A convenient thin layer chromatographic cleanup procedure for screening several mycotoxins in oils.

A thin layer chromatographic cleanup development with benzene-hexane (3+1) effectively removed lipids and some contaminants from mixtures of mycotoxins in corn oil, olive oil, peanut oil, soybean oil, and seed extracts. A second development in the same direction as the first, using toluene-ethyl acetate-formic acid (6+3+1) or benzene-acetic acid (9+1), separated the mycotoxins. Satisfactory separation was achieved for commercial oils spiked with sterigmatocystin, zearalenone, ochratoxins A, B, and C, and aflatoxins B1, B2, G1, and G2. This technique permits detection of 5 ppb aflatoxin B1 in corn.     

The effects of dredging operations on the benthic community of a chalk stream

Sampling of the benthic fauna showed that dredging operations produced relatively short-term effects on invertebrate population levels. The behaviour of the animals was immediately affected, the differences between species were noted and the implications of dredging at different times of year are discussed.     

Silage and milk production: a comparison between four rates of groundnut cake supplementation of silage of high digestibility

Grass silage made in late May from S24 perennial ryegrass was offered to twelve Ayrshire cows in a 16-week feeding experiment. The silage had a DM content of 25.3%, a pH of 3.91, and contained 16.8% CP and 68.4% digestible organic matter in the DM. The silage was fed ad libitum and was the sole feed in the control treatment. In the other three treatments the silage was supplemented with a cube offered at rates of 0.8, 1.4 and 2.0 kg per 10 kg milk. The cube contained 82.2% groundnut, plus molasses and minerals, and had 37.9% CP in the DM. The daily intake of silage DM was 11.4 kg per cow on average over the four treatments which did not differ significantly. The mean daily milk yields were 14.8 kg per cow in the control treatment, and 16.5, 18.2 and 18.4 kg in the 0.8, 1.4 and 2.0 kg supplement treatments respectively. The SNF, CP and lactose contents of the milk were Wghest on the 1.4 kg supplement treatment. It is concluded that with a high digestibility silage, there is little evidence to support the feeding of more than 1.4 kg of high-protein cubes per 10 kg milk in the declining phase of lactation.     

A COMPARISON BETWEEN A PADDOCK SYSTEM AND A 'WYE COLLEGE' SYSTEM OF GRAZING FOR MILK PRODUCTION

Two grazing systems, a paddock system and a ‘Wye College’ system, were compared in two 20-week experiments nsing 16 and 20 spring-calved Ayrshire cows in 1970 and 1971, respectively. A sward of S23 perennial ryegrass was used, and an average of 342 kg N/ha (305 lb N/ ac) was applied per annum. The paddock system had 28 separate paddocks; one paddock was grazed each day in rotation and occasionally topped in mid-season. The Wye College system had 4 plots of equal size and the cows were offered 1/7 of one plot each day; no back fence was used and surplus herbage was neither cut nor topped. The stocking rate on hoth systems was 1 cow per 0.20 ha (0.49 ac) in 1970 and per 0.16 ha (0.40 ac) in 1971. The mean daily milk yields per cow on the paddock and the Wye College systems were 16.2 and 15.3 kg (35.7 and 33.7 lb), respectively, in 1970; and 18.1 and 18.4 kg (39.9 and 40.6 lb) in 1971. The average annual output of milk was 13,500 and 13,150 kg/ha (1200 and 1170 gal/ac) on the paddock and Wye College systems, respectively. The fat and solids-not-fat (S.N.F.) contents of the milk were not significantly affected by the grazing system. It is concluded that the Wye College system was as effective as the paddock system in producing a high output of mUk per ha, but at a lower cost and with far fewer management decisions.     

THE ERROR IN PREDICTING PASTURE DRY–MATTER DIGESTIBILITY FROM FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS OF ANALYSIS FOR LIGNIN

The lignin content of 50 samples of five grasses of known in vivo digestibility were determined by the methods of Armitage, van Soest and two modifications of the van Soest technique. The error in predicting DM digestibility varied from ±3.1 for tbe Armitage metbod to ±5.0 for the van Soest method. This error compares nnfavourably witb ±2.1 previonsly obtained on tbe same samples with the in vitro technique of Tilley and Terry.     

Changes in enzymic activity and distribution of acid-soluble,amino acid-nitrogen in soil during nitrogen immobilization and mineralization

During a period of immobilization of nitrate-¹⁵N and mineralization of organic N in a sandy-loam, changes were recorded in: (a) the concentration of an added carbon source, glucose-¹⁴C: (b) evolution of ¹⁴CO₂: (c) bacterial populations; (d) distribution and concentration of newly-synthesized, acid-soluble, amino acid-¹⁵N; and (e) distribution and activities of several oxidative and hydrolytic enzyme systems.Added glucose-¹⁴C was rapidly metabolized by the soil microflora. After 1.5 day's incubation, when only 3.6 per cent of the added glucose was present, 68 per cent of the ¹⁴C remained in the soil-microbial system. During this period there was a marked increase in viable bacterial numbers and an almost complete immobilization of nitrate-¹⁵N. On continued incubation, microbial metabolites were oxidized at decreasing rates, the more rapid phase corresponding to a period of net decline in the viable bacterial population.Soil was fractionated by a relatively mild procedure into components containing: (a) extractable proteins; (b) extractable amino acids and peptides; (c) particulate material containing microbial cells, cell debris and material bound to larger soil particles; and (d) microbial metabolites mainly bound to soil colloids. Although the total, acid-soluble, amino acid-¹⁵N remained relatively constant for about 50 days, there were marked changes in their concentration in different fractions, especially in the extracts and in the fraction containing fine colloidal material. However, the relatively large decline in labelled, acid-soluble, amino acid-¹⁵N occurred during the active phase of oxidation of microbial metabolites when little net mineralization of labelled compounds occurred.Increases in enzymic activities generally coincided with increased viable bacterial populations although there were some exceptions, notably casein and benzoyl arginine amide-hydrolysing enzymes. The stabilities of the newly-formed enzymes varied markedly. The greatest relative changes in activity occurred with the casein-hydrolysing enzymes. Their activity reached a maximal value after the main flush of bacterial growth, was short-lived and was to a large extent extractable. The formation and disappearance of this extracellular proteolytic activity coincided approximately with that of a secondary peak of extractable, newly-synthesized, protein-¹⁵N. In general however, changes in enzymic activity could not be identified with changes of protein-¹⁵N concentrations of the different fractions.