Farmer adoption of contour hedgerow intercropping,a case study from east Indonesia

The results of a study to assess the initial impact of the introduction of contour hedgerow intercropping on the Indonesian islands of Lombok and Sumbawa are described. The study focused on the reasons for adopting this technique and its initial effect. The results of detailed case studies in four villages indicated that the process of adoption is heterogeneous. Land-use conditions in the four villages were much more diverse and dynamic than the project anticipated. Rather than being an off the shelf technique as assumed by the project, hedgerow cropping proved to be a prototype technique; the farmers' ability to adapt the practice to their specific farming conditions such as subsistence food production or cash crop cultivation was an important motive for its adoption. In some cases the introduction competed with the extension of other promising land-use practices. Several farmers adopted the technique not because of its productive benefits, but as a means to gain access to land or credit, or to demonstrate their allegiance to social networks. The results indicate that there were significant discontinuities between what the project intended to achieve by introducing the technique and the farmers' motives for adopting it.     

In vitro safety assessments and antimicrobial activities of Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains isolated from a fermented mare's milk

Safety and probiotic characteristics such as antimicrobial activities of three Lactobacillus rhamnosus strains, FSMM15, FSMM22 and FSMM26, previously isolated as potential probiotics from fermented mare's milk were investigated. The three FSMM strains were susceptible to ampicillin, gentamycin, kanamycin, streptomycin, tetracycline and chloramphenicol, whereas they were resistant to erythromycin (minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC) = 4?8 µg/mL) and clindamycin (MIC = 4 µg/mL); bioconversion of bile salts, hemolytic activity and mucin degradation activity were negative; enzymatic activities of α‐chymotrypsin and β‐glucosidase were detected, but those of α‐galactosidase, β‐glucuronidase and N‐acetyl‐β‐glucosaminidase, were undetectable. Among the strains, strain FSMM15 was chosen as a safer probiotic candidate due mainly to the lack of plasminogen binding ability. Despite lower acid production of strain FSMM15 than others, its cell‐free culture supernatant inhibited growths of Salmonella Typhimurium LT‐2, Shigella sonnei , Listeria monocytogenes , and Escherichia coli O157 with comparable levels of ampicillin, suggesting a favorable aspect of strain FSMM15 as a probiotic strain.