Safety risks for animals fed genetic modified (GM) plants

GM plants are widely grown all over the world, but many constraints still tend to discourage their use in Europe. Potential risks suggested to be associated with the use of GM are unexpected gene effects, allergenic potential, antibiotic resistance, gene flow. GM feed safety is presently evaluated by adopting the concept of GM substantial equivalence, by comparison with non-GM isogenic crops. Comparison is based on a wide spectrum of chemical components and on livestock performance. From the available experimental data, currently utilized GM plants appear safe and show no effects on animals or animal products. Hence, although they potentially exist, safety risks caused by the use of GM plants appear to be so low as be negligible in comparison with their potential benefits, if appropriately designed. GM plants represent a valuable option for future breeding, to increase yield while reducing the use of pesticides, improve plant adaptation to unfavourable environments, and produce better quality crops, also from a nutritional point of view. Nonetheless, GM crops are novel foods and the assessment of their safety using a scientific sound approach seems essential to protect the environment, as well as the health of humans and livestock.     

Safety Risks for Animals Fed Genetic Modified (GM) Plants

GM plants are widely grown all over the world, but many constraints still tend to discourage their use in Europe. Potential risks suggested to be associated with the use of GM are unexpected gene effects, allergenic potential, antibiotic resistance, gene flow. GM feed safety is presently evaluated by adopting the concept of GM substantial equivalence, by comparison with non-GM isogenic crops. Comparison is based on a wide spectrum of chemical components and on livestock performance. From the available experimental data, currently utilized GM plants appear safe and show no effects on animals or animal products. Hence, although they potentially exist, safety risks caused by the use of GM plants appear to be so low as be negligible in comparison with their potential benefits, if appropriately designed. GM plants represent a valuable option for future breeding, to increase yield while reducing the use of pesticides, improve plant adaptation to unfavourable environments, and produce better quality crops, also from a nutritional point of view. Nonetheless, GM crops are novel foods and the assessment of their safety using a scientific sound approach seems essential to protect the environment, as well as the health of humans and livestock.

     

转基因植物作为饲料的安全性评价研究

本文综述了转基因植物在全球的发展状况、转基因植物作为动物饲料时存在的风险性、评价转基因饲料的原则和方法、转基因饲料安全性研究的进展状况,对未来转基因植物作为饲料的安全性评价进行了展望。     

Effect of dietary supplementation of recombinant Cry and Cp4 epsps proteins on haematological indices of growing rabbits

Genetically modified (GM) crops expressing insect resistance and herbicide tolerance provide a novel approach for improved crop production but their advent at the same time presents serious challenges in terms of food safety. Although prevailing scientific proof has suggested that transgenic crops are analogous to their conventional counterparts, their use in human and animal diet gave rise to emotional public discussion. A number of studies had been conducted to evaluate the potential unintended effects of transgenic crops expressing single transgene, but very few studies for those with multiple transgenes. As the crops with single and multiple transgenes could impart different effects on non‐target organisms, thus, risk evaluation of transgenic crops expressing more than one transgene is required to declare their biosafety. The present study was therefore designed to assess the effects of different levels of dietary transgenic cottonseed expressing recombinants proteins produced by Cry1Ac, Cry2A and Cp4epsps genes on haematological indices of growing rabbits. A total of 48 rabbits were assigned to four dietary treatments containing different levels of transgenic cottonseeds (i.e., 0% w/w, 20% w/w, 30% w/w and 40% w/w) with 0% w/w serving as control. Haematological parameters were measured at periodic intervals (0, 45, 90, 135 and 180) days. No significant (p > 0.05) dose‐dependent effects were observed in most of the haematological parameters evaluated. Though, significant differences (p < 0.05) were recorded in the level of MCHC, MCH and HCT in some of experimental male and female rabbits, yet, they were not biologically significant, as all the differences were within the normal reference values. Our study suggested that feeding transgenic cottonseed of up to 40% could not adversely affect rabbit's haematological profile. However, further study needs to be conducted with different cotton genotypes expressing both single and polygenic traits before recommending the utilization of transgenic cottonseed in routine livestock feeding.     

GMOs in animal agriculture: time to consider both costs and benefits in regulatory evaluations

In 2012, genetically engineered （GE） crops were grown by 17.3 million farmers on over 170 million hectares. Over 70% of harvested GE biomass is fed to food producing animals, making them the major consumers of GE crops for the past 15 plus years. Prior to commercialization, GE crops go through an extensive regulatory evaluation. Over one hundred regulatory submissions have shown compositional equivalence, and comparable levels of safety, between GE crops and their conventional counterparts. One component of regulatory compliance is whole GE food/feed animal feeding studies. Both regulatory studies and independent peer-reviewed studies have shown that GE crops can be safely used in animal feed, and rDNA fragments have never been detected in products （e.g. milk, meat, eggs） derived from animals that consumed GE feed. Despite the fact that the scientific weight of evidence from these hundreds of studies have not revealed unique risks associated with GE feed, some groups are calling for more animal feeding studies, including long-term rodent studies and studies in target livestock species for the approval of GE crops. It is an opportune time to review the results of such studies as have been done to date to evaluate the value of the additional information obtained. Requiring long-term and target animal feeding studies would sharply increase regulatory compliance costs and prolong the regulatory process associated with the commercialization of GE crops. Such costs may impede the development of feed crops with enhanced nutritional characteristics and durability, particularly in the local varieties in small and poor developing countries. More generally it is time for regulatory evaluations to more explicitly consider both the reasonable and unique risks and benefits associated with the use of both GE plants and animals in agricultural systems, and weigh them against those associated with existing systems, and those of regulatory inaction. This would represent a shift away from a GE evaluation process that currently focuses only on risk assessment and identifying ever diminishing marginal hazards, to a regulatory approach that more objectively evaluates and communicates the likely impact of approving a new GE plant or animal on agricultural production systems.     

GMOs in animal agriculture: time to consider both costs and benefits in regulatory evaluations

In 2012, genetically engineered (GE) crops were grown by 17.3 million farmers on over 170 million hectares. Over 70% of harvested GE biomass is fed to food producing animals, making them the major consumers of GE crops for the past 15 plus years. Prior to commercialization, GE crops go through an extensive regulatory evaluation. Over one hundred regulatory submissions have shown compositional equivalence, and comparable levels of safety, between GE crops and their conventional counterparts. One component of regulatory compliance is whole GE food/feed animal feeding studies. Both regulatory studies and independent peer-reviewed studies have shown that GE crops can be safely used in animal feed, and rDNA fragments have never been detected in products (e.g. milk, meat, eggs) derived from animals that consumed GE feed. Despite the fact that the scientific weight of evidence from these hundreds of studies have not revealed unique risks associated with GE feed, some groups are calling for more animal feeding studies, including long-term rodent studies and studies in target livestock species for the approval of GE crops. It is an opportune time to review the results of such studies as have been done to date to evaluate the value of the additional information obtained. Requiring long-term and target animal feeding studies would sharply increase regulatory compliance costs and prolong the regulatory process associated with the commercialization of GE crops. Such costs may impede the development of feed crops with enhanced nutritional characteristics and durability, particularly in the local varieties in small and poor developing countries. More generally it is time for regulatory evaluations to more explicitly consider both the reasonable and unique risks and benefits associated with the use of both GE plants and animals in agricultural systems, and weigh them against those associated with existing systems, and those of regulatory inaction. This would represent a shift away from a GE evaluation process that currently focuses only on risk assessment and identifying ever diminishing marginal hazards, to a regulatory approach that more objectively evaluates and communicates the likely impact of approving a new GE plant or animal on agricultural production systems.     

植物病原镰刀菌产生的毒素种类及其危害

镰刀菌(Fusarium spp.)是多种重要农作物的病原体，不仅可造成农作物产量和品质的严重损失还可在离体培养条件下或植物寄主体内产生一系列被称为镰刀菌毒素的次生代谢产物。这些毒素一方面作为致病因子与镰刀菌对宿主植物的致病力密切相关，另一方面可导致家畜生产性能下降和相关病症的出现，进而影响农业生态系统并对人类健康造成威胁。鉴于镰刀菌毒素对农作物生产的影响及其对家畜和人类的毒性作用，目前已有较多关于镰刀菌侵染粮食作物后产生毒素种类的研究，但关于镰刀菌侵染豆科牧草后产生的毒素种类以及毒素在镰刀菌对豆科牧草致病力方面作用的研究则较少。本文对引起主要粮食和饲料作物病害的常见镰刀菌物种产生的主要毒素，以及这些毒素对植物、家畜和人类的危害进行了综述，并对豆科牧草中镰刀菌毒素的研究前景及意义进行了展望。     

Absence of a Grass/Fire Cycle in a Semiarid Grassland: Response to Prescribed Fire and Grazing

Many nonnative invasive grasses alter fire regimes to their own benefit and the detriment of native organisms. In southern Arizona the nonnative Lehmann lovegrass (Eragrostis lehmanniana Nees) dominates many semiarid grasslands where native grasses were abundant. Managers are wary of using prescribed fire in this fire-prone community partly due to the perceived effects of a grass/fire cycle. However, examples of the grass/fire cycle originate in ecosystems where native plants are less fire-tolerant than grasses and the invasive plant does not mimic the physiognomy of the native community. We investigate the effects of prescribed fire and livestock grazing on a semiarid grassland community dominated by a nonnative invasive grass. Lehmann lovegrass does not appear to alter the fire regime of semiarid grasslands to the detriment of native plants. Prescribed fire reduced the abundance of Lehmann lovegrass for 1 to 2 yr while increasing abundance of native grasses, herbaceous dicotyledons and fall richness, and diversity. Effects of livestock grazing were less transformative than the effects of fire in this long-grazed area, but grazing negatively affected native plants as did the combination of prescribed fire and livestock grazing. Although Lehmann lovegrass produces more fuel than native plants, fire frequency in semiarid grasslands appears to be limited by the paucity of above-average precipitation, which constrains high fuel loads. In addition, many native grasses tolerate high temperatures produced by Lehmann lovegrass fires. Consistent with previous research, fire does not promote the spread of Lehmann lovegrass, and more importantly human alteration of the fire regime is greater than the nominal effects of Lehmann lovegrass introduction on the fire regime.     

科学规避兽药残留风险的对策措施

笔者对2013?2020年实施的畜产品质量安全监测项目进行多环节系统分析,揭示了主要短板和风险,建议因势利导科学规避兽药残留风险,多策发力提高区域性畜产品质量安全的总体水平。     

麦类作物粮饲兼用研究进展

粮饲兼用是指将营养期作物用于青绿饲草生产(放牧或刈割),待作物再生形成籽粒后收获籽粒的一种生产措施。这一措施已在全球10多个国家和地区广泛应用,以麦类作物的粮饲兼用最为普遍,一定程度上缓解了全球普遍存在的饲草供应季节性不均衡与家畜需求相对稳定的矛盾,促进了畜牧业的持续稳定发展。粮饲兼用的效益优势在于可确保作物籽粒生产的稳定,同时获取额外家畜生产收益。然而,不合理的粮饲兼用会导致饲草及籽粒的产量及品质均会受到影响,有必要开展相关研究以规范化粮饲兼用的应用模式。本文分析了麦类作物粮饲兼用的分布及其效益优势,深入分析了作物类型、播种时间及密度、水热条件等对粮饲兼用生产的影响,归纳得到如下4条技术要点。1)麦类作物可在分蘖期用于适度的利用,保留原有茎尖分生组织可维持籽粒生产的相对稳定。2)应优先选育冬性较强,早期生长缓慢,粮饲兼用不易破坏其茎尖分生组织且花期较晚的高秆品种用于粮饲兼用。3)粮饲兼用作物时,播种时间应提前2~4周,且需适当增加播种密度及提高底肥水平以增加饲草生产;为补偿饲草转移造成的氮亏缺,需在利用后适当添加氮肥以维持其籽粒生产。4)为保证粮饲兼用的效益优势,麦类作物粮饲兼用更适宜于在较湿润的地区(年降水量350~500 mm)开展。本文可为我国深入开展麦类作物粮饲兼用研究提供理论基础,并将进一步指导粮饲兼用措施的应用及推广。     

Land Manager Perceptions of Opportunities and Constraints of Using Livestock to Manage Invasive Plants

The ecological impacts of rangeland invasive plants have been widely documented, but the social aspects of how managers perceive their impacts and options for control have been relatively understudied, and successful, long-term invasive plant management programs are limited. In particular, though a growing body of research has identified livestock grazing as the most practical and economical tool for controlling invasive rangeland plants, to date there has not been a systematic assessment of the challenges and opportunities producers and other land managers see as most important when considering using livestock to manage invasive plants. In-depth, semistructured interviews with California annual grass and hardwood rangeland ranchers, public agency personnel, and nongovernmental organization land managers were used to address this need. Although interviewees broadly agreed that grazing could be an effective management tool, differences emerged among the three groups in how they prioritized invasive plant control, the amount of resources devoted to control, and the grazing strategies employed. Interviewees identified key challenges that hinder broad-scale adoption of control efforts, including the potential incompatibility of invasive plant management and livestock production; a lack of secure, long-term access to land for many ranchers; incomplete or insufficient information, such as the location or extent of infestations or the economic impacts to operations of invasive plants; and the temporal and spatial variability of the ecosystem. By identifying key socioecological drivers that influence the degree to which livestock are used to manage invasive plants, this study was able to identify potential pathways to move our growing understanding of the science of targeted grazing into practice. Research, extension, and grazing programs that address these barriers should help increase the extent to which we can effectively use livestock to slow and perhaps reverse the spread of some of our most serious rangeland weeds.     

科尔沁草地有毒植物及保障家畜安全的对策

为了保障家畜采食安全,对科尔沁草地有毒植物进行了大量的调查和资料整理,初步查明了科尔汤草地有毒植物植物共１６４种,隶属于４２科９３属,首次对这些有毒植物进行了生活型和水分生态类型分析,结果表明：有毒植物以多年生中生、中时时生草本植物占多数;在水分条件相对较好的草地类型或局部地段有毒植物分布较多,较常见的有毒植物所含有的主要毒物成分为生物碱、甙类化合物、匝类化合物、酚类及其衍生物、无机物和简单有机舶     

白藜芦醇对畜禽骨骼肌纤维类型转化的影响及其机理

白藜芦醇是自然界中广泛存在于葡萄、花生等植物中的一类多酚类化合物,具有广泛的生物学活性,如抗氧化、抗肿瘤、抗衰老、保护心血管等。近年来,白藜芦醇在骨骼肌纤维类型转化上的功能研究也得到越来越多的关注。研究表明,白藜芦醇能诱导酵解型肌纤维向氧化型肌纤维的转化,从而达到改善禽畜肉质的目的。本文将综合最新研究报道,总结白藜芦醇对骨骼肌纤维类型转化的影响及其可能的作用机理,为其在畜牧生产上的应用提供理论基础。     

Assimilation Versus Accumulation of Macro- and Micronutrients in Soils: Relations to Livestock and Poultry Feeding Operations

Nutrient management is an integral part of profitable agrisystems, but in some areas of the United States, continued applications of fertilizer and manure nutrients in excess of crop requirements have led to a buildup of nutrient concentrations that are of environmental concern. Proper use of nutrients in livestock manures is becoming more critical for sustainability of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO) because new environmental regulations require that nutrients be properly applied and managed. Losses of nutrients, such as N and P can be reduced by refining the rations fed, increasing nutrient retention by livestock, moving manures from areas of surplus to deficiency, finding alternative uses for manure, using cropping and haying systems that remove excess nutrients, and using conservation practices, such as limited tillage, buffer strips, and cover crops to limit runoff and leaching. Whole farm nutrient balances are useful for educating producers about quantities of nutrients being managed and the flow of nutrients, but they can also be misleading because of spatial factors, such as uneven nutrient application that introduce environmental risks that may not be noted with a whole-farm nutrient balance. Manure utilization plans also need to deal with nutrients that potentially leave the field or production area in route to sensitive ecosystems.     

家畜体内防御素多态性和表达的研究进展

抗菌肽可抵御细菌、病毒和真菌的入侵,在人类和家畜的先天性防御系统中具有重要的作用,是有望用于预防和治疗的药物,因此,抗菌肽被称为"新一代的抗生素"。抗菌肽是一个阳离子肽,其中的一个大家族就是防御素。防御素的结构中普通带有一个β-片状结构,其中包含3个分子内二硫键,可分为α-防御素、β-防御素和θ-防御素,其中β-防御素是最大的一个家族,在人类和家畜的组织内均有表达。结合已有的研究成果,作者主要对家畜体内防御素的表达、多态性及其作为健康和生产性能的遗传标记的潜在应用作一综述。     

Recombinant DNA, gene transfer and the future of animal agriculture

Recombinant deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) technology and gene transfer are two areas of biotechnology that will have significant impact on animal agriculture. Applications to animal agriculture can be expected in animal health management, improved crops and feeds, manipulation of animal physiology, and genetic improvement of livestock species. Improved diagnostic reagents and vaccines that will improve herd health are currently under development. Yield of crop plants such as corn will be increased and the nutritional value of these feeds improved through applications of recombinant DNA technology. Administration of exogenous hormones synthesized by bacteria holds great promise for increasing the yield of milk and possibly meat. Research on the transfer of cloned genes into animals has progressed rapidly and has recently been accomplished in sheep and swine. Tissue-specific and developmentally regulated expression of transferred genes now seems possible with defined gene promoter sequences. Several applications of these biotechnologies can be expected within 5 to 10 yr, whereas others may require longer periods of research. The 21st century will herald a new era in animal science research and applications, with recombinant DNA and gene transfer playing major roles.     

Recycling of livestock manure in a whole-farm perspective

Intensification increases the environmental impact of livestock production systems. Efforts to recycle nutrients in livestock manure for crop production will effectively reduce several pollution problems, although general solutions are difficult to devise in view of the diversity in production systems, management strategies and legislation between countries and regions. This paper argues that a whole-farm perspective taking side-effects and on-farm interactions into account is needed to determine the cost-effectiveness of strategies to mitigate pollution from livestock manure management. Animal feeding plays a key role in the control of nutrient flows on livestock farms, since the diet affects the composition of excreta. There is a great potential for manipulating manure composition by diet manipulations. Manure is a significant source of heavy metals in soil, and in Europe the permitted levels of Cu and Zn in livestock diets have been lowered to reduce their environmental impact. A variety of environmental technologies are being developed for treatment of manure, many of which have a significant potential for reducing nutrient losses. Internationally agreed and enforced regulations that link pollution control with the adoption of best available technologies could provide the demand that is needed to drive research and development. In the past, policy-makers have typically focused on individual environmental problems. It is essential, however, that the efforts to close nutrient cycles on the farm are accompanied by a corresponding reduction in total inputs, otherwise losses after field application will increase. Integrated assessment tools are needed which can evaluate all internal flows of nutrients, imports and exports, energy use, hygienic risks and contaminants, as well as costs, at the farm-scale and beyond. It is important to consider pollution control strategies for a farm in the framework of local and regional pollution control planning.     

Board-invited review: Applications of genomic information in livestock

The availability of whole genome sequences for individual species will change the landscape for livestock genomic research. Animal scientists will have access to whole-genome sequence-based technologies such as high-throughput SNP genotyping assays, gene expression profiling, methylation profiling, RNA interference, and genome resequencing that will revolutionize the scale upon which research will be conducted. These technologies will also alter the ways we think about addressing industry and scientific problems. In this review, we discuss the scientific bases for these emerging technologies and present recent highlights of their application in human, model species, and livestock as well as their potential for future applications in livestock. Additionally, we discuss strategies for their use in the genetic improvement and management of livestock. In particular, we present a strategy for the simultaneous identification of causal mutations underlying phenotypic traits in livestock and discuss issues that will arise in the application of whole genome selection for the prediction of genetic merit in livestock. We also point out that the statistical analysis that underlies the whole genome selection methodology is a sophisticated enhancement of single marker association mapping analysis to allow the entire genome to be simultaneously analyzed.     

青饲料的卫生与安全饲喂技术研究

青饲料是家畜的重要饲用资源,其适口性好,富含营养素。合理利用青饲料,可以提高家畜养殖生产效益,降低养殖成本。但是,青饲料作物中的一些成分或者在某些条件下的分解、转化产物都会对动物产生毒害作用,从而引起饲料的卫生与安全问题。青饲料中的有毒有害物质包括硝酸盐、亚硝酸盐、生氰糖苷、光敏物质、草酸盐、马铃薯素以及一些牧草中的毒素。对青饲料中所含的有毒有害物质种类及特征进行介绍,对由这些物质引起的动物中毒病的发病机理和救治方法进行综述,在该基础上探讨了青饲料安全饲喂技术,以期为提高青饲料在家畜养殖中的科学饲喂水平提供参考。     

植物及其提取物在无抗猪肉生产上的应用研究进展

随着无抗时代的到来,各式各样的饲用替抗产品如雨后春笋般出现并涌入畜禽养殖产业.大量研究表明,天然植物及其提取物和中草药在畜禽健康养殖中的运用,是当前畜牧业生产的主要研究热点.文章从天然植物及其提取物和中草药本身的药食同源功效出发,综述了常见植物及植物提取物作为绿色饲料添加剂对生猪胴体性状、肉品品质的影响及其在无抗猪肉生...