Actinobacillosis in an alpaca (Lama pacos)

The death of a 6-week-old alpaca being treated for acute polyarthritis is described. Post-mortem and histological findings included fibrinous mural endocarditis, lung abscessation, acute passive congestion of the liver, embolic suppurative nephritis and chronic nonsuppurative polyarthritis. Actinobacillus suis was isolated from the heart lesion and in pharyngeal swabs from four of six clinically normal alpacas in the same flock.     

An evaluation of an oral formulation of moxidectin against selected anthelmintic-resistant and -susceptible strains of nematodes in lambs

The efficacy of an oral formulation of the newly developed parasiticide, moxidectin, was tested against benzimidazole-resistant Haemonchus contortus, Trichostrongylus colubriformis, and Nematodirus spathiger, levamisole-resistant Ostertagia circumcincta, and susceptible Cooperia curticei infections in weaned lambs. Thirty-two lambs were experimentally infected with mixed doses of the above strains of nematodes. They were allocated into four treatment groups by stratified randomisation using liveweights and faecal egg counts 28 days later. One group received moxidectin at 0.2 mg/kg liveweight, one group oxfendazole at 4.5 mg/kg liveweight, one group levamisole at 7.5 mg/kg liveweight and the last group remained untreated as the control. Worm burdens in the lambs at slaughter 10 days after oral treatment confirmed the resistance status of the nematode strains used, and showed that moxidectin had a greater than 99.9% efficacy (p<0.01) against all of them. No adverse effects due to treatment with moxidectin were observed in any of the animals.     

Behavioural and heart rate responses to velvet antler removal in red deer

Heart rate and behaviour during and following velvet antler removal were monitored in yearling red deer stags to determine the extent to which this procedure was perceived by the deer to be aversive. Nine stags normally kept at pasture were habituated over 5 weeks to the following daily handling procedure. Each deer was fitted with a harness containing a heart rate monitor. It was then allowed to run through a fixed course in a deer yard, restrained for 40 s in a mechanical deer crush, and then confined for 3.5 h with the remainder of the group of stags in an indoor pen containing food and water. In Week 6, the deer were subjected to either restraint for 6 minutes (the control treatment) or removal of one velvet antler under local anaesthesia. Each velvet antler was removed on separate occasions, either on Days 1 and 2 (five deer) or Days 3 and 4 (four deer). The control treatment was applied to all deer when velvet antler was not being removed, and on Day 5. Heart rate and behaviour (time taken to enter the treatment area, and number of struggles made during restraint) were measured before and during treatment, and post-treatment activities were recorded at 0, 1 and 3 h (indoors), and at 6 and 9 h (at pasture). Heart rate was higher during the second velvet antler removal treatment than during the first, but lower during the second control treatment than the first (P<0.05). During velvet antler removal, stags struggled more, and after the treatment flicked their ears, shook their heads, and groomed themselves more than control stags (P<0.05). Stags whose velvet antler had been removed spent less time eating than control stags, and spent progressively more time sitting during the 3.5 h of confinement (P<0.05). However, during the paddock observation at 9 h post-treatment, stags which had had their velvet antler removed grazed more than control stags (P<0.05). The increase in heart rate over the two velvet antler removal treatments and the greater amount of struggling during velvet antler removal indicated that it was more aversive than the control treatment. Post-treatment differences in behaviour may have been due to pain following velvet antler removal.     

The biochemical basis of resistance of potato to soft rot bacteria

Evidence is presented that a number of mechanisms are involved in the resistance of commercial cultivars of potato to soft rottingErwinia spp. These include phytoalexins, phenolics, cell wall modification, and possibly proteins. The role of elicitor-active oligogalacturonides, which are released from plant cell walls by pectic enzymes, is discussed.     

Interactions among herbivores,microbial insecticides and crop plants

Knowledge of the interactions among lepidopterous insects, microbial insecticides and plants is either lacking or incomplete. In some of the interactions, plant allelochemicals antagonized the insecticidal activity of the microbe by means of feeding reduction. In others, microbe activity was enhanced either by causing insect toxicity or by a potentiation of the crystal protein. Nutritional evaluations of the interactions amongHeliothis virescens. Bacillus thuringiensis crystal protein and tannin showed that microbe toxicity in the larva was antagonized by this phytochemical.     

The effects of restricted feeding on adrenal cortical activity in the immature domestic fowl

1. The effect of reducing food intake to 75% of the ad libitum intake was determined from hatching to 8 weeks in young Light Sussex chickens.

2. Restricted birds were lighter throughout the experiment.

3. Relative adrenal weight tended to be greater in restricted birds but the difference decreased with time.

4. There was no depletion of adrenal cholesterol: from week 5 there was a significantly greater amount in the adrenals of restricted birds.

5. After 1 week of restriction plasma corticosterone concentration was 73% greater than in controls. It decreased progressively, falling within the normal range at 5 weeks.

6. Restricted birds were hypoglycaemic from weeks 2 to 7 and hyper‐lipacidaemic throughout. A negative correlation between plasma glucose and free fatty acids was found.     

Dated rock engravings from wonderwerk cave, South Africa

Radiocarbon dates associated with engraved stones from sealed archeological deposits at Wonderwerk Cave in the northern Cape Province indicate that rock engraving in South Africa is at least 10,000 years old.     

The use of immunochemically purified anti-brucella antibody in a direct fluorescent antibody test for Brucella abortus

Antibodies specific for Brucella abortus were purified from the serum of hyperimmunized sheep using immunochemical procedures. They were conjugated to fluorescein isothiocyanate and used in a fluorescent antibody (FA) test for B. abortus. The conjugate did not stain any heterologous bacterial or fungal species tested and background fluorescence associated with its use on smears and sections of abortion materials was particularly low. Of 239 cases of abortion examined fluorescent microscopy demonstrated B. abortus in all 12 cases in which the organism was isolated. A few areas of fluorescence typical of B. abortus were also seen in 3 cases from which the organism was not cultured. B. abortus was demonstrated in lymph nodes from 6 of 36 Brucella reactor cows by culture and 7 by the FA test. However, only very low numbers of B. abortus were isolated or seen and sampling errors would have been significant. Use of the FA test allows diagnosis of Brucellosis to be made in 2 hours, compared to 6 days by the usual cultural procedures.