Tjernobyl och rennäringen - Lägesrapport från Sverige

Status report about Chernobyl and reindeer husbandry in Sweden including participants' discussion.Abstract in Swedish / Sammanfattning: Den 1 juli hojdes grånsvårdet for Cs-137 i bl a renkott från 300 till 1 500 Bq/kg. Efter hojningen av grånsvårdet friklassades nåstan alla samebyar i Norrbottens lån under sarvslakten. Samtliga fjållsamebyar i Norrbottens lån utom den sydligaste år tills vidare helt friklassade. Tre samebyar i sodra delen av Jåmtlands lån var friklassade under sarvslakten. I ovrigt omfattas all renslakt i Våsterbottens och Jåmtlands lån av kontroll betråffande Cs-137. Under juli - aug i år var cesiumhalten lågre ån vid motsvarande tidpunkt i f jol (tabell 1 och figur 1). Under juli - aug slaktades drygt 1 000 renar i skogslandet i sodra delen av Våsterbottens lån (tabell 3). Fr.o.m. andra veckan i juli godkåndes de fiesta slaktkropparna. Halveringstiden for Cs-137 i renarna, som betade i skogslandet kring inlandsbanan i sodra delen av Våsterbottenslån, har beråknats till ca en vecka. Genom tidigarelåggning av sarvslakter i Våsterbottens lån (tabell 3) och norra delen av Jåmtlands lån (tabell 5) minskades kassationen med ett par tusen slaktkroppar. Under senare delen av september steg cesiumhalten till ungefår samma nivå som i f jol. En långsiktig prognos har utarbetats betråffande halten Cs-137 i renar på naturbete. Prognosen visar att omfattande åtgårder kommer att behova vidtagas under de nårmaste 15 - 25 åren om ren-kottet från samebyarna i sodra delen av Våsterbottens lån och norra delen av Jåmtlands lån skall kunna god-kånnas som livsmedel vid ett riktvårde på 1 500 Bq Cs-137/kg kott

Wet Belly in Reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus) in Relation to Body Condition, Body Temperature and Blood Constituents

Wet belly, when the reindeer becomes wet over the lower parts of the thorax and abdomen, sometimes occurs in reindeer during feeding. In a feeding experiment, 11 out of 69 reindeer were affected by wet belly. The problem was first observed in 7 animals during a period of restricted feed intake. When the animals were then fed standard rations, 3 additional animals fed only silage, and 1 fed pellets and silage, became wet. Four animals died and 1 had to be euthanised. To investigate why reindeer developed wet belly, we compared data from healthy reindeer and reindeer affected by wet belly. Urea, plasma protein, glucose, insulin and cortisol were affected by restricted feed intake or by diet but did not generally differ between healthy reindeer and those with wet belly. The wet animals had low body temperature and the deaths occurred during a period of especially cold weather. Animals that died were emaciated and showed different signs of infections and stress. In a second experiment, with 20 reindeer, the feeding procedure of the most affected group in the first experiment was repeated, but none of the reindeer showed any signs of wet belly. The study shows that wet belly is not induced by any specific diet and may affect also lichen-fed reindeer. The fluid making the fur wet was proven to be of internal origin. Mortality was caused by emaciation, probably secondary to reduced energy intake caused by diseases and/or unsuitable feed

Health, body condition and blood metabolites in reindeer after submaintenance feed intake and subsequent feeding

The transition from experimentally induced poor nutritional conditions to feeding was studied with 69 eight-month-old female reindeer (Rangifer tarandus tarandus). During a pre-experimental period, all reindeer were fed a simulated winter diet with 80% lichens Cladina spp. and 20% Vaccinum myrtillus shrubs and Salix spp. leaves (lichen diet) ad lib. The reindeer were divided into five groups. A control group (group C) was fed the lichen diet ad lib. throughout the experiment. Four groups were fed half of that ration for eight days and were then totally deprived of feed for one day (restriction period). During the following 34 days (feeding period) the groups were re-fed the lichen diet (group L), fed pelleted reindeer feed combined with either lichen (group PL) or grass silage (group PS), or fed silage with a gradually increasing addition of pellets (group SP). Weekly measurements of blood samples and body weighr showed that the control group remained clinically healthy and had stable blood plasma concentrations of protein, urea, glucose and insulin throughout the experiment, but they lost weight. At slaughter, before and after the restriction period, all animals had lost rumen-free body weight, but the reindeer fed a restricted amount of feed lost more than the control group. Also the plasma metabolites were affected by the restricted feeding, with increased concentrations of urea and decreased concentrations of glucose. Group L responded immediately to the ad lib. feeding with blood metabolite levels rapidly approaching those of group C. The body weight developments were similar in groups L and C. Although the feed rations were increased gradually, diarrhoea occurred in some animals belonging to groups PL and PS within the first week of the feeding period. All reindeer recovered, after antibiotic treatment of the worst affected animals. The PL and PS groups, which had high contents of metabolisable energy and crude protein in their diets, showed increased con-centtations of plasma protein, urea and insulin. At the end of the feeding period, these groups had increased their body and carcass weights and gained fat, whereas reindeer fed the lichen diet had lost weight. Severe health problems (malnutrition and so-called wet belly) occurred in group SP during the first weeks of feeding and led to loss of animals, and consequently the SP group was excluded from the remainder of rhe experiment. The general conclusion is that the lichen diet did not cause any digestive problems, but resulted in a continuous decline in body weight and small or deficient fat reserves. After the initial diarrhoea, feeding with diets comprising pellets from the start resulted in improved condition, expressed as increased body weight, fat gain and higher concentrations of plasma protein, urea and insulin in relation to the control group. The diet initially based on grass in the form of silage of the given quality seemed insufficient as feed to reindeer calves in a poor nutritional state

The productive herd : Past, present and perspectives

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Tim Horstkotte, Øystein Holand, Jouko Kumpula and Jon Moen.Traditionally the multipurpose reindeer herd supplied an array of products from both live and slaughtered animals. After the transportation revolution and integration into the market economy in the 1960s and 1970s, however, the focus was directed towards maximizing meat production. Research carried out at the time revealed that the females’ adult body mass was an appropriate proxy for their production potential. Herd composition, selection and slaughter strategies were reformed. A winter herd composed predominantly of productive females with a spring body mass of around 70 kg and herd size not exceeding the available winter resources will yield a high percentage of calves to be slaughtered in autumn. Economic incentives and imposed regulations contributed to this transformation. However, these modern production imperatives were not necessarily compatible with the herders’ traditional values. Indeed, meat productivity varies between and within countries. This chapter discusses abiotic and biotic factors, genetics, as well as management practices that may influence these differences. Herds in good condition are able to withstand and adapt to ongoing climate change and frequent weather extremes. Integrating resilience to environmental variability into reindeer breeding programmes may improve the capacity of the production system.Peer reviewe

The Pochonia chlamydosporia Serine Protease Gene vcp1 Is Subject to Regulation by Carbon, Nitrogen and pH: Implications for Nematode Biocontrol

The alkaline serine protease VCP1 of the fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia belongs to a family of subtilisin-like enzymes that are involved in infection of nematode and insect hosts. It is involved early in the infection process, removing the outer proteinaceous vitelline membrane of nematode eggs. Little is known about the regulation of this gene, even though an understanding of how nutrients and other factors affect its expression is critical for ensuring its efficacy as a biocontrol agent. This paper provides new information on the regulation of vcp1 expression. Sequence analysis of the upstream regulatory region of this gene in 30 isolates revealed that it was highly conserved and contained sequence motifs characteristic of genes that are subject to carbon, nitrogen and pH-regulation. Expression studies, monitoring enzyme activity and mRNA, confirmed that these factors affect VCP1 production. As expected, glucose reduced VCP1 expression and for a few hours so did ammonium chloride. Surprisingly, however, by 24 h VCP1 levels were increased in the presence of ammonium chloride for most isolates. Ambient pH also regulated VCP1 expression, with most isolates producing more VCP1 under alkaline conditions. There were some differences in the response of one isolate with a distinctive upstream sequence including a variant regulatory-motif profile. Cryo-scanning electron microscopy studies indicated that the presence of nematode eggs stimulates VCP1 production by P. chlamydosporia, but only where the two are in close contact. Overall, the results indicate that readily-metabolisable carbon sources and unfavourable pH in the rhizosphere/egg-mass environment may compromise nematode parasitism by P. chlamydosporia. However, contrary to previous indications using other nematophagous and entomopathogenic fungi, ammonium nitrate (e.g. from fertilizers) may enhance biocontrol potential in some circumstances

Genomic and Proteomic Analyses of the Fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora Provide Insights into Nematode-Trap Formation

Nematode-trapping fungi are “carnivorous” and attack their hosts using specialized trapping devices. The morphological development of these traps is the key indicator of their switch from saprophytic to predacious lifestyles. Here, the genome of the nematode-trapping fungus Arthrobotrys oligospora Fres. (ATCC24927) was reported. The genome contains 40.07 Mb assembled sequence with 11,479 predicted genes. Comparative analysis showed that A. oligospora shared many more genes with pathogenic fungi than with non-pathogenic fungi. Specifically, compared to several sequenced ascomycete fungi, the A. oligospora genome has a larger number of pathogenicity-related genes in the subtilisin, cellulase, cellobiohydrolase, and pectinesterase gene families. Searching against the pathogen-host interaction gene database identified 398 homologous genes involved in pathogenicity in other fungi. The analysis of repetitive sequences provided evidence for repeat-induced point mutations in A. oligospora. Proteomic and quantitative PCR (qPCR) analyses revealed that 90 genes were significantly up-regulated at the early stage of trap-formation by nematode extracts and most of these genes were involved in translation, amino acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism, cell wall and membrane biogenesis. Based on the combined genomic, proteomic and qPCR data, a model for the formation of nematode trapping device in this fungus was proposed. In this model, multiple fungal signal transduction pathways are activated by its nematode prey to further regulate downstream genes associated with diverse cellular processes such as energy metabolism, biosynthesis of the cell wall and adhesive proteins, cell division, glycerol accumulation and peroxisome biogenesis. This study will facilitate the identification of pathogenicity-related genes and provide a broad foundation for understanding the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms underlying fungi-nematodes interactions