Effect of feeding olive-pulp ensiled with additives on feedlot performance and carcass attributes of fat-tailed lambs

Feed cost has a significant effect on the economic efficiency of feedlot lambs; therefore, the use of low-cost non-conventional feedstuffs, such as olive pulp (OP), has the potential to decrease the production costs. Because optimum inclusion of OP-treated silages has not been determined in feedlot lambs, an experiment was conducted to determine the effect of inclusion of OP ensiled with additives in the diet on the feedlot performance and carcass attributes of feedlot lambs. Ram lambs of Mehraban and Ghezel breeds (n?=?50 lambs per breed) were randomly allotted to 10 groups and fed with one of the nine diets containing OP silage or a control diet. Silage treatments were: (1) OP silage without additives (OPS), (2) OP ensiled with 8 % beet molasses and 0.4 % formic acid (OP-MF), and (3) OP ensiled with 8 % beet molasses, 0.4 % formic acid and 0.5 % urea (OP-MFU). The control diet contained 50 % alfalfa hay and 50 % barley grain. Three levels from each silage were chosen to replace the barley grain (10, 20, or 30 % dry matter basis). The lambs were slaughtered after 92 days, and the average daily gain (ADG), feed conversion ratio (FCR), and carcass characteristics were determined. Feeding OPS to fat-tailed lambs, at an inclusion level of 30 %, decreased the carcass dressing percentage, mainly as a result of decreased brisket percentage, but the ADG and FCR values were not adversely affected. Ghezel lambs had higher ADG than Mehraban lambs, but the visceral fat weight percentage, flap weight percentage, and back fat depth were higher in Mehraban. The crude protein content in the longissimus dorsi (LD) muscle was higher in Ghezel, but the dry matter percentage was higher in Mehraban (P?<?0.05). Other attributes were not significantly affected by breed (P?>?0.05). Most carcass characteristics, including major cuts, were not affected by OPS feeding; therefore, feeding OPS (up to 30 %) can be economical for feedlot lambs. Most carcass characteristics, including major cuts, were not affected by OPS levels used in this experiment; therefore, inclusion of OPS (up to 30 %) in the diet may reduce the cost of raising feedlot lambs. This also could help alleviate the problem of storage of OP in oil factories.     

Inheritance pattern of mungbean yellow mosaic disease resistance and gene action for different traits in mungbean (Vigna radiata (L.) Wilczek) under protected and unprotected field conditions

Understanding of mungbean yellow mosaic disease resistance is crucial to develop resistant varieties to combat worldwide threat of the disease epidemics. This study was aimed to determine nature of disease resistance in terms of number of genes governing it and genetics of related traits. Experimental site was located on 31.43°N and 73.06°E with an elevation of 186 m, and evaluation trials were conducted during spring season due to high disease epidemics in this season. Two contrasting genotypes, that is, NM 6‐68‐2 (resistant) and NM 1‐32‐1 (highly susceptible), were crossed to raise six populations, that is, P₁, P₂, F₁, F₂, BC₁ and BC₂ for evaluation under protected and unprotected field conditions using chi‐square test and generation mean and variance analysis. It was discovered that disease resistance was governed by two major genes with additive effects. Disease resistance can easily be incorporated through backcrossing and direct selection following hybridization. Direct selection should be practised at earlier generation for plant height, chlorophyll contents and number of seeds per pod due to preponderance of additive effects whereas at later generations for seed yield per plant, 100 seed weight, harvest index, number of pods per plant and pod length due to involvement of duplicate epistasis.     

Impact of Various Ratios of Nitrogen and Sulfur on Maize and Soil pH in Semiarid Region

Nitrogen and sulfur play an important role in maize production. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of nitrogen (N) and sulfur (S) levels applied in various ratios on maize hybrid Babar yield at Peshawar in 2011 and 2013. Four N levels (120, 160, 200 and 240 kg N ha^?1) and four S levels (20, 25, 30 and 35 kg S ha^?1) were applied in three splits: a, at sowing; b, V8 stage; c, VT stage in ratios of 10:50:40, 20:50:30 and 30:50:20. Grains ear^?1, thousand grain weight, grain yield ha^?1 and soil pH were significantly affected by years (Y), N, S and their ratios, while no effect of N, S and their ratios was noted on ears plant^?1. Maximum grains ear^?1 (390), thousand grain weight (230.1 g) and grain yield (4119 kg ha^?1) were recorded in 2013. N increased grains ear^?1 (438), thousand grain weight (252 g) and grain yield (5001 kg ha^?1) up to 200 kg N ha^?1. Each increment of S increased grains ear^?1 and other parameters up to 35 kg S ha^?1, producing maximum grains ear^?1 (430), thousand grain weight (245 g) and grain yield (4752 kg ha^?1), while soil pH decreased from 8.06 to 7.95 with the application of 35 kg S ha^?1. In the case of N and S ratios, more grains ear^?1 (432), heavier thousand grains (246.7 g) and higher grain yield (4806 kg ha^?1) were observed at 30:50:20 where 30% of N and S were applied at sowing, 50% at V8 and 20% at VT stage. It is concluded that 200 kg N ha^?1 and 35 kg S ha^?1 applied in the ratio of 30% at sowing, 50% at V8 and 20% at VT stage is recommended for obtaining a higher yield of maize hybrid Babar.     

Perusing biochemical antioxidant enzymes as selection criteria under drought stress in wheat varieties

In regard to important roles of enzymatic antioxidant in abiotic stresses, and their practical use as stress indices, the current research was implemented to peruse antioxidant enzymatic activities of different wheat varieties and to find the susceptible and the tolerant varieties based on these indices. The experiment was carried out in the greenhouse of Islamic Azad University, Sanandaj, Iran in 2015. A factorial experiment based on completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications were used to evaluate the effects of different water regimes, including 100% and 50% field capacity (FC) on 25 wheat cultivars. Antioxidant enzyme activities, including superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), peroxidase (POD), and ascorbic peroxidase (APX), and grain yield of the wheat varieties were measured. The results showed that under normal irrigation condition, the relationships between grain yield and antioxidant were inversed, but under stressful condition the relationships between wheat grain yield and some important antioxidants such as CAT and SOD were positive. Among antioxidant enzymes, SOD activity showed a higher variation among wheat varieties of this study, indicating that this enzyme is an important trait to be used in the breeding programs. Based on the results of different statistical techniques and comparing relationships among traits for normal irrigation and stress condition, enzymatic antioxidant could be used as practical criteria for screening tolerant genotypes of wheat. On the other side, SOD and CAT resulted in being the most important criteria for achieving higher tolerant genotypes through indirect selection.     

Screening of tomato genotypes for salinity tolerance based on early growth attributes and leaf inorganic osmolytes

The experiment containing three replicates of completely randomized factorial treatments was conducted in a glasshouse under controlled conditions with three simulated soil salinity levels (control, 10 and 15 dS m^?1). Morpho-physiological traits (i.e. lengths, fresh weights and dry weights of root and shoot, number of leaves, root/shoot ratio, shoot Na⁺ accumulation, K⁺/Na⁺ ratio, Ca²⁺/Na⁺ ratio, membrane stability index, lycopene contents, chlorophyll-a and -b) were recorded to determine mechanism of salt tolerance of tomato at seedling stage. Principal component analysis (PCA) was used to express a three-way interaction of genotype × salinity level × traits that scattered the 25 tomato genotypes based on their morpho-physiological response to different NaCl levels. The negative association of Na⁺ with all other traits except root/shoot ratio and the morpho-physiological response trend of genotypes exposed that probable mechanism of salt tolerance was initially Na⁺ exclusion by abscising older leaves to have younger physiologically energetic, and lastly a higher activity of plants for root development to sustain them in saline soil. PCA three-way biplot efficiently recognized ANAHU, LA-2821, LO-2752, LO-2707, PB-017909, LO-2831-23 and 017860 as salt tolerant genotypes. On the other hand, ZARNITZA, GLACIER, LO-2692, LO-2576, BL-1079, 006233, 006232, 017856, NUTYT-701 and NAGINA were found to be salt susceptible.     

Mitigation of salinity stress in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) seedlings through physiological seed enhancements

Salinity stress can be mitigated by using the physiological seed enhancements. Kharchia 65 (salt tolerant) and PI.94341 (salt sensitive) genotypes were evaluated under salt stress (20 dS/m) by various priming treatments, that is hydropriming and halopriming (50?mmol, KCl and NaCl) in a pot study. Experiment was conducted in completely randomized design under factorial arrangements with three replications. Priming agents improved the final emergence percentage (FEP), emergence index (EI) and reduced the mean emergence time of both wheat genotypes under normal and saline conditions as compared to non-primed seed. Priming treatments elicited the efficiency of wheat seedlings by increasing both Fv/Fm and Ft under both normal and salt stress conditions which were strongly linked with low Na⁺ and high K⁺. In conclusion, all three priming agents effectively nullified the deleterious effects of salt stress by improving seed emergence and triggering the physiological attributes of wheat.     

肉鸡舍的最佳气候条件与通风方式

近30年来,全球的家禽业获得了长足的发展.其中的许多成就来源于对肉鸡快速生长和理想饲料报酬的选育.目前,肉鸡在42日龄的体重要比10年前高出0.45千克.遗传学家和大型肉鸡场已把最大的重点放在进一步提高肉鸡的生长率、饲料报酬和胸肉产量上.他们估计到2005年,肉用仔鸡在28日龄时体重可达到1.8千克.但只有在生产者放弃传统的饲养系统,采用现代饲养技术,使肉鸡的饲养环境和管理达到最佳水平才能取得这些遗传进展.在获取肉鸡最佳生产性能的许多变量中,最重要的因子之一是通过正确通风获取较好的空气质量.     

Detection of antibodies to Mycoplasma gallisepticum vaccine ts-11 by an autologous pMGA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay

Mycoplasma gallisepticum is a poultry pathogen that causes respiratory disease and loss of egg production worldwide. A live attenuated vaccine, ts-11, has been used for control of M. gallisepticum in several countries. The rapid serum agglutination test is usually used as an indicator of flock response to vaccination; however, in some flocks, the detected response may be weak or absent. With the use of specific monoclonal antibodies against M. gallisepticum strain S6 pMGA in immunoaffinity purification, the major membrane antigen of ts-11 was purified. An indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was developed with the purified antigen, and its potential for detection of antibodies induced after ts-11 vaccination was compared with an indirect ELISA with M. gallisepticum strain S6 pMGA. In the presence of high levels of ts-11-induced antibodies, both antigens detected similar numbers of positive sera. However, when lower levels of antibodies were present, ts-11 pMGA showed a higher sensitivity than S6 pMGA. Further examination of ts-11 pMGA with Mycoplasma synoviae-infected chicken sera revealed that ts-11 pMGA is specific for M. gallisepticum antibodies. With a panel of sera from ts-11-vaccinated or non-ts-11-vaccinated field chickens, the ts-11 pMGA ELISA was found to be more sensitive than the commercial rapid serum agglutination test in detecting antibodies to ts-11 vaccine. The results from this study suggest that the major membrane antigen of M. gallisepticum may have slightly different antigenic profiles in different strains, thereby necessitating the use of autologous antigens in serodiagnostic assays to increase sensitivity of the tests for mycoplasma antibodies. Thus, the low level of antibody response after ts-11 vaccination is, at least partially, due to the low ability of the current diagnostic antigens to bind ts-11 antibodies.     

Use of Green Fluorescent Protein-Transgenic Strains to Study Pathogenic and Nonpathogenic Lifestyles in Colletotrichum acutatum

ABSTRACT Colletotrichum acutatum, which causes anthracnose disease on strawberry, can also persist on several other plant species without causing disease symptoms. The genetic and molecular bases that determine pathogenic and nonpathogenic lifestyles in C. acutatum are unclear. We developed a transformation system for C. acutatum by electroporation of germinating conidia, and transgenic isolates that express the green fluorescent protein (GFP) were produced. Details of the pathogenic and nonpathogenic lifestyles of C. acutatum were determined by using GFP-transgenic isolates. Major differences between colonization-mediating processes of strawberry and of other plants were observed. On the main host, strawberry, the germinating conidia formed branched, thick hyphae, and large numbers of appressoria were produced that were essential for plant penetration. In strawberry, the fungus developed rapidly, filling the mesophyll with dense mycelium that invaded the cells and caused necrosis of the tissue. In nonpathogenic interactions on pepper, eggplant, and tomato, the conidia germinated, producing thin, straight germ tubes. Appressoria were produced but failed to germinate and penetrate leaf tissue, resulting in epiphytic growth without invasion of the plant. Penetration of the plant occurred only several days after inoculation and was restricted to the intercellular spaces of the first cell layers of infected tissue without causing any visible damage. Much of the new fungal biomass continued to develop on the surface of inoculated organs in the nonpathogenic interaction. The differences in fungal development on strawberry compared with the other plant species suggest that signal molecules, which may be present only in strawberry, trigger appressorial germination and penetration of the primary host.     

The reproductive performance of Finn × German Mutton Merino and purebred German Mutton Merino Ewes

The sexual season, i.e. the sexual cycle activity, of Finn × German Mutton Merino (Finn × GMM) ewes was found to extend from August to March. In a group of purebred German Mutton Merino (GMM) ewes the sexual season extended from June to January.After July–August and October–November lambings, 90–95% of the Finn × GMM crosses renewed postpartum sexual activity within 90 and 75 days, respectively. Only 40% of the November lambing purebred GMM ewes started new cycles within 105 days postpartum.The responsiveness of the Finn × GMM ewes to hormonal treatment was high (90–100%) during different months of the year. The fertility at the synchronized or induced oestrus was 60–75% throughout the year, with a mean litter size of 2.0 lambs per lambing.