Supplementing flavonoids in poultry diets has shown the potential to progress the nutritional, sensorial and microbiological quality of poultry meat and eggs. In the last decade, several studies have determined the benefits of flavonoids for inhibition of lipid oxidation and microbial growth, check any pH-dependent deterioration and improve the colour stability of meat and related products. Flavonoids are typically absorbed in the ileum where pH is between 5-6.8. The various flavonoids vary in effective dose levels in poultry, but are typically included in levels ranging from 0.05-0.2%. Furthermore, flavonoid supplementation in the chicken diet has been reported to positively alter the fatty acid profile of meat and eggs by reducing the cholesterol and triglyceride content. Meat colour, in terms of lightness, can be improved by up to 5%. The aim of this review is to evaluate the use of various plant flavonoids as a substitute for synthetic feed additives in the poultry feed industry to satisfy consumer demands in terms of quality and safety of animal products. The results have stimulated interest in more research on the various flavonoid classes to determine the most effective compounds and their optimal doses for both broilers and laying hens.

The poultry industry is affected by economically important problems such as Newcastle disease (ND). Newcastle disease virus (NDV) belongs to the Paramyxoviridae family and manifests as different strains; lentogenic, mesogenic and velogenic. ND affects the quality of eggs and impairs growth performance of birds. Various efforts have been made to control economic losses due to this disease, including using live and killed vaccines, which do not confer 100% immunity in all cases. Due to mutations within viral strains, NDV can become resistant and difficult to control, and there is a need to search for alternative measures. Medicinal plants are considered as a complementary means to control this virus, especially in developing countries, because they have been implicated in treatments for a variety of infectious and non-infectious diseases. Alkaloids, flavonoids, saponins and tannins found in plants have been regarded as novel antiviral agents. The following paper encompasses the studies related to plants having in vitro antiviral activity against ND such as Momordica balamina, Adansonia digitata, Artemisia annua, Azadirachta indica, Psidium guajava, Moringa oleifera and plants having good in vivo antiviral activity such as Aloe secundiflora, Cucumis metuliferus and Anthocleista nobilis as well. It discusses plants with the potential to improve the immunity of infected birds, such as Mangrove halophytes, Nigella sativa, Polysavone, Melissa officinalis, Momordica cochinchinensis, Echinacea purpurea, Withania somnifera and Aspargus Racemosus.

Inductively coupled Ar-N2 plasma is characterized by Langmuir probe and optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The plasma parameters including electron temperature, electron number density and electron energy probability functions (EEPFs) are determined by the Langmuir probe for different discharge parameters such as rf power (10–100 W), filling pressure (0.02–0.4 mbar) and argon content (5–95%) in nitrogen discharge. Spectroscopic measurements enable the evaluation of active species concentration ([N],[N2]) in ground electronic state and dissociation fraction. Concentration of active species is increased with the increase in filling pressure in nitrogen discharge keeping argon as an actinometer. It is noticed that the actinometry is an efficient and reliable technique to calculate the concentration of ground electronic state of nitrogen species. Moreover, for different plasma conditions, the molecular dissociation fraction is enhanced, as the Ar content is increased from 5% to 95% in nitrogen discharge. It is found that that dissociation fraction strongly depends on filling pressure and Ar content in nitrogen discharge. Maximum dissociation is observed for 95% Ar at filling pressure of 0.06 mbar. It is also found that the plasma parameters and active species concentration significantly depend on discharge parameters and may be optimized by appropriate selection of discharge conditions.

Plasma nitriding of aluminium in a 50 Hz pulsed-dc glow discharge is studied for different ion-current densities (2.0-5.0 mA cm-2) by keeping the corresponding discharge parameters such as treatment time, chamber pressure, substrate temperature and gas composition same. The treated samples are analysed for changes induced in surface properties using X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), and Vickers's micro-hardness testing. XRD showed the downshift in the original diffraction peak corresponding to (111) plane reflection along with the emergence of new diffraction peak corresponding to (220) plane reflection, confirming the N-diffusion into existing Al-lattice and formation of AlN compound. Surface hardness is significantly improved which might be attributed to the diffusion of nitrogen and compound layer formation.

Optical Emission Spectroscopy (OES) is used to investigate the effect of argon gas mixing on the electron temperature, the degree of nitrogen dissociation and the active species concentration in a 13.56 MHz radio frequency (RF) sustained nitrogen plasma. The electron temperature is determined from Ar-I emission line intensities by using the modified Boltzmann's plot method and is found to be increased with argon mixing in nitrogen plasma. The concentration of active species $\rm N_2(C ^3\Pi_{\it u})$ and $\rm N_2^+ (B ^2\Sigma_{\it u}^+)$ is monitored in terms of the emission intensities of nitrogen (0–0) bands of the second positive and the first negative systems respectively. The concentration of $\rm N_2 (C^3\Pi_{\it u})$ active species along with the degree of N2-dissociation is appreciably enhanced by argon mixing signifying the role of argon metastables in the excitation and dissociation processes.

Sensor application of Polyurethane Nanofiber Webs (PNW) has been explored in this study. PNW were prepared by electrospinning of the polyurethane solution in dimethylformamide. Silver nanoparticles with a size of 60 nm on PNW were produced by precipitation of AgNO3 in alkaline media. A micromachined capacitive pressure sensor has been designed using a special elastic and conducting thin membrane (PNW) as an active electrode sensing the pressure. With an additional inductor and a metal-semiconductor field effect transistor (MESFET), a microwave oscillator has also been designed as part of the system. The capacity variation due to changing pressure results in a frequency shift of this oscillator. This frequency shift is measured and corresponds to the pressure. The simulations performed on this structure show a very good linearity over a wide range of applied pressure which could be detected by change in oscillator frequency. These results indicate that an implementation of PNW as an active material in capacitative sensing applications of MicroElectroMechanical Systems (MEMS) could be feasible.