Genetic diversity within and among landraces of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) under farmer management in West Africa

The influence of farmer management on pearl millet landrace diversity was determined by evaluating variation in individual farmers' populations from two villages in north-eastern Nigeria. The variability within and between landrace samples was estimated using variation at 163 amplified fragment length polymorphism marker (AFLP) loci. The data indicated that individual farmers' husbandry practices result in the isolation of their own group of ideotypes each in their own unique genetic backgrounds, thereby rendering landrace names inappropriate as indicators of a generic genetic identity. The implications of these findings for sampling strategies for genebanks and regional genetic evaluations are discussed.     

Brucella-induced abortions and infection in bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus).

Two bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) aborted fetuses that died as a result of Brucella infection. Brucella placentitis occurred in both cases. Infected placenta and vaginal/uterine fluids may transmit Brucella species to other cetaceans. In a third case, an identical organism was cultured from lung necropsy tissue of an adult female T. truncatus. Microbiology, specific polymerase chain reaction, and pulsed-field gel electrophoresis results supported the designation of an additional genomic group(s), Brucella delphini, for isolates adapted to T. truncatus. Current serologic diagnostic tests reliable for known Brucella species are unreliable in detecting dolphin brucellosis. Our findings, together with previous reports, suggest that dolphin brucellosis is a naturally occurring disease that can adversely impact reproduction in cetaceans. The zoonotic significance of cetacean brucellosis is unknown, although the disease has not been reported in people who have frequent contact with dolphins. Further studies on the zoonotic aspects, distribution, prevalence, virulence, and impact of this disease in cetaceans and other marine mammal species are needed.     

Epidemic of blindness in kangaroos - evidence of a viral aetiology

OBJECTIVE: To determine the cause of an epidemic of blindness in kangaroos. DESIGN AND PROCEDURES: Laboratory examinations were made of eyes and brains of a large number of kangaroos using serological, virological, histopathological, electron microscopical, immunohistochemical methods, and PCR with cDNA sequencing. In addition, potential insect viral vectors identified during the disease outbreak were examined for specific viral genomic sequences. SAMPLE POPULATION: For histopathological analysis, 55 apparently blind and 18 apparently normal wild kangaroos and wallabies were obtained from New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, and Western Australia. A total of 437 wild kangaroos and wallabies (including 23 animals with apparent blindness) were examined serologically. RESULTS: Orbiviruses of the Wallal and Warrego serogroups were isolated from kangaroos affected with blindness in a major epidemic in south-eastern Australia in 1994 and 1995 and extending to Western Australia in 1995/96. Histopathological examinations showed severe degeneration and inflammation in the eyes, and mild inflammation in the brains. In affected retinas, Wallal virus antigen was detected by immunohistochemical analysis and orbiviruses were seen in electron microscopy. There was serological variation in the newly isolated Wallal virus from archival Wallal virus that had been isolated in northern Australia. There were also variations of up to 20% in genotype sequence from the reference archival virus. Polymerase chain reactions showed that Wallal virus was present during the epidemic in three species of midges, Culicoides austropalpalis, C dycei and C marksi. Wallal virus nucleic acid was also detected by PCR in a paraffin-embedded retina taken from a blind kangaroo in 1975. CONCLUSION: Wallal virus and perhaps also Warrego virus are the cause of the outbreak of blindness in kangaroos. Other viruses may also be involved, but the evidence in this paper indicates a variant of Wallal virus, an orbivirus transmitted by midges, has the strongest aetiological association, and immunohistochemical analysis implicates it as the most damaging factor in the affected eyes.     

Owner response to companion animal death: development of a theory and practical implications.

This study used an inductive research method known as grounded theory to develop a theory to describe owner response to the death of a pet. Participants were identified from 8 veterinary clinics in Wellington Country, Ontario. Eighty percent (8 of 10) of the practices approached agreed to participate and there was a 77% (44 of 57) participation rate by clients. Nondirective interviews were conducted with participants approximately 10 days following the death of their pet, and at 3, 6, and 12 mo thereafter. The theory developed suggests that people's reactions are best described as a social and psychological search for meaning. Factors that contributed to the search for meaning included societal values and norms, the cultural milieu of pet death, and the cultural milieu of veterinary medicine. Other factors, such as the participant's personal beliefs, life stage, critical life events, and animal attributes, either alleviated or aggravated the experience. The outcome for participants grieving the death of a pet was a self-governing approach to coping with the death. Practical implications and suggestions for veterinarians are presented.     

Antibacterial Properties of a Silver Chloride-Coated Nylon Wound Dressing

OBJECTIVE: A silver chloride-coated nylon wound dressing (Ag-WD) was evaluated in vitro for antimicrobial activity against five common equine wound pathogens. STUDY DESIGN: Bacterial susceptibility study. SAMPLE POPULATION: Equine wound pathogens: Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Streptococcus equi subspecies zooepidemicus, and Staphylococcus aureus. METHODS: An inoculum of each pathogen was incubated directly with Ag-WD and quantitated after 24 to 48 hours of incubation. To determine if bactericidal activity of Ag-WD was contact dependent, an inoculum of E. coli and Staphylococcus aureus was incubated separately from Ag-WD by a filter and quantitated after 18 hours of incubation. Inductively coupled plasma emission spectrometry (ICP) determined the silver concentration of Mueller-Hinton broth containing Ag-WD after 24 hours of incubation. To establish if the rate of bacterial killing by Ag-WD differed from a constant silver concentration, pathogens were exposed to a silver concentration of 6.45 microg/mL and quantitated after 18 hours. RESULTS: Direct exposure to Ag-WD significantly reduced bacterial numbers after 15 minutes for K. pneumoniae, 30 minutes for E. coli, 1 hour for P. aeruginosa, and 2 hours for S. equi subspecies zooepidemicus and Staphylococcus aureus. Indirect exposure to Ag-WD resulted in > or =99.9% and > or =90% kill of the inoculum doses of E. coli at 2 hours and Staphylococcus aureus at 18 hours, respectively. Incubation of the pathogens at the constant silver concentration resulted in bacterial killing rates similar to those obtained by incubation with Ag-WD. CONCLUSIONS: In vitro, equine pathogens are effectively killed when exposed to Ag-WD, and the rate of bacterial killing by Ag-WD is similar to a constant silver concentration of 6.45 microg/mL. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: The in vitro antimicrobial properties of this silver-coated nylon wound dressing are promising for future prevention of equine wound infections.     

Uptake of nitrate, ammonium and glycine by plants of Tasmanian wet eucalypt forests

A central assumption of ecosystem N cycling has been that organic N must be converted to inorganic N to be available for plant uptake, but this has been questioned by recent studies. We examined uptake of nitrate, ammonium and the amino acid glycine in three species from Eucalyptus obliqua L'Her. wet forest in Tasmania, south-eastern Australia, to test the hypothesis that all three species can take up glycine, and to compare rates of glycine uptake with rates of uptake of nitrate and ammonium uptake. The alternative hypothesis that species vary in their preference for nitrate, ammonium and glycine ("niche differentiation") was also examined. Measurements were made on the canopy dominant Eucalyptus obliqua, and two rain forest tree species found in the understory or as sub-dominants of the canopy, Nothofagus cunninghamii (Hook.) Oerst. and Phyllocladus aspleniifolius (Labill.) Hook.f. Nitrogen uptake was examined in situ with attached roots placed in uptake solutions containing equimolar concentrations (100 micromol l(-1)) of (15)N-nitrate, (15)N-ammonium and 2-(13)C(2) (15)N-glycine. Species did not differ in their preference for different forms of N (species x N form interaction, P > 0.05), and thus there was no evidence of niche differentiation. In all species, rates of uptake were highest for ammonium (11 +/- 5 micromol g(DM) (-1) h(-1); mean +/- SD, n = 108), uptake of glycine occurred at less than half this rate (4.4 +/- 2.6 micromol g(DM) (-1) h(-1)), whereas uptake of nitrate occurred at one-tenth of this rate (0.9 +/- 1.2 micromol g(DM) (-1) h(-1)). The strong positive relationship between (15)N and (13)C uptake indicated that at least 72% of glycine-N was taken up intact. These findings indicate the potential for considerable uptake of organic N in the field.     

Increased photosynthesis following partial defoliation of field-grown Eucalyptus globulus seedlings is not caused by increased leaf nitrogen

Increased photosynthetic rates following partial defoliation may arise from changes in leaf biochemistry, water relations or nutrient status. Twelve-month-old field-grown Eucalyptus globulus Labill. seedlings were pruned from below to reduce the green crown depth by 50 (D50) or 70% (D70). Photosynthetic responses to light and CO2 concentration were examined before and one, three and five weeks after partial defoliation. One week after defoliation, photosynthetic rates were greater in seedlings in the D50 (21 micromol m(-2) s(-1)) and D70 (23 micromol m(-2) s(-1)) treatments than in control seedlings (15 micromol m(-2) s(-1)); however, there was little difference in photosynthetic rates between partially defoliated seedlings and control seedlings after 5 weeks. An analysis of the sensitivity of photosynthesis to biochemical parameters revealed that the transient increase in photosynthetic rate in response to partial defoliation was largely a function of the maximum rate of carboxylation (85-87%) and the maximum rate of RuBP regeneration (55-60%) rather than stomatal conductance (12-13%). Nitrogen increased in leaves following partial defoliation (increases of 0.6 and 1.2 g m(-2) for D50 and D70, respectively), but was accumulated in a non-photosynthetic form (i.e., there was no increase in nitrogen concentration of Rubisco or chlorophyll). Increased photosynthetic rates immediately following partial defoliation were primarily a result of increased activity rather than amount of photosynthetic machinery. There was no evidence that phosphorus was responsible for the increase in photosynthetic rates after partial defoliation.     

Leaf osmotic potential of Eucalyptus hybrids responds differently to freezing and drought, with little clonal variation

Concentrations of solutes, and thus leaf osmotic potential (Psi pi), often increase when plants are subject to drought or sub-zero (frost) temperatures. We measured Psi pi and concentrations of individual solutes in leaves of 3-year-old Eucalyptus camaldulensis Dehn., E. globulus Labill., E. grandis W. Hill ex Maid. and 29 hybrid clones on a site subjected to both summer drought and winter frost. We sought to characterize seasonal and genetic variations in Psi pi and to determine whether Psi pi or leaf turgor is related to bole volume increment. Leaf osmotic potential at full turgor (Psi pi(100)) was 0.7 MPa more negative in winter than in late summer, and this trend was uniform across genotypes. Soluble carbohydrates were confirmed as key contributors to Psi pi, accounting for 40-44% of total osmolality. The seasonal trend in Psi pi(100) was facilitated by changes in leaf morphology, such as reduced turgid mass:dry mass ratio and increased apoplastic water fraction in winter. Cell wall elasticity increased significantly from winter to summer. Our results suggest that elastic adjustment may be more important than osmotic adjustment in leaves exposed to drought. Although Psi pi(100) was a reasonable predictor of in situ osmotic potential and turgor, we found no relationship between any physiological trait and bole volume increment. Clone-within-family variation in Psi pi(100) was small in both summer and winter and was unrelated to bole volume increment. We conclude that, for the study species, tree improvement under water-limited conditions should concentrate on direct selection for growth rather than on indirect selection based on osmotic potential.