Abiotic Resource Efficiency of Grassland Production Systems in North-West Europe

Nitrate leaching and energy efficiency are key criteria of a resource efficient grassland production system. A four-year field experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of N input and defoliation system on both criteria. The objective of this experiment was to develop strategies which help to facilitate future grassland production with maximum environmental friendliness

Auswirkungen reduzierter Produktionsintensität auf Futterqualität und ökologische Effekte

Zusammenfassung: Aus aggregierter Sicht der pflanzenbaulichen Leistung wie des abiotischen Ressourcenschutzes ist festzuhalten: 1) der Futterbau auf den sandigen Standorten der Geest ist bei reduzierter N-Intensität durch geringe Grenzertragsverluste, aber hohe Reduktionen der Nitratauswaschungen geprägt; im Marktfruchtbau des östlichen Hügellandes herrschen inverse Beziehungen vor. 2) Ein Flächenbilanzsaldo von +20 bis +40 kg/ha/Jahr (plus "unvermeidbare gasförmige Verluste") ist als Grenzbereich der guten fachlichen Praxis auf den Futterbaubetrieben der Geest nur durch erhebliche Reduktionen der Bewirtschaftungsintensität zu erreichen. Auf den Marktfruchtbetrieben des östlichen Hügellandes besteht dagegen eine schwache Beziehung zwischen dem Nährstoffsaldo und der Nitratauswaschung. Daraus resultiert, dass die Milchvieh-/Futterbaubetriebe auf den Geeststandorten vorrangig einer extensiveren Landnutzung aus Sicht des abiotischen Ressourcenschutzes zuzuführen sind, während die Markfruchtbetriebe im östlichen Hügelland auch bei hoher Intensität vergleichsweise geringe abiotische Belastungen hervorrufen

A Survey Of The Forms Of Tuberculosis Encountered At Harare Hospital, Rhodesia, 1967—1969

A CAJM article on the forms of Tuberculosis encountered at Harare Central Hospital.It was decided to study the frequency with which tuberculosis was diagnosed in Africans admitted to the Harare Central Hospital in Salisbury, Rhodesia. We also wanted to learn how often this diagnosis was proven at the time of discharge of the patient, since we had reason to believe that tuberculosis was not an easy condition to prove in every case

Variation in Protein Quality of Forage Legumes During Spring Growth

The utilisation of forage legumes in combination with reduced N inputs as fertilisers is an alternative for the production of high quality forage. Although white clover (WC) is widely used in grassland and has a high content of crude protein (CP), a combination of this high CP content with a high proportion of rapidly-available proteins and fast degradation rate in the rumen may reduce the efficiency of N use by ruminants in comparison with other forage legumes. The objective of the present study was to investigate the variation in content of CP fractions A, B and C in different forage legume during the spring growth in comparison with WC

A Sward Based Method to Estimate Herbage Selection of Grazing Dairy Cows

Diet selection of grazing animals is influenced by sward composition and vertical sward structure. Grazing studies were established in northern Germany (Kiel, Schleswig - Holstein state) to determine if selective grazing behaviour in a mixed sward can be measured by a sward based method. The hypothesis that active selection of different functional groups of forages can be documented by using the selection index (Figure 1, Hodgson, 1990) and regressive approaches vs time was tested

Einfluss von Zwischenfrüchten auf Lachgasverluste und Nitratauswaschung im ökologischen Marktfruchtbau in Abhängigkeit von der Vorfrucht

All-arable organic farming systems, especially when they are working without organic fertilizer, are often in challenge with their nutrient management to fulfill the requirements of crops. In this context one of the main issues is to mitigate nutrient losses. Here the use of catch crops may one strategy to counteract against this. We hypothesized that under the climate conditions of north-west Germany winter hard catch crops are more suitable to reduce nitrogen (N) losses than catch crops killed by frost, here especially with cereals or legumes as previous crop. In a field experiment in 2015/16 we tested 3 different catch crops (grown in pure stand and in mixture with legumes) after peas and triticale for their nitrogen loss paths over the winter period. Soil mineral N content (0-90 cm) was determined before and after winter. Nitrous oxide (N2O) emissions were measured weekly. Nitrate (NO3) concentrations in leachate were analyzed once a week (Oct-Mar).The results show that corn legumes as pre crop have the highest N-loss potential over winter. In comparison, catch crops demonstrate a good reduction of nitrogen losses pathways like NO3 in leachate or gaseous N2O emissions. In particular significant lower nitrate losses via leaching were recorded after corn as pre crop. In comparison winter killed white mustard showed significant higher NO3 and N2O losses over winter. Undersown catch crops showed the highest potential to mitigate N-losses

Wool Textiles and Archaeometry: Testing Reliability of Archaeological Wool Fibre Diameter

Characterisations of ancient sheep breeds and wool types as well as theories about wool fibre processing have become integral parts of textile archaeology. The studies are based on statistical calculations of measurements of wool fibre diameters and reveal characteristics of the yarns that can be attributed to the available raw wool and to the production methods of the people creating the textiles. The types of microscopes used for the analyses have varied through the years and presently digital images from either scanning electron microscopy (SEM) or transmitted light microscopy (TLM) are the preferred methods for data collection. The advantage of SEM is the good depth of field at high magnification while TLM is simpler to use and more readily available. Several classification systems have been developed to facilitate the interpretation of the results. In this paper the comparability of the results from these two methods and from the use of different magnifications in general is examined based on the analyses of a large number of the Danish prehistoric textiles. The results do not indicate superiority of one microscope type in favour of another. Rather, they reveal differences in the calculations that can be ascribed to the diversity of the fibres in the individual yarns as well as to the methodology and the magnification level.The research leading to these results was funded by the Danish National Research Foundation’s Centre for Textile Research [DNRF64], the National Museum of Denmark, the European Commission’s Marie Curie Actions under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP7-PEOPLE-IEF-2008-236263], and the European Research Council under the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme [FP/2007-2013-312603]

Evaluating the Economic and Environmental Sustainability of Integrated Farming Systems

Economic and environmental sustainability has become a major concern for forage-based animal production in Europe, North America and other parts of the world. Development of more sustainable farming systems requires an assimilation of experimental and modelling research. Field research is critical for supporting the development and evaluation of models, and modelling is needed to integrate farm components for predicting the long-term effects and interactions resulting from farm management changes. Experimentally supported simulation provides a tool for evaluating and comparing farming strategies and predicting their effect on the watershed, region and beyond