机械运输对伊朗北部山林陡峭集材道土壤的干扰

A study was conducted to investigate the effects of skid trail slope and traffic levels on soil disturbances at two soil depths (0–10 and 10–20 cm). The treatments were set at four traffic levels (2, 7, 12 and 20), two slope classes (<20% and >20%) and two soil depths (0–10 and 10–20 cm). Results show that skidder traffic, longitudinal slope and soil depth have significant effect on soil bulk density in skid trail. Comparison of average soil bulk density in different traffic levels shows that there are significant differences in average bulk density between different traffic levels and control (p<0.05). The average bulk densities in different slopes and soil depths are significantly increased with increase in traffic levels, maximized at 12 passes (p<0.05), but there are no significant differences between 12 and 20 passes. The interaction effects between traffic and soil depth are significant (F _0.05,3=0.109, p<0.001). For all traffic treatments, there are significant differences in soil moisture content between the two slope classes and the two depths (p<0.001). However, the interaction effects between traffic levels and slope classes are not significant (p >0.05), although skidder traffic and slope affected soil moisture content.     

Short-rotation woody crops and phytoremediation: Opportunities for agroforestry?

Agroforestry Systems - Worldwide, fuelwood demands, soil and groundwater contamination, and agriculture's impact on nature are growing concerns. Fast growing trees in short rotation woody crop...     

Effects of feeding roasted safflower seeds (variety IL-111) and fish oil on dry matter intake, performance and milk fatty acid profiles in dairy cattle

Safflower seed has the highest concentration of linoleic acid among 80 oilseeds but little information exists on the effective use of SS for lactation cows. It was hypothesised that a diet supplemented with an Iranian SS variety (IL-111) in combination with fish oil (FO) would result in higher concentrations of trans-18:1 (including vaccenic acid) and conjugated linoleic acids in milk fat than feeding an unsupplemented control diet. Our objective was to determine the effects of feeding diets containing: (i) Control: (C); (ii) 25 g of roasted SS IL-111 (RSS); (iii) 20 g FO and (iv) 25 g RSS + 10 g FO (RSS + FO) per kilogram of dietary DM on feed intake, ruminal fermentation, milk production and fatty acid profile. Eight multiparous Holstein cows were used in a replicated 4 × 4 Latin square design study. The experiment had four periods of 21 days. Milk Fat percentage was lower (p < 0.01) with FO supplementation and averaged 19.0 and 21.5 g/kg milk with FO and RSS + FO compared with 30.3 and 32.5 g/kg with C and RSS. Feed intake also was lower (p < 0.01) with FO vs. C (23.1 vs. 24.5 kg/day) but feeding RSS resulted in greater feed intake compared with other treatments (26 kg/day). Despite lower feed intake with FO, milk production did not change from controls but feeding RSS + FO resulted in greater milk yield than controls (42.6 vs. 39.3 kg/day). Ruminal pH was greater (p < 0.01) in cows fed FO than other treatments. Supplemental FO alone or in combination with RSS resulted in dramatic increases (p < 0.01) in c9,t11-18:2 in milk fat (12.7 and 13.2 g/day vs. 5.8 and 7.02 with C and RSS). It was surprising to note that 25 g/kg RSS can improve feed intake.     

The effect of melanocortin (Mc3 and Mc4) antagonists on serotonin-induced food and water intake of broiler cockerels

The current study was designed to examine the effects of intracerebroventricular injections of SHU9119 [a nonselective melanocortin receptor (McR) antagonist] and MCL0020 (a selective McR antagonist) on the serotonin-induced eating and drinking responses of broiler cockerels deprived of food for 24 h (FD24). For Experiment 1, the chickens were intracerebroventricularly injected with 2.5, 5, and 10 µg serotonin. In Experiment 2, the chickens received 2 nmol SHU9119 before being injected with 10 µg serotonin. For Experiment 3, the chickens were given 10 µg serotonin after receiving 2 nmol MCL0020, and the level of food and water intake was determined 3 h post-injection. Results of this study showed that serotonin decreased food intake but increased water intake among the FD24 broiler cockerels and that these effects occurred in a dose-dependent manner. The inhibitory effect of serotonin on food intake was significantly attenuated by pretreatment with SHU9119 and MCL0020. However, the stimulatory effect of serotonin on water intake was not altered by this pretreatment. These results suggest that serotonin hypophagia and hyperdipsia were mediated by different mechanisms in the central nervous system, and that serotonin required downstream activation of McRs to promote hypophagia but not hyperdipsia in the FD24 chickens.     

Interactive Effects of Salinity and ZnO Nanoparticles on Physiological and Molecular Parameters of Rapeseed (Brassica napus L.)

Salinity is considered as the main factor limiting the yield of crops in arid and semi-arid regions. There are still many uncertainties about the nanotechnology and its potential applications, as well as doubts about its efficacy and safety in the long term. The aim of this study was to examine the alleviative effects of ZnO NPs (nanoparticles) (0, 20 and 80 mgL^?1) on toxicity damage caused by NaCl (0, 50 and 100 mM) at physiological and molecular parameters in Rapeseed. Rapeseed plants were treated at the rosette stage by different levels of salinity and ZnO NPs based on a completely randomized design (CRD) with three replications. At the physiological level, salinity stress significantly increased root ion leakage and decreased relative water content (RWC), stomata density and Hill reaction while application of ZnO NPs improved Hill reaction, and reduced ion leakage. At the molecular level, salinity stress significantly reduced the expression of ARP, MYC and SKRD2 genes compared to non-stressed plants while MPK4 gene expression increased under a high level of NaCl imposition. Foliar spraying of ZnO NPs considerably decreased the expression of MYC, MPK4, and SKRD2 genes and increased the expression of the ARP gene. It can be concluded that ZnO NPs had the ability to reduce the toxicity created under salinity stress at the optimal concentration (20 mgL^?1) in rapeseed and could play an important role in increasing the resistance of rapeseed plants to salinity stress.     

Collaborative development of the Arrowsmith two node search interface designed for laboratory investigators

Arrowsmith is a unique computer-assisted strategy designed to assist investigators in detecting biologically-relevant connections between two disparate sets of articles in Medline. This paper describes how an inter-institutional consortium of neuroscientists used the UIC Arrowsmith web interface http://arrowsmith.psych.uic.edu in their daily work and guided the development, refinement and expansion of the system into a suite of tools intended for use by the wider scientific community.     

The drug transporter MgMfs1 can modulate sensitivity of field strains of the fungal wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola to the strobilurin fungicide trifloxystrobin

BACKGROUND: The major facilitator superfamily (MFS) drug transporter MgMfs1 of the wheat pathogen Mycosphaerella graminicola (Fuckel) J Schroeter is a potent multidrug transporter with high capacity to transport strobilurin fungicides in vitro. The data presented in this paper indicate that, in addition to the predominant cause of strobilurin resistance, cytochrome b G143A subsititution, MgMfs1 can play a role in sensitivity of field strains of this pathogen to trifloxystrobin. RESULTS: In a major part of field strains of M. graminicola (collected in the Netherlands in 2004) containing the cytochrome b G143A substitution, the basal level of expression of MgMfs1 was elevated as compared with sensitive strains lacking the G143A substitution. Induction of MgMfs1 expression in wild-type isolates upon treatment with trifloxystrobin at sublethal concentrations proceeded rapidly. Furthermore, in disease control experiments on wheat seedlings, disruption mutants of MgMfs1 displayed an increased sensitivity to trifloxystrobin. CONCLUSION: It is concluded that the drug transporter MgMfs1 is a determinant of strobilurin sensitivity of field strains of M. graminicola.     

Digestion of rice straw and oil palm fronds by microflora from rumen and termite bacteria, in vitro

The digestion and Volatile Fatty Acid (VFA) production from rice straw and oil palm fronds by cellulolytic bacteria isolated from the termite Coptotermes curvignathus were investigated. The bacteria were Acinetobacter strain Raminalimon, Enterobacter aerogenes strain Razmin C, Enterobacter cloacae strain Razmin B, Bacillus cereus strain Razmin A and Chryseobacterium kwangyangense strain Cb. Acinetobacter strain Raminalimon is an aerobic bacterium, while the other species are facultative anaerobes. There were significant differences (p<0.05) among the bacteria for Dry Matter (DM) lost and acetic acid production from rice straw and Acinetobacter strain Raminalimon showed the highest activity. The facultative bacteria C. kwangyangense strain Cb (cfu mL(-1) 231 x 10(-6), OD: 0.5), E. cloacae (cfu mL(-1) 68 x 10(-7), OD: 0.5) and E. aerogenes (cfu mL(-1) 33 x 10(-7), OD: 0.5) were used for digestion study with the rumen fluid microflora. The in vitro gas production technique was applied for the comparative study and the parameters measured were pH, gas (volume), dry matter lost, acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid concentrations. pH was not significantly (p<0.05) different among the five treatments. The bacterium C. kwangyangense strain Cb showed the highest activity (p<0.05) for DM lost, acetic acid, propionic acid and butyric acid production from rice straw when compared to the other bacterial activities. There was no significance (p<0.05) difference between the three bacteria for the dry matter lost of oil palm fronds but the production of Volatile Fatty Acids (VFA) was significantly (p<0.05) high in the treatment which was inoculated with C. kwangyangense strain Cb. The Gen Bank NCBI/EMBL accession numbers for the bacterial strains are EU332791, EU305608, EU305609, EU294508 and EU169201.