Report from the conference, ‘identifying obstacles to applying big data in agriculture’

Precision Agriculture - Data-centric technology has not undergone widespread adoption in production agriculture but could address global needs for food security and farm profitability. Participants...     

Influence of age and sex on serum osteocalcin concentrations in horses at weaning and during physical conditioning

Three experiments were conducted to evaluate serum osteocalcin concentrations in normal weanling and yearling Quarter Horses. In Experiment 1, jugular blood samples were taken at 3 hr intervals for 24 hr to evaluate diurnal changes in serum osteocalcin concentration of foals (n=3) and yearlings (n=5). In Experiment 2, twelve Quarter Horse foals were weaned at 4 months of age to determine the influence of sex, weaning and method of weaning of serum osteocalcin concentration. The third experiment utilized fifteen yearling Quarter Horses (7 geldings, 8 fillies) in a two-phase trial to evaluate normal peripheral osteocalcin concentration in sedentary and exercising horses. In Experiment 1, there was no detectable variation (P>.05) in serum osteocalcin concentration during the 24 hr sample period in either age group. In Experiment 2, colts had greater (P<.05) osteocalcin concentrations than fillies at weaning. Method of weaning did not alter mean serum osteocalcin concentration (P>.1). Serum osteocalcin concentrations declined (P<.05) in all horses following weaning but returned to preweaning levels within one week. In Experiment 3, sedentary horses had similar (P>.1) osteocalcin concentrations on d 0, 45 and 90. Serum osteocalcin concentrations of sedentary horses were not affected by sex (P>.1). During exercise, fillies had greater (P<.05) osteocalcin concentrations than geldings. Serum osteocalcin concentrations of all horses declined linearly (P<.0001) during the 90 d exercise period. Osteocalcin may be useful as a tool to assess bone metabolism during growth and physical conditioning in horses. However, variability in serum osteocalcin concentrations due to age, sex and level of activity suggest that these factors must also be considered.     

Meningoencephalomyelitis in a foal due to Salmonella agona infection

CASE HISTORY: A neonatal Thoroughbred foal was presented with rib fractures and left forelimb lameness secondary to dystocia.

CLINICAL FINDINGS: The foal developed a head tilt, seizures and watery diarrhoea during hospitalisation and died at 7 days of age. Histological examination of the brain and spinal cord revealed a suppurative meningoencephalomyelitis with vasculitis, and numerous intralesional, gram-negative bacilli. Similar microscopic lesions were noted in the lungs, renal medullary interstitium, and umbilicus. Bacilli in the brain, spinal cord and umbilicus were identified immunohistochemically as Salmonella group B. Salmonella agona was isolated in pure culture from the brain, lung, liver, kidney, and intestine.

CONCLUSION: This is the first report of meningoencephalomyelitis and septicaemia due to Salmonella infection in an equine neonate.     

Color,Yield, and Texture of Heat and High Pressure Processed Mussels During Ice Storage

High pressure processing (HPP) can shuck (open) shellfish, saving labor while conferring food safety and yield benefits. Mostly male New Zealand Greenshell? mussels (Perna canaliculus) were HPP-shucked (3 min at 500 MPa, 30°C) and assessed during 6-days’ ice storage (0°C) for cooked yield, color, and texture compared with heat processed (1 min at 70°C) and untreated samples. HPP-treated mussels had improved yields but lost more weight during ice storage. Male mussels from all treatments became darker with ice storage. HPP-treated mussels had firmer adductor muscles, while their guts required higher maximum force but less energy to puncture them.     

Study Potential of Indigenous <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas aeruginosa</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus subtilis</Emphasis> in Bioremediation of Diesel-Contaminated Water

Petroleum products which are used in a wide variety of industries as energy sources and raw materials have become a major concern in pollution of terrestrial and marine environments. The purpose of this study was to assess the potential of indigenous microbial isolates for degradation of diesel fuel. Two most proficient bacterial strains among five isolated strains from polluted soil of an industrial refinery were studied. The isolates then were identified as Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Bacillus subtilis using biochemical tests and 16S rRNA gene sequence analyses. P. aeruginosa showed higher biodegradation efficiency than B. subtilis in shaking flask containing diesel-contaminated water. P. aeruginosa and B. subtilis degraded about 87 and 75% of total hydrocarbons, respectively, in flasks containing 2% diesel and 98% water. The biodegradation efficiency of the isolates decreased as diesel contamination increased from 2 to 5%. The isolates showed significantly higher efficiency on degradation of short-chain hydrocarbons in 20 days, i.e., by using P. aeruginosa, removal efficiency of C₁₀ hydrocarbons was near 90%, while about 69% of C₂₀₊ hydrocarbons and 47% of aromatic hydrocarbons were removed. Therefore, the isolates showed high capability in biodegradation of diesel contamination of the refinery.     

Short‐Term Antiandrogen Flutamide Treatment Causes Structural Alterations in Somatic Cells Associated with Premature Detachment of Spermatids in the Testis of Pubertal and Adult Guinea Pigs

In spite of widespread application of flutamide in the endocrine therapies of young and adult patients, the side effects of this antiandrogen on spermatogenesis and germ‐cell morphology remain unclear. This study evaluates the short‐term androgen blockage effect induced by the administration of flutamide to the testes of pubertal (30‐day old) and adult (65‐ and 135‐day old) guinea pigs, with an emphasis on ultrastructural alterations of main cell types. The testes removed after 10 days of treatment with either a non‐steroidal antiandrogen, flutamide (10 mg/kg of body weight) or a pharmacological vehicle alone were processed for histological, quantitative and ultrastructural analysis. In pubertal animals, flutamide androgenic blockage induces spermatogonial differentiation and accelerates testes maturation, causing degeneration and detachment of primary spermatocytes and round spermatids, which are subsequently found in great quantities in the epididymis caput. In post‐pubertal and adult guinea pigs, in addition to causing germ‐cell degeneration, especially in primary spermatocytes, and leading to the premature detachment of spherical spermatids, the antiandrogen treatment increased the relative volume of Leydig cells. In addition, ultrastructural evaluation indicated that irrespective of age antiandrogen treatment causes an increase in frequency of organelles involved with steroid hormone synthesis in the Leydig cells and a dramatic accumulation of myelin figures in their cytoplasm and, to a larger degree, in Sertoli cells. In conclusion, the transient exposition of the guinea pigs to flutamide, at all postnatal ages causes some degenerative lesions including severe premature detachment of spermatids and accumulation of myelin bodies in Leydig and Sertoli cells, compromising, at least temporarily, the spermatogenesis.     

Genetic Variation in Spiroplasma citri

Spiroplasmas are members of the Class Mollicutes, wall-less prokaryotes having a high adenosine–thymidine content in their small genomes. Spiroplasma citri is a plant pathogen that inhabits phloem. Like other phytopathogenic spiroplasmas and the related phytoplasmas, it is transmitted from plant to plant by phloem-feeding leafhoppers that serve as alternate hosts for the spiroplasma as well as vectors. Genetic information in spiroplasmas is carried on a circular chromosome, on plasmids and/or in virus genomes. A picture emerging from recent research on the S. citri genome is one of frequent and often extensive variation, resulting from a number of different mechanisms. Expansion and contraction events must continually be occurring in about equal proportions so that the net genome size varies within defined boundaries. Particularly impressive are large changes in genome size that can occur in only a few generations. As with most organisms, genetic variation in S. citri results from variation in extrachromosomal DNA content, changes due to DNA replication and repair processes and changes due to recombination. The implied flux of genetic information into and out of the S. citri genome should be beneficial to the bacterium, allowing it, with its small genome size, to adapt to new environments.     

The effect of temperature on the development of yolk‐sac larvae of European hake (Merluccius merluccius L.) under laboratory conditions

The effect of temperature (10, 13, 16, 19 and 22°C) on hatching, development and survival of yolk‐sac larvae of European hake, Merluccius merluccius, was studied. At 22°C the experiment was suspended because all eggs died a few hours after incubation. Five morphological indicators of larval development (standard length – SL, yolk‐sac volume – YSV, oil globule diameter – OD, body height – BH and body wet weight – BW) were analysed. SL, YSV, OD and BW of newly hatched larvae were biggest in size and weight at low temperatures (P < 0.05). Throughout the experiments, the rates of changes in SL, YSV and OD varied with temperature (P < 0.05). By contrast, BH and BW remained constant and did not show significant relationship with the effect of temperature (P > 0.05). The potential model showed that the SL growth rate varied from 0.05 to 0.08 mm day^?1 from 10.5 to 19.5°C respectively. However, at all temperatures two growth phases were identified: a rapid growth phase followed by a slow one. Rapid growth rate in length and depletion in yolk‐sac and oil globule occurred at high temperatures. After total YSV and OD consumption (death by starvation), larvae died between 8 and 14 days at 19.5 and 10.5°C respectively, reaching a maximum length of 4.3 mm at 10.5°C. Metabolic indices such as: lowest threshold temperature (T₀); effective larval development (); cumulative thermal units (TC) to complete larval development; the temperature coefficient on growth rate in length (Q₁₀) and the condition factor (K) were also studied.