Risk factors associated with prevalence and major bacterial causes of mastitis in dromedary camels (Camelus dromedarius) under different production systems

A cross-sectional study was conducted in desert environment of Jhang (Pakistan) from November 2008 to October 2009 on she-camels kept under pastoralist conditions to determine the prevalence of mastitis, impact of risk factors, and isolate the dominant mastitis-causing bacteria on total of 150 lactating she-camels by using clinical examination and surf field mastitis test. From the 150 she-camels examined, 69 (46%) were positive for mastitis at animal level, 12 (8%) clinical, and 57 (38%) subclinical. Age, parity number, stage of lactation, breed, production system, hygiene of milking process, and presence of lesion on udder/teat were found significantly associated (p < 0.05) with the prevalence of mastitis in she-camels. There was the lowest prevalence (33.33%; 15 of 45) of mastitis in she-camels of 5–7 years of age, while the highest (80%; 12 of 15) in the animals aged between 14 to 16 years. Stage of lactation significantly affected (p < 0.05) and was found to be associated with the prevalence of mastitis being the highest (54.55%; 18 of 33) during the initial stage of lactation (0 to 1 month) followed by last 2 months (10–12 months) as 54.17% and mid-stages (1–3 and 3–10 months) of lactation as 28.57% (6 of 21) and 37.50% (9 of 24), respectively. According to breed of camels, it was noted that the prevalence of mastitis affected significantly (p < 0.05) being the highest in crossbred (Desi × Mareecha) as 51.39% (37 of 72) followed in order by Mareecha and Desi as 43.14% and 37.04%, respectively. Staphylococcus (42.19%) and Streptococcus (15.63%) genera were the dominant isolates identified. Good hygiene in milking process, milking clinically infected she-camels at last, culling chronic mastitis carriers, treating clinically infected she-camels, and dry period therapy could reduce the prevalence of contagious mastitis in the study area.     

Nutritional applications and beneficial health applications of green tea and l-theanine in some animal species: A review

Green tea (Camellia sinensis) is a popular herbal plant with abundant health benefits, and thus, it has been used as a potent antioxidant for a long time. Based on the available literature, the diversity and the availability of multifunctional compounds in green tea offer its noteworthy potential against many diseases such as liver and heart diseases, inflammatory conditions and different metabolic syndromes. Owing to its bioactive constituents including caffeine, amino acids, l -theanine, polyphenols/flavonoids and carbohydrates among other potent molecules, green tea has many pharmacological and physiological effects. The effects of green tea include anti-oxidative, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, anti-stress, hypolipidaemic, hypocholesterolaemic, skin/collagen protective, hepatoprotective, anti-diabetic, anti-microbial, anti-infective, anti-parasitic, anti-cancerous, inhibition of tumorigenesis and angiogenesis, anti-mutagenic, and memory and bone health-improving activities. Apart from its utilization in humans, green tea has also played a significant role in livestock production such as in dairy, piggery, goatry and poultry industries. Supplementation of animal feeds with green tea and its products is in line with the modern concepts of organic livestock production. Hence, incorporating green tea or green tea by-products into the diet of poultry and other livestock can enhance the value of the products obtained from these animals. Herein, an effort is made to extend the knowledge on the importance and useful applications of green tea and its important constituents in animal production including poultry. This review will be a guideline for researchers and entrepreneurs who want to explore the utilization of feeds supplemented with green tea and green tea by-products for the enhancement of livestock production.     

Diet analysis of small mammal pests: A comparison of molecular and microhistological methods

Knowledge of what pest species are eating is important to determine their impact on stored food products and to plan management strategies accordingly. In this study, we investigated the food habits of 2 rodents, Rattus rattus (ship rat) and Mus musculus castaneus (house mouse) as well as an insectivore, Suncus murinus (shrew), present in human dwellings. Both a microhistological approach and a DNA barcoding approach were used in the present study. Following DNA extraction, amplification was performed using group‐specific primers targeting birds, plants and invertebrates. Resulting polymerase chain reaction products were sequenced and analyzed to identify the different prey species present in the gut contents. The findings from the application of both techniques were in agreement, but the detection of prey type with each technique was different. The DNA barcoding approach gave greater species‐level identification when compared to the microhistological method, especially for the invertebrate and avian prey. Overall, with both techniques, 23 prey taxa were identified in the gut contents of the 3 species, including 15 plants, 7 insects and a single bird species. We conclude that with a selection of suitable “barcode genes” and optimization of polymerase chain reaction protocols, DNA barcoding can provide more accurate and faster results. Prey detection from either technique alone can bias the dietary information. Hence, combining prey information of both microhistological analysis and DNA barcoding is recommended to study pest diet, especially if the pest is an omnivore or insectivore species.     

Critical values of alternative organic amendments on kiwi seedling growth

The present research was conducted to explore the impact of alternative organic amendments on physicochemical properties of soil and their critical value for kiwi seedlings growth. The experiment was laid out in completely randomized design with 3 replications and 20 seedlings per replication. The highest pH (8.0) was recorded in T3 (compost + silt) and the highest electrical conductivity (EC) of 5.91 dS/m, organic matter (24.11%), organic carbon (13.99%), organic nitrogen (1.51%) were recorded in T8 (compost + peat moss (PM) + leaf manure) and the highest soil porosity (SP) (45.95%) and lowest bulk density (0.67) were recorded in T4 (PM + garden soil (GS)). EC higher than 1.99 and SP (45.95%) were found critical and adversely affected seedling survival. The highest plant height (103 and 93 cm), number of leaves (23 and 20), number of first-order lateral roots (NFLRM) (9 and 8.5), whole seedling fresh mass (75 and 72 g), fresh root mass (FRM) (35 and 35 g), shoot fresh mass (46 and 40 g), root collar diameter (RCD) (13 and 12 mm), and shoot diameter (10 and 9 mm) were recorded in T5 (compost + GS) and T7 (compost + PM + GS). Strong and positive correlations were observed among NFLRP, RFM, and RCD (R² = 0.89 and 0.96) and all the above-ground seedling traits (R² = 0.86–0.98). It is concluded that compost is a good soil amendment for producing good quality graftable kiwi seedlings and evaluation of seedling root system architecture could be used to predict the potential and success of seedlings in the field.     

Ruminal microbiota composition associated with ruminal fermentation parameters and milk yield in lactating buffalo in Guangxi,China—A preliminary study

The ruminal microbiota of 15 dairy buffalo was characterized using high‐throughput 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing. Results showed that Bacteroidetes was the dominant bacterial phylum in all rumen samples, followed by Firmicutes, Proteobacteria, Tenericutes and Verrucomicrobia. Butyrivibrio was positively correlated with average milk fat yield (R = 0.55; p = 0.03), average milk total solid yield (R = 0.56; p = 0.03) and standard milk yield (R = 0.52; p = 0.05). Acinetobacter were positively correlated with average milk protein yield (R = 0.56; p = 0.03), average milk total solid yield (R = 0.60; p = 0.02) and standard milk yield (R = 0.57; p = 0.03). Acetobacter was positively correlated with acetate (R = 0.63; p = 0.01), propionate content (R = 0.55; p = 0.03), butyrate content (R = 0.61; p = 0.02) and total VFA (R = 0.62; p = 0.01). The phyla Proteobacteria (R = 0.53; p = 0.04) and genus Prevotella (R = 0.52; p = 0.05) were positively correlated with butyrate content. Correlation analysis suggested that increased Butyrivibrio and Acinetobacter residing in the buffalo rumen could improve milk performance.     

Effect of chelate fertilizers on dry matter and metallic composition of bean plants in a pot experiment

Bean plants were grown in pots contaning 6 kg of loamy sandy soil. A basal dose of NPK (150–120–100 kg/ha) fertilizers was mixed with the soil before potting and was repeated when the bean plants were 30 days old. Five different fertilizers and three rates of each fertilizer were investigated in this study. Fertilizers were applied seven days after germination and all treatments were triplicated. Bean plants were harvested 20, 30, and 45 days after sowing, dried, weighed, and digested in nitric‐perchloric acids. Concentrations of 18 elements were determined in the digests using an inductively coupled argon plasma spectrometer. At the end of the experiment, soil samples were also collected and extracted with DTPA. Bean dry matter yield was not significantly (p<0.05) affected by fertilizer application. Concentrations of aluminum (Al), barium (Ba), calcium (Ca), cadmium (Cd), cobalt (Co), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), molybdenum (Mo), strontium (Sr), nickel (Ni), titanium (Ti), vanadium (V), and zinc (Zn) were significantly (p<0.05) lower in plant samples collected from the control treatments. Fertilizer application had no significant effect on concentrations of copper (Cu), potassium (K), sodium (Na), magnesium (Mg), phosphorus (P), and lead (Pb) in bean plants. Metal concentrations decreased with an increase in plant age, probably due to dilution effect. DTPA‐extractable concentrations of Co, Fe, Mn, Zn, Pb, Mo, and V were not significantly (p<0.05) correlated to their respective concentrations in bean plants.     

GLUE algorithm capability in estimating the van Genuchten soil–water characteristic parameters and their uncertainties

Paddy and Water Environment - Uncertainty in the model’s structure, parameters, and input data can be viewed as the three primary sources of hydrological models failure; hence, doing an...     

An Overview of Biodegradation of LNAPLs in Coastal (Semi)-arid Environment

Contamination of soil and water due to the release of light non-aqueous phase liquids (LNAPLs) is a ubiquitous problem. The problem is more severe in arid and semi-arid coastal regions where most of the petroleum production and related refinery industries are located. Biological treatment of these organic contaminated resources is receiving increasing interests and where applicable, can serve as a cost-effective remediation alternative. The success of bioremediation greatly depends on the prevailing environmental variables, and their remediation favoring customization requires a sound understanding of their integrated behavior on fate and transport of LNAPLs under site-specific conditions. The arid and semi-arid coastal sites are characterized by specific environmental extremes; primarily, varying low and high temperatures, high salinity, water table dynamics, and fluctuating soil moisture content. An understanding of the behavior of these environmental variables on biological interactions with LNAPLs would be helpful in customizing the bioremediation for restoring problematic sites in these regions. Therefore, this paper reviews the microbial degradation of LNAPLs in soil-water, considering the influences of prevailing environmental parameters of arid and semi-arid coastal regions. First, the mechanism of biodegradation of LNAPLs is discussed briefly, followed by a summary of popular kinetic models used by researchers for describing the degradation rate of these hydrocarbons. Next, the impact of soil moisture content, water table dynamics, and soil-water temperature on the fate and transport of LNAPLs are discussed, including an overview of the studies conducted so far. Finally, based on the reviewed information, a general conclusion is presented with recommendations for future research subjects on optimizing the bioremediation technique in the field under the aforesaid environmental conditions. The present review will be useful to better understand the feasibility of bioremediation technology, in general, and its applicability for remediating LNAPLs polluted lands under aforesaid environments, in particular.     

Comparative effect of slow and rapid freezing on sperm functional attributes and oxidative stress parameters of goat spermatozoa cryopreserved with tiger nut milk extender

Comparative effect of slow and rapid freezing on sperm functional attributes and oxidative stress parameters of goat spermatozoa cryopreserved with tiger nut milk (TNM) extender was examined in this study. Pooled semen samples obtained from West African Dwarf (WAD) goat bucks were diluted with Tris‐based extenders containing different levels of TNM (0, 5, 10, 15 and 20 ml/100 ml extender). The diluted semen samples were subjected to slow and rapid freezing for a period of 7 days and thereafter evaluated for sperm functional attributes (percentage motility, acrosome integrity, membrane integrity, abnormality and livability) and oxidative stress (malondialdehyde [MDA] concentration and acrosin activity) parameters. Results showed that higher (p < 0.05) motility, livability, membrane and acrosome integrities in semen cryopreserved with slow freezing compared to rapid freezing. These parameters (motility, livability and membrane integrity) were higher (p < 0.05) in semen cryopreserved with 15% TNM in both slow and rapid freezing protocols. The results revealed that semen cryopreserved in slow freezing had lower (p < 0.05) abnormality compared to rapid freezing. Acrosin activity was higher in slow freezing compared to rapid freezing. Acrosin activity was higher at 15% TNM in both slow and rapid freezing. Lower (p < 0.05) MDA concentration was observed in semen cryopreserved using slow freezing compared to rapid freezing. The findings revealed improved post‐thaw sperm functional attributes and oxidative stress parameters of WAD goat spermatozoa cryopreserved with 15% TNM using slow freezing.