bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Economic implications of compositional quality and production systems
Authors: Morgan H. E. G. 
Published: June 2019

Proposed changes in milk pricing to be introduced on 1 April 1984 will make milk fat payments 53% of total milk returns. Current breed averages indicate that Jersey returns will show the greatest improvement at £40 per cow but will still be £100 lower than Friesian returns. Additionally, the higher calf and barren cow values enhance the Friesian, although this can be offset if Jerseys achieve a 50% increase in longevity compared with Friesians.The proposed seasonal differentials give a milk price variation around the mean of 29%, compared with the present 13%. However, in 1969/70, the variation was 36%. Milk values by month of calving on the new proposals vary by a maximum of £87 at a yield of 5000 1. August to October calving gives the highest and February to May the lowest milk income after seasonal adjustment.Farm examples show that block-calving herds have seasonal quality trends that will be highlighted by contemporary payment. In the past, arithmetic averages have put block-calving herds into higher-quality classes than was warranted. Contemporary payment penalizes lapses in quality immediately. Conversely, improvements will be immediately rewarded. Summer-milk producers will have a dramatic decrease in their traditional cash flow in May and June. Comparison of weekly sample results and monthly averages with the same period last year, and with the England and Wales monthly average, enables economic corrective management steps to be taken.The cost of computerized out-of-parlour feeders depends on herd size. Justification of their cost can be based on changes in milk sales by volume and/or compositional quality.
Herbage production from the hills and uplands
Authors: Frame J. , Newbould P. , Munro J. M. M. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractThe hills and uplands lie within the poorer ‘less favoured’ soil and climatic areas which account for almost 10 M ha of the UK's 19 M ha of agricultural land. Rough grazing comprises 6 M ha. Dry matter (DM) production from native hill swards, governed by soil type, climate and species composition, typically ranges from 1 to 5 t per ha, and is highly seasonal. The best grade of native hill sward is the bent-fescue (Agrostis/Festuca) association. Upland permanent pasture sward production is strongly influenced by the proportion of perennial ryegrass and level of fertilizer N input; typically, DM production ranges from 3.5 to 91 per ha.Constraints to herbage production include acid soils, impeded drainage and shortage of major plant nutrients particularly N and P. Deficiencies of some major nutrients and of trace elements in the plants can consequently have serious implications for livestock performance. Relationships among trace elements are particularly complex. The climate is severe and highly variable, with low temperatures, exposure to wind, high rainfall and frequent winter frosts being notable features. Bracken, rush, gorse, broom and scrub woodland communities are special vegetation problems which adversely affect pasture production and utilization.Specific improvement techniques for the differing soil type — plant community associations are available but economic considerations are important when making the choice and deciding on the extent of improvement. Addition of lime and fertilizers, and the introduction of improved grass species and white clover, are the keys to enhanced sward production and quality. Maintenance of soil fertility is essential to ensure continued production. White clover is particularly important for animal nutrition and for its ability to contribute to available soil N via rhizobial N fixation. However, fertilizer N has a role in strategically extending the grazing season and for intensifying winter feed production (silage or hay) from suitable land; silage offers the better option.
Nutritional needs of cattle in the hills and uplands
Authors: Russel A. J. F. , Broadbent P. J. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractSystems of management of beef cows in the hills and uplands seek to make use of the cow's ability to utilise body tissue to maintain production during periods of undernutrition in winter and to replenish body reserves from relatively inexpensive summer grazing.In spring-calving cows, the periods of winter undernutrition occur during late pregnancy and the early months of lactation. On upland farms, cows with adequate body reserves (condition score 3.5) at the beginning of winter, fed less than 50 MJ ME per day during the final 3 months of gestation and 70 MJ ME per day during the first 2 months of lactation, will lose about 1.5 units of body condition but such a regime will not necessarily result in biologically significant production penalties. Fertilised ryegrass swards maintained at 8 cm sward surface height during the grazing season will support levels of milk production of around 11 kg per day, calf growth rates of the order of 1.2 kg per day and allow full recovery of cow body weight and condition. In hill herds, the magnitude of losses in weight and condition over winter must be restricted to the extent of the recovery which the quality of summer grazing will support.Similar considerations apply in autumn-calving herds, where the greater part or all of lactation coincides with the period of winter feeding. Cows calving at a body condition score of 3.0 can be fed 75 MJ ME per day from before to one month after mating without prejudicing reproductive performance, and 60-65 MJ ME per day from then until turnout. Where good quality pasture is available, milk production will increase from around 5 to more than 9 kg per day following turnout, calf performance will be enhanced by delaying weaning and cows will recover in full the weight and condition lost during winter. In the hill situation, calves may require to be weaned at turnout if full cow recovery is to be achieved.Studies on the nutrition of the weaned suckled calf indicate that a policy of feeding weaned calves inexpensively during winter to gain between 0.3 and 0.5 kg per day may constitute a viable alternative to the traditional practice of selling calves in the autumn. Such animals will achieve significantly higher growth rates at pasture in the following summer than calves fed more generously and gaining weight more rapidly during winter.On some hill farms where opportunities for the conservation of winter fodder are limited but where there is plentiful summer grazing, a system of June calving followed by a short lactation, and in which calves are only very moderately fed over winter, merits consideration.The areas in which further research is most urgently required to effect significant improvements in efficiency are those concerned with the relationship between nutrition and reproductive efficiency and the induction of twinning in cows.
Research and extension in livestock development
Authors: Schiere J. B. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractThis paper discusses results, justifications and definitions of research and extension in tropical animal production. The emphasis is on the applicability of new technologies and the interaction between research and extension. A description is given of the participants, the farming systems and of the research-extension interaction with attention to the fact that much extension is technology driven rather than problem orientated. Special issues in the livestock sector are highlighted. The diversity of farming systems implies that generalized solutions are hard to find because of technical and institutional problems. A globally decreasing resource-base implies that solutions are to be found in making the system more efficient rather than in relying on ever-increasing use of inputs though inputs per se are still important. Some research results are listed and case studies illustrate how the resource-base affects the applicability of extension messages that originate from research. The use of models is advocated to determine priorities for research or extension. Failures to find quick field applications should lead to mobilization of existing information as well as to a reorientation, improved quality and better interaction of research and extension.
Biotechnology – opportunities for Europe
Authors: Warkup C. 
Published: June 2019

The title of this paper, as proposed by the meeting organisers, implies that Europe is different when it comes to biotechnology. In the early years of the 21st Century, even an impartial observer would agree that Europe differs from most of the rest of the world in its attitudes to at least one biotechnology – Genetically Modified (GM) crops. On the other hand, parts of Europe are seen as relatively enthusiastic about applications of biotechnology in human medicine. Take for instance, the UK's stance on research with human stem cells. Do these differences reflect permanent differences or merely a more cautious approach in Europe to the adoption of biotechnology in food production? Does this matter to pig producers?This paper seeks to give a broad and shallow overview of the opportunities for developments in biotechnology to impact on pig production. It will consider which of the many potential new technologies, if they were available now, might be acceptable in Europe and what might be the consequences of failure to access technologies that others exploit.
Models of motivational decision-making and how they affect the experimental assessment of motivational priorities
Authors: Mason G. , Cooper J. , Garner J. 
Published: June 2019

AbstractMeasuring motivation has recently become a key issue in animal welfare, yet it can be difficult to implement in practice and even more difficult to apply validly to the specific animals whose welfare it is hoped to improve. Ethologists have modelled motivation in a number of ways. Here, we review these models (along with consumer demand approaches) to identify some of the factors that need to be controlled to conduct experiments with maximum internal and external validity. They indicate that to conduct experiments that make valid assessments of animals’ priorities, bouts of behaviour should not be curtailed, measurements should not be restricted to only one period or context and subjects should be kept in closed economies; time spent with resource should not be used as the only measure of consumption, as rate can vary with motivation and if demand curves are desired, the cost paid and amount of opportunity ‘bought’ must co-vary. Having avoided these pitfalls, further factors must be taken into account to ensure external validity. Animals’ priorities are affected by many aspects of their internal state and external environment, including the presence of eliciting stimuli, the number of behavioural opportunities available and the size of their time and energy budgets. A well fed animal in an enriched enclosure with excess energy but only limited time to allocate to many different activities would thus be likely to have quite different priorities from an under-fed animal with excess time available, housed in a barren environment. Hence studies of the former could not validly be applied to improve the welfare of the latter.
Diet selection in broiler chickens with corticosterone-induced changes in body composition
Authors: Sahin A. , Forbes J. M. 
Published: June 2019

Birds attempt to compensate for an E : P (energy: protein) imbalance by increasing their intake of protein or energy from selected foods and this is related to changes in the birds’ body composition caused by corticosterone treatment.Corticosterone injections increase fatness despite increasing nitrogen and energy excretion (Bartov, 1985). More recently corticosterone has been used to modulate macronutrient selection in rats (Devenport et al., 1991; Bligh et al., 1993; Tempel et al., 1993) and chickens (Covasa and Forbes, 1995). The intake of high protein concentrate was decreased by corticosterone treatment in young chickens but not in older chickens (Covasa and Forbes, 1995). The previous results suggest that more information on corticosterone’s effect on diet selection will be obtained by using foods which can offer a wide range of choices to compose a proper diet (Covasa and Forbes, 1995). Therefore, two experiments were conducted to detect changes in protein preference in relation to reduced protein deposition and enhanced fattening induced by corticosterone in male and female growing broiler chickens.
Inputs of trace gases, particles and cloud droplets to terrestrial surfaces
Authors: Fowler D. , Duyzer J. H. , Baldocchi D. D. 
Published: June 2019

SynopsisThe deposition of reactive gases on terrestrial surfaces is one of the primary mechanisms by which pollutant gases are removed from the atmosphere. The chemical properties of the gases (SO2, NO2, HNO3, HCl) and of the absorbing surfaces lead to differing rates of exchange and controlling processes. The most reactive gases, HNO3, HCl (and for many surfaces NH3) exhibit negligible surface resistances; deposition velocities (Vg) appropriate for short vegetation ranging from 2 to 5 cm s−1, for forestsVgmay approach 10 cm s−1. The large rates of deposition for NH3on moorland and forests lead to annual inputs, in areas with large atmospheric concentrations of NH3(≥ 5 μg NH3m−3), ranging from 20 to 60 kg N ha−1. The net exchange of NH3over cropland, attributable to deposition during vegetative growth and emission of NH3during senescence, is less well known but believed to be small.The co-deposition of NH3and SO2on external surfaces of plant canopies is believed to enhance SO2deposition with reported deposition velocities over short vegetation of 2.0 cm s−1.Rates of cloud droplet deposition to vegetation have been shown to be very similar to rates of momentum deposition (i.e.Vt≈ram−1). These findings provide the basis for estimates of cloud deposition inputs of major ions to upland Britain where they may contribute up to 30% of the wet deposited sulphur and nitrogen.
Soil changes in forest ecosystems: evidence for and probable causes
Authors: Johnson Dale W. , Cresser Malcolm S. , Nilsson S. Ingvar , Turner John , Ulrich Bernhard , Binkley Dan , Cole Dale W. 
Published: June 2019

SynopsisA review of the literature on forest soil change in North America, Central Europe. Sweden, U.K., and Australia reveals that changes are occurring in both polluted and unpolluted sites at a greater rate than previously suspected. Acid deposition has played a major role in recent acidification in some areas of Europe and, to a more limited extent, in Sweden and eastern North America. However, rapid rates of soil acidification are occurring in western North America and Australia due to internal processes such as tree uptake and nitrification associated with excessive nitrogen fixation. The presence of extremely acid soils is not necessarily an indicator of significant acidic deposition, as evidenced by their presence in unpolluted, even pristine forests of the north-western U.S.A. and Alaska. Numerous studies in Sweden, Australia, and North America show the important effects of tree uptake and harvesting upon soil acidification in managed forests. Furthermore, arguments can be presented that harvesting takes a greater toll upon the pools of potentially limiting cations than leaching.The rate at which soils are changing in some instances calls for a re-evaluation of the budget analyses used to predict soil change. Specifically, inter-horizon changes due to uptake and recycling by vegetation, the interactions of such changes with naturally- and anthropogenically-produced acids, and the effects of aluminium uptake and recycling need further evaluation and study.
Critique
Authors: Last F. T. 
Published: June 2019

The first part of the fifth and final day ofAcidic Deposition: Its Nature and Impactswas devoted to a discussion of three questions:(1) What isnowknown of the nature and impacts of acidic deposition (recognising that effects on materials and buildings were being discussed for the first time in the series of international conferences of whichAcidic Depositionwas the latest)?(2) Where are the gaps in knowledge perceived to be?(3) Is it necessary to fill some or all of the gaps/are the gaps worth filling?To a significant extent the answers to these questions influence the reactions of the lay public and their political representatives, but it has to be recognised that the politics of acidic deposition have, on occasion, outpaced scientific comprehension largely because of the inability/unwillingness of scientists to communicate. This is a serious weakness, particularly in relation to pollution and other environmental issues where the problems are complex and cannot be conceived in terms of black and white.
Parallels in the development of post-fire fungal and herb communities
Authors: Wicklow D. T. 
Published: June 2019

SynopsisThe evolutionary significance of natural fire disturbance regimes in the development of post-fire fungal and herb communities is examined. Before a fire the soil microflora exhibits a general fungistasis, microbial competition is great, nutrients are limiting, and carbonicolous ascomycetes are in a dormant phase. Also in mature chaparral shrub communities the soil microflora is implicated in soil toxicity that prevents seeds of some species from germinating in the interval between burns. Fire results in the deposition of ash and charred wood, a release of nutrients, the elimination of competitors (e.g. shrub cover, soil microflora), an increase in soil alkalinity, the removal of soil toxicity/fungistasis, and cues the germination of constitutively dormant ascospores and seeds. The cue for germination of the chaparral fire annuals appears to be components of the hemicellulose fraction, produced during the charring of wood, but this fraction has not been tested for its ability to cue ascospore germination. Germination in the absence of fire would be “suicidal” because neither the carbonicolous ascomycetes nor the post-fire annuals are able to compete successfully in these pre-burn habitats. The frequency of burning and the uneven heating of the soil surface creates patchiness with a corresponding increase in the species richness of the post-burn community.
Patterns of fungal colonisation of cereal straw in soil
Authors: Magan Naresh 
Published: June 2019

SynopsisThe microbial populations on cereal straw at harvest are characteristic of the phylloplane. Incorporation of straw into soil represents an enrichment disturbance and results in a rapid stimulation of soil microbial activity. The dominant fungal colonists of the straw in soil were found to vary with soil water potential over a twenty-eight week period of incorporation. The dominant fungal genera werePenicilliumandMucor, followed byGliocladium, FusariumandTrichoderma. Basidiomycetes were only isolated from straw in a wet (−0.1 MPa) soil. Prior inoculation of straw withGliocladium roseum(Link) Banier resulted in changes in the dominance of these fungi, particularly in a dry soil.In vitrodata on spore germination, germ tube extension and growth of these soil fungi on agar media were not correlated with those on unsterile straw leaf sheaths or sterile straw segments.
A comparison of fungal communities in straw decomposing in different soil types and under different cultivation practices
Authors: Bowen R. M. , Harper S. H. T. 
Published: June 2019

SynopsisThe composition of the mycoflora growing on wheat straw decomposing in three arable soil types and following two methods of incorporation was monitored throughout one cropping season. Fusarium species, Trichoderma species and Chaetomium globosum were the most frequently isolated cellulose-decomposers during the autumn and early spring on all treatments. Around some straws the brown colour of lignin was replaced by a dark red coloration: if this was cleared subsequently, it was considered to indicate the presence of lignin-decomposing species. Colonies of a Typhula sp., a lignin-decomposing basidiomycete, developed from some of the straws surrounded by cleared zones. In late spring more lignin-decomposing basidiomycetes were isolated, none of which had previously been described on, nor isolated from, wheat straw decomposing in the field. These basidiomycetes, characterised by slower extension rates than Typhula, were more frequent on straw ploughed-in at two sites. Typhula was more numerous where the straw had been incorporated by tined implements. The composition of the cellulolytic fungal community differed between treatments. Inoculation of straw with pure and mixed cultures of Fusarium culmorum, Trichoderma viride, Chaetomium globosum and the lignin-decomposing basidiomycetes had varied effects on the decay rate.
Disturbance, decomposition and patchiness in thatch
Authors: Kirby J. J. H. , Rayner A. D. M. 
Published: June 2019

SynopsisSome roofs that are thatched with combed wheat reed develop patches of more rapid decay within an otherwise uniform matrix of less rapid decay. Changes in the length and weight of reed from patches and matrix were estimated for one roof by comparison with samples of unused, undecayed reed. The fungal communities associated with patches and matrix were analysed using a particle plating method and the distribution of patches between and within roofs was analysed for departures from randomness. Reed from a patch was shorter than from the surrounding matrix due to more rapid loss of length. Weight loss was greatest at the thatch surface but only extended into the thatch for 8.5 cm in both cases. It is therefore probable that the decomposer communities of patches and matrix respond similarly to an environmental variable, probably water potential, that varies with depth. Fungal community analysis indicated that distinct functional units, or associations, of four and two taxa were present in the matrix and patches respectively. An analysis of patch distribution on a sample of roofs indicated that certain roofs are predisposed to develop patches. However, on individual roofs patches are distributed randomly. Predisposition may be due to relatively high levels of endogenous nitrogen in the thatching reed.
Comparison of terminal ram breeds for growth and carcass traits in crossbred lambs
Authors: Cameron N.D. , Drury D.J. 
Published: June 2019

The performance of crossbred progeny of Oxford, Texel, Texel-Oxford, Charollais, Charmoise and Meatlinc terminal sires, mated with crossbred ewes, were compared.The comparisons took place at ABRO's lowland farm in Staffordshire from 1979–1981. The crossbred ewes were by various crossing sire breeds out of a Scottish Blackface stock. Three or four six month old rams of each breed were used in each year, but 9 Texel-Oxford rams were used in 1979 and 1980. Oxford rams were used only in 1981.
The development of the shield in male pigs
Authors: Wood J.D. , Patterson R.L.S. , Buxton P.J. 
Published: June 2019

In mature boars the skin and subcutaneous tissues in the region of the scapula form Into a hard pad known as the shield. It is not known whether this is present less obviously in young boars used for meat production and, if so, whether it lowers carcass quality. The aim of this study was to characterise the shield and study Its development in young male pigs.Characterisation studyHistological examination of tissue samples from the m1d-scapula region in mature boars (ie. >2.5 years of age) showed a high concentration of connective tissue. The tissue had a ‘rubbery’ texture and was difficult to cut. Outer and inner backfat layers were not discernible although approximately 0.80 of the depth of the tissue had the appearance of dermis and the composition of skin (Table 1) and the innermost 0.20 had the composition of adipose tissue (normal backfat). In boar No 1 the dissected shield weighed 3.7 kg, 0.26 of the weight of subcutaneous fat in the half carcass.