Adaptability of various models of the water production function for rice in Jilin Province,China

The existing irrigation schedule of most rice-growing areas in Jilin Province is not in full compliance with the Water Requirements Law of the rice; these discrepancies affect the yield of rice to some extent. Thus, research on rice water regulations and selection of an appropriate water production function model (WPFM) is very important. In this study, according to the water demand characteristics of rice, we used drought treatments separately during the tillering, jointing booting, flowering, and milky stages. Evapotranspiration and yield data were obtained using a test pit experiment and production measurements in 2011 and 2012, respectively. Five commonly used WPFMs (the Jensen, Blank, Minhas, Stewart, and Singh model) were selected for this study, and the water sensitivity index of each model was calculated based on the evapotranspiration, yield, and the model equations. The Jensen model was found to be the most suitable WPFM for this region; furthermore, a mathematical relationship between the water sensitivity index and days after rice planting was established. These results have important theoretical and practical implications for guidelines regarding rice irrigation in Jilin Province.     

Strategies,Effectiveness and Rationale of Vector-borne Disease Control in the Pastoralist System of South-western Uganda

In Uganda, control of vector-borne diseases is mainly in form of vector control, and chemotherapy. There have been reports that acaricides are being misused in the pastoralist systems in Uganda. This is because of the belief by scientists that intensive application of acaricide is uneconomical and unsustainable particularly in the indigenous cattle. The objective of this study was to investigate the strategies, rationale and effectiveness of vector-borne disease control by pastoralists. To systematically carry out these investigations, a combination of qualitative and quantitative research methods was used, in both the collection and the analysis of data. Cattle keepers were found to control tick-borne diseases (TBDs) mainly through spraying, in contrast with the control of trypanosomosis for which the main method of control was by chemotherapy. The majority of herders applied acaricides weekly and used an acaricide of lower strength than recommended by the manufacturers. They used very little acaricide wash, and spraying was preferred to dipping. Furthermore, pastoralists either treated sick animals themselves or did nothing at all, rather than using veterinary personnel. Oxytetracycline (OTC) was the drug commonly used in the treatment of TBDs. Nevertheless, although pastoralists may not have been following recommended practices in their control of ticks and tick-borne diseases, they were neither wasteful nor uneconomical and their methods appeared to be effective. Trypanosomosis was not a problem either in Sembabule or Mbarara district. Those who used trypanocides were found to use more drugs than were necessary.     

Molecular Variability in Different Indian Isolates of Equine Herpesvirus-1

Three abortigenic Indian isolates of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) (Tohana, Hisar and Bikaner), along with two exotic abortigenic isolates (AB4 and V592) and another EHV-1 isolate (Jind) obtained from a case of perinatal foal mortality, were studied for variability. For this purpose, PCR and restriction endonuclease (RE) digestion techniques were used simultaneously as a DNA fingerprinting system. Nine different regions of EHV-1 virus were amplified by PCR using primer pairs specific for the regions and the products obtained from these regions were subsequently subjected to various restriction endonucleases to further assess the variability in the number of RE sites as well as in their positions. No difference was observed in all the four abortigenic isolates in terms of the size of different PCR products amplified by all the nine primer pairs, except for primer pairs ‘E’ and ‘C’. PCR products obtained with primer pair E revealed that Tohana and Bikaner isolates were most similar while Hisar isolate was like V592 isolate. However, the PCR product obtained from Jind isolate had a size between the PCR products of Hisar and Tohan/Bikaner isolates. The primer pair ‘C’ used to amplify the region between 1151 to 3679 in ‘Gene 1,2,3’ clearly differentiated the EHV-1 isolate obtained from a case of perinatal foal mortality from isolates obtained from abortion cases. This primer pair needs to be exploited more extensively for use as a potential marker for differentiating the EHV-1 isolates, mainly the abortion cases from perinatal foal mortality ones. Restriction endonuclease studies done with PCR product of all the isolates with various primer pairs did not reveal any changes in the position or number of RE sites present in the products amplified, indicating no variation in different RE sites within the amplified PCR products. However, this study clarified that all the Indian isolates belonged to the IP group of EHV-1.     

Incorporation of Maize Gluten in Supplementary Feed and its Impact on Growth and Flesh Quality of Some Carps

Maize gluten (a byproduct from the starch industry) was used at four different levels (5, 10, 15 and 20% w/w) replacing the fish meal, a component of supplementary diet, under a semi-intensive culture system. The impact of different diets on the physico-chemical parameters of water, growth and flesh quality of catla, Catla catla; rohu, Labeo rohita; and mrigal, Cirrhina mrigala was studied. Growth in terms of body weight gain was highest when fed a diet having 5% maize gluten (replacing fish meal at 25% level) for all the fish species. However, incorporation of maize gluten at higher levels led to decline in growth, since maize gluten is deficient in essential amino acids like methionine, lysine and threonine, etc. The flesh quality in terms of total protein, total lipid, total sugar, moisture and total ash was also determined at the termination of the experiment to see whether there was any significant variation with the incorporation of maize gluten or not.     

Spatio-temporal impacts of roads on the persistence of populations: analytic and numerical approaches

Roads can have drastic impacts on wildlife populations. Although there is wide recognition of the negative impacts caused by roads and a wealth of practical studies, there is a lack of theoretical work that can be used to predict the impact of road networks or to implement mitigation measures. Here, using Skellam’s diffusion model, we develop analytic and numerical approaches to analyze the impact of road networks on the survival of populations. Our models show that the viability of a population is determined not only by road density but also by the size and shape of patches. Accordingly, we studied the minimum size of a patch to sustain a population with given diffusion and growth parameters. We provide simple formulas to estimate the minimum patch size, and illustrate the importance of shape with square and rectangular patches. Our models also allow the estimation of time to extinction after road construction for a population in a patch smaller than that of the minimum size. Finally, using numerical computations we illustrate how the spatial arrangement of fences strongly affects both the equilibrium density and the spatial distribution of populations, and that not all fence layouts are equally effective. We anticipate that our methods provide a tool to assess the impact of geometrical features of road networks on wildlife and that they can be used to design mitigation measures to prevent the decline and extinction of populations in an anthropogenically disturbed landscape.     

Recovery of cover-crop-N in the soil-plant system in the Guinea savannah zone of Ghana

In order to understand the efficiency of residue-N use and to estimate the minimum input required to obtain a reasonable level of crop response, it is important to quantify the fate of the applied organic-N. The recovery of N from ¹⁵N-labelled Crotalaria juncea was followed in the soil and the succeeding maize crop. Apparent N recovery (ANR) by maize from unlabelled Crotalaria juncea, Crotalaria retusa, Calopogonium mucunoides, Mucuna pruriens and mineral fertilizer at three locations were also evaluated. The maize crop recovered 4.7% and 7.3% of the ¹⁵N-labelled C. juncea-N at 42 days after sowing (DAS) and at final harvest, respectively. The corresponding ¹⁵N recovery from the soil was 92.4% and 58.5%. The highest mean ANR of 57.4% was with mineral fertilizer, whereas the mean ANR of 14.3% from C. retusa was the lowest. A large pool substitution and added-N interaction effect was observed when comparing N recovery from the labelled and unlabelled C. juncea. The amount of residue-N accounted for by the isotope dilution method at 42 DAS was 97.1% and at final harvest 65.8%. The large residue-N recovery in the soil organic-N pool explains the residual effect usually observed with organic residue application.     

Immune response of sea bass <Emphasis Type="Italic">Dicentrarchus labrax</Emphasis> to <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tenacibaculum maritimum</Emphasis> antigens

ABSTRACT:   Seawater fishes are affected by a pathology commonly called 'myxobacteriosis', caused by Tenacibaculum maritimum (formerly Flexibacter maritimus ). The disease is characterized by fin erosion and necrotic ulcers of skin and muscle, and by low but constant mortality in cultured marine fish; in Italy is one of the most important and widely spread diseases affecting sea bass Dicentrarchus labrax , gilthead seabream Sparus aurata , sharp-snouted bream Diplodus puntazzo , white bream Diplodus sargus , and six-tooted bream Dentex dentex . In order to obtain an effective vaccine against the disease, formalin killed cells (FKC), extracellular products (ECPs) and crude lipopolysaccharide (LPS) preparations were obtained from the T. maritimum strain SPVId and injected intraperitoneally twice into the sea bass. The fish immune response to the preparations was studied: agglutinating antibody titer and in vitro phagocytosis were determined after the first and second injection in order to evaluate whether the preparations are immunogenic or not and if the booster effect took place. The results show that FKC and LPS preparations increased the antibody titer after the first injection when compared to the control sea bass. Moreover, all the preparations stimulated a secondary (booster) response. In vitro phagocytosis of the total blood was significantly higher for all the preparations when compared to the controls, but the crude LPS immunized sea bass showed the highest activity.     

Spatial pattern of soil carbon and nutrient storage at the alpine tundra ecosystem of Changbai Mountain,China

气候变化对土壤碳和养分的影响越来越受到生态学家的关注,尤其是对高山冻原生态系统的影响。本研究目的是长白山高山冻原系统土壤碳和养分的空间异质性。结果表明:不同土层深度的土壤碳在Meadow alpine tundra vegetation (MA)中显著地高于其他植被类型(p<0.05);在每一植被类型中,表层(010 cm)碳含量显著地高于1020 cm的土层;土壤氮的分布格局是氮素在表层和1020 cm土层变化规律相似;不同土层深度的土壤磷在Lithic alpine tundra vegetation (LA) 中显著地低于其他植被类型(p<0.05);土壤钾浓度在Felsenmeer alpine tundra vegetation (FA) 和LA中显著地高于其他植被类型,但在每一植被类型中土壤钾浓度随土壤深度没有明显的变化;不同深度土壤硫在MA中显著地高度其他植被类型;对每一植被类型而言,C: N, C: P, C: K 和C: S随土壤深度增加而降低。除了在SA的表层外,表层的土壤C: N高于1020 cm的土层。在长白山高山冻原系统中,随植被类型的变化,土壤碳和养分储量有着显著的空间异质性。参29表3图1。