The effect of fat supplementation of concentrates on digestion and utilization of energy by productive dairy cows.

Two energy balance experiments each used 6 high-yielding dairy cows. In the first, a 3 X 3 Latin square with one replicate, rations were of 7 kg hay and 11 to 14 kg of concentrates having crude protein 251 g and gross energy 17.9 MJ/kg, given alone or with 5% tallow or 5% soya bean oil. Three weeks of adaptation were followed by 10 to 12 days when excreta were collected and gas exchange estimated. Digestibility and metabolizable energy of concentrates and hay were also assessed using wethers fed to maintenance only. Intakes of DM and digestibility of nutrients other than lipid did not differ among treatments with either sheep or cows. There were no apparent differences in rumen fermentation in the one cannulated cow used, and energy loss in urine was also unaffected. Lipid supplement reduced methane loss. Milk yield and milk energy were increased with tallow, with a simultaneous reduction of milk fat and percentage of protein. Soya bean oil reduced the percentage of milk fat and milk energy produced. The second trial, using similar animals and with similar management had a change-over design in which the concentrate was given alone or with 7% tallow. Results confirmed those of trial 1. The effect of level of feeding on the efficiency of utilization of energy is discussed. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Further studies on the effect of fat supplementation of concentrates fed to lactating dairy cows. II. Total digestion and energy utilization.

For wether sheep given 300 g hay and 800 g concentrates the addition of fat (beef tallow:palm kernel oil 9:1) to concentrates at 7 or 12% tended to decrease crude fibre digestibility and increased crude fat digestibility. For 2 rumen-fistulated cows given concentrates containing 7% fat, or 12% fat free or adsorbed on carrier, and 2 cows with fistulae and reentrant duodenal cannulae given concentrates with 12% fat in rations with hay:concentrate 1:2, there were no significant differences between diets in the digestibility of any nutrient; fat digestibility was decreased at feed intakes above maintenance, particularly with the 12% fat concentrates. The use of a carrier in the 12% fat concentrates did not affect nutrient digestibilities for sheep or cows. Inclusion of fat in concentrates increased the metabolizability of sheep diets but there were no significant differences among cattle diets, although methane losses tended to decrease as fat content increased. Additional energy from fat tended to be retained rather than used for milk yield. ME utilization for milk, storage and maintenance was 61-62.5%, tending to be highest with the 12% adsorbed fat. [See DSA 45, 5398 for part I.] (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Relationship between freight accessibility and logistics employment in US counties

This paper analyzes the relationship between freight accessibility and logistics employment in the US. It develops an accessibility measure relevant for logistics companies based on a gravity model. This allows to analyze accessibility of US counties focusing on four dierent modes of transportation: road, rail, air, and maritime. Using a Partial Least Squares model, these four dierent freight accessibility measures are combined into two constructs, continental and intercontinental freight accessibility, and related to logistics employment, dierentiating counties inside metropolitan areas from those outside. Results show that highly accessible non-metropolitan counties attract more logistics employment than other non-metropolitan counties. In metropolitan counties, no signicant relationship was found between freight accessibility and logistics employment. This is primarily explained by the highly signicant relations of both freight accessibility and logistics employment with county population. Keywords: Accessibility, Freight transport, Logistics employmen

Effects of physiological amounts of high- and low-rate chronic stimulation on fast-twitch muscle of the cat hindlimb. II. Endurance-related properties

1. Long-term electrical stimulation was given to the peroneal nerve of deafferented hindlimbs in hemispinalized adult cats. The amount of stimulation covered 0.5-5.5% of total time per day, different in different animals. For some aspects of the present study, use was also made of cats subjected to "tonic" patterns of chronic stimulation (typically covering 50% of total time; 10, 16). 2. In a terminal acute experiment under general anesthesia, performed after 4 or 8 wk of long-term stimulation, one of the treated peroneal muscles (m. peroneus longus, PerL) was used for measurements of the resistance to contractile fatigue. The fatigue test consisted of 0.33-s bursts of motor-nerve stimulation at 40 Hz, repeated once a second for 4 min (6, 7). During this fatigue test, the evoked compound spikes of the muscle were recorded by electromyographic (EMG) techniques. Following the physiological procedures, PerL was removed for further histochemical analysis. In transverse sections, measurements of optical density were made in central regions of single fibers after staining for the activity of an oxidative enzyme, succinate dehydrogenase (core SDH). 3. Findings from chronically stimulated PerL muscles were compared with three kinds of control PerL muscles: 1) those contralateral to the stimulated ones, 2) those from the operated side of animals that had been deafferented and hemispinalized but not subjected to chronic stimulation, and 3) those from untreated normal animals. 4. Stimulation patterns covering both greater than or equal to 50% and 5-5.5% of daily time gave a marked improvement of fatigue resistance. Pulse rate seemed of little importance for these effects. The pattern covering only 0.5% of total daily time caused no increase of contractile endurance beyond that of normal muscles. 5. During the fatigue test of a control muscle (see above), the amplitude of the compound EMG spikes typically showed a marked decline. This "EMG depression" was effectively counteracted by all the present patterns of chronic stimulation, including the 0.5% pattern. 6. Fibers of chronically stimulated muscles became more similar to each other with respect to their density of core SDH staining. However, among muscles treated during 0.5-5.5% of total daily time, the degree and pattern of change in core SDH staining was not related to the amount and pattern of chronic stimulation or to the resulting degree of contractile enduranc