Auswirkungen unterschiedlicher Duroc-Anteile von Endmastherkünften auf Aspekte der Mastleistung und Schlachtkörperqualität unter ökologischen Produktionsbedingungen

In der ökologischen Schweinefleischerzeugung wird immer wieder die Berücksichtigung der Rasse Duroc zur Verbesserung der Fleischqualität im Mastschwein gefordert Vor diesem Hintergrund werden unter ökologischen Produktionsbedingungen die Effekte unterschiedlich hoher Duroc-Genanteile im Mastschwein auf Mastleistung, Schlachtkörper- und Fleischqualität geprüft. Insgesamt wurden auf der Leistungsprüfungsanstalt in Rohrsen 190 Tiere in 2 Durchgängen aufgestallt. Es wurden dabei Mastschweine mit 0%, 25%, 50% und 75% Duroc-Genanteil untersucht. Die Haltung erfolgte ökokonform in einem Außenklimastall mit eingestreuten Buchten in 14 Gruppen zu je 6 Tieren und je einer Gruppe mit 5 bzw. 4 Tieren. Es wurde eine Futterration aus 100 % ökologischer sowie weitgehend betriebseigener Herkunft eingesetzt. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass bei einem auf Schlachtkörperqualität, d.h. im Wesentlichen auf Muskelfleischfülle orientierten Vermarktungsziel nicht mehr als 50 % Duroc-Genanteil im Mastendprodukt enthalten sein sollte. Der Muskelfleischanteil wird mit steigendem Duroc-Genanteil signifikant geringer. Die Gruppe mit 75% Duroc-Genanteil zeigt auch eine deutlich schlechtere Futterverwertung. Mit steigendem Duroc-Genanteil wird der intramuskuläre Fettgehalt signifikant gesteigert. Schon bei einem 25 %-igen Duroc-Genanteil wird die Fleischqualität deutlich positiv beeinflusst, ohne dass die Schlachtkörperqualität leiden muss. Damit besitzt diese Variante ein deutliches Optimierungspotenzial sowohl für den ökonomischen Erfolg des Mästers als auch für die Profilierung von ökologisch erzeugtem Schweinefleisch gegenüber dem Verbraucher. Nur wenn ein Bezahlungs- bzw. Vermarktungssystem klar erhöhte intramuskuläre Fettgehalte und bessere sensorische Eigenschaften honorieren würde, ohne dabei die damit einhergehenden verminderten Schlachtkörperqualitäten mit merklichen Mali zu bestrafen, ließe sich ein 75 %-iger Duroc-Genanteil im Mastschwein und der damit verbundene geringere Fleisch- und höhere Fettanteil im Schlachtkörper rechtfertigen

apex: phylogenetics with multiple genes.

Genetic sequences of multiple genes are becoming increasingly common for a wide range of organisms including viruses, bacteria and eukaryotes. While such data may sometimes be treated as a single locus, in practice, a number of biological and statistical phenomena can lead to phylogenetic incongruence. In such cases, different loci should, at least as a preliminary step, be examined and analysed separately. The r software has become a popular platform for phylogenetics, with several packages implementing distance-based, parsimony and likelihood-based phylogenetic reconstruction, and an even greater number of packages implementing phylogenetic comparative methods. Unfortunately, basic data structures and tools for analysing multiple genes have so far been lacking, thereby limiting potential for investigating phylogenetic incongruence. In this study, we introduce the new r package apex to fill this gap. apex implements new object classes, which extend existing standards for storing DNA and amino acid sequences, and provides a number of convenient tools for handling, visualizing and analysing these data. In this study, we introduce the main features of the package and illustrate its functionalities through the analysis of a simple data set

Auswirkungen unterschiedlicher Duroc-Genanteile auf das ökologisch erzeugte Mastschwein

It is the aim of the present study with 93 organic fattening pigs of varying Duroc gene portion (0 %, 25 %, 50 %, and 75 %) to deduce the optimal Duroc gene percentage. Increasing Duroc gene portions resulted in an impaired feed conversion ratio, decreasing lean meat content, and increasing intramuscular fat content. It is concluded that in a carcass quality based marketing system Duroc gene percentage should not exceed 50 %, whereas already 25 % Duroc gene portion significantly promotes meat quality. Only for marketing systems very strictly based on meat quality Duroc gene portion should have 75 % due to a significant promotion of intramuscular fat content

The Effect of Lifting Straps on Deadlift Performance in Females

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A diffusion-induced transition in the phase separation of binary fluid mixtures subjected to a temperature ramp

Demixing of binary fluids subjected to slow temperature ramps shows repeated waves of nucleation which arise as a consequence of the competition between generation of supersaturation by the temperature ramp and relaxation of supersaturation by diffusive transport and flow. Here, we use an advection-reaction-diffusion model to study the oscillations in the weak- and strong-diffusion regime. There is a sharp transition between the two regimes, which can only be understood based on the probability distribution function of the composition rather than in terms of the average composition. We argue that this transition might be responsible for some yet unclear features of experiments, like the appearance of secondary oscillations and bimodal droplet size distributions.Comment: 6 pages, 3 color figure

Expanding NEON biodiversity surveys with new instrumentation and machine learning approaches

A core goal of the National Ecological Observatory Network (NEON) is to measure changes in biodiversity across the 30-yr horizon of the network. In contrast to NEON’s extensive use of automated instruments to collect environmental data, NEON’s biodiversity surveys are almost entirely conducted using traditional human-centric field methods. We believe that the combination of instrumentation for remote data collection and machine learning models to process such data represents an important opportunity for NEON to expand the scope, scale, and usability of its biodiversity data collection while potentially reducing long-term costs. In this manuscript, we first review the current status of instrument-based biodiversity surveys within the NEON project and previous research at the intersection of biodiversity, instrumentation, and machine learning at NEON sites. We then survey methods that have been developed at other locations but could potentially be employed at NEON sites in future. Finally, we expand on these ideas in five case studies that we believe suggest particularly fruitful future paths for automated biodiversity measurement at NEON sites: acoustic recorders for sound-producing taxa, camera traps for medium and large mammals, hydroacoustic and remote imagery for aquatic diversity, expanded remote and ground-based measurements for plant biodiversity, and laboratory-based imaging for physical specimens and samples in the NEON biorepository. Through its data science-literate staff and user community, NEON has a unique role to play in supporting the growth of such automated biodiversity survey methods, as well as demonstrating their ability to help answer key ecological questions that cannot be answered at the more limited spatiotemporal scales of human-driven surveys

Data Carpentry: Workshops to Increase Data Literacy for Researchers

In many domains the rapid generation of large amounts of data is fundamentally changing how research is done. The deluge of data presents great opportunities, but also many challenges in managing, analyzing and sharing data. However, good training resources for researchers looking to develop skills that will enable them to be more effective and productive researchers are scarce and there is little space in the existing curriculum for courses or additional lectures. To address this need we have developed an introductory two-day intensive workshop, Data Carpentry, designed to teach basic concepts, skills, and tools for working more effectively and reproducibly with data. These workshops are based on Software Carpentry: two-day, hands-on, bootcamp style workshops teaching best practices in software development, that have demonstrated the success of short workshops to teach foundational research skills. Data Carpentry focuses on data literacy in particular, with the objective of teaching skills to researchers to enable them to retrieve, view, manipulate, analyze and store their and other’s data in an open and reproducible way in order to extract knowledge from data

Glucose enhancement of human memory: A comprehensive research review of the glucose memory facilitation effect

The brain relies upon glucose as its primary fuel. In recent years, a rich literature has developed from both human and animal studies indicating that increases in circulating blood glucose can facilitate cognitive functioning. This phenomenon has been termed the ‘glucose memory facilitation effect’. The purpose of this review is to discuss a number of salient studies which have investigated the influence of glucose ingestion on neurocognitive performance in individuals with (a) compromised neurocognitive capacity, as well as (b) normally functioning individuals (with a focus on research conducted with human participants). The proposed neurocognitive mechanisms purported to underlie the modulatory effect of glucose on neurocognitive performance will also be considered. Many theories have focussed upon the hippocampus, given that this brain region is heavily implicated in learning and memory. Further, it will be suggested that glucose is a possible mechanism underlying the phenomenon that enhanced memory performance is typically observed for emotionally laden stimuli