A survey of village poultry production in the Solomon Islands

A total of 84 farmers in 31 villages of Guadalcanal, Western, Malaita and Central Provinces of the Solomon Islands were surveyed to obtain baseline information on the current feeding practices and farmer attitudes to village poultry production. Farming of village chickens in the Solomon Islands is conducted on a small scale. Most surveyed farmers thought chickens were easy to care for, provide food for the family and was a good cash income enterprise. Some farmers were interested in keeping local chickens, but found it difficult to obtain the birds. The main feed sources are fresh coconut, copra meal, fish meal, mill run, food scraps and forage sources from the range. Some villagers believe that chickens only need to eat household scraps and did not provide drinking water. Many villagers lacked the knowledge of managing a village poultry enterprise. Some chicken houses were built by using bush materials or by purchasing construction materials. Farmers indicated they would like the government to provide funds for establishing a smallholder poultry enterprise and to provide information on feeding and management of birds.     

Trypanosoma cruzi: adaptation to its vectors and its hosts

American trypanosomiasis is a parasitic zoonosis that occurs throughout Latin America. The etiological agent, Trypanosoma cruzi, is able to infect almost all tissues of its mammalian hosts and spreads in the environment in multifarious transmission cycles that may or not be connected. This biological plasticity, which is probably the result of the considerable heterogeneity of the taxon, exemplifies a successful adaptation of a parasite resulting in distinct outcomes of infection and a complex epidemiological pattern. In the 1990s, most endemic countries strengthened national control programs to interrupt the transmission of this parasite to humans. However, many obstacles remain to the effective control of the disease. Current knowledge of the different components involved in elaborate system that is American trypanosomiasis (the protozoan parasite T. cruzi, vectors Triatominae and the many reservoirs of infection), as well as the interactions existing within the system, is still incomplete. The Triatominae probably evolve from predatory reduvids in response to the availability of vertebrate food source. However, the basic mechanisms of adaptation of some of them to artificial ecotopes remain poorly understood. Nevertheless, these adaptations seem to be associated with a behavioral plasticity, a reduction in the genetic repertoire and increasing developmental instability.     

Lythrum hyssopifolia (lesser loosestrife) poisoning of sheep in Victoria

Objective To document an ovine disease attributed to the consumption of Lythrum hyssopifolia (lesser loosestrife). Procedures Historical and histological review of field and experimental cases. Results 1–20% mortality occurred in sheep flocks grazing paddocks where L. hyssopifolia was the predominant green vegetation. Well‐documented disease outbreaks occurred in summer on nine farms across Victoria between 1974 and 2002. Liver damage occurred in all nine outbreaks, with kidney damage in at least eight. Hepatocyte necrosis was usually zonal to midzonal (zone 2) in the liver samples from four farms and periacinar (zone 3) in those from three farms, but some livers showed only single‐cell necrosis. Multinucleate hepatocytes near necrotic areas were a feature in six cases. Proximal tubular epithelium appeared to be the primary renal target and brown granules were often present in renal tubules. Biochemical and histological evidence of liver and kidney damage was obtained from two sheep experimentally pen‐fed harvested L. hyssopifolia. Conclusion Chemicals in L. hyssopifolia are toxic to ovine hepatocytes and renal tubular epithelial cells.     

Characterization of aflatoxigenic and non-aflatoxigenic strains of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aspergillus</Emphasis> section <Emphasis Type="Italic">Flavi</Emphasis> isolated from corn grains of different geographic origins in Brazil

Aflatoxins can cause great economic losses and serious risks to humans and animals health. The largest aflatoxin producers belong to Aspergillus section Flavi and can occur naturally in food commodities. Studies showed that molecular tools as well as the type of sclerotia produced by the strains could be helpful for identification of Aspergillus species and could be correlated with levels of toxin production. The purpose of this work was to characterize the genetic diversity using AFLP technique, the type of sclerotia and the ability of aflatoxin production by isolated strains from corn of different origins in Brazil, and to verify whether qPCR based on aflR and aflP genes is appropriate for estimating the level of aflatoxin production. All the 75 strains were classified as A. flavus and the AFLP technique showed a wide intraspecific variability within them. Regarding sclerotia production, 34% were classified as S and 66% as L type. Among the aflatoxin-producers, 52.8% produced aflatoxin B₁, while 47.2% aflatoxins B₁ and B₂. Statistical analysis showed no correlation between sclerotia production and aflatoxigenicty, and no correlation between the phylogenetic clusters and aflatoxin production. Concerning the relative expression of aflR and aflP, Pearson’s correlation test demonstrated low positive correlation between the expression of the aflR and aflP genes and the production of AFB₁ and AFB₂, but showed high positive correlation between aflR and aflP expression. In contrast to the other reference strains, A. oryzae ATCC 7282 showed no amplification of aflR and aflP. The results highlight the need for detection of reliable and reproducible markers with a high positive correlation with aflatoxin production.     

Dietary soyabean oil depresses the apparent digestibility of fibre in trotters when substituted for an iso-energetic amount of corn starch or glucose

The aim of the present study was to establish whether the inhibitory effect of fat feeding on fibre digestion has been underestimated due to the substitution of fat for corn starch. A high fat intake has been shown to lower total intestinal tract apparent digestibility of crude fibre in horses but, since fat was substituted for nonstructural carbohydrates, including starch, the specific effect of fat could not be ascertained. The possibility could not be excluded that starch also inhibits fibre digestibility, so that the fat effect observed earlier would have been underestimated. In this study, the intakes of iso-energetic amounts of soyabean oil, corn starch or glucose were compared as to fibre digestibility. Unlike starch, glucose is fully absorbed by the small intestine and, therefore, is not expected to influence fibre fermentation in the caecum and colon. Six trotters were fed rations high in soyabean oil (158 g/kg dry matter), corn starch (337 g/kg dry matter) or glucose (263 g/kg dry matter) according to a 3 x 3 Latin square design. Apparent crude fibre digestibility was similar for the rations with corn starch (mean +/- s.d., 70.7 +/- 3.06% of intake, n = 6) or glucose (71.0 +/- 1.90%), but was significantly depressed by fat feeding (56.5 +/- 7.65%). Similar observations were made for apparent digestibilities of neutral and acid detergent fibre and of cellulose. It was concluded that the addition of fat to the feed ration of horses has a specific inhibitory effect on fibre utilisation and, therefore, reduces the amount of energy provided by dietary fibre.