Effects of music stimulus on behavior response,cortisol level,and horizontal immunity of growing pigs

An enriched environment is widely used to improve domestic animals’ welfare and promote their natural behaviors. Music can reduce abnormal behavior in humans, nonhuman primates, and rodents. However, little is known about the effects of music on pigs. This study aims to explore the effects of repeated music stimulation on the behavior, physiology, and immunity of growing pigs. A total of 72 hybrid piglets (Large White × Duroc × Minpig) were randomly divided into three groups, including music (Mozart K.448, 60 to 70 dB), noise (recorded mechanical noise, 80 to 85 dB), and control (natural background sound, <40 dB), and 6 h sound stimulation was given per day (1000 to 1600 hours) from 40 to 100 d of age. The behavioral activities of the pigs were observed during the music stimulation, and their serum cortisol, salivary cortisol, and serum immune indices were also measured. Compared with the control group, the music group and noise group increased activity but decreased lying of pigs (P < 0.05). A significant increase in tail-wagging, playing, and exploring behaviors of pigs was found in the music group (P < 0.05), and the noise significantly increased the aggressive behavior of the pigs (P < 0.05). Tail-wagging, playing, exploring, manipulating, and aggressive behaviors decreased over time. Short-term (8 d) music stimulus had a lower cortisol level than that of the noise and control groups (P < 0.05), whereas long-term (60 d) music stimulus increased immunoglobulin G (IgG), interleukin-2 (IL-2), and interferon-gamma (IFN-γ) levels (P < 0.05) and decreased interleukin-4 (IL-4) level (P < 0.05). Long-term noise stimulus significantly reduced the level of IgG (P < 0.05) but did not affect the level of IL-2, IL-4, and IFN-γ levels (P > 0.05). In conclusion, short-term music stimulus (8 d) reduced the stress response, whereas long-term music stimulus (60 d) enhanced the immune responses. In addition, the noise increased the aggressive behavior, and long-term noise reduced the immunity of the growing pigs.     

我国黄瓜抗病品种选育技术研究进展

黄瓜在我国蔬菜产业中占有重要地位,然而连片种植、重茬栽培等条件下容易滋生病菌,尤其是随着我国保护地蔬菜生产规模的扩大,棚室内的温湿度条件更利于病害的发生与流行,黄瓜生产上面临着严重的病虫害威胁,包括生理性病害、感染性病害及虫害等。本文从抗病品种选育的角度分析了黄瓜病害抗病品种选育技术,并简要介绍了其他防治方法,展望了相关研究的发展方向,为黄瓜病虫害的防治提供参考。     

5种生物制剂对马铃薯种薯萌芽、极端天气下植株生长和产量性状的影响

旨在满足马铃薯生产中茬口衔接、机械化生产技术应用、不利气候下稳产等对马铃薯出苗早、齐、壮的需求,以‘费乌瑞它’为供试品种,用基于有益活菌或工程菌提取物的5种生物制剂进行种薯处理,对多重性状进行了对比分析。5种生物制剂较常规化学制剂,均能够不同程度地促进种薯萌芽和芽根同生,出苗期提前2~7天,播种后49天的出苗率提高3.33%~17.78%。其中,表现最好的为酵母核苷酸衍生物和VDAL,种薯萌发和生根均显著高于对照。霜冻后,生物剂拌种处理在恢复前期促进植株生长,由此促进恢复后期的块茎发育,较常规化学处理增产8.39%~24.03%,体现了不同程度的保产效果。多马道黑、酵母核苷酸衍生物、根肽和VDAL体现出较好的保产效果,可作为种薯处理剂投入马铃薯生产。     

Impact of grassland contract policy on soil organic carbon losses from alpine grassland on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau

Carbon storage in the soils on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau plays a very important role in the global carbon budget. In the 1990s, a policy of contracting collective grasslands to smaller units was implemented, resulting in a change from the traditional collective grassland management to two new management patterns: a multi‐household management pattern (MMP: grassland shared by several households without enclosures) and a single‐household management pattern (SMP: grassland enclosed and used by only one household). In 2016, 50 MMP and 54 SMP winter pastures on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau were sampled to assess the differences in soil organic carbon (SOC) between the two management patterns. Results showed that average SOC was significantly greater under MMP than under SMP, with an estimated 0.41 Mg C/ha/yr lost due to SMP following the new grassland contract. Based on the government's grassland policy, four grassland utilization scenarios were developed for both summer and winter pastures. We found that if the grassland were managed under SMP, likely C losses ranged between 0.31 × 10⁷ and 6.15 × 10⁷ Mg C/yr across the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau relative to MMP, which more closely resembles pre‐1990s grassland management. Previous estimates of C losses have only considered land use change (with cover change) and ignored the impacts driven by land management pattern changes (without cover change). The new data suggest that C losses from the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau are greater than previously estimated, and therefore that the grassland contract policy should be reviewed and SMP households should be encouraged to reunite into the MMP. These findings have potential implications for land management strategies not only on the Qinghai–Tibetan Plateau but also other grazing regions globally where such practices may exist.     

Comparative effect of advanced soy products or corn protein concentrate with porcine meal on growth,body composition,and distal intestine histology of Florida pompano,Trachinotus carolinus

The present study was designed to investigate the effects of diets containing advanced soy products (enzyme‐treated soy and fermented soy) or corn protein concentrate (CPC) in combination with porcine meal (PM) to completely replace poultry byproduct meal (PBM) on growth performance, body composition, and distal intestine histology of Florida pompano, Trachinotus carolinus. Four experimental diets were formulated to be isonitrogenous and isolipidic, to contain 400 g/kg crude protein and 80 g/kg lipid. A reference diet (PBM diet [PBMD]) contained 150 g/kg PBM and 495 g/kg soybean meal (SBM), and three test diets were formulated replacing PBM with 15 g/kg of CPC (CPC diet [CPCD]) or replacing all SBM and PBM with 535 g/kg fermented soy (fermented soybean meal diet [FSBMD]) or 451.3 g/kg enzyme‐treated soy (enzyme‐treated soybean meal diet [ESBMD]). All three test diets were supplemented with 38 g/kg of PM. Diets were fed based on a percentage of bodyweight adjusted after sampling the fish every 2 weeks to triplicate groups of Florida pompano juveniles (mean weight 8.06 ± 0.22 g). After 8 weeks of feeding, fish fed CPCD and ESBMD performed equally well in terms of final body weight, thermal growth coefficient, and percentage weight gain in comparison to fish fed PBMD. In all cases, feeding FSBMD resulted in poor feed conversion and lower feed intake compared to other treatments. Protein retention efficiency, whole‐body proximate composition, phosphorus, sulfur, potassium, magnesium, calcium, sodium, and zinc contents were not significantly influenced by the dietary treatments. The results obtained in the present histological study showed no significant differences in the thickness of serous layer, muscular layer, and submucosal layer of the intestine among treatments. Fish fed CPCD showed a significant widening of the lamina propria with an increase of cellular infiltration and higher presence of goblet cells compared to other dietary treatment. Based on these results, 451 g/kg ESBM or combination of 150 g/kg of CPC and 495 g/kg SBM supplemented with 38 g/kg PM can be utilized to develop a practical diet for juvenile Florida pompano without impacting growth, nutritive parameters, and several distal intestine health parameters.     

Beaver dams,streamflow complexity,and the distribution of a rare minnow,Lepidomeda copei

Freshwater fishes are threatened globally, and often too little is known about threatened species to effectively guide their conservation. Habitat complexity is linked to fish species diversity and persistence, and degraded streams often lack habitat complexity. Beaver Castor spp., in turn, have been used to restore streams and increase habitat complexity. The northern leatherside chub Lepidomeda copei is a rare, small‐bodied, drift‐feeding minnow that has anecdotally been observed to use complex habitats associated with beaver dams in the western United States. To investigate this anecdote, we conducted fish and habitat surveys, the latter focusing on quantifying habitat complexity, in a sub‐basin of the Upper Snake River Basin in the USA. Complementary generalised linear model and path analyses revealed that northern leatherside chub occurred more often at sites with complex streamflows, and streamflows were more complex when beaver dams were present and pools were deeper. Northern leatherside chubs were also more likely to occur when temperatures were warmer, aquatic macrophytes were abundant and stream channels were narrow and deep. The linkage between chubs, complex streamflows and beaver dams needs to be evaluated more broadly to completely understand its role in the rangewide status of the species. However, it does suggests that increased use of beaver reintroductions and dam analogues for stream restoration could be a boon for the northern leatherside chub, but such efforts should be monitored to determine their effectiveness to help adapt beaver‐based restoration approaches to best benefit the species.     

The value of sea urchin,Lytechinus variegatus,egesta consumed by shrimp,Litopenaeus vannamei

Sea urchins produce high‐energy, membrane‐bound fecal pellets that contain residual nutrients and large quantities of microbiota. These egesta are readily consumed by the shrimp, Litopenaeus vannamei. Egesta of the sea urchin, Lytechinus variegatus, were evaluated as a feed supplement or total replacement for a commercial shrimp diet. Shrimp were stocked at 0.49 g ± 0.06 g initial body weight and housed individually in 2.8‐L tanks in a commercial recirculating zebrafish system. Shrimp were assigned to one of six diets: commercial shrimp feed, reference sea urchin feed, collected dried sea urchin egesta, collected wet sea urchin egesta, half ration of shrimp feed and half collected wet sea urchin egesta, and egesta naturally produced by two sea urchins in polyculture. Equivalent dry matter amounts of each diet were proffered to shrimp in each treatment twice daily, except for those that had complete access to natural egesta excreted by sea urchins in polyculture. Sea urchins were proffered a reference sea urchin feed at 2% body weight daily. After 27 days, shrimp proffered collected dried or wet egesta did not differ significantly in percent weight gain and showed the lowest weight gain. The percent weight gain of shrimp fed the commercial shrimp diet did not differ significantly from that of the shrimp fed half commercial shrimp diet and half egesta. The highest weight gain was recorded for those shrimp that consumed the untouched egesta produced by sea urchins in polyculture. These data suggest that consumed egesta have noteworthy nutritional value and therefore would be beneficial to the culture of extractive species in an integrated multitrophic aquaculture system.     

Replacement of fish oil in plant‐based diets for Pacific white shrimp,Litopenaeus vannamei,by stearine fish oil and palm oil

Stearine fish oil (SFO) and palm oil (PO) have emerged as promising alternatives for the replacement of fish oil (FO) in aquafeeds. This study evaluated the replacement of FO with alternative oils in practical diets for Litopenaeus vannamei. In a clear brackish water study (14.1 g/L) utilizing shrimp (0.29 ± 0.02 g, initial weight), FO was replaced by SFO at inclusion ratios of 100:0, 75:25, 50:50, 25:75, and 0:100 (FO:SFO) and PO as 90% of FO. After 55 days, no significant differences (p < 0.05) in final weight, growth, or survival of shrimp were observed. A second trial (8 weeks) in low‐salinity water (2.1 g/L) with shrimp (0.92 ± 0.02 g, initial weight) evaluated diets with 100% FO, 100% SFO, 90% PO, 90% soybean oil (SO), or 90% flaxseed oil (FXO) as a replacement for FO and four commercially produced diets with 2% of FO, SO, PO, or FXO. One treatment received half rations of the commercial FO diet, and one treatment was based entirely on natural productivity. Results show that the fatty acid profiles of the tail muscle conformed to the lipids of the feed, and highly unsaturated fatty acids (HUFAs) were preserved. Following 8 weeks of culture, there were no significant differences in production performance.     

The effect of feeding a novel multistrain yeast fraction on European seabass (Dicentrachus labrax) intestinal health and growth performance

Fish were fed a single‐strain yeast fraction (SsYF; 2 g/kg) or a multistrain yeast fraction (MsYF; 0.8 g/kg) for 10 weeks. The results demonstrated significant (p ≤ 0.03) elevations in weight gain, specific growth rate, protein efficiency ratio, and feed conversion ratio in fish fed the yeast fraction‐supplemented diets. In the distal intestine, a significant elevation in microvilli density was observed after 5 and 10 weeks of dietary supplementation with MsYF and SsYF, respectively, compared to control fed fish (p < 0.001). A significant elevation (p = 0.02) in the perimeter ratio was observed in fish fed diets supplemented with the yeast fractions. After 10 weeks of feeding on the experimental diets, Rt‐qPCR demonstrated a significant downregulation (p < 0.05) in the stress response genes, heat‐shock protein 70 (hsp70) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (pcna), in fish fed diets supplemented with the yeast fractions. Significant (p < 0.05) elevations in interleukin 1‐beta (il1β) and interleukin‐10 (il10) gene expression were observed in fish fed diets supplemented with the MsYF compared to the other dietary groups. These findings suggest that feeding an MsYF specifically at a lower incorporation rate < 1 g/kg, compared to a commercial SsYF at 2 g/kg, is effective in improving the intestinal health status and growth performance of European seabass.     

11个葡萄品种在乐山地区的花芽分化规律

研究了11个葡萄品种3年生树在四川乐山地区避雨栽培条件下的花芽分化表现。结果表明,结果母枝的花芽分化率,魏可、维多利亚、黑芭拉多、金手指、金优2号和巨玫瑰6个品种的都高于50%,较易形成花芽;户太8号、巨峰、夏黑的在43%~48%;美人指和红指较难形成花芽。结果母枝不同节位的花芽分化率,多数品种在第3节位≥50%;结果枝上花穗着生节位在第3.8~4.9节,其中双花率以巨玫瑰、巨峰和户太8号较高,分别为83.45%、73.61%和73.06%。以结果母枝的花芽分化率≥50%节位作为冬剪的最低节位,则金优2号、户太8号、巨玫瑰、金手指、维多利亚5个品种在第3~4节,黑芭拉多和巨峰2个品种在第2~3节,魏可在1~2节。夏黑表现花芽分化率较低,为43.33%,可能与夏黑不耐弱光有关,设施栽培时应加强透光性。