Effects of ambient temperature on broiler mineral balance partitioned into urinary and faecal loss

1. Two experiments were conducted on control (intact) and colostomised 4 to 7 week old broilers to evaluate the influence of 24°C, diurnally cycling 24 to 35°C and chronic 35°C ambient temperatures on broiler mineral balance, urinary and faecal mineral excretion and urinary osmolar characteristics.

2. In the first experiment, colostomy had no significant effect on mineral balance. However, broilers exposed to high cycling ambient temperature reduced their retention of phosphorus, potassium, sodium, magnesium, sulphur, manganese, copper and zinc compared with birds housed at 24°C.

3. Despite the minimal effect of high ambient temperature on urine production, minerals excreted disproportionately excreted in urine included potassium, magnesium, phosphorus and sulphur while copper and magnesium were lost primarily via the faeces.

4. In the second experiment, exposure to 35°C increased urine output from 50.7 ml/12 h per kg of body weight at 24°C to 101.3 ml/12 h per kg of body weight and was associated with an increased urine:water ratio and reduced urine osmolal‐ity.

5. Reduced urinary chloride and higher potassium, phosphorus, sulphur, sodium, magnesium, calcium and manganese excretion was observed for broilers housed in under high ambient temperatures compared to 24°C.

6. These studies suggest that high ambient temperatures adversely influence mineral metabolism and, furthermore, that the route of excretion varies with the specific mineral and the environmental temperature exposure.     

Influence of temperature during growth on responses of hens to high or low temperatures during lay

1. Commercial pullets were grown at cool (10°‐20°C) or hot (25°‐35°C) temperatures to similar bodyweights at 18 weeks of age. Between 18 and 50 weeks the birds were either kept at the same temperatures as during growth or transferred to the alternate temperature.

2. Birds kept at the cool temperatures throughout life ate most food and gave the best production during lay. Minimum food intake and poorest performance were obtained with birds kept at the hot temperatures throughout life.

3. Performance in the hot environment during lay was improved by rearing birds in the cool environment, the response being related to an increased food intake. Food intake in the cool environment during lay was reduced, with only minor effects on performance, in birds which had been reared in the hot environment.

4. The results of the present study show that production responses during lay are affected by the temperatures experienced by hens during both growth and lay.     

Relative efficacy of organophosphorus insecticides against susceptible and resistant strains of the strike blowfly Lucilia cuprina (Calliphoridae) in New Zealand sheep

Four groups of five Romney lambs were treated by plunge dipping with one of four registered organophosphorus flystrike preventatives. Untreated lambs acted as controls. The sheep were challenged at weekly intervals with larval implants of organophosphate-susceptible and -resistant strains of Lucilia cuprina. All four treatments provided 19-21 weeks protection against susceptible larvae but chlorfenvinphos provided the longest protection (16-17 weeks), followed by propetamphos (15-16 weeks), dichlofenthion (10-13 weeks) and diazinon (9-13 weeks), against the resistant strain.     

Serum glutathione peroxidase activity reflects short-term increases in selenium intake in goats

The objective of this study was to determine if serum glutathione peroxidase activity reflects short-term changes in the selenium status of goats. Angora goat kids (n=14) were fed pelleted luceme containing 20 microg/kg of selenium, and treated orally with either selenium (0.1 mg/kg of liveweight weekly, as sodium selenate) or de-ionised water. Serum activity of glutathione peroxidase was increased in response to supplementation and differed from that of controls within 24 hours of supplementation. The change in serum glutathione peroxidase activity during the 21 days after the start of weekly supplementation closely followed changes in serum selenium concentration. The results of this study suggest that serum glutathione peroxidase activity reflects the short-term improvement in the selenium status of Angora goat kids following oral supplementation with sodium selenate.     

Some coat protein constituents from strawberry latent ringspot virus expressed in transgenic tobacco protect plants against systematic invasion following root inoculation by nematode vectors

The coding sequences in RNA2 for the coat proteins (CP) of strawberry latent ringspot virus (SLRSV) were modified and amplified using polymerase chain amplification reactions (PCR) to facilitate their expression inAgrobacterium tumefaciens-transformedNicotiana tabacum Xanthi-nc. The coding sequences for the smaller capsid protein (S, 29kDa) and that for the theoretical precursor of L and S (P, 73kDa) had ATG initiation codon sequences added at the 5-proximal Ser/Gly (S/G) cleavage site in the unmodified sequence. The sequence coding for the larger of the two proteins of mature SLRSV capsids (L, 44kDa) had an ATG codon added at its 5 S/G site and a TAG stop codon sequence added at the 3-proximal S/G site. The P, L and S proteins were expressedin planta to a maximum concentration of 0.01 % of total extractable proteins but did not assemble into virus-like particles. When challenged by mechanical inoculation with virus particles or viral RNA, and compared with control plants, tobacco plants (primary transgenic clones or S1 and S2, kanamycin-resistant seedlings) expressing the virus capsid subunits separately, or their precursor, decreased the accumulation of SLRSV particles in inoculated leaves and fewer plants became invaded systemically. In experiments in which the roots of seedlings were exposed to SLRSV-carrying vector nematodes (Xiphinema diversicaudatum), SLRSV was detected in the roots of non-transformed control tobacco plants (6/20) and in transgenic tobacco expressing the L protein (7/40), but not in any of 25 tobacco plants expressing the S protein or in 35 expressing the P protein. This is the second example of CP-mediated resistance to virus inoculation by nematode vectors.     

A model to study the effect of certification of planting material on the occurrence of leek rust

Based on a simple model, the possible effects of certification of planting material on the occurrence of leek rust in a region can be derived from information on the proportion of infected fields (v) and the proportion of newly planted fields with infected planting material (i) in that region. Ifv i, certification of planting material will be highly effective.     

A streak disease of pearl millet caused by a leafhopper-transmitted geminivirus

The cause of a streak disease of pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum), originating from Nigeria, has been attributed to a geminivirus belonging to the African streak virus cluster. A full-length, infectious clone of the virus was obtained which was transmissible by the vectorCicadulina mbila (Naudé). Analysis of the complete nucleotide sequence of the coat protein gene of this virus shows it to be most closely related to sugarcane streak virus. The possible evolutionary implications of this finding are discussed.     

Effects of elevated CO(2) concentration on leaf characteristics and photosynthetic capacity of beech (Fagus sylvatica) during the growing season

Two-year-old beech (Fagus sylvatica L.) saplings were planted directly in the ground at high density (100 per m(2)), in an experimental design that realistically mimicked field conditions, and grown for two years in air containing CO(2) at either ambient or an elevated (ambient + 350 ppm) concentration. Plant dry mass and leaf area were increased by a two-year exposure to elevated CO(2). The saplings produced physiologically distinct types of sun leaves associated with the first and second growth flushes. Leaves of the second flush had a higher leaf mass per unit area and less chlorophyll per unit area, per unit dry mass and per unit nitrogen than leaves of the first flush. Chlorophyll content expressed per unit nitrogen decreased over time in plants grown in elevated CO(2), which suggests that, in elevated CO(2), less nitrogen was invested in machinery of the photosynthetic light reactions. In early summer, the photosynthetic capacity measured at saturating irradiance and CO(2) was slightly but not significantly higher in saplings grown in elevated CO(2) than in saplings grown in ambient CO(2). However, a decrease in photosynthetic capacity was observed after July in leaves of saplings grown in CO(2)-enriched air. The results demonstrate that photosynthetic acclimation to elevated CO(2) can occur in field-grown saplings in late summer, at the time of growth cessation.     

In vitro expression and inhibition of procoagulant activity produced by bovine alveolar macrophages and peripheral blood cells

Local and systemic activation of coagulation is frequently associated with bacterial sepsis. The coagulopathy is due, at least in part, to expression of tissue factor (TF) by monocytes and macrophages. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the expression of procoagulant activity by bovine alveolar macrophages, leukocytes and platelets, and to determine the relative potency of three chemical inhibitors of TF expression (pentoxifylline, retinoic acid, and cyclosporin A). Bovine alveolar macrophages were stimulated with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) derived from Pasteurella haemolytica or recombinant bovine tumour nervous factor (TNF) and dose- and time-dependent effects on TF expression were studied. LPS and TNF induced TF expression in alveolar macrophages and LPS treatment of whole blood induced TF expression in mononuclear cells. Neutrophils and platelets also expressed procoagulant activity, but this activity was not inhibited by anti-bovine TF monoclonal antibody. Pentoxifylline (40 mol/L), retinoic acid (0.01 mmol/L) and cyclosporin A (0.08 mol/L) inhibited TF expression when added concurrently with LPS or TNF, but not when added 4 h after stimulation. TF mRNA was not detected in unstimulated alveolar macrophages by Northern blot analysis. In contrast, exposure to LPS or TNF for 6 h induced marked expression of TF mRNA, which was inhibited by treatment with pentoxifylline, retinoic acid and cyclosporin A. Expression of TNF by alveolar macrophages stimulated with LPS was also inhibited by these compounds. Our results indicate that procoagulant activity expressed by alveolar macrophages and monocytes is associated with expression of TF, whereas procoagulant activity expressed by neutrophils and platelets is not. The concentrations of pentoxifylline and retinoic acid necessary for inhibition of TF expression in vitro may not be achievable in vivo owing to their toxic effects. However, the in vitro concentration of cyclosporin A that inhibited TF expression did not exceed the plasma concentration observed in humans, and therefore may be useful for inhibition of TF expression in vivo.Abbreviations BAL bronchoalveolar lavage - LPS lipopolysaccharide - cDNA cloned deoxyribonucleic acid - cAMP cyclic adenosine monophosphate - GAPDH glyceraldehyde phosphate dehydrogenase - mRNA messenger ribonucleic acid - TF tissue factor - TNF tumour necrosis factor - DPBS Dulbecco's phosphate-buffered saline     

The use of cultured hepatocytes from goats and cattle to investigate xenobiotic oxidative metabolism

The oxidative metabolism of aldicarb (ALD), a carbamate pesticide, and fenbendazole (FBZ), an anthelmintic, was studied using cultured hepatocytes obtained from 4 goats and a bullock and incubated with ALD (50 mol/L) and FBZ (10 mol/L). The parent compounds and the metabolites were measured by HPLC. Both compounds are metabolized at the sulphur atom via two sequential oxidations, first to the sulphoxide (aldicarb sulphoxide and oxfendazole, respectively) and then to the sulphone. Oxfendazole and fenbendazole sulphone from FBZ, and aldicarb sulphoxide from ALD were found in both species. Aldicarb sulphone was not produced by the hepatocyte preparations from the bullock. The good correlation obtained comparing the in vitro results of FBZ metabolism with published in vivo dat obtained on FBZ kinetics in the same species confirmed the usefulness of in vitro models for predictive analysis of in vivo xenobiotic biotransformations.Abbreviations ALD aldicarb - ALDSON aldicarb sulphone - ALDSOX aldicarb sulphoxide - BSA bovine serum albumin - ID internal diameter - EGTA ethylene glycol bis(-aminoethyl ether) N,N,N,N-tetraacetic acid - FBZ fenbendazole - FBZSON fenbendazole sulphone - HBSS Hanks' balanced saline solution - HPLC high-pressure liquid chromatography - LDH lactate dehydrogenase - MFO mixed function oxidase - NCS newborn calf serum - OXF oxfendazole - WME Williams' Medium E