Prevalence of Giardia spp. infection in pre-weaned and weaned calves in relation to management factors

Two hundred and forty calf faecal samples from 16 Malaysian farms were screened by PCR for Giardia spp. The overall prevalence was 12.5% and the overall farm prevalence was 68.8% (11/16 farms). The prevalence in pre-weaned and weaned calves was 16.7% and 8.3%, respectively. Sequence analysis of 25 isolates identified all as G. duodenalis assemblage E. Management factors associated with an increased risk of infection with Giardia spp. included keeping weaned calves in pens with sand floors and calf age. Keeping pre-weaned calves in pens with concrete floors and calving in single cow calving areas decreased the risk.     

Esterified phenolics of the cell walls of chufa (Cyperus esculentusL. ) tubers and their role in texture

Chufas (Cyperus esculentus) are edible tubers that, like Chinese waterchestnut (CWC), are very crisp when raw and do not soften when cooked. The present study compares the mechanical properties of chufas with those of potato and CWC in relation to the carbohydrate and phenolic compositions of the cell walls. The cutting toughness of raw chufa was higher than that of raw CWC and potato; its value decreased on boiling, as also observed with CWC, but remained over twice that of raw potato. Chufa cell walls were rich in xylose, arabinose, glucose, uronic acid, and galactose, with minor quantities of mannose. The cell walls of the parenchyma exhibited a uniform pH-dependent autofluorescence indicating the presence of cinnamic acid derivatives. Analysis of these revealed that peeled tuber cell walls are rich in ferulic acid, whereas p-coumaric acid dominates the monomeric phenol fraction of the skin. Cell wall material from both skin and peeled tubers contains a significant amount of different diferulic acids ( approximately 20% of the wall ferulic acid), consisting mainly of the 8-O-4'-, 8-5'-, and 5-5'-dimers. These are potentially available to form thermally stable cross-links between polysaccharides within the wall and between cells. This may confer thermal stability of texture.     

Digital mapping of soil carbon sequestration potential with enhanced vegetation cover over New South Wales,Australia

Digital soil maps of soil organic carbon (SOC) sequestration potential resulting from a hypothetical 10% relative increase in long-term vegetation cover are presented at 100-m resolution across the state of New South Wales (NSW) in southeast Australia. This land management outcome is considered realistically achievable for many land managers, using strategies such as revegetation, grazing management or crop residue management. A mean state-wide potential increase of 5.4 Mg ha⁻¹ over the 0- to 30-cm depth interval was derived. Assuming a 20-year period of re-equilibration, this equates to an average SOC increase of 0.27 Mg ha⁻¹ year⁻¹. Sequestration potential is systematically influenced by a combination of climate, soil parent material and current vegetation cover, for example only 1.6 Mg ha⁻¹ SOC under dry conditions in sandy, infertile soil material with sparse vegetation cover, compared with 15.9 Mg ha⁻¹ under wet conditions in clay-rich, fertile soil material with moderate–high vegetation cover. The outputs could be used to identify locations of highest sequestration potential and thereby help prioritize areas and inform decisions on sequestration programmes. Future application of the method at field scale with high levels of accuracy, together with strategic sampling, may provide statistically reliable estimates of carbon sequestration, for application in carbon trading schemes such as Australia's Emissions Reduction Fund. The modelling involved a conceptually transparent ‘space-for-time substitution’ process. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and random forest (RF) modelling techniques were applied, but only MLR gave consistently meaningful results. The apparent failing of RF in this application warrants further examination.     

Thermal effects on water retention behaviour of unsaturated collapsible loess

Journal of Soils and Sediments - Temperature has a significant influence on water retention curve (WRC) because temperature affects surface tension of water and volumetric behaviour of soil....     

Mass spectrometric evidence for the occurrence of plant growth promoting cytokinins in vermicompost tea

Through their decomposing activities, earthworms produce rich organic fertilizers called vermicomposts containing mineral nutrients and anecdotal evidence of biologically active phytohormones. Aqueous extracts of vermicomposts, namely vermicompost tea (VT), have positive effects on plant growth. It has been postulated that trace amounts of phytohormones in vermicomposts or its VT are beneficial for plant growth and development. We therefore screened for the different classes of phytohormones (auxins, cytokinins, abscisic acid, and gibberellin) in VT using liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) after solid-phase extraction. VT was produced by earthworms being fed with a mixture of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) and chicken manure at a ratio of 4:1 (w/w). This investigation is the first mass spectrometric evidence for the presence of cytokinins in VT: namely trans-Zeatin (tZ), N⁶-Isopentenyladenine (iP) and N⁶-Isopentenyladenosine (iPR), which were present at 0.06, 3.33, and 0.02 nmol L^–1, respectively. The successful detection and quantitation of cytokinins in VT provided direct evidence to explain the growth efficacy of applying VT in order to enhance plant growth and development. We postulated that they were microbially synthesized due to the abundance of microbial communities in the vermicompost.     

A Novel High Capacity Biofilm Reactor System for Treatment of Domestic Sewage

A lab-scale novel biofilm reactor system, Ultra-Compact Biofilm Reactor (UCBR), was studied to investigate its performance and operational characteristics for domestic sewage treatment. The reactor was operated at four different hydraulic retention times, namely, 90, 60, 30 and 15 min. The operating ranges of volumetric loading rates in terms of COD, BOD₅, NH⁺ ₄-N and TKN were 5.6-62.1 kg COD/m³ d, 2.6-32.5 BOD₅/m³ d, 0.6-3.2 kg NH⁺ ₄-N/m³ d and 0.82-6.2 kg TKN/m³ d, respectively. The COD, BOD₅ and NH⁺ ₄-N removal efficiencies at 90-min hydraulic retention time (HRT) and 60-min HRT could exceed 80%, 90% and 99%, respectively. The corresponding maximum biomass concentrations were 12.0 g/L and 15.0 g/L at 90-min HRT and 60-min HRT, respectively. At 30-min HRT, the biomass concentration increased to a maximum of 24.0 g/L. However, COD and BOD₅ removal efficiencies decreased to 75% and 80%, respectively, while the NH⁺ ₄-N nitrification efficiency decreased to only 25% to 30%. These observations suggested that high biomass concentration alone was not sufficient to provide a high removal capacity in a UCBR. Further reduction in HRT to 15 min led to an excessive biomass decline from 22.5 g/L to 4.0 g/L. On the whole, the UCBR was able to sustain COD removal and NH⁺ ₄-N conversion of up to 5.96-18.70 kg COD/m³ d and 0.73-1.00 kg NH⁺ ₄-N/m³ d, respectively.     

Effects of Transglutaminase Enzyme on Fundamental Rheological Properties of Sound and Bug‐Damaged Wheat Flour Doughs

Transglutaminase (TG) catalyzes the formation of nondisulfide covalent crosslinks between peptide‐bound glutaminyl residues and ∊‐amino groups of lysine residues in proteins. Crosslinks among wheat gluten proteins by TG are of particular interest because of their high glutamine content. Depolymerization of wheat gluten proteins by proteolytic enzymes associated with bug damage causes rapid deterioration of dough properties and bread quality. The aim of the present study was to investigate the possibility of using TG to regain gluten strength adversely affected by wheat bug proteases. A heavily bug‐damaged (Eurygaster spp.) wheat flour was blended with sound cv. Augusta or cv. Sharpshooter flours. Dynamic rheological measurements, involving a frequency sweep at a fixed shear stress, were performed after 0, 30, and 60 min of incubation on doughs made from sound or blended flour samples. The complex moduli (G* values) of Augusta and Sharpshooter doughs blended with 10% bug‐damaged flour decreased significantly after 30 min of incubation. These dough samples were extremely soft and sticky and impossible to handle for testing purposes after 60 min of incubation. To test the possibility of using TG to counteract the hydrolyzing effect of bug proteases on gluten proteins, TG was added to the flour blends. The G* values of TG‐treated sound Augusta or Sharpshooter doughs increased significantly after 60 min of incubation. The G* values of the Augusta or Sharpshooter doughs blended with bug‐damaged flour increased significantly rather than decreased after 30 and 60 min of incubation when TG was included in the dough formulation. This indicates that the TG enzyme substantially rebuilds structure of dough hydrolyzed by wheat bug protease enzymes.     

Policosanol has no antioxidant activity in human low-density lipoprotein but increases excretion of bile acids in hamsters

Policosanol is a group of long chain primary alcohols and has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels and to inhibit the oxidation of low-density lipoprotein (LDL). The present study examined (i) the effect of policosanol supplementation in the diet on the fecal excretion of neutral and acidic sterols in hamsters and (ii) the antioxidant activity of policosanol in human LDL. Golden Syrian hamsters were divided into four groups (n = 12/each) fed one of the four diets containing 0 (control), 0.38, 0.75, and 1.50 g kg(-1) policosanol for 6 weeks. It was found that hamsters given 0.38-1.5 g kg(-1) diets had a serum total cholesterol level lowered by 15-25% and had a high-density lipoprotein cholesterol elevated by 7-16.8%. It was found that policosanol increased the excretion of acidic sterols by 25-73%. Contrary to that in previous reports, policosanol had no apparent anti-LDL oxidation activity when 1-tetracosanol, 1-hexacosanol, and 1-octacosanol were incubated in human LDL. Policosanol also possessed no scavenging activity on the free radical2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl. These data provide evidence that in addition to the effect of HMG-CoA reductase, the cholesterol-lowering activity of policosanol is partially mediated by its inhibition on the absorption of bile acids, but these data disprove the claim that policosanol is an antioxidant.