Protection of Fenneropenaeus chinensis (Osbeck, 1765) against the white spot syndrome virus using specific chicken egg yolk immunoglobulins by oral delivery

Two kinds of specific chicken egg yolk immunoglobulins (IgYs), IgY‐WSSV and IgY‐VP28, were, respectively, raised against the 2 mM binary ethylenimine (BEI)‐inactivated white spot syndrome virus (WSSV) and a principal envelope protein VP28. The activity of purified specific IgYs was stable under the conditions of 20–70 °C, pH 3.0–10.0 and 0–700 g L^?1 sucrose solution. In the neutralization assay, these high‐affinity IgY antibodies can specifically bind with the virus particles to protect shrimp (Fenneropenaeus chinensis) against WSSV infection. After oral delivery for 20 days, the IgY‐WSSV exerted a higher protection effect (RPS: 71.5%) than IgY‐VP28 (RPS: 63.7%). Moreover, an increase in RPS (79.2%) was found on addition of IgY‐WSSV:VP28 (0.1% IgY‐VP28 plus 0.2% IgY‐WSSV). This may indicate that neutralization of WSSV refers to the multiple‐hit model. By time‐course study of the levels of the specific IgYs in vivo, the data showed that the titre was enhanced to a relatively high level (P/N=8.35±0.45) at 3 days post administration, declined slightly (P/N=7.13±1.01) at 7 days post administration and then remained stable for further investigation. The stable antibody level potentially contributes towards blocking a large number of WSSV particles from entering and infecting on the major tissues at the early and late stages after challenge in shrimp.     

Effects of a highly purified fucoidan from Undaria pinnatifida on growth performance and intestine health status of gibel carp Carassius auratus gibelio

A six‐week feeding trial was conducted to determine the effects of different concentrations of fucoidan (1 g/kg, 10 g/kg and 30 g/kg; w/w) from Undaria pinnatifida on gibel carp (Carassius auratus gibelio). Our results demonstrated that 30 g/kg fucoidan significantly increased (p < .05) growth performance, intestinal digestive enzyme activities, acid phosphatase activity and immunoglobulin M content. Histological examinations revealed that gibel carp receiving 30 g/kg fucoidan had significant higher abundance of mucin‐containing goblet cells in middle and distal intestine as compared with control treatment (p < .05). Intestinal microbiota analysis showed that 30 g/kg fucoidan supplementation significantly increased (p < .05) the abundance of Cetobacterium and Aeromonas, but lowered (p < .05) the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria Plesiomonas and a mucin‐degrading bacterium Mucinivorans. Furthermore, RNA‐seq and RT‐qPCR analysis indicated that 30 g/kg fucoidan caused significant changes (p < .05) in the expression of genes involved in immune regulation (such as interleukin‐8 and cyclooxygenase), signal transduction (such as phosphatidylinositol‐4,5‐bisphosphate 3‐kinase and protein kinase B) and nutrition utilization (maltase–glucoamylase and muscarinic acetylcholine receptor 3). Together, the current study shows that fucoidan supplementation could elevate the activity of intestinal digestive enzymes, modulate intestinal microbial communities and potentiate a higher state of immune readiness, which might consequently improve growth performance and intestine health status of gibel carp.     

Dietary α‐Ketoglutarate supplementation alleviates harmful effects of high environmental ammonia on grass carp,Ctenopharyngodon idella

Current intensive fish farming usually causes high environmental ammonia (HEA) in ponds that is toxic to fish. α‐Ketoglutarate (α‐KG) can be rapidly transaminated to glutamic acid and further aminated to glutamine. Therefore, we hypothesized that dietary α‐KG supplementation would alleviate HEA toxicity to fish. To test the hypothesis, 270 healthy grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) juveniles were randomly assigned to control, HEA (18.37 mg/L ammonia) and HEA + α‐KG (0.75% of α‐KG) groups. Ammonia and free amino acid content in plasma and brain, liver glutamic pyruvic transaminase and glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase activity, and urea and glycogen content were measured on the first, seventh and 42nd days. Our results showed short‐term HEA exposure (1 day) led to a significant ammonia accumulation in the brain and plasma and significantly decreased glutamic and aspartic acid content in the brain and increased glutamine content in the brain and plasma. The long‐term HEA exposure (42 days) caused significant reductions in glycine and arginine content in the brain tissue. In most cases, dietary α‐KG supplementation alleviated the fluctuations in FAA content in the brain and plasma. Our results suggested dietary α‐KG alleviated HEA toxicity to grass carp.     

The effects of protein kinase A catalytic subunit on sperm motility regulation in Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai

Protein kinase A plays a central role in the regulation of sperm motility from echinoderms to mammals, but the information about its regulatory role in molluscs is very limited. In this study, a protein kinase A catalytic subunit (designated as HdPKA‐C) was identified from Pacific abalone Haliotis discus hannai. The open reading frame of HdPKA‐C was of 1,077 bp, encoding a peptide of 358 amino acids with a typical protein kinase domain. HdPKA‐C shared 82%–87% sequence similarities with other PKA‐Cs, and it was clustered first with gastropod PKA‐Cs in the phylogenetic tree. The mRNA of HdPKA‐C was constitutively expressed in examined tissues, with the highest level detected in hepatopancreas. The phosphorylated form of HdPKA‐C (p‐HdPKA‐C) was localized at the acrosome, connecting piece and flagellum of spermatozoa with variable intensity. Its phosphorylated substrates were also detected in these regions with much lower intensity at the connecting piece. The inhibition of HdPKA‐C activity with H‐89 led to a significant reduction in the percentage of motile sperm and sperm velocities. p‐HdPKA‐C was detected by Western blot in strip‐spawned sperm, naturally spawned sperm and H‐89‐treated sperm with almost the same intensity. The intensity of p‐HdPKA‐C substrates in naturally spawned sperm was higher than that in strip‐spawned sperm, and it was roughly the same as that in H‐89‐treated sperm except for two bands at 50 and 60 kDa. These results collectively indicated that HdPKA‐C played an important role in the regulation of abalone sperm motility by altering its substrates phosphorylation.     

Effects of nitrogen and water stress on the rehydration,endogenous hormonal regulation and yield of maize

Water scarcity is known to be a strong limiting factor affecting maize grown and yield in cold semi-arid regions. Numerous studies have shown that rehydration improves maize growth. Our study aimed to explore the effects of rehydration treatments on maize growth and yield under water and nitrogen stress during different growth stages. We selected the drought-tolerant maize variety Nendan 19 (ND19) and subjected it to water stress during the V6 (sixth-leaf), R2 (filling) and R6 (maturity) growth stages and a rehydration treatment after each stress stage. Our results indicated that N1 (N100 kg N ha⁻¹) and N3 (N300 kg N ha⁻¹) treatments significantly increased the leaf moisture status relative to water content (RWC), bound water content (BWC), free water content (FWC) and water potential (WP)) at different growth stages. Similar trends were observed in the accumulation of plant leaf and root hormones (zeatin+zeatin riboside, indole-3-acetic acid, abscisic acid and gibberellic acid), photosynthetic pigments and chlorophyll fluorescence. However, under the same water stress conditions, they decreased as the N rate increased and reached a minimum value in the S3 (water stress for N3) treatments. In addition, with growth stage advancement and extension of the rehydration time, both showed a gradual upward trend. The results showed that to save water resources in the cold semi-arid region, rehydration treatments (R2S1 and R2S3) significantly increased the photosynthetic pigments and chlorophyll fluorescence parameters, leaf moisture status, biomass, 100-grain weight, hormone content, ear characteristics and grain yield of maize.     

基于GF-1卫星遥感的冬小麦面积早期识别

GF-1号卫星是中国高分卫星系列首颗卫星,自2013年04月26日发射以来,提供了大量的2 m/8 m/16 m空间分辨率的卫星数据,成为中国农业遥感监测的主要数据源之一。该文以GF-1卫星携带的16 m空间分辨率的宽视场(wide field view,WFV)传感器为主要数据源,采用2013年10月2日、10月17日、11月7日和12月5日4个时相的数据,以多尺度分割后的对象为基本分类单元,采用分层决策树分类的方法对冬小麦面积进行提取,并利用地面样方数据对分类结果进行了精度验证。结果表明,北京市顺义区冬小麦面积7 095 hm2,分类总体精度达到96.7%,制图精度为90.0%,其他未分类类别精度为97.3%,Kappa系数为0.8。研究区内冬小麦的播种时间可以分为10月1-5日早播、10月6-10日中播、10月11-15日中晚播、10月16-20日晚播等4个时间段,不同播期对应着归一化植被指数(normalized difference vegetation index,NDVI)不同的变化规律,是分层的基础,结合波段反射率、波段反射率和、波段反射率比值等参数的变化规律,通过分层可以有效的剔除草坪、桃树等容易同冬小麦混淆的地物类型,GF-1/WFV提供的多时相遥感数据能够可靠的反映冬小麦发育变化的规律,是冬小麦面积准确提取的基础,在农作物面积遥感监测业务运行中具有较大的开发应用潜力。     

甘肃高寒牧区藏羊电刺激采精实验

为研究电刺激采精技术能否在甘肃高寒牧区藏系羊繁殖中推广应用,该技术是否对公羊精液品质和采精量有影响,项目课题组在甘肃省天祝县旦马乡进行了牧区藏羊种公羊电刺激采精实验。选择本土选育的欧拉型藏羊种公羊,配种期每日每只采精2次,即：首日（标注为d1）早上采用传统的假阴道采精法采精,下午采用电刺激法采精,次日（标注为d2）早上采用电刺激法采精,下午采用传统的假阴道采精法采精,依次不同采精方法交叉采精,减少误差,连续采精6d,及时检查采精量及精液密度、精子活力等品质。实验结果表明,甘肃天祝牧区藏羊种公羊电刺激采精所得精液量均在0.80 mL～0.96 mL之间,符合藏系羊正常精液量,平均精子活力均在0.80以上,平均精液密度均“中”以上,精液品质符合人工授精精液品质要求,可应用于藏羊繁殖生产实践。     

玉米秸秆微贮营养价值的变化及对肉羊生长性能影响的研究

本试验将玉米秸秆进行微贮,检测了微贮后营养价值的变化及其对肉羊生长性能的影响。研究表明,玉米秸秆微贮后,湿润、具酒香味、质地柔软、适口性好,中性洗涤纤维（NDF）、干物质（DM）及酸性洗涤纤维（ADF）值显著下降,粗蛋白（CP）值显著升高。结果显示,微贮玉米秸秆后,营养价值得到有效的改善;玉米秸秆微贮后饲喂肉羊,试验组肉羊日增重较对照组增加21.76 %。     

藏羊电刺激采精和人工授精技术

由于藏羊特殊的品种特性,高海拔严寒地区养殖适应性好,养殖成本相对其他类型羊较低,但自然交配情况下,空怀率高,繁殖率低。为克服藏种羊胆小易惊,调教不易,采精困难等不利因素,我们采用电刺激法促使种公羊被动排精,很大程度上降低了采精难度,提高了采精数量,在母羊集中发情季节,优秀种公羊个体可授配母羊500只以上,同时引进药物诱导母羊同期发情等技术进行人工授精,大大提升了藏羊繁殖性能,加速了我县藏羊引种改良进程,提高藏羊养殖经济效益。     

小麦茎基腐病防治药剂及抗病品种的筛选

为获得防治小麦茎基腐病的有效药剂和抗病品种,测定12种杀菌剂对小麦茎基腐主要病原菌假禾谷镰孢菌Fusarium pseudograminearum的室内毒力、对小麦生长的影响及对小麦茎基腐病的室内防治效果,并鉴定144份小麦品种（系）对茎基腐病的抗性。结果表明,12种杀菌剂对假禾谷镰孢菌均有一定的抑制效果,其中15%氰烯菌酯·5%己唑醇的抑制率最高,EC₅₀为0.002 mg/L,其次是6.6%嘧菌酯·1.1%咯菌腈·3.3%精甲霜灵、25 g/L咯菌腈和430 g/L戊唑醇,EC₅₀分别为0.016、0.069和0.099 mg/L。12种杀菌剂拌种处理对小麦出苗、株高、根长和鲜重均有不同程度的影响,尤其对出苗率影响最大,其中15%氰烯菌酯·5%己唑醇处理的出苗率最低,为30.41%。15%氰烯菌酯·5%己唑醇拌种处理的防治效果最好,为70.43%;其次是430 g/L戊唑醇和25 g/L咯菌腈·37.5 g/L精甲霜灵,防治效果分别为56.34%和53.34%。在供试144份小麦品种（系）中,仅3份对小麦茎基腐病表现为中感,其余141份均表现为高感,无免疫和抗病品种。综上,目前防治小麦茎基腐病时建议选用15%氰烯菌酯·5%己唑醇等杀菌剂进行拌种处理,但应严格控制药剂用量,以防影响小麦出苗。