酵母培养物对泌乳期水牛生长性能、泌乳性能、养分消化及血液代谢指标的影响

文章旨在探讨饲料添加酵母培养物对泌乳早期至中期初产和经产水牛泌乳性能、养分消化及血液代谢指标的影响。试验选择平均体重为(520.4±10.5)kg的水牛24头,随机分为2组,每组12头,每个重复1头。对照组饲喂全混合日粮,处理组在对照组日粮基础上添加12 g/kg酵母培养物,试验从分娩后15~180 d开始,记录采食量、体重和产奶量,并收集乳样本和血液样本进行分析。收集泌乳期早期45~47 d、泌乳期中期90~92 d的粪便,测定干物质、有机物、粗蛋白质、粗纤维表观消化率,计算能量校正乳、饲料转化率、能量和氮利用效率。结果显示,酵母培养物组水牛较对照组提高了干物质和粗蛋白质的采食量(P <0.05)。与对照组相比,处理组泌乳中期干物质和有机物表观消化率显著提高(P <0.05)。初产组水牛日粮添加酵母培养物较对照组显著提高了泌乳中期水牛粗纤维表观消化率(P <0.05)。添加酵母培养物后,总血脂水平显著降低(P <0.05),此外,酵母培养物处理组显著提高了初产水牛的产奶量、能量校正乳、脂肪和蛋白质产量(P <0.05)。结论:酵母培养物对水牛的影响与胎次有关,酵母培养物可以提高经产水牛干物质摄入量和粗纤维消化率,但对体重无显著影响,从而使能量校正乳产量更高,脂肪动员更少。日粮添加酵母培养物可以增加水牛泌乳早期的产奶量,并一直延续到泌乳中期,最终提高饲料转化率、能量和氮的利用效率。     

Systemic treatment of sterile panniculitis with tacrolimus and prednisolone in dogs

This report deals with three additional canine cases of sterile panniculitis treated by oral administration of tacrolimus and prednisolone. The oral tacrolimus treatment was proved to be an affordable medical protocol for canine sterile panniculitis with good efficacy and without adverse effects.     

Development of DNA markers that discriminate between white- and blue-flowers in Japanese gentian plants

We developed molecular markers for discrimination of white and blue flower color in Japanese gentian plants. White-flowered gentians can be classified into two types, based on genetic and physiological features. One type includes four allelic variations (gtmyb3-1, gtmyb3-2, gtmyb3-3, and gtmyb3-4) of an anthocyanin biosynthetic regulator gene (GtMYB3), distinguished by three PCR-based molecular markers. The other type contains a newly identified inactive allele (ans1) of the anthocyanidin synthase (ANS) gene with a premature stop codon generated from a 4-bp deletion in the second exon. The ans1 allele was distinguished from the active ANS allele by a cleaved amplified polymorphism sequence (CAPS) marker. The genotypes of 12 white-flowered gentian cultivars/lines could be identified and classified as either ans1 or gtmyb3 using these four molecular markers. No white-flowered gentians contained ans1 and gtmyb3 alleles simultaneously. The mutated ANS gene co-segregated with white flower color in an F₂ population, demonstrating that the CAPS marker is useful to discriminate between white and blue flowers in gentian. Markers to discriminate flower color in Japanese gentian will be useful for early selection of progeny and for breeding management.     

The effects of inclusion levels of urea-treated potato pulp silage in concentrate and roughage sources on finishing performance and carcass quality in cull beef cows

An experiment was conducted to determine the effects of inclusion levels of potato pulp silage in concentrate (0, 15, 30 or 45%; on a dry matter basis) and roughage sources (rice straw or wheat straw) on finishing performance and carcass quality of cull beef cows. Sixteen Japanese Black (Wagyu) mature cull cows (490 ± 31 kg of BW) were used in this experiment. Increasing the levels of potato pulp silage in concentrate and roughage sources did not significantly affect feed intake in cows. In addition, the final body weight, daily gain and feed : gain ratio were not influenced by the inclusion levels of potato pulp silage in concentrate and the type of roughage. Increasing the inclusion levels of potato pulp silage in concentrate would probably decrease the marbling score. The L* values of the longissimus muscle (LM) tended to respond quadratically ( P  = 0.078) as the inclusion levels of potato pulp silage in concentrate increased, and was lowest for cows fed the concentrate which included 30% potato pulp silage. The a* and b* values of the LM and fat color were not affected by the inclusion levels of potato pulp silage in concentrate. No effects of roughage sources on finishing performance were observed.     

Response of riparian vegetation to the removal of the invasive forb,Solidago gigantea,and its litter layer

In order to explore the methods of recovering native grasses into exotic vegetation, the response of riparian vegetation to the removal of the above‐ground shoots and/or litter of Solidago gigantea in a flood plain in Hokkaido, northern Japan, was investigated. The four treatments were: the removal of the above‐ground shoots of S. gigantea (A); the removal of the litter of S. gigantea (L); the removal of both the above‐ground shoots and litter of S. gigantea (AL); and a control (C). The vegetation cover and S. gigantea cover decreased in the A and AL treatments and increased in the L and C treatments. The understory plant cover increased in the A and AL treatments, but did not change in the L and C treatments. The increases in the understory cover in the A and AL treatments were associated with increases in Phalaris arundinacea. The seedling emergence of P. arundinacea was promoted by AL. In a greenhouse, the S. gigantea litter tended to decrease the seed germination of P. arundinacea. The AL treatment also increased the abundance of the other exotic plant, Solidago altissima. The continuous removal of the above‐ground shoots and litter of S. gigantea long term is effective for promoting the recovery and emergence of native riparian grassland vegetation. However, this method also promotes the recovery of other exotics.     

Fetal heart rate monitoring from maternal body surface potentials using independent component analysis

The fetal heart rate is indispensable for monitoring the health of unborn cattle fetuses. To monitor the fetal heart rate, a method employing independent component analysis (ICA) to extract the fetal electrocardiogram (fECG) from potentials measured on the maternal body surface and composed of a mixture of the maternal ECG (mECG), fECG, baseline drift and noise is described. A mixing of the raw data was simplified using a linear time‐invariant model. To separate the fECG from the mECG, baseline drift, and noise, an ICA strategy was applied, using a hyperbolic tangent as the contrast function and treating mutual information with the minimization principle to find the optimum demixing matrix to derive the fECG from the measured signals. After the feasibility of this method was shown on simulated signals obtained by randomly mixing pure fECG, pure mECG, low frequency sinusoidal drift and noise, real signals from three cloned pregnant Holstein cows with 157, 177 and 224‐day gestation periods were used to verify the separation method. The results show that the fECG, mECG, low‐frequency sinusoidal drift and noise can be clearly segregated in simulations, and that the fECG, mECG, baseline drift and noise can be successfully derived from real signals. The ICA approach has great potential in effectively detecting the fECG from maternal body surface potentials.