Effects of ractopamine on genetically obese and lean pigs

Twenty-eight genetically obese and 24 lean barrows (65.0 and 68.7 kg average BW, respectively) were allotted within genotype to a 16% CP corn-soybean meal basal diet or this basal diet + 20 ppm ractopamine (a phenethanolamine beta-adrenergic agonist) and allowed ad libitum access to feed for 48 d. Compared to lean pigs, obese pigs had lower ADG, gain to feed ratio, longissimus muscle area, predicted amount of muscle, and weights of trimmed loin and ham, ham lean, heart, spleen, kidney and gastrointestinal tract (P less than .05). Obese pigs also had shorter carcass but higher dressing percentage, backfat thickness, fat depth, fat area, untrimmed loin weight and fasting plasma urea N concentration (P less than .05). Dietary supplementation with 20 ppm ractopamine reduced daily feed intake and improved gain to feed ratio in both lean and obese pigs (P less than .05). Pigs fed ractopamine had shorter carcasses, less fat depth and fat area, smaller weights of stomach and colon plus rectum, but higher dressing percentages, longissimus muscle areas, weights of trimmed Boston butts, picnics and loins, ham lean and predicted amounts of muscle than pigs not fed ractopamine (P less than .05). Supplemental ractopamine had no effect on fasting plasma concentrations of urea N, nonesterified fatty acids, triglyceride or glucose (P greater than .05). No genotype x ractopamine interactions for the criteria described above were detected (P greater than .05). These results suggest that ractopamine will improve the efficiency of feed utilization and carcass leanness in swine with different propensities for body fat deposition.     

Multiple embryo-transplant offspring produced from quartering a bovine embryo at the morula stage

A non-surgical embryo collection was completed on a day 7 superovulated Chianina donor cow. Because all but two of the ova from the collection were unfertilised and a surplus of potential recipients was available, one embryo (an excellent quality late morula) was dissected into four equal portioned 'quarter' embryos using a simplified micromanipulation procedure. Each quarter embryo was then placed in a 0.25 ml French straw and non-surgically transplanted to four different crossbred beef recipient females. The remaining embryo was similarly transplanted to a herd mate recipient as an intact embryo. One recipient returned to oestrus, one recipient had an extended post transfer cycle and the two remaining recipients produced a live quarter embryo transplant calf each within 24 hours of the other. The intact embryo placed in a herd mate recipient did not produce a transplant calf. To the authors' knowledge, these transplant offspring are the first live births reported from a non-surgically collected later-stage bovine morula (day 7), which had been dissected into quarters and then individually transplanted non-surgically to recipient females. The procedure was relatively simple to perform and was completed in less than one hour.     

Irrigation Scheduling and Watermelon Yield Model for the Jordan Valley

A crop yield and soil water management simulation model (CRPSM) developed at Utah State University was modified, calibrated and tested using local weather data and field results from a trickle irrigation experiment with different mulching on watermelon ( Citrullus lanatus ), carried out at the University of Jordan Research Station, in the Jordan Valley.
Simulated irrigation schedules were then applied with some of the four options provided by the model. The water yield index, WYI, introduced by B attikhi and H ill (1985) to select the most efficient schedule as based on yield and water use efficiency, was then determined. WYI ranged from 27 to 87. The field schedule, WM₂, had a WYI of 62. Whereas, the model provided a much better schedule, WM₇ (WYI = 86). WM₇ requires 17 irrigations of 2.0 cm per irrigation totaling a water supply of 44.1 cm with an irrigation season starting on April 7 to give a yield equivalent to the potential yield, 80.0 MT/ha. On the other hand, the best field schedule, WM₂ under transparent mulch, required 14 irrigations to provide 45.9 cm (including rainfall and soil moisture change), with a season starting on April 28 resulted in a yield of 68.8 MT/ha. So we can see that by using the same amounts of total water supply but with different schedule we can get the potential yield. The model has, therefore, provided few better schedules that can be tested in the field at lower costs before final recommendations are made.     

不同利用方式对贝加尔针茅草原土壤活性有机碳的影响

土壤活性有机碳能够准确反映土壤有效性,表征土壤质量变化,是探索可持续草地管理措施的关键指标之一。以内蒙古贝加尔针茅草原为研究对象,采用围封、放牧和刈割野外控制试验,探讨不同利用方式对土壤有机碳（SOC）和活性有机碳的影响,发现不同利用方式下土壤SOC含量表现为围封>刈割>放牧,其中围封区和刈割区土壤SOC含量显著大于放牧区,围封区与刈割区土壤SOC含量差异不显著,在土壤活性有机碳中土壤可溶性有机碳（DOC）含量表现为放牧>围封>刈割。土壤微生物量碳（MBC）和土壤易氧化有机碳（ROC）含量均表现为围封>刈割>放牧,围封区与刈割区土壤MBC和土壤ROC平均含量差异不显著,且均显著大于放牧区。土壤MBC、ROC和SOC之间呈极显著相关性（P<0.01）。土壤ROC和土壤MBC与土壤全氮和土壤全磷呈极显著相关性（P<0.01）。围封与刈割有利于土壤SOC、MBC、ROC的提升,放牧对土壤DOC有一定累积作用。围封和刈割增强了土壤SOC的稳定性,活性有机碳与土壤有机碳和土壤理化性质密切相关,能够敏感地反映土壤有机碳的变化。     

基于EDA技术的自动立木整枝机无线遥控发射系统

立木整枝是优质工业用材林定向抚育的重要环节,采用自动立木整枝机是实现高效、高质量和安全可靠整枝的有效途径。本文综合运用电子电路设计及优化技术、无线遥控及通信编解码技术,创造性地研制了基于CPLD的无线数字编码抗干扰自动立木整枝机无线遥控发射系统,通过优化CPLD内部逻辑电路有效消除了逻辑竞争冒险、降低了噪声干扰,确保了系统逻辑设计的正确性。该系统具有可靠、节能、抗干扰、工作效率高等优点。本研究成果及方法为推进其他林业机械的自动化与智能化进程提供了一种有效的新思路。     

Apiculture and forestry (bees and trees)

Honey bees are found associated with forests globally. Flowers of forest trees provide subsistence for honey bees and the trees physically provide shelter for a swarm or bee hive. Forest management and beekeeping have each had a long history both in the United States and globally, but have seldom been integrated or studied in a systematic fashion. Purposeful plantings of trees, as in agroforestry systems, could be designed to favor bee forage or hive protection.Tree growing and beekeeping can easily be combined for several reasons. Both are sustainable on land that is hilly or otherwise less desirable for other agricultural purposes. Both require labor intermittently, and can be sustained while the grower/beekeeper is busy with other farming occupations. Bee hives require very little space, while the bees themselves can forage in a radius of 4 to 5 km. Hives may be located within or near a tree plantation, and utilize both the trees and surrounding other flowering plants for forage. Combining forestry and beekeeping provides annual honey bee products (e.g. honey, beeswax) to supplement income from a landowner's long term forest managements. In areas like Kentucky, where more than half of the forest landowners own 4 ha or less of commercially valuable woodland, it is important to produce economic benefit from those lands without harvesting all the trees. Combining bees and trees is one way of accomplishing this goal. This paper addresses several important known bee-tree interactions which need more systematic study.     

Comparison between old-growth stands and secondary stands regenerating after clear-felling in warm-temperate forests of Yakushima, southern Japan

In order to infer successional changes in structure, species composition and diversity of warm-temperate forest, we compared secondary stands regenerating after clear-felling (41–64-years old) with old-growth stands at altitudes between 300 and 800 m on Yakushima Island, southern Japan. Stem density and maximum stem diameter differed between secondary and old-growth stands, but basal area and aboveground biomass did not. At lower altitudes, the dominant species in old-growth stands with a strong sprouting capacity (Castanopsis cuspidata) also dominated secondary stands, and species composition of secondary and old-growth stands was similar. At higher altitudes, by contrast, the dominant species in old-growth stands (Distylium racemosum) had little sprouting capacity and was poorly represented in diverse secondary stands, which were dominated by Castanopsis or other less abundant species. Secondary stands had greater species diversity (Shannon–Wiener index) than old-growth stands, particularly at higher altitudes. This was due to greater species richness resulting from higher stem density per area, but not to greater evenness. We grouped the component species that share ecologically similar traits into four guilds (fagaceous, primary evergreen, secondary evergreen and deciduous species). Secondary stands were characterized by greater numbers of deciduous and secondary evergreen species. We concluded that different sprouting capacities of dominant species and different regeneration traits among guilds are responsible for the change in species composition and diversity during succession.