Morphological and functional comparison of lingual papillae in suckling and adult feral cats: Forensic evidence

Feral cats are considered as strays and are more likely to hunt in the street. We investigated the effect of environmental adaptations on the structures of lingual papillae in feral cats, which could be used as forensic evidence for their identification. There are no reported studies about the structural comparison of lingual papillae between suckling and adult feral cats. The present study described the lingual papillae of both suckling and adult cats macroscopically and microscopically via light and scanning electron microscopy. A total of nine tongue samples each for suckling and adult feral cats were examined grossly and histologically. Papillae distributions of suckling cats were similar to those observed in adult cats. Meanwhile, the shapes of those papillae were markedly different from that of corresponding papillae in adults. The change in taste bud position and size seemed to be related to the progressive growth of the papillae between adult and suckling cats; absence of taste buds in foliate papillae of feral cats at any stage; and marginal papillae which were a characteristic feature for all suckling cats. All previous elements could be affected by the specific feeding behaviour and mastication mode adaptation in suckling and adult feral cats which might help to identify suckling and adult feral cats among other breeds and animal species. We anticipate these findings may provide promising forensic evidence to discriminate between adult and suckling feral cat remains as well as prediction of environmental harshness and feeding behaviour.     

The uptake of different tillage practices in England

Reduced tillage systems have been argued to provide several potential benefits to soil, environment and to farm incomes. In England, while many farms have partially adopted such practices, a large proportion of arable farmers do not undertake reduced tillage in any form. This paper analyses the rationale for and uptake of different cultivation techniques, including analysis of the barriers to adoption of reduced tillage, aiming to benefit policymakers and researchers and increase the spread of smart agricultural practices. Based on a postal questionnaire, we estimated that 47.6% of English arable land is cultivated using minimum-tillage and 7% under no-tillage. As farm size increased, so did the probability of reduced tillage uptake. Furthermore, farms growing combinable crops were more likely to utilize reduced tillage approaches than other farm types. Soil type, weed control and weather conditions were noted as the main drivers for ‘strategic’ and ‘rotational’ ploughing, constraining continuous reduced tillage use. To effect greater reduced tillage uptake, greater communication between researchers and farmers is needed to facilitate the implementation of sustainable soil management solutions, supported by current legislation permitting responsible herbicide use in arable production. Financial support to access reduced tillage machinery may also be required for farmers operating smaller holdings. Adopting reduced tillage is a continuous learning process requiring ongoing training and information gathering; supporting a network of reduced tillage ‘farmer champions’ would facilitate practical knowledge exchange, allow farmers to observe soil improvements, understand transition phase barriers and ultimately encourage increased reduced tillage uptake.     

Influence of Soil Granulometry on Pyrene Desorption in Groundwater Using Surfactants

The high hydrophobicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) is the main limiting factor for the remediation of soils and aquifers. Surfactants are amphiphilic substances which encourage the transfer of hydrophobic compounds from the solid to the liquid phase. While the interaction between organic matter and surfactants has been widely studied, there is a lack of knowledge concerning the relationship between surfactant efficiency and the granulometry of soil and/or geologic material. In this paper, three non-ionic surfactants (Tween 80, Gold Crew, and BS-400) were used to study the desorption of pyrene, chosen as a representative PAH, in soils with different grain size proportions (1%, 5%, 10%, and 20% of clay and silt) and no organic matter (<0.1%). The best quantity of surfactant to apply is closely related to the proportion of fine materials. Tween 80 gave better maximum desorption than Gold Crew and BS-400 (89%, 40%, and 36%, respectively). As an important proportion of aquifers show fine material above 1%, the effective critical micellar concentration obtained when applying surfactants to this type of geologic materials has to be higher than 150 mg L⁻¹ for Tween 80, and higher than 65 mg L⁻¹, and 100 mg L⁻¹ for Golf Crew and BS 400, respectively. Furthermore, results indicate that carrying out simple laboratory tests before the use of surfactants on a field scale is necessary to improve the efficiency and minimize the financial and environmental impact of its application.     

Effects of Herbicides on Horticultural Characteristics,Yield and Quality of Onions

Abstract

Seven different herbicides were tested in 1967, and two of these chemicals were further evaluated in 1969 for their efficacy in onions grown in Lebanon. Chloroxuron at 6 kg a.i./ha and Sindone at 1.5 kg/ha gave a significant increase in the bulb weight and yield of onions over unweeded plots. Significant reductions in yield were observed from pre-em. applications of chlorbromuron at 3 kg/ha, propachlor at 6 kg/ha, Sindone at 0.5 kg/ha, and prometryne at 1 and 1.5 kg/ha. Good weed control was obtained as a result of pre-em. application of all herbicides tested.

With post-em. application, weed control was not effective. With the exception of prometryne at 1.5 kg/ha which injured the onions and reduced the yield, the post-em. applications of herbicides tested gave no significant effect on onion yield.

None of the treatments, in both pre-em. and post-em. applications, had any significant effect on leaf length, bulb index, bolting and splitting percentages, dry matter content, total soluble solids, or pungency of onions.     

Impact of Exogenous Application of Salicylic Acid on Growth,Water Status And Antioxidant Enzyme Activity of Strawberry Plants (Fragaria vesca L.) Under Salt Stress Conditions

Irrigation with saline water can act as an alternate water resource and thus plays an important role in saving freshwater resources as well as promoting agriculture. Furthermore, salinity stress is considered one of the major abiotic stress factors, which strongly reduces crop productivity. In this context, the present work was conducted to examine the effect of exogenous salicylic acid (SA) application on salt stress tolerance of strawberry plants. For this purpose, strawberry plants (Fragaria vesca L.), three months old, were treated with three SA concentrations (0?mM, 0.25?mM and 0.5?mM), then subjected to 80?mM NaCl or not. After five weeks of treatment, growth responses, water status, photochemical efficiency and oxidative stress indicators were measured. The obtained results showed that irrigation with saline water negatively affected the growth parameters, the leaf water potential (LWP), the relative water content (RWC), the stomatal conductance (gs) and photochemical efficiency (Fv/Fm). While, the total protein content, the electrolyte leakage (EL), the malondialdehyde (MDA) and the hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) contents were increased in stressed plants compared to unstressed ones. Salt stress also leads to the activation of the antioxidant enzymes. However, the exogenous application of SA under salt stress conditions reduced the H₂O₂ accumulation, the electrolyte leakage and the MDA content. It has also improved the growth parameters, the LWP, the RWC, the gs, the Fv/Fm, the protein content and the antioxidant enzyme activities (POD, CAT and SOD) in the treated plants compared to those without SA application. Therefore, the beneficial effect of 0.25?mM SA on Fragaria vesca L. salinity tolerance may provide some practical basis for strawberry cultivation under saline conditions.

     

Physiochemical Responses of Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni Subjected to Sodium Chloride (NaCl) Salinity and Exogenous Salicylic Acid Application

Gesunde Pflanzen - Soil salinity is one of the ecological problems limiting plant growth and development, especially in semi-arid and arid regions where water availability is very limited. Stevia...     

火鸡肝脏脂肪沉积症

肝脏脂肪沉积症又称脂肪肝或肝脂肪变性,是一种会影响火鸡种用母鸡或肉火鸡的病理性疾病。这种疾病显然通常发生在健康火鸡上,其确切病因仍有待确定。     

Preparation, Characterization, and Environmental Application of Crosslinked Chitosan-Coated Bentonite for Tartrazine Adsorption from Aqueous Solutions

The preparation, characterization, and environmental application of crosslinked chitosan-coated bentonite (CCB) beads for tartrazine adsorption have been investigated. CCB beads were characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer (FTIR), scanning electron microscope (SEM), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET) surface area and Barrett–Joyner–Halenda (BJH) pore size distribution analyses were also determined. The values of pH of the aqueous slurry and pH of zero point charge (pH_ZPC) were almost equal. The adsorption at equilibrium of tartrazine was found to be a function of pH of the solution, stirring rate, contact time, and tartrazine concentration. The optimum conditions for tartrazine adsorption were pH 2.5, stirring rate of 400 rpm and contact time of 80 min. Pseudo-first-order and pseudo-second-order models were used to analyze the kinetics of adsorption with the latter found to agree well with the kinetics data, suggesting that the rate determining step may be chemisorption. The two most common isotherm models, Langmuir and Freundlich, were used to describe the adsorption equilibrium data. On the basis of Langmuir isotherm model, the maximum adsorption capacities were determined to be 250.0, 277.8, and 294.1 mg g^?1 at 300, 310, and 320 K, respectively. Desorption studies were carried out at different concentrations of EDTA, H₂SO₄, and NaOH. All desorbing solutions showed poor recovery of tartrazine.