Publications by authors named "David Leemans"

The digestive health of cows is one of the primary factors that determine their well-being and productivity. Under- and over-feeding are both commonplace in the beef and dairy industry; leading to welfare issues, negative environmental impacts, and economic losses. Unfortunately, digestive health is difficult for farmers to routinely monitor in large farms due to many factors including the need to transport faecal samples to a laboratory for compositional analysis.

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Article Synopsis
  • * The study focused on the orchard grass variety 'Abertop', analyzing the soluble phenol profile and content during its growth stages, finding significant amounts of hydroxycinnamates and flavonoids.
  • * Harvest yields of these compounds varied, with notable antioxidant activity, and some changes were observed in the soluble phenol content after ensiling, specifically increases in certain caffeic acid derivatives.
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Dielectric spectroscopy (DS) is routinely used in yeast and mammalian fermentations to quantitatively monitor viable biomass through the inherent capacitance of live cells; however, the use of DS to monitor the enzymatic break down of lignocellulosic biomass has not been reported. The aim of the current study was to examine the application of DS in monitoring the enzymatic saccharification of high sugar perennial ryegrass (HS-PRG) fibre and to relate the data to changes in chemical composition. DS was capable of both monitoring the on-line decrease in PRG fibre capacitance (C=580 kHz) during enzymatic hydrolysis, together with the subsequent increase in conductivity (G=580 kHz) resulting from the production of organic acids during microbial growth.

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