Prevalence,antimicrobial resistance profile and comparison of selective plating media for the isolation of Salmonella in backyard chickens from Entre Rios,Argentina

This study was conducted to estimate the apparent prevalence of Salmonella spp. in birds kept under backyard system in Entre Ríos, Argentina, and determine the performance of two selective plating media used for Salmonella isolation, and the antimicrobial resistance of the isolated. Also, the association of farms characteristics with Salmonella presence was evaluated. A total of 657 backyard chickens and 15 gooses were sampled one time by cloacal swab, belonging to 51 and one family farms, respectively, and four counties in Entre Rios state from April 2014 to May 2015. Only four samples from backyard chickens belonged to three family farms from Uruguay County were positive to Salmonella spp., so the apparent prevalence was 0.6% for this kind of chicken. Four serovars were isolated (Salmonella ser. Lille, S. ser. Newport, S. ser. Enteritidis and S. ser. Rissen), which were susceptible to all antibiotics tested with the exception of erythromycin. For Hektoen enteric agar and brilliant green agar, relative specificity and positive predictive value were 1, and the relative sensitivity and negative predictive value did not show any difference between them. The agreement was very good between these two plating media. None of the variables studied could be selected to calculate the risk factors associated with Salmonella isolation because p > .15. Although the prevalence of Salmonella spp. is low in backyard birds in Entre Rios, the presence of S. ser. Enteritidis should not be discounted, because it is found in the county that concentrates a large population of intensive poultry production in the state.     

Tree species selection for land rehabilitation in Ethiopia: from fragmented knowledge to an integrated multi-criteria decision approach

Dryland regions worldwide are increasingly suffering from losses of soil and biodiversity as a consequence of land degradation. Integrated conservation, rehabilitation and community-based management of natural resources are therefore of vital importance. Local planting efforts should focus on species performing a wide range of functions. Too often however, unsuitable tree species are planted when both ecological suitability for the targeted area or preferences of local stakeholders are not properly taken into account during selection. To develop a decision support tool for multi-purpose species selection, first information needs to be pooled on species-specific ranges, characteristics and functions for a set of potentially valuable species. In this study such database has been developed for the highly degraded northern Ethiopian highlands, using a unique combination of information sources, and with particular attention for local ecological knowledge and preferences. A set of candidate tree species and potentially relevant criteria, a flexible input database with species performance scores upon these criteria, and a ready-to-use multi-criteria decision support tool are presented. Two examples of species selection under different scenarios have been worked out in detail, with highest scores obtained for Cordia africana and Dodonaea angustifolia, as well as Eucalyptus spp., Acacia abyssinica, Acacia saligna, Olea europaea and Faidherbia albida. Sensitivity to criteria weights, and reliability and lack of knowledge on particular species attributes remain constraints towards applicability, particularly when many species are jointly evaluated. Nonetheless, the amount and diversity of the knowledge pooled in the presented database is high, covering 91 species and 45 attributes.     

No-tillage drilling of Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum L.): Crop residue effects, yields and economic benefits

Variable practical results have been observed for no-till (NT) drilling of grasslands in Galicia, northwest Spain. One of the possible explanations to this erratic behaviour could be the influence of different types of stubble on drill performance and grassland emergence. Because the rotation of silage corn (Zea mays L.) with grassland is the most popular rotation in the Galician dairy farms at present, NT drilling of Italian ryegrass on corn stubble and ryegrass stubble was evaluated. Results were compared with NT drilling after shredded stubble and with conventional drilling (with tillage) for 5 years. Annual ryegrass establishment, biomass production, and forage production were measured each year. Treatments considered were: (1) NT on shredded ryegrass stubble; (2) NT on ryegrass stubble; (3) NT on corn stubble; (4) NT on shredded corn stubble; (5) conventional tillage (CT). Better plant stands and more forage production were obtained on the CT and NT-shredded treatments. Allelopathic effects were not observed, and the differences in plant stands among treatments could be caused by the physical effects of stubble and not by its physiological effects. The shredding operation improved plant stands and forage production of Italian ryegrass, which were not influenced by the type of stubble. Years with abundant rainfall negatively affected crop development, which was more evident in NT treatments. NT methods had advantages in terms of timeliness and low economic costs, as compared to CT.     

Soil Contamination by Toxic Metals Near an Antarctic Refuge in Robert Island,Maritime Antarctica: A Monitoring Strategy

The anthropogenic effects of Antarctic refuge buildings and research stations on the surrounding soils are scarcely investigated, especially when the structures are small-sized, and sporadically used or visited. The Coppermine Peninsula (Robert Island, South Shetland Islands archipelago) possesses one of the richest flora in Antarctica, being classified as an Antarctic Specially Protected Area (ASPA). There, a small refuge (Luis Risopatrón) has been seasonally occupied for scientific purposes since 1957, although no studies on the anthropic disturbances in the surroundings soils are reported. The aim of this study was the determination of the potentially toxic metals (Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, Pb, V, and Zn) mass fractions in surface soils (n?=?40) collected at the surroundings of the Luis Risopatrón refuge. Enrichment factors (EF) and geoaccumulation index (I _geo) were also calculated, using Zr as the reference element, in order to evaluate the anthropogenic impacts of these small buildings in the studied area. The main contaminants were Pb and Zn, which presented EF and I _geo values ranging from 1.0 to 18.3 and from ?1.8 to 3.5. The mass fractions of these elements determined after an aqua regia extraction varied from 5.4 to 102 mg kg^?1 Pb and from 43 to 210 mg kg^?1 Zn. These results highlight that a small refuge can show environmental disturbance from low to moderate, with few hotspots with heavily contaminated soils. Environmental monitoring strategy for similar refuges anywhere in Antarctica is recommended.     

Designing Nutritious and Sustainable Biscuits Using Upcycled Fibre-Rich Ingredients Obtained by Hot Air - Microwave Drying of Orange by-Products

Plant Foods for Human Nutrition - Circular use of resources implies developing mild processes to transform food by-products into value-added products, without using organic solvents or extensive...     

Anomalous polarization profiles in sunspots: possible origin of umbral flashes

We present time-series spectropolarimetric observations of sunspots in the Ca II infrared triplet lines, which show a periodic occurrence of anomalous, asymmetric, circular polarization profiles in the umbral chromosphere. The profiles may be caused by the periodic development of an unresolved atmospheric component in a downward flowing magnetized environment. This active component with upward directed velocities as high as 10 kilometers per second is connected to the umbral flash (UF) phenomenon. We can explain the observations with a semiempirical model of the chromospheric oscillation and of the sunspot magnetized atmospheric plasma during a UF event.     

Effects of integrated pest management, biological control and prophylactic use of insecticides on the management and sustainability of soybean

This study aimed to evaluate the prophylactic use of insecticides (PUI) in comparison with integrated pest management (IPM) and biological control (BC) strategies. Five replicated experiments were carried out independently in two Brazilian soybean-producing states, Goiás and Paraná, where those pest-control strategies were evaluated during two consecutive growing seasons. The evaluated treatments were integrated pest management (IPM); prophylactic use of insecticides (PUI), a practice that has been increasingly adopted by soybean growers in Brazil as well as in other Latin American countries; biological control (BC) and the control (C), which involved no pest treatment. Although the pest infestation rates in the BC and IPM treatments were higher than that in the PUI treatment, crop productivity, in general, was similar among these treatments and differed only from the control with no pest treatment. These results indicate that the prophylactic use of insecticides on soybeans does not result in higher productivity in the field and that this practice merely requires larger amounts of pesticides, which can impair the sustainability of the soybean crop. Therefore, the use of IPM still remains the best alternative for pest management in soybean fields.     

The Diversity,Metabolomics Profiling,and the Pharmacological Potential of Actinomycetes Isolated from the Estremadura Spur Pockmarks (Portugal)

The Estremadura Spur pockmarks are a unique and unexplored ecosystem located in the North Atlantic, off the coast of Portugal. A total of 85 marine-derived actinomycetes were isolated and cultured from sediments collected from this ecosystem at a depth of 200 to 350 m. Nine genera, Streptomyces, Micromonospora, Saccharopolyspora, Actinomadura, Actinopolymorpha, Nocardiopsis, Saccharomonospora, Stackebrandtia, and Verrucosispora were identified by 16S rRNA gene sequencing analyses, from which the first two were the most predominant. Non-targeted LC-MS/MS, in combination with molecular networking, revealed high metabolite diversity, including several known metabolites, such as surugamide, antimycin, etamycin, physostigmine, desferrioxamine, ikarugamycin, piericidine, and rakicidin derivatives, as well as numerous unidentified metabolites. Taxonomy was the strongest parameter influencing the metabolite production, highlighting the different biosynthetic potentials of phylogenetically related actinomycetes; the majority of the chemical classes can be used as chemotaxonomic markers, as the metabolite distribution was mostly genera-specific. The EtOAc extracts of the actinomycete isolates demonstrated antimicrobial and antioxidant activity. Altogether, this study demonstrates that the Estremadura Spur is a source of actinomycetes with potential applications for biotechnology. It highlights the importance of investigating actinomycetes from unique ecosystems, such as pockmarks, as the metabolite production reflects their adaptation to this habitat.     

Amaranth Lemon Sorbet,Elaboration of a Potential Functional Food

Plant Foods for Human Nutrition - In the present work, amaranth proteins were used as a functional ingredient of formulated food. An amaranth lemon sorbet, a healthy alternative dessert for celiac,...     

Comparison of soil properties between continuously cultivated and adjacent uncultivated soils in rice-based systems

To assess cultivation-induced changes followed during the Green Revolution on continuous rice–rice and rice–wheat cropping, fence-line comparisons between cultivated and adjacent noncultivated soils were made to (a) quantify changes in selected soil chemical and biological properties at two moisture conditions, (b) determine the N, P, and K uptake of rice and wheat as affected by changes in soil properties, and (c) determine the relationship between N, P, and K uptake and soil properties. Two parallel experiments were conducted: laboratory incubation and a greenhouse experiment with soils collected from seven rice–wheat and two rice–rice soils. As an average, NH₄OAc-extractable K, water soluble organic carbon, and hot water soluble organic carbon were all lower by 48%, total carbon by 35%, total nitrogen by 33%, and microbial biomass carbon by 38% in the cultivated soils, whereas no significant change was observed in the enzyme activities. Changes were mostly associated with the existing fertilizer practices and moisture status of the soil during cultivation. In general, fertilizers were not sufficient to replenish crop removal. Soil type also influenced cultivation changes especially soil carbon parameters. Lighter soil texture had higher decomposable organic C and total C declined than heavy soils. Soils with higher declined in both decomposable organic C and total C had higher reduction in functional diversity of culturable microorganisms. The declining C pools caused lower N uptake and there was a clear association between organic matter parameters and N uptake. Olsen P was correlated with P uptake and extractable K with K uptake. As expected, crop biomass correlated with N, P, and K uptake of plants. Comparison of cultivated and its corresponding uncultivated soil provides possibility to determine management effect on soil status.