Coxiella burnetii Shedding During the Peripartum Period and Subsequent Fertility in Dairy Cattle     

I Garcia‐Ispierto  I López‐Helguera  J Tutusaus  B Serrano  E Monleón  JJ Badiola  F López‐Gatius 《Reproduction in domestic animals》2013,48(3):441-446

The objective of this study was to assess the effects of Coxiella burnetii shedding or seropositivity on post‐partum recovery and subsequent fertility in high‐producing dairy cows. Given the difficulty in diagnosing C. burnetii infection at the farm level, an exhaustive series of tests in 43 pregnant animals that delivered at least one live calf were conducted, including blood serology and PCR of milk or colostrum, cotyledons (only at parturition), faeces, vaginal fluid against C. burnetii on gestation Day 171–177, at parturition and on Days 1–7, 8–14, 15–21, 22–28, 29–35 and 90–97 post‐partum. During scheduled herd visits, ultrasonography (US) of the genital tract and examination of vaginal fluid were performed on Days 15–21 (V1), 22–28 (V2), 29–35 (V3) and 51–57 (V4) post‐partum by the same veterinarian. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the likelihood of suffering endometritis (the presence of echogenic intrauterine fluid (IUF), cervical diameter of ≥4 cm or endometrial thickness ≥0.75 cm) was lower in C. burnetii‐seropositive animals (OR = 0.10), compared with C. burnetii‐seronegative animals. According to Kaplan–Meier survival analysis, C. burnetii‐seronegative and non‐shedding cows showed a delayed return to luteal activity and conception was delayed in non‐shedding animals, compared with the remaining animals. Overall, the results of our study provide useful insight into the effects of C. burnetii infection on post‐partum recovery and subsequent fertility. In particular, animals not infected with Coxiella seem to be susceptible to infection and not protected against the bacterium in dairy herds. The elevated costs of determining an infection at the farm level, make monitoring of cows virtually impossible from a clinical point of view.  相似文献   

Apparent electrical conductivity in dry versus wet soil conditions in a shallow soil     

João M. Serrano  Shakib Shahidian  José R. Marques da Silva 《Precision Agriculture》2013,14(1):99-114

The general objective of this study was to evaluate the stability of patterns of apparent soil electrical conductivity (EC_a) in dry versus wet soil conditions in a shallow soil typically used for pastures in Mediterranean conditions of the southern region of Portugal. A 6 ha experimental field of permanent bio-diverse pasture was divided into 76 squares of 28 × 28 m. The soil electrical conductivity was measured using a Dualem 1S sensor under dry conditions (June 2007) and under wet conditions during the rainy season (March 2010). Soil samples, geo-referenced with GPS, were collected in a depth range of 0–0.30 m. The soil was characterized in terms of bedrock depth, moisture content, texture, pH, organic matter content, and macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium). Pasture samples, also geo-referenced with GPS, were collected to measure the pasture dry matter yield. The statistical analysis of apparent electrical conductivity between dry and wet soil conditions resulted in a linear significant correlation coefficient (R = 0.88). The results also showed a significant correlation between apparent electrical conductivity and the relative field elevation (R = ?0.64 and R = ?0.66), the pasture dry matter yield (R = 0.42 and R = 0.48), the bedrock depth (R = 0.40 and R = 0.27), the pH (R = 0.50 and R = 0.49), the silt (R = 0.27 and R = 0.38) and soil moisture content (R = 0.48 and R = 0.45), in dry and wet conditions, respectively. A multi-variate regression was carried out using the following soil parameters that showed significant correlation with EC_a and that did not present multi-collinearity: pH, bedrock depth, silt and moisture content. The results showed, in dry and wet conditions, that the analysis was significant (R = 0.75 and R = 0.84, respectively). Overall, these results indicate the temporal stability of EC_a patterns under different soil moisture contents, which is relevant with respect to the time when a field should be surveyed and is important for using the electrical conductivity sensor, as a decision support tool for management zones in precision agriculture.  相似文献   

Effects of Quillaja saponins on growth,feed efficiency,digestive enzyme activities and metabolism of common carp (Cyprinus carpio L)     

A.E. Serrano Jr. 《Aquaculture Nutrition》2013,19(4):468-474

Common carp were fed diets containing various levels of Quillaja saponins (QS) (0, 150, 300 and 450 mg kg^?1 dry diet) in a completely computerized respirometric system for 4 weeks. Fish fed diets containing QS exhibited significantly higher ABW and specific growth rate than did those fed the control diet; those fed diets containing QS 150 grew fastest but were not significantly different from those fed diets with QS 300 and QS 00450. All the utilization efficiency indices, namely food conversion efficiency (FCE), protein productive value and PG were increased by QS supplementation. There were no significant differences in the average routine metabolic rate between treatments, indicating that dietary QS at the levels tested were not toxic to the carp. Increases in amylase and trypsin specific activities were observed at QS 300 and QS 450. Enzymes of carbohydrate metabolism such as G6PDH, 6‐phosphogluconate dehydrogenase and pyruvate kinase were not significantly affected by dietary QS. Activities of the aerobic enzyme Cox and to a limited extent that of the anaerobic enzyme lactate dehydrogenase were significantly increased by dietary QS but the net effect was a shift towards aerobic metabolism, indicating absence of stress and favouring the anabolic processes. Thus, Quillaja saponin was beneficial as a feed supplement in the common carp.  相似文献   

Effects of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) leaf protein concentrate as soybean protein replacement in white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone) postlarvae diet          下载免费PDF全文

Nicole Niña G Chavez  Janice A Ragaza  Valeriano L Corre Jr  Augusto E Serrano Jr  Rex Ferdinand M Traifalgar 《Aquaculture Research》2016,47(8):2642-2649

The potential of water hyacinth leaf protein concentrate (WHLPC) as an alternative protein source to soybean meal in formulated diets for the white shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone) postlarvae, was assessed. Isonitrogenous and isolipidic diets were formulated containing 40% protein and 8% lipid. WHLPC replaced 0%, 25%, 50% and 75% of soybean meal protein in the formulated diets. Twenty postlarval Litopenaeus vannamei weighing 5.0 ± 0.00032 mg were randomly assigned to twelve 30‐L aquarium tanks and were fed experimental diets for 70 days. Results show that the overall biological performance of shrimp in terms of specific growth rate (SGR), protein efficiency ratio (PER), feed efficiency (FE) and survival in treatment receiving the 25% WHLPC replacement is comparable to that of the control diet. Replacement levels beyond 25% exhibited significant depression in terms of growth performance of the shrimp. Collectively, these findings indicate that WHLPC can replace 25% of soybean meal protein in the formulated diets of L. vannamei.  相似文献   

Turnip yellow mosaic virus in Chinese cabbage in Spain: commercial seed transmission and molecular characterisation     

Ana Alfaro-Fernández  Adrián Serrano  Teodora Tornos  María del Carmen Cebrián  María del Carmen Córdoba-Sellés  Concepción Jordá  María Isabel Font 《European journal of plant pathology / European Foundation for Plant Pathology》2016,145(2):433-446

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Use of activated carbon inside modified atmosphere packages to maintain tomato fruit quality during cold storage     

Bailén G  Guillén F  Castillo S  Serrano M  Valero D  Martínez-Romero D 《Journal of agricultural and food chemistry》2006,54(6):2229-2235

Ethylene triggers the ripening process of tomato affecting the storage durability and shelf life (loss of quality) and inducing fruit decay. In this paper, an active packaging has been developed on the basis of the combination of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) and the addition of granular-activated carbon (GAC) alone or impregnated with palladium as a catalyst (GAC-Pd). A steady-state atmosphere was 4 and 10 kPa for O2 and CO2 in control packages, while it was 8 and 7 kPa for O2 and CO2 in treated ones. The addition of GAC-Pd led to the lower ethylene accumulation inside packages, while the higher was obtained in controls. The parameters related to ripening showed that treated tomatoes exhibited a reduction in color evolution, softening, and weight loss, especially for GAC-Pd treatment. Moreover, these treatments were also effective in delaying tomato decay. After sensorial panel, tomatoes treated with GAC-Pd received the higher scores in terms of sweetness, firmness, juiciness, color, odor, and flavor. Results from the GC-MS analysis of the MAP headspace showed that 23 volatile compounds were identified in control packages, with these volatiles being significantly reduced in MAP-treated packages, which was correlated to the odor intensity detected by panelists after bag opening.  相似文献   

Environmental factors at different spatial scales governing soil fauna community patterns in fragmented forests   总被引：1，自引：0，他引：1  

Pedro Martins da Silva  Matty P. Berg  Artur R. M. Serrano  Florence Dubs  José Paulo Sousa 《Landscape Ecology》2012,27(9):1337-1349

Spatial and temporal changes in community structure of soil organisms may result from a myriad of processes operating at a hierarchy of spatial scales, from small-scale habitat conditions to species movements among patches and large-sale landscape features. To disentangle the relative importance of spatial and environmental factors at different scales (plot, patch and landscape), we analyzed changes in Collembola community structure along a gradient of forest fragmentation, testing predictions of the Hierarchical Patch Dynamics Paradigm (HPDP) in different European biogeographic regions (Boreal, Continental, Atlantic, Mediterranean, Alpine). Using variance partitioning methods, based on partial CCAs, we observed that the independent effect of environmental processes was significantly explaining Collembola community variance in all regions, while the relative effect of spatial variables was not significant, due to the observed high levels of landscape heterogeneity along the gradient. Environmental factors at the patch and plot scales were generally significant and explained the larger part of community changes. Landscape variables were not significant across all study sites. Yet, at the landscape level, an increase in forest habitat and proximity of forest patches were showed to have an indirect influence on local community changes, by influencing microhabitat heterogeneity at lower spatial scales in all studied regions. In line with HPDP, large-scale landscape features influenced spatio-temporal changes in soil fauna communities by constraining small-scale environmental processes. In turn, these provided mechanistic understanding for diversity patterns operating at the patch scale, via shifts in community weighted mean of Collembola life-forms occurring in local communities along the fragmentation gradient.  相似文献   

Dynamics of Coxiella burnetii antibodies and seroconversion in a dairy cow herd with endemic infection and excreting high numbers of the bacterium in the bulk tank milk     

Nogareda C  Almería S  Serrano B  García-Ispierto I  López-Gatius F 《Research in veterinary science》2012,93(3):1211-1212

Possible factors related to seropositivity and seroconversion to Coxiella burnetii were examined in a dairy herd with a high Coxiella-seroprevalence and high excretion levels of the bacterium in the bulk tank milk. Antibodies were detected by using a commercial ELISA test in 50.7% of 603 parous cows. The likelihood of C. burnetii seropositivity significantly increased by factors of 1.87 and 1.61 for cows in their first and second terms of pregnancy, respectively, compared to non-pregnant cows. In 478 cows tested twice 12months apart, the seroconversion rate was 5%. The likelihood of C. burnetii-seroconversion was 2.27 times lower in multiparous than in primiparous cows and 6.88 times higher in cows during their first 90days in milk than dry-off cows. Our findings indicated a higher seroprevalence in the first and second terms of pregnancy, and that seroconversion mainly occurred in primiparous cows during their first 90days in milk.  相似文献   

Using low-cost geophysical survey to map soil properties and delineate management zones on grazed permanent pastures     

Moral  Francisco J.  Serrano  João M. 《Precision Agriculture》2019,20(5):1000-1014

Usually, soils utilised for livestock production have similar high spatial variability as those for agricultural or forest use. As a consequence, it is necessary to determine the spatial patterns of the main soil properties as the first stage to implement site-specific management. However, this has to be performed using an inexpensive technique because the profitability in these types of farm are very low, so owners need a cheap, effective, and reliable method to know which zones have similar production potential. Using soil apparent electrical conductivity (ECa) measurements, obtained with a contact sensor at many locations, as the basis to perform a directed soil sampling, 10 samples were taken at two depths (0–0.25 m and 0.25–0.50 m) in a 2.3 ha field in Évora (southern Portugal). Firstly, relationships between ECa and many soil properties were analysed using regression analysis. Six soil properties (clay, silt, fine sand, soil moisture content, pH, and cation exchange capacity) were significantly correlated with ECa. Consequently, spatial distributions of these variables were visualised using map algebra techniques. Later, a fuzzy clustering algorithm was utilised to delineate management zones, resulting in two subfields to be managed separately. Finally, a principal component analysis was conducted to analyse the influence of the soil properties and elevation on the soil variability. It was determined that elevation and clay were the most important contributing properties. Therefore, these can be regarded as key latent variables in this soil. Results showed that low-cost data based on ECa surveys can be used to implement site-specific management in soils with permanent pastures, such as those in the montado or dehesa ecosystems, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula.

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Scarce population genetic differentiation but substantial spatiotemporal phenotypic variation of water-use efficiency in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pinus sylvestris</Emphasis> at its western distribution range     

F. Santini  J. P. Ferrio  A.-M. Hereş  E. Notivol  M. Piqué  L. Serrano  T. A. Shestakova  E. Sin  P. Vericat  J. Voltas 《European Journal of Forest Research》2018,137(6):863-878

Water and carbon fluxes in forests are largely related to leaf gas exchange physiology varying across spatiotemporal scales and modulated by plant responses to environmental cues. We quantified the relevance of genetic and phenotypic variation of intrinsic water-use efficiency (WUE_i, ratio of net photosynthesis to stomatal conductance of water) in Pinus sylvestris L. growing in the Iberian Peninsula as inferred from tree-ring carbon isotopes. Inter-population genetic variation, evaluated in a provenance trial comprising Spanish and German populations, was low and relevant only at continental scale. In contrast, phenotypic variation, evaluated in natural stands (at spatial level) and by tree-ring chronologies (at temporal inter-annual level), was important and ten- and threefold larger than the population genetic variance, respectively. These results points to preponderance of plastic responses dominating variability in WUE_i for this species. Spatial phenotypic variation in WUE_i correlated negatively with soil depth (r?=???0.66; p?<?0.01), while temporal phenotypic variation was mainly driven by summer precipitation. At the spatial level, WUE_i could be scaled-up to ecosystem-level WUE derived from remote sensing data by accounting for soil water-holding capacity (r?=?0.63; p?<?0.01). This outcome demonstrates a direct influence of the variation of leaf-level WUE_i on ecosystem water and carbon balance differentiation. Our findings highlight the contrasting importance of genetic variation (negligible) and plastic responses in WUE_i (large, with changes of up to 33% among sites) on determining carbon and water budgets at stand and ecosystem scales in a widespread conifer such as Pinus sylvestris.  相似文献