Short-rotation woody crops and phytoremediation: Opportunities for agroforestry?

Agroforestry Systems - Worldwide, fuelwood demands, soil and groundwater contamination, and agriculture's impact on nature are growing concerns. Fast growing trees in short rotation woody crop...     

Effects of feeding roasted safflower seeds (variety IL-111) and fish oil on dry matter intake, performance and milk fatty acid profiles in dairy cattle

Safflower seed has the highest concentration of linoleic acid among 80 oilseeds but little information exists on the effective use of SS for lactation cows. It was hypothesised that a diet supplemented with an Iranian SS variety (IL-111) in combination with fish oil (FO) would result in higher concentrations of trans-18:1 (including vaccenic acid) and conjugated linoleic acids in milk fat than feeding an unsupplemented control diet. Our objective was to determine the effects of feeding diets containing: (i) Control: (C); (ii) 25 g of roasted SS IL-111 (RSS); (iii) 20 g FO and (iv) 25 g RSS + 10 g FO (RSS + FO) per kilogram of dietary DM on feed intake, ruminal fermentation, milk production and fatty acid profile. Eight multiparous Holstein cows were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design study. The experiment had four periods of 21 days. Milk Fat percentage was lower (p < 0.01) with FO supplementation and averaged 19.0 and 21.5 g/kg milk with FO and RSS + FO compared with 30.3 and 32.5 g/kg with C and RSS. Feed intake also was lower (p < 0.01) with FO vs. C (23.1 vs. 24.5 kg/day) but feeding RSS resulted in greater feed intake compared with other treatments (26 kg/day). Despite lower feed intake with FO, milk production did not change from controls but feeding RSS + FO resulted in greater milk yield than controls (42.6 vs. 39.3 kg/day). Ruminal pH was greater (p < 0.01) in cows fed FO than other treatments. Supplemental FO alone or in combination with RSS resulted in dramatic increases (p < 0.01) in c9,t11-18:2 in milk fat (12.7 and 13.2 g/day vs. 5.8 and 7.02 with C and RSS). It was surprising to note that 25 g/kg RSS can improve feed intake.     

Interactive Effects of Salinity and ZnO Nanoparticles on Physiological and Molecular Parameters of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

Salinity is considered as the main factor limiting the yield of crops in arid and semi-arid regions. There are still many uncertainties about the nanotechnology and its potential applications, as well as doubts about its efficacy and safety in the long term. The aim of this study was to examine the alleviative effects of ZnO NPs (nanoparticles) (0, 20 and 80 mgL^?1) on toxicity damage caused by NaCl (0, 50 and 100 mM) at physiological and molecular parameters in Rapeseed. Rapeseed plants were treated at the rosette stage by different levels of salinity and ZnO NPs based on a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. At the physiological level, salinity stress significantly increased root ion leakage and decreased relative water content (RWC), stomata density and Hill reaction while application of ZnO NPs improved Hill reaction, and reduced ion leakage. At the molecular level, salinity stress significantly reduced the expression of ARP, MYC and SKRD2 genes compared to non-stressed plants while MPK4 gene expression increased under a high level of NaCl imposition. Foliar spraying of ZnO NPs considerably decreased the expression of MYC, MPK4, and SKRD2 genes and increased the expression of the ARP gene. It can be concluded that ZnO NPs had the ability to reduce the toxicity created under salinity stress at the optimal concentration (20 mgL^?1) in rapeseed and could play an important role in increasing the resistance of rapeseed plants to salinity stress.     

Long term use of hydraulic artificial urethral sphincters in nine dogs from New Zealand with urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence

AIMS: To report on the long-term outcomes of hydraulic artificial urethral sphincter (HAUS) placement for the correction of urethral sphincter mechanism incompetence (USMI) in New Zealand dogs.

METHODS: Retrospective data were obtained from cases of dogs which had a HAUS placed after failed medical and/or surgical management of USMI between August 2012 and November 2016. Owner assessment of urinary incontinence was evaluated by an online survey in May 2017 using a visual analogue scale (0 being normal, 100 being severely affected) for the frequency, volume and severity of any straining to urinate, immediately prior to the placement of the HAUS and at the time of the survey. The number of days between surgery and the completion of survey were recorded.

RESULTS: Seven females and two male dogs, which were all desexed except for one female, were eligible for inclusion in the study. The period of follow-up following HAUS placement ranged from 206–1,685 days. Following HAUS placement, frequency and volume of urinary incontinence decreased for six dogs and were practically unchanged for three dogs. The median frequency score decreased from 70 to 13 and the volume score decreased from 73 to 12. There was no consistent change in the perceived degree of straining to urinate. Complications occurred in three dogs; one required repositioning of a dislodged injection port, one required management for haematuria and a hypoplastic bladder, and one required surgical removal of fibrous tissue around the HAUS cuff.

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVENCE: HAUS placement was an effective method for the treatment of persistent USMI in most dogs and provided good clinical results based on owner assessment. The technique was associated with few complications and allowed successful long-term control of urinary incontinence without the need for medical management.     

"人、机、料、法、环"与兽药GMP的关系

本文尝试将质量管理学中五要素"人、机、料、法、环"的重要概念引入到兽药GMP管理体系中来,便于记忆和理解,有助于进一步认识、掌握和运行GMP.     

对兽药地方标准清理工作的思考

当前兽药地方标准清理工作已进入攻关阶段,但在清理地方标准的实际工作中尚存在一些问题,笔者分析了这些具体问题,认为在升标工作中,政府应当给予合理的政策扶持,加快地方标准清理工作进度,保护企业利益;企业应当着重做好品种筛选,合理安排临床试验资金投入;企业通过采取联合参与升标方式,减少资金投入;对于移植外省标准,可采取不同措施妥善解决;为保证升标工作顺利进行,农业部和各省兽医行政管理部门应做好升标培训指导工作.     

江苏省兽药科技创新探析

当前兽药生产企业已全面通过GMP验收，兽药科技创新成为后GMP时代企业生存发展的首要任务。在此形势下江苏省提出了“建设兽药强省”工作思路。针对当前江苏乃至全国兽药产业现状进行了调查分析和研究探索，就如何充分利用本省科研优势和GMP建设形成的基础设施优势，在政府投入引导机制、合作创新开发机制和企业内研发机制等方面提出了建设性意见。     

Induced systemic listeriosis in Alectoris chukar chicks: clinical,histopathological and microbiological findings

1. Systemic listeriosis was induced in 14-d-old Chukar partridge chicks, Alectoris chukar, by intravenous injection of a suspension containing 10⁶ cfu/ml of viable Listeria monocytogenes organisms to study the course of infection.

2. Septicaemic and encephalitic forms of listeriosis were observed in all birds. Infection resulted in a fever response 8-h post-inoculation. Disease rapidly developed over a 24-h period with decreased activity, lethargy, ruffled feathers, huddling, listlessness, inability to stand, wing droop, decreased feed and water consumption, growth depression, neural disturbances and finally death. Gross and histopathological changes were observed in the myocardium, proventriculus, gizzard, intestine, pancreas, kidney, liver, spleen, lung, meninges and joints.

3. The diversity of these clinical signs and lesions suggests a high susceptibility of Chukar partridge chicks to systemic listeriosis.     

Dose–responses of zinc–methionine supplements on growth,blood metabolites and gastrointestinal development in sheep

The effects of zinc–methionine (Zn‐Met) supplementation on growth, blood metabolites and gastrointestinal development were investigated in two experiments with sheep. The objective of Experiment 1 was to determine the effects of Zn‐Met supplementation on hormones and metabolites involved in growth and energy balance regulation, while Experiment 2 aimed to determine the effects of Zn‐Met on feed intake, body weight, gastrointestinal development and liver glycogen concentration in lamb. The animals were assigned to groups with different concentrations of dietary Zn‐Met (0, 0.4, 0.8 and 1.2 g/day) in both experiments. In Experiment 1, feeding different doses of Zn‐Met increased plasma insulin‐like growth factor 1 (IGF‐1) concentration, but it linearly decreased plasma growth hormone (GH). No differences were observed in blood cortisol, insulin and glucose concentrations among the treatments. In Experiment 2, addition of Zn‐Met to the diets did not lead to changes in the body weights of the lambs. Both average daily gain and dry matter intake (DMI) increased linearly with increasing concentrations of dietary Zn‐Met. Lambs receiving Zn‐Met showed higher liver glycogen concentrations than the control. While significant increases were observed in the villus height and crypt depth in the duodenum and jejunum as a result of Zn‐Met supplementation, no change was detected in blood glucose concentrations (p > 0.05). Our findings suggest that dietary Zn‐Met may improve growth, energy balance and gastrointestinal development in sheep.