Differences in the growth stages of Erysiphe pisi on cultivars of field pea (Pisum sativum L.)

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - The infection process of Erysiphe pisi on field pea cvs. ‘Highlight’ and ‘Tara’ carrying resistance gene erl, line...     

The IMPDH inhibitors,ribavirin and mycophenolic acid,inhibit peste des petits ruminants virus infection

Peste des petits ruminants virus (PPRV) causes highly contagious diseases in domestic and particular wild small ruminants, leading to substantial economic loss. The development of effective and cheap antiviral medications shall help to circumvent this emerging burden. In this study, we found that ribavirin, a competitive inosine-5’-monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH) inhibitor, significantly inhibits the replication of PPRV. As IMPDH is a key enzyme in purine nucleotide synthesis, supplementation of exogenous guanosine attenuate the anti-PPRV effect of ribavirin. Interestingly, an uncompetitive IMPDH inhibitor, mycophenolic acid (MPA), exerted more potent antiviral effect again PPRV. Similarly, this effect was largely restored upon supplementation of guanosine. Thus, we have demonstrated that the IMPDH inhibitors ribavirin and MPA combat PPRV infection through purine nucleotide depletion. Because both regimens have been widely used in the clinic for treating viral infection or organ rejection in transplantation patients for decades, respectively, repurposing these existing safe and cheap medications may provide a new avenue for combating PPRV infection.     

Effects of concentrate‐to‐forage ratios and 2‐methylbutyrate supplementation on ruminal fermentation,bacteria abundance and urinary excretion of purine derivatives in Chinese Simmental steers

This study evaluated the effects of dietary concentrate levels and 2‐methylbutyrate (2MB ) supplementation on performance, ruminal fermentation, bacteria abundance, microbial enzyme activity and urinary excretion of purine derivatives (PD ) in steers. Eight ruminally cannulated Simmental steers (12 months of age; 389 ± 3.7 kg of body weight) were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design with a 2 × 2 factorial arrangement. Moderate‐concentrate (400 g/kg diet [MC ]) or high‐concentrate (600 g/kg diet [HC ]) diets were fed with or without 2MB (0 g/day [2MB ?] or 15.0 g/day [2MB +]). Dry matter intake and average daily gain increased, but feed conversion ratio decreased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Ruminal pH decreased, but total volatile fatty acid increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Molar proportion of acetate and acetate‐to‐propionate ratio decreased with the HC diet, but increased with 2MB supplementation. Propionate molar proportion and ruminal NH ₃‐N content increased with the HC diet, but decreased with 2MB supplementation. Neutral detergent fibre degradability decreased with the HC diet, but increased with 2MB supplementation. Crude protein degradability increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Abundance of Ruminococcus albus , Ruminococcus flavefaciens , Fibrobacter succinogenes and Bufyrivibrio fibrisolvens as well as activities of carboxymethyl cellulase, cellobiase, xylanase and pectinase decreased with the HC diet, but increased with 2MB supplementation. However, abundance of Prevotella ruminicola and Ruminobacter amylophilus as well as activities of α‐amylase and protease increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. Total PD excretion also increased with the HC diet or 2MB supplementation. The results suggested that growth performance, ruminal fermentation, CP degradability and total PD excretion increased with increasing dietary concentrate level from 40% to 60% or 2MB supplementation. The observed diet × 2MB interaction indicated that supplementation of 2MB was more efficacious for improving growth performance, ruminal fermentation and total PD excretion with promoted ruminal bacteria abundance and enzyme activity in the MC diet than in the HC diet.     

Effect of gut stress induced by oxidized wheat gluten on the growth performance,gut morphology and oxidative states of broilers

This study was to investigate the effect of oxidized wheat gluten (OG) on growth performance, gut morphology and its oxidative states of broilers. One hundred and eighty‐day‐old male broilers (10 chicks/pen) were randomly allocated into three dietary treatments: control diet (CON), diet with 8% wheat gluten (WG) and diet with 8% OG with six pens/treatment. Body weight (BW) (21 and 35 days) and average daily gain (ADG) (1–21 days and 22–35 days) decreased (p < .05) and feed conversion ratio (FCR) (1–21 days and 22–35 days) increased (p < .05) in OG treatment. Feed intake (FI) decreased (p < .05) in WG and OG treatments during 22–35 days. However, FI was not influenced by dietary treatments during 1–21 days (p > .05). The OG‐fed broilers had a lower faecal pH value (p < .05) and higher faecal moisture content (p < 05) at 14, 21, 28 and 35 days. Villus height, crypt depth and V/C value were not different (p > .05) among treatments at 21 and 35 days. Lipid peroxidation (LPO) (21 and 35 days) and malondialdehyde (MDA) (35 days) content in crop of OG treatment increased (p < .05). Oxidized glutathione (GSSG) (21 days), LPO (21 and 35 days) and MDA (21 and 35 days) content in ileum of OG treatment increased (p < .05). The reduced glutathione/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG) (21 days) and (GSH) (35 days) in ileum of OG treatment decreased (p < .05). The present findings indicate that OG might be a stressor for broiler gut, which could induce oxidative stress both in crop and in ileum, and the diarrhoea as well. The growth performance of broiler was consequently depressed.     

Multimarker and rare variants genomewide association studies for bone weight in Simmental cattle

Bone weight, defined as the total weight of the bones in all the forequarter and hindquarter joints, can reflect somebody conformation traits and skeletal diseases. To gain a better understanding of the genetic determinants of bone weight, we used a composite strategy including multimarker and rare‐marker association to perform genomewide association studies (GWAS) for that character in Simmental cattle. Our strategy consisted of three models: (i) A traditional linear mixed model (LMM) was applied (Q+K‐LMM); (ii) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with p‐values less than .05 from the LMM were selected to undergo the least absolute shrinkage and selector operator (Lasso) in the second stage (LMM‐Lasso); (iii) genes containing two or more rare SNPs were examined by performing the sequence kernel association test (gene‐based SKAT). A total of 1,225 cattle were genotyped with an Illumina BovineHD BeadChip containing 770,000 SNPs. After the quality‐control procedures, 1,217 individuals with 608,696 common SNPs and 105,787 rare SNPs (with 0.001 < minor allele frequency [MAF] <0.05) remained in the sample for analysis. A traditional LMM successfully mapped three genes associated with bone weight, while LMM‐Lasso identified nine genes, which included all genes found by traditional LMM. Only a single gene, EPHB3, surpassed the significance threshold after Bonferroni correction in gene‐based SKAT. In conclusion, based on functional annotation and results from previous endeavours, we believe that LCORL, RIMS2, LAP3, PRKAR2B, CHSY1, MAP2K6 and EPHB3 are candidate genes for bone weight. In general, such a comprehensive strategy for GWAS may be useful for researchers seeking to probe the full genetic architecture underlying economic traits in livestock.     

放牧对草地生态系统温室气体的影响

放牧主要通过影响草地生态系统中土壤的理化性质(土壤含水率、孔隙度、微生物和有机物含量的构成)来影响整个生态系统温室气体的排放。草地生态系统土壤中,植物根系的呼吸作用、土壤微生物的活动以及各种物理、化学和生物作用为温室气体的主要来源。本文在阐述草地生态系统温室气体排放机制和作用的基础上,主要从放牧管理模式、放牧强度、放牧动物等放牧作用对草地生态系统温室气体的排放情况进行了综述,就今后放牧对草地生态温室气体的研究重点和方向进行了展望,总结了适合不同放牧条件下整个生态系统温室气体的减排措施。     

玛曲高寒草甸放牧强度的遥感监测

为给玛曲县高寒草甸草-畜平衡和草地资源的可持续利用提供科学依据,本研究利用遥感技术,结合2016年地面实测数据和同时期的MODIS影像资料,分别建立了研究区草地地上生物量和植被指数(NDVI)、相对放牧强度间的回归模型以及不同相对放牧强度和NDVI值之间的幂回归模型。结果表明,6-9月调查点NDVI和地上生物量间存在较好的相关性,即随着NDVI值的增加生物量呈上升趋势,且9月份的拟合(R2=0.510 2)达到了极显著水平;实测地上生物量和相对放牧强度之间有很好的拟合关系(R2=0.965 1),随着放牧强度的增加地上生物量呈下降趋势;相对放牧强度和植被指数间相关性较好(R2=0.631),即随着NDVI值的变小,相对放牧强度逐渐增强,当相对放牧强度增强到一定程度时,NDVI对其响应不灵敏。     

植物与土壤中醇类化合物对高寒草甸退化指示作用初探

醇类化合物是一类重要的生物标记物,被广泛用于土壤及沉积物中有机物质的溯源。为探究醇类化合物对高寒草甸退化指示作用规律,采用野外调查与气相色谱质谱联用(GC-MS)分析方法,对高寒草甸植物与土壤中醇类进行测定和分析。结果表明,高寒草甸植物中醇种类数为2~21,碳数为4~37,不饱和醇种类数高于饱和醇。退化土壤中检出9-甲基-10-顺式十五烯-1-醇、2-亚甲基-5α-胆甾烷-3β-醇、1-三十七烷醇,而在未退化土壤中未检出。高寒草甸中植物和土壤醇的种类大小关系为退化植物退化土壤未退化植物未退化土壤,植物和土壤中相同的醇有很强的相关性(R2=0.871)。植物和土壤醇类的分布特征及相关性分析表明,醇类化合物可以用作标记物来指示高寒草甸退化。     

高寒牧区两个燕麦品种的产量与品质比较

在我国青藏高原高寒牧区,栽培草地种植主要以燕麦(Avena sativa)为主,但当地现有的品种产草量较低,缺乏高产优质的燕麦品种。为了进一步提高高寒牧区燕麦产量和品质,满足当地的生产需要,于2013-2016年期间从青海省引进燕麦新品种"林纳"在碌曲县进行试验种植,并和当地现有品种"陇燕1号"的农艺性状及营养价值进行比较研究。结果表明,"林纳"燕麦生育期短,成熟快;其鲜、干草产量显著高于当地现有燕麦品种"陇燕1号"(P0.05),分别增产41%和38%。"林纳"粗蛋白(CP)、钙(Ca)和磷(P)含量较高,但差异不显著(P0.05);而粗脂肪(EE)含量显著高于当地品种(P0.05);酸性洗涤纤维(ADF)和中性洗涤纤维(NDF)低于当地品种,其中,中性洗涤纤维(NDF)含量差异显著(P0.05)。总之,"林纳"燕麦的生产力和营养品质均优于当地品种,具有良好的应用前景,可作为该地区乃至整个高寒牧区的优质燕麦品种推广种植。