We tested the hypothesis that poultry by-product meal would produce a thermogenic response (an increased requirement for oxygen) resulting in an increased incidence of pulmonary hypertension with ...right ventricular failure and ascites in commercial broiler chickens.Four treatment groups, each with three replicates of 40 chicks, were fed a commercial broiler starter to day 21, grower to day 35, and the following experimental diets after day 35: group 1, commercial chicken broiler finisher; group 2, commercial chicken broiler finisher with poultry by-product meal added to replace part of the soyabean meal; group 3, commercial chicken broiler finisher with poultry fat added to replace the animal-vegetable (AV) fat; group 4, commercial chicken broiler finisher with both poultry by-product meal and poultry fat added to replace soyabean meal and AV fat. On day 35, pen temperature was reduced to 15 degrees C, and on day 42 to 12 degrees C.Mortality from ascites between days 35 and 56 was 11(9%) in group 2, 5(4%) in group 4 and 3(2.5%) in groups 1 and 3 The incidence of pulmonary hypertension, as measured by an increased right ventricle: total ventricle (RV:TV) ratio (RV:TV > 0.249) at processing on day 57, was higher in the groups receiving poultry by-product and poultry fat: 27(22.5%) in group 2, 26(21.7%) in group 3, and 20(16.7%) in group 4 compared to that of the controls 12(10%).
UK Biobank is a population-based cohort of half a million participants aged 40-69 years recruited between 2006 and 2010. In 2014, UK Biobank started the world's largest multi-modal imaging study, ...with the aim of re-inviting 100,000 participants to undergo brain, cardiac and abdominal magnetic resonance imaging, dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry and carotid ultrasound. The combination of large-scale multi-modal imaging with extensive phenotypic and genetic data offers an unprecedented resource for scientists to conduct health-related research. This article provides an in-depth overview of the imaging enhancement, including the data collected, how it is managed and processed, and future directions.
Weeds have acquired evolutionary adaptations to the diverse crop and weed management strategies used in cropping systems. Therefore, changes in crop production practices such as conventional to ...organic systems, tillage-based to no-till systems, and diversity in crop rotations can result in differences in weed community composition that have management implications. A study was carried out to understand the weed community dynamics in a long-term alternative cropping systems study at Scott, SK, Canada. Long-term (18-yr) weed community composition data in wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in ORG (organic), RED (reduced-input, no-till), and HIGH (high-input, conventional tillage) systems with three levels of crop rotation diversity, LOW (low diversity), DAG (diversified annual grains), and DAP (diversified annuals and perennials), were used to study the effect of different cropping systems and the effect of environment (random temporal effects) on residual weed community composition using the principal response curve (PRC) technique. The interaction between cropping systems and year-to-year random environmental changes was found to be the predominant factor causing fluctuations in weed community composition. Furthermore, the single most predominant factor influencing the weed composition was year-to-year random changes. Organic systems clearly differed from the two conventional systems in most years and had more diverse weed communities compared with the two conventional systems. The two conventional systems exhibited similar weed composition in most years. In this study, the use of the PRC method allowed capture of the real temporal dynamics reflected in the cropping systems by time interaction. This study further concludes that moving from a tillage-based, high-input conventional system to a no-till, reduced-input system did not cause significant changes in the weed community composition throughout the time period, but diversity in organic systems was high, probably due to increased occurrence of some difficult to control species.
1. An increase in pesticide resistance in many pest species is promoting interest in biological control. Much remains to be learned about natural enemy immigration into and persistence within crops ...at specific times and how to maximize suppression of pest populations. Therefore this study was conducted to test a novel biological control approach, 'attract and reward' which combines two aspects of applied insect ecology: synthetic herbivore-induced plant volatiles (HIPVs) to improve immigration of beneficial taxa into crops and nectar plants to maintain their populations. 2. The 'attract and reward' approach was tested in sweetcorn, broccoli and wine-grapes with several HIPV formulations at 1·0% (v/v) as attractants and buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum Moench) as reward. Abundance of insects was assessed with non-attractive sticky traps for up to 22 days after the HIPV spray application. 3. In sweetcorn, Eulophidae were more numerous in the attract treatments: methyl anthranilate, methyl jasmonate (MeJA), methyl salicylate (MeSA) and HIPV mix. Encyrtidae were more abundant near MeJA-treated plants. In broccoli, Scelionidae were more abundant in MeSA treatments with reward and near cis-3-hexenyl acetate-treated plants without reward whilst Ceraphronidae were more numerous near MeSA and predators were more abundant near HIPV mix-treated plants. Nectar plant reward increased catches of parasitoids from several families in all three tested crop species and increased predators in sweet corn and broccoli. 4. Increases in natural enemy numbers were correlated with effects at the first and second trophic levels. Significantly fewer larvae of the sweetcorn pest Helicoverpa spp. were found on sweetcorn plants from plots with reward and significantly less Helicoverpa spp. damage was evident to cobs for one of the HIPV treatments. 5. Synthesis and applications. Results suggest that applications of synthetic HIPVs can enhance recruitment of natural enemies and buckwheat was a suitable resource subsidy plant for increasing abundance and residency. Whilst both of these approaches offer potential to enhance biological control, further work is required to realize fully synergistic effects from their combination as an 'attract and reward' approach.
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