Influence of Dietary Fat and Short-Time Starvation on the Composition of Sow-Milk Fat

The influence of cottonseed oil and of linseed oil upon the fatty-acid composition of milk fat was each studied in one sow. Each oil was added to the basic diet in an amount of 6.3 % for two periods of the lactation. As cottonseed oil has a fatty-acid composition that is similar to that of the basic diet, the supplement with this oil will, in general, increase the same kind of fat in the diet. The linoleic-acid content in the milk fat will be nearly redoubled (11.7 % to 20.5 %) when the cottonseed oil is added. The supplement with linseed oil (of which linolenic acid constitutes about 58 %) to the food raised the linolenic-acid level in the milk fat from 1.1 % to 18.3 %. The increase of linoleic and linolenic acid is counterbalanced by a decrease of shorter fatty acids (G 14 and G 16 acids). The fatty-acid composition of the milk fat adjusts itself to the dietary changes within two or three days.By feeding a diet containing 16.7 % cottonseed oil to a sow, about 27 % linoleic acid was obtained in the sow’s milk fat.The influence of 30 hours of starvation upon the fatty-acid composition was studied in two sows. The content of G 18 acids rose during starvation and that of shorter acids (C14 and C16) diminished.     

Movement patterns of seaward migrating European eel (Anguilla anguilla) at a complex of riverine barriers: implications for conservation

River infrastructure such as weirs and hydropower stations commonly present migrating fish with multiple potential passage routes. Knowledge of the cues fish use to navigate such environments is required to protect migrants from hazardous areas and guide them towards safe passage; however, this is currently lacking for many species. Employing high‐resolution positioning telemetry, this study examined movements of downstream migrating adult European eel, Anguilla anguilla, as they encountered a complex of water control structures in one location on the River Stour, southern England. The distribution of eels across five potential routes of passage differed from that predicted based on proportion of discharge alone. Certain routes were consistently avoided, even when the majority of flow passed through them. Passage distribution was partially explained by avoidance in the vicinity of a floating debris boom. Movement paths were nonrandomly distributed across the forebay and eels moved predominantly within a zone 2–4 m from the channel walls. Understanding of avoidance and structure oriented movementation exhibited by eels will help advance effective guidance and downstream passage solutions for adults.     

Segment-based coancestry,additive relationship and genetic variance within and between the Norwegian and the Swedish Fjord horse populations

ABSTRACT

The Fjord horse originates from Norway but forms a global population due to several small populations in foreign countries. There exists no information about the additive relationship and the genetic variance between these subpopulations. By collecting blood samples from Norwegian and Swedish Fjord horses, a sample of 311 Norwegian and 102 Swedish horses gave 485,918 SNPs available for analysis. Their inbreeding coefficients were calculated and compared to the pairwise coancestry and the shared genomic segments. The effective population size was almost similar with the two methods in the Norwegian Fjord horse population (63 and 71), but very different in the Swedish population (269 and 1136) and unprecise due to a much smaller number of observations. The study showed that coancestry from shared genomic segments can be used to estimate additive genetic relationship and genetic variation within and between the global populations of the Fjord horse.     

Cytokine mRNA profiles in pigs exposed prenatally and postnatally to Schistosoma japonicum

The pig is a natural host for Schistosoma japonicum and a useful animal model of human infection. The aim of the present study was to assess the differences between the cytokine profiles in prenatally or postnatally S. japonicum exposed pigs. Seven prenatally exposed pigs, 7 postnatally exposed pigs and 4 uninfected control pigs were compared 27 weeks post exposure. Variables included worm burdens, tissue egg counts, liver pathology and mRNA levels of IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IL-12, TNF-alpha, TGF-beta1 and IFN-gamma in the liver and the caecum, assessed by RT-PCR. Infection intensity and level of septal fibrosis were significantly higher in the postnatal group compared to the prenatal group (P < 0.05). A significant increase of IL-4 (P < 0.01), IL-10 (P < 0.01), IL-12 (P < 0.01) and TNF-alpha (P < 0.05) mRNA level was also observed in the caecum of prenatally infected animals compared to the control group (P < 0.01). The prenatal group showed higher levels of TGF-beta1 in the liver compared with the postnatally infected group (P< 0.05) and the control group (P< 0.01). This suppressive immune response correlated with previously reported low hepatic pathogenesis in prenatally exposed pigs.     

Farmer's perspective on irrigation performance

Of the many client groups with interests in irrigation system performance, farmers are probably the least often considered. This paper attempts to explore the meaning of irrigation performance from their perspective, highlighting at the outset basic difference between this perspective and that of system managers. It then reviews several important concepts underlying a consideration of performance in irrigation systems. The paper then proposes and discusses a set of twelve measures of irrigation service judged to be of interest to farmers. These are adequacy, timeliness, equity, tractability, convenience, predictability, temperature, sediment content, salt content, nutrient content, toxics, and pathogens.     

Creating and Consolidating Locally Managed Irrigation in Turkey: the National Perspective

The Turkish program of irrigationmanagement transfer has gained worldwidecelebrity for its speed and effectiveness. This paper describes the program brieflyand assesses its effectiveness from anational perspective. The assessmentincludes changes in staffing levels,operational costs, service fee levels, andcost recovery from farmers. A companionpaper examines impacts at the local leveland looks specifically at changes in systemperformance.     

Neighbourhood character affects the spatial extent and magnitude of the functional footprint of urban green infrastructure

Landscape Ecology - Urban densification has been argued to increase the contrast between built up and open green space. This contrast may offer a starting point for assessing the extent and...