Agriculture and Dairy Production Systems in China: An Overview and Case Studies

The Chinese dairy industry is growing rapidly. Since 1980, the rate of increase in dairy cattle in China's dairy industry (+210,000 cows per year) is 1.7 times higher than the rate of decline of dairy cattle in the US dairy industry (-124,000 cows per year). If the current trends do not change, there will be as many dairy cows in China as in the US-approximately 7.45 million cows in 2012. This two-part Discussion Paper presents the context in which the Chinese dairy industry is developing (Part I) and a study of the Dairy Farm systems and case studies of five farms in the Province of Yunnan, the city of Beijing and the province of Heilongjiang (Part II).Chinese Dairy Industry, Dairy Cows in China, Development of the Chinese Dairy Industry, Chinese Dairy Farm Case Studies, Consumer/Household Economics, Farm Management, International Development, International Relations/Trade, Productivity Analysis,

Forage nutritive value and predicted fiber digestibility of Kernza intermediate wheatgrass in monoculture and in mixture with red clover during the first production year

Kernza intermediate wheatgrass is thefirst perennial grain crop in the world and has been de-veloped with conventional breeding to increase seed yield of forage intermediate wheatgrass(Thinopyrum intermedium(Host) Barkworth & D.R. Dewey). When managed for dual-use (grainand forage), Kernza intermediate wheatgrass can produce grain, crop residue (straw) in thesummer, and green forage in the spring and fall. Mixtures of this grass with legumes could in-crease forage yield and nutritive value and provide other environmental and economic benefits.Despite the growing interest in these dual-use production systems, forage nutritive value ofKernza intermediate wheatgrass forage in a dual-use system in the Upper Midwest is unknown. Areplicatedfield experiment was established in two locations in southern Wisconsin (Arlingtonand Lancaster) with two treatments: Kernza intermediate wheatgrass grown in monoculture andmixture with red clover (Trifolium pratenseL.). Forage samples were collected at late vegetativestage in the spring, at grain harvest in the summer, and at the end of the regrowth period in thefall. Forage nutritive value of the monoculture was greatest in the spring with 456, 249 and 225 gkg−1for neutral detergentfiber (NDF), acid detergentfiber (ADF) and crude protein (CP), re-spectively; lowest in the summer with 702, 427 and 51 g kg−1NDF, ADF and CP, respectively,and intermediate in the fall with 590, 337 and 119 g kg−1NDF, ADF and CP, respectively.Predicted total-tract neutral detergentfiber digestibility (ttNDFD) was 0.53 for the spring forageand averaged 0.37 for the summer and fall forage, with no differences between the mixture andmonoculture. The relative forage quality (RFQ) for the monoculture was 175 for the springforage, 65 for the summer residue, and 116 for the fall. Intercropping red clover with Kernzaintermediate wheatgrass increased CP of the summer crop residue by 69%, and increased CP andRFQ of the fall forage by 49% and 11%, respectively, while reducing NDF and ADF of the fallforage by 25% and 18%, respectively. Therefore, Kernza intermediate wheatgrass forage is sui-table for lactating beef cows, dairy cows, and growing heifers when harvested in the spring andfall, and it offers high potential for dual-use grain and forage systems

Monitoring the introduction of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines into West Africa: design and implementation of a population-based surveillance system.

Routine use of pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCVs) in developing countries is expected to lead to a significant reduction in childhood deaths. However, PCVs have been associated with replacement disease with non-vaccine serotypes. We established a population-based surveillance system to document the direct and indirect impact of PCVs on the incidence of invasive pneumococcal disease (IPD) and radiological pneumonia in those aged 2 months and older in The Gambia, and to monitor changes in serotype-specific IPD. Here we describe how this surveillance system was set up and is being operated as a partnership between the Medical Research Council Unit and the Gambian Government. This surveillance system is expected to provide crucial information for immunisation policy and serves as a potential model for those introducing routine PCV vaccination in diverse settings

Maintenance of respiratory control in mitochondria after rate zonal centrifugation

The respiratory control of rat liver mitochondria is lost when they are subjected to rate zonal centrifugation in a sucrose gradient (8.0% to 46.6%, w/w) at values for ω 2 t necessary for resolution. High sucrose concentration and high ω 2 t are both responsible. Respiratory control can be maintained in iso-osmotic Ficoll + 8.3% sucrose media, and after zonal centrifugation in such media at values of ω 2 t sufficient for resolution.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/44800/1/10863_2005_Article_BF01539061.pd

Prediction of nitrogen excretion from data on dairy cows fed a wide range of diets compiled in an intercontinental database: A meta-analysis

Manure nitrogen (N) from cattle contributes to nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions and nitrate leaching. Measurement of manure N outputs on dairy farms is laborious, expensive, and impractical at large scales; therefore, models are needed to predict N excreted in urine and feces. Building robust prediction models requires extensive data from animals under different management systems worldwide. Thus, the study objectives were (1) to collate an international database of N excretion in feces and urine based on individual lactating dairy cow data from different continents; (2) to determine the suitability of key variables for predicting fecal, urinary, and total manure N excretion; and (3) to develop robust and reliable N excretion prediction models based on individual data from lactating dairy cows consuming various diets. A raw data set was created based on 5,483 individual cow observations, with 5,420 fecal N excretion and 3,621 urine N excretion measurements collected from 162 in vivo experiments conducted by 22 research institutes mostly located in Europe (n = 14) and North America (n = 5). A sequential approach was taken in developing models with increasing complexity by incrementally adding variables that had a significant individual effect on fecal, urinary, or total 2manure N excretion. Nitrogen excretion was predicted by fitting linear mixed models including experiment as a random effect. Simple models requiring dry matter intake (DMI) or N intake performed better for predicting fecal N excretion than simple models using diet nutrient composition or milk performance parameters. Simple models based on N intake performed better for urinary and total manure N excretion than those based on DMI, but simple models using milk urea N (MUN) and N intake performed even better for urinary N excretion. The full model predicting fecal N excretion had similar performance to simple models based on DMI but included several independent variables (DMI, diet crude protein content, diet neutral detergent fiber content, milk protein), depending on the location, and had root mean square prediction errors as a fraction of the observed mean values of 19.1% for intercontinental, 19.8% for European, and 17.7% for North American data sets. Complex total manure N excretion models based on N intake and MUN led to prediction errors of about 13.0% to 14.0%, which were comparable to models based on N intake alone. Intercepts and slopes of variables in optimal prediction equations developed on intercontinental, European, and North American bases differed from each other, and therefore region-specific models are preferred to predict N excretion. In conclusion, region-specific models that include information on DMI or N intake and MUN are required for good prediction of fecal, urinary, and total manure N excretion. In absence of intake data, region-specific complex equations using easily and routinely measured variables to predict fecal, urinary, or total manure N excretion may be used, but these equations have lower performance than equations based on intake

Prediction of nitrogen excretion from data on dairy cows fed a wide range of diets compiled in an intercontinental database: a meta-analysis

publishedVersio

The liver is a common non-exocrine target in primary Sjögren's syndrome: A retrospective review

BACKGROUND: The autoimmune destruction of exocrine glands that defines primary Sjögren's syndrome (1°SS) often extends to non-exocrine organs including the liver. We aimed to determine the prevalence of liver disease in patients with 1°SS and to evaluate the association of this complication with other non-exocrine features and serologic markers of autoimmunity and systemic inflammation. METHODS: We reviewed 115 charts of patients with 1°SS and further analyzed the 73 cases that fulfilled the European Epidemiology Center Criteria, seeking evidence for clinical and subclinical liver disease. RESULTS: Liver function tests had been determined in 59 of the 73 patients. Of those, 29 patients (49.1%) had abnormal liver function tests including 20.3% with clinically overt hepatic disease. Liver disease was the most common non-exocrine feature in this cohort. Risk factors for abnormal liver function tests were distributed similarly between the patients with and without liver disease. In 60% of patients with abnormal liver function tests no explanation for this complication was found except for 1°SS. Liver involvement was significantly more common in 1°SS patients who also had evidence of lung, kidney and hematological abnormalities. Patients with abnormal liver function tests were also more likely to have an elevated sedimentation rate and a positive anti-ENA during the course of their disease. CONCLUSION: Liver involvement is a common complication in 1°SS. Its presence correlates with systemic disease. We consider that this complication should be routinely sought in patients with 1°SS, especially when a positive anti-ENA or evidence of systemic inflammation is found

The Subcellular Distribution of Acyltransferases which Catalyze the Synthesis of Phosphoglycerides

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65213/1/j.1432-1033.1969.tb00602.x.pd