Molecular epidemiology of Shiga toxin‐producing O113:H21 isolates from cattle and meat

The serotype O113:H21 is considered one of the relevant non‐O157 STEC serotypes associated with severe human infections. Due to the increased detection of O113 strains and their relationship with clinical cases, which emphasizes the importance of this serogroup as an emerging pathogen, our aim was to determine the characteristics of STEC O113:H21 strains circulating in bovine cattle and retail meat from Argentina. For this purpose, we determined the presence and combinations of various virulence genes (and their variants) related to adhesion and toxicity in a collection of 34 isolates. Their genetic relatedness using multiple‐locus variable‐number tandem repeat analysis (MLVA) was also studied. Subtyping of stx genes indicated that O113:H21 strains circulating in Argentina mainly present stx_2a alone or together with stx_2c or, less frequent, with stx_2d, all of which are subtypes associated with human disease. We found plasmid markers, such as saa, ehxA and subA, in a higher proportion than previous studies, and five variants of saa, two of which were novel ones. In relation to MLVA subtyping, we detected a limited diversity among the isolates considering that several loci were not discriminative and, that in some farms, the same clone seemed to remain circulating throughout the year. The O113:H21 strains studied harbour several toxin and adhesion genes (saa, espP, fimCD, ehaA, iha, hcpA, elfA, lpfO113, ecpA, subA, cdt‐V) and Stx subtypes associated with human disease. Results also highlighted that subtyping of stx and saa is useful to discriminate O113:H21 strains that share virulence genes. In conclusion, this study shows that a number of O113:H21 strains that occur in foods and bovines could be pathogenic for humans. This situation calls for further attention in the prevention and control of foodborne disease caused by these strains.     

大豆素对湘中黑牛育肥牛胴体性能和肉品质的影响

本试验旨在研究饲粮添加大豆素对湘中黑牛育肥牛胴体性能和肉品质的影响。选择14头健康、体重[(450±20)kg]相近、2岁左右阉割湘中黑牛,随机分成2组,每组7头,对照组饲喂基础饲粮,试验组饲喂基础饲粮+500 mg/kg大豆素。试验期为120 d。结果表明:与对照组相比,1)添加大豆素对宰前活重、热胴体重、屠宰率无显著影响(P0.05),胴体的脂肪含量、背膘厚有降低趋势,但差异不显著(P0.05);2)添加大豆素显著提高了背最长肌的粗脂肪含量及大理石花纹评分(P0.05),分别提高了8.34%、1.93分,并显著降低了排酸24 h肌肉的p H和水分含量(P0.05),显著增加了肌肉的红度值(P0.05);3)添加大豆素显著降低了血清中葡萄糖、尿素氮、甘油三酯、总胆固醇、非酯化脂肪酸、高密度脂蛋白胆固醇、低密度脂蛋白胆固醇的浓度(P0.05);4)添加大豆素分别显著提高和降低了背最长肌的异柠檬酸脱氢酶活性和葡萄糖-6-磷酸脱氢酶活性(P0.05)。结果提示,饲粮添加大豆素能够影响育肥牛的脂类代谢,促进肌肉脂肪沉积,改善牛肉的大理石花纹和品质。     

Knowledge,Attitudes and Practices Regarding Risk to Human Infection due to Mycobacterium bovis among Cattle Farming Communities in Western Uganda

A cross‐sectional study involving multistage cluster sampling was undertaken in Kashari county, Mbarara district, western Uganda, in which quantitative and qualitative approaches were utilized to determine the knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding risk of human infection with zoonotic tuberculosis due to Mycobacterium bovis among cattle farmers. Of 496 respondents, 50% were farm owners and 50% herdsmen. Males were 70.9% of all the study participants. Among these, 37.5% had good knowledge, 41.4% had positive attitudes and 75.2% good practices regarding zoonotic tuberculosis. In the multivariable model, good knowledge was associated with having ever received health education, spending more than 5 years keeping cattle, having heard of cattle condemned at the abattoir due to tuberculosis and marital status. Positive attitudes were associated with having ever received health education, having heard of cattle condemned at the abattoir due to tuberculosis and being a farm owner versus being a herdsman. Good practices were associated with health education and good knowledge of the disease. Overall, knowledge and attitudes towards zoonotic tuberculosis due to M. bovis in humans was found to be low. While the majority of the respondents reported good practices, there were some still consuming raw milk and its products, which may predispose them to infection and indicates the need for greater outreach for zoonotic tuberculosis education.     

Effect of restricted suckling on milk yield,milk composition and udder health in cows and behaviour and weight gain in calves,in dual-purpose cattle in the tropics

The study was conducted to evaluate the effects of restricted suckling (RS) in dual-purpose cows and calves compared to artificial rearing (AR). Twelve Holstein-Zebu cows with calves were assigned to each treatment. Cows were milked once daily in the morning with calves present to stimulate milk let-down. RS calves suckled 30 min after milking and 30 min in the afternoon, whereas AR calves were milk-fed from nipple bottles. The daily saleable milk yield was higher in RS than in AR cows (p < 0.01; 7.44 vs 6.50 kg/day), whereas RS cows had lower milk-fat content (p < 0.001). AR cows had higher California Mastitis Test scores (p < 0.001) and lower lactose content (p < 0.001) compared to RS cows, which indicates an improved udder health in RS cows. AR calves displayed more ‘cross-suck’ during suckling/milk feeding (p < 0.001) and during observations of general behaviour (p < 0.05), and more ‘lick and sniff interior’ during milking (p < 0.05) and suckling/milk feeding (p < 0.01), compared to RS calves. During observations of general behaviour the RS calves were more often observed to ‘walk’ (p < 0.01) and ‘lick self’ (p < 0.05) and less frequently to ‘eat concentrate’ (p < 0.05) than AR calves. Results support the hypothesis that RS increases milk yield, influences milk composition and improves udder health in cows, and decreases abnormal sucking in calves.     

Genetic and phenotypic parameters and annual trends for milk production and fertility traits of the Sahiwal cattle in semi arid Kenya

Data comprising 7211 lactation records of 2894 cows were used to estimate genetic and phenotypic parameters for milk production (lactation milk yield, LMY and lactation length, LL) and fertility (calving interval, CI; number of services per conception, NSC and age at first calving, AFC) traits. Genetic, environmental and phenotypic trends were also estimated. Variance components were estimated using univariate, bivariate and trivariate animal models on based restricted maximum likelihood procedures. Univariate models were used for each trait, while bivariate models were used to estimate genetic and phenotypic correlations between milk production and fertility traits and between LMY, LL, CI and NSC within each lactation. Trivariate models were used in the analysis of LMY, LL, CI and NSC in the first three lactations. Heritability estimates from the univariate model were 0.16, 0.07, 0.03, 0.04 and 0.01 for LMY, LL, CI, AFC and NSC, respectively. The heritability estimates from trivariate analysis were higher for milk production traits than those from univariate analyses. Genetic correlations were high and undesirable between milk production and fertility traits, while phenotypic correlations were correspondingly low. Genetic trends were close to zero for all traits, while environmental and phenotypic trends fluctuated over the study period.     

全株青贮小麦秸秆饲喂肉牛增重效果的试验研究

[方法]采用全舍饲饲喂方式,对改良肉牛开展全株青贮小麦秸秆饲喂增重效果的试验研究。[结果]结果表明,在其他饲养条件完全一致的情况下,用全株青贮小麦秸秆饲喂肉牛,头均增重达18.5 kg,较全株玉米秸秆对照组提高33%,头均盈利358.68元,盈利提高78.76%,经济效益明显。     

长期施用化肥和农家肥对土壤化学性质和作物产量的影响

A long-term fertiliztion experiment was carried out in an experimental field in Lyczyn near Warsaw,Poland.Application ofmineral fertilizers ,especially Nfertilizer with and without farmyard manure accel-erated the eacidification process of the soil.Application of 1.6 t CaO ha^-1 every four years was essential to maintenance of the soil pHKCl at 5.5-6.6 and base saturation degree above 60% Application of 50 t farmyard manur ha^-1 every 4 years,whih contained 46 kg P and 240 kg K,was sufficient to maintain boh the K and P fertility of the soil.Besides,it was beneficial to alleviating soil acidifcation. As a result of long-term unbalanced fertilization,yield responses to N,P and K fertilizers incereased significantly with time.the efficiency of N from farmyard manure was found to be comparable to that of N fertilizer during 1988-1991.     

天然沸石对猪场厌氧发酵液中氨氮吸附作用的试验研究

为达到利用人工湿地处理高氨氮污水的目的,采用天然沸石作为人工湿地基质,对比研究了天然沸石对NH4Cl溶液和猪场厌氧发酵液中氨氮的等温吸附特征、吸附动力学过程,考察了吸附时间、氨氮初始浓度、沸石用量对沸石吸附氨氮的影响。结果表明,Freundlich方程较Langmuir方程能更为准确地描述天然沸石对两种水质中氨氮的等温吸附特征;在两种水质中,单分子层饱和吸附量分别为16.20mg·g-1和3.85mg·g-1。天然沸石对氨氮的吸附作用受吸附时间、氨氮初始浓度及沸石用量影响较大,在两种水质中,沸石对氨氮的吸附过程在0～8h内均随时间显著上升,到48h时达到吸附平衡;当采用NH4Cl溶液时,初始氨氮的浓度由10mg·L-1增加到500mg·L-1时,平衡吸附量由0.19mg·g-1增加到5.91mg·g-1;当采用猪场厌氧发酵液时,初始氨氮的浓度由39.4mg·L-1增加到502.9mg·L-1时,平衡吸附量由0.63mg·g-1增加到3.20mg·g-1;增加沸石用量,可以提高氨氮的去除率,但单位质量沸石的氨氮吸附量随之降低。准二级动力学可以很好地描述天然沸石吸附两种水质中氨氮的动力学过程;由模型得出的天然沸石...