Effect of supranutritional and organically bound selenium on performance, carcass characteristics, and selenium distribution in finishing beef steers

Dietary selenium influences the Se content in edible muscle of beef cattle. Limited data are available to describe the effects that feeds naturally high in Se have on production, carcass characteristics, and Se distribution in terminal tissues. Therefore, 43 crossbred steers (BW = 351 +/- 24 kg) were stratified by BW and assigned to one of four dietary treatments: Se adequate (CON; n = 12), Se provided as high-Se wheat (WHT; n = 9), high-Se hay (HAY; n = 11), or sodium selenate (SEO; n = 11). Daily selenium intake for WHT, HAY, and SEO diets was 65 microg/kg BW, whereas it was 9.5 microg/kg BW for CON. Diets were similar in ingredient composition (25% wheat, 39% corn, 25% grass hay, 5% desugared molasses, and 6% wheat middling-based supplement; DM basis), isonitrogenous and isocaloric (14.0% CP, 2.12 Mcal NEm/kg DM and 1.26 Mcal NEg/ kg DM), and offered once daily (1500) individually to steers in a Calan gate system for 126 d. At the end of the trial, steers were slaughtered; carcass data were recorded; and samples of the liver, kidney, spleen, semitendinosus, and hair were collected for Se analysis. Intake of DM, G:F, and ADG did not differ (P > 0.13). No differences (P > 0.12) were noted for hot carcass weight, organ weights, longissimus muscle area, back-fat thickness, marbling scores, or quality and yield grade. Kidney, pelvic, and heart fat tended to be higher (P = 0.06) in CON and WHT compared with SEO and HAY steers (2.9, 2.4, 2.5, 2.9 +/- 0.2% for CON, SEO, HAY, and WHT, respectively). Selenium concentrations in all tissues collected differed (P < 0.003) due to treatment. Distribution of Se to the kidney, spleen, and hair were similar with CON < SEO < HAY < WHT (8.40, 10.05, 10.86, 12.89 +/- 0.26 ppm for kidney; 2.00, 2.60, 3.82, 5.16 +/- 0.09 ppm for spleen; 1.80, 4.00, 5.93, 10.54 +/- 0.56 ppm for hair; P < 0.01). The distribution of Se in liver and muscle (DM basis) differed from that in other tissues, with CON < HAY < SEO = WHT (2.33, 6.56, 9.91, 10.79 +/- 0.80 ppm; P < 0.01) and CON = SEO < HAY < WHT (1.33, 1.55, 3.32, 4.41 +/- 0.18 ppm; P < 0.01), respectively. When providing dietary Se at supranutritional levels, source of Se did not affect production or carcass characteristics, but it altered the distribution and concentration of Se throughout the tissues of finishing beef steers.     

Validation of an efficient visual method for estimating leaf area index in clonal Eucalyptus plantations

Leaf area index (LAI) is a key ecophysiological parameter in forest stands because it characterises the interface between atmospheric processes and plant physiology. Several indirect methods for estimating LAI have been developed. However, these methods have limitations that can affect the estimates. This study aimed to evaluate the accuracy and applicability of a visual method for estimating LAI in clonal Eucalyptus grandis × E. urophylla plantations and to compare it with hemispherical photography, ceptometer and LAI-2000^® estimates. Destructive sampling for direct determination of the actual LAI was performed in 22 plots at two geographical locations in Brazil. Actual LAI values were then used to develop a field guide with photographic images representing an LAI range of 1.0–5.0 m² m^?2 (leaf area/ground area). The visual LAI estimation guide was evaluated with 17 observers in the field. The average difference between actual LAI and visual LAI estimation was 12% and the absolute difference between the two methods was less than or equal to 0.5 m² m^?2 in 77% of plots. Pearson’s correlation coefficients were high between actual LAI and hemispherical photographs (0.8), visual estimation (0.93) and LAI-2000^® (0.99) and low for the ceptometer (0.18). However, absolute values differed among methods, with the average difference between the actual and estimated LAI of [12]% for visual estimation, 28% for the LAI-2000^®, 37% for the ceptometer and ?43% for hemispherical photographs. The LAI-2000^® and ceptometer overestimated LAI in all plots, whereas hemispherical photographs underestimated the values in all measurements, showing that these methods need calibration to be used. No differences were observed between actual LAI and visual estimates across stand ages of 2–8 years and LAI of 1.5–5.3 m² m^?2 (P > 0.05). The results show that visual estimation of LAI in Eucalyptus stands is a practical method that is unaffected by atmospheric characteristics and can be used on an operational scale.     

Improving Crop Model Inference Through Bayesian Melding With Spatially Varying Parameters

An objective for applying a Crop Simulation Model (CSM) in precision agriculture is to explain the spatial variability of crop performance and to help guide decisions related to the site-specific management of crop inputs. CSMs require inputs related to soil, climate, management, and crop genetic information to simulate crop yield. In practice, however, measuring these inputs at the desired high spatial resolution is prohibitively expensive. We propose a Bayesian modeling framework that melds a CSM with sparse data from a yield monitoring system to deliver location specific posterior predicted distributions of yield and associated unobserved spatially varying CSM parameter inputs. These products facilitate exploration of process-based explanations for yield variability. The proposed Bayesian melding model consists of a systemic component representing output from the physical model and a residual spatial process that compensates for the bias in the physical model. The spatially varying inputs to the systemic component arise from a multivariate Gaussian process, while the residual component is modeled using a univariate Gaussian process. Due to the large number of observed locations in the motivating dataset, we seek dimension reduction using low-rank predictive processes to ease the computational burden. The proposed model is illustrated using the Crop Environment Resources Synthesis (CERES)-Wheat CSM and wheat yield data collected in Foggia, Italy.     

Detection of pulsed gamma rays above 100 GeV from the Crab pulsar

We report the detection of pulsed gamma rays from the Crab pulsar at energies above 100 giga-electron volts (GeV) with the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) array of atmospheric Cherenkov telescopes. The detection cannot be explained on the basis of current pulsar models. The photon spectrum of pulsed emission between 100 mega-electron volts and 400 GeV is described by a broken power law that is statistically preferred over a power law with an exponential cutoff. It is unlikely that the observation can be explained by invoking curvature radiation as the origin of the observed gamma rays above 100 GeV. Our findings require that these gamma rays be produced more than 10 stellar radii from the neutron star.     

Speciation of selenium compounds from high selenium broccoli is affected by the extracting solution

The speciation of selenium compounds from high selenium broccoli (876 microg/g) depends on the extraction conditions. Twenty-seven extraction conditions were explored involving nine different buffering systems between pH 1 and pH 9. In nonbuffered extractions of broccoli, more than 40% of the spiked Se-methylselenocysteine was not recovered in the filtered solution. However, in buffered extractions, losses for Se-methylselenocysteine ranged from 10 to 20%. Mass balance indicated that approximately 30% of naturally occurring selenium in broccoli samples was volatilized and lost to the atmosphere when buffered extractions were made. Solid phase extractions indicated that the polarity of selenium compounds in solution was also dependent on the extracting solution. High-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer was used to show that selenium compounds extracted from broccoli reacted with the extracting solution. Compound identities were assigned by matching retention times to standards of selenite, selenate, methylseleninic acid, Se-methylselenocysteine, selenomethionine, and the selenonic acids of Se-methylselenocysteine and selenomethionine. Changes in speciation were analyte-, pH-, and buffer-dependent, but generally, a higher pH resulted in more highly oxidized selenium compounds. For valid conclusions to be drawn from the analytical data, the extraction conditions should match the conditions present in the matrix or be specified for a particular application such as a simulated gastrointestinal digestion.     

Genotypic and environmental effects on selenium concentration of broccoli heads grown without supplemental selenium fertilizer

Selenium (Se) is an important trace element in human nutrition that is essential to normal health. Broccoli is known to accumulate relatively high concentrations of Se, and there is strong evidence that consumption of Se‐enriched broccoli florets decreases cancer risk. In light of the above, this study was conducted to evaluate differences in Se concentration per head and total Se head content for a collection of broccoli hybrids (20) and inbreds (15) grown in field environments without supplemental Se fertilization. Our objectives were to assess the relative importance of genotype vs. environment in affecting Se levels and to determine if Se content is associated with other important horticultural traits. When analysed over three environments, there was a significant genotype effect for Se head concentration with hybrids, but not inbreds, but the environmental effect was about 10 times larger than that for genotype. Total Se content (ng/head) varied significantly among hybrids and inbreds, but as with concentration, environmental effects were also much larger for this trait. Head Se concentrations for hybrids ranged from 52.7 to 84.7 ng/g and total Se accumulation ranged from 563 to 885 ng/head. The same respective traits ranged from 49.3 to 80.0 ng/g and 678 to 876 ng/head for inbreds. There was no correlation between Se head concentration and head dry mass or days from transplant to maturity for either hybrids or inbreds. There was no evidence that Se might be diluted in broccoli heads as mass increases with cultivars that produce dense heads. Results indicate that it should be feasible to combine relatively high Se concentration or content with high head dry matter (DM), a phenotype that broccoli breeders might strive to achieve.     

Comparing and Blending Regional Climate Model Predictions for the American Southwest

We consider the problem of forecasting future regional climate. Our method is based on blending different members of an ensemble of regional climate model (RCM) simulations while accounting for the discrepancies between these simulations, under present day conditions, and observational records for the recent past. To this end, we develop Bayesian space-time models that assess the discrepancies between climate model simulations and observational records. Those discrepancies are then propagated into the future to obtain blended forecasts of 21st century climate. The model allows for location-dependent spatial heterogeneities, providing local comparisons between the different simulations. Additionally, we estimate the different modes of spatial variability, and use the climate model-specific coefficients of the spatial factors for comparisons. We focus on regional climate model simulations performed in the context of the North American Regional Climate Change Assessment Program (NARCCAP). We consider, in particular, simulations from RegCM3 using three different forcings: NCEP, GFDL and CGCM3. We use simulations for two time periods: current climate conditions, covering 1971 to 2000, and future climate conditions under the SRES A2 emissions scenario, covering 2041 to 2070. We investigate yearly mean summer temperature for a domain in the South West of the United States. The results indicated the RCM simulations underestimate the mean summer temperature increase for most of the domain compared to our model.