Effect of incorporation of thermo-regulatory genes into exotic layers on egg production and quality under tropical environment

A breed development strategy aimed at making exotic layers (Lohmann Brown) more productive under tropical environment using thermo-regulatory genes is underway at Akate Farms in Kumasi, Ghana. The present experiment was carried out to find out the effect of the genes on egg production in hot and humid environments. Three genetic groups comprising naked-neck, frizzle and their normally feathered sibs were obtained after successive generations of crossing between naked-neck and frizzle cocks and Lohmann brown hens. A total of 270 18-week-old pullets, 90 each of the 3 groups, were selected randomly and assigned to a completely randomized design experiment with 3 replicates, with 30 birds in each replicate group and kept up to a period of 72 weeks. The birds were kept in a partitioned open-sided deep-litter house constructed with sandcrete blocks with 30 pullets in each compartment. They were fed ad libitum with layer diets containing 18 % crude protein and 2,800 kcal ME/kg. Results obtained showed that the crossbred naked-neck and frizzle phenotypes produced eggs at a significantly (P?<?0.05) higher rates than their normally feathered sibs and also out-performed their normally feathered sibs in other egg production parameters measured, even though they all segregated from similar parents. This is an indication of the favourable effect of the genes on egg production under hot and humid environments.     

The effect of non-genetic factors on the reproductive performance of Sanga and Friesian × Sanga crossbred dairy cattle breeds kept under hot and humid environment

A study was conducted to assess the effect of non-genetic factors on the reproductive performance of Sanga and Friesian?×?Sanga crossbred dairy cattle kept at Amrahia Dairy Farm, Ghana. Records on 66 crossbred Friesian?×?Sanga and 105 purebred Sanga cattle from 2005 to 2012 were used. The effect of sex of calf (male or female), season of calving (major, minor and dry), year of calving (2005–2012) and parity (first to third) on birthweight, calving interval and age at first calving were determined. The data were analyzed using the general linear model procedures of GenStat (Discovery Edition). The effect of parity of dam, year of calving, season of calving and sex of calf were considered as fixed effects for evaluating the different reproductive traits. Data on calving and conception rates over the period were 74.3 and 76.1 %, respectively. The overall mean values for birthweight, age at first calving and calving interval obtained were 23.9?±?1.5 and 22.8?±?1.4 kg, 38.8?±?2.5 and 40.2?±?2.4 months and 390.8?±?12.5 and 413.6?±?12.1 days for the crossbred and Sanga, respectively. It was observed that all the major determinants of reproductive performance studied apart from birthweight were significantly influenced by year of birth, parity, season of calving and sex.     

微生物添加剂对青贮高粱发酵品质和稳定性的影响

 将蜡熟期收获的全株高粱 (cultivarFS5 )切割成长度约 2cm ,用 1.5LWeck玻璃发酵罐在实验室条件下进行青贮试验。试验分 3组 ,第 1组为对照 ,第 2、第 3组分别为添加微生物添加剂的A和B组。 2种微生物添加剂的添加水平均为 2× 10 5CFU·g-1DM。在青贮后的第 2、4、8、15和 6 0天每处理随机取 3罐打开并采样以研究其发酵动力学的变化 ,其中第 6 0天的青贮料还用于测定发酵品质 ,并同时进行连续 5d的稳定性测定。结果表明 ,2种微生物添加剂均加快青贮pH下降速度 ,且乳酸产量增加。与对照相比 ,2种微生物添加剂使青贮料在暴露空气后产生的CO2 量略有增高 ,葡萄糖损失较多。微生物添加剂并不影响青贮料灰分和粗蛋白含量 (P >0 .0 5 ) ,但明显降低乙酸 (P <0 .0 5 )、丁酸 (P <0 .0 1)和丙酸 (P <0 .0 1)含量 ,显著提高乳酸含量 (P <0 .0 1)。A组青贮料DM含量较低 ,暴露空气后酵母含量较多。B组青贮料DM含量 (P <0 .0 5 )和乳酸含量 (P <0 .0 1)较高 ,而乙酸含量最低 (P <0 .0 5 )。添加剂B明显降低了ADF (P <0 .0 1) ,ADL(P <0 .0 5 )和NDF (P <0 .0 5 )含量。本试验结果显示 ,乳酸菌添加剂可加快高粱的发酵过程 ,但可能对开窖后的稳定性有不利影响。     

Construction of a novel oncogene based on synthetic sequences encoding epidermal growth factor

The autocrine model postulates that constitutive release of a mitogenic growth factor can lead to uncontrolled proliferation and cell transformation. A synthetic polynucleotide encoding epidermal growth factor conferred a tumorigenic phenotype on cells. These cells were transformed through the action of an autocrine circuit having an extracellular component.     

The Piwi-piRNA pathway provides an adaptive defense in the transposon arms race

Increasingly complex networks of small RNAs act through RNA-interference (RNAi) pathways to regulate gene expression, to mediate antiviral responses, to organize chromosomal domains, and to restrain the spread of selfish genetic elements. Historically, RNAi has been defined as a response to double-stranded RNA. However, some small RNA species may not arise from double-stranded RNA precursors. Yet, like microRNAs and small interfering RNAs, such species guide Argonaute proteins to silencing targets through complementary base-pairing. Silencing can be achieved by corecruitment of accessory factors or through the activity of Argonaute itself, which often has endonucleolytic activity. As a specific and adaptive regulatory system, RNAi is used throughout eukarya, which indicates a long evolutionary history. A likely function of RNAi throughout that history is to protect the genome from both pathogenic and parasitic invaders.     

Use of two spatially explicit models to determine the effect of injury geometry on natural resource recovery

• 1. Disturbance to sessile communities has been evaluated in a wide variety of terrestrial and marine settings, but, to our knowledge, recovery has not explicitly considered the effects of injury shape, except in an exploratory fashion. Therefore, we have developed a simple, but spatially explicit relationship between the geometry of a disturbance and the recovery rate in the context of natural resource damage assessment.
• 2. Here, grounding of motor vessels in shoalgrass (Halodule wrightii), manatee grass (Syringodium filiforme), and turtlegrass (Thalassia testudinum) habitats results in a variety of injury shapes whose recovery must be evaluated to assign penalties and restoration costs to the party responsible.
• 3. We developed two spatially explicit, cellular automata modelling techniques to evaluate injury recovery trajectory. Techniques in both SAS^® and ArcINFO^® were developed and applied to injuries of varying perimeter but fixed area.
• 4. The SAS method utilized either a simple Boolean or probabalistic interrogation of the status of adjacent pixels using the matrix language component of the software. ArcINFO utilized a cost/distance module to evaluate proximity of unfilled to filled (colonized) pixels and then applied a decision rule that governed conversion from unfilled to a filled state. As expected, the greater the perimeter/area ratio, the faster the recovery; and modelling approaches yielded almost identical results.
• 5. A case study involving ～1200 m² of almost monotypic T. testudinum revealed that both models predicted that 100% recovery of above‐ground components of the injury would not occur for approximately 60 years. This model is now being used routinely in the assessment of vessel groundings in seagrass beds within the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary and has been used successfully by the Government to prevail in US Federal Court challenges. Both methods have substantial, untapped capabilities to explore the effect of numerous ecological effects on the processes influencing recovery from disturbance.

Published in 2004 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Tillage systems and soil properties in east Africa

This paper defines tillage, indicating that as it is mostly a physical concern of the soil, it has not been studied as much as chemically related soil properties. Tillage in shifting cultivation is also reviewed. Different tillage systems in a number of east African Countries namely Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Kenya, Zambia and Uganda are reviewed. The types of tillage in their respective soils are discussed in each Country. Uganda's tillage practices for the main food crop (banana) are discussed, pointing out the crop's rooting system in relation to the heavy, relatively fertile soils, where the bananas are mostly grown. The paper distinguishes between tillage to avoid soil compaction and tillage to reduce soil crusting or hardening and concludes that more research should be carried out on tillage practices relating to heavy soils as it affects the different types of crops, as most of the previous tillage research had been carried out on relatively light soils. Soil crusting or hardening which may involve an understanding of the physical, chemical and biological properties of the soil, should also receive more attention.     

Analysis of the Thermal Energy Requirements for the Extraction of Leaf Protein Concentrate from some Green Plants

Extraction of protein from the leaves of green plants is very important because of the high cost of conventional forms of protein such as meat, milk and fish. In order to design machinery for this extraction, and also to embark on leaf protein concentrate extraction, it is necessary to measure and analyse the energy requirements to carry out each process involved in the extraction, using different plant species.Experiments were carried out to determine the amount of crude protein, and the thermal energy required to extract leaf protein concentrate, from juices obtained from the leaves of some plant species. Leaves from the following plants were selected: cassava (Manihot esculanta), Siam weed (Chromolaena odorata), bitter leaf (Vernonia amygdalina), gliricidia (Gliricidia maculata) and thorny tree (Hura crepetans). The leaves from the plant species were macerated in a laboratory pulper. Juice was obtained from the samples using perforated cylinders and a hydraulic press. The specific heat capacity of the juices was determined using the cooling curve method. The values of the heat capacities were used to calculate the amount of thermal energy required to raise the temperature of each juice from its normal temperature of about 25°C to a total protein coagulation temperature of about 80°C. The crude protein content of the extract was determined using the Kjeldal method.Results indicate that the green coagulum extracted from all the juices all have a protein content of at least 37%. The thermal energy required to coagulate protein from the juices ranges from 1·59 kJ kg⁻¹ for Hura crepetans to 2·7 kJ kg⁻¹ for Vernonia amygdalina. The energy requirement to obtain crude protein (CP) ranges from 8 kJ kg⁻¹ [CP] with Hura crepetans to 182 kJ kg⁻¹ [CP] with Vernonia amygdalina. Both results are statistically significant at the 0·01 confidence interval. It is concluded that the choice of plant species can significantly lower the thermal energy requirement for the extraction of leaf protein concentrate.