Plasma progesterone, metabolic hormones and beta-hydroxybutyrate in Holstein-Friesian cows after superovulation

Metabolic hormones [insulin, leptin, insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I), thyroxine (T4) and triiodothyronine (T3)], progesterone (P4) and beta-hydroxybutyrate (BHB) serum concentrations were evaluated and their effect on the superovulation results of donor cows was investigated in a semi-arid environment. Body weight, body condition score (BCS) and lactation stage were also included in the analysis. Twenty-three Holstein-Friesian cows were superovulated with 600 IU FSHp following the routine procedure and flushed on day 7 in a Multiple Ovulation and Embryo Transfer Centre in the semi-arid area of Brazil. The corpora lutea (CL) were counted and blood samples were collected for assays. All of the hormones investigated and BHB serum concentrations were within the physiological ranges. There was a positive correlation between hormones, except between BHB and all the others. The leptin level was influenced by feeding status, as indicated by the BCS. Insulin, T4, T3 and BHB levels were affected by milking status. Dry cows had higher levels of all hormones except BHB. An optimum level of leptin resulted in the highest number of CL, while the linear increase of P4, T4 and IGF significantly increased the number of CL.     

Floristic composition and structure of the Kibate Forest along environmental gradients in Wonchi,Southwestern Ethiopia

Dry evergreen montane forests in Ethiopia are severely threatened.The status of species composition and structure of forest vegetation are important indicators ...     

Experimental hyperkalaemia in rabbits: effects of salbutamol and norepinephrine treatments on blood biochemistry and electrocardiography

The effects of salbutamol and norepinephrine on the electrocardiogram (ECG), serum potassium level and enzyme activities were studied in rabbits with hyperkalaemia; norepinephrine and salbutamol may be therapeutically useful. For induction of hyperkalaemia, 300 mM KCl solution was used and then isotonic saline solution containing 6 microg salbutamol and 3.9 microg norepinephrine per ml were administered. Norepinephrine and salbutamol decreased the serum potassium from 7.36 +/- 0.26 and 7.21 +/- 0.31 mmol/L to 5.62 +/- 0.27 and 4.35 +/- 0.33 mmol/L, respectively, and caused the ECG changes (flatness of P wave, widening of QRS complex and bradycardia) to return to the control conditions (time 0). Norepinephrine, but not salbutamol, decreased the activities of aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT) and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) to the control levels. These results suggest that monitoring of the enzyme activities might be useful as it yields indexes suitable for evaluating the therapeutic approach with norepinephrine in hyperkalaemia.     

Plant Availability of Cadmium in Soils: I. Extractable Cadmium in Newly and Long-Term Cultivated Soils

Abstract

Effects of long-term use of phosphate fertilizers on extractable soil Cd in relation to its concentrations in plants were investigated. “Paired” soil samples were collected from newly and long-term cultivated fields and analyzed for Cd by extraction with NH₄OAc, DTPA, NH₄OAc-EDTA, NH₄NO₃, HCl and CaCl₂. Plant samples were also collected and analyzed for Cd. Significant differences in extractable Cd by all the extractants except NH₄NO₃ were observed between the newly and long-term cultivated soils. The Cd concentrations in plants were not increased by the elevated extractable Cd. Although significant relationships were observed between plant Cd and extractable soil Cd, none of the extractants used alone gave a good assessment of plant-available Cd for all the samples used in this study.     

Winter wheat fertilizing using nitrogen–sulphur fertilizer

Precise field experiments were established on two sites with winter wheat under different soil-climatic conditions in the Czech Republic. Four treatments were fertilized with same dose of nitrogen (200 kg N ha^?1) and increasing dose of sulphur (0, 10, 20 and 40 kg S ha^?1) using nitrogen–sulphur (N–S) fertilizer with calcium sulphate form. Soil and plant aboveground biomass samples were taken in the stages of development BBCH 26–28; 30–32; 37–39; 49–51. The winter wheat grain yield ranged between 7.20 and 10.86 t ha^?1 and had an increasing trend with increasing sulphur dose. Although the differences were usually not statistically significant, there were found increasing tendencies of bioavailable sulphur content in soil with increasing S split doses. Soil S content decreased with time probably due to plant uptake. Sulphur dose did not influence the S content in plant aboveground biomass. The total S contents in grain after harvest ranged between 0.09% and 0.14% and were not significantly influenced with the fertilizing treatment. The same statement is valid for the S content in straw, which ranged between 0.03% and 0.11%. Both, S content in winter wheat seeds and straw were strongly influenced by the site conditions.     

Plant Availability of Cadmium in Soils: II. Factors Related to the Extractability and Plant Uptake of Cadmium in Cultivated Soils

Abstract

Eighty four soil samples collected from southeastern Norway were analyzed for Cd by extraction with NH₄OAc, DTPA, NH₄OAc-EDTA, NH₄NO₃, HCl and CaCl₂. The total Cd, pH, exchangeable K and Ca, dithionite-extractable Mn, available P and fine sand (0.2–0.02 mm) contents were the principal factors related to the extractable Cd, with some inter-extractant variations. Cadmium extracted by NH₄NO₃, NH₄OAc, HCl and CaCl₂ decreased with increasing soil pH, but the Cd extracted by all the extractants increased with increasing total Cd, exchangeable K and Ca, available P, and Mn-oxide contents in the soils. The Cd concentrations in plants were significantly related to the extractable Cd, exchangeable Ca and Mg, pH, Mn-oxides and organic matter content.     

Performance of direct-seeded rice under various dates of sowing and irrigation regimes in semi-arid region of India

Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is the most important staple food crop in the southern region of Asia, and Indian subcontinent being one of the major producers. Production of conventional transplanted rice requires a large amount of irrigation water, labor, and energy. The scarcity of irrigation water has encouraged farmers to adopt an alternative rice production system, i.e. the direct-seeded rice (DSR), which is proposed to be farmers’ friendly with a potential to save water. Our study reports the performance of DSR with respect to yield and water expense efficiency based on different irrigation regimes and dates of sowing. A field experiment was conducted in the semi-arid region of northern India during the rainy season of 2011 with two treatment combinations (dates of sowing: 15th May and 5th June and three irrigation regimes: irrigation scheduled at irrigation water-to-cumulative potential evapotranspiration; IW/CPE ratio of 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0) in a completely randomized design. We found statistically higher water expense efficiency of DSR sown on 5th June as compared to DSR sown on 15th May without any significant differences in growth and yield. A significant yield difference between DSR grown with irrigation regimes of IW/CPE 1.0 and 1.5 and DSR grown with irrigation regimes of IW/CPE ratio 2.0 were observed. The DSR grown with irrigation regimes of IW/CPE ratio of 1.5 resulted in significantly higher water expense efficiency than the one with IW/CPE ratio of 2.0. Obtaining a higher yield of DSR under scarce irrigation water might be a trade-off between optimum water use and maximum yield avoiding excess ground water exploitation in sub-tropical semi-arid regions of India. Our study suggests that sowing time and irrigation regimes are two important aspects of “rice production” to attain “win–win” solution. Thus, strategic and judicial use of irrigation water with management of sowing time could potentially escalate the rice production in water scarce regions of India.     

15N foliar dilution of western red cedar in response to seed inoculation with diazotrophic Paenibacillus polymyxa

Diazotrophic bacteria previously isolated from internal tissues of naturally regenerating lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta var. latifolia (Dougl.) Engelm.) seedlings were tested for their ability to fix N in association with western red cedar (Thuja plicata Donn.). Surface-sterilized cedar seed was sown in glass tubes containing an autoclaved sand/montmorillonite clay mixture that contained a N-free nutrient solution labeled with ¹⁵N as 0.35?mM Ca(¹⁵NO₃)₂ (5?% ¹⁵N label). After sowing, seed was inoculated with one of three bacterial strains: Paenibacillus polymyxa P2b-2R, P. polymyxa P18b-2R, or Dyadobacter fermentans P19a-2R. At the end of the 27-week plant growth period, P2b-2R was the only strain detected in the cedar rhizosphere. No bacteria were found inside plant tissues. Cedar foliar N concentrations were significantly enhanced (26–33?%, P?<?0.05) in response to inoculation with all three bacterial strains but ¹⁵N dilution (23?%, P?<?0.05) was observed only in seedlings treated with strain P2b-2R. This strain also reduced seedling dry weight (27?%, P?<?0.05). We observed similar trends in a second experiment with slight modifications to the protocol, but the magnitude of foliar ¹⁵N dilution was greater (56?%, P?<?0.05). Based on our results, we conclude that cedar seedlings inoculated with strain P2b-2R derived 23 and 56?% of their foliar N from bacterial N fixation in two seedling growth experiments.     

Changes of woody species diversity,horizontal and vertical distribution of stems across interior to outside within a primate rich habitat of Northeast India

The interior forest of protected area(PA)recover quickly in terms of greater diversity and structural complexity than peripheral and outsides, which may be due to high plant-frugivore interactions in the interior forest than the disturbed outsides. To describe the structural and functional differences in tree communities from interior to outside forests with in small PA, we quantitatively analyzed the vegetation of Trishna Wildlife Sanctuary, a rich primate habitat of Northeast India. Vegetation was sampled at C10 cm girth at breast height by 10 m 9 500 m sized20 line transects(10 ha) laid in the interior(N = 7),peripheral(N = 7) and outside(N = 6) zones of this sanctuary. All transects were ordinated by Principal Component Analysis based on correlation between diversity and existing disturbance indices. We found significant differences(P \ 0.05) in taxonomic richness and diversity indices between the habitat. Van diagram confirmed greater unique species richness in the interior zone(64) than peripheral(28) and outside(6) zones. Overall density(ha-1) did not differed across the zones, but basal area(m2ha-1) was significantly(P \ 0.01) high in peripheral zone. Vertical distribution of stem density was linearly declined across zones(r2adj[ 0.70; P \ 0.01) with increase in the canopy height. Horizontal distribution of adult stems showed significant inverse quadratic relationship(r2adj[ 0.80; P \ 0.001), which suggests very low density of canopy forming voluminous trees in the interior zone.Immediate protection, restoration and management of interior regions are required to preserve local plant genetic diversity and also to maintain suitable habitat for threatened wildlife.     

Role of reactive oxygen species and antioxidants in plant disease resistance

Membrane damage caused by the non-specific fungal toxin fusaric acid was less on pretreated than on control leaves when tobacco leaves were pretreated with anti-senescence plant hormones, such as kinetin, benzyladenine or the anti-ozonant N-[2-(2-oxo-1-imidazolidinyl)]ethyl-N'-phenylurea. Similarly, the necrosis caused by mercuric chloride was reduced by the above anti-senescence agents. In addition, in in vitro tests, leaves from selected paraquat-tolerant tobacco plants were less sensitive to Alternaria alternata (Fr) Keissler infection than those of the control paraquat-sensitive tobacco leaves. Paraquat-tolerant Conyza canadensis (L) Cronq weeds naturally selected in vineyards in Hungary showed similar inhibition of senescence to paraquat-tolerant tobacco, expressed as more green leaves and slower development. In accordance with this, the paraquat-tolerant Conyza leaves remained almost symptomless, while paraquat-sensitive plants showed severe symptoms after infection with Botrytis cinerea Pers. Oxidative burst (accumulation of hydrogen peroxide) was attenuated in TMV-infected leaves of Xanthi-nc tobacco as a result of treatment with salicylic acid or in leaves where systemic acquired resistance (SAR) had been induced by a previous TMV infection. Accordingly, superoxide dismutase (SOD) activity was higher in Xanthi tobacco leaves with SAR than without SAR. However, in NahG tobacco, in which SAR cannot develop, there was no augmentation of SOD activity. All the above data support the significance of delayed senescence and antioxidants in the resistance of plants to biotic and abiotic necrosis-inducing agents.