palatability but also nutritional value, health, and immune responses of the cultured organism. This review discusses various performance indices, such as palatability, ingestion rate, assimilation rate, faecal production rate, feed conversion ratio, growth, and survival of sea cucumber species fed various faecal wastes from different aquaculture animal sources. It further discusses various IMTA applications of sea cucumbers with selected animals. The compatibility, viability and efficacy of sea cucumbers and some aquatic animals in IMTA are summarised.
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    Aquaculture and biodiversity in global food systems
    (2025) Bremner, J; Stentiford, G; Suleman, Essa; Warham, E
    A One Health approach will be essential to ensure future food systems can address the trade-offs between interventions needed to produce more food of higher nutritional value, with a smaller ecosystem footprint. This will involve consideration of hazards that link or spread between different supply chains, taking a whole-systems approach. Here, we consider how biodiversity maps to aquaculture across the One Health space. Aquaculture poses ecosystem health risks through the biodiversity impacts of disease spread, non-native introductions, farm-level pollution and habitat damage. Less well recognised, biodiversity also links strongly to animal/plant health, through increased risk of hazards (pathogen and pest diversity can create significant stock health challenges) but also by providing opportunities – genetic diversity underpins stock fitness and mixed-species farming improves resilience. Application of One Health principles will allow aquaculture to grow sustainably, but this needs the buy-in of policymakers, farmers and the scientific community.
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    Evaluation of minerals, trace elements, and antinutritional factors in selected legume fodder species (Fabaceae) with the potential to improve cattle nutrition and gastrointestinal health
    (2024-08) Lebeloane, MM; Famuyide, Ibukun M; Elgorashi, EE; McGaw, LJ; Kgosana, KG
    The study aimed to investigate the nutritional composition, trace elements and anti-nutritional factors of fodder species belonging to the family Fabaceae potentially used as an alternative feed for cattle. The proximate composition, particularly dry matter, moisture, fats, crude proteins (CP), carbohydrates, crude fibre (CF), and neutral detergent fiber (NDF), were analysed, thereby, nonfibre carbohydrate (NFC) and gross energy (GE) were calculated. Thirty-three trace elements were determined from chemically digested dried plant material using ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry) and ICP-OES (ICP-Optical Emission Spectrophotometry). The tannin levels, a known antinutritional factor, were estimated using Folin–Ciocalteu method. The methods were validated by the relative standard deviation (RSD) values and acceptable recovery percentage, linearity, limit of quantification (LoQ), and limit of detection (LoD). The proximate composition analysis estimated levels of dry matter (> 90 %), ash (3.77–26.98 %), crude proteins (8.22–22.19 %), carbohydrates (54.00–86.79 %), crude fibre (10.54–40.10 %), NDF (22.26–59.20 %) and GE (< 100 Kcal kg−1 DM) in leguminous species. Essential elements were detected in recommended levels including Zn (21.20–50.30 mg/kg), Co (0.06–0.045 mg kg), Cr (0.5–5.08 mg kg−1), Mn (9.02–197 mg kg−1), Mg (0.10–0.52 mg kg−1), Fe (42.40–812 mg kg−1) and Na (72.00–1721 mg kg−1). The concentration of toxic elements was below critical levels and tannin occurred at a safe level (< 50 mgTAE kg−1) for ruminant consumption. Therefore, the selected fodder can effectively contribute to cattle dietary requirements for smallscale farmers in Onderstepoort, Gauteng Province, South Africa.
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    The use of plant viral nanoparticles in cancer biotherapy—A review
    (2024-12) Komane, MD; Kayoka-Kabongo, PN; Rutkowska, Daria A
    Cancer is a major global health problem that poses significant challenges. Conventional cancer therapies often have severe side effects, necessitating the development of novel therapeutic approaches that are more effective and less toxic. The utilization of plant viral nanoparticles is one of the more promising strategies for cancer biotherapy. Plant viral nanoparticles exhibit advantageous properties, including safety, high stability, rapid production and scalability, biocompatibility and biodegradability, structural uniformity, inherent immunogenicity, ease of modification and high update efficacy as well as lower cost implications, making them attractive vehicles for health applications. Various studies have demonstrated the efficacy of plant viral nanoparticles in targeted therapeutic drug/molecule delivery, tumor imaging and immunotherapy, highlighting their potential as a versatile platform for cancer biotherapy. The drawbacks of plant viral nanoparticles include their perceived ability to induce a hypersensitive/allergic immune response, nonwell-defined regulatory approval processes as well as the reluctance of pharmaceutical companies to adapt their manufacturing processes to facilitate plant-based expression. This review discusses applications of plant virus-derived nanoparticles in cancer therapeutics and prospects for translating these findings into clinical practice.
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    Under the scales: Identification of ticks in rehabilitated African pangolins and confiscated scales
    (2025-12) Nethavhani, Z; Radebe, T; Dzerefos, CM; Suleman, Essa; Jansen, R
    Pangolins are the most trafficked mammals globally. Beyond zoonotic concerns related to coronavirus, pangolins serve as hosts for ectoparasites such as ticks, which can be inadvertently transported through illegal wildlife trade and rehabilitation efforts. The transcontinental trafficking of pangolins and their derivatives poses a potential risk of pathogen spillover affecting humans, wildlife, and livestock. Despite these concerns, data on tick infestations in confiscated African pangolins and scales remain scarce. This study aims to identify tick species associated with confiscated pangolins and scales using morphological and molecular approaches. A total of 275 ticks were collected from 17 rehabilitated African pangolins (Smutsia temminckii, Phataginus tricuspis, Phataginus tetradactylus) and nine bags of seized scales. Representative specimens (n = 53) were genetically analyzed by amplifying the 16S rRNA fragment and comparing sequences with publicly available data. Morphological identification revealed five tick species: Amblyomma compressum, A. hebraeum, Ornithodoros compactus, Rhipicephalus theileri, and R. simus. Taxonomic assignments conformed with the DNA-based identification for all species except for ‘O. compactus’ which resulted in O. moubata. These discrepancies may be due to overlapping morphological characters between the two Ornithodoros species. Notably, ticks from the three identified genera are known vectors of pathogens causing diseases such as heartwater, anaplasmosis, babesiosis, theileriosis, African swine fever, and human relapsing fever. We provide the first record of A. hebraeum in Phataginus species, and A. compressum in P. tetradactyla, expanding their host range. This study also establishes a baseline for tick diversity in confiscated African pangolins and scales trafficked within Africa and out of Africa. The findings highlight the importance of integrative taxonomic approaches in tick identification and emphasize the need for further research incorporating additional genetic markers and morphometric analyses to enhance species resolution.