Effect of effective microorganism and gypsum amendments on nutrient leaching,pH, electrical conductivity,and Okra growth parameters under coastal saline soil

Nutrients losses through leaching are the main problem facing coastal saline soil. Effective microorganisms (EM) and Gypsum (G) at the application rate of 5%G and 10%G by weight were used as soil amendments. The pot experiment aimed to improve the leaching of nitrate (NO₃), ammonium (NH₄) and total nitrogen (TN) on the coastal saline soil. The EM+ 5%G treatment effectively reduced the content of NO₃ and NH₄ in the leachate by 86.59% and 68.18%, respectively. EM treatment reduced the leaching of NO₃ and NH₄ by 70.86% and 62.12% and EM+ 10%G reduced NO₃ and NH₄ by 11.80% and 50.76%, respectively. Moreover, the content of TN in leachate was reduced up to 13.23%, 5.80%, and 2.67% in response to EM, EM+ 5%G, and EM+ 10%G, respectively, compared to the control. These results indicate that EM combined with G as soil amendments can reduce leaching of nutrients and further support the regulation of a coastal saline soil pH and EC.     

Carob pods (Ceratonia siliqua L.) improve growth performance,antioxidant status and caecal characteristics in growing rabbits

The objective of this study was to evaluate carob pods and their effect on growth performance, antioxidant activities, carcass and caecal characteristics and equilibrium modification of the caecal microbiota population of growing NZW rabbits. Eighty weaned rabbits (initial body weight: 625.00 ± 26.46 g) were randomly allocated into four dietary groups of 20 rabbits each until 90 days of age. Dietary groups were as follows: C (basal diet with no supplementation), CP1 (basal diet + 2.5% carob pods), CP2 (basal diet + 5% carob pods) and CP3 (basal diet + 10% carob pods). Rabbits given the CP2 diet had significantly higher daily and final body weights compared with the other experimental groups. The increase in inclusion rate of carob pods significantly decreased feed intake, whereas carob pods at 5% in the CP2 group recorded the best value of feed conversion ratio. Rabbits in the CP3 group showed the worst slaughter weight and carcass dressing percentage weight. No significant effect was found on meat protein and ash contents. Cholesterol, low‐density lipoprotein, high‐density lipoprotein and triglycerides decreased significantly (p < 0.05) in rabbits treated with carob pods compared with the control. Because of high content of the antioxidant compounds in CP2 and CP3 groups, the activities of glutathione peroxidase, glutathione S‐transferase, catalase and superoxide dismutase increased, whereas the concentration of thiobarbituric acid‐reactive substance decreased significantly. Rabbits given the CP2 diet had a significantly higher volatile fatty acid concentration and a lower pH in content of the caecum compared to the other groups. The data of microbial analysis for C group showed a significant increase in Escherichia coli and Clostridium counts. Lactobacillus and Bacillus counts increased significantly more in the CP2 and CP3 groups than in the other groups. In conclusion, 5% of carob pods in the diet stimulated the performance of growing rabbits, and thus, it has potential as an unconventional feed resource for rabbits without any adverse effects.     

Interactive effects of biochar and micronutrients on faba bean growth,symbiotic performance,and soil properties

Leguminous crops are significantly involved in the global symbiotic biological N₂ Fixation (BNF), an eco‐friendly process in the agriculture system. Biochar is considered as a vital amendment in improving growth and quality of crops and soils. Few investigations have been conducted to determine the combination effect of biochar with microelements on growth of legumes and soil properties. This study was designed to study the effect of soybean straw‐derived biochar (SSDB) with or without microelements on soil microbial and chemical properties, growth, yield, and seed chemical composition of faba bean (Vicia faba L.). Results revealed that dehydrogenase (DHA) and phosphatase (P‐ase) activities were markedly improved with the increase of SSDB rates under addition of microelements and their highest values were recorded after 90 d. Significant increases were noticed in nodulation activities, nodulation numbers (30.1–72.8), concentrations of N (1.62–1.93%), P (0.15–0.21%), and K (0.53–0.67%), and seed chemical constituents due to the addition of SSDB in the presence of microelements. Moreover, the combination of biochar with microelements caused significant changes in microbial counts. Overall, this investigation shows the potential and role of SSDB in enhancing the growth quality of faba bean seeds as well as an improvement of soil characteristics.     

Phytoremediation Potential of Vetiver Grass (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Vetiveria zizanioides</Emphasis>) for Treatment of Metal-Contaminated Water

Phytoremediation using vetiver grass (Vetiveria zizanioides) has been regarded as an effective technique for removing contaminants in polluted water. This study was conducted to assess the removal efficiency of heavy metals (Cu, Fe, Mn, Pb, Zn) using vetiver grass (VG) at different root lengths and densities and to determine metals uptake rate by plant parts (root and shoot) between treatments (low and high concentration). Removal efficiency for heavy metals in water by VG is ranked in the order of Fe>Pb>Cu>Mn>Zn. Results showed that VG was effective in removing all the heavy metals, but removals greatly depend on root length, plant density and metal concentration. Longer root length and higher density showed greater removals of heavy metals due to increased surface area for metal absorption by plant roots. Results also demonstrated significant difference of heavy metals uptake in plant parts at different concentrations indicating that root has high tolerance towards elevated concentration of heavy metals. However, the effects were less significant in plant shoot suggesting that metals uptake were generally higher in root than in shoot. The findings have shown potential of VG in phytoremediation for heavy metals removal in water thus providing significant implication for treatment of metal-contaminated water.     

Tree species recognition system based on macroscopic image analysis

An automated wood texture recognition system of 48 tropical wood species is presented. For each wood species, 100 macroscopic texture images are captured from different timber logs where 70 images are used for training while 30 images are used for testing. In this work, a fuzzy pre-classifier is used to complement a set of support vector machines (SVM) to manage the large wood database and classify the wood species efficiently. Given a test image, a set of texture pore features is extracted from the image and used as inputs to a fuzzy pre-classifier which assigns it to one of the four broad categories. Then, another set of texture features is extracted from the image and used with the SVM dedicated to the selected category to further classify the test image to a particular wood species. The advantage of dividing the database into four smaller databases is that when a new wood species is added into the system, only the SVM classifier of one of the four databases needs to be retrained instead of those of the entire database. This shortens the training time and emulates the experts’ reasoning when expanding the wood database. The results show that the proposed model is more robust as the size of wood database is increased.     

A study on some reproductive disorders in dromedary camel herds in Saudi Arabia with special references to uterine infections and abortion

Dromedary camels complaining from conception failure or abortion were investigated and their herders interviewed in Al Ahsa province, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) during 2013 and 2015. The most important reproductive disorder according to the responders is uterine infection (60.2%) followed by obesity (22.3%) then physiological conditions (hormonal disturbances; 7.8%), adhesions (3.9%) and repeat breeders (2.9%). Of the camel herders, 78.6% reported previous occurrence of abortion in their herds and 46% reported abortion cases in the last season (2015/2016), while 21.4% reported no history of abortion. Most of the responders (97.1%) do not call a veterinarian for cases of abortion in their herds and 53.4% do not discard aborted materials. The majority of the herders (76.7%) deny that handling aborted materials or touching vaginal fluids can result in human infection, or replied they do not know. Uterine swab samples were collected and tested by PCR for seven potential pathogens and sera tested for antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) and Brucella. Five pathogens were identified in infected uterine samples, namely Coxiella burnetii (36%), Campylobacter spp. (27%), Brucella spp. (17%), Salmonella spp. (13%), and Chlamydia spp. (7%). Sero-prevalence of Brucella and BVDV was 8.2 and 29.1% in overall sera, respectively, and varies with regard to the region. The findings of the present study demonstrate that reproductive disorders dominated by uterine infections and abortions are widespread in dromedary camels in KSA.     

First confirmation of rabies in Zamfara State,Nigeria—in a sheep

Tropical Animal Health and Production -     

Thymoquinone enhances the activities of enzymes related to energy metabolism in peripheral leukocytes of diabetic rats

The aim of this study was to examine the effect of glycemic control using thymoquinone (TQ) on energy metabolism related enzymes in leukocytes of streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic rats. The treatment of both TQ and insulin commenced 4 weeks after induction of diabetes. Plasma glucose, cholesterol and triglycerides levels were significantly reduced after TQ treatment, whereas immunoreactive insulin (IRI) showed significant increase. The activities of malate dehydrogenase (MDH) in cytosolic and mitochondrial fractions of peripheral blood leukocytes were significantly higher in rats treated with TQ and insulin as compared to that in diabetic controls. On the other hand the activities of lactic dehydrogenase (LDH) showed no significant changes between groups. ML ratio (cytosolic MDH/LDH specific activity ratio) was restored to those in the control rats. The results of this study demonstrate that TQ significantly increased insulin level and the activities of cytosolic and mitochondrial MDH in leukocytes of STZ-diabetic rats.     

Phenolic glycosides from Dodecadenia grandiflora and their glucose-6-phosphatase inhibitory activity

Phytochemical investigation of Dodecadenia grandiflora leaves led to the isolation and identification of three phenolic glycosides, designated 1-[(4′-O-(E)-p-coumaroyl)-β-d-glucopyranosyl]-oxy-2-phenol (1), 1-[(6′-O-(E)-p-coumaroyl)-β-d-glucopyranosyl]-oxy-2-phenol (2) and 1-[O-β-d-glucopyranosyl(1→2)-β-d-glucopyranosyl]-oxy-2-phenol (3), along with nine known compounds. Compounds 1, 2, 5 and 9 exhibited significant glucose-6-phosphatase inhibitory activity (63.7, 66.9, 82.9 and 85.4%) with IC₅₀ values of 88.5, 81.0, 51 and 50 μM respectively. On the basis of biological results, a structure–activity relationship has been discussed.     

Screening of cotton germplasm for resistance to Verticillium dahlia Kleb. under greenhouse and field conditions

Currently, the most effective and economically feasible means of controlling Verticillium wilt is to grow wilt-resistant cultivars. Nevertheless, resistant germplasm lines that are able to overcome this detrimental disease remain rare. Hence, we aimed to identify high-quality germplasm lines that exhibit high resistance, to address the dearth in optimum production. Our field and greenhouse studies showed significant variation among all tested germplasm lines with respect to wilt-assessment parameters. Highly resistant or resistant germplasm included 1421Bt-4133, O Siv2, Arcot-1, and GP93; Zhong 21371 and Yumian 2067 were moderately responsive; and Arcot402bne, Arcot438, Xinluzao-3, and Jimian11 were highly susceptible to wilt. Overall, germplasm line 1421Bt-4133 appeared to be an ideal material with strong resistance potential against V. dahliae. The germplasm lines O Siv2, Arcot-1, GP93, Zhong 21371, and Yumian 2067 showed variability in resistance potential in artificially or naturally-infested soil. This variability may be due to the genetic potential of the plants and to the adaptability of V. dahliae. We determined that the 1421Bt-4133 germplasm line was ideal, as it demonstrated resistance diversity against V. dahliae in all observed wilt-assessment parameters. The results of this study contribute to the understanding of viable germplasm lines for improving cotton production. The resistant germplasm lines uncovered in this study may provide new disease resistance sources in the breeding program.