Invited review: Role of livestock in human nutrition and health for poverty reduction in developing countries

Livestock keeping is critical for many of the poor in the developing world, often contributing to multiple livelihood objectives and offering pathways out of poverty. Livestock keeping also affects an indispensable asset of the poor, their human capital, through its impact on their own nutrition and health. This paper outlines the linkages between livestock keeping and the physical well-being of the poor, and examines a number of commonly held beliefs that misrepresent livestock development issues related to these linkages. These beliefs limit the scope of intervention programs to promote livestock and limit their potential contribution to poverty reduction. Recognition of the complexity of the role livestock play in household decision-making and of the opportunities foregone due to these misconceptions can enhance the ability of livestock to contribute to human well-being in the developing world.     

Self-assembled aggregates of rod-coil block copolymers and their solubilization and encapsulation of fullerenes

Amphiphilic poly(phenylquinoline)-block-polystyrene rod-coil diblock copolymers were observed to self-organize into robust, micrometer-scale, spherical, vesicular, cylindrical, and lamellar aggregates from solution. These diverse aggregate morphologies were seen at each composition, but their size scale decreased with a decreasing fraction of the rigid-rod block. Compared to coil-coil block copolymer micelles, the present aggregates are larger by about two orders of magnitude and have aggregation numbers of over 10(8). The spherical and cylindrical aggregates have large hollow cavities. Only spherical aggregates with aggregation numbers in excess of 10(9) were formed in the presence of fullerenes (C60, C70) in solution, resulting in the solubilization and encapsulation of over 10(10) fullerene molecules per aggregate.     

Tracking the long-term decline and recovery of an isolated population

Effects of small population size and reduced genetic variation on the viability of wild animal populations remain controversial. During a 35-year study of a remnant population of greater prairie chickens, population size decreased from 2000 individuals in 1962 to fewer than 50 by 1994. Concurrently, both fitness, as measured by fertility and hatching rates of eggs, and genetic diversity declined significantly. Conservation measures initiated in 1992 with translocations of birds from large, genetically diverse populations restored egg viability. Thus, sufficient genetic resources appear to be critical for maintaining populations of greater prairie chickens.     

Geographic variation in host fish use and larval metamorphosis for the endangered dwarf wedgemussel

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Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase—a Graminicide Target Site

Acetyl-CoA carboxylase catalyses the first committed step in fatty acid (and acyl lipid) formation. The enzyme has been shown to exert a high degree of flux control for lipid biosynthesis in leaves and, therefore, it is not surprising that chemicals which can inhibit it effectively are successful herbicides. These chemicals belong mainly to the cyclohexanedione and aryloxyphenoxypropionate classes and are graminicides. The reason for the selectivity of these herbicides towards grasses lies in the nature of the target site, acetyl-CoA carboxylase. Recent advances in our knowledge of acetyl-CoA carboxylases from sensitive and resistant plants has revealed some important facts. Dicotyledons, which are resistant, have a multi-enzyme complex type of carboxylase in their chloroplasts while grasses have a multifunctional protein. Both divisions of plants have two isoforms of the enzyme, the second being in the cytosol. Detailed study of multifunctional forms of acetyl-CoA carboxylases, which have different sensitivities to herbicides, suggests that herbicide resistance is correlated with cooperativity of herbicide binding to the native dimeric form of the carboxylase. © 1997 SCI.     

精密镗床旋转轴几何误差完备性测量与辨识

针对四轴卧式镗床旋转轴需测几何误差的数目不统一与完备性缺失的问题,提出了基于形状创成函数的四轴卧式镗床旋转轴PIGEs形成机理分析方法与旋转轴完备几何误差测量辨识方法。基于形状创成机理构建了卧式镗床几何误差创成函数,确定了旋转轴可通过误差补偿进行调整的最少与位置无关的几何误差(Position-independent geometric error, PIGEs)数目。建立了卧式镗床旋转轴4项PIGEs、6项与位置有关的几何误差(Position-dependent geometric error, PDGEs)、6项安装误差(Setup error, SEs)与球杆仪(Double ball bar, DBB)测量轨迹半径之间的完备性函数模型,设计了基于DBB的四轴联动Viviani曲线测量轨迹,构建了旋转轴6项PDGEs的NURBS表征与PIGEs、SEs辨识方法。开展了误差补偿对比实验验证,结果表明,利用几何误差完备性测量与辨识结果进行误差补偿,较仅单一补偿6项PDGEs可提升圆轨迹测量精度40.69%。     

短期玉米秸秆还田对冷凉地区土壤真菌多样性的影响

在玉米吐丝期,利用传统涂布平板法和高通量测序技术,设置常规秸秆不还田(CK)、秸秆深翻还田(SF)和秸秆旋耕还田(XG)3个处理,研究0~10 cm、10~20 cm和20~30 cm土层真菌群落丰富度、多样性和群落结构变化,揭示冷凉地区玉米秸秆还田真菌群落结构及其差异。结果表明:冷凉地区玉米秸秆还田对土壤真菌多样性的影响较大,秸秆还田土壤中可培养真菌数为SFXGCK;秸秆还田后土壤真菌优势菌群发生变化,CK优势菌为马拉色氏霉菌属、被孢霉属和葡萄孢属,XG优势菌为被孢霉属;XG和SF表层土壤中耐冷酵母菌属和被孢霉属是优势菌;SF处理20~30 cm土层优势菌为葡萄孢属。真菌菌群Alpha多样性、群落组成丰度、RDA(Redundancy analysis)和菌群相似性综合分析可知,SF和XG 0~20 cm土层菌群差异小;SF和XG均能增加10~30 cm土层真菌群落丰度。     

沙质草地、高平原草地牧草总糖与还原糖含量变化

研究了沙质草地与高平原草地六种牧草的总糖含量与还原糖含量变化情况.结果表明:沙质草地与高平原草地供试牧草的总糖含量变化(除糙隐子草外)和还原糖含量变化不同;除羊草和寸草苔外,其余几种牧草的还原糖含量都是高平原草地高于沙质草地.     

Are the Australian poultry industries vulnerable to large outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza?

Objective   To describe the structure of the Australian poultry industry and discuss the potential for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) to spread between Australian poultry farms.
Procedure   High densities of poultry farms, frequent contacts between farms by service providers, the supply of live poultry markets (LPM) and the presence of free-range duck flocks in affected regions have been identified as risk factors for the spread of HPAI between flocks in outbreaks causing the death or destruction of over 1 million poultry overseas. Data on 1,594 commercial Australian chicken meat, chicken egg, duck and turkey farms were collected by a telephone questionnaire of farm managers to assess the risk of a HPAI outbreak in Australia.
Results and Discussion   Five regions of Australia had farm densities comparable to overseas regions that experienced widespread HPAI. Common service providers routinely contacted different classes and types of farms over wide geographic areas. However, no responding farms supplied LPM and the majority of duck farms did not produce free-range ducks.
Conclusion   Outbreaks of HPAI have the potential to cause serious impacts on the Australian poultry industry. The risk posted by LPM and free-range ducks is limited, but the movement of genetic stock and common service providers could spread infection between companies, industries or geographical regions. Biosecurity measures are therefore considered critical to limit the secondary spread of infection should an outbreak occur.     

Socio-Economic and Scientific Impact Created by Whitefly-Transmitted,Plant-Virus Disease Resistant Tomato Varieties in Southern India

Research carried out to assess the impact of open-pollinated Tomato leaf curl virus (ToLCV)-resistant tomatoes and hybrids on the livelihoods of resource-poor farmers in Southern India is described and discussed. Three high-yielding ToLCV-resistant tomato varieties were developed initially using conventional breeding and screening techniques involving inoculation by ToLCV-viruliferous whitefly, Bemisia tabaci. In 2003 and 2004, respectively, these varieties were released officially by the Karnataka State Seed Committee and the Indian Ministry of Agriculture through notification in the Gazette of India. From 2003 to 2005, eleven seed companies bought breeder seed of the ToLCV-resistant varieties and used them to begin breeding F₁ hybrids from them. Socio-economic studies carried out to assess the benefits obtained from growing the ToLCV-resistant varieties found that farmers could gain up to 10 times the profit by growing the ToLCV-resistant varieties compared to the pre-existing ToLCV-susceptible varieties. Adoption of ToLCV-resistant tomatoes was also associated with reduced pesticide use. Extra income from tomato sales was prioritised by farmers to pay for children's education, better nutrition and medicines. In a joint effort with the commercial seed sector in India, a promotional field day was organised in 2007. As well as the three ToLCV-resistant varieties, 62 ToLCV-resistant hybrid tomatoes were exhibited during a farmer-field day by 17 commercial seed companies and several public institutes. Tomatoes with ToLCV-resistance are now grown widely in South India and seeds of the three open-pollinated varieties have been distributed to more than 12 countries. In 2007, a conservative estimate of the financial-benefit to cost of the research ratio was already more than 837:1.