施肥对灌漠土作物产量、土壤肥力与重金属含量的影响

有机物还田是提升土壤肥力的主要措施,但也存在造成土壤金属污染的潜在风险。为查明不同有机物还田对土壤质量及作物产量的影响,本文通过长期定位试验,研究了无肥对照、常规施化肥(氮磷配施)以及70%常规化肥与牛粪、沼渣、污泥、鸡粪、菌渣和猪粪配施对土壤理化性状、有机碳和氮的固存率、氮磷钾活化系数、作物产量及重金属含量的影响。结果表明:牛粪、沼渣、污泥、菌渣、鸡粪和猪粪与70%化肥配施虽作物产量与常规施化肥相似,但6种有机物处理土壤有机质、全氮和碱解氮含量都较常规施化肥处理显著增加,污泥、鸡粪和猪粪处理土壤全磷与速效磷含量较常规施化肥处理显著增加,而且牛粪、沼渣、鸡粪和猪粪处理的速效钾、土壤磷活化系数和土壤钾活化系数较常规施化肥处理也显著提升。牛粪、沼渣、污泥、菌渣、鸡粪和猪粪处理土壤有机碳固存率为36.42%～71.61%,较常规施化肥处理都显著提高;而其氮固存率为6.47%～49.44%,仅有菌渣处理与常规施化肥处理差异不显著,而其他处理较常规施化肥处理显著增加。长期施鸡粪和菌渣处理的土壤铜含量较常规施化肥处理显著增加,增加量分别为4.17mg·kg~(-1)和14.2mg·kg~(-1);而污泥、鸡粪和菌渣处理的土壤锌含量较常规施化肥处理显著增加,增加量分别为13.53 mg·kg~(-1)、22.60 mg·kg~(-1)和49.73mg·kg~(-1)。综上,等有机质(4 500kg×hm~(-2))的牛粪、沼渣、污泥、菌渣、鸡粪和猪粪可替代30%氮磷肥,作物产量不受影响;不同有机物培肥土壤效果为污泥、鸡粪和猪粪优于牛粪和沼渣,而沼渣的培肥效果略差。为保证土壤环境质量稳定不恶化,种植小麦时有机物铜和锌的年携入量应分别低于53.01g×hm~(-2)和221.30 g×hm~(-2),而种植玉米时应分别低于153.40 g×hm~(-2)和347.04 g×hm~(-2)。     

Atypical thymoma in a horse: Diagnostic approach and application of an alternative histological classification system

Thymoma is a rare condition in horses. This case of a 24-year-old Warmblood gelding that was presented with oedema and signs of vascular congestion of the left forelimb caused by a thoracic mass is described. The diagnostic work-up included blood chemistry, cytology of pleural effusion, ultrasonography, radiography and the visualisation and collection of a tissue sample by thoracoscopy. Finally, post-mortem findings and histopathology revealed thymic epithelial neoplasia with histomorphologic features previously unreported in horses. The unique mixture of spindle-shaped and epithelioid tumour cells in combination with clear features of malignancy suggested the application of the Moran and Suster histological classification system for thymomas in humans (Moran and Suster, 2008, Curr. Treat. Options Oncol., 9, 288), which has not been reported in an equine case before and fits well to the present case.     

Mammary carcinoma arising in an adenoma in a ewe

A large, firm, multi-cystic mammary gland mass grew slowly over 4 y in a 12-y-old, female Finn–Shetland cross sheep. A diagnosis of epithelial malignancy was suspected following fine-needle aspiration cytology at 30 mo after initial observation. The sheep was euthanized when the flock was downsized 18 mo later. A field postmortem examination revealed a large mammary mass, but an absence of metastases to internal organs. Imprint cytology of the mammary tissue supported a benign proliferative process. Histologically, mammary tissue was obliterated by cystic, tubular, and papillary adenomatous arrangements of mammary epithelium, with an anaplastic component, consistent with mammary carcinoma arising in an adenoma. IHC showed strong nuclear positivity to the antibody against progesterone receptor and minimal positivity to the antibody against estrogen receptor alpha expression. Intrinsic subtyping for basal or luminal epithelial origin was attempted through adaptation of companion animal IHC classification panels; high- and low-molecular-weight cytokeratins (CK5, CK8, CK18) failed to stain, but p63 expression for basal epithelium was positive.     

Effect of conservation agriculture on soil organic and inorganic carbon sequestration and lability: A study from a rice–wheat cropping system on a calcareous soil of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains

Increasing soil carbon (C) in arable soils is an important strategy to achieve sustainable yields and mitigate climate change. We investigated changes in soil organic and inorganic carbon (SOC and SIC) under conservation agriculture (CA) in a calcareous soil of the eastern Indo-Gangetic Plains of India. The treatments were as follows: conventional-till rice and wheat (CT-CT), CT rice and zero-till wheat (CT-ZT), ZT direct seeded rice (DSR) and CT wheat (ZT-CT), ZTDSR and ZT wheat without crop residue retention (ZT-ZT), ZT-ZT with residue (ZT-ZT+R), and DSR and wheat both on permanent beds with residue (PB-PB+R). The ZT-ZT+R had the highest total SOC in both 0–15 and 15–30 cm soil layers (20% and 40% higher (p < .05) than CT-CT, respectively), whereas total SIC decreased by 11% and 15% in the respective layers under ZT-ZT+R compared with CT-CT. Non-labile SOC was the largest pool, followed by very labile, labile and less labile SOC. The benefits of ZT and residue retention were greatest for very labile SOC, which showed a significant (p < .05) increase (~50%) under ZT-ZT+R compared with CT-CT. The ZT-ZT+R sequestered ~2 Mg ha⁻¹ total SOC in the 0–15 cm soil layer in 6 years, where CT registered significant losses. Thus, the adoption of CA should be recommended in calcareous soils, for C sequestration, and also as a reclamation technique.     

Asystole associated with cerebrospinal fluid collection in a 3-month-old foal under general anaesthesia

A 3-month-old colt foal presented to the Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital for investigation of progressive neurological signs. Diagnostic investigation included cerebrospinal fluid collection, which was performed under general anaesthesia. During this procedure, severe bradycardia which progressed to asystole occurred. Initial resuscitation was successful; however, the foal had clinical signs consistent with cerebral hypoxia post-resuscitation and was euthanased the following day due to deterioration of neurological function. Asystole was presumed due to a Cushing-type reflex as a result of changes in intracranial pressure during the sampling procedure.     

Random-effects linear model application to herd-level assessment of bovine hepatic trace mineral concentrations

To evaluate the utility of random-effects linear modeling for herd-level evaluation of trace mineral status, we performed a retrospective analysis of the results for trace mineral testing of bovine liver samples submitted to the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory between 2011 and 2017. Our aim was to examine random-effects models for their potential utility in improving interpretation with minimal sample numbers. The database consisted of 1,658 animals distributed among 121 herds. Minerals were assayed by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectroscopy, and included cobalt, copper, iron, molybdenum, manganese, selenium, and zinc. Intraclass correlation coefficients for each mineral were significantly different (p < 0.001) from zero and ranged from 0.38 for manganese to 0.82 for selenium, indicating that the strength of herd effects, which are presumably related to diet, vary greatly by mineral. Analysis of the distribution and standard errors of best linear unbiased predictor (BLUP) values suggested that testing 5–10 animals per herd could place herds within 10 percentile units across the population of herds with 70–95% confidence, the confidence level varying among minerals. Herd means were generally similar to BLUPs, suggesting that means could be reasonably compared to BLUPs with respect to the distributions reported here. However, caution in interpreting means relative to BLUPs should be exercised when animal numbers are small, the standard errors of the means are large, and/or the values are near the extremes of the distribution.     

Policy options for Agriculture Green Development by farmers in China

Farmers are the key agents who manage land and water. Agriculture Green Development (AGD) requires a transformation in farming from high resource consumption and environmental cost to sustainable intensification with high productivity, high resource use efficiency and low environmental risk. This paper analyzes the public policy challenge of AGD and makes the case for a location-sensitive policy mix made up of regulation, advice provision, voluntarism and targeted incentives. The public agricultural extension service in China is a key resource, but one that requires reorientation and reform with the aim of better balancing high farm productivity with environmental protection.     

Dynamics of Soil Properties and Carbon Stocks Structure in Postagrogenic Ecosystems of Southern Taiga during Natural Reforestation

Eurasian Soil Science - The dynamics of some soil properties and carbon stocks in the main components of postagrogenic ecosystems were studied during natural reforestation in dependence on the...     

Modeling of the Contour Water Flooding Technology in Microcosms

Eurasian Soil Science - The results are presented of modeling the “contour water flooding” biotechnology aimed at cleaning heavily petroleum-polluted agrosoddy-podzolic soils (Albic...