Risk factors for and reproductive outcomes of phantom cows on New Zealand dairy farms

AIMS: To determine some of the risk factors for cows not observed in oestrus within 35–42 days of an unsuccessful artificial insemination (AI; phantom cows), and the reproductive outcomes and effect of treatment of phantom cows.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Over 2 years, in dairy herds from the Waikato (n=10) and Canterbury (n=4) regions of New Zealand, pregnancy diagnosis was carried out 35–42 days after AI on cows that had been inseminated in the first 3 weeks after the start of mating (PSM) but had not been seen returning to oestrus. Risk factors for phantom cows were analysed using a generalised linear mixed effect model.

In Year 1, all phantom cows were left untreated. In Year 2, phantom cows were categorised as having a corpus luteum (CL) (CL+ n=120), or having ovarian follicles ≥10 (n=101) or <10 (n=40)?mm in diameter. Cows with a CL were treated with cloprostenol or untreated and placed with bulls. Cows with no CL received intravaginal progesterone (P4) for 7 days, with injection of gonadotrophin-releasing hormone (GnRH) on Days 0 and 9, and cloprostenol on Day 7 followed by AI. Pregnancy diagnosis of all cows took place 100–120 days after PSM and interval to conception and final pregnancy rate determined.

RESULTS: Overall, of cows inseminated in the first 3 weeks after PSM that did not return to oestrus, 610/6,734 (9.1%) were phantom cows. From the final multivariable analysis, treatment for anoestrus, BCS ≤4.0 at mating, being 2 or >6 years of age, and pure-bred, and decreasing interval between calving and mating, until 98 days post calving, were associated with increased odds of being a phantom cow. Compared to all other groups of cows, phantom cows had a longer interval to conception (p<0.001) and a lower final pregnancy rate (p<0.001).

Treatment of CL+ cows or cows with follicles ≥10?mm did not affect reproductive outcomes (p>0.3). For cows with follicles <10?mm treatment decreased the final percentage not pregnant (3/27; 11%; p=0.01) and interval to conception (21 days; p=0.02) compared with controls (7/13; 54% and 37 days, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS AND CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Risk factors for phantom cows were identified that could be manipulated to reduce the number of phantom cows in a herd, in particular increasing BCS. Treatment of the majority of phantom cows did not improve reproductive performance.     

The effect of oral phenylbutazone on whole blood platelet aggregation in the dog.

Platelet aggregation to collagen, arachidonic acid and adenosine diphosphate was evaluated in six dogs using a whole blood electronic aggregometer. The six dogs were then given phenylbutazone orally according to four different dosage levels and durations of treatment. Aggregation responses were measured at established intervals of time following phenylbutazone administration. Data on untreated dogs indicated that arachidonic acid, at a final concentration of 50 micrograms/mL and collagen, at a final concentration of 5 micrograms/mL, were useful agents for studying whole blood platelet aggregation in the dog, but adenosine diphosphate, at a final concentration of 30 microM was not. The high single dose (900 mg) of phenylbutazone significantly inhibited platelet aggregation to arachidonic acid at 1.5,4,7 and 12 hours following administration. The results indicated that the whole blood electronic aggregometer was of limited value in detecting subtle changes in platelet aggregation. It was concluded, however, that the instrument is potentially useful as a rapid screening aid for detecting canine patients at high risk of platelet-related bleeding problems.     

贵州足球场草坪建植及优化管理模型研究

在一定的生境和管理条件下,以修剪高度、修剪次数和施Ｎ、Ｐ、Ｋ量为因素,利用二次正交回归设计,用模糊综合评分法评定草坪质量,最佳３因子水平为：修剪高度５－７．４ｃｍ,修剪次数４－６次／月,施Ｎ量为２．５－３．７ｇ（ｍ＾２．年）,施Ｐ、Ｋ量各为１．２５－１．８５ｇ／（ｍ＾２．年）,建立了草坪质量与养护３因子间的显相关回归模型。     

气相色谱-串联质谱法快速检测当归中102种农药残留

建立了当归中102种农药残留的快速检测方法。样品采用优化的QuEChERS前处理方法,利用气相色谱-串联质谱 (GC-MS/MS) 检测,动态多反应监测 (dMRM) 模式,基质匹配外标法定量。结果表明:在样品前处理过程中,经对提取溶剂、提取体系、净化体系的组成和用量进行筛选优化后,样品采用乙腈、1.0 g氯化钠、4.0 g无水硫酸镁、1.0 g柠檬酸钠和0.5 g柠檬酸二钠盐提取,无水硫酸镁800 mg、PSA 150 mg、C₁₈ 150 mg净化,通过基质匹配外标法校正,当归中基质效应对目标化合物的定性、定量影响明显减弱。在0.02~0.64 mg/kg范围内,102种农药的质量浓度与对应的峰面积间呈良好的线性关系,R2均大于0.99,检出限为0.002 5~0.025 mg/kg,定量限为0.005~0.05 mg/kg;在0.04、0.08和0.32 mg/kg 3个添加水平下,102种农药的平均回收率为52 %~128%,RSD为1.0%~10 %。该方法快速简便、耗时短,具有良好的灵敏度、正确度和精密度,为提高当归中农药安全水平,降低健康风险提供了一种快速、高效、可靠的分析手段。     

Runoff Water Quality Impact of Variable Rate Sidedress Nitrogen Application

In recent years, precision agriculture has received attention from producers, agribusiness, and governmental agencies in an effort to increase profitability and protect the environment. Many aspects of precision agriculture, such as soil fertility, application technology, and economic factors, have received substantial research attention; however, other aspects of precision agriculture have not been well documented. One important issue that warrants increased attention is water quality. Because of precision application technology, variable rate fertilizer application based on within-field heterogeneity has the potential to decrease negative water quality impacts. Therefore, the objective of this paired watershed study was to evaluate the impact of variable rate nitrogen (N) fertilizer application on surface water quality. The variable rate field was divided into management units designated as poor, moderate, and high based on measured yield potential and received 100–160 kg/ha of N fertilizer. A portion of the N application was uniformly applied pre-plant or at planting, and rest was sidedressed at variable rates. The uniform rate field received uniform N application at 135 kg/ha. Surface water runoff and water quality were monitored for each field, and collected samples were analyzed for N and phosphorus (P) constituents. During the 2-year monitoring period with 22 storm sampling events, variable rate N application resulted in few water quality differences compared to uniform rate application, but overall median NO₃ + NO₂–N concentrations were significantly lower for the variable rate field in the second year of variable rate N application. Overall and event mean NO₃ + NO₂–N concentrations from the variable rate field tended to be higher, but median concentrations from the uniform rate field tended to be higher.     

Apparent Electrical Conductivity,Soil Properties and Spatial Covariance in the U.S. Southern High Plains

Site-specific soil and crop management will require rapid low-cost sensors that can generate position-referenced data that measure important soil properties that impact crop yields. Apparent electrical conductivity (EC_a) is one such measure. Our main objective was to determine which commonly measured surface soil properties were related to EC_a at six sites in the Texas Southern High Plains, USA. We used the Veris 3100 and Geonics EM-38 EC mapping systems on 12 to 47 ha areas in six center-pivot irrigation sites. Soil samples were taken from 0–150 mm on a 0.1 to 0.8 ha grid and analyzed for routine nutrients and particle size distribution. At four of the six sites, shallow EC_a measured with the Veris 3100 (EC_a-sh) positively correlated to clay content. Clay content was negatively related with EC_a-sh at one site, possibly due to low bulk density of the shallow calcic horizon at that site. Other soil properties that were often correlated with EC_a included soil extractable Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Na⁺, CEC, silt and soluble salts. Extractable K⁺, NO₃^–, SO₄^–, Mehlich-3-P, and pH were not related to EC_a. Partial least squares regression (PLS) of seven soil properties explained an average of 61%, 51% and 37% of the variation in observed shallow EC_a-sh, deep EC_a with the Veris 3100 (EC_a-dp) and EC_a with the Geonics EM-38 (EC_a-em), respectively. Including nugget, range and sill parameters from a spherical semivariance model of the residuals from PLS regression improved the fit of mixed models in 15 of 18 cases. Apparent EC, therefore can provide useful information to land-users about key soil properties such as clay content and extractable Ca²⁺, but that spatial covariance in these relationships should not be ignored.     

Immunohistochemical detection of intermediate filament proteins in formalin fixed normal and neoplastic canine tissues.

Normal and well differentiated neoplastic canine tissues were immunohistochemically stained for keratin, vimentin and desmin intermediate filament proteins using commercially available monoclonal antibodies. Keratin was detected in 56 of 57 carcinomas, vimentin in 59 of 62 sarcomas and desmin in three of four muscle cell tumors. Most normal and neoplastic tissues expressed only one type of intermediate filament; exceptions were one hemangiosarcoma and one pulmonary carcinoma in which there was coexpression of vimentin and keratin proteins. Since immunohistochemical detection of intermediate filaments has tissue-specific distribution in the majority of well differentiated canine neoplasms, these stains may be useful in the differential diagnosis of anaplastic canine tumors. However, the monoclonal antibodies to cytokeratin which were tested in this study failed to detect intermediate filaments in liver, pancreas and salivary glands which suggests that these antibodies may also be unable to detect epithelial tumors derived from these tissues. In addition, in nine neoplasms, the normal tissues adjacent to neoplastic cells failed to stain for the intermediate filament normally expressed. When this occurs, evaluation of intermediate filament expression is invalid for the determination of tissue of origin of the neoplastic cells.