The effect and accumulation of antibiotics and their residues in horticultural plants: a review

Antibiotics have been used in the agriculture in large quantities since they were discovered. In animal husbandry these compounds are used not only to do treatment for sick animals but for prevention of diseases and also for growth promotion. The extreme usage of these antibiotics led to increasing numbers of antibiotic resistant bacteria. Today it is a danger that is considered very seriously worldwide. In the European Union, the usage of antibiotics as growth promoter is forbidden since 2006, but according to different statistics collected by administration departments there are big differences in antibiotics usage among EU countries. The antibiotics that are used in animal husbandry get to the fields through the manure, where the plants will take them up and absorb them into their own tissues. There are only a few studies demonstrating the harmful effects of antibiotics in humans or animals, however, several experiments were conducted to prove the deleterious effects of antibiotics in plants. The aim of this study was to explore the effect of antibiotics and their residues in horticultural plants. The consumption of the raw or processed vegetables accumulating antibiotics and their metabolites may mean the highest risk on human health. The results of studies in this subject showed that the use of antibiotics must be continuously controlled in both human and animal applications. The information of farmers, producing or using manure on their fields, about the dangers of over expose of antibiotics could be one of the keys to reduce the danger of antibiotics in health

The effect of incremental inclusion of whole grain wheat in the diet of growing turkeys on growth performance, feed conversion ratio, cecal health, and digesta characteristics

This study was conducted to determine the effects of adding incremental amounts of whole grain wheat (0, 100, and 200 g per kilogram of feed) to the diet of growing turkey poults on growth performance, feed efficiency, digesta pH, and the incidence of cecal distension. Seventy two, 6-wk-old commercial line turkeys were blocked by live weight and randomly allocated to 1 of 3 dietary treatment (n = 4 pens/treatment). Turkeys were offered their respective treatments for the duration of the study. Feed offered and refused and body weights were determined weekly. At 63 d of age 12 turkeys from each treatment were euthanized and crop contents were collected and weighed, pH of gizzard and cecal digesta measured, and ceca and cecal contents visually scored. At 84 d of age, all remaining turkeys were euthanized and the same sampling procedure repeated. Feed conversion ratio was poorer in those turkeys offered diets containing whole grain wheat (P < 0.05), declining quadratically (P < 0.005) as the proportion of whole grain wheat (WGW) in the diet increased. The proportion of WGW found in the crop post-mortem reflected whole wheat inclusion rates of the diets. The pH of gizzard contents at 63 d was lower in turkeys receiving diets supplemented with WGW, declining quadratically (P = 0.005) as the proportion of WGW in the diet increased. However, this difference in gizzard pH was not apparent at 84 d of age. Cecal content pH, cecal visual appearance scores, and cecal content visual appearance scores were not affected by the inclusion of WGW to the diet. The inclusion of WGW to the diets of growing turkeys reduces growth performance and feed efficiency suggesting that the addition of whole wheat may have reduced the nutritional quality of the diet as a whole

Effect of time related to calving and rumen protected choline (RPC) supplementation on blood analytes and on liver lipid and glycogen

Lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), an enzyme of the anaerobic glycolytic pathway with several isoforms, is found intracellularly in most tissues. Increased LDH is frequently used in human medicine to distinguish pleural exudates from transudates (Light’s criteria), and therefore may also be useful to help differentiate body cavity effusions in animals. Because LDH is a large molecule that does not pass readily though intact endothelial surfaces, concentrations in pleural or peritoneal fluid do not equilibrate rapidly with plasma values, and high effusion LDH is therefore likely to originate from inflammatory or damaged cells in that cavity. We tested pleural, peritoneal and pericardial effusions from dogs, cats and horses (n=50) using three different LDH tests – RANDOX wet chemistry testing both the lactate-to-pyruvate (L-P) and pyruvate-to-lactate (P-L) reaction and dry chemistry (IDEXX) measuring P-L. Although there is a good correlation between all the tests (r2= 0.98), there are significant differences between their absolute values. IDEXX chemistry produces the highest values (approximately 4x Daytona L-P) followed by Daytona P-L (approximately 2x L-P values) and Daytona L-P usually the lowest. Therefore it is necessary to establish different cut-off values for differentiating between transudates and exudates depending on which method is used. Results to date show that LDH activity tends to be highest in exudates and modified transudates in all methods evaluated and lowest in transudative effusions. This test may be useful for general practice where fluid analysis is not immediately available

The importance of local and regional factors in predicting effective conservation: planning strategies for wetland bird communities in agricultural and urban landscapes. Landscape Urban Plan 49

Abstract Wetland assessment techniques have generally focused on rapid evaluations of local and site impacts; however, wetland biodiversity is often in¯uenced both by adjacent and regional land use. Forty wetlands were studied in the Red River Valley (RRV), Southwest Prairie (SWP), and the Northern Hardwood Forest (NHF) ecoregions of Minnesota, USA, to assess the strength of association between local and landscape condition and avian community composition. We examined the relationship between bird assemblages and local and landscape factors (connectedness, isolation, road density, and site impacts). Landscape variables were calculated for three spatial scales at 500 m (79 ha), 1000 m (314 ha), and 2500 m (1963 ha). Connectedness and road density are important measures for predicting bird assemblages in both agricultural ecoregions (SWP and RRV). Connectedness and its relationship with wetland bird assemblages were most pronounced at the larger scale (2500 m), where the largest remnant patches can be discerned. In contrast, road effects on bird assemblages were most pronounced at the smallest scale (500 m). Wetland isolation corresponded to bird community patterns as well, but only in one ecoregion (SWP). In the urbanizing ecoregion (NHF), species richness was considerably lower than elsewhere but community patterns did not correspond to landscape variables. The focus of wetland conservation planning needs to shift from the site scale to the landscape scale to ensure that connection with the regional wetland pattern is accounted for, therefore, affording the best opportunity to successfully maintain wetland avian diversity.