Effects of trace mineral source and exogenous enzymes on ruminal in vitro fermentation of roughage-based or concentrate-based simulated diets.

Two experiments evaluated the effect of trace mineral (TM) source (inorganic [ITM] and organic [OTM]) and 4 exogenous enzymes treatments [(1) control, without exogenous enzymes; (2) amylolytic enzyme [AMY; 1 g of Amaize®/kg of substrate dry matter (DM)]; (3) fibrolytic enzyme (FIB; 2 g of Fibrozyme®/kg of substrate DM; and (4) a multi-enzyme preparation (SSF; 2 g of Allzyme® SSF/kg of substrate DM] on in vitro fermentation parameters of roughage-based or concentrate-based diets (Exp. 1 and 2, respectively). Two roughages were used in each experiment [high- and low-quality tropical grass hay in Exp. 1 (HQH and LQH, respectively), and corn silage and sugarcane bagasse in Exp. 2 (CS and SB, respectively)]. Each experiment was conducted as a randomized complete block (n = 3). Mixed ruminal microorganisms were incubated in anaerobic media containing 300 mg of substrate diet and 50 mL rumen fluid:buffer. Incubations were performed in batch cultures for 48 h (Exp. 1) or 24 h (Exp. 2) at 39◦C. There were no three-way interactions observed for Exp. 1 or 2. Roughage × TM source interactions (P < 0.02) were verified for total gas production (GP), partioning factor (PF), methane (CH4) production and yield in both experiments. In Exp. 1, total GP of HQH and CS decreased about 18% with OTM (P < 0.02), while for LQH and SB they increased in the same proportion. The PF of HQH and CS were increased (P < 0.01), while LQH and SB decreased by 12% (P < 0.05) when OTM was added. The CH4 yield (mL/g DMd) decreased when LQH and SB were incubated with ITM (P < 0.02). The HQH have lower pH compared with the LQH (P < 0.001; 6.56 vs. 6.72). Additionally, PF presented TM source × enzyme interaction (P = 0.05). When ITM was included, PF was higher with addition of AMY than SSF (P = 0.04), but they were similar to CON and FIB. When OTM was supplemented, PF was greater with SSF compared with FIB (P = 0.04), but presented similar values to CON and AMY. In Exp. 2, GP was lower when SB and ITM was incubated together (P = 0.02; 141 vs. 175 mL/g DM), while for CS there was no difference between ITM sources (P = 0.17). The CH4 yield reduced when OTM was combined with CS or when ITM was added with SB (P < 0.02). The PF of CS increased in 37% (P < 0.01), while SB decreased by 23% (P < 0.05) when OTM was added. As verified in Exp. 1, roughage affected pH and CS significantly reduced pH compared with SB (P < 0.001; 6.69 vs. 6.81). In conclusion, the in vitro treatment of substrates with different roughage-to-concentrate ratios with exogenous enzymes were minorly impacted by the TM source. The incubation of low-quality roughages with ITM source increased PF and decreased GP, which led to a consistent reduction in the CH4 yields. Additionally, IVDMD increased and lowered greenhouse gas production by OTM inclusion in high-concentrate substrate with CS, resulting in a favorable impact on rumen fermentation efficiency

Fertirrigação e agricultura de baixa emissão de carbono: resultados do projeto CNPq/REPENSA em São Gabriel do Oeste.

Este trabalho apresenta no âmbito do CNPq/REPENSA (Redes Nacionais de Pesquisa em Agrobiodiversidade e Sustentabilidade Agropecuária), Projeto número 562441/2010-7, ?Estruturação de rede de monitoramento e base compartilhada de dados de sistemas de produção integrada e intensiva sustentável (suinocultura-agrosilvipastoril) em assentamento de reforma agrária visando balanços favoráveis de água, energia e nutrientes?, informações norteadoras para projetos de fertirrigação para uma agricultura de baixa emissão de carbono. A fertirrigação vem se consolidando como atividade integradora de cadeias produtivas outrora dissociadas, sendo ferramenta importante de inclusão social no meio rural na borda do Pantanal (Bacia do Alto Taquari), transformando externalidades ambientais em fonte de renda e ganhos de produtividade agropecuária. Os resultados e indicadores aqui apresentados mostram que a fertirrigação com efluente de biodigestor de granjas de suínos, aqui convencionado de biofertilizante, gera impactos negativos e positivos. Os negativos recaem no potencial para eutrofização de corpos d?água por nitrogênio reativo na forma de nitratos (NO3); ambos os processos podem e devem ser substancialmente minimizados pelo uso controlado e eficiente do biofertilizante na agropecuária com doses adequadas de macro (especialmente N, P, K) e micronutrientes (Cu e Zn, entre outros) para diversasculturas, conforme discutido neste trabalho. Os impactos positivos são a manutenção do estoque de carbono no solo no longo prazo mediante manejo adequado da produção de forragem para gado (corte ou leite) ou na produção de grãos com tecnologias de conservação de solo, e o balanço favorável das emissões de gases de efeito estufa do agroecossistema como um todo pela substituição de diesel por biogás em motogeradores e motobombas, pela substituição da adubação mineral e de agrotóxicos (ambos não renováveis) e pela possibilidade de recomposição de mata proporcional à um terço dos ganhos de produtividade. Em termos de mecanismo de adaptação à mudança do clima, a restauração relativa de áreas de mata nativa favorece a recuperação e/ou manutenção de outros importantes serviços ambientais, como o aumento da agrobiodiversidade, a produção de água e incremento da polinização por insetos.bitstream/item/111107/1/BP116.pd

Consumo e desempenho de bezerros Holandês x Gir até 32 dias de idade, submetidos a três tipos de aleitamento: leite integral, leite de descarte e leite de descarte pasteurizado.

Resumo: O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar o consumo e o desempenho de bezerros submetidos a três tipos de aleitamento, sendo, leite integral, leite de descarte e leite de descarte pasteurizado. O leite de descarte é muito utilizado na alimentação de bezerros em fase de cria em sistemas leiteiros. Por não poder ser comercializado, sua utilização visa reduzir os custos de produção e minimizar o impacto ambiental de seu descarte. Os animais foram alocados nos grupos aos quatro dias de idade, receberam seis litros de leite por dia, concentrado e água à vontade. O consumo de leite e concentrado foi calculado pela diferença entre o fornecido e as sobras. As pesagens corporais foram realizadas no dia do nascimento, aos quatro dias de idade e posteriormente em intervalos semanais. O consumo de leite, concentrado e ganho de peso foram semelhantes entre o grupo leite integral e descarte durante o período de avaliação. Os animais que receberam leite de descarte pasteurizado apresentaram menor consumo de leite e consequentemente menor ganho de peso na quarta semana de vida.Editor Técnico: Leônidas Paixão Passos, Embrapa Gado de Leite

Finding Homogeneity in Heterogeneity—A New Approach to Quantifying Landscape Mosaics Developed for the Lao PDR

A key challenge for land change science in general and research on swidden agriculture in particular, is linking land cover information to human–environment interactions over larger spatial areas. In Lao PDR, a country facing rapid and multi-level land change processes, this hinders informed policy- and decision-making. Crucial information on land use types and people involved is still lacking. This article proposes an alternative approach for the description of landscape mosaics. Instead of analyzing local land use combinations, we studied land cover mosaics at a meso-level of spatial scale and interpreted these in terms of human–environmental interactions. These landscape mosaics were then overlaid with population census data. Results showed that swidden agricultural landscapes, involving 17% of the population, dominate 29% of the country, while permanent agricultural landscapes involve 74% of the population in 29% of the territory. Forests still form an important component of these landscape mosaics

Balancing agricultural development and environmental objectives: assessing tradeoffs in the humid tropics.

This volume so far has presented numerous issues, opportunities, and concerns from specific national and thematic perspectives on tropical forests and deforestation. This chapter attempts to pull these together through analysis of tradeoffs across those various perspectives

Quality of Life After Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy or Axillary Lymph Node Dissection in Stage I/II Breast Cancer Patients: A Prospective Longitudinal Study

Background:\ud Breast cancer patients’ quality of life (QoL) after surgery has been reported to improve significantly over time. Little is known about QoL recovery after sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in comparison to axillary lymph node dissection (ALND).\ud \ud Methods:\ud 175 of 195 stage I/II breast cancer patients completed the EORTC QLQ-C30: one day before surgery (T0) and after 6 (T1), 26 (T2), 52 (T3) and 104 (T4) weeks. Of these, 54 patients underwent SLNB, 56 SLNB+ALND and 65 ALND. General linear models and paired T-tests between T0–T4 and T1–T4 were computed. Complications, radiotherapy and systemic therapy were added to the model.\ud \ud Results:\ud Significant time effects were found on physical, role and emotional functioning. Physical and role functioning decreased between T0 and T1. At T4, SLNB patients’ functioning had increased to their T0 level; ALND (+/– SLNB) patients’ functioning had increased, but had not improved to T0 level. Emotional functioning increased linearly between T0 and T4. At T4, emotional functioning was significantly higher in all groups as compared with T0. No significant group or interaction (time × group) effects were found. Complications and chemotherapy had a significant negative effect on role, emotional and cognitive functioning. Complications had a significant effect on social functioning also. Effect sizes varied between 0.00 and 0.06.\ud \ud Conclusion:\ud Two years post surgery, breast cancer patients’ QoL is comparable to that shortly before surgery. Women rated their emotional functioning as even better. SLNB is not associated with a better QoL than ALND. However, undergoing systemic therapy and/or experiencing complications affects QoL negatively

Binding mode analyses and pharmacophore model development for stilbene derivatives as a novel and competitive class of α-glucosidase inhibitors

Stilbene urea derivatives as a novel and competitive class of non-glycosidic α-glucosidase inhibitors are effective for the treatment of type II diabetes and obesity. The main purposes of our molecular modeling study are to explore the most suitable binding poses of stilbene derivatives with analyzing the binding affinity differences and finally to develop a pharmacophore model which would represents critical features responsible for α-glucosidase inhibitory activity. Three-dimensional structure of S. cerevisiae α-glucosidase was built by homology modeling method and the structure was used for the molecular docking study to find out the initial binding mode of compound 12, which is the most highly active one. The initial structure was subjected to molecular dynamics (MD) simulations for protein structure adjustment at compound 12-bound state. Based on the adjusted conformation, the more reasonable binding modes of the stilbene urea derivatives were obtained from molecular docking and MD simulations. The binding mode of the derivatives was validated by correlation analysis between experimental Ki value and interaction energy. Our results revealed that the binding modes of the potent inhibitors were engaged with important hydrogen bond, hydrophobic, and π-interactions. With the validated compound 12-bound structure obtained from combining approach of docking and MD simulation, a proper four featured pharmacophore model was generated. It was also validated by comparison of fit values with the Ki values. Thus, these results will be helpful for understanding the relationship between binding mode and bioactivity and for designing better inhibitors from stilbene derivatives

Innovation and entrepreneurship as strategies for success among Cuban-based firms in the late years of the transatlantic slave trade

This article examines how Cuban-based firms and entrepreneurs circumvented ever- increasing risks in the illegal slave trade. The article sheds light to this question by analyzing new qualitative information of 65 Cuban-based firms against the Slavevoyages database. Our findings indicate that Cuban-based firms were entrepreneurial as they exploited the opportunities arising from the volatility of the slave trade by: (a) internalizing networks of agents which allowed the rapid diffusion of information, (b) diversifying trading goods and expanding the number of partnerships to reduce transaction costs and risk, and (c) adopting technological innovations that modified the design and use of vessels