Shrimp farming

Background and Aim: Crude glycerin is changed to propionate in the rumen, while chitosan can be used as a feed supplement to increase propionic acid concentration and decrease methane (CH4) production. We hypothesized that supplementation with a combination of a high level of crude glycerin with chitosan could have a beneficial effect on ruminal fermentation and mitigate CH4 production. This study aimed to explore the combined effects of crude glycerin and chitosan supplementation on nutrient digestibility, rumen fermentation, and CH4 calculation in native Thai bulls.

Materials and Methods: Four 2-year-old native Thai bulls, weighing 150±20 kg, were kept in a 2×2 factorial arrangement in a 4×4 Latin square design. Factor A represented the incorporation of crude glycerin at 10.5% and 21% of the dry matter (DM) of a total mixed ration (TMR), and factor B represented the supplementation of chitosan at 1% and 2% DM of a TMR.

Results: Increasing levels of crude glycerin at 21% decreased DM intake by 0.62 kg/day compared with 10.5% crude glycerin (p<0.05), whereas nutrient digestibility did not change (p>0.05). The incorporated crude glycerin and supplemented chitosan levels did not affect the pH, temperature, concentrations of ammonia-nitrogen, microbial population, and blood urea nitrogen (p>0.05). Supplemented chitosan and incorporated crude glycerin did not show any interaction effects on the molar portions and total volatile fatty acids (VFAs), except estimated CH4. Increasing the incorporated crude glycerin levels increased propionate and decreased the ratio of acetate to propionate ratio, whereas levels of butyrate, acetate, and total VFAs were unchanged. The combination of crude glycerin at 21% in the TMR with chitosan at 2% reduced CH4 estimation by 5.08% compared with the other feed treatment.

Conclusion: Increasing incorporated crude glycerin levels in a TMR significantly elevated the propionate concentration, whereas combining 21% crude glycerin in the TMR diet with 2% chitosan supplementation could depress CH4 estimation more effectively than adding one of these supplements alone.

In the Mekong Delta coastal zone, decision makers must weigh trade-offs between sustaining the shrimp sector and thus ensuring economic development,while also promoting sustainable, environmentally friendly practices and planning for climate change adaptation. This study investigates future scenarios for development of shrimp aquaculture using a spatially explicit, agent-based model (ABM) simulating farmers' production system choices. A role playing game (RPG) with farmers was used to calibrate and validate the model. Four scenarios, representing different visions of aquaculture in the next 15 years, were elaborated with decision makers before discussing the different outputs of the model. Iterative consultation with farmers helped to fine-tune the model and identify key parameters and drivers in farmers' decision-making. The recursive process allowed us to construct a model that validly represents reality. Participants stated that use of the RPG improved their insight for planning. Results of the scenarios indicate that (i) intensification of production is unsustainable, (ii) market- based incentives are too limited to stimulate development of an integrated mangrove–shrimp production system and (iii) climate change will cause rapid decline of production in the absence of adaptation measures. RPG appeared to be a valuable method for formalizing local farmers' knowledge and integrating it into the planning approaches used by decision makers. The ABM, thus, can also be considered a medium or communication tool facilitating knowledge-sharing between farmers and decision makers

To understand the relationship between humans and the nonhuman world we need to examine their linkage through philosophical, religious, literary, and political conceptualizations; and in the digital world it is not a difficult task. In the past several decades environmental conservationists and geoscientists started recognizing the importance of a sustainable world and studying the moral and ethical relationship between humans and the environment. Their main objective is to preserve the nonhuman world.
Humans have altered nearly every natural disturbance regime on the planet through climate and landuse change, and in many instances, these processes may have interacting effects. The ‘anthropocene’ contributes the most adverse impact on biodiversity forms and the mankind itself is at the threshold of the Earth's sixth major extinction.  A 2010 study found that marine phytoplankton contributing almost 50% of Earth's total photosynthetic biomass has declined substantially in the world's oceans over the past century. Human activities have accelerated the rate of species extinction.
For sustenance of our planet we all need to be more environmentally aware and the study of environmental awareness has become very relevant. Environmental degradation is so detrimental that it costs long-term health and security of animals, plants and humans. Increased economic growth adversely affecting the environment; with increase in consumption of non-renewable resources and emission of pollutants that ultimately results into potential loss of habitat for many species.

When we think of the environment, do we think about issues such as global warming or global sea levels rising? Do we consider the relationship between human beings and the world, from air pollution to the depletion of natural resources? If we do we can transform the economic gain into environmental gain with devoting resources to protect the environment from degradation and mitigate the harmful effects of pollution through fruitful innovation.
Now it’s the time to recognize the growing importance of study of environmental ethics.  understanding its importance can benefit both humans and the environment. Environmental ethics examine the ethical relationship of humans and the environment. It’s all about caring our surroundings. If people realise how important our mother Earth is for our well being then only they will learn to care and bother about environmental ethics. We have tried to evoke the spirit of wellness of our surroundings.
Environment includes both biotic and abiotic components. This book is a compilation of scholarly articles covering various aspects of nature and human practices. It enumerates with illustration the importance of ethics in maintaining social sanity. It exemplifies how encroaching urbanization affects the vegetation of New Delhi, the perception of the coal worker of Raniganj towards environment, how the tribal societies in north Bengal are getting transformed with time, how forest and garden based economies are interactive with local habitat. Moreover we come to know the vulnerability, landuse changes and changes in the community perception of ecosystem services through temporal studies. Study also encompasses the status of elderlies in present society which indeed very relevant; nothing is beyond environment and anything can influence The Environment.

In April 2012, a specimen of giant tiger prawn, Penaeus monodon, was captured by an artisanal bottom trawlboat on the northern continental shelf of Rio Grande do Norte State, northeastern Brazil. This specimen, a female, was collected from a 4-meter depth, had a partial total length of 249.6 mm and weighted 173 g. This is the second report of P. monodon off the coast of Rio Grande do Norte, 11 years after the first record, which suggests an ongoing southward expansion of this species in northeastern Brazil.