Level of Motivation and Adoption of Innovation at Pig Farming in Southwest Sumba Regency

The development of pig farming aims to support the economy of the people in the Southwest Sumba Regency. Pigs in this area have a very high cultural value, so they have promising potential and prospects in the future. The problem is that the maintenance system is still semi-extensive and tends to be traditional. This situation can be related to the motive in trying and efforts to adopt an innovation. This study aimed to analyze the level of motivation and the factors that influence the adoption of innovation in raising pigs. The research method used a survey method with direct observation in the field. They are determining the area using the multistage cluster random sampling method obtained from sample sub-districts, namely Tambolaka District (Tambolaka City and Wee Londa) and South Wewewa District (Tena Teke Village and Delo). The research material was 120 pig farmers taken by purposive random sampling. The measured variables include the motivation to raise livestock using a Likert scale and factors influencing innovation adoption using multiple linear regression tests. The software used is Eviews 10. The study results show that: 1) Most of the pig breeders in Southwest Sumba Regency are based on high economic, social, and entertainment motives in pig farming. 2) The regression results show that the variables that have a significant effect on the level of adoption with a prob value below the significant level of 0.05 are the variables of motivation and access to information. While the variables that have no significant effect on the level of innovation adoption with a prob value above the significant level of 0.05 are the variables of age, education level, family dependents, livestock experience, number of livestock, and accessibility. This study concludes that business motives and adoption of innovations affect the success or failure of pig-rearing businesses in the Southwest Sumba district

Cryptosporidium Priming Is More Effective than Vaccine for Protection against Cryptosporidiosis in a Murine Protein Malnutrition Model

Cryptosporidium is a major cause of severe diarrhea, especially in malnourished children. Using a murine model of C. parvum oocyst challenge that recapitulates clinical features of severe cryptosporidiosis during malnutrition, we interrogated the effect of protein malnutrition (PM) on primary and secondary responses to C. parvum challenge, and tested the differential ability of mucosal priming strategies to overcome the PM-induced susceptibility. We determined that while PM fundamentally alters systemic and mucosal primary immune responses to Cryptosporidium, priming with C. parvum (106 oocysts) provides robust protective immunity against re-challenge despite ongoing PM. C. parvum priming restores mucosal Th1-type effectors (CD3+CD8+CD103+ T-cells) and cytokines (IFNγ, and IL12p40) that otherwise decrease with ongoing PM. Vaccination strategies with Cryptosporidium antigens expressed in the S. Typhi vector 908htr, however, do not enhance Th1-type responses to C. parvum challenge during PM, even though vaccination strongly boosts immunity in challenged fully nourished hosts. Remote non-specific exposures to the attenuated S. Typhi vector alone or the TLR9 agonist CpG ODN-1668 can partially attenuate C. parvum severity during PM, but neither as effectively as viable C. parvum priming. We conclude that although PM interferes with basal and vaccine-boosted immune responses to C. parvum, sustained reductions in disease severity are possible through mucosal activators of host defenses, and specifically C. parvum priming can elicit impressively robust Th1-type protective immunity despite ongoing protein malnutrition. These findings add insight into potential correlates of Cryptosporidium immunity and future vaccine strategies in malnourished children

Measurement of protein digestibility in humans by a dual-tracer method

Background: Recent evaluations of the risk of dietary protein deficiency have indicated that protein digestibility may be a key limiting factor in the provision of indispensable amino acids (IAAs), particularly for vulnerable populations living in challenging environments where intestinal dysfunction may exist. Since the digestion of protein occurs only in the small intestine, and the metabolic activity of colonic bacteria confounds measurements at the fecal level, there is a need to develop noninvasive protein digestibility measurements at the ileal level. Objective: We used a dual-tracer method with stable isotopes to characterize the digestibility of uniformly labeled [13C]-spirulina protein as a standard protein, in comparison to a mixture of 2H-labeled crystalline amino acids, and then demonstrated the use of this standard protein to measure the digestibility of selected legumes (chick pea and mung bean) through the use of proteins that were intrinsically labeled with 2H. Design: The digestibility of uniformly labeled [13C]-spirulina was first measured in 6 healthy volunteers (3 males and 3 females) by feeding it along with a standard mixture of 2H-labeled amino acids, in a dual-tracer, plateau-fed test meal approach. Next, intrinsically labeled legume protein digestibility was studied with a similar dual-tracer approach, with uniformly labeled [13C]-spirulina as the standard, when processed differently before consumption. Results: The average digestibility of IAA in spirulina protein was 85.2%. The average IAA digestibility of intrinsically 2H-labeled chick pea and mung bean protein was 56.6% and 57.7%, respectively. Dehulling of mung bean before ingestion increased the average IAA digestibility by 9.9% in comparison to whole mung bean digestibility. Conclusions: An innovative, minimally invasive “dual-stable-isotope” method was developed to measure protein digestibility, in which the ingestion of an intrinsically 2H-labeled test protein along with a 13C-labeled standard protein of known digestibility allows for an accurate measure of digestion and absorption of the intrinsically labeled protein. This minimally invasive method is critical to redefining protein quality and will aid in revisiting human protein requirements in different settings and in vulnerable populations. This trial was registered at Clinical Trials Registry—India as CTRI/2017/11/010468

Ecosystem Services in Conservation Planning: Targeted Benefits vs. Co-Benefits or Costs?

There is growing support for characterizing ecosystem services in order to link conservation and human well-being. However, few studies have explicitly included ecosystem services within systematic conservation planning, and those that have follow two fundamentally different approaches: ecosystem services as intrinsically-important targeted benefits vs. substitutable co-benefits. We present a first comparison of these two approaches in a case study in the Central Interior of British Columbia. We calculated and mapped economic values for carbon storage, timber production, and recreational angling using a geographical information system (GIS). These ‘marginal’ values represent the difference in service-provision between conservation and managed forestry as land uses. We compared two approaches to including ecosystem services in the site-selection software Marxan: as Targeted Benefits, and as Co-Benefits/Costs (in Marxan's cost function); we also compared these approaches with a Hybrid approach (carbon and angling as targeted benefits, timber as an opportunity cost). For this analysis, the Co-Benefit/Cost approach yielded a less costly reserve network than the Hybrid approach (1.6% cheaper). Including timber harvest as an opportunity cost in the cost function resulted in a reserve network that achieved targets equivalently, but at 15% lower total cost. We found counter-intuitive results for conservation: conservation-compatible services (carbon, angling) were positively correlated with each other and biodiversity, whereas the conservation-incompatible service (timber) was negatively correlated with all other networks. Our findings suggest that including ecosystem services within a conservation plan may be most cost-effective when they are represented as substitutable co-benefits/costs, rather than as targeted benefits. By explicitly valuing the costs and benefits associated with services, we may be able to achieve meaningful biodiversity conservation at lower cost and with greater co-benefits

Boom and bust of a moose population – a call for integrated forest management

This is the postprint version of the article. The published article can be located at www.springerlink.comThere is increasing pressure to manage forests for multiple objectives, including ecosystem services and biodiversity, alongside timber production. However, few forests are currently co-managed for timber and wildlife, despite potential economic and conservation benefits. We present empirical data from a commercial Norway spruce ( Picea abies ) and Scots pine ( Pinus sylvestris ) production system in southern Norway in which moose ( Alces alces ) are an important secondary product. Combining long-term hunting and forestry records, we identified temporal vari- ation in clear-felling over the past five decades, peaking in the 1970s. Herbicide treatment of regenerating stands and a fivefold increase in moose harvest has lead to a reduction in availability of successional forest per moose of [ 90 % since the 1960s. Field estimates showed that spraying with the herbicide glyphosate reduced forage availability by 60 and 96 % in summer and winter, respectively, 4 years after treatment. It also reduced moose use and habitat selection of young spruce stands compared with unsprayed stands. Together these lines of evidence suggest that forest man- agement led to an increase in moose carrying capacity during the 1970s and a subsequent decline thereafter. This is likely to have contributed to observed reductions in moose population productivity in southern Norway and is counter to sustainable resource management. We therefore call for better integration and long-term planning between forestry and wildlife management to minimise forest damage and the development of large fluctuations in ungulate populations

The Performance, Nutrient Digestibility, Aflatoxin B1 Residue, and Histopathological Changes of Broilers Exposed to Dietary Mycosorb

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the most dangerous type of aflatoxin that can impair poultry productivity even in low concentrations. The harmful effects of AFB1 should be minimized. The present study was conducted to evaluate the performance, nutrient digestibility, AFB1 residue, and histopathological changes of broilers fed AFB1 diets supplemented with mycosorb. Two hundred-forty 1-day old broiler chicks were allocated randomly to 24 pens (10 birds/pen). The experimental design was a 4 x 2 factorial arrangement, with AFB1 level and yeast glucomannan (mycosorb) supplementation as the main factors.  The treatment diets were control diet; control diet + mycosorb; AFB1 diets (10.36 ppb); AFB1 diets (10.36 ppb) + mycosorb; AFB1 diets (26.97 ppb); AFB1 diets (26.97 ppb) + mycosorb; AFB1 diets (61.06 ppb); AFB1 diets (61.06 ppb) + mycosorb. The results showed that there was no interaction effect was found between the level of AFB1 and mycosorb on the performance and nutrient digestibility. The level of AFB1 did not affect dry matter digestibility coefficient but affected (p<0.05) crude fat digestibility coefficient of broilers. Except for proventriculus, level of AFB1 did not affect bird’s gut size. AFB1 residue was not detected in the broiler tissues fed all diets. Mycosorb alone ameliorated (p<0.05) feed conversion ratio (FCR) of growing birds. The birds fed 61.06 ppb AFB1 diets had darker liver than those fed similar diets added with mycosorb. The addition of mycosorb in AFB1 diets did not heal the hemorrhagic intestines of the birds. In conclusion, feeding low level of AFB1 diets added with mycosorb did not improve the bird’s performance, nutrient digestibility, or gut health. Mycosorb alone improved feed efficiency of the experimental birds