Heat-Treated Soybean Proteins for Lactating Dairy Cattle

The value of heat treatment of protein supplements to reduce protein solubility and increase protein utilization was studied in two lactation trials. Experiment I was designed to study the utilization of heat-treated soybean meal (HSBM) by cows in early lactation. An extrusion process with moist heat was used to produce HSBM - a product with lower protein solubility than regular soybean meal (SBM). Ten cows, 3 wks post-partum, were assigned to treatments of HSBM or SBM. Due to a problem in feed bag labeling the concentrate mix containing SBM and corn was not as formulated. A large amount of ground whole soybeans was substituted for SBM making the concentrate mix lower in protein and higher in fat than intended. Milk production was higher for the cows fed HSBM due to either the higher amount of protein that they received and/or the lower protein solubility of that diet. No change was seen in milk fat percent, protein, protein components or total solids. Experiment II used a switchback design with 12 cows to determine the feeding value of a heat treated soybean product. Treatments were commercially available heat-treated soybeans (HTP), the unheated ingredients of HTP (HTP-U) and regular soybean meal (SBM). Nitrogen solubility of the protein sources in 10% Burrough\u27s buffer solution was 9.4, 25.4, and 13.8%, respectively. Concentrate mixes of protein sources and corn were formulated to contain 16% crude protein and fed at the rate of 1 kg/3 kg milk. Production of 4% fat-corrected-milk was similar for all treatments, although, production tended to be highest for cows fed heat-treated soybeans. No differences were observed in milk fat percent or total solids. Protein percent of milk was lower when fed HTP and HTP-U probably due to the higher fat content of those diets. Amounts of long chain unsaturated fatty ·acids in milk fat were increased with HTP and HTP-U diets. Rumen ammonia and serum urea were lower when fed HTP and HTP-U. This study indicates that heating soybeans improved their value slightly as a feed for lactating cows, but milk production by cows past peak production was not significantly greater than production achieved with conventional corn-soybean meal diets

Impurity Effect on the In-plane Penetration Depth of the Organic Superconductors κ\kappa-(BEDT-TTF)2X_2X (XX = Cu(NCS)2_2 and Cu[N(CN)2_2]Br)

We report the in-plane penetration depth $\lambda_{\parallel}$ of single crystals $\kappa$-(BEDT-TTF)$_2X$ ($X=$ Cu(NCS)$_2$ and Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br) by means of the reversible magnetization measurements under the control of cooling-rate. In $X$ = Cu(NCS)$_2$, $\lambda_{\parallel}(0)$ as an extrapolation toward $T$ = 0 K does not change by the cooling-rate within the experimental accuracy, while $T_{\textrm{c}}$ is slightly reduced. On the other hand, in $X$ = Cu[N(CN)$_2$]Br, $\lambda_{\parallel}(0)$ indicates a distinct increase by cooling faster. The different behavior of $\lambda_{\parallel}(0)$ on cooling-rate between the two salts is quantitatively explained in terms of the local-clean approximation (London model), considering that the former salt belongs to the very clean system and the later the moderate clean one. The good agreement with this model demonstrates that disorders of ethylene-group in BEDT-TTF introduced by cooling faster increase the electron(quasiparticle)-scattering, resulting in shorter mean free path.Comment: 8 pages, 9 figure

Outcomes of Brood Parasite–Host Interactions Mediated by Egg Matching: Common Cuckoos Cuculus canorus versus Fringilla Finches

Antagonistic species often interact via matching of phenotypes, and interactions between brood parasitic common cuckoos (Cuculus canorus) and their hosts constitute classic examples. The outcome of a parasitic event is often determined by the match between host and cuckoo eggs, giving rise to potentially strong associations between fitness and egg phenotype. Yet, empirical efforts aiming to document and understand the resulting evolutionary outcomes are in short supply.We used avian color space models to analyze patterns of egg color variation within and between the cuckoo and two closely related hosts, the nomadic brambling (Fringilla montifringilla) and the site fidelic chaffinch (F. coelebs). We found that there is pronounced opportunity for disruptive selection on brambling egg coloration. The corresponding cuckoo host race has evolved egg colors that maximize fitness in both sympatric and allopatric brambling populations. By contrast, the chaffinch has a more bimodal egg color distribution consistent with the evolutionary direction predicted for the brambling. Whereas the brambling and its cuckoo host race show little geographical variation in their egg color distributions, the chaffinch's distribution becomes increasingly dissimilar to the brambling's distribution towards the core area of the brambling cuckoo host race.High rates of brambling gene flow is likely to cool down coevolutionary hot spots by cancelling out the selection imposed by a patchily distributed cuckoo host race, thereby promoting a matching equilibrium. By contrast, the site fidelic chaffinch is more likely to respond to selection from adapting cuckoos, resulting in a markedly more bimodal egg color distribution. The geographic variation in the chaffinch's egg color distribution could reflect a historical gradient in parasitism pressure. Finally, marked cuckoo egg polymorphisms are unlikely to evolve in these systems unless the hosts evolve even more exquisite egg recognition capabilities than currently possessed

Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil: setting the baseline knowledge on the animal diversity in Brazil

The limited temporal completeness and taxonomic accuracy of species lists, made available in a traditional manner in scientific publications, has always represented a problem. These lists are invariably limited to a few taxonomic groups and do not represent up-to-date knowledge of all species and classifications. In this context, the Brazilian megadiverse fauna is no exception, and the Catálogo Taxonômico da Fauna do Brasil (CTFB) (http://fauna.jbrj.gov.br/), made public in 2015, represents a database on biodiversity anchored on a list of valid and expertly recognized scientific names of animals in Brazil. The CTFB is updated in near real time by a team of more than 800 specialists. By January 1, 2024, the CTFB compiled 133,691 nominal species, with 125,138 that were considered valid. Most of the valid species were arthropods (82.3%, with more than 102,000 species) and chordates (7.69%, with over 11,000 species). These taxa were followed by a cluster composed of Mollusca (3,567 species), Platyhelminthes (2,292 species), Annelida (1,833 species), and Nematoda (1,447 species). All remaining groups had less than 1,000 species reported in Brazil, with Cnidaria (831 species), Porifera (628 species), Rotifera (606 species), and Bryozoa (520 species) representing those with more than 500 species. Analysis of the CTFB database can facilitate and direct efforts towards the discovery of new species in Brazil, but it is also fundamental in providing the best available list of valid nominal species to users, including those in science, health, conservation efforts, and any initiative involving animals. The importance of the CTFB is evidenced by the elevated number of citations in the scientific literature in diverse areas of biology, law, anthropology, education, forensic science, and veterinary science, among others

The vocal repertoire of the domesticated zebra finch: a data-driven approach to decipher the information-bearing acoustic features of communication signals

Although a universal code for the acoustic features of animal vocal communication calls may not exist, the thorough analysis of the distinctive acoustical features of vocalization categories is important not only to decipher the acoustical code for a specific species but also to understand the evolution of communication signals and the mechanisms used to produce and understand them.Here, we recorded more than 8,000 examples of almost all the vocalizations of the domesticated Zebra finch, Taeniopygia guttata: vocalizations produced to establish contact, to form and maintain pair bonds, to sound an alarm, to communicate distress or to advertise hunger or aggressive intents. We characterized each vocalization type using complete representations that avoided any a priori assumptions on the acoustic code, as well as classical bioacoustics measures that could provide more intuitive interpretations. We then used these acoustical features to rigorously determine the potential information-bearing acoustical features for each vocalization type using both a novel regularized classifier and an unsupervised clustering algorithm. Vocalization categories are discriminated by the shape of their frequency spectrum and by their pitch saliency (noisy to tonal vocalizations) but not particularly by their fundamental frequency. Notably, the spectral shape of zebra finch vocalizations contains peaks or formants that vary systematically across categories and that would be generated by active control of both the vocal organ (source) and the upper vocal tract (filter)