Development of Methodologies to Reduce the DCAD of Hays for Transition Dairy Cows

Hypocalcemia (clinical and subclinical) create a major economic loss in early postpartum dairy cows. Ration formulation for dairy cows just prior to parturition must control the diet cation-anion difference (DCAD) if hypocalcemia and milk fever are to be avoided. The purpose of this research was to evaluate the use of specific fertilizer regimes for forages and evaluate their impact on mineral and DCAD levels in hays, as well as forage yields. The experimental design involved four different species of hay (alfalfa, bromegrass, orchardgrass, and reed canarygrass) fertilized with either CaCl2 or K2CO3 (designated K2O) alone or a combination (designated KCl) of both. In the plots not receiving K fertilization (Control and CaCl2) the K content of the plants regardless of species was lower relative to those receiving K (K2O and KCl). With regards to plant Cl content, the plots fertilized with CaCl2 alone or in combination with K2O resulted in substantial and at least a 2 fold elevations in tissue chloride in all the hays tested. DCAD was also significantly reduced with CaCl2 treatment alone and was reduced 50-75% in the Orchardgrass, Reed Canarygrass and Orchardgrass hays. The combination of K2O and CaCl2 resulted in an attenuation of this effect. CaCl2 treatment alone had no detrimental effect on yield when compared to Control plots. However, those plots fertilized with K (with or without Cl) had higher numerical yields than those not receiving K. These data suggest that withholding K fertilization in combination with Cl fertilization may be an effective means of increasing the Cl and ultimately decreasing the DCAD content of several species of hay without sacrificing yield. We will continue to monitor the effects of K and Cl fertilization on plant parameters during the FY05 and FY06 growing seasons. The effect of Cl fertilization on hay quality and palatability is currently under investigation

Development of Methodologies to Reduce the DCAD of Hay Forages for Transition Dairy Cows

Ration formulation for dairy cows just prior to parturition must control the dietary cation-anion difference (DCAD) if hypocalcemia and milk fever are to be avoided. One key to reducing hypocalcemia is to avoid incorporation of high-K forages into the ration. The excessive K content of these forages can cause metabolic alkalosis in the cow and subsequently hypocalcemia and milk fever. Alfalfa and other cool-season grasses are often used in dairy rations. Reducing K content of forages can be achieved by restricting K fertilization so that soils do not support luxury consumption. Since K is the major cation contributing to highDCAD diets, an obvious solution is to limit K fertilization of the forage crop to avoid luxury consumption of K. However, some forages may have reduced yield and increased winter kill if K concentrations are less than 2.0%, particularly alfalfa. Thus, producing alfalfa with less than 2% K may not be profitable, especially in northern regions. In addition to decreasing forage K, the producer can also increase the Cl content of the forages, and the resulting DCAD will be more favorable for the late-gestation cows

Mother–child narrative interaction in adoptive families: Differences across narrative contexts

The majority of the existing research dedicated to the mother-child narrative interaction has focused on biological families during the co-construction of autobiographical narratives and has consistently shown that the mothers' narrative support has an important influence on children's narrative participation and overall development. The current study aimed to compare adoptive mothers' narrative support and children's narrative participation in different types of narrative tasks. Specifically, we analyzed the narrative interaction between 30 preschool-aged children and their adoptive mothers during the co-construction of two autobiographical narratives and one fictional narrative. We also explored the influence of the mothers' use of elaborative and repetitive narrative dimensions, as well as the children's sex, early adversity, and language development in children's narrative participation. The results revealed that the adoptive mothers tended to use the elaborative dimension more in the fictional narrative than in the autobiographical ones. For the adoptive mothers' use of the repetitive dimension and the children's narrative participation, no significant differences were found between the three narrative tasks. Additionally, the results showed that the adoptive mothers' use of the elaborative dimension significantly predicted children's participation in the autobiographical narratives, while their use of the repetitive dimension significantly predicted children's participation in the fictional narrative. The results of this study highlighted the relevance of the adoptive mothers' ability to adapt their narrative support to the specific type of narrative task, as well as how such support may enhance or hinder children's narrative participation during the co-construction of both autobiographical and fictional narratives.This study was funded by Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (M. Sousa PhD Grant Number SFRH/BD/68843/2010).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reconstrucción grupal de cuentos: una instancia para la producción de narrativa Group reconstruction of stories: one means of producing narrative

Este artículo presenta los resultados del estudio de las reconstrucciones grupales de los cuentos leídos en salas de jardín de infantes. Se analizó cualitativamente empleando el método comparativo constante, un corpus de 30 situaciones de lectura de cuentos, de las cuales se consideró el momento posterior a la lectura en el que se reconstruye el cuento grupalmente. Los resultados permitieron distinguir diferentes tipos de reconstrucciones de los cuentos a través de la interacción, de acuerdo a la cantidad y calidad de participación de la maestra y de los niños y de información del texto recuperada: reconstrucciones incompletas, reconstrucciones descriptivas, reconstrucciones-cuestionario, reconstrucciones-debate (focalizadas en la comprensión), reconstrucciones monopolizadas y reconstrucciones completas compartidas. Cada uno de estos tipos, que se describe en función de las operaciones cognitivas que demanda de sus participantes, da cuenta de modos diferentes de apoyar la producción de narrativa oral.<br>The article presents the results of the analysis carried out over the grupal reconstruction of stories read in kindergarten classrooms. 30 story reading situations were analized qualitatively through the Comparative Constant Method, considering the reconstruction of the story after the reading. The results of the analysis allowed to identify different types of reconstructions of the stories through the interaction according to the quantity and quality of teacher and pupils' participation and the quantity and quality of the information recovered from the text: incomplete reconstructions, descriptive reconstructions, question-answer reconstructions, debate-reconstructions, monopolized reconstructions and complete shared reconstructions. Each one of these types described according to the cognitive operations demanded from its participants, shows different ways of scaffolding oral narrative production