断奶后多系统衰竭综合征病猪中存在沙门氏菌和猪繁殖与呼吸系统综合征病毒共感染

调查了曾经暴发沙门氏菌病的四个猪场的14头病猪,发现在这些猪的肿胀淋巴结中出现带有淋巴细胞排空的肉芽肿性炎症。应用免疫标记和PCR方法在病变部位检测到猪圆环病毒2(PCV2)抗原和PCV2DNA。此外,在这些病猪的肺脏中检测出猪繁殖与呼吸综合征病毒(PRRSV),分离到猪霍乱沙门氏菌。在9头沙门氏菌感染猪中,有5头为沙门氏菌、PMWS与PRRSV并发感染,其数量(55.6%)远远高于沙门氏菌与PMWS感染猪(22.2%)或沙门氏菌与PRRSV感染猪(22.2%)。     

Suppression of lipopolysaccharide and galactosamine-induced hepatic inflammation by red grape pomace

Grape pomace is generated in the production process of wine and grape juices and is an industrial waste. This study investigated whether an intake of grape pomace was able to suppress chronic inflammation induced by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and galactosamine (GalN) in vivo. When Sprague-Dawley rats were orally given methanolic extracts from red and white grape pomace, the extracts inhibited the LPS/GalN-evoked activation of nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) dose-dependently, and red grape pomace exerted a stronger effect than white grape one. Next, rats were fed an AIN93 M-based diet containing 5% red grape pomace for 7 days, followed by the intraperitoneal injection of LPS and GalN. The intake of the red grape pomace-supplemented diet was found to suppress the LPS/GalN-induced activation of NF-κB and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase and cyclooxygenase-2 proteins. These results suggest that red grape pomace may contain an abundance of effective compound(s) for anti-inflammatory action.     

Studies on availability and fixation of phosphorus in soil (part 4)

It Is known that inorganic phosphorus is contained in soil mainly in the form of calcium phosphates, aluminium phosphates and iron phosphates.     

Studies on the properties of organic matfer in buried humic horizon derived from volcanic ash

To investigate the relationship between the change of humus property and time factor, the humus composition in the buried humic horizons with the age from 28,000 years B.P. to the present was studied, according to the method presented by Kumada et al. (7).

The fH decreased with the elapse of time and in case of most of humus in the buried humic horizons with the age over 10,000 years, the fH became lower than 40 and were in the form of so-called ‘combined’ humus.

When 3,000-4,000 years have passed since the surface soil buried, the humic acid first moved . to ‘combined form.’ Second, after over 10,000 years, the fulvic acid moved to ‘combined form.’

The humification of ‘free’ humic acid proceeded with the elapse of time till around 5,000 years but of 'combined' humic acid till around 7,000 years. Both the humification-degree of ‘free’ humic acid after around 5,000 years and of ‘combined’ humic acid after around 7,000 years decreased. The humification-degree of ‘free’ and ‘combined’ humic acid from the samples with the age about 15,000 years B.P. to 28,000 years B.P. may be the same.     

The influence of phosphate fertilizer application levels and cultivars on cadmium uptake by Komatsuna (Brassica rapa L. var. perviridis)

Cadmium (Cd) is a common impurity in phosphate fertilizers and application of phosphate fertilizer may contribute to soil Cd accumulation. Changes in Cd burdens to agricultural soils and the potential for plant Cd accumulation resulting from fertilizer input were investigated in this study. A field experiment was conducted on Haplaquept to investigate the influence of calcium superphosphate on extractable and total soil Cd and on growth and Cd uptake of different Komatsuna (Brassica rapa L. var. perviridis) cultivars. Four cultivars of Komatsuna were grown on the soil and harvested after 60 days. The superphosphate application increased total soil Cd from 2.51 to 2.75?mg?kg^?1, 0.1?mol?L^?1 hydrochloric acid (HCl) extractable Cd from 1.48 to 1.55?mg?kg^?1, 0.01?mol?L^?1 HCl extractable Cd from 0.043 to 0.046?mg?kg^?1 and water extractable Cd from 0.0057 to 0.0077?mg?kg^?1. Cd input reached 5.68?g?ha^–1 at a rate of 240?kg?ha^–1 superphosphate fertilizer application. Superphosphate affected dry-matter yield of leaves to different degrees in each cultivar. ‘Nakamachi’ produced the highest yield in 2008 and ‘Hamami No. 2’ in 2009. Compared with the control (no phosphate fertilizer), application of superphosphate at a rate of 240?kg?ha^–1 increased the Cd concentration in dry leaves by 0.14?mg?kg^?1 in ‘Maruha’, 1.03?mg?kg^?1 in ‘Nakamachi’, 0.63?mg?kg^?1 in ‘SC8-007’ in 2008, and by 0.19?mg?kg^?1 in Maruha’, 0.17?mg?kg^?1 in ‘Hamami No. 2’, while it decreased by 0.27?mg?kg^?1 in ‘Nakamachi’ in 2009. Field experiments in two years demonstrated that applications of different levels of calcium superphosphate did not influence Cd concentration in soil and Komatsuna significantly. However, there was a significant difference in Cd concentration of fresh and dry Komatsuna leaves among four cultivars in 2008 and 2009. The highest Cd concentration was found in the ‘Nakamachi’ cultivar (2.14?mg?kg^?1 in 2008 and 1.91?mg?kg^?1 in 2009). The lowest Cd concentration was observed in the ‘Maruha’ cultivar (1.51?mg?kg^?1?dry weight (DW)) in 2008 and in the ‘Hamami No. 2’ cultivar (1.56?mg?kg^?1?DW) in 2009. A decreasing trend in Cd concentration was found in ‘Nakamachi’, followed by ‘SC8-007’, ‘Hamami No. 2’ and ‘Maruha’ successively. It is necessary to consider a low-uptake cultivar for growing in a Cd polluted soil. In these two years’ results, ‘Maruha’ cultivar was the lowest Cd uptake cultivar compared to the others.     

Potassium behavior and clay mineral composition in the soil with low effectiveness of potassium application

ABSTRACT

Increasing exchangeable potassium (ExK) content in soil to an appropriate level is important to mitigate the transfer of radioactive cesium to crops. We focused on a buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) field with a low ExK content, despite the application of K, in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan (Field A), following the Tokyo Electric Power Company Fukushima Dai-ichi (No. 1) Nuclear Power Plant accident in March 2011. We examined the relationship between K concentration and clay mineral composition in the soil of Field A and compared the findings with another field in Fukushima Prefecture (Field B) to clarify whether K applied to the soil was leached or remaining fixed. Pot experiments showed that K concentration in water seepage from pots following irrigation was significantly lower in pots from Field A than in those from Field B. Soil ExK content after soybean cultivation was lower in soils of Field A than those of Field B. These results indicate that K applied to Field A was fixed in the soil. Analysis of clay mineral composition confirmed the distinctive vermiculitic nature of Field A soils. This clay mineralogy would be associated with the higher K fixation ability of Field A than Field B soils. This study demonstrated that K fixation in vermiculite was a factor preventing the increase in ExK content from K application to Field A.     

Anti-allergic effects of the brown alga <Emphasis Type="Italic">Eisenia arborea</Emphasis> on Brown Norway rats

To investigate the anti-allergic effects of the brown alga Eisenia arborea. A strain of Brown Norway rats know to strongly respond to immunoglobulin E (IgE) were used as an allergy model animal. The rats were immunized with ovalbumin by oral administration. The levels of serum IgE and histamine were suppressed in the rats fed a diet supplemented with dried E. arborea powder. As for the cytokine pattern, the interferon-γ production in the spleens and mesenteric lymph nodes (MLN) was enhanced, and the interleukin-4 (IL-4) production in the spleens and/or IL-10 production in the spleens and MLN were suppressed. These results, together with the change in the Th1/Th2 balance, indicate that the rats fed with E. arborea became more anti-allergic, suggesting that E. arborea might possess anti-allergic effects.     

Comparisons of energy balance and evapotranspiration between flooded and aerobic rice fields in the Philippines

The seasonal and annual variability of sensible heat flux (H), latent heat flux (LE), evapotranspiration (ET), crop coefficient (K_c) and crop water productivity (WP_ET) were investigated under two different rice environments, flooded and aerobic soil conditions, using the eddy covariance (EC) technique during 2008-2009 cropping periods. Since we had only one EC system for monitoring two rice environments, we had to move the system from one location to the other every week. In total, we had to gap-fill an average of 50-60% of the missing weekly data as well as those values rejected by the quality control tests in each rice field in all four cropping seasons. Although the EC method provides a direct measurement of LE, which is the energy used for ET, we needed to correct the values of H and LE to close the energy balance using the Bowen ratio closure method before we used LE to estimate ET. On average, the energy balance closure before correction was 0.72 ± 0.06 and it increased to 0.99 ± 0.01 after correction. The G in both flooded and aerobic fields was very low. Likewise, the energy involved in miscellaneous processes such as photosynthesis, respiration and heat storage in the rice canopy was not taken into consideration.Average for four cropping seasons, flooded rice fields had 19% more LE than aerobic fields whereas aerobic rice fields had 45% more H than flooded fields. This resulted in a lower Bowen ratio in flooded fields (0.14 ± 0.03) than in aerobic fields (0.24 ± 0.01). For our study sites, evapotranspiration was primarily controlled by net radiation. The aerobic rice fields had lower growing season ET rates (3.81 ± 0.21 mm d⁻¹) than the flooded rice fields (4.29 ± 0.23 mm d⁻¹), most probably due to the absence of ponded water and lower leaf area index of aerobic rice. Likewise, the crop coefficient, K_c, of aerobic rice was significantly lower than that of flooded rice. For aerobic rice, K_c values were 0.95 ± 0.01 for the vegetative stage, 1.00 ± 0.01 for the reproductive stage, 0.97 ± 0.04 for the ripening stage and 0.88 ± 0.03 for the fallow period, whereas, for flooded rice, K_c values were 1.04 ± 0.04 for the vegetative stage, 1.11 ± 0.05 for the reproductive stage, 1.04 ± 0.05 for the ripening stage and 0.93 ± 0.06 for the fallow period. The average annual ET was 1301 mm for aerobic rice and 1440 mm for flooded rice. This corresponds to about 11% lower total evapotranspiration in aerobic fields than in flooded fields. However, the crop water productivity (WP_ET) of aerobic rice (0.42 ± 0.03 g grain kg⁻¹ water) was significantly lower than that of flooded rice (1.26 ± 0.26 g grain kg⁻¹ water) because the grain yields of aerobic rice were very low since they were subjected to water stress.The results of this investigation showed significant differences in energy balance and evapotranspiration between flooded and aerobic rice ecosystems. Aerobic rice is one of the promising water-saving technologies being developed to lower the water requirements of the rice crop to address the issues of water scarcity. This information should be taken into consideration in evaluating alternative water-saving technologies for environmentally sustainable rice production systems.