Bilateral renal agenesis in an alpaca cria

A 3-day-old male alpaca cria was presented for lack of vigor and failure to urinate since birth. Based on the history, laboratory data, ultrasonographs, surgical findings, and postmortem examination, the cria was diagnosed with bilateral renal agenesis and hypoplastic bladder, a congenital condition rarely seen in veterinary medicine.     

Trace metal concentrations in Posidonia oceanica of North Corsica (northwestern Mediterranean Sea): use as a biological monitor?

Background  

Within semi-closed areas like the Mediterranean Sea, anthropic wastes tend to concentrate in the environment. Metals, in particular, are known to persist in the environment and can affect human health due to accumulation in the food chain. The seagrass Posidonia oceanica, widely found in Mediterranean coastal waters, has been chosen as a "sentinel" to quantify the distribution of such pollutants within the marine environment. Using a technique similar to dendrochronology in trees, it can act as an indicator of pollutant levels over a timeframe of several months to years. In the present study, we measured and compared the levels of eight trace metals (Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, As, Se, Cd, and Pb) in sheaths dated by lepidochronology and in leaves of shoots sampled from P. oceanica meadows collected from six offshore sites in northern Corsica between 1988 and 2004; in the aim to determine 1) the spatial and 2) temporal variations of these metals in these areas and 3) to compared these two types of tissues.     

Genetic architecture of adult plant resistance to leaf rust in a wheat association mapping panel

Leaf rust caused by Puccina triticina is one of the most destructive fungal diseases of wheat (Triticum aestivum). Adult plant resistance (APR) is an effective strategy to achieve long‐term protection from the disease. In this study, findings are reported from a genome‐wide association study (GWAS) using a panel of 96 wheat cultivars genotyped with 874 Diversity Arrays Technology (DArT) markers and tested for adult leaf rust response in six field trials. A total of 13 quantitative trait loci (QTL) conferring APR to leaf rust were identified on chromosome arms 1BL, 1DS, 2AS, 2BL, 2DS, 3BS, 3BL, 4AL, 6BS (two), 7DS, 5BL/7BS and 6AL/6BS. Of these, seven QTLs mapped close to known resistance genes and QTLs, while the remaining six are novel and can be used as additional sources of resistance. Accessions with a greater number of combined QTLs for APR showed lower levels of disease severity, demonstrating additive and significant pyramiding effects. All QTLs had stable main effects and they did not exhibit a significant interaction with the experiments. These findings could help to achieve adequate levels of durable resistance through marker‐assisted selection and pyramiding resistance QTLs in local germplasm.     

Fungal invasion and mycotoxin contamination of stored sorghum grain as influenced by threshing methods

Sanitation from harvest to storage is a key factor in eliminating sources of infection and reducing levels of mycotoxigenic fungal invasion, and thereby mycotoxin contamination. This study was conducted at Haramaya University, Eastern Ethiopia to investigate the effects of threshing methods on fungal invasion and mycotoxin contamination of sorghum grain. The methods included threshing on bare ground, cow-dung-painted ground, concrete asphalt and canvas. The threshed grain was kept separately in bags in three replications in a completely randomized design and stored for five months. The results revealed that all the sorghum grain samples taken from different threshing methods were contaminated with both Aspergillus and Fusarium species. There were variations in fungal invasion between samples taken immediately after threshing and stored samples. The level of Aspergillus spp. invasion was much higher in the latter in sorghum grain threshed on bare ground. The concentration of aflatoxin B₁ was gradually increased, whereas the total fumonisin concentration was decreased with the storage duration both in 2013 and 2014. On stored sorghum grain, the highest (1.97 µg kg^?1) and the lowest (0.70 µg kg^?1) mean aflatoxin B₁ concentrations were recorded from sorghum grains threshed on bare ground and on canvas, respectively. Sorghum grain obtained from canvas threshing method had significantly lower mean total fumonisin content (142.5, 54.9 µg kg^?1) than grain from the other methods at threshing. The current work clearly demonstrated the effect that threshing might have on fungal invasion and mycotoxin contamination of sorghum grains. .     

Development of introgression lines with 18 alleles of glutenin subunits and evaluation of the effects of various alleles on quality related traits in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

In this report, we present a set of 104 ILs with 18 alleles for five glutenin loci. They were developed from crossing and backcrossing 64 varieties as donor parents to Yanzhan 1 as recurrent parent. The effects of the 18 alleles on nine dough quality parameters were evaluated in a similar background using these lines. The results showed that Glu-A1a produced the highest SDS-sedimentation volume (Ssd), midline time x=8 width (MTxW), mixing tolerance (MT) and the lowest weakening slope (WS). At the Glu-B1 locus, Glu-B1f produced the highest values for all quality parameters but WS. At the Glu-D1 locus, Glu-D1d was the best for Ssd, grain hardness (GH), midline peak width (MPW), MTxW and MT. The positive effects of Glu-B1f on GH and Glu-B3b on Ssd were mainly from the effect of GPC. Overall, 5 interactive loci and 13 interactive alleles were found to be significant. No negative interaction between high quality glutenin alleles was detected. The preferred allele combinations for breeding were recommended based on the additive and interactive effects. Our results suggest that the ILs with multiple alleles are ideal genomic stocks for evaluating the effects of alleles on some traits and for pyramiding favorable alleles in breeding wheat varieties.     

Pig slurry treatment modifies slurry composition,N2O,and CO2 emissions after soil incorporation

The treatment of manures may improve their agricultural value and environmental quality, for instance with regards to greenhouse gases mitigation and enhancement of carbon (C) sequestration. The present study verified whether different pig slurry treatments (i.e. solid/liquid separation and anaerobic digestion) changed slurry composition. The effect of the slurry composition on N₂O and CO₂ emissions, denitrification and soil mineral nitrogen (N), after soil incorporation, was also examined during a 58-day mesocosm study. The treatments included a non-treated pig slurry (NT), the solid fraction (SF), and the liquid fraction (LF) of a pig slurry and the anaerobically digested liquid fraction (DG). Finally, a non-fertilized (N0) and a treatment with urea (UR) were also present.The N₂O emissions measured represented 4.8%, 2.6%, 1.8%, 1.0% and 0.9% of N supplied with slurry/fertilizer for NT, LF, DG, SF and UR, respectively. Cumulative CO₂ emissions ranged from 0.40 g CO₂-C kg^?1 soil (0.38 Mg CO₂-C ha^?1) to 0.80 g CO₂-C kg^?1 soil (0.75 Mg CO₂-C ha^?1). They were highest for SF (56% of C applied), followed by NT (189% of C applied), LF (337% of C applied) and DG (321% of C applied). Ammonium was detected in the soil for all treatments only at day one, while nitrate concentration increased linearly from day 15 to day 58, at a rate independent of the type of slurry/fertilizer applied. The nitrate recovery at day 58 was 39% of the N applied for NT, 19% for SF, 52% for LF, 67% for DG, and 41% for UR. The solid fraction generally produced higher potential denitrification fluxes (75.3 for SF, 56.7 for NT, 53.6 for LF, 47.7 for DG and 39.7 mg N₂O + N₂-N kg^?1 soil for UR). The high variability of actual denitrification results obfuscated any treatment effect.We conclude that treatment strongly affects slurry composition (mainly its C, fibre and NH₄⁺ content), and hence N₂O and CO₂ emission patterns as well as denitrification processes and nitrate availability. In particular, the solid fraction obtained after mechanical separation produced the most pronounced difference, while the liquid fraction and the anaerobically digested liquid fraction did not show significant difference with respect to the original slurry for any of the measured parameters. Combining data from the different fractions we showed that separation of slurry leads to reduced N₂O emissions, irrespective of whether the liquid fraction is digested or not. Furthermore, our results suggested that the default emission factor for N₂O emissions inventory is too low for both the non-treated pig slurry and its liquid fraction (digested or not), and too high for the separated solid fraction and urea.     

Confirmation of declared provenance of European extra virgin olive oil samples by NIR spectroscopy

The potential of near-infrared transflectance spectroscopy (1100-2498 nm) combined with chemometric techniques to confirm the geographical origin of European olive oil samples was evaluated. In total, 913 extra virgin olive oil samples (210 Ligurian and 703 non-Ligurian) were collected over three consecutive harvests (2005, 2006, and 2007). A multivariate spectral fingerprint for Ligurian olive oil was developed and deployed to confirm or refute a claim that any given sample was Ligurian. Samples were pseudorandomly split into calibration (n = 280) and validation sets (n = 633); the only selection constraint applied was to insist on equal numbers of Ligurian and non-Ligurian samples in the calibration set. Following preliminary examination by principal component analysis, the full spectrum modeling method applied to the spectral data set was discriminant partial least-squares regression; various data pretreatments were also investigated. The best models correctly predicted the origins of samples in the prediction set up to 92.8 and 81.5% for Ligurian and non-Ligurian olive oil samples, respectively, using a first-derivative data pretreatment. The potential of this approach in commercial traceability and quality assurance schemes is noted.     

Krachtvoer: effect evaluation of a Dutch healthful diet promotion curriculum for lower vocational schools

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to assess the behavioural effects of a school-based healthful diet promotion intervention implemented in lower vocational schools. DESIGN: A cluster-randomised pre-test-post-test experimental design was used, and data were collected by means of written questionnaires. SETTING: Students of 18 Dutch lower vocational schools. SUBJECTS: The final sample consisted of 10 experimental schools with 13 teachers, 37 classes and 879 students, and eight control schools with 10 teachers, 31 classes and 734 students (total n = 1613). RESULTS: Fixed regression analyses revealed beneficial effects on the behavioural measures relating to fruit intake (as assessed by a food frequency measure and fruit consumption during the previous day), and most behavioural measures related to high-fat snack intake (food frequency measure, and number of snacks and total fat intake from snacks during the previous day). The behavioural effects relating to breakfast habits were limited. Some positive behavioural effects occurred in the total target population, others mainly or only among students with more unfavourable intakes at baseline. Mixed regression analysis found comparable regression coefficients for the behavioural outcomes, but the effects related to fruit intake were no longer statistically significant. CONCLUSIONS: Although we did not find the expected effects on all outcome indicators, the total pattern of results suggest that Krachtvoer offered a surplus value over existing curricula. However, some programme elements need to be revised to improve effectiveness and prevent negative effects, and more information is needed about the long-term effects of the programme.     

Effects of freshly incorporated straw residue on rill erosion and hydraulics

Rill hydraulics (and hence, flow detachment) are modified by the presence of incorporated vegetation residue. Typically, water flow in the rill is retarded due to the extra shear stress generated by the residue. The main objective of this study was to develop an approach to predict soil detachment by rill flow in the presence of freshly incorporated vegetation residue that is compatible with our current understanding of rill hydraulics and requires no additional information on rill geometry. Laboratory experiments were carried out to collect a dataset on rill flow detachment on surfaces with incorporated straw that was compatible with existing dataset on bare soils (Giménez and Govers, 2001). Interaction between bed roughness and flow hydraulics in eroding rills. Water Resources Research, Vol. 37 No. 3, 791–799).