Hip dysplasia in a 6-year-old Salz ram

A 6-year old Salz ram was presented with a history of poor body condition, progressive gait abnormalities, pelvic limb lameness, and difficulty with copulation. Based on the history, clinical signs, hip palpation, and radiography, a diagnosis of hip dysplasia, previously unreported in sheep, was made.     

Comparison of effects of high-pressure processing and heat treatment on immunoactivity of bovine milk immunoglobulin G in enriched soymilk under equivalent microbial inactivation levels

Immunoglobulin-rich foods may provide health benefits to consumers. To extend the refrigerated shelf life of functional foods enriched with bovine immunoglobulin G (IgG), nonthermal alternatives such as high-pressure processing (HPP) may offer advantages to thermal processing for microbial reduction. To evaluate the effects of HPP on the immunoactivity of bovine IgG, a soymilk product enriched with milk protein concentrates, derived from dairy cows that were hyperimmunized with 26 human pathogens, was subjected to HPP or heat treatment. To achieve a 5 log reduction in inoculated Escherichia coli 8739, the HPP or heat treatment requirements were 345 MPa for 4 min at 30 degrees C or for 20 s at 70 degrees C, respectively. To achieve a 5 log reduction in natural flora in the enriched soymilk, the HPP or heat treatments needed were 552 MPa for 4 min at 30 degrees C or for 120 s at 78.2 degrees C, respectively. At equivalent levels for a 5 log reduction in E. coli, HPP and heat treatment caused 25% and no detectable loss in bovine IgG activity, respectively. However, at equivalent levels for a 5 log reduction in natural flora, HPP and heat resulted in 65 and 85% loss of bovine IgG activity, respectively. Results of combined pressure-thermal kinetic studies of bovine milk IgG activity were provided to determine the optimal process conditions to preserve product function.     

Evaluation of pea proteins and poultry protein as fish meal alternatives in the diets for juvenile black sea bream,Acanthopagrus schlegelii

The potential of three different protein resources (pea protein isolate, PPI; pea protein concentrate, PPC; enzyme treated poultry protein, ETPP) as fish meal (FM) alternative protein in diets for juvenile black sea bream, Acanthopagrus schlegelii. (initial average weight 7.90 ± 0.13 g) was evaluated. Seven isonitrogenous and isoenergetic diets were formulated to replace FM at 0% (T0, control diet), 8% (designated as T1‐T3) and 16% (designated as T4‐T6) using PPI, PPC and ETPP respectively. Each diet was randomly assigned to triplicate groups of 25 juvenile fish for 8 weeks. At the end of the feeding period, survival rate was not significantly affected by dietary treatments. Growth performance in T6 (16% ETPP) group was significantly inferior to T0 group, however, weight gain and specific growth rate in other treatments showed no significant differences (P > 0.05). Mean feed intake, feed efficiency ratio and protein efficiency ratio were also poorer in fish fed in T6 than those of fish fed with the control diet respectively. Apparent digestibility coefficients (ADCs) of dry matter and crude protein for fish fed ETPP diets were significant lower than those of fish fed with the control diet, whereas ADCs of lipid were unaffected by dietary treatments. ADC's of dietary Leu, Ile, His and Lys was also significantly influenced. There were no marked variations in proximate compositions of dorsal muscle. With regard to plasma characteristics, significant difference was observed in triacylglycerol content. Ammonia concentration in plasma tended to increase in alternative protein diets as substitution level increased. There were significant differences in aspartate aminotransferase activities among groups, but alanine aminotransferase levels were unaffected by treatments. In conclusion, the present study demonstrated that PPI and PPC were potential protein sources for using in juvenile black sea bream diet. However, the substitution level of FM by ETPP should be limited within 16%.     

Short and long‐term distribution with depth of soil organic carbon and nutrients under traditional and conservation tillage in a Mediterranean environment (southwest Spain)

The impacts of tillage and cropping sequences on soil organic matter and nutrients have been frequently reported to affect the uppermost soil layers, but there is little published information concerning effects at greater depth. This article reports results on the distribution of soil organic carbon (SOC), active carbon (AC), N, Olsen‐P and extractable K within 100 cm in short (4 yr) and long (16 yr) term experiments under different tillage systems. Short (TT₄) and long (TT₁₆) traditional tillage are compared with conservation tillage, reduced (RT₁₆) and non‐tillage (NT₄). The results show more accumulation of SOC in the near‐surface under RT₁₆ and NT₄ in both experiments compared with traditional tillage. Moreover, greater C content occurs to 40 cm depth in the long‐term experiment. The results demonstrate the importance of time on C accumulation, not only in near‐surface layers but also at greater depths. Active C is an indicator of the increase in soil quality in the long‐term experiment. This trend is only apparent for the first 10 cm in the short‐term experiment. Patterns in N, Olsen‐P and extractable K are similar to that of SOC. However, only extractable K is significantly greater in soil under conservation tillage (RT₁₆ and NT₄) after short and long periods. Potassium availability is a good indicator of the changes caused by tillage. Our results indicate that studies of soils at depth could be very useful in long‐term experiments to demonstrate the effect of conservation tillage on C and nutrient distribution.     

Tomato fruit quality as influenced by the interactions between agricultural techniques and harvesting period

Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum Mill) is an important crop in terms of its economic and nutritional value. Many factors, including cultivar, climate, geography, geochemistry, and agricultural practice, can affect its nutrient concentrations. An HJ‐biplot study was performed to examine the effects of cultivar (Dorothy, Boludo, Dominique, Thomas, and Dunkan), agricultural practices, climatic factors, and their interactions. Significant differences were analyzed using a one‐way ANOVA. All samples were collected and assayed at the same degree of ripeness. In the conventional and organic tomato samples, those harvested from December to April had the highest concentrations of fructose, glucose, citric acid, malic acid, ascorbic acid, protein, Na, and Mg, while those harvested in October had the highest concentrations of lycopene and hydroxycinnamic acid. There were high concentrations of Ca, P, Zn, and Cu in the no‐soil tomatoes. Conventional and organic cultivation practices showed similar results with respect to the collection period, both presenting high organic compound concentrations, while high mineral concentrations seemed to correspond to the no‐soil practice. No clear pattern was observed among the different cultivars, perhaps due to all the samples having been collected at the same degree of ripeness.     

Impact of grassland contract policy on soil organic carbon losses from alpine grassland on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Carbon storage in the soils on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau plays a very important role in the global carbon budget. In the 1990s, a policy of contracting collective grasslands to smaller units was implemented, resulting in a change from the traditional collective grassland management to two new management patterns: a multi‐household management pattern (MMP: grassland shared by several households without enclosures) and a single‐household management pattern (SMP: grassland enclosed and used by only one household). In 2016, 50 MMP and 54 SMP winter pastures on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau were sampled to assess the differences in soil organic carbon (SOC) between the two management patterns. Results showed that average SOC was significantly greater under MMP than under SMP, with an estimated 0.41 Mg C/ha/yr lost due to SMP following the new grassland contract. Based on the government's grassland policy, four grassland utilization scenarios were developed for both summer and winter pastures. We found that if the grassland were managed under SMP, likely C losses ranged between 0.31 × 10⁷ and 6.15 × 10⁷ Mg C/yr across the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau relative to MMP, which more closely resembles pre‐1990s grassland management. Previous estimates of C losses have only considered land use change (with cover change) and ignored the impacts driven by land management pattern changes (without cover change). The new data suggest that C losses from the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau are greater than previously estimated, and therefore that the grassland contract policy should be reviewed and SMP households should be encouraged to reunite into the MMP. These findings have potential implications for land management strategies not only on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau but also other grazing regions globally where such practices may exist.     

In vitro morphogenesis of juvenile Annona cherimola Mill,bud explants

A micropropagation procedure for juvenile cherimoya (Annona clierimola Mill.) is described. Axillary shoot proliferation was obtained after culturing nodal sections with lateral buds in basal medium supplemented with either 0.66 μM BA or 1,36μM zeatin. For root induction shoots were pre-incubated for 7 d in basal medium supplemented with 1 gl^?1 activated charcoal, then cultured for 10 d (7 dark/3 light) on medium with 500 μM IBA, 58.4 mM sucrose, and 200 mg I“1 citric acid. Afterwards, shoots were transferred to the same medium without auxin and with the macroelements at half strength. Using this procedure, 95% of shoots rooted. The survival rate at the end of the acclimatization period was 70%.     

Cadmium Effects in Sunflower: Nutritional Imbalances in Plants and Calluses

The effects of cadmium (Cd) exposure on sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) nutrient accumulation remain unclear. However, studies concerning crop improvement for Cd tolerance suggest the use of biotechnology techniques such as tissue culture. It is still unknown whether in vitro cells respond to Cd exposure in a way similar to plants. In this paper, the objectives were (1) to characterize the effects of Cd exposure in macronutrient and micronutrient accumulation in different sunflower organs/tissues and (2) to compare the behavior of two culture systems (plants vs. tissue culture) regarding Cd and nutrient accumulation. To achieve these aims, sunflower plants were grown hydroponically in the presence of Cd (at levels of 0, 5, 50, and 500 μ M). For in vitro cultures, seeds were germinated axenically and leaf explants were then grown on Murashige and Skoog medium (MS). One-month-old calluses were grown on MS medium containing 0, 5, 50, and 500 μ M Cd. After 21 d of exposure to 500 μ M, all plants were dead. The contents of macro- and micronutrients and of Cd were determined by ICPS in 18 d-exposed plants and calluses and in calluses exposed for six months to 50 μ M Cd. At day 18, Cd content increased in leaves, roots, and calluses. Cadmium exposure also decreased the contents of magnesium (Mg), calcium (Ca), iron (Fe), and manganese (Mn) in roots and of Mg, Ca, copper (Cu), Fe, and Mn in shoots. Exposed calluses suffered decreases only in Mg, Ca, and Mn contents. The contents of most of these nutrients in six-month-exposed calluses were similar to those of the control calluses, indicating that these long-term exposed in vitro cells developed mechanisms for regulating the effects of Cd on the accumulation of nutrients.