Influence of age at weaning and nutritive value of weaning diet on growth performance and caecal traits in rabbits

[EN] To investigate the relationship between dietary nutrient concentration and weaning age on growth performance and caecal characteristics of rabbits, a trial was carried out on 64 litters (eight rabbits/litter) comparing two weaning ages (25 vs. 34 d) and two diets (HC: high concentrated and LC: low concentrated diet) offered to the kits from 18 to 34 d of age. At 34 d of age 54 animals per group were caged individually and all were fed the LC diet until 45 d of age. All animals were then fed a standard fattening diet (37% neutral detergent fiber, 3.4% ether extract and 18.0% crude protein on dry matter basis) until slaughter at 80 d. The digestibility trial was performed from 56 to 60 d of age on another group of 16 rabbits (8 per diet). During the experimental period (18-80 d of age), feed intake and animal weights were recorded. Caecal volatile fatty acids were measured at 45 and 80 d of age, while microbiological analysis was performed at 25 and 34 d on healthy suckling rabbits. Digestibility of dry matter, protein, neutral detergent fiber, fat and energy was higher in rabbits fed the HC diet (by 7.7, 7.4, 13.1, 26.7, 10.6%, respectively; P<0.001) than in those fed the LC diet. Growth rate and feed conversion ratio (FCR) from 18 to 34 d improved by 7.7 and 9.5% in rabbits fed HC in comparison to the LC diet, respectively (P¿0.061). Diet offered around weaning did not influence growth rate or FCR from 34 to 80 d of age. Rabbits weaned earlier increased feed intake (by 67.8%) from 25 to 34 d, but reduced growth rate (by 26.8%) compared to animals weaned at 34 d (P<0.001). Early weaning reduced live weight during the entire fattening period (P¿0.018), as well as the FCR (by 4%; P<0.001). Caecal pH was lower at 45 d of age in rabbits weaned at 25 d than in those weaned at 34 d (5.53 vs. 5.83; P=0.019). Treatments did not affect total caecal VFA concentration, but HC diet decreased caecal acetic concentration and increased butyric acid level compared to the LC diet at 45 d (P¿0.001). HC diet tended to reduce caecal counts of Enterobacteriacae (P=0.093), while it did not affect facultative anaerobic bacteria, E. Coli and Costridium spp. The LC diet increased at 25 d the number of Clostridium perfringens in comparison with the HC group at the same age and in comparison with animals fed both two diets at 34 d (P<0.001). The values of E. Coli and Enterobacteriaceae increased (P¿0.008) from 25 to 34 d of age, whereas that of Clostridium spp. decreased. Weaning at 25 d increased mortality from 18 to 34 d compared with rabbits weaned at 34 d (7.02 vs. 2.46%, P=0.017). However, during the fattening period (34-80 d) rabbits weaned earlier showed lower mortality (7.41 vs. 17.6%; P=0.024).This work has been realized within the CUNISVEZZ research project financed by the Agricultural Department of the Regione Lombardia as part of the 2004 research and development plan, d.g.r. 30/04/2004 n. VII/17326. The authors wish to thank Nicoletta Cesari for her technical assistance.Cesari, V.; Grilli, G.; Ferrazzi, V.; Toschi, I. (2009). Influence of age at weaning and nutritive value of weaning diet on growth performance and caecal traits in rabbits. World Rabbit Science. 17(4):195-205. https://doi.org/10.4995/wrs.2009.64419520517

Optical conductivity near finite-wavelength quantum criticality

We study the optical conductivity sigma(Omega) of an electron system near a quantum-critical point with finite-wavelength ordering. sigma(Omega) vanishes in clean Galilean-invariant systems, unless electrons are coupled to dynamical collective modes, which dissipate the current. This coupling introduces a nonuniversal energy scale. Depending on the parameters of each specific system, a variety of responses arise near criticality: scaling peaks at a temperature- and doping-dependent frequency, peaks at a fixed frequency, or no peaks to be associated with criticality. Therefore the lack of scaling in the far-infrared conductivity in cuprates does not necessarily call for new concepts of quantum criticality.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures; version as publishe

3D Modeling of the Magnetization of Superconducting Rectangular-Based Bulks and Tape Stacks

In recent years, numerical models have become popular and powerful tools to investigate the electromagnetic behavior of superconductors. One domain where this advances are most necessary is the 3D modeling of the electromagnetic behavior of superconductors. For this purpose, a benchmark problem consisting of superconducting cube subjected to an AC magnetic field perpendicular to one of its faces has been recently defined and successfully solved. In this work, a situation more relevant for applications is investigated: a superconducting parallelepiped bulk with the magnetic field parallel to two of its faces and making an angle with the other one without and with a further constraint on the possible directions of the current. The latter constraint can be used to model the magnetization of a stack of high-temperature superconductor tapes, which are electrically insulated in one direction. For the present study three different numerical approaches are used: the Minimum Electro-Magnetic Entropy Production (MEMEP) method, the $H$-formulation of Maxwell's equations and the Volume Integral Method (VIM) for 3D eddy currents computation. The results in terms of current density profiles and energy dissipation are compared, and the differences in the two situations of unconstrained and constrained current flow are pointed out. In addition, various technical issues related to the 3D modeling of superconductors are discussed and information about the computational effort required by each model is provided. This works constitutes a concrete result of the collaborative effort taking place within the HTS numerical modeling community and will hopefully serve as a stepping stone for future joint investigations

The Electron-Phonon Interaction in the Presence of Strong Correlations

We investigate the effect of strong electron-electron repulsion on the electron-phonon interaction from a Fermi-liquid point of view: the strong interaction is responsible for vertex corrections, which are strongly dependent on the $v_Fq/\omega$ ratio. These corrections generically lead to a strong suppression of the effective coupling between quasiparticles mediated by a single phonon exchange in the $v_Fq/\omega \gg 1$ limit. However, such effect is not present when $v_Fq/\omega \ll 1$. Analyzing the Landau stability criterion, we show that a sizable electron-phonon interaction can push the system towards a phase-separation instability. A detailed analysis is then carried out using a slave-boson approach for the infinite-U three-band Hubbard model. In the presence of a coupling between the local hole density and a dispersionless optical phonon, we explicitly confirm the strong dependence of the hole-phonon coupling on the transferred momentum versus frequency ratio. We also find that the exchange of phonons leads to an unstable phase with negative compressibility already at small values of the bare hole-phonon coupling. Close to the unstable region, we detect Cooper instabilities both in s- and d-wave channels supporting a possible connection between phase separation and superconductivity in strongly correlated systems.Comment: LateX 3.14, 04.11.1994 Preprint no.101

The spatial pattern of “Mal de Río Cuarto del Maíz” (Rio Cuarto Corn disease) in corn fields

Se estudió el patrón de disposición espacial del “Mal de Rio Cuarto del maíz “ durante tres campañas agrícolas en la Provincia de Córdoba, Argentina. El trabajo combinó estimaciones por la prueba de ELISA en un campo experimental durante la primera campaña, con datos de .síntomas microscópicos tomados en la misma situación y en campos comerciales durante dos campañas posteriores. Las muestras analizadas por medio de ELISA mostraron un patrón espacial de la enfermedad indistinguible del esperado por izar. Los datos de síntomas, analizados mediante el “test común de runs “, mostraron que solo 13 de las 120 muestras estudiadas en la primera campaña en el campo experimental tenían disposición espacial agregada y que sólo 3 de lis 23 muestras analizadas en los campos comerciales durante dos campañas posteriores mostraron agregación. No se identificó ningún gradiente de incidencia de Mal de Rio Cuarto desde el perímetro al centro del cultivo, observación que sugiere que el vector no se dispersa a lotes de maíz desde fuentes cercanas.The spatial pattern of Mal de Río Cuarto del maíz (Rio Cuarto Corn Disease) was studied during three growing seasons in Córdoba Province, Argentina. The study combined ELISA determinations in experimental plots outside the endemic area during the first growing season with symptom assessments in that situation and in commercial plots in or near the endemic area during the two subsequent growing seasons. For the experimental plots studied during the first growing season, ELISA data indicated i random spatial pattern of the disease, whereas symptoms data, analyzed by ordinary runs test, showed only 13 out of 120 simples with clumped pattern. Symptom analysis during the next two seasons revealed only 3 of 23 samples with significant aggregation. No edge-to-center disease gradients were identified, suggesting that the vector does not disperse from nearby sources. Our results agree with the hypothesis of a random spatial pattern of this disease, consistent with i monocyclic nature

Efficacy in the field of two anticoccidial vaccines for broilers

We compared two attenuated anticoccidial vaccines, administered to broilers by spray into the incubator (88,000 males and 210,100 females). Vaccine A container five species of Eimeria and vaccine B three. Zootechnical performance was similar in the two groups, with mean lesion scores no higher than 1; vaccine A caused only duodenal lesions, while vaccine B also caused typhlitis. Maximum oocyst count was 23,000/g feces at age 28 days with vaccine A and 38,000 at 21 days with vaccine B. Broilers vaccinated with vaccine B had more frequent enteric symptoms, and C. perfringens isolation