An assessment of external biosecurity on southern Ontario swine farms and its application to surveillance on a geographic level

Risk-based surveillance is becoming increasingly important in the veterinary and public health fields. It serves as a means of increasing surveillance sensitivity and improving cost-effectiveness in an increasingly resource-limited environment. Our approach for developing a tool for the risk-based geographical surveillance of contagious diseases of swine incorporates information about animal density and external biosecurity practices within swine herds in southern Ontario. The objectives of this study were to group the sample of herds into discrete biosecurity groups, to develop a map of southern Ontario that can be used as a tool in the risk-based geographical surveillance of contagious swine diseases, and to identify significant predictors of biosecurity group membership. A subset of external biosecurity variables was selected for 2-step cluster analysis and latent class analysis (LCA). It was determined that 4 was the best number of groups to describe the data, using both analytical approaches. The authors named these groups: i) high biosecurity herds that were open with respect to replacement animals; ii) high biosecurity herds that were closed with respect to replacement animals; iii) moderate biosecurity herds; and iv) low biosecurity herds. The risk map was developed using information about the geographic distribution of herds in the biosecurity groups, as well as the density of swine sites and of grower-finisher pigs in the study region. Finally, multinomial logistic regression identified heat production units (HPUs), number of incoming pig shipments per month, and herd type as significant predictors of biosecurity group membership. It was concluded that the ability to identify areas of high and low risk for disease may improve the success of surveillance and eradication projects.     

Ferulic acid from aleurone determines the antioxidant potency of wheat grain (Triticum aestivum L.)

Grain is an important source of phytochemicals, which have potent antioxidant capacity. They have been implicated in the beneficial health effect of whole grains in reducing cardiovascular disease and type 2 diabetes. The aim of the present study was to identify the most important antioxidant fractions of wheat grain. It was found that the aleurone content of these fractions was highly correlated with the antioxidant capacity of the fractions (r = 0.96, p < 0.0001). Ferulic acid appeared to be the major contributor to the antioxidant capacity in fractions with higher antioxidant capacity. The contribution of protein was rather limited. It was concluded that the antioxidant potency of wheat grain fractions is predominantly determined by aleurone content, which can be attributed to the presence of relatively large amounts of phenolic compounds, primarily ferulic acid.     

Susceptibility of eliteAcacia mearnsii families to Ceratocystis wilt in south Africa

Ceratocystis albofundus is a recently described pathogen infectingAcacia mearnsii in South Africa, and it causes a disease known as Ceratocystis wilt. Symptoms of the disease include die-back, gummosis and wilting of infected trees. In order to select trees tolerant to this fungus, susceptibility tests were conducted on trees representing fourteen families ofA. mearnsii. A virulent isolate ofC. albofundus was selected and inoculated into the stems of twelve-month-old plants in a plantation. Lesion lengths, in the bark, and disease development were assessed after 6 weeks. All fourteen families ofA. mearnsii were susceptible to infection byC. albofundus. Considerable variation was, however, noticed between individual trees within the same family and the incorporation of disease tolerant trees into breeding programmes is proposed.     

DNA‐analysis to monitor fisheries and aquaculture: Too costly?

Evidence from DNA‐analysis is commonplace in human criminal investigations, and while it is increasingly being used in wildlife crime, to date, its application to control and enforcement activities in fisheries and aquaculture has only been sporadic. Contemporary DNA‐analysis tools are capable of addressing a broad range of compliance issues, species identification, mislabelling of fish products, determining the origin of catches and the farm of origin of aquaculture escapees. Such applications have the potential to ensure traceability along the fish product supply chain and to combat consumer fraud and Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated fishing. Nevertheless, DNA‐analysis is not yet used routinely in investigations into compliance with fisheries and aquaculture legislation. One potential reason for this is that DNA‐analysis techniques may have been regarded as too expensive. However, costs have plummeted over the past decade prompting us to objectively assess whether the costs associated with routine use of DNA‐analysis techniques for fisheries and aquaculture control and enforcement activities do constitute an impediment. Based on a number of recent fisheries and aquaculture compliance investigations that incorporated DNA‐analysis, our results indicate that the use of genetic analysis was justified and worthwhile in all cases examined. We therefore conclude that the costs associated with DNA‐analysis do not represent a barrier to the routine adoption of DNA‐analysis techniques in fisheries and aquaculture compliance investigations. Thus, control and enforcement agencies should be encouraged to use such techniques routinely.     

Combining ability analysis of earliness and yield of potato (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Solanum tuberosum</Emphasis> L.) genotypes in Uganda

Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a major food and cash crop mainly grown by small-scale farmers in the highland regions of Uganda. Changing global weather patterns require varieties that are able to grow within the short rainfall cycles and yield optimally under the prevailing conditions. The objectives of this study were to estimate the combining ability effects for early maturity, yield and yield related traits in potato. Eighteen F¹ families generated from two sets of 12 parents using a North Carolina Design II were evaluated for days to 50% flowering, leaf senescence, yield and yield related traits in two different locations. Both additive and non-additive genetic effects influenced the expression of traits. However, additive genetic effects were predominant over the non-additive for most of the traits. The GCA/SCA ratios were 0.68 and 0.78 for days to 50% flowering and average tuber weight. Broad sense heritability estimates were 0.70 for total tuber weight and 0.78 for days to 50% flowering. The predominance of additive genetic effects imply that, genetic gains can be achieved through different selection methods and traits transferred to the respective progenies. Parents Rwangume, 396,038.107, 395,011.2, NKRK19.17, 393,077.54, Kimuri, and 392,657.8 had desirable GCA effects for the number of days to flowering and yield related traits. Families of Rwangume?×?NKRK19.17, 393,077.54?×?395,011.2, 396,038.107?×?Rwangume and 396,038.107?×?395,011.2 had desirable SCA effects for yield and number of days to 50% flowering. The selected parents and families will be subjected to further clonal evaluation and selection.     

Introgression of antioxidant activity into cassava (Manihot esculenta C.): an effective technique for extending fresh storage roots shelf life

Physiological postharvest deterioration (PPD) of cassava is the main constraint affecting its nutritional and economical values. PPD is induced by wounds when detaching storage roots from mother plant during harvesting. It is accelerated by the reactive oxygen species (ROS) such as oxygen ion (O₂) and peroxide (O₂)^?2. The carotenoid content and its antioxidant property can help in extending shelf life of cassava storage roots. The primary mode of action of carotenoids as antioxidant is to quench singlet oxygen. Cassava breeding was reported to successfully introgress and improve carotenoid content into cassava. The two types of phytoene synthase (PSY) enzymes (PSY1 and PSY2) are key regulators of carotenoids accumulation in cassava. Carotenoids formation and accumulation in cassava storage roots are induced by a single nucleotide polymorphism in PSY2 which causes a non‐conservative amino acid exchange. This single nucleotide polymorphism in PSY gene is co‐segregated with β‐carotene in cassava storage roots, a phenomenon that could help to unravel the mechanism of introgression of carotenoids into cassava. This article investigates breeding feasibility for improving quality of cassava landraces in developing countries.     

Comparative and collaborative studies for the validation of a nested PCR for the detection of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. dieffenbachiae from Anthurium samples

Efficient control of Xanthomonas axonopodis pv. dieffenbachiae, the causal agent of anthurium bacterial blight, requires sensitive and reliable diagnostic tools. The European standard EN ISO 16140:2003 has been followed to compare a nested PCR assay (N‐PCR) to a reference method (isolation and serological identification of bacterial colonies) and to other alternative serological detection methods. The evaluation was performed in two steps: a comparative study and a collaborative study involving 15 European laboratories. Although inclusivity was maximal (100%) for all methods, a maximal exclusivity was obtained only with N‐PCR followed by an enzymatic restriction digestion of the amplicons. Exclusivity indices of 90·6, 88·7 and 47·2% were found for indirect ELISA, immunofluorescence and double antibody sandwich ELISA, respectively. An exclusivity of 92·5% was obtained with the reference method, further increased to 100% if pathogenicity tests were performed as a supplemental assay. The best level of sensitivity (relative detection level) was obtained with the reference method followed by the N‐PCR assay. The N‐PCR performance in terms of relative accuracy, accordance and concordance was very similar to that of the reference method. Moreover, N‐PCR had undeniable advantages compared to the reference method (less labour‐intensive and less time‐consuming). In addition, post‐test probabilities of infection were calculated to select the most appropriate detection scheme related to the prevalence of the pathogen. The N‐PCR assay has since been included in a revised version of the EPPO detection protocol.     

家禽繁育技术与公众舆论

家禽的繁殖和选育可在任一年龄段进行。借助新技术,可以实现在不需要有许多鸡和历经多个世代的情况下,能够使种群的生产性能取得较大的进步。但是,误解和缺乏相关知识似乎成了这些新技术被消费者接受的屏障,但这不足以成为我们拒绝使用新技术的理由。     

Participatory plant breeding approach for host plant resistance to bean fly in common bean under semi-arid Kenya conditions

Common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is the most important legume crop in Kenya. It is cultivated across a wide range of agro-ecologies which include high potential and marginal areas. Eastern Kenya alone, largely semi-arid, accounts for 35% of the country’s total bean production. Bean farmers mainly small-scale have limited access to quality seed, chemical pesticides and fertilizer. Therefore, bean yield under on-farm conditions still remains below 500 kg ha⁻¹ while the potential is about 1,200 kg ha⁻¹ under semi-arid conditions. To asses the farmers’ views on bean varieties and a key insect pest and associated constraints contributing to yield loss, research was undertaken. The research included survey to quantify the yield loss and Participatory Rural Appraisal to determine the level of adoption and criteria for variety choice in semi-arid eastern Kenya (SAEK). The results show that farmers consider drought and insect pest problems as main causes for low yields. The adoption rate for improved varieties is high but self sufficiency in beans stands at 23% in the dry transitional (DT) agro-ecology and at 18% in the dry mid-altitude (DM) agro-ecology, respectively. This could be attributed to low adaptability since most of the improved varieties grown were selected for high potential areas but now found in marginal areas. Drought, earliness, yield stability, and insect pest resistance are the main reasons for choice of varieties by farmers. Bean fly (Ophiomyia sp.) was identified as one of the key crop pests of beans limiting yield. Besides, African bollworm (Helicoverpa armigera) and bean aphid (Aphis fabae) were ranked higher. Due to limitations of the conventional breeding approach, a participatory plant breeding approach is suggested so as to provide an opportunity to develop insect pest resistant varieties adapted to the SAEK region.