VITRIFICATION OF BOVINE IVP EMBRYOS: AGE OF EMBRYOS AND EXPOSURE TIME TO CRYOPROTECTANT INFLUENCE VIABILITY

Avaliou-se diferentes tempos de exposição e concentrações de crioprotetores na vitrificação de embriões bovinos PIV. No primeiro experimento, foram utilizados blastocistos do dia 7 (Bx-D7). No tratamento 1 (T1), 82 embriões foram expostos por 1 min. à solução de equilíbrio (SE1 = 10% EG + 10% dimetilsulfóxido (DMSO), seguido da exposição por 20 segundos à solução de vitrificação (SV1 = 20% EG + 20% DMSO). No Tratamento 2 (T2) 84 embriões foram expostos por 3 minutos à SE2 (8,25% EG + 8,25% DMSO), seguido de 45 segundos na SV2 (16,5% EG + 16,5% DMSO). No segundo experimento adotou-se os mesmos procedimentos do primeiro, porém com Bx D8. A remoção dos crioprotetores foi executado em duas etapas de cinco minutos, em 0,3 e 0,15M de sacarose. Os embriões foram incubados por 72 horas, avaliando-se as taxas de re-expansão e eclosão (12 e 72 horas, respectivamente). No primeiro experimento, a taxa de re-expansão no T1 (91,6%) foi superior a do T2 (82,0%) (p0,05). No segundo experimento, as taxas de re-expansão não diferiram entre T1 e T2 (65,8 e 68,7% respectivamente), porém a taxa de eclosão do T1 (51,7%) foi superior a do T2 (33,2%) (

Utilization of barley grain in substitution of corn in diets for lactation cows

In the present research work the effects of partial and total substitution of ground corn grain by dry rolled barley on the milk production and composition were evaluated. Twenty-eight Holstein cows with an average of 125 days in milk were used in a 4x4 latin square design. Once a day, the diet was supplied in a totally mixed ration. Four levels of corn substitution by barley were tested (T1 0% barley; T2 33% barley; T3 67% barley; and T4 100% barley. The experiment was carried out during 105 days. Cows were milked twice a day and contents of fat, protein, milk total solids, and somatic cell count (SCC) were established twice in each treatment period and the milk urea nitrogen (MUN) at the end of each period. The dry matter intake decreased in a linear fashion when barley replaced corn in the diet. However, the ingestion of crude protein, neutral fiber detergent and acid fiber detergent were not affected when substituting corn by barley. Linear reduction was observed in milk yield, fat corrected milk production and fat and protein contents of the milk, while the protein percentages increased in a linear way. No effect was registered concerning the levels of substitution on the protein production, total solids of the milk, SCC, MUN and on the conversion efficiency.O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar os efeitos da substituição total e parcial de grãos de milho moídos por grãos de cevada laminados sobre a produção e a composição do leite. Foram utilizadas 28 vacas holandesas, com média de 125 dias de lactação, em um delineamento em quadrado latino 4x4. A dieta foi fornecida na forma de dieta totalmente misturada, 1 vez ao dia. Foram testados 4 níveis de substituição de milho por cevada (T1 0% cevada; T2 33 % cevada; T3 66% cevada; e T4 - 100% cevada). O experimento teve uma duração total de 105 dias. As vacas foram ordenhadas 2 vezes ao dia e as coletas para determinação da percentagem de gordura, proteína e extrato seco total (EST) e da contagem de células somáticas (CCS) realizadas 2 vezes em cada período experimental e para determinação do nitrogênio uréico no leite (NUL) ao final de cada período. A ingestão de matéria seca decresceu linearmente quando a cevada substituiu o milho. A ingestão de proteína bruta, fibra em detergente ácido e fibra em detergente neutro não foi afetada pela substituição do milho pela cevada. Foi observada redução linear na produção de leite, produção de leite corrigido para 4% de gordura (LCG), produção e percentagem de gordura do leite, enquanto que a percentagem de proteína aumentou linearmente. A eficiência alimentar (EA) foi em média de 1,31 kg de LCG/kg de matéria seca ingerida, não sendo afetada pelas dietas. Também não houve efeito do nível de substituição sobre a produção de proteína, EST, CCS e NUL

Effect of heat stress and solar radiation on dry matter intake, biochemical indicators, production, and quality of Holstein and Jersey cows' milk

ABSTRACT The objective of this work was to compare the dry matter intake, milk yield and quality, physiological and biochemical parameters in Holstein (n=10) and Jersey (n=10) cows under heat stress and insolation, in two treatments: CL - cooling by ventilation and sprinkling and HS - heat stress and insolation. Data were submitted to ANOVA. There was an interaction between treatment and breed and day effect for dry matter intake. For consumption in % of body weight, CL and Jersey cows consumed more. CL cows produced more milk and 3.5% fat-corrected milk. Feed efficiency was similar between treatments and breeds. Fat, lactose, total solids, and somatic cell score did not differ. The concentration of milk urea nitrogen was higher for CL cows. Milk from Holstein cows had greater stability to alcohol, and from HT cows had a greater freezing point of milk. HT cows had higher respiratory rates in the morning and surface temperatures in the afternoon. There were no differences in beta-hydroxybutyrate and glucose concentrations. Heat stress, with insulation, reduces intake, especially in Holstein cows, as well as milk production and increases the freezing point of milk, respiratory rate, and surface temperature

Photometric redshifts and clustering of emission line galaxies selected jointly by DES and eBOSS

We present the results of the first test plates of the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. This paper focuses on the emission line galaxies (ELG) population targetted from the Dark Energy Survey (DES) photometry. We analyse the success rate, efficiency, redshift distribution, and clustering properties of the targets. From the 9000 spectroscopic redshifts targetted, 4600 have been selected from the DES photometry. The total success rate for redshifts between 0.6 and 1.2 is 71\% and 68\% respectively for a bright and faint, on average more distant, samples including redshifts measured from a single strong emission line. We find a mean redshift of 0.8 and 0.87, with 15 and 13\% of unknown redshifts respectively for the bright and faint samples. In the redshift range 0.6<z<1.2, for the most secure spectroscopic redshifts, the mean redshift for the bright and faint sample is 0.85 and 0.9 respectively. Star contamination is lower than 2\%. We measure a galaxy bias averaged on scales of 1 and 10~Mpc/h of 1.72 \pm 0.1 for the bright sample and of 1.78 \pm 0.12 for the faint sample. The error on the galaxy bias have been obtained propagating the errors in the correlation function to the fitted parameters. This redshift evolution for the galaxy bias is in agreement with theoretical expectations for a galaxy population with MB-5\log h < -21.0. We note that biasing is derived from the galaxy clustering relative to a model for the mass fluctuations. We investigate the quality of the DES photometric redshifts and find that the outlier fraction can be reduced using a comparison between template fitting and neural network, or using a random forest algorithm

Digging deeper into the Southern skies: a compact Milky Way companion discovered in first-year Dark Energy Survey data

We use the first-year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data down to previously unprobed photometric depths to search for stellar systems in the Galactic halo, therefore complementing the previous analysis of the same data carried out by our group earlier this year. Our search is based on a matched filter algorithm that produces stellar density maps consistent with stellar population models of various ages, metallicities, and distances over the survey area. The most conspicuous density peaks in these maps have been identified automatically and ranked according to their significance and recurrence for different input models. We report the discovery of one additional stellar system besides those previously found by several authors using the same first-year DES data. The object is compact, and consistent with being dominated by an old and metal-poor population. DES 1 is found at high significance and appears in the DES images as a compact concentration of faint blue point sources. Assuming different spatial profile parameterizations, the best-fitting heliocentric distance and total absolute magnitude in the range of 77.6-87.1 kpc and -3.00 ≲ MV ≲ -2.21, respectively. The half-light radius of this object, rh ˜ 10 pc and total luminosity are consistent with it being a low-mass halo cluster. It is also found to have a very elongated shape (ε ˜ 0.57). In addition, our deeper probe of DES first-year data confirms the recently reported satellite galaxy candidate Horologium II as a significant stellar overdensity. We also infer its structural properties and compare them to those reported in the literature

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

DESAlert: enabling real-time transient follow-up with dark energy survey data

The Dark Energy Survey is undertaking an observational programme imaging 1/4 of the southern hemisphere sky with unprecedented photometric accuracy. In the process of observing millions of faint stars and galaxies to constrain the parameters of the dark energy equation of state, the Dark Energy Survey will obtain pre-discovery images of the regions surrounding an estimated 100 gamma-ray bursts over 5 yr. Once gamma-ray bursts are detected by, e.g., the Swift satellite, the DES data will be extremely useful for follow-up observations by the transient astronomy community. We describe a recently-commissioned suite of software that listens continuously for automated notices of gamma-ray burst activity, collates information from archival DES data, and disseminates relevant data products back to the community in near-real-time. Of particular importance are the opportunities that non-public DES data provide for relative photometry of the optical counterparts of gamma-ray bursts, as well as for identifying key characteristics (e.g., photometric redshifts) of potential gamma-ray burst host galaxies. We provide the functional details of the DESAlert software, and its data products, and we show sample results from the application of DESAlert to numerous previously detected gamma-ray bursts, including the possible identification of several heretofore unknown gamma-ray burst hosts