Carbon Depletion by Plowing and its Restoration by No‐Till Cropping Systems in Oxisols of Subtropical and Tropical Agro‐Ecoregions in Brazil

The continuous use of plowing for grain production has been the principal cause of soil degradation. This project was formulated on the hypothesis that the intensification of cropping systems by increasing biomass‐C input and its biodiversity under no‐till (NT) drives soil restoration of degraded agro‐ecosystem. The present study conducted at subtropical [Ponta Grossa (PG) site] and tropical regions [Lucas do Rio Verde, MT (LRV) site] in Brazil aimed to (i) assess the impact of the continuous plow‐based conventional tillage (CT) on soil organic carbon (SOC) stock vis‐à‐vis native vegetation (NV) as baseline; (ii) compare SOC balance among CT, NT cropping systems, and NV; and (iii) evaluate the redistribution of SOC stock in soil profile in relation to soil resilience. The continuous CT decreased the SOC stock by 0·58 and 0·67 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ in the 0‐ to 20‐cm depth at the PG and LRV sites, respectively, and the rate of SOC sequestration was 0·59 for the PG site and ranged from 0·48 to 1·30 Mg C ha⁻¹ y⁻¹ for the LRV site. The fraction of C input by crop residues converted into SOC stock was ~14·2% at the PG site and ~20·5% at the LRV site. The SOC resilience index ranged from 0·29 to 0·79, and it increased with the increase in the C input among the NT systems and the SOC sequestration rates at the LRV site. These data support the hypothesis that NT cropping systems with high C input have a large potential to reverse the process of soil degradation and SOC decline. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

小型生物质直燃炉结构设计

基于目前现有生物质燃烧炉的燃烧效率低,且燃烧过程中焦油生成过多等问题。以高效率燃烧方式的薄层燃烧为该小型生物质直燃炉的主要燃烧方式,大大提高燃烧效率的同时,有效较低焦油与烟尘的产生,并且采用螺杆输送装置对炉膛进行持续供料,实现稳定的不间断燃烧,为成功解决农村生物质燃料浪费及环境污染起到积极作用,为新形势下的能源可持续发展提供思路。     

Protective Effect of Sulforaphane on Reproductive Function of Male Mice with Cadmium Poisoning

The study was aimed to explore the protective effect of sulforaphane (SFN) on the reproductive function of male mice with cadmium poisoning.40 healthy clean grade male Kunming mice were randomly divided into four groups:control group (H₂O),cadmium chloride group (2.3 mg/kg CdCl₂),sulforaphane group (10 mg/kg SFN),sulforaphane + cadmium chloride group (10 mg/kg SFN+2.3 mg/kg CdCl₂),and continuous administration for 10 d,all mice were executed by dislocated cervical vertebra at 2 d after the last administration,and then the pathologic changes of testicular tissues,organ coefficient of testicle and epididymis,sperm quality and concentration of testosterone were tested.Additionally,the contents of GSH and MDA,and the activities of T-SOD in testis were also detected at the same time. Compared with the control group,pathology damages were observed in cadmium chloride group,organ coefficient of testis and epididymis,sperm quality and levels of testosterone extremely significantly decreased (P<0.01),the activities of T-SOD and GSH content were extremely significantly decreased (P<0.01),and the concentration of MDA was extremely significantly enhanced (P<0.01).Compared with the control group,the activity of T-SOD and concentration of GSH in sulforaphane group were significantly increased (P<0.05),and the concentration of MDA was not significant different between the control group and sulforaphane group (P>0.05).While compared with the cadmium chloride group,the sperm motility rate and sperm total count in sulforaphane and cadmium chloride group were extremely significantly increased (P<0.01),the organ coefficient of testicle and epididymis was increased significantly (P<0.05),the concentration of GSH and activity of T-SOD in testicular tissue were extremely significantly increased (P<0.01),and the concentration of MDA was extremely significantly decreased (P<0.01).The results indicated that sulforaphane had the protection effect on reproduction function of male mice with cadmium poisoning.     

Establishment of a Duplex Real-time RT-PCR Assay for the Differential Detection of Nipha Virus and Highly Pathogenic Porcine Reproductive and Respiratory Syndrome Virus

To establish a rapid,sensitive and specific assay for the differential detection of Nipah virus (NiV) and highly pathogenic porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (HP-PRRSV),a duplex Real-time RT-PCR was developed with specific primers and probes targeting to the special sequences of NiV M gene and HP-PRRSV nsp2 gene by optimization of reaction conditions.The performance of the assay was linear ranging from 4.6×10¹ to 4.6×10⁷ copies/μL for RNA standard control of NiV M (NiV-M-RNA) and from 4.1×10¹ to 4.1×10⁸ copies/μL for RNA standard control of HP-PRRSV nsp2 (HP-PRRSV-nsp2-RNA),and detection limits of the assay was 46 copies for the NiV-M-RNA and 4.1 copies for the HP-PRRSV-nsp2-RNA,respectively.The coefficients of variation (CVs) of both inter-assay and intra-assay repeatability were less than 2.0%,showing good repeatability.The assay was able to specifically detect NiV and HP-PRRSV simultaneously without cross-reaction with classical swine fever virus (CSFV),porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV),swine influenza virus (SIV),porcine parvovirus (PPV),pseudorabies virus (PRV) and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2).Of the 236 samples from pigs for both NiV and HP-PRRSV detection by the established assay,all the samples were negative for NiV,8 samples were HP-PRRSV positive.In conclusion,this assay offers a useful approach for the differential detection of NiV and HP-PRRSV in clinical specimens from the pigs.     

6种灌木不同器官生物量及其碳、氮含量的分配特征

通过研究晋北地区草地黄刺玫、沙棘、荆条、酸枣、绣线菊和柠条等6种常见灌木的叶片、新生枝、老龄枝生物量及其碳、氮含量的分配特征,旨在为草地准确估算草地植物碳、氮循环提供依据。结果表明:黄刺玫的地上生物量最大,是酸枣的7倍。沙棘叶片生物量占地上生物量的比例最大;黄刺玫新生枝生物量占地上生物量的比例最大;柠条老龄枝生物量占地上生物量的比例最大。黄刺玫、沙棘和荆条的地上部分各器官生物量分配特征相似,由高到低表现为叶片、老龄枝、新生枝;绣线菊、酸枣和柠条的地上部分各器官生物量分配特征相似,由高到低表现为老龄枝、叶片、新生枝。6种灌木地上部分各器官碳含量差异不显著,氮含量分布由高到低为叶片、新生枝、老龄枝。     

9种牧草对青海同德牧区土壤特性的影响

通过对青海省高寒牧区常见的9种多年生牧草单播2年后耕层0~15cm土壤理化(pH、容重(BD)、有机碳(SOC)、全氮(TN)、无机碳(C)及微生物学性质(微生物生物量碳(Cmic)、氮(Nmic)和群落代谢功能)等指标的测定分析,结果表明,研究区域只有在种植披碱草2年后土壤有机碳含量有所增加,说明与其他草种相比,种植披碱草利于有机质的积累;试验在每年施肥1次的情况下,土壤氮含量仍然偏低,说明此区氮素被过度利用,处于缺乏水平,因此每年增施氮肥数量、频率以及时间上应加强管理。通过对不同牧草种植区土壤各因子的聚类分析,发现贫花鹅观草、无芒雀麦、紫野麦草和扁穗冰草之间相似度较高,表明其对土壤养分及微生物群落功能的影响较为接近,故在大面积种植的时候可根据牧草地上生物量/质量的高低进行选择性播种。从土壤质量方向考虑,种植杂花苜蓿、红豆草和西北羊茅不利于土地的改良。     

怀孕期高原鼢鼠生物学特征与环境因子的关系分析

选择甘肃天祝县高原鼢鼠(Mospalax baileyi)2个地理位置不同的栖息地为研究区,以高原鼢鼠体重、胎数、妊娠率和种群密度作为其生物学特征指标,以2011~2013年归一化植被指数(NDVI)、年均降水量和年均温度为环境因子,分析二者的相关关系。结果表明:2个研究区域NDVI存在显著性差异(P0.05);除了2011年和2013年雌性体重存在差异外,2个区域高原鼢鼠体重、妊娠率、平均胎数和种群密度均无显著性差异(P0.05);雌雄个体重和平均胎数与NDVI呈负相关关系,妊娠率和种群密度与NDVI呈正相关关系;雄性个体重、胎数和种群密度与年均温呈负相关关系,雌性个体重和妊娠率与年均温呈正相关关系;雄性个体重、妊娠率、胎数和种群密度与年均降水量呈正相关关系,雌性个体重与年均降水量呈负相关关系,但高原鼢鼠各生物学指标与环境因子相关性均不显著(P0.05)。说明,高原鼢鼠体重、妊娠率、胎数和种群密度的变化与栖息地环境因子没有直接关系,生物学特征受环境因子的影响较小。     

Estimation of the standardized ileal digestible lysine requirement for primiparous pregnant sows

This experiment was conducted to determine the optimal standardized ileal digestible lysine (SID Lys) level in diets fed to primiparous sows during gestation. A total of 150 (Landrace × Large White) crossbred gilts (weighing 149.9 ± 3.1 kg) were fed gestation diets (12.55 MJ of ME/kg) containing SID Lys levels of 0.43, 0.52, 0.60, 0.70 or 0.80% respectively. Gilts were fed 2.0 kg/day from day 1 to 80 and 3.0 kg/day from day 80 to 110 of gestation respectively. Gilts were allocated to treatments based on their body weight on the day of breeding. Weight gain from day 80 to 110 increased with increasing dietary SID Lys levels (p = 0.044). Fitted broken‐line (p = 0.031) and quadratic plot (p = 0.047) analysis of body weight gain indicated that the optimal SID Lys level for primiparous sows was 0.70 and 0.69% respectively. During gestation, neither backfat thickness nor loin eye area was affected by dietary SID Lys level. Increasing dietary Lys had no effect on the litter size at birth or pigs born alive per litter. Litter weight at birth was not affected by dietary SID Lys level. The litter weight variation at birth quadratically decreased with increasing dietary SID Lys (p = 0.021) and was minimized at 0.70% dietary SID Lys. Gilts fed the 0.70% SID Lys diet had the highest dry matter (p = 0.031) and protein (p = 0.044) content in colostrum. On day 110 of gestation, gilts fed the 0.70% SID Lys diet tended to have the highest serum prolactin (p = 0.085) and serum insulin (p = 0.074) levels. The data demonstrate that the optimal dietary SID Lys was 0.70% for pregnant gilts, which is similar to the recommendation of 0.69% that was estimated by the NRC (2012).     

Relationship between calving difficulty and fertility traits in first‐parity Iranian Holsteins under standard and recursive models

The main objective of this study was to estimate the genetic and phenotypic relationships between calving difficulty (CD) and fertility traits, including success at first service (SF), number of inseminations to conception (INS), interval from calving to first service (CTFS), interval between first and last service (IFL) and days open (DO), in first‐parity Iranian Holsteins under standard (SMMs) and recursive (RMMs) mixed models. The data analysed in this paper included 29 950 records on CD and fertility traits, collected in the time period from 1995 to 2014 by the Animal Breeding and Improvement Center of Iran. Under all observed SMMs and RMMs, five bivariate sire‐maternal grandsire models (ten bivariate analyses in total) were used for the analyses. Recursive models were applied with a view to consider that CD influences the fertility traits in the subsequent reproductive cycle and the genetic determination of CD and fertility traits by fitting CD as covariate for any of the fertility traits studied. The existence of such cause‐and‐effect is considered in RMMs but not in SMMs. Our results implied a statistically non‐zero magnitude of the causal relationships between CD and all the fertility traits studied, with the former influencing the latter. The causal effects of CD on SF (on the observed scale, %), INS, CTFS, IFL and DO were ?2.23%, 0.10 services, 1.93 days, 3.76 days and 5.61 days, respectively. Direct genetic correlations between CD and the fertility traits under both models were not statistically different from zero (95% HPD interval included zero), except for the correlation between CD and CTFS, which were 0.197 and 0.134 under SMM and RMM, respectively, indicating that genes associated with difficult births also increase intervals between calving and the first insemination afterwards. Comparison of both models by the deviance information criterion (DIC) demonstrated the plausibility of RMMs over SMMs.     

沉默蜕皮激素受体对雌性中黑盲蝽生殖力的影响

中黑盲蝽Adelphocoris suturalis是一种重要的农业害虫,主要为害棉花、果树和牧草等作物。昆虫保幼激素(juvenile hormone, JH)与蜕皮激素(molting hormone, 20E)是调控昆虫生殖的主要因素。本研究运用基因克隆、基因沉默(RNAi)、实时荧光定量PCR(qPCR)等技术研究蜕皮激素受体(ecdysone receptor, EcR)、超气门蛋白(ultraspiracle protein, USP)在中黑盲蝽生殖调控中的作用。结果表明,中黑盲蝽EcR基因的ORF全长1 413 bp,编码470个氨基酸。预测蛋白质分子量为53.65 kD,pI值为7.79。中黑盲蝽USP基因ORF全长1 209 bp,编码402个氨基酸。预测蛋白质分子量为44.99 kD, pI值为7.94。与对照相比,注射dsEcR、dsUSP后6～18 d的中黑盲蝽体内EcR基因、USP基因在转录水平分别被显著抑制;卵巢的挂卵量分别仅有对照组的31.5%、86.6%;单雌产卵量减少36.0%～80.4%,显著低于对照。EcR和USP基因沉默后,产卵前期与对照相比无显...