Oat hay and alfalfa hay are important roughage resources in livestock production. However, the effect of the mixture of oat hay and alfalfa hay on the meat quality of Albas goats is unclear. This ...study aimed to investigate the effects of feeding different proportions of oat hay and alfalfa hay on the growth performance and meat quality of Albas goats. Therefore, 32 goats were fed for 70 days and randomly divided into four treatment groups on the principle of similar weight: whole oat group (OAT), oat alfalfa ratio 3:7 group (OA73), oat alfalfa ratio 7:3 group (OA37) and whole alfalfa group (Alfalfa), with eight goats in each group. Daily feed intake records, feces, feed samples, and rumen fluid collection were made throughout the trial. The goats were weighed on the last day of the trial, and four goats per group were randomly selected for slaughter. Cecum contents, meat samples, and hot carcass weight were collected, and data were recorded. Furthermore, the relationship between the rumen and cecal microbes on performance and meat quality was clarified by analyzing the rumen and hindgut microbiomes. The results showed that feeding alfalfa could significantly reduce the daily weight gain of fattening goats. Compared with the highest group (OA37), the daily weight gain decreased by 19.21%. Although there was no significant change in feed intake in the four treatments, the feed conversion rate of the alfalfa group significantly decreased by 30.24-36.47% compared to the other groups. However, with the increased alfalfa content, MDA decreased significantly, T-AOC was up-regulated, and the antioxidant activity of the fattened goat meat fed with the high alfalfa group was significantly higher than that of the low alfalfa group. Notably, the abundance of
and
were strongly correlated with T-AOC and MDA. Therefore, increasing the proportion of alfalfa in the diet can affect the antioxidant activity of goat meat by improving the gut microbiota, while an oat-hay mixture can improve the growth performance of livestock.
Vast grassland areas disappear due to abandonment, conversion to arable fields or urban areas. Consequently, grassland species have declined dramatically during and since the last century. The ...majority of remaining European grasslands are managed, many of them by mowing, which, in general, decreases arthropods' abundance and species richness.
Here, we aimed to study the effects of width and proportion of refuge areas on local abundance and richness of arthropods in hay meadows. Within a ca. 4000 ha semi‐natural grassland area of the Great Hungarian Plain, we established refuge strips of different widths (3 and 9 m) and proportion of total field area (10 and 25%) following a randomised block design with six replicates per treatment. We studied five arthropod groups (grasshoppers, true bugs, carabids and ground‐dwelling and vegetation‐dwelling spiders), which we sampled 2 weeks after mowing by sweep netting and pitfall traps.
Uncut strips were warmer and moister than the mown areas. The effects of refuge strips and their arrangement were stronger on the vegetation‐dwelling than on ground‐dwelling arthropods, although all taxa were affected in some way. We found more true bugs in mown areas between narrow strips than between wide strips. The interaction effect of width and proportion of refuge strips on the abundance of grasshoppers, ground‐dwelling spiders and species richness of carabids showed that wider strips are more beneficial if their proportion is low and narrow strips are more beneficial with high proportion.
Synthesis and applications: Our findings provide evidence that uncut refuge strips can harbour diverse and abundant arthropod assemblages in hay meadows and mitigate the adverse effects of uniformly executed mowing on arthropods. Modifying attributes and considering farming practices, wide strips with a low (10%) proportion of total field area seem optimal for both conservation and practitioners.
Our findings provide evidence that uncut refuge strips can harbour diverse and abundant arthropod assemblages in hay meadows and mitigate the adverse effects of uniformly executed mowing on arthropods. Modifying attributes and considering farming practices, wide strips with a low (10%) proportion of total field area seem optimal for both conservation and practitioners.
•Csángós have a fine-tuned traditional management of species-rich hay meadows.•Twelve practices are used to maintain meadow and pasture quality.•Conscious management of regeneration (e.g. ...mowing-date-rotation of meadow tracts).•Management of traditional farmlands should build on such ecological knowledge.•Subsidy systems should support traditional farming in semi-natural landscapes.
Abandonment or change of traditional (pre-modern) management systems threaten semi-natural grasslands worldwide. Understanding existing traditional grassland management could greatly help to improve our ability to preserve biodiversity in traditionally managed farmlands. We studied the management of species-rich man-made grasslands (ca. 32–52 vascular plant species on 16m2) and the related traditional ecological knowledge in Gyimes (Romania), where more than 40,000 hectares of meadows and pastures are still managed traditionally. Methods of ecological anthropology e.g. participatory field work, semi-structured interviews (33 interviewees), and free listings were used. Csángós (people living in these valleys of the Carpathians) distinguish hay meadows based on manuring: nearby and distant hay meadows. Pastures are classified into pastures near settlements, mountain pastures, and pastures for sheep. Traditional management of meadows includes mowing, cleaning, mowing-date rotation of tracts, amelioration with hayseed and Onobrychis viciifolia seeds, manuring, manual thinning of unwanted plants, suppression of mosses, and small-scale drainage. We argue that the mowing-date rotation system found in Gyimes is a unique land-use practice that could greatly enhance biodiversity together with hayseed scattering. Treatment of pastures is more simple: sectional cleaning of shrubs/trees, and burning and corralling against Nardus. The goal of Csángós is not to protect biodiversity, but to keep their grasslands in good condition for a long run, and thus ascertain the availability of hay in the needed quantity and quality. We argue that subsidy systems should encourage the maintenance of this and similar systems, support the still existing local traditional communities and also in protected areas management systems should build on the experiences of these small-scale traditional farmers.
Previous hay net studies have focused on behavior, consumption, and feed wastage; yet none have evaluated effects in the oral cavity. To investigate the effects of prolonged hay net use on rostral ...soft tissue and saliva production, 8 stock-type horses were evaluated for dental health and floated by a dental technician to ensure consistency. Horses were blocked by body weight (BW; 558.6 ± 13.8kg), body condition (BC; 6.5 ± 0.2), sex (mares: n = 5; geldings: n = 3), and age (10.1 ± 1.1yr) and randomly assigned to one of 2 feeding treatments for 70d. Horses on control (CON; n = 4) were offered loose hay in a tub; horses in the experimental group (NET; n = 4) were offered hay encased in a slow-feeder hay net (Texas Hay Net, 3.81cm2 openings). Horses received coastal bermudagrass hay at 1.5% of BW daily along with a commercial concentrate (Equilene® Pellets) at ≤0.7% of BW as-fed to maintain BC. Horses were kept in individual dry pens with access to feed, water, and salt for 16 h/day, and then group-housed in dry lots with only ad-libitum water and salt for 8hr/day. Feed intake was recorded daily by the collection and weighing of orts. All horses were assessed weekly using digital and thermography (FLIR®) images to document changes in rostral oral tissue. Blind reviewers analyzed images for changes in rostral oral cavity scores (ROCS) ranging from no damage (ROCS = 7) to severe damage (ROCS = 21).Biweekly saliva measurements were taken immediately before hay offering and 1hr after consumption using 2 disposable oral swabs (Munkcare®, 18cm3 each) held at the exit of the sublingual gland. Statistics were formulated using 3-way repeated measures ANOVA using R Statistical Program®. Intake was not influenced by feeding method (P = 0.874), nor was saliva production (P = 0.570). NET horses had numerically higher pre-consumption saliva values (5.27 ± 0.41g) compared with CON horses (4.55 ± 0.49g). Saliva production increased post-1hr consumption (P ≤ 0.001) confirming production was a result of mastication. The surface temperature of the oral cavity was not affected by treatment (P = 0.471) and was within normal ranges. Average total ROCS did not differ between treatments (NET: 11.0 ± 0.2; CON: 12.2 ± 0.2; P = 0.251) but increased with time (P ≤ 0.01). Use of a hay net for 70d did not influence intake or negatively affect rostral tissue, indicating a level of safety long-term. Based on these findings, feeding from a hay net over a 1hr period did not influence saliva production; however, in future studies, saliva production should be evaluated over an entire consumption period.
Dental disorders can lead to discomfort and chronic pain in horses, affecting their behavior, management, and athletic performance. There is a lack of research on equine management and epidemiology ...of dental problems in horses trained in Western disciplines. Our main goal is to investigate dental disorders in Western riding horses located in West Texas and their association with management and behavior. For each horse, a Texas Veterinary Board of Medical Examiner (TVBME) licensed Equine Dental Provider investigated the oral environment with a bright headlight, speculum, mirror, probe, and endoscope, assisted by veterinarians for sedation and health evaluation. All findings and pictures were documented through the Pimbury Dental App and approved by an equine dental veterinarian. We developed a dental scoring system to quantify the dental findings ranging from 0 (no abnormalities) to 120 (fractures, periodontal disease, severe pathologies such as hypercementosis, and oral ulcerations associated with all teeth), where higher dental scores indicated worse dental conditions. Horse owners filled out a survey for each horse, which included feeding, medical, riding, and behavioral history. Wecorrected for multiple testing using Bonferroni adjustment, and the significance level was set to α ≤ 0.01. Forty-seven horses with adult dentition (out of the same planned study with over 200 horses) were included in the preliminary correlation analyses. Dental scores ranged from 10 to 60 points (Mean = 32.89, SD ± 11.306). Older age is significantly correlated with increased dental scores (P < 0.001). Commonly reported hay-eating behavioral issues, such as several pauses (P < 0.01) and dropping hay (P < 0.001), show significant correlations to higher dental scores. Dental care history demonstrates a trend toward significance. Horses with no history of dental care scored on average 7.6 points higher than individuals with past dental care (P = 0.03). While we are still adding individuals to the analysis, the preliminary results demonstrate that disruptive hay-eating behaviors could be a sign of dental issues. Furthermore, age is a strong factor influencing dental problems, with a lack of previous dental care as a possible component in Western horses.
Background
Evaluation of large‐scale data sets is needed to better understand the epidemiology, cost, and burden of atopic dermatitis (AD). We sought to validate the use of ICD‐9‐CM codes for ...identifying AD.
Methods
Patients from a large metropolitan quaternary care medical center with a diagnostic code of either 691.8 (AD) or 692.9 (eczema and contact dermatitis) were queried. Medical records were reviewed for demographics, Hanifin & Rajka (H&R) and United Kingdom Working Party (UKWP) criteria. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive values (PPV) of the codes were calculated.
Results
Of 43 278 patients identified with associated ICD‐9 codes of 691.8 or 692.9, 519 and 253 with 691.8 and 692.9 were randomly selected for chart review. There was extensive overlap: 34.3% had ≥1 occurrences of 691.8 and 692.9 and 25.6% had multiple occurrences of both codes. Among patients with ≥1 occurrence of 691.8, 29.9% and 30.8% met the H&R and UKWP criteria, respectively. Similarly, among patients with ≥1 occurrence of 692.9, 33.7% and 32.2% met the H&R and UKWP criteria. Increased PPV was associated with concomitant diagnoses of asthma, hay fever, and food allergy and increased disease severity.
Conclusions
In the outpatient setting, the ICD‐9‐CM codes 691.8 and 692.9 alone have poor PPV. Incorporation of diagnoses of asthma, hay fever, and food allergy improves PPV and specificity. In the inpatient setting, a primary discharge diagnosis of 691.8 had excellent PPV. Although ICD‐10 has been adopted in Europe and more recently in the USA, the same systematic errors would likely occur unless providers standardize their coding.
•Seed mixes suitable for grassland restoration can be obtained with wild-harvesting.•Harvesting as green hay is the most efficient technique of mechanical harvesting.•Hay making, seed stripping and ...threshing collect less seed but not less species.•As for seed number, harvesting efficiency is higher for forbs and the first regrowth.•As for species proportion, harvesting is less efficient for forbs than for grasses.
Maintaining and re-creating species-rich semi-natural grasslands are important issues in current agricultural policy in Europe. The seed that is required for their establishment can be obtained through direct harvesting from semi-natural herbaceous vegetation. To test the efficiency of mechanical seed harvesting on donor Arrhenatherion elatioris grasslands, experiments were performed in northern Italy and eastern Czech Republic. Trials were organized with a randomized block design and involved harvesting as green hay (grass mowing and immediate collection), dry hay (grass mowing and collection after drying on the field), direct combining (grass cutting and threshing at the same combine passage) and seed stripping with pull-type equipment (seed removal without grass cutting with a brush harvester pulled by a tractor). Harvesting was carried out at the time of maximum ripe standing seed yield (SSY) in the first and second regrowth. The harvested materials were analysed for seed number and weight and compared with the SSY. The species composition and phenology were also surveyed. In all methods, the seed mixture obtained contained the species present as seed at harvest time and was correlated with SSY. However, with regard to the seed number collected, the harvesting efficiency changed in relation to species group (grasses or forbs), individual species, seed maturation and regrowth. The most efficient method was harvesting as green hay (efficiency of approximately 71% of SSY and seed mixture composition that was very highly correlated with SSY). The least efficient methods were direct combining (30% of SSY and negative selectivity against light or difficult to detach seeds, producing the highest mean 1000-seeds weight) and harvesting as dry hay (39% of SSY and a high sensitivity to seed maturation level). Seed stripping, operated with downward brush rotation at the leading edge, resulted in an intermediate efficiency (60% of SSY and a seed mixture composition highly correlated with SSY). The harvesting efficiency for seed number was higher at the first regrowth than the second one for both species groups and, especially at the second regrowth, higher for forbs than for grasses. Especially forb harvesting presented a problem with regard to the species number collected. The problem was, not due to harvesting inefficiency but rather for phenological reasons, as several forbs did not produce fertile stems at the first or second regrowth and some other early flowering species had already shed the seed at the harvesting time. These results improve our understanding of factors affecting the efficiency of mechanical harvesting and will help in the preparation of efficient harvesting programs.
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