Interaction of Grazing Muzzle Use and Grass Species on Forage Intake of Horses

The impact of horse preference and grass morphology on grazing muzzle effectiveness has not been investigated. The objective of this study was to determine the effectiveness of grazing muzzle use at reducing forage intake when horses grazed grasses with different morphology and preferences. The study was conducted in 2012 and 2013. Four horses were grazed in 2012, and three horses were grazed in 2013. Four species of perennial cool-season grasses were grazed in 2012 including Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), meadow fescue (Schedonorus pratensis Huds.), perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.), and reed canarygrass (Phalaris arundinacea L.). In 2013, only Kentucky bluegrass and reed canarygrass were grazed because of winter kill of other species. Horses were allowed to graze a small pasture seeded with an individual species for 4 hours each day in June and August of 2012 and August and September of 2013. Horses grazed the same grass species for two consecutive days, one day with a muzzle and one day without. Before and after each grazing, a strip was mechanically harvested to determine initial and residual herbage mass. The difference was used to estimate forage intake. The effectiveness of a grazing muzzle was not affected by forage species (P ≥ .05). Use of a grazing muzzle decreased the amount of forage consumed by an average of 30% compared with not using a grazing muzzle (P < .0001). Results will aid horse owners and professionals in estimating forage intake of muzzled horses on pasture.     

Enzyme activities and microbial community structure in semiarid agricultural soils

This study investigated the effect of management on -glucosidase, -glucosaminidase, alkaline phosphatase, and arylsulfatase activities and the microbial community structure in semiarid soils from West Texas, USA. Surface samples (0–5 cm) were taken from a fine sandy loam, sandy clay loam, and loam that were under continuous cotton ( Gossypium hirsutum L.) or in cotton rotated with peanut ( Arachis hypogaea L.), sorghum ( Sorghum bicolor L.), rye ( Secale cereale) or wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.), and had different water management (irrigated or dryland), and tillage (conservation or conventional). The enzyme activities were higher in the loam and sandy clay loam than in the fine sandy loam. Soil pH was not affected by management, but the soil organic C and total N contents were generally affected by the different crop rotations and tillage practices studied. The trends of the enzyme activities as affected by management depended on the soil, but in general crop rotations and conservation tillage increased the enzyme activities in comparison to continuous cotton and conventional tillage. The soil enzyme activities were significantly correlated with the soil organic C ( r -values up to 0.90, P< 0.001), and were correlated among each other ( r -values up to 0.90, P <0.001). There were differences in the fatty acid methyl ester profiles between the fine sandy loam and the sandy clay loam and loam, and they reflected the differences in the enzyme activities found among the soils. For example, a 15:0 ranged from 1.61±0.25% in cotton-peanut/irrigated/no-till in the fine sandy loam to 3.86±0.48% in cotton-sorghum/dryland/conservation tillage in the sandy clay loam. There were no differences due to management within the same soil.Trade names and company names are included for the benefit of the reader and do not infer any endorsement or preferential treatment of the product by USDA-ARS     

Compositional investigation of phenolic polymers isolated from Vitis vinifera L. Cv. Pinot Noir during fermentation

Phenolic polymer material extracted during commercial red wine fermentations (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Pinot noir) was isolated and analyzed to characterize its chemical composition. Phenolic polymer isolates were prepared from samples taken throughout fermentation and isolated by adsorption chromatography. Isolates were subjected to phloroglucinolysis to analyze the proanthocyanidin amount as well as the subunit composition. Results of phloroglucinolysis revealed that the proanthocyanidin content of individual phenolic polymer isolates varied from 27 to 54%. Subsequent analyses were done in an attempt to quantify materials other than known proanthocyanidin subunits. Results of all experiments indicate that up to 82% of the phenolic polymer isolates could be accounted for by mass. While this figure accounts for a significant portion of the polymeric phenolic material, further investigation will be needed to qualify the remaining 18%.     

The evolutionary relationship between bere barley and other types of cultivated barley

Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution - We used genotyping-by-sequencing to investigate the evolutionary history of bere, the oldest barley variety still cultivated in Britain and possibly in all of...     

Analysis of proanthocyanidin cleavage products following acid-catalysis in the presence of excess phloroglucinol

The analysis of proanthocyanidin cleavage products after acid-catalysis in the presence of excess phloroglucinol was investigated. In the developed analytical method, a solution of 0.1 N HCl in methanol, containing 50 g/L phloroglucinol and 10 g/L ascorbic acid was prepared. The proanthocyanidin of interest was reacted in this solution (5 g/L) at 50 degrees C for 20 min, and afterward combined with 5 volumes of 40 mM aqueous sodium acetate before analysis by reversed-phase HPLC using an aqueous acetic acid and methanol gradient. This procedure was used to investigate the composition of proanthocyanidins isolated from the seed and skin tissue of Vitis vinifera L. berries. The results compared favorably to results obtained when benzyl mercaptan was used as the trapping nucleophile, indicating that phloroglucinol is an effective reagent for this analysis.     

Small Area Estimation of Proportions with Constraint for National Resources Inventory Survey

Motivated by the need to produce small area estimates for the National Resources Inventory survey, we develop a spatial hierarchical model based on the generalized Dirichlet distribution to construct small area estimators of compositional proportions in several mutually exclusive and exhaustive landcover categories. At the observation level, the standard design-based estimators of the proportions are assumed to follow the generalized Dirichlet distribution. After proper transformation of the design-based estimators, beta regression is applicable. We consider a logit mixed model for the expectation of the beta distribution, which incorporates covariates through fixed effects and spatial effect through a conditionally autoregressive process. In a design-based evaluation study, the proposed model-based estimators are shown to have smaller root-mean-square error and relative root-mean-square error than design-based estimators and multinomial model-based estimators. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online.     

The Effect of Calcium Sprays and Fruit Thinning on Bitter Pit Incidence and Calcium Content in ‘Honeycrisp’ Apple

‘Honeycrisp’ is a recently released cultivar of apple (Malus x domestica) developed by the University of Minnesota, now in high demand by growers and consumers. This cultivar is susceptible to bitter pit, especially when the trees are young and the fruit load is low. The effects of calcium (Ca) sprays, fruit thinning, vegetative growth, fruit and leaf nutrient concentration on bitter pit incidence, and two sampling methods for nutrient analysis were studied. Bitter pit incidence was associated with several variables, including Ca and phosphorus (P) concentrations in leaves and fruits, magnesium (Mg) concentration in leaves, and yield parameters. Fruit Ca concentration and content for the growing season were modeled, which allowed the determinations of Ca levels associated with bitter pit incidence. Our data suggest that plug analysis was less sensitive than fruit-segment analysis for finding differences in Ca concentrations.     

Comparison of isothiocyanate metabolite levels and histone deacetylase activity in human subjects consuming broccoli sprouts or broccoli supplement

Increased consumption of cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli may reduce the risk of various cancers. Myrosinase is required to convert dietary glucosinolates from broccoli into bioactive isothiocyanates. We evaluated isothiocyanate excretion profiles in healthy subjects who consumed broccoli sprouts or broccoli supplement (no myrosinase) with equivalent glucosinolate content. Urinary metabolites of two major isothiocyanates, sulforaphane and erucin, were measured by liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry. Peak excretion of sulforaphane and erucin was higher and occurred sooner in subjects who consumed broccoli sprouts as compared to subjects who consumed the supplement. A subject-dependent shift in the ratio of urinary sulforaphane to erucin metabolites was observed in both groups, indicating conversion of sulforaphane to erucin. Lower histone deacetylase activity was observed in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells only in subjects consuming sprouts. Fresh broccoli sprouts differ from broccoli supplements in regards to excretion of isothiocyanates and bioactivity in human subjects.