Dry matter yields and quality of organic lupin/cereal mixtures for wholecrop forage

In view of climate change predictions and the general desirability of increasing the amount of home grown protein, a case exists for the investigation of lupins and lupin/cereal bicrop combinations as wholecrop forage on organic farms. A replicated randomised block trial is described which took place at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, in 2005. This involved spring sown blue, white and yellow lupins, millet, wheat and triticale and lupin/cereal bi-crops. Data for dry matter yields for wholecrop silage, crude protein, MAD fi bre content and estimated ME, are presented for a single harvest. It is concluded that white lupins and white lupin bi-crops with spring wheat or triticale offer the best prospects for a viable wholecrop forage crop in an organic situation

Epistomatal Wax Injury to Red Spruce Needles (Picea rubens Sarg.) Grown in Elevated Levels of Ozone and Acidified Rain

Red spruce seedlings (Picea rubens Sarg.) were exposed to charcoal-filtered air, at 0.07 ppm or 0.15 ppm ozone (O3), alone or in combination with pH 4.2 or pH 3.0 acidified rain, and examined with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to determine if epistomatal wax fine structure was affected. Acidified rain in combination with 0.15 ppm O3 produced changes in wax tubule morphology. Changes were moderate at pH 4.2 and severe at pH 3.0. Needles collected from Whiteface Mountain, New York, displayed injured epistomatal wax structure similar to that observed on needles exposed in the laboratory to 0.15 ppm O3 plus pH 3.0 acidified rain

Hydrogen bonding in substituted nitroanilines : isolated nets in 1,3-diamino-4-nitrobenzene and continuously interwoven nets in 3,5-dinitroaniline

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Anticoagulation in patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure: Insights from the NCDR PINNACLE-AF registry.

BackgroundIn non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) patients, congestive heart failure (CHF) confers an increased risk of stroke or systemic thromboembolism. This risk is present in both heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) and HF with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). It is unclear if clinicians account for both types of CHF in their NVAF anticoagulation practices. Accordingly, we characterized current outpatient anticoagulation trends in NVAF patients with HFpEF compared to patients with HFrEF.MethodsThe outpatient NCDR PINNACLE-AF registry was analyzed to identify patients with NVAF and CHF. The study population was subdivided into HFpEF (ie, LVEF ≥ 40%) and HFrEF (LVEF < 40%). Anticoagulation rates by CHF group were compared and stratified by CHA2 DS2 -VASc score.ResultsA total of 340 127 patients with NVAF and CHF were identified, of whom 248 136 (73.0%) were classified as HFpEF and 91 991 (27.0%) as HFrEF. Patients with HFpEF had higher mean CHA2 DS2 -VASc scores and were more likely to be female, older, and have hypertension (P < 0.001). Unadjusted anticoagulation rates were significantly lower in patients with HFpEF compared to those with HFrEF (60.6% vs 64.2%, respectively). Lower rates of anticoagulation in the HFpEF group persisted after risk adjustment (RR: 0.93 [95% CI: 0.91, 0.94]). Stratification by CHA2 DS2 -VASc score demonstrated that lower rates of anticoagulation in patients with HFpEF persisted until a score of ≥5.ConclusionsPatients with NVAF and HFpEF have significantly lower anticoagulation rates when compared to their HFrEF counterparts. These findings suggest a potential underappreciation of HFpEF as a risk factor in patients with NVAF

If Hay Mows Are Empty

Dairy cows fed plenty of silage, properly balanced with a grain mixture, will produce just as well and keep in as good condition as those fed both alfalfa hay and silage as roughage. In other words, apparently cows do not need a dry roughage along with silage

Normal growth in dairy cattle

Male calves of all the breeds studied weighed more at birth than female calves. The birth weights of female calves were as follows: Holsteins, 89 pounds; Guernseys, 65 pounds; Ayrshires, 63 pounds; and Jerseys, 50 pounds. There was considerable variation among individuals in their live weights. Coefficients of variation ranged from above 15 percent in calves to less than 10 percent in 2-year old heifers. The data show that the time of first freshening marks the greatest change in the rate of growth in live weight. Very little difference can be observed in the relative rates at which animals of the different breeds approach mature size. Mature growth values are approached most rapidly in height at withers. This measurement is not even doubled from birth to maturity. Holsteins, Ayrshires and Jerseys are wider in relation to depth than Guernseys. The average weight for mature Holsteins in the Iowa Experiment Station herd may be considered as 1,405 pounds; Ayrshires, 1,111 pounds; Guernseys, 1,072 pounds; and Jerseys, 950 pounds. Gestation and lactation are shown to have considerable influence upon live weight. Late freshening heifers weigh more than heifers calving at the usual time but after freshening the weights of both groups are quite comparable

Cows Are Good Bean Market

Dairy cows will produce more butterfat on a ration in which whole (cracked) soybeans provide the protein supplement than on an ordinary ration of mixed grains which uses such a protein supplement as soybean oilmeal

The use of water bowls in the dairy barn

1. Dairy cows, watered by means of water bowls, drank approximately 18 percent more water and yielded 3.5 percent more milk and 10.7 percent more butterfat than cows that were watered twice per day at an outside tank. 2. Cows watered with water bowls drank an average of about 10 times in each 24 hours. Approximately two-thirds of the water was consumed in the daytime, that is between 5 a. m. and 5 p. m., and the other one-third at night. 3. Cows watered at the outside tank frequently drank but once per day. This occurred about 30 percent of the times the cows were offered water. This refusal to drink more than once per day was distributed among all of the cows, although certain cows showed a greater disposition to drink but once per day than did others. The inclination to drink but once per day was not consistently correlated with the quantity of milk yielded. 4. One unusual observation was that when the cows were watered with water bowls, they usually yielded not only more milk but milk containing a higher percentage of butterfat. A mathematical treatment of the data shows that the probability is only about 4 in 100 that a result as large and consistent could have come by chance alone. 5. The temperature of the water apparently did not influence the water consumption as greatly as did atmospheric temperature. The relative consumption of water increased as temperature rose

A Sr-Rich Star on the Main Sequence of Omega Centauri

Abundance ratios relative to iron for carbon, nitrogen, strontium and barium are presented for a metal-rich main sequence star ([Fe/H]=--0.74) in the globular cluster omega Centauri. This star, designated 2015448, shows depleted carbon and solar nitrogen, but more interestingly, shows an enhanced abundance ratio of strontium [Sr/Fe] ~ 1.6 dex, while the barium abundance ratio is [Ba/Fe]<0.6 dex. At this metallicity one usually sees strontium and barium abundance ratios that are roughly equal. Possible formation scenarios of this peculiar object are considered.Comment: 13 pages, 3 figures. Accepted to ApJ