Replacing cottonseed meal with ground Prosopis juliflora pods; effect on intake,weight gain and carcass parameters of Afar sheep fed pasture hay basal diet

The experiment was conducted to determine the supplementary feeding value of ground Prosopis juliflora pod (Pjp) and cottonseed meal (CSM) and their mixtures on feed intake, body weight gain and carcass parameters of Afar sheep fed a basal diet of pasture hay. Twenty-five yearling fat-tailed Afar rams with mean initial live weight 17.24?±?1.76 kg (mean ± SD) were used in a randomized complete block design. Animals were blocked on their initial body weight. The experiment was conducted for 12 weeks and carcass evaluation followed. Treatments were hay alone ad libitum (T ₁) or with 300 g CSM (T ₂), 300 g Pjp (T ₅), 2:1 ratio (T ₃) and 1:2 ratio of CSM : Pjp (T ₄). The CP contents of the hay, CSM and Pjp were 10.5, 44.5 and 16.7 %, respectively. Hay DM intake was higher (P?<?0.05) for non-supplemented and total DM intake was lower in non-supplemented. Average daily weight gain (ADG) was lower (P?<?0.05) for T ₁ compared to all supplemented treatments except T ₅. Hot carcass weight and rib-eye muscle area also followed the same trend like that of ADG. Compared with feeding hay alone, supplementing with CSM or a mixture of CSM and Pjp appeared to be a better feeding strategy, biologically, for yearling Afar rams.     

银合欢落叶层对苗圃生长的森林一农田作物的他感作用(英文)

利用随机区组试验评估了孟加拉国吉大港大学苗圃内的银合欢落叶对森林作物种白格、黄金檀和农田作物种长豇豆、鹰嘴豆和木豆的他感作用。结果表明,凋落叶诱导抑制作物的萌发和生长,该抑制作用依赖于萃取物浓度、凋落物及受体物种类型。萃取物浓度越高则他感作用越强。受体植物的生长响应随应用的凋落叶而变化。低浓度(10g·m-2)凋落叶对农田作物嫩芽生长有促进作用,而其他浓度的凋落叶则呈现明显的抑制作用,施用的凋落叶浓度越大抑制作用也越大。但是不同处理所表现出的抑制趋势并不均一,根系生长受到的影响大于嫩芽。图3表4参34。     

The acute phase reaction detected in dogs by concanavalin A binding

Using a kinetic turbidimetric assay based on the binding of serum glycoprotein to concanavalin A the acute phase reaction has been detected in dogs. Raised levels of glycoprotein were found in dogs which had undergone surgery, had been treated with bacterial endotoxin and had various inflammatory conditions.     

Financial comparison of three testing strategies for detection of estrus in dairy cattle

Three commercial tests that measure progesterone content in milk were evaluated for accuracy of estrus detection. The tests were evaluated on 96 milk samples collected from Holstein cows at a commercial dairy farm in central Florida. The test results were compared with the results of radioimmunoassay on the same sample. Comparisons were made by calculating the sensitivities, specificities, and predictive values. The significance of the statistical association between the tests and the radioimmunoassay was evaluated by use of the McNemar chi 2 test. Decision-tree analysis was used to determine the most useful testing strategy, considering both cost and accuracy. The cowside progesterone assay on estrus-mount detector-positive cows was more profitable than use of estrus-mount patches alone. The return on investment was higher with the cowside test, making it preferred as a field test for detecting estrus.     

Experimental immune complex glomerulonephritis and the nephrotic syndrome in cats immunised with cationised bovine serum albumin

Membranous nephropathy was induced in four cats by repeated intravenous injections of 120 mg cationic bovine serum albumin (BSA, pI 9.5). All four cats developed diffuse granular deposits of IgG and C3 along the glomerular capillary walls as early as five weeks which persisted until the end of the experiment at 17 weeks. Ultrastructural studies revealed many subepithelial electron dense deposits. Two cats developed severe proteinuria and the nephrotic syndrome characterised by hypoalbuminaemia and oedema. An additional four cats received repeated injections of unmodified native BSA (pI 4.5) and remained basically normal. This is the first report of membranous nephropathy and the nephrotic syndrome in an experimental animal model which, unlike other animal models, is subject to the spontaneously occurring disease.     

Tissue culture micropropagation of Douglas-fir

A procedure was developed for plantlet production from embryos of Douglas-fir [Pseudotsuga menziesii (Mirb.) Franco]. The Medium for Conifer Morphogenesis, used at full strength, and supplemented with 10 M benzyladenine for 17 days produced an average of 6.8 shoots on more than 90% of the embryos. The percentage of shoot-forming embryos as well as the average number of shoots per embryo varied significantly among eight seedlots. For secondary multiplication, 89% of the adventitious shoots produced axillary buds on MCM with 5 M benzyladenine. However, 0.5 M BA was more suitable for the elongation of axillaries. Rooting ranged from 0–87% depending upon the treatment. The highest percentage was obtained with a 7-week incubation in peat:perlite containing 1/5-strength medium, 1% sucrose and 2.7 M naphthaleneacetic acid, followed by 5 weeks on peat:perlite with 1/5-strength major and minor salts, full iron and organics, 1% sucrose and 0.1% charcoal.     

Developing scoring functions for soil quality to assess land suitability for irrigated wheat in Southern Algeria

Efficient land-use management could be optimized through appropriate advice regarding land suitability and achieving a reasonable yield while preserving soil and environmental conditions. The main objective of this study was to determine and define those locations capable of wheat cultivation with irrigation in the municipality of N’goussa (Southern Algeria). Expert opinion (EO) method was used for selecting minimum soil data set (MDS_-EO), where six influencing soil properties (sand, pH, salinity, organic matter, gypsum and lime) and other three key parameters (slope, land use/land cover, and proximity to roads and electricity network) were considered important for irrigated wheat cultivation in the study area. Indicators were weighted according to principal component analysis (PCA) loadings and summed. PCA revealed that the selected nine indicators are appropriate for accounting 73.63% of the total variance. Two maps of land suitability were created here (expressed as a soil quality index within a range from 0 to 1) from multivariate analysis and already known standard scoring functions (SSFs) by using two data sets (pure and scored). The distribution of soil quality index (IQI) showed that above 70% of the land was moderately (MS) to highly suitable (HS) for irrigated wheat. The estimation accuracy of soil quality classes has been evaluated using random forests (RF), having as a dependent variable the final class of land suitability used in each map. It was determined that estimation accuracy could reach 60% (pure data set) and 65% (scored data set) at 0.5 cut-off value for soil quality classes. Final prioritizing according to ranks of sensitivity index (SI) and efficiency ratio (ER) showed that IQI obtained from scored data set is the most suitable approach in soil quality assessment of arid areas. Therefore, it could be applied in southern Algeria for land management, integrated planning and environmental assessments.