Optimum irrigation and pond operation to move away from exclusively rainfed agriculture: the Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme, Ethiopia

Under rainfed agriculture without supplementary supply, crop failure due to erratic rainfall has become a common phenomenon in many regions of Ethiopia. Spate irrigation development with storage provision at the 5,000 ha Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme is one of the initiatives to move away from exclusively rain-dependent agriculture. This initiative has faced several challenges. Lack of design experience and failure to fully grasp the unpredictable nature of the spate flow caused the Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme to be implemented without considering the necessity of storage ponds. In addition, absence of a systematic approach to assist planners has resulted in non-optimal design of ponds’ capacity and operation. The study, on which this article is based, aimed at optimum storage operation to irrigate the maximum possible area with the existing ponds’ capacity and available water resource. During the study, the surface storage and irrigation scheme planning model was developed and used to analyze several pond operation scenarios in Boru Dodota Spate Irrigation Scheme. The main findings were as follows: (1) Supplementing the rainfall with the operation of the existing 19 ponds that enable weekly irrigation frequency results in irrigating at least 6,600 ha. (2) An increase in the number of ponds does not always guarantee an increase in the size of irrigated land because the water resources, the operation, and management are defining factors. (3) It is not economical to only rely on spate flow for irrigation as even with 200 ponds, a maximum of 1,250 ha could be irrigated.     

Food volatile compounds facilitating HII mesophase formation: solubilization and stability

Four lipophilic food volatile molecules of different chemical characteristics, phenylacetaldehyde, 2,6-dimethyl-5-heptenal, linalool, and trans-4-decenal, were solubilized into binary mixtures of monoolein/water, facilitating the formation of reverse hexagonal (H(II)) mesophases at room temperature without the need of solvents or triglycerides. Some of the flavor compounds are important building blocks of the hexagonal mesostructure, preventing phase transition with aging. The solubilization loads were relatively high: 12.6, 10.0, 12.6, and 10.0 wt % for phenylacetaldehyde, 2,6-dimethyl-5-heptenal, linalool, and trans-4-decenal, respectively. Phenylacetaldehyde formed mixtures of lamellar and cubic phases. Linalool, 2,6-dimethyl-5-heptenal, and trans-4-decenal induced structural shift from lamellar directly to H(II) mesophase, remaining stable at room temperature. Lattice parameters were found to increase with water content and to decrease with temperature and/or food volatile content. trans-4-Decenal produces more stable H(II) mesophase compared to linalool-loaded mesophase. At 40-60 °C, depending on the chemical structure and on the solubilization location of the food volatile compounds, the H(II) mesophase transforms to isotropic micellar phase, facilitating the release of the food volatile compounds. Molecular interactions suggest the existence of two consecutive stages in the solubilization process.     

Prevalence and antimicrobial resistance of MRSA across different pig age groups in an intensive pig production system in Australia

This observational study aimed to determine MRSA prevalence using strain‐specific real‐time PCR at the pig level, stratified by age groupings, within a pig enterprise. A total of 658 samples were collected from individual pigs (n = 618) and the piggery environment (n = 40), distributed amongst five different pig age groups. Presumptive MRSA isolates were confirmed by the presence of mecA, and MALDI‐TOF was performed for species verification. All isolates were tested against 18 different antimicrobials. MRSA was isolated from 75.2% (95% CI 71.8–78.6) of samples collected from pigs, and 71% of the MRSA isolates from this source were identified as community‐associated (CA)‐MRSA ST93, while the remainder were livestock‐associated (LA)‐MRSA ST398. Amongst environmental isolates, 80% (CI 64.3–95.7) were ST93 and the remainder ST398. All MRSA isolates from pigs and the environment were susceptible to ciprofloxacin, gentamicin, linezolid, mupirocin, rifampicin, sulfamethoxazole–trimethoprim, teicoplanin and vancomycin. Phenotypic rates of resistance were penicillin (100%), clindamycin (97.6%), erythromycin (96.3%), ceftiofur (93.7%), chloramphenicol (81.2%), tetracycline (63.1%) and amoxicillin–clavulanate (63.9%). A low prevalence of resistance (9.2%) was observed against neomycin and quinupristin–dalfopristin. The probability of MRSA carriage in dry sows (42.2%) was found to be significantly lower (p < .001) when compared to other age groups: farrowing sows (76.8%, RR1.82), weaners (97.8%, RR 2.32), growers (94.2%, RR 2.23) and finishers (98.3%, RR 2.33). Amongst different production age groups, a significant difference was also found in antimicrobial resistance for amoxicillin–clavulanate, neomycin, chloramphenicol and tetracycline. Using the RT‐PCR assay adopted in this study, filtering of highly prevalent ST93 and non‐ST93 isolates was performed at high throughput and low cost. In conclusion, this study found that weaner pigs presented a higher risk for CA‐MRSA and antimicrobial resistance compared to other age groups. These findings have major implications for how investigations of MRSA outbreaks should be approached under the One‐Health context.     

Ecofriendly Method for Bioremediation of Chlorpyrifos from Agricultural Soil by Novel Fungus Aspergillus terreus JAS1

The aim of this work was to study the degradation of three azo dyes, Orange II, Methyl red and Biebrich Scarlet by electro-Fenton and the effect of the electrochemical pretreatment on the biodegradability of the solutions. The electrochemical pretreatment showed that an electrochemical reduction on the carbon felt electrode was mainly responsible for the decolorization of the azo dyes. Indeed, the electrochemical behaviour of the azo dyes highlighted their electroactivity; electrolysis with and without ferric ions led to the same decolorization yield, namely 99 % at 15 min for Methyl red, and stable chemical oxygen demand (COD) values were recorded during decolorization. In a second step and owing to the absence of by-product electroactivity in reduction, the formation of hydroxyl radicals by the Fenton reaction led to the oxidation of by-products from the electrochemical reduction. It was illustrated by the decrease recorded for the COD values. The results also showed that the azo bond cleavage occurring during the electrochemical reduction was not sufficient to significantly reduce recalcitrance, as shown from biological oxygen demand (BOD)₅/COD ratio examination below the limit of biodegradability (0.4). Contrarily, a positive trend was recorded for Orange II during the electro-Fenton reaction, with a BOD₅/COD ratio of 0.81 after 28 h of pretreatment.     

Neoamphimedine circumvents metnase-enhanced DNA topoisomerase IIα activity through ATP-competitive inhibition

Type IIα DNA topoisomerase (TopoIIα) is among the most important clinical drug targets for the treatment of cancer. Recently, the DNA repair protein Metnase was shown to enhance TopoIIα activity and increase resistance to TopoIIα poisons. Using in vitro DNA decatenation assays we show that neoamphimedine potently inhibits TopoIIα-dependent DNA decatenation in the presence of Metnase. Cell proliferation assays demonstrate that neoamphimedine can inhibit Metnase-enhanced cell growth with an IC(50) of 0.5 μM. Additionally, we find that the apparent K(m) of TopoIIα for ATP increases linearly with higher concentrations of neoamphimedine, indicating ATP-competitive inhibition, which is substantiated by molecular modeling. These findings support the continued development of neoamphimedine as an anticancer agent, particularly in solid tumors that over-express Metnase.     

Assessing legumes indigenous to South Africa,Lesotho and Swaziland for their pasture potential

In contrast to the exploration and use of southern African grass plant genetic resources over the past century, only a few indigenous legume species are currently used as forages, notwithstanding the vast untapped legume diversity available in southern Africa. The aim of this study was to assess legumes, indigenous to South Africa, Lesotho and Swaziland and propose a list of species with pasture potential for further evaluation. Towards this end, legume species documented as being cultivated, grazed or browsed as well as plant collection data from the National Herbarium, South Africa, were used. The majority of cultivated, grazed or browsed species were recorded in the Central Bushveld, Lowveld and Mopane Bioregions, the Drakensberg Foothill and Coastal Region, Savanna Group and Northern Mistbelt leguminochoria and is largely enclosed by the Wolkberg Centre of Plant Endemism. The Phaseoleae tribe was found to contain the highest percentage of cultivated legume species. Legume species adapted to low soil phosphorus levels were identified, with 22 of these species previously noted for their pasture potential. It is suggested that the results of this study be used in the continued search for alternative indigenous legumes species for eventual integration into local and international pasture systems.     

Folding and unbinding transitions in tethered membranes

Molecular dynamics simulations of tethered membranes indicate that an attraction between the monomers leads to a well-defined sequence of folding transitions with decreasing temperature. With insights gained from Landau theory and simulations of bimembranes, the folding transitions are found to be intimately linked to the unbinding of membranes. Finite-size effects, mainly due to the loss of entropy from edge fluctuations, play an important role in hindering folding transitions.     

Rumen parameters of yaks (Bos grunniens) and indigenous cattle (Bos taurus) grazing on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau

Yaks and indigenous Qaidam cattle and cattle‐yak crosses (C × Y) graze on the Qinghai‐Tibetan Plateau (QTP) throughout the year, but yaks are raised at higher elevations than cattle. Yaks do not receive supplementary feed whereas cattle require supplementary feed during harsh winter. We hypothesized that yaks would cope with the severe conditions of the QTP better than cattle and utilize the pasture more efficiently. We also hypothesized that differences between species would be pronounced in winter, when conditions are particularly harsh. To test these hypotheses, seasonal rumen fluid parameters of yaks, C × Y and cattle (n = 3 for each) were examined. Rumen fluid was collected in summer and winter from each genotype 2, 5 and 12 hr after a day of grazing. Concentrations of total volatile fatty acid (VFA), acetate, propionate, isobutyrate and isovalerate were greater in yaks than in cattle in summer (p < 0.05), while propionate concentration was lower in yaks than in cattle in winter (p < 0.05). Concentrations of ammonia and urea were greater (p < 0.001) in yaks than in cattle (p < 0.001) in summer, whereas, concentrations of free amino acids (AA) were greater in cattle than in yaks in summer and winter (p < 0.001). Concentrations of total VFA, acetate, propionate and butyrate decreased linearly (p < 0.05), whereas concentrations of isobutyrate and isovalerate increased linearly for yak and C × Y with sampling time (p < 0.05) in summer. In summer, concentrations of isobutyrate and isovalerate were greater in yaks than in cattle (p < 0.05). In conclusion, rumen fermentation characteristics of yaks showed that they coped better than cattle or C × Y in the harsh climate as we hypothesized. However, in contrast to our hypothesis, this emerged only in summer, when pasture was plentiful and not in winter, when pasture was scarce.