Discriminant analysis for predicting dystocia in beef cattle. II. Derivation and validation of a prebreeding prediction model

Discriminant analysis was utilized to derive and validate a model for predicting dystocia using only data available at the beginning of the breeding season. Data were collected from 211 Chianina crossbred cows (2 to 6 yr old) bred to Chianina bulls. A proportionally stratified sampling procedure divided females into an analysis sample (n = 134) on which the model was derived and a hold-out sample (n = 77) on which the prediction model was validated (tested). Variables available during the derivation stage were cow age, cow weight, pelvic height, pelvic width, pelvic area and calf sire. Dystocia was categorized as either unassisted or assisted. Occurrence of dystocia was 17.2 and 18.2% in the analysis and hold-out samples, respectively. All data were standardized to a mean of zero and a variance of one before statistical analysis. The centroid of cows experiencing dystocia differed (P less than .01) from that of cows calving unassisted in the analysis sample. Significant variables were pelvic area and cow age (standardized coefficients = .56 and .51, respectively). This model correctly classified 85.1% of the cows in the analysis sample. This was 13.5% greater than the proportional chance criterion. For model validation, prediction accuracy was 84.4% in the hold-out group, which was 14.2% greater than the proportional chance criterion. However, only 57.1% of the cows that experienced dystocia were correctly classified. Examination of the data revealed that those cows misclassified were 3 yr of age or older.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)     

Nitrogen fixation by free-living heterotrophic bacteria in an oak forest: The effect of liming

Nitrogen-fixing heterotrophic bacteria, mainly Clostridium butyricum and, less frequently, Enterobacter agglomerons and Klebsiella pneumoniae, are found throughout the aerial and soil layers of an oak forest. However they are only active in nitrogen fixation in the soil. Soil slurry experiments show that the main factors limiting N₂ fixation in the forest are low temperature, low pH and shortage of C sources. Raising the pH of the soil with lime to pH 6, which is the optimum for N₂ fixation by C. butyricum in soil slurries, more than doubles the rate of N₂ fixation (as measured by in situ¹⁵N₂ methods) from 7.84 to 16.1 kg N ha^?1yr^?1. The N fixed by C. butyricum can rapidly be taken up by oak seedlings and translocated to the actively-growing leaves.