Feeding sorghum ergot (Claviceps africana) to sows before farrowing inhibits milk production

Objective: To assess the impact of feeding different amounts of sorghum ergot to sows before farrowing. Design: Fifty-one pregnant sows from a continually farrowing piggery were sequentially inducted into the experiment each week in groups of four to seven, as they approached within 14 days of farrowing. Diets containing sorghum ergot sclerotia within the range of 0 (control) up to 1.5% w/w (1.5% ergot provided 7 mg alkaloids/kg, including 6 mg dihydroergosine/kg) were randomly allocated and individually fed to sows. Ergot concentrations were varied with each subsequent group until an acceptable level of tolerance was achieved. Diets with ergot were replaced with control diets after farrowing. Post-farrowing milk production was assessed by direct palpation and observation of udders, and by piglet responses and growth. Blood samples were taken from sows on three days each week, for prolactin estimation. Results: Three sows fed 1.5% ergot for 6 to 10 days preceding farrowing produced no milk, and 87% of their piglets died despite supplementary feeding of natural and artificial colostrums, milk replacer, and attempts to foster them onto normally lactating sows. Ergot inclusions of 0.6% to 1.2% caused lesser problems in milk release and neo-natal piglet mortality. Of 23 sows fed either 0.3% or 0.6% ergot, lactation of only two first-litter sows were affected. Ergot caused pronounced reductions in blood prolactin, and first-litter sows had lower plasma prolactin than multiparous sows, increasing their susceptibility to ergot. Conclusion: Sorghum ergot should not exceed 0.3% (1 mg alkaloid/kg) in diets of multiparous sows fed before farrowing, and should be limited to 0.1 % for primiparous sows, or avoided completely

Fostering the intercultural dimensions of internationalisation in higher education: Metaphors and challenges in the Japanese context

The sustainability of many Japanese institutions of higher education is dependent on the injection of large numbers of foreigners. This requires addressing the intercultural dimensions of internationalisation. In this article, the authors contrast the literature on internationalisation in Japan (kokusaika) with the Anglo-European discourse on internationalisation andhighlight the limited attention given to intercultural dimensions in the Japanese context. The authors examine how the constrained professional situation of foreign English teachers seems to inhibit the generation of opportunities for promoting reciprocal intercultural understanding. The authors discuss how these teachers' use of metaphorical constructs, such as uchi/soto andomote/ura, to frame their experience in the Japanese higher education context provide conceptually powerful tools with which to consider internationalisation in the Japanese higher education context. The authors conclude by arguing that metaphors that stress notions of difference andotherness are problematic as they create challenges for addressing the intercultural aspects of internationalisation in the Japanese context. © 2011 Nuffic