Soil quality assessments in integrated crop–livestock–forest systems: A review

Integrated crop–livestock–forest is a promising strategy to improve soil quality. It comprises four different integrated farming systems: crop–livestock, crop–forest, forest–livestock and crop–livestock–forest. This work systematically reviewed studies about integrated crop–livestock–forest systems and soil quality. A total of 92 papers were retrieved from the Web of Science—Clarivate Analytics platform, and the following information was analysed: publication year, institution, region of the studied site, type of integrated system, soil type, tillage system, maximum soil depth and the soil quality indicators assessed. Most studies were published in the second half of the 2010s. Brazil is a prominent focus of research about soil quality and integrated crop–livestock–forest systems, with significant contribution from its central and southern regions. The Embrapa was the main publishing institution, present in over one‐third of the studies. Crop–livestock was the most common integrated system, Ferralsols was the most common soil group, and most of the studied soils were clayey. No tillage was the main tillage system. Most studies focused on the topsoil, assessing physical and/or chemical soil quality indicators. More emphasis on biological indicators of soil quality is required, as well as assessments integrating biological, physical and chemical indicators of soil quality. Future works should compare different integrated systems, including assessments deeper in the soil profile, especially in systems with the forest component, and also in sandy and silty soils. Soil quality indicators that have been rarely used should be further tested. Novel indicators should be added to better understand the promotion of soil quality by integrated crop–livestock–forest systems.     

Toxoplasma gondii antibodies in exotic wild felids from Brazilian zoos.

Serum samples from 37 captive exotic felids in 12 zoos from six Brazilian states were assayed for antibodies to Toxoplasma gondii by the modified agglutination test using formalin-fixed whole tachyzoites. Titers greater than or equal to 1:20 were considered positive. Antibodies to T. gondii were found in 24 of 37 (64.9%) felids, including one European lynx (Lynx lynx), two jungle cats (Felis chaus), two servals (Leptailurus serval), two tigers (Panthera tigris), three leopards (Panthera pardus), and 14 of 27 lions (Panthera leo). This is the first serologic analysis for T. gondii infection in exotic wild felids from Brazilian zoos.     

On estimating non‐additive genetic parameters in chickens 1

1. Several economically important traits in two Leghorn populations (over 9000 birds) were examined for additive and non‐additive components of genetic variance and sex‐linked effects. Data were analysed by two different statistical models based on least‐squares procedures.

2. Six different covariances were first calculated between relatives; i.e., full‐sibs, 3/4‐sisters, half‐sisters, dam‐daughters, grandam‐granddaughters and aunt‐nieces.

3. From the covariances, weighted least‐squares equations were used to obtain estimates of variance components for additive genetic, dominance, maternal and sex‐linkage effects.

4. The estimates of non‐additive components were highly variable but generally small compared with the additive genetic estimates.

5. In general this study suggests that for most traits, with the possible exception of rate of egg production, there is relatively little non‐additive genetic variation.

6. The consequences of possible negative correlations between additive effects and maternal effects are considered as they might apply to egg production in poultry.     

Effects of protein-energetic supplementation frequency on growth performance and nutritional characteristics of grazing beef cattle

Two experiments were conducted to evaluate reduced supplementation frequencies for grazing beef cattle in rainy season. In experiment 1, evaluating the nutritional parameters, four rumen-cannulated Nellore bulls (BW = 410 kg) were used. In experiment 2, evaluating animal performance, 48 Nellore bulls (BW = 358 kg) were used. The treatments were as follows: mineral supplement (MS) alone and MS plus protein-energy supplement provided 3×, 5× and 7×/week. Supplementation frequency did not affect (P > 0.05) intake and digestibility. Average daily gain was greater (P < 0.001) to supplementation compared with MS. The supplementation 5×/week resulted in greater weight gain per hectare (9.24) and higher economic returns during the study period (1.64%) compared to other supplementations. Supplementation 5×/week increased animal performance and positively influenced economic returns.     

Effect of sweet potato vines on performance parameters and some carcass characteristics of rabbits

Conventional feedstuffs in Brazil are expensive, which has led to the search for less conventional cheaper and locally available feedstuffs. Thus, this study was carried out to determine the dietary effect of dry sweet potato vines (SPV) on the performance and some carcass characteristics of rabbits. A total of twenty‐seven weaned White New Zealand rabbits (14 male and 13 female) 35 days old with an average initial weight of 755 g were allocated into three treatments. Nine rabbits were assigned to each treatment in a completely randomized design. Three diets were formulated to similar protein and energy levels: 0SPV – diet without inclusion of dry sweet potato vines; 10SPV – diet with 10% alfalfa hay replaced by dry sweet potato vines; and 15SPV – diet with 15% of alfalfa hay replaced by dry sweet potato vines. The experiment lasted for 49 days during which data for feed intake and body weight were recorded. The daily feed intake ranged from 73.17 to 78.02 g; daily weight gain from 22.32 to 23.17 g; feed conversion ratio (FCR) from 3.16 to 3.49 and final live weight ranged from 1839.44 to 1880.55 g. None of the evaluated performance parameters as well as carcass weight, heart weight and percentages of fat and protein in meat were significantly affected by any of the tested dietary treatments. However, the liver weight was statistically lower in animals fed the diets containing 10% of SPV, mainly due to lower glucose content. Glycogen within the tissue, did not differ significantly among treatments. It was therefore concluded that up to 15% of SPV can successfully be included in the diet of rabbits as a cheaper replacement for alfalfa hay without adversely affecting performance.     

Transgenerational epigenetic variance for body weight in meat quails

We aimed to estimate transgenerational epigenetic variance for body weight using genealogical and phenotypic information in meat quails. Animals were individually weighted from 1 week after hatching, with weight records at 7, 14, 21, 28, 35 and 42 days of age (BW7, BW14, BW21, BW28, BW35 and BW42, respectively). Single‐trait genetic analyses were performed using mixed models with random epigenetic effects. Variance components were estimated by the restricted maximum likelihood method. A grid search for values of autorecursive parameter (λ) ranging from 0 to 0.5 was used in the variance component estimation. This parameter is directly related to the reset coefficient (ν) and the epigenetic coefficient of transmissibility (1‐ν). The epigenetic effect was only significant for BW7. Direct heritability estimates for body weight ranged in magnitude (from 0.15 to 0.26), with the highest estimate for BW7. Epigenetic heritability was 0.10 for BW7, and close to zero for the other body weights. The inclusion of the epigenetic effect in the model helped to explain the residual and non‐Mendelian variability of initial body weight in meat quails.     

Interactions between different media and follicle‐stimulating hormone supplementation on in vitro culture of preantral follicles enclosed in ovarian tissue derived from collared peccaries (Pecari tajacu Linneaus, 1758)

The aim was to verify the effect of follicle‐stimulating hormone (FSH) supplementation to α‐MEM+ or TCM199+ media on the in vitro development of ovarian preantral follicles (PFs) derived from collared peccaries. Ovaries (n = 5 pairs) were collected and divided into fragments destined to control group (non‐cultured) or treatments that were cultured for 7 days. The PFs morphology, growth and activation were evaluated by classical histology. The immunohistochemistry markers Ag‐NOR and PCNA were used for nuclear proliferation analysis, and the picrosirius red labelling was used for ovarian extracellular matrix (ECM) evaluation. After 7‐day culture, only the TCM199+ treatment maintained the proportion of intact PFs similar to day 1 (63.2%), but no differences were found among treatments (p > .05). In addition, a significant increase in the growing follicles proportion was verified for all the treatments, indicating follicular activation (p > .05). By the Ag‐NOR analysis, only the TCM199+/FSH maintained the nuclear proliferation similar to the first day (p > .05). The picrosirius red staining revealed that the ECM remained intact in all the treatments (p > .05). We suggest the use of TCM199+ medium supplemented of FSH for the in vitro development of peccaries PFs under 7‐day culturing conditions.     

Is single-step genomic REML with the algorithm for proven and young more computationally efficient when less generations of data are present?

Efficient computing techniques allow the estimation of variance components for virtually any traditional dataset. When genomic information is available, variance components can be estimated using genomic REML (GREML). If only a portion of the animals have genotypes, single-step GREML (ssGREML) is the method of choice. The genomic relationship matrix (G) used in both cases is dense, limiting computations depending on the number of genotyped animals. The algorithm for proven and young (APY) can be used to create a sparse inverse of G (GAPY~-1) with close to linear memory and computing requirements. In ssGREML, the inverse of the realized relationship matrix (H⁻¹) also includes the inverse of the pedigree relationship matrix, which can be dense with a long pedigree, but sparser with short. The main purpose of this study was to investigate whether costs of ssGREML can be reduced using APY with truncated pedigree and phenotypes. We also investigated the impact of truncation on variance components estimation when different numbers of core animals are used in APY. Simulations included 150K animals from 10 generations, with selection. Phenotypes (h² = 0.3) were available for all animals in generations 1–9. A total of 30K animals in generations 8 and 9, and 15K validation animals in generation 10 were genotyped for 52,890 SNP. Average information REML and ssGREML with G⁻¹ and GAPY~-1 using 1K, 5K, 9K, and 14K core animals were compared. Variance components are impacted when the core group in APY represents the number of eigenvalues explaining a small fraction of the total variation in G. The most time-consuming operation was the inversion of G, with more than 50% of the total time. Next, numerical factorization consumed nearly 30% of the total computing time. On average, a 7% decrease in the computing time for ordering was observed by removing each generation of data. APY can be successfully applied to create the inverse of the genomic relationship matrix used in ssGREML for estimating variance components. To ensure reliable variance component estimation, it is important to use a core size that corresponds to the number of largest eigenvalues explaining around 98% of total variation in G. When APY is used, pedigrees can be truncated to increase the sparsity of H and slightly reduce computing time for ordering and symbolic factorization, with no impact on the estimates.