The potential for grass-fed livestock: resource constraints

Using pasture and grazed forest-range for a system of producing live-stock by feeding grass alone reduces the inputs of energy about 60 percent and land resources about 8 percent, but also reduces by about half the production of animal protein in the United States. Under a system in which only grass was fed, livestock would be restricted to beef, milk, and lamb production. The amount of grain fed to U.S. livestock is about 135 million tons (metric) or about ten times the amount consumed by the U.S. population.     

Plant species identification using Elliptic Fourier leaf shape analysis

Elliptic Fourier (EF) and discriminant analyses were used to identify young soybean (Glycine max (L.) merrill), sunflower (Helianthus pumilus), redroot pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus) and velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti Medicus) plants, based on leaf shape. Chain encoded, Elliptic Fourier harmonic functions were generated based on leaf boundary. A complexity index of the leaf shape was computed using the variation between consecutive EF functions. Principle component analysis was used to select the Fourier coefficients with the best discriminatory power. Canonical discriminant analysis was used to develop species identification models based on leaf shapes extracted from plant color images during the second and third weeks after germination. The classification results showed that plant species during the third week were successfully identified with an average of correct classification rate of 89.4%. The discriminant model correctly classified on average: 77.9% of redroot pigweed, 93.8% of sunflower, 89.4% of velvetleaf and 96.5% of soybean. Using all of the leaves extracted from the second and the third weeks, the overall classification accuracy was 89.2%. The discriminant model correctly classified 76.4% of redroot pigweed, 93.6% of sunflower, 81.6% of velvetleaf, 91.5% of soybean leaf extracted from trifoliolate and 90.9% of soybean unifoliolate leaves. The Elliptic Fourier shape feature analysis could be an important and accurate tool for weed species identification and mapping.     

Linalool from Lippia alba: study of the reproducibility of the essential oil profile and the enantiomeric purity

A new chemotype of the aromatic Verbenaceae species Lippia alba Mill. N. E. Br. from southeastern Brazil has recently been shown to have a high content of linalool in the leaf essential oil. Vegetative propagation of this chemotype was conducted at six different locations in Brazil, and the variation of the content and the optical purity of linalool in the oils were verified. Yields (0.6-0.9%, hydrodistillation), chemical composition, linalool content, and optical purity of the oils from all the plants were compared, using GC-FID, GC-MS, chiral chromatography, and retention index calculation. No plant exceeded the matrix in linalool content (46.5 to 90.7%), and the chemical profile of the oils was the same for all the samples. Purification of linalool to a content close to 100% was effected by vacuum distillation of the crude oil. Chiral analysis showed exclusively the presence of S-linalool in all the crude oils and in the distilled samples.     

Combined effect of using near‐infrared spectroscopy for nutritional evaluation of feed ingredients and non‐starch polysaccharide carbohydrase complex on performance of broiler chickens

This study was carried out to evaluate the combined effect of using near‐infrared spectroscopy (NIRS ) for nutritional evaluation of feed ingredients and the addition of non‐starch polysaccharide carbohydrase complex (NSP enzymes) on the growth performance of broilers fed diets produced with low‐quality wheat and soybean meal. A 2 × 2 trial design was performed, with seven replicates of 40 male Ross 308 broilers per treatment, evaluating the effect of the addition of NSP enzymes and the ingredients’ nutritional matrix based on table values or NIRS values. Diets without added enzymes were formulated to reach nutritional requirements, whereas diets with enzymes were reformulated, reducing the apparent metabolizable energy (AME ) by 85 kcal/kg. In the overall period (days 0–35), broilers fed diets formulated using NIRS values had higher (P  < 0.001) average daily gain (+11.3%) and daily feed intake (+7.2%), and a lower (P  < 0.001) feed conversion ratio (?5.3%) compared to those fed diets formulated using table values. When formulating diets for broilers with low‐quality feed ingredients, performance can be improved by considering NIRS values and by the addition of NSP enzymes, even with a reduction of AME . These nutritional approaches are efficient in improving broilers’ performances by themselves and even more so when they are combined.     

Morphometric and quantitative evaluation of the NADH-diaphorase positive myenteric neurons of the jejunum of streptozotocin-diabetic rats supplemented with acetyl-L-carnitine

Summary In this study we investigated the effect of the acetyl-L-carnitine (ALC) supplementation on the myenteric neurons of the jejunum of rats made diabetic at the age of 105 days by streptozotocin (35 mg/kg body weight). Four groups were used: non-diabetic (C), non-diabetic supplemented with ALC (CC), diabetic (D), diabetic supplemented with ALC (DC). After 15 weeks of diabetes induction the blood was collected by cardiac puncture to evaluate glycaemia and glycated haemoglobin. Next the animals were killed and the jejunum was collected and subjected to whole-mount preparation to evidence the myenteric neurons through the histochemical technique of the NADH-diaphorase. The neuronal counts were made in 80 microscopic fields, in tissue samples of five animals of each group. The profiles of the cell bodies of 1000 neurons per group were analysed. Diabetes induced a significant increase in the area of the cell body and decrease in the number of NADH-diaphorase positive myoenteric neurons. ALC suplementation to the diabetic group promoted smaller hypertrophic effects and less neuronal loss than in the myoenteric neurons of the diabetic rats, and in addition diminished the body weight decrease and reduced the fasting glycaemia.     

Adenosine deaminase activity in serum, erythrocytes and lymphocytes of rats infected with Leptospira icterohaemorrhagiae

Leptospirosis is a systemic disease of humans and domestic animals, mainly dogs, cattle and swine. The course of human leptospirosis varies from mild to severe fatal forms and the most severe form of human leptospirosis is principally caused by Leptospira interrogans serovar icterohaemorrhagiae (L. icterohaemorrhagiae). The enzyme adenosine deaminase (ADA) plays an important role in the production and differentiation of blood cells. The aim of this study was to evaluate the activity of ADA in serum, erythrocytes and lymphocytes of rats infected with L. icterohaemorrhagiae, as compared with non-infected rats. Twenty-four adult rats, divided into two uniform groups (A and B) were used for the enzymatic assays. The animals in Group B were inoculated intraperitoneally with 2×10(8) leptospires/rat, and the rodents in Group A (control) were not-inoculated. Blood collection was performed on days 5 and 15 post-infection (PI) and the blood used to assess the ADA activity. The infection by L.icterohaemorrhagiae altered erythrocyte count, hemoglobin concentration and hematocrit, causing a decrease in all these parameters on day 15 PI. Lymphocytes decreased significantly on day 15 PI, and ADA activity in serum was inhibited in infected rats on days 5 and 15 PI and its activity in erythrocytes were increased on day 5 PI. On day 5 PI, we found an increase in ADA activity in erythrocytes of infected rats. No correlation was observed between hematocrit and erythrocyte ADA activity on days 5 and 15 PI. The ADA activity was inhibited in rats infected on day 15 PI. A positive correlation (r(2)=60) was also observed between the number of lymphocytes and ADA activity in lymphocytes on day 15 PI (P<0.05). In conclusion, our results showed that the ADA activity is altered in serum, lymphocytes and erythrocytes in experimental infection by L.icterohaemorrhagiae in rats, concomitantly with hematological parameters.