The association between fetching for milking and dairy cows'' behaviour at milking, and avoidance of human approach — An on-farm study in herds with automatic milking systems

The present study explores the welfare aspects of involuntary milking in dairy herds with an automatic milking system (AMS) as it focuses on whether fetching of cows for milking may be related to fear/discomfort of the automatic milking unit (AMU) or the milking itself and further, may strain the human–animal relationship. Behavioural data on cow reluctance when entering the AMU, stepping and kicking behaviour during milking and avoidance of humans was collected at 6 two-day visits to 8 Danish commercial AMS herds during a year. The data set for the analysis included one observation per cow of reluctance when entering the AMU and behaviour during milking of a total of 869 cows; 255 cows fetched for milking and 614 non-fetched cows. For 82 of the cows fetched for milking and for 370 of the non-fetched cows the data further included one observation per cow of avoidance towards an approaching unfamiliar human in a test situation. Multivariate analyses by conditional hierarchical log-linear models showed that fetchings were more frequent the first 14 days of lactation (P < 0.001). The multivariate analysis showed no associations between fetching and reluctance at entering the AMU, nor an association to stepping and kicking during milking. However, compared to non-fetched cows, fetched cows were more frequently avoiding the test person in the human approach test (P < 0.001). It is concluded that fetching may strain the human–animal relationship.     

Impact of adjuvants on bentazon efficacy on selected broadleaf weeds

Tank-mix adjuvants can increase the efficacy of herbicides. Therefore, the effects of different rates of bentazon alone or tank-mixed with ammonium sulfate, non-ionic (0.25% Induce) or organosilicone (0.1% Kinetic) adjuvants were investigated on cocklebur (Xanthium strumarium), black nightshade (Solanium nigrum), velvetleaf (Abutilon theophrasti), and stranglervine (Morrenia odorata) under greenhouse condition. There were variations in susceptibility of the four weed species to bentazon-adjuvants tank-mixture treatments. Black nightshade control never exceeded 55% with all bentazan treatments rates from 0.84 to 2.24 kg ha⁻¹ with or without the adjuvants. While cocklebur was completely controlled with the application of bentazon at 1.12 kg ha⁻¹, or with bentazon at 0.84 kg ha⁻¹ plus one of the three adjuvants, with insignificant differences between adjuvants. The limited factor of controlling velvetleaf and stranglervine is the bentazon rate. Complete foliar death (98–100%) of velvetleaf and stranglervine was with bentazon at 1.68 kg ha⁻¹ alone or with Induce or Kinetic adjuvant. The results suggested that black nightshade was difficult-to-control weed, while cocklebur was susceptibility to bentazon at lowest rate (0.84 kg ha⁻¹) plus adjuvant. Mixing adjuvant with bentazon generally enhanced common cocklebur and black nightshade control, while addition of adjuvant to bentazon at all rates for controlling stranglervine did not cause any significant difference.     

甜瓜AMS基因结构分析及基因编辑载体构建

【目的】研究鉴定甜瓜雄性不育候选基因ABORTED MICROSPORES(AMS)的基因家族，分析CRISPR基因编技术并构建其敲除载体，为甜瓜雄性不育基因AMS功能验证提供依据。【方法】采用生物信息学技术鉴定甜瓜雄性不育候选基因ABORTED MICROSPORES(AMS)家族基因，分析其进化关系、保守基序及理化性质。利用CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术以甜瓜AMS基因外显子区设计gRNA引物，以载体pHSN401为模板，扩增获得sgRNA克隆框，使用Bsa I酶切pHSN401载体，利用DNA重组酶构建重组载体并转化农杆菌，挑选单克隆进行培养，随后进行菌液PCR鉴定。【结果】甜瓜AMS基因编码的蛋白质长度从501～605 aa不等，平均分子量约为59 351 Da,等电点为5.04～6.45,甜瓜大部分AMS基因定位在细胞核；利用CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术，在AMS基因的CDS区设计3个靶位点，分别是AMS-pHSN401-1、AMS-pHSN401-2和AMS-pHSN401-3。【结论】AMS基因主要被预测在细胞核中表达，利用CRISPR/Cas9基因编辑技术构建...