Low pH and aluminum tolerance of Bradyrhizobium strains isolated from acid soils in Indonesia

Sixty-seven strains of Bradyrhizobium isolated from soybean plants growing on acid soils in West Java and Sumatra, Indonesia, were examined for the effect of the pH and aluminum concentration on their growth in nutrient media, compared with 61 strains of Bradyrhizobium from soils in Japan. The results in this study indicated that the indigenous population of Bradyrhizobium in the soils of Indonesia showed a large difference in acid- and Al-tolerance from that of Japan. Eighty-five and 48% of the isolates from Japanese soils and Indonesian soils, respectively, were unable to grow in YEM broth at pH below 4.5. The acid-tolerance was correlated with AI-tolerance of the isolates on YEM agar plates at pH 4.4. Seventy-five percent of the isolates that grew in YEM broth at pH 4.5 were also resistant to 400 µM Al on the YEM plates. Acetylene reduction assay of the root nodules revealed that 3 of the acid- and Al-tolerant isolates from Indonesian soils showed a significantly high nitrogen fixation activity.     

日本奶农生产经营的改善及其对我国奶业发展的启示

日本奶牛的饲养主要依赖于国外饲料的进口,国际饲料价格的上涨使得日本奶业陷入了危机,奶农的生产经营状况直接关系到奶业产业的发展。本研究基于日本社团法人中央畜产会实施的全国农户生产经营指导项目中所调查的294个奶农农户的生产经营相关数据,采用因子分析、多元线性回归分析、聚类分析方法,对影响奶农经营收入的因素进行了分析。结果表明,奶牛饲养的收益、奶牛饲养的劳动效率、饲养规模这三个因素对奶农的生产影响最大;阐明了奶农生产中存在的问题;提出了奶农生产经营的改善应该着重于适度扩大生产规模;合理进行投资,并且均衡大型机器设备和小农器具投资的比例以改善奶农饲养效率以及饲料生产效率,提高奶农的收入。最后,借鉴日本奶业生产经营中存在的问题,总结了对我国奶业发展的启示。     

Bending creep behavior of hot-pressed wood under cyclic moisture change conditions

This study examined the bending creep behavior of hot-pressed wood during cyclic moisture changes. Sugi (Cryptomerica japonica D. Don) specimens were pressed in the radial direction under six combinations of nominal compressive strain (33% and 50%) and press temperatures (140°C, 170°C, 200°C). Creep tests were conducted at 20°C with three cyclic relative humidity changes between 65% and 95% under 25% of short-breaking stress. The effect of moisture content (MC) change on elastic compliance and mechanosorptive (MS) compliance was investigated. The relation between MS compliance and thickness swelling was studied. The results indicated that total compliance increased over the history of cyclic moisture changes; and its behavior was closely related to the changes in MC and thickness swelling. The total compliance increased during adsorption and decreased during desorption. Elastic compliance increased linearly with MC and was dependent on press temperature and compression. With increasing MC change, MS compliance increased during adsorption and decreased during desorption. The first adsorption led to greater MS compliance than did the subsequent adsorption with the same amount of MC change. In general, the elastic parameterK _E and the MS parameterK _Mincreased with compression and decreased as the press temperature increased. The MS parameterK _M was apparently greater than the elastic parameterK _E. The MS parameterK _M increased with swelling coefficient K_SW of the hot-pressed specimen during adsorption and decreased with an increasing shrinkage coefficientK _SH during desorption.     

Anaphylaxis after vaccination for cats in Japan

Severe adverse reactions in cats after vaccination were examined from 316 cases reported to the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) in Japan during 15-year period from April 2004 to March 2019. We found that 130 (41%) showed anaphylaxis, and 99 (76%) of the 130 cases of anaphylaxis resulted in death. Veterinarians should be well prepared to deal with vaccine-associated anaphylaxis in cats. Bovine serum albumin (BSA) as indicator of purification was detected at high levels in commercially available feline vaccines. BSA might derive from fetal calf serum in culture media. This study provides useful information about anaphylaxis including critical details of the potential clinical signs associated with adverse events to feline vaccination.     

The transition time from the juvenile phase to the adult phase differs in soybean cultivars ‘Enrei’ and ‘Peking’

Plants develop juvenile phase to adult phase in vegetative stage. Although soybean is a very important crop worldwide, there has been only one study of the juvenile–adult phase change. In this study, we determined that the juvenile–adult phase change occurred at different stages in two soybean cultivars that differ in their photosensitivity. Cultivar ‘Enrei’ (E1e2e3E4) is weakly photosensitive and cultivar ‘Peking’ (E1E2E3E4) is strongly photosensitive. In ‘Enrei’, the leaf size gradually increased at a constant leaf position regardless of the difference in day length. In ‘Peking’ plants transferred to short‐day conditions at several leaf development stages, leaf size gradually increased at different leaf positions. Expression of miR156 by ‘Enrei’ transferred to short‐day conditions had nearly the same pattern as that of ‘Enrei’ grown under long‐day conditions. In ‘Peking’, the expression of miR156 had different patterns in younger leaves of plants subjected to either a short‐day treatment or long‐day conditions. These results indicate that the E2 and E3 loci that regulate photosensitivity also regulate the expression of miR156 and the juvenile–adult phase change in soybean.     

Quantitative structure-activity studies of benzoylphenylurea larvicides: I. Effect of substituents at aniline moiety against Chilo suppressalis walker

The larvicidal activity of a series of N-2,6-difluoro- and N-2,6-dichlorobenzoyl-N′-(4-substituted phenyl)ureas against nondiapause larvae of the rice stem borer, Chilo suppressalis Walker, was measured by topical application and oral administration methods under conditions with and without piperonyl butoxide as an inhibitor of oxidative metabolism. The effects of substituents at the anilide moiety on the larvicidal activity were analyzed quantitatively using physicochemical substituent parameters and regression analysis. The results indicate that the oxidative metabolism in the larval body which is favored by electron-donating substituents is significant in determining the activity. The activity, when the metabolic factor is eliminated, is enhanced by electron-with-drawing and hydrophobic substituents and lowered by bulky groups. The inhibitory activity against new cuticle formation of the same series of compounds was also measured using cultured integument of the rice stem borer diapause larva. The comparison of the quantitative analyses between larvicidal and integument-level activities shows that inhibition of cuticular development is the most important factor governing larvicidal activity.     

Growth performance,carcass traits,physiochemical characteristics and intramuscular fatty acid composition of finishing Japanese black steers fed soybean curd residue and soy sauce cake

This study was conducted to determine the effects of dietary soybean curd residue (SCR) and soy sauce cake (SSC) on the growth performance, carcass traits and physiochemical and intramuscular fatty acid (FA) characteristics in Japanese Black steers. Ten steers (29.7 ± 0.3 months old, 856.6 ± 24.4 kg body weight) were assigned to either treatment C, fed a conventional concentrate or T, fed the test diet including dried SCR and SSC for 3 months. In growth performance, dry matter (DM) intake and average daily gain, and carcass traits did not differ significantly between the treatments. Color of beef was affected by the dietary treatments and meat samples from T showed higher a^* value and chroma than those in C. On FA composition, there was no significant difference between the treatments in neutral lipids, whereas in polar lipids, meat samples from T had higher C16:1 (P < 0.05) and tended to have higher C16:0 (P = 0.05) and C18:1 (P = 0.08), but lower C17:0 (P = 0.098), C18:2 (P = 0.06) and C20:4 (P = 0.07) than those from C. The study suggested that SCR and SSC could be used as a substitute for conventional concentrate and would influence meat color and intramuscular FA composition of polar lipids.     

Effects of Secondary Structures of Heated Egg White Protein on the Binding Between Prime Starch and Tailings Fractions in Fresh Wheat Flour

Dried egg white protein was heated at 120°C for 1 hr, added to a fresh wheat flour (protein 8.6%), and the protein and wheat flour were subjected to acetic acid (pH 3.5) fractionation. The results showed that egg white protein increased the binding between prime starch (PS) and tailings (T) fractions in wheat flour. Several conditions for heating of egg white protein were examined to determine 1) the effect of the amount of water added to the protein before heating; 2) the effect of heating time (hr) on protein at 120°C; and 3) the effect of heating temperature on the binding between PS and T fractions. The amount of protein per 50.0 g of wheat flour was further examined for the maximum binding between PS and T fractions. The heated egg white protein was analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FT‐IR) spectroscopy, and the changes in the secondary structures (α‐helix, β‐sheets, and others) of the protein caused by heating were studied. When egg white protein was heated at 120°C for 8 hr, 9.0% of the α‐helix structures of egg white protein decreased to 3.0%, and 37.0% of the β‐sheet structures increased to 41.0%. The decrease of α‐helix and increase of β‐sheet structures of heated egg white protein were related to the increase in the binding between PS and T fractions in the same heated egg white protein and wheat flour sample. A relationship between the structural changes in heated egg white protein (180°C, 1 hr) and the binding between PS and T fractions in the heated egg white protein and wheat flour was also observed.