Evaluación agronómica y nutricional de pastos tropicales de corte sometidos a diferentes frecuencias de corte en Yurimaguas, Amazonia peruana

Four tropical grasses were evaluated: Maralfalfa (Pennisetum violaceum Lam), Purple King grass (P. purpureum x P. typhoides), Elephant grass (Pennisetum purpureum, Schumach) and Guatemala grass (Tripsacum laxum, Nash) with two harvest intervals (45 and 70 days), using a factorial experiment with a randomized complete block design. The interaction pastures × cutting frequencies was significant (p<0.05) for the agronomic and nutritional characteristics. Purple King Grass and Guatemala harvested at 70 days produced higher dry matter yield (17.13 and 17.03 t ha-1, respectively) than Maralfalfa, Purple King Grass, Elephant grass, and Guatemala grass harvested at 45 days. Compared with other grasses, the Guatemala grass harvested at 45 days had the highest leaf: stem ratio (4.64). The highest average contents of protein (78.5 g kg-1) and phosphorus (1.22 g kg-1) were obtained at 45 days. It is concluded that the grasses harvested at 70 days showed their productive potential with a moderate nutritional value, which could be used to increase the yield per unit area. In addition, Guatemala grass could be used in studies with grazing animals due to its high leaf: stem ratio and moderate nutritional value.Se evaluaron cuatro pastos tropicales, Maralfalfa (Pennisetum violaceum Lam), pasto Morado (P. purpureum x P. typhoides), Elefante (Pennisetum purpureum, Schumach) y Guatemala (Tripsacum laxum, Nash) con dos intervalos de corte (45 y 70 días), mediante un experimento factorial con diseño de bloques completos al azar. La interacción pastos × frecuencias de corte fue significativa (p<0.05) para las características agronómicas y nutricionales. Pasto Morado y Guatemala cosechados a los 70 días obtuvieron mayor rendimiento de materia seca (17.13 y 17.03 t ha-1, respectivamente) que Maralfalfa, Morado, Elefante y Guatemala cosechados a los 45 días. En comparación con otros pastos, el pasto Guatemala cosechado a los 45 días obtuvo la relación hoja: tallo más alta (4.64). Los mayores contenidos promedio de proteína (78.5 g kg-1) y fósforo (1.22 g kg-1) se obtuvieron a los 45 días. Se concluye que las gramíneas cosechadas a los 70 días demuestran su potencial productivo con un valor nutritivo moderado, lo que podría ser utilizado para incrementar el rendimiento por unidad de área. Además, el pasto Guatemala podría ser utilizado en estudios con animales en pastoreo debido a su alta relación hoja: tallo y valor nutritivo moderado

Development and validation of PCR-based assays for diagnosis of American cutaneous leishmaniasis and identificatio nof the parasite species

In this study, PCR assays targeting different Leishmania heat-shock protein 70 gene (hsp70) regions, producing fragments ranging in size from 230-390 bp were developed and evaluated to determine their potential as a tool for the specific molecular diagnosis of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL). A total of 70 Leishmania strains were analysed, including seven reference strains (RS) and 63 previously typed strains. Analysis of the RS indicated a specific region of 234 bp in the hsp70 gene as a valid target that was highly sensitive for detection of Leishmania species DNA with capacity of distinguishing all analyzed species, after polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorfism (PCR-RFLP). This PCR assay was compared with other PCR targets used for the molecular diagnosis of leishmaniasis: hsp70 (1400-bp region), internal transcribed spacer (ITS)1 and glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase (G6pd). A good agreement among the methods was observed concerning the Leishmania species identification. Moreover, to evaluate the potential for molecular diagnosis, we compared the PCR targets hsp70-234 bp, ITS1, G6pd and mkDNA using a panel of 99 DNA samples from tissue fragments collected from patients with confirmed CL. Both PCR-hsp70-234 bp and PCR-ITS1 detected Leishmania DNA in more than 70% of the samples. However, using hsp70-234 bp PCR-RFLP, identification of all of the Leishmania species associated with CL in Brazil can be achieved employing a simpler and cheaper electrophoresis protocol