Descriptive epidemiology of culling in dairy cows from 34 herds in New York State

Data on parity, disease, farmers' stated primary reasons for culling and stage of lactation at diagnosis and at culling were used to describe patterns of culling in Holstein lactations from 34 New York herds. Of 7763 lactations, 18.7% ended in culling [death (95 cows), sales for dairy purposes (104 cows), or slaughter]. The culling rates for specific reasons were: dairy purposes 1.3%, low production 3.8%, reproduction 4.8%, udder problems 4.0%, feet and legs 1.2%, old age 0.3%, accidents 0.3% and miscellaneous reasons 2.9%. Culling increased with parity (at least through Lactation 6) and primarily was due to production, reproduction and udder problems. Culling for these 3 reasons peaked immediately after calving, again between 151 and 240 days post-partum (poor milk production) and at >240 days post-partum (poor reproductive performance). First-lactation cows sold for dairy use tended to be sold in early lactation. Death in older cows usually occurred early in lactation and was due to udder problems or to miscellaneous causes.

Compared to lactations without the disease, lactations with a diagnosis of downer cow, clinical mastitis or treat problems were 3.5, 2.0 and 2.7 times more likely to end in culling, respectively. Among cows diagnosed with a disease and culled, many were culled the same day or within 30 days of the diagnosis. Such “immediate” culling upon diagnosis was especially typical of cows with milk fever, downer cow syndrome, left displaced abomasum, teat problems, and foot and leg problems (and for some cases of clinical mastitis), implying that these disorders led to “forced” culling, which was particularly costly to the farmers.     

Immunological cross-reactivity between pseudocapsular antigens of strains of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from cases of bovine mastitis

An assay was developed to measure the degree of immunological cross-reactivity between the pseudocapsules of a vaccine (reference) strain of Staphylococcus aureus and pseudocapsules of strains of S. aureus isolated from cases of bovine mastitis. The field strains were obtained from Australia, New Zealand, Norway, the U.K. and the U.S.A. There was large variation among strains in cross-reactivity of their pseudocapsules with those of the reference strain. For 104 Australian strains, the range of cross-reactivity indices (CRI) was 6.1-63.2% (on a scale of 0-100%, with 0% being complete identity and 100% being nil identity); for 61 overseas strains the range of CRI values was 25.7-72.1%. The data indicated that pseudocapsule antigens of Australian strains were antigenically more closely related to those of the reference strain than were pseudocapsular antigens of strains from the 4 other countries.     

Thin sow syndrome (TSS): the effect of amperozide

Sixty sows suffering from typical post-weaning TSS were divided into three groups: (1) 20 as negative controls (NC); (2) 20 as positive controls (PC) treated with vitamins, trace elements and antibiotics; and (3) 20 injected with amperozide (2 mg/kg body weight), a new neuroleptic compound with antistress and anxiolytic properties. Amperozide treated sows fully recovered (P less than 0.05) and 80% became pregnant, while figures for the PC and NC groups were only 15% and 10% respectively. Mortality was up to 50% in the NC, 40% in the PC and only 15% in the amperozide treated group (P less than 0.05). These field results warrant further studies in unravelling the aetiology and prevention of this condition.     

Continuous Spectrophotometric Assay and Properties of Ascorbic Acid Oxidising Factors in Wheat

A continuous spectrophotometric assay was developed to measure ascorbic acid oxidation in crude Na₂SO₄ extracts of flour. The rate of ascorbic acid oxidation in flour extracts measured using this method was similar to the rate in flour-water suspensions and 2–4 fold less than the rate in dough measured using an indophenol-xylene extraction method. Flour extracts appeared to contain two ascorbic acid oxidising factors; one with optimal activity at pH 6·3 and 30 °C and the other with optimal activity at pH 10 and 40 °C. The pH 6·3 factor had properties similar to those of ascorbate oxidase (EC 1·10·3·3) in its pH and temperature stability, strong inhibition by NaN₃, KCN and diethyldithiocarbamate, inactivation by proteases, and greater stereospecificity towards -ascorbic acid than -isoascorbic acid. The pH 6·3 factor was most concentrated in the pollard milling fraction of wheat and was lowest in flour. The pH 10 factor had several properties indicating non-enzymic oxidation of ascorbic acid; it was not inactivated by proteases, it was inhibited poorly or not at all by the above ascorbate oxidase inhibitors, and it had low specificity for stereoisomers of ascorbic acid.     

不同生境下锌镉在伴矿景天不同叶龄叶中的富集与分布特征

田间试验、温室盆栽和生长室水培试验研究了Zn和Cd超富集植物伴矿景天不同叶龄叶片的Zn、Cd富集和分布特征。结果显示,田间条件下伴矿景天新叶中Cd浓度高于成熟叶、但新叶中Zn浓度低于成熟叶。温室盆栽试验发现,连续种植伴矿景天,第4季时低污染土壤（S1）上新叶中Zn浓度低于成熟叶,但高污染土壤（S4）上新叶中Zn浓度高于成熟叶;而到了第6季,S1、S4上新叶中Zn浓度均低于成熟叶,且在S1上两者达到显著水平;第4和第6季,伴矿景天新叶中Cd浓度始终高于成熟叶（除S1成熟叶中Cd浓度略高于新叶外）。水培试验结果发现,无论在高Zn（600 mmol/L）、高Cd（100 mmol/L）,还是低Zn（10 mmol/L）、低Cd（1 mmol/L）处理,新叶中Zn、Cd浓度均高于成熟叶;而且随着处理时间的延长,新叶和成熟叶中Zn、Cd浓度均明显上升。水培条件下,新叶和成熟叶中Zn最高分别为43 107、33 774 mg/kg（以干重计）（600 mmol/L,处理56 天）;新叶和成熟叶中Cd的最高浓度分别为15 057、9 060 mg/kg（以干重计）（100 mmol/L Cd,处理56 天）。这些结果表明,Zn、Cd在伴矿景天新叶和成熟叶中富集和分布与其生长介质中Zn、Cd的浓度尤其是有效态浓度、处理时间及植物所处的生长阶段等有关,同时也表明Zn、Cd优先分布于新叶可能与伴矿景天超富集Zn、Cd的机制有关。     

The structural state of buried and surface soils of solonetzic complexes in the dry steppe zone of the Lower Volga basin

The structural state of modern (surface) soils and the soils buried under Anna Ioannovna??s rampart (1718?C1720) was studied. These soils are the components of solonetzic soil complexes in the southern Privolzhskaya Upland. The dehumification and the high content of calcium in the exchange complex determine the state of the macrostructure of the chestnut soil buried about 300 years ago. The dehumification drastically lowers the water stability of the soil aggregates, and the predominance of calcium ions in the soil exchange complex prevents the destruction of the chestnut paleosol aggregates and preserves their aggregate state upon moistening. For the last 300 years, no significant changes in the macrostructure of the solonetzes have been observed.     

小麦品种的耐盐性变化：甜菜碱和乙烯的作用

Four wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars 711, PBW343, 3765 and WH542 were screened for studying variations in glycinebetaine (GB) content and plant dry mass under 100 mmol L-1 NaCl stress. A tolerance index was calculated using plant dry mass data to select salt-tolerant and salt-sensitive types and find association between tolerance index and GB content. Tolerance index has been used as a good criterion to select the tolerant types under high salinity stress. Further, physiological differences in salt-tolerant cultivar 711 and salt-sensitive cultivar WH542 were examined. The salt-tolerant cultivar exhibited greater GB content, which was found correlative with ethylene. The cultivar also showed higher nitrogen (N) content and nitrate reductase activity, reduced glutathione and higher redox state resulting in maximal protection of plant dry mass than the salt-sensitive type. Thus, the content of GB may be considered as important physiological criteria for selecting salt-tolerant wheat types.     

果园巡检机器人长臂抖动抑制方法

针对果园巡检机器人长臂因抖动而严重制约图像采集效率的问题,该研究提出基于臂体上3个部位的仰角构建单一反馈量进行抖动抑制的方法。首先基于臂体外伸段的有限元模态分析结果,通过固有频率和静变形的等效,建立三杆两扭簧等效机构的动力学模型。并基于微分平坦理论将3个倾角传感器读数合成为一个系统输出量,以平坦输出量作为被控量,采用PID控制器进行抑振试验,再利用自抗扰控制(Active Disturbance Rejection Control, ADRC)思想中对广义扰动的处理方法,将被控模型等效为二阶系统形式,并将模型信息代入到扩张状态观测器中进行对比试验。试验结果表明,基于本文构建的方法均能起到快速抑制长臂抖动的作用。在冲击作用致使末端产生10°幅值的抖动情况下,PID控制器实现了7 s内抑制大幅抖动,自抗扰控制器实现了8 s内快速抑制大幅抖动的效果。PID控制器的输出出现3次饱和现象且小幅较高频率抖动不易消除,而自抗扰控制器仅出现一次饱和,具有抖动抑制过程平滑的优点。本文的控制算法简洁适于在单片机等微型计算机系统中应用,系统结构简单成本低,可为现代农业装备研发与应用中解决长臂类结构抖动的主动抑制问题提供理论参考。