Bin-Cured versus Field-Cured Alfalfa Hay for Dairy Heifers

INTRODUCTION: This study was undertaken for the purpose of comparing the nutritive value of bin-cured and field-cured alfalfa hay, using actual feeding trials with dairy heifers. Any study involving the production and preservation of more and better hay has great economic importance. Shepherd and others (21), in discussing the losses of hay from a national standpoint, state that: The uncertain weather conditions that frequently exist while hay is being made, particularly in the humid sections of the country, are responsible for variations in the quality of the hay and for large losses of nutrients during harvesting. Conservative estimates indicate that losses during harvesting amount to l5-20 percent of the dry matter and 25-30 percent of the protein, under reasonably favorable conditions. Larger losses occur when rainy weather occurs during haying or when cloudy or humid weather makes it necessary to handle the forage considerably to facilitate drying. Allred and Luebke (2) conducted a survey of haying practices in Knox County, Tennessee, in 1942, and found that losses of hay in the field and in storage were estimated at 4.8 percent of the value of all hay harvested. A survey made by Saville (20) in 1945 of 31 farms in Rutherford County, Tennessee, indicated that 37 percent of the first-cutting alfalfa hay was damaged to some degree by rain. Shepherd (21) points out that in recent years much work has been done to develop methods of harvesting hay crops so as to eliminate the hazards of the weather, to reduce the harvesting losses, and to produce a higher quality feed. This study was designed to test the comparative nutritive value of field-cured and bin-cured alfalfa hay. If the trial shows no significant difference in the nutritive value of the two hays, then the greatest economic value of bin-curing hay lies in the possibility of producing larger amounts of hay

Bank capital, borrower power, and loan rates

We examine how bank capital and borrower bargaining power affect loan spreads. Consistent with previous studies, higher bank capital has a negative impact on loan rates, but borrower cash flow has a significant effect on this impact: Compared with high-capital banks, low-capital banks charge more for borrowers with low cash flow, but offer greater marginal discounts as these borrowers' cash flow rises. These effects are largely focused on more bank-dependent borrowers. We find some evidence that low-capital banks charge a higher premium for bank-dependent borrowers' systematic risk, but not for their total equity risk or default risk. Received January 27, 2015; editorial decision July 7, 2018 by Editor Philip Strahan. Authors have furnished an Internet Appendix, which is available on the Oxford University Press Web site next to the link to the final published paper online.authorsversionpublishe

Determining the Novel Pathogen Neodothiora populina as the Causal Agent of the Aspen Running Canker Disease in Alaska

Neodothiora populina Crous, G.C. Adams & Winton was determined to be a new pathogen of trembling aspen (Populus tremuloides) growing in Alaska, based on completion of Koch’s Postulates in replicated forest and growth chamber inoculation trials. The pathogen is responsible for severe damage and widespread rapid mortality of sapling to mature aspen (≥ 80 years) in the boreal forests of interior Alaska, due to large diffuse annual (1–2 years) cankers. Isolation of the pathogen was challenging, and identification based on cultural characters was difficult. Fruiting bodies were not found on wild diseased trees, but erumpent pycnidia were found in bark overlying cankers on several stems inoculated with pure cultures

Widespread Mortality of Trembling Aspen (Populus tremuloides) Throughout Interior Alaskan Boreal Forests Resulting from a Novel Canker Disease

Over the past several decades, growth declines and mortality of trembling aspen throughout western Canada and the United States have been linked to drought, often interacting with outbreaks of insects and fungal pathogens, resulting in a “sudden aspen decline” throughout much of aspen’s range. In 2015, we noticed an aggressive fungal canker causing widespread mortality of aspen throughout interior Alaska and initiated a study to quantify potential drivers for the incidence, virulence, and distribution of the disease. Stand-level infection rates among 88 study sites distributed across 6 Alaska ecoregions ranged from \u3c 1 to 69%, with the proportion of trees with canker that were dead averaging 70% across all sites. The disease is most prevalent north of the Alaska Range within the Tanana Kuskokwim ecoregion. Modeling canker probability as a function of ecoregion, stand structure, landscape position, and climate revealed that smaller-diameter trees in older stands with greater aspen basal area have the highest canker incidence and mortality, while younger trees in younger stands appear virtually immune to the disease. Sites with higher summer vapor pressure deficits had significantly higher levels of canker infection and mortality. We believe the combined effects of this novel fungal canker pathogen, drought, and the persistent aspen leaf miner outbreak are triggering feedbacks between carbon starvation and hydraulic failure that are ultimately driving widespread mortality. Warmer early-season temperatures and prolonged late summer drought are leading to larger and more severe wildfires throughout interior Alaska that are favoring a shift from black spruce to forests dominated by Alaska paper birch and aspen. Widespread aspen mortality fostered by this rapidly spreading pathogen has significant implications for successional dynamics, ecosystem function, and feedbacks to disturbance regimes, particularly on sites too dry for Alaska paper birch

Effects of High Salinity on Survival, Growth, and Reproductive performance of Red Tilapia (Oreochromis urolepis hornorum ♀× Oreochromis mossambicus ♂)

This study estimated the survival, growth, and fry production of red tilapia (Oreochromis urolepis hornorum ♀× Oreochromis mossambicus ♂) broodstock in outdoors farming conditions at various salinity levels (1‰, 25‰, 33‰, 39‰, and 42‰) at 25.3°C–39.0°C. The experiments were conducted in triplicates in 2020 using 300 broodstock per group. The survival rate, growth performance, and fry production were monitored. Our results showed that red tilapia fry production and grow-out farming were feasible under high salinity conditions; however, the various levels of salinity condition exhibited significant differences in terms of survival rate, growth performance, fry production. The results suggest that red tilapia broodstock was maintained under salinity as high as 33‰ without impairing fry production; above 33‰ was feasible for the grow-out stage, implying that the fry production in euryhaline tilapia farming would be practical in regions where freshwater acclimation is limited

Detecting genetic regions associated with height in the native ponies of the British Isles by using high density SNP genotyping

Height is an important characteristic in the equine industry, although little is known about its genetic control in native British breeds of ponies. This study aimed to map QTL data with the withers height in four pony breeds native to the British Isles, including two different sections within Welsh Cobs. In this study, a genome-wide analysis approach using the Illumina Equine SNP50 Infinium BeadChip was applied to 105 ponies and cobs. Analysis identified 222 highly significant height-associated SNPs (P < 10-5), among which three SNPs on ECA9 have also been previously reported elsewhere. The highest number of significant SNPs associated to height in the native British horses were located on ECA1, ECA8 and ECA16