Soil quality assessments in integrated crop–livestock–forest systems: A review

Integrated crop–livestock–forest is a promising strategy to improve soil quality. It comprises four different integrated farming systems: crop–livestock, crop–forest, forest–livestock and crop–livestock–forest. This work systematically reviewed studies about integrated crop–livestock–forest systems and soil quality. A total of 92 papers were retrieved from the Web of Science—Clarivate Analytics platform, and the following information was analysed: publication year, institution, region of the studied site, type of integrated system, soil type, tillage system, maximum soil depth and the soil quality indicators assessed. Most studies were published in the second half of the 2010s. Brazil is a prominent focus of research about soil quality and integrated crop–livestock–forest systems, with significant contribution from its central and southern regions. The Embrapa was the main publishing institution, present in over one‐third of the studies. Crop–livestock was the most common integrated system, Ferralsols was the most common soil group, and most of the studied soils were clayey. No tillage was the main tillage system. Most studies focused on the topsoil, assessing physical and/or chemical soil quality indicators. More emphasis on biological indicators of soil quality is required, as well as assessments integrating biological, physical and chemical indicators of soil quality. Future works should compare different integrated systems, including assessments deeper in the soil profile, especially in systems with the forest component, and also in sandy and silty soils. Soil quality indicators that have been rarely used should be further tested. Novel indicators should be added to better understand the promotion of soil quality by integrated crop–livestock–forest systems.     

Incidence of Salmonellae in Captive and Wild Free‐Living Raptorial Birds in Central Spain

A total of 595 faecal samples from raptorial birds, either captive or free‐living, residing in GREFA Wildlife Hospital were bacteriologically examined using various selective media and an Automated Diagnostic Assay System for Salmonella detection. Serotype and phage type of the strains identified as Salmonella was determined. In the captive group, of the 285 samples examined, 21 (7.36%) were positive for Salmonella. Serotyping revealed that most of the individuals were infected by Salmonella serotype Havana. This result suggested that there could be a source of contamination in the Hospital although it could not be established. In the wild free‐living group, over 310 samples examined (4.19%) were positive for Salmonella. The Salmonella isolates showed a major variety of serotypes: Enteritidis, Adelaide, Brandenburg, Newport, Typhimurium, Hadar, Saintpaul and Virchow. Most of them are similar to those commonly described in isolates from human and domestic animals. These results indicate that wild birds could be involved in the dissemination of Salmonella in humans or domestic animals or vice versa.     

Use of two doses of cloprostenol in different intervals for estrus synchronization in hair sheep under tropical conditions

Tropical Animal Health and Production - This study evaluated the effect of two doses of prostaglandin at different intervals on reproductive parameters of crossbred ewes. In Experiment 1, 30 ewes...     

Early resynchronization protocols for goats: Progestogens can be used prior to an early pregnancy diagnosis without affecting corpus luteum functionality

This study aimed to evaluate the exogenous progesterone (P4) effect on the luteal function from Day 16 to Day 21 of the oestrous cycle in inseminated goats with unknown pregnancy status. A total of 54 does passed through a short progestin-based synchronization protocol and, on Day 16 of the following oestrous cycle, 27 does received a new P4 device which was retained until Day 21. Blood samples were collected daily from all does during this period, as well as on Day 24. Pregnancy diagnoses were performed on Day 30. Serum P4 values from 26 animals (G_NPSP: Group of non-pregnant does with second sponge: n = 8; G_NPNSP: Group of non-pregnant does without second sponge: n = 6; G_PSP: Group of pregnant does with second sponge: n = 5; G_PNSP: Group of pregnant does without second sponge: n = 7) were determined by radioimmunoassay commercial kits. No P4 differences were found between groups (G_NPSP: 3.1 ± 2.8; 1.7 ± 1.8; 0.4 ± 1.0; and 0.0 ± 0.0 vs. G_NPNSP: 4.4 ± 1.8; 3.0 ± 2.2; 0.8 ± 0.8; and 0.0 ± 0.0 or G_PSP: 4.2 ± 1.0; 3.4 ± 0.6; 3.3 ± 1.6; 3.2 ± 0.9; 3.6 ± 1.2; 3.5 ± 1.3; 2.7 ± 1.3 vs. G_PNSP: 4.4 ± 1.6; 3.6 ± 1.5; 3.7 ± 1.5; 3.8 ± 1.4; 3.2 ± 1.2; 3.1 ± 1.2; 3.6 ± 1.1; D16, D17, D18, D19, D20, D21, D24, respectively) or for the interaction of group and time. In conclusion, a second progestogen device had no effect on luteolysis or early pregnancy in the following oestrous cycle.     

Emerging issues in genomic selection

Genomic selection (GS) is now practiced successfully across many species. However, many questions remain, such as long-term effects, estimations of genomic parameters, robustness of genome-wide association study (GWAS) with small and large datasets, and stability of genomic predictions. This study summarizes presentations from the authors at the 2020 American Society of Animal Science (ASAS) symposium. The focus of many studies until now is on linkage disequilibrium between two loci. Ignoring higher-level equilibrium may lead to phantom dominance and epistasis. The Bulmer effect leads to a reduction of the additive variance; however, the selection for increased recombination rate can release anew genetic variance. With genomic information, estimates of genetic parameters may be biased by genomic preselection, but costs of estimation can increase drastically due to the dense form of the genomic information. To make the computation of estimates feasible, genotypes could be retained only for the most important animals, and methods of estimation should use algorithms that can recognize dense blocks in sparse matrices. GWASs using small genomic datasets frequently find many marker-trait associations, whereas studies using much bigger datasets find only a few. Most of the current tools use very simple models for GWAS, possibly causing artifacts. These models are adequate for large datasets where pseudo-phenotypes such as deregressed proofs indirectly account for important effects for traits of interest. Artifacts arising in GWAS with small datasets can be minimized by using data from all animals (whether genotyped or not), realistic models, and methods that account for population structure. Recent developments permit the computation of P-values from genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP), where models can be arbitrarily complex but restricted to genotyped animals only, and single-step GBLUP that also uses phenotypes from ungenotyped animals. Stability was an important part of nongenomic evaluations, where genetic predictions were stable in the absence of new data even with low prediction accuracies. Unfortunately, genomic evaluations for such animals change because all animals with genotypes are connected. A top-ranked animal can easily drop in the next evaluation, causing a crisis of confidence in genomic evaluations. While correlations between consecutive genomic evaluations are high, outliers can have differences as high as 1 SD. A solution to fluctuating genomic evaluations is to base selection decisions on groups of animals. Although many issues in GS have been solved, many new issues that require additional research continue to surface.     

Equine conidiobolomycosis: A review and case study

Conidiobolus coronatus is one of the most commonly identified upper respiratory fungal pathogens in horses. This article includes a review of clinical signs, diagnostics, treatment and outcomes in previously reported cases of equine conidiobolomycosis, as well as six additional cases seen at our hospital. Each of the six horses presented with a complaint of serosanguinous or haemorrhagic nasal discharge and conidiobolomycosis was confirmed by histopathology and fungal culture. Five horses recovered after administration of antifungal drugs alone (n = 4) or in combination with extensive nasal septum resection (n = 1). Surgical treatment alone was ineffective. One horse was euthanised without treatment because of the extent of the disease.     

Questionnaire on the process of recovering horses from general anesthesia and associated personnel injury in equine practice

ObjectiveTo collect data about the current practice of recovering horses from general anesthesia and recovery personnel safety.Study designOnline survey.MethodsAn online questionnaire, including questions on general demographic data, recovery drugs, modality and characteristics of equine recovery and morbidity and mortality, was designed and distributed via e-mail to equine practitioners worldwide.ResultsPractitioners from 22 countries completed 373 questionnaires; 53% of the participants were board-certified equine surgeons, and the remainder were board-certified anesthesiologists (18%), large animal residents (8%), general practitioners (7%), large animal interns (6%), anesthesia residents (4.5%) and veterinary technicians (1.6%). Respondents were employed by academia (58%) or private practice (42%). Of the respondents employed at a university, 93% had a board-certified anesthesiologist on staff compared with 7% of respondents employed at a private practice. Most of the respondents assist horses during recovery, with 23% assisting every recovery and 44% assisting recovery in the majority of cases. Reasons for choosing to assist horses during recovery were: orthopedic procedures (57%), neurological deficits (49%), bad health (47%), history of poor recovery (44%), foals (42%), draft breeds (30%), magnetic resonance imaging (17%) and computed tomography (16%). Unacceptable recoveries were reported by 77% of participants. Commonly reported complications during recovery with any method were: orthopedic injury (66%), myopathy (54%), skin abrasion (53%) and airway obstruction (37%). The incidences of unacceptable quality of recovery (p = 0.09) or personnel injury (p = 0.56) were not different between assisted and nonassisted recoveries; however, more equine fatalities were reported for assisted recoveries (p < 0.006). Practitioners in academia reported more unacceptable recoveries (p < 0.0007) and personnel injuries (p < 0.002) compared with those in private practice.ConclusionsThe method of recovery differs among hospitals. Recovery personnel injuries associated with assisting horses during recovery are an important and previously unreported finding.