Salmonella enterica serotype enteritidis in table egg layer house environments and in mice in U.S. layer houses and associated risk factors

Prevalence was estimated for Salmonella enterica serotype eneritidis (SE) in layer house environments (n = 200 layer houses) and house mice (n = 129 layer houses) in 15 states throughout the United States. Environmental swabs were collected from manure, egg belts, elevators, and walkways. Live-catch rodent traps were placed for 4-7 days. Swabs and house mice were submitted to the laboratory for bacterial culture. Overall, 7.1% of layer houses and 3.7% of mice were culture positive for SE. The highest prevalence was in the Great Lakes region of the United States, and no SE was recovered from houses or mice in the southeast region. Presence of SE in layer houses was associated with age/molting, floor reared pullets, and number of rodents trapped. Cleaning and disinfecting houses between flocks was associated with a reduced risk. The prevalence of SE in mice from environmentally positive houses was nearly four times that of mice from environmentally negative houses.     

Efficacy and residues of phloxine B and uranine for the suppression of Mediterranean fruit fly in coffee fields

The field efficacy of a bait containing phloxine B, uranine and Provesta 621 protein was tested against Mediterranean fruit fly (Ceratitis capitata; Medfly) by aerial and ground spraying in about 84 ha of coffee fields in Kauai, Hawaii, USA. Concurrently, soil and crop samples were collected from the aerially sprayed field and its unsprayed control field for residue studies. Efficacy of the sprays was assessed through trapping with both protein-baited and trimedlure-baited traps and through the infestation level of coffee cherries collected at least three-quarters ripe. The C capitata population was low at the start of the aerial and ground spray studies, but dramatically increased in the control fields. This increase coincided with initial ripening of coffee cherries. During times of peak population levels, C capitata populations were reduced by more than 91% in the ground-sprayed field and 99% in the aerial-sprayed field, relative to the populations in their respective control fields and based on protein-baited trap catches. Results of residue analyses indicated that uranine dissipated quickly compared with phloxine B on coffee and soil. Coffee samples collected at pre-spray periods had phloxine B residues of 7.2-25.5 ng g-1 on berries. Phloxine B concentrations were much higher on coffee leaves (163-1120 ng g-1). Lower concentrations of the dye were found from coffee samples collected during rainy days. Average phloxine B concentrations immediately after spraying were 56 and 2840 ng g-1 in coffee berries and leaves, respectively. Dissipation of phloxine B on berries was fast, with a half-life (t1/2) of 3 days. Dissipation of phloxine B on leaves was fitted to two linear phases: the initial (0-4 days) with a shorter t1/2 of 3 days and the later phase (4-28 days) with a longer t1/2 of 15 days. Average concentrations of phloxine B in the top soil ranged from 50 to 590 ng g-1 at pre-spray. Phloxine B initial concentration (770 ng g-1) reached a plateau immediately after the last spraying, but showed a steady decline over time with t1/2 of 16 days. Fast dissipation of the dyes in the field indicates that these chemicals may be environmentally compatible and therefore a promising alternative for fruit fly control.     

Annualized diameter and height growth equations for Pacific Northwest plantation-grown Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and red alder

Simulating the influence of intensive management and annual weather fluctuations on tree growth requires a shorter time step than currently employed by most regional growth models. High-quality data sets are available for several plantation species in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States, but the growth periods ranged from 2 to 12 years in length. Measurement periods of varying length complicate efforts to fit growth models because observed growth rates must be interpolated to a common length growth period or those growth periods longer or shorter than the desired model time step must be discarded. A variation of the iterative technique suggested by Cao [Cao, Q.V., 2000. Prediction of annual diameter growth and survival for individual trees from periodic measurements. Forest Sci. 46, 127–131] was applied to estimate annualized diameter and height growth equations for pure plantations of Douglas-fir, western hemlock, and red alder. Using this technique, fits were significantly improved for all three species by embedding a multi-level nonlinear mixed-effects framework (likelihood ratio test: p < 0.0001). The final models were consistent with expected biological behavior of diameter and height growth over tree, stand, and site variables. The random effects showed some correlation with key physiographic variables such as slope and aspect for Douglas-fir and red alder, but these relationships were not observed for western hemlock. Further, the random effects were more correlated with physiographic variables than actual climate or soils information. Long-term simulations (12–16 years) on an independent dataset using these annualized equations showed that the multi-level mixed effects models were more accurate and precise than those fitted without random effects as mean square error (MSE) was reduced by 13 and 21% for diameter and height growth prediction, respectively. The level of prediction error was also smaller than an existing similar growth model with a longer time step (ORGANON v8) as the annualized equations reduced MSE by 17 and 38% for diameter and height growth prediction, respectively. These models will prove to be quite useful for understanding the interaction of weather and silviculture in the Pacific Northwest and refining the precision of future growth model projections.     

Pilot project to investigate over-wintering of free-living gastrointestinal nematode larvae of sheep in Ontario,Canada

This study investigated the overwintering survival and infectivity of free-living gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) stages on pasture. The presence of GIN larvae was assessed on 3 sheep farms in Ontario with a reported history of clinical haemonchosis, by collecting monthly pasture samples over the winter months of 2009/2010. The infectivity of GIN larvae on spring pastures was evaluated using 16 tracer lambs. Air and soil temperature and moisture were recorded hourly. Free-living stages of Trichostrongylus spp. and Nematodirus spp. were isolated from herbage samples. Gastrointestinal nematodes were recovered from all tracer lambs on all farms; Teladorsagia sp. was the predominant species. Very low levels of Haemonchus contortus were recovered from 1 animal on 1 farm. The results suggest that Haemonchus larvae do not survive well on pasture, while Teladorsagia sp., Trichostrongylus spp. and Nematodirus spp. are able to overwinter on pasture in Ontario and are still infective for sheep in the spring.