Benefits of Organic Farming for Society

Recent food scares have lead to a boom in demand for organic products and an increasing awareness of policy makers of the potential benefits of organic farming. However, policies specifically targeting organic farming support do not remain beyond dispute and a sound justification of these is in great demand. The potential specific contribution of organic farming to the achievement of some of the key objectives of the European Common Agricultural Policy, e.g. competitiveness of agriculture, farming income, food supply, food quality and minimisation of negative environmental impacts of agricultural production are discussed. It is argued that organic farming can contribute to the objectives of the CAP, however, addressing the various objectives to different degrees. The environmental effects of organic farming seem to be largely positive in comparison to conventional farming on a per hectare basis in all categories, be it biodiversity, input-output balances or soil and water resources, although other farming systems might perform better with respect to single indicators or when results are related to the amount of produced output. The quality of organically produced food seems to be higher than that of conventionally produced food for several indicators, for example, the risk of food contamination with pesticides and or nitrate tends to be lower. Income levels from organic farming are on average comparable to income generated on conventional farms, and organic farming is clearly a profitable alternative for quite a few farms in Europe. With respect to rural development organic farming is expected to have little direct effects, e.g. on unemployment rates, although small scale marketing and processing initiatives may contribute directly to rural employment. However, indirect effects such as increased employment in tourism due to a positive “ecological” image of a region can be of importance. Conclusively, organic farming can contribute to several of the declared policy objectives of the CAP. However, the information available to date does not permit a clear conclusion if organic farming achieves desirable effects at lower costs than other farming systems. Nevertheless, the positive effects on a broad range of objectives clearly justifies the support of organic farming and is therefore recommended

Keratin protein-catalyzed nitroaldol (Henry) reaction and comparison with other biopolymers

Here we describe a preliminary investigation on the ability of natural keratin to catalyze the nitroaldol (Henry) reaction between aldehydes and nitroalkanes. Both aromatic and heteroaromatic aldehydes bearing strong or moderate electron-withdrawing groups were converted into the corresponding -nitroalcohol products in both DMSO and in water in the presence of tetrabutylammonium bromide (TBAB) as a phase transfer catalyst. Negligible background reactions (i.e., negative control experiment in the absence of keratin protein) were observed in these solvent systems. Aromatic aldehydes bearing electron-donating groups and aliphatic aldehydes showed poor or no conversion, respectively. In general, the reactions in water/TBAB required twice the amount of time than in DMSO to achieve similar conversions. Moreover, comparison of the kinetics of the keratin-mediated nitroaldol (Henry) reaction with other biopolymers revealed slower rates for the former and the possibility of fine-tuning the kinetics by appropriate selection of the biopolymer and solvent

Tanniferous forage plants: Agronomic performance, palatability and efficacy against parasitic nematodes in sheep

Tanniferous forage plants can have beneficial effects on ruminant productivity and health (improved protein supply, bloat safety and antiparasitic properties). However, condensed tannins can also lower palatability, voluntary feed intake and digestibility. The aim of our interdisciplinary project was to generate basic knowledge on plant management, feed palatability and the antiparasitic properties of tanniferous forage plants for their practical application in agronomy, focusing on their usefulness in controlling gastrointestinal nematodes in organic farming. We found that Onobrychis viciifolia (sainfoin), Lotus corniculatus (birdsfoot trefoil) and Cichorium intybus (chicory) were suitable for cultivation under the given temperate climatic conditions, whereas Lotus pedunculatus (big trefoil) was soon outcompeted by unsown species. Growing the tanniferous plant species in a mixture with Festuca pratensis (meadow fescue) rather than in a monoculture had the advantage of increasing total dry matter (DM) yield (especially in the case of tanniferous legumes) and of reducing the DM proportions of unsown species. However, due to dilution by non-tanniferous F. pratensis, the tannin concentrations of mixtures were clearly lower and the seasonal fluctuations in tannin concentrations greater than that of monocultures. Across species, tannin concentrations were highest for O. viciifolia, followed by L. corniculatus and very low for C. intybus. Palatability of all tanniferous forages was comparable to that of a ryegrass/clover mixture when fed as dried forage and, when offered as silage, palatability of O. viciifolia was clearly superior to that of the respective ryegrass/clover control. Administration of dried or ensiled O. viciifolia reduced parasite egg counts in feces of lambs co-infected with the gastrointestinal nematode species Haemonchus contortus and Cooperia curticei. We conclude that O. viciifolia is the most promising among the tested tanniferous forage plant species due to its suitability for cultivation, its high tannin concentration, its high palatability and its antiparasitic activity even in dried or ensiled for

The Evaluation of the German Programme for Organic Food and Farming Research: Results and pointers for the future

In 2001, the German Federal Government established the Federal Scheme for Organic Agriculture (BÖL). The goal was to improve the professionalism of organic farming in Germany; to support sustained growth in production of organic food; and to stimulate a corresponding growth in the market for organic food. The paper presents results of an evaluation carried out by an international team in 2012. Our evaluation focused in particular on all research initiated and completed in period 2003 to 2010. The overall aim of the evaluation was to assess the relevance and impact of the research in relation to the BÖL’s goals, the effectiveness of the deployment of the research funding resources, and the efficiency of programme management. Recommendations relate to continuation of this research programme and how an extended programme might be improved. These are relevant to other applied research programmes targeted at the development of specific sectors

Normalized indices derived from visceral adipose mass assessed by MRI and their correlation with markers for insulin resistance and prediabetes

Visceral adipose tissue (VAT) plays an important role in the pathogenesis of insulin resistance (IR), prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. However, VAT volume alone might not be the best marker for insulin resistance and prediabetes or diabetes, as a given VAT volume may differently impact on these metabolic traits based on body height, gender, age and ethnicity. In a cohort of 1295 subjects from the Tübingen Diabetes Family Study (TDFS) and in 9978 subjects from the UK Biobank (UKBB), undergoing magnetic resonance imaging for quantification of VAT volume, total adipose tissue (TAT, in the TDFS), total abdominal adipose tissue (TAAT) in the UKBB, and total lean tissue (TLT), VAT volume and several VAT-indices were investigated for their relationships with insulin resistance and glycemic traits. VAT-related indices were calculated by correcting for body height (VAT/m: VAT/body height; VAT/m²: VAT/(body height)², and VAT/m³: VAT/(body height)³), TAT (%VAT), TLT (VAT/TLT) and weight (VAT/WEI), with closest equivalents used within the UKBB dataset. Prognostic values of VAT and VAT-related indices for insulin sensitivity, HbA1c levels and prediabetes/diabetes were analyzed for males and females. Males had higher VAT volume and VAT-related indices than females in both cohorts (p < 0.0001) and VAT volume has shown to be a stronger determinant for insulin sensitivity than anthropometric variables. Among the parameters uncorrected VAT and derived indices, VAT/m³ most strongly correlated negatively with insulin sensitivity and positively with HbA1c levels and prediabetes/diabetes in the TDFS (R² = 0.375/0.305 for females/males for insulin sensitivity, 0.178/0.148 for HbA1c levels vs. – e.g. – 0.355/0.293 and 0.144/0.133 for VAT, respectively) and positively with HbA1c (R² = 0.046/0.042) in the UKBB for females and males. Furthermore, VAT/m³ was found to be a significantly better determinant of insulin resistance or prediabetes than uncorrected VAT volume (p < 0.001/0.019 for females/males regarding insulin sensitivity, p < 0.001/< 0.001 for females/males regarding HbA1c). Evaluation of several indices derived from VAT volume identified VAT/m³ to most strongly correlate with insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism. Thus, VAT/m³ appears to provide better indications of metabolic characteristics (insulin sensitivity and pre-diabetes/diabetes) than VAT volume alone

Spectral and morphological properties of quasar hosts in SPH simulations of AGN feeding by mergers

We present a method for generating virtual observations from smoothed-particle-hydrodynamics (SPH) simulations. This method includes stellar population synthesis models and the reprocessing of starlight by dust to produce realistic galaxy images. We apply this method and simulate the merging of two identical giant Sa galaxies. The merger remnant is an elliptical galaxy. The merger concentrates the gas content of the two galaxies into the nuclear region. The gas that flows into the nuclear region refuels the central black holes of the merging galaxies. We follow the refuelling of the black holes during the merger semi-analytically. In the simulation presented in this article, the black holes grow from 3 x 10^7 to 1.8X 10^8 Solar masses, with a peak AGN luminosity of M_B ~ -23.7. We study how the morphological and spectral properties of the system evolve during the merger and work out the predictions of this scenario for the properties of host galaxies during the active phase. The peak of AGN activity coincides with the merging of the two galactic nuclei and occurs at a stage when the remnant looks like a lenticular galaxy. The simulation predicts the formation of a circumnuclear starburst ring/dusty torus with an opening angle of 30-40 degrees and made of clouds with n_H=10^24 cm^-2. The average optical depth of the torus is quite high, but the obscuring medium is patchy, so that there still exist lines of sight where the AGN is visible in a nearly edge-on view. For the same reason, there are lines of sight where the AGN is completely obscured in the face-on view.Comment: 14 pages, 11 figure

A Virtual Sky with Extragalactic HI and CO Lines for the SKA and ALMA

We present a sky simulation of the atomic HI emission line and the first ten CO rotational emission lines of molecular gas in galaxies beyond the Milky Way. The simulated sky field has a comoving diameter of 500/h Mpc, hence the actual field-of-view depends on the (user-defined) maximal redshift zmax; e.g. for zmax=10, the field of view yields ~4x4 sqdeg. For all galaxies, we estimate the line fluxes, line profiles, and angular sizes of the HI and CO emission lines. The galaxy sample is complete for galaxies with cold hydrogen masses above 10^8 Msun. This sky simulation builds on a semi-analytic model of the cosmic evolution of galaxies in a Lambda-cold dark matter (LCDM) cosmology. The evolving CDM-distribution was adopted from the Millennium Simulation, an N-body CDM-simulation in a cubic box with a side length of 500/h Mpc. This side length limits the coherence scale of our sky simulation: it is long enough to allow the extraction of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) in the galaxy power spectrum, yet the position and amplitude of the first acoustic peak will be imperfectly defined. This sky simulation is a tangible aid to the design and operation of future telescopes, such the SKA, the LMT, and ALMA. The results presented in this paper have been restricted to a graphical representation of the simulated sky and fundamental dN/dz-analyzes for peak flux density limited and total flux limited surveys of HI and CO. A key prediction is that HI will be harder to detect at redshifts z>2 than predicted by a no-evolution model. The future verification or falsification of this prediction will allow us to qualify the semi-analytic models.Comment: 16 pages, 9 figures, 1 tabl

Discovery of an active supermassive black hole in the bulge-less galaxy NGC 4561

We present XMM-Newton observations of the Chandra-detected nuclear X-ray source in NGC 4561. The hard X-ray spectrum can be described by a model composed of an absorbed power-law with Gamma= 2.5^{+0.4}_{-0.3}, and column density N_H=1.9^{+0.1}_{-0.2} times 10^{22} atoms cm^{-2}. The absorption corrected luminosity of the source is L(0.2 - 10.0 keV) = 2.5 times 10^{41} ergs s^{-1}, with bolometric luminosity over 3 \times 10^{42} ergs s^{-1}. Based on the spectrum and the luminosity, we identify the nuclear X-ray source in NGC 4561 to be an AGN, with a black hole of mass M_BH > 20,000 solar masses. The presence of a supermassive black hole at the center of this bulge-less galaxy shows that black hole masses are not necessarily related to bulge properties, contrary to the general belief. Observations such as these call into question several theoretical models of BH--galaxy co-evolution that are based on merger-driven BH growth; secular processes clearly play an important role. Several emission lines are detected in the soft X-ray spectrum of the source which can be well parametrized by an absorbed diffuse thermal plasma with non-solar abundances of some heavy elements. Similar soft X-ray emission is observed in spectra of Seyfert 2 galaxies and low luminosity AGNs, suggesting an origin in the circumnuclear plasma.Comment: To appear in Ap