Significance of β2‐Toxigenic Clostridium perfringens Infections in Animals and Their Predisposing Factors – A Review

The novel β2‐toxin of Clostridium perfringens has recently been described as the cause of enteric diseases in animals. The biological activity of β2‐toxin is similar to that of the β1‐toxin with a possibly weaker cytotoxic activity. However, the production of β2‐toxin in vitro is not seen in all β2‐toxin‐gene (cpb2)‐positive C. perfringens strains, and to deduce a clinical importance solely from the detection of cpb2 is difficult. Detection of cpb2‐positive C. perfringens from various animal species with and without enteric diseases demonstrates the wide distribution of cpb2 in nature, and the presence of cpb2 gene is therefore not considered a risk by itself. Predisposing factors like low trypsin activity in the intestinal tract, antibiotic and/or antiphlogistic treatment or changes in diet can result in the selection of β2‐toxigenic C. perfringens which may lead to enteritis or enterotoxaemia.     

基于TM影像的黄陵县土地利用变化动态监测

以1987年和2002年两期TM影像为信息源,应用计算机自动识别分类与GIS空间分析相结合的方法,提取了黄陵县不同时期的土地利用现状信息及其动态变化。结果表明:研究区森林覆盖率高,林地占区域土地总面积的70%以上;耕地面积较小,占地比例不到7%。1987年至2002年,耕地和草地面积明显减少,园地增加突出,林地、居民点及工矿用地略有增长,其中面积变化最大的是耕地,减少111.13 km2;变化率最大的是园地,达到329.44%。     

The joint action of fungicides in mixtures: comparison of two methods for synergy calculation

Two methods for evaluating the joint action of fungicides in mixtures were analysed. In order to obtain a relatively rapid answer on the type of interaction between fungicides in a mixture (additivity, synergism or antagonism), one can apply the Abbott formula to data on fungus survival. Tests with this method will not be accurate at high effective dose values. A more accurate determination of the joint action of fungicides can be made by the Wadley method, applied to data on effective doses. This involves more experimental work than the Abbott method. Optimization of mixing ratios of fungicides required a set of experimental data on effective doses with several mixing ratios.     

Impact of environmental factors on infestation of tea leaves byHelopeltis theivora, and associated changes in flavonoid flavor components and enzyme activities

Attack of tea plant (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) leaves by the tea mosquito bugHelopeltis theivora (Hemiptera: Miridae) was positively correlated to temperature and rainfall, and partially to humidity, as determined in 12 varieties during the period 2000–2002. The insect attack was severe during the months of May–September, which had high temperature and rainfall, and led to severe loss of biomass due to curling and drying up of the leaves. The biochemical response of these 12 varieties of tea to attack by the insect was determined with special reference to oxidative enzymes and flavonoid flavor components. Insect attack led to an increase in the activities of the oxidative enzymes peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase and polyphenol oxidase. Activities of phenyl alanine ammonia lyase generally decreased as a result of insect attack, which was significant in the United Planters Association of South India (UPASI) varieties. A significant decrease in polyphenols was also obtained in UPASI varieties. HPLC analysis of catechins revealed a decrease in some of the catechins in the infected leaves. Analysis of theaflavins from infusion of healthy andHelopeltis-infested tea leaves revealed no changes. http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting Dec. 19, 2004.     

子午岭地区植被演替过程中土壤养分及酶活性特征研究

选择植被自然恢复不同年限的阳坡梁坡地作为研究对象,采用时空互代法研究子午岭地区植被恢复过程中土壤养分和酶活性的变化.结果表明,植被恢复140 a内,不同土层土壤有机质含量、全氮含量、蔗糖酶活性、脲酶活性、碱性磷酸酶活性和过氧化氢酶活性增加,且表土层(0～20 cm)土壤养分含量和酶活性高于下层土壤(20～40 cm).以裸露地为对照,土壤0～20 cm土层,有机质含量、全氮含量、蔗糖酶活性、脲酶活性、碱性磷酸酶活性和过氧化氢酶活性分别增加了23.8%～534.9%、9.3%～300.0%、213.6%～521.5%、40.4%～286.5%、22.7%～232.2%和3.2%～22.4%,土壤速效磷含量呈现波动变化, 过氧化氢酶活性变化幅度比其他三种酶低.土壤有机质含量与全氮、速效磷含量密切相关;土壤蔗糖酶与土壤有机质、全氮均为极显著的相关关系(0.930/0.918);土壤脲酶活性与全氮含量相关系数最高(0.804);土壤碱性磷酸酶活性与有机质、全氮含量都呈极显著相关(0.977/0.984);土壤过氧化氢酶活性与全氮含量极显著相关,相关系数达0.996.     

Enhancing pedotransfer functions with environmental data for estimating bulk density and effective cation exchange capacity in a data‐sparse situation

Soil bulk density (BD) and effective cation exchange capacity (ECEC) are among the most important soil properties required for crop growth and environmental management. This study aimed to explore the combination of soil and environmental data in developing pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for BD and ECEC. Multiple linear regression (MLR) and random forest model (RFM) were employed in developing PTFs using three different data sets: soil data (PTF‐1), environmental data (PTF‐2) and the combination of soil and environmental data (PTF‐3). In developing the PTFs, three depth increments were also considered: all depth, topsoil (<0.40 m) and subsoil (>0.40 m). Results showed that PTF‐3 (R²; 0.29–0.69) outperformed both PTF‐1 (R²; 0.11–0.18) and PTF‐2 (R²; 0.22–0.59) in BD estimation. However, for ECEC estimation, PTF‐3 (R²; 0.61–0.86) performed comparably as PTF‐1 (R²; 0.58–0.76) with both PTFs out‐performing PTF‐2 (R²; 0.30–0.71). Also, grouping of data into different soil depth increments improves the estimation of BD with PTFs (especially PTF‐2 and PTF‐3) performing better at subsoils than topsoils. Generally, the most important predictors of BD are sand, silt, elevation, rainfall, temperature for estimation at topsoil while EVI, elevation, temperature and clay are the most important BD predictors in the subsoil. Also, clay, sand, pH, rainfall and SOC are the most important predictors of ECEC in the topsoil while pH, sand, clay, temperature and rainfall are the most important predictors of ECEC in the subsoil. Findings are important for overcoming the challenges of building national soil databases for large‐scale modelling in most data‐sparse countries, especially in the sub‐Saharan Africa (SSA).