Animal Welfare and Livestock Production in a Postindustrial Milieu

Structural transformation, food safety, and environmental risks pose challenges to livestock producers. Adjustments to livestock production systems to improve animal welfare will be made in an economic and political milieu characterized by these challenges. However, competing assumptions about contemporary society provide different frameworks for formulating the problems faced by industry and government decision makers. The assumption that industrialization is the key problem in livestock production leads to an application of science that does not adequately address the role of public participation and trust.     

Production of Monascus-Pigment in a Submerged Culture

The production of pigment by the molds belonging to the genus Monascus in a submerged culture was examined. The extracellular pigment was mainly studied. Monascus sp. No. 2 was found to be the most potent pigment producer. The optimum cultural conditions were: pH of the medium, 6.5; the temperature, 25°C; carbon sources, glucose or ethyl alcohol; nitrogen sources, polypeptone, yeast extract, monosodium glutamate or casamino acids. Glycine, l-threonine, l-arginine, l-alanine and l-tyrosine were found to be the most effective substances promoting pigment production.

Mycelial forms of this strain were correlated with pigment formation in submerged culture. As it grew into pellet type, the yield of pigment was at high level.

The Monascus-pigment in the fermentation liquid seemed to be firmly bound to the protein-like substances which made the pigment apparently soluble.     

Cassava Production and Pest Management: Present and Potential Threats in a Changing Environment

Cassava is attacked by a complex of arthropod pests across the tropical regions of the world where the crop is grown. Root yield losses have been recorded for several pests, including mites, mealybugs, whiteflies, hornworm, lacebugs, thrips and burrower bugs. Agronomic characteristics such as vegetative propagation, a long growth cycle, drought tolerance, staggered planting dates and intercropping contribute to the considerable diversity of pests that feed on the crop. The dynamics of cassava production are evolving as trends in the food, feed and industrial starch sector are leading to an increased demand for high quality starches. The resulting shift to larger scale production units, expansion of cultivated area and modifications in crop management combined with the effects of climate change, especially warmer temperatures and altered rainfall patterns, affect the occurrence and dynamics of arthropod pests in cassava agro ecosystems. Data is presented to describe the effects of temperature and dry seasons on key pest species. Whiteflies, mites and mealybugs register a suitability increase in the same areas in South America: Northeastern Brazil, Northern Argentina, South-Central Bolivia, and Southwest Peru. In Africa increases are projected in Southeast Africa and Madagascar. In Asia, regions with greater projected suitability for these pest species are Coastal India and Southeast Asia. Future trends and important criteria that will influence the severity and management of key pests are discussed.     

深圳市光明华侨畜牧场生态农业探讨

介绍深圳光明华侨畜牧场生态农业的基本模式,总结该场的生态农业建设方面所取得的经验和巨大成绩     

Animal Nutrition in Relation to Secondary Production

The constant need to replenish dwindling energy resources compelsthe animal's day-to-day attack upon its food supply. Of theenergy taken in through its food the animal loses a large percentageas non-productive energy while only a small fraction goes intothe production of high-energy chemical compounds, some of whichare retained as growth and the remainder discarded back to theenvironment. The non-productive energy is lost as wastes eliminatedfrom the body, as respiration of symbionts and host, and asfrictional heat. Energy flow through the individual organismis represented in a flow diagram which may serve as a modelfor relating future investigations. Several methods for evaluatingthe intake of food in natural populations are given, and factorswhich influence food-intake and feeding are discussed. Energy flow through natural communities presents complex analyticalproblems because of the diversity and nutritional flexibilityof the consumer species, factors important in maintaining communitystability. For all the complexity, however, there appears tobe a common pattern discernible in the trophic organizationof different communities. A new model for representing energyflow through communities is presented and illustrated with thecommon pattern of community trophic organization.     

家庭生态农场的氮素营养生产分析

引言土地的沙漠化也许是人类文明进程所付出的最沉重代价。我国北方干旱地区是一个巨大的潜在“沙漠化温床”,巳沙化土地达3.34×     

Production of Deepoxy-Diacetoxyscirpenol in a Culture of Fusarium graminearum

Deepoxy-diacetoxyscirpenol was isolated from a laboratory culture of Fusarium graminearum grown on a solid rice substrate. It was characterized as 3-hydroxy-4,15-diacetoxy-trichothec-9,12-diene by proton nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry. This is the first report of the occurrence of this metabolite in a fungus culture.     

Reactor Engineering in Large Scale Animal Cell Culture

This article mainly addresses the issues associated with the engineering of large-scale free suspension culture in agitated bioreactors >10,000 L because they have become the system of choice industrially. It is particularly concerned with problems that become increasingly important as the scale increases. However, very few papers have been written that are actually based on such large-scale studies and the few that do rarely address any of the issues quantitatively. Hence, it is necessary very often to extrapolate from small-scale work and this review tries to pull the two types of study together. It is shown that ‘shear sensitivity’ due to agitation and bursting bubbles is no longer considered a major problem. Homogeneity becomes increasingly important with respect to pH and nutrients at the largest scale and sub-surface feeding is recommended despite ‘cleaning in place’ concerns. There are still major questions with cell retention/recycle systems at these scales, either because of fouling, of capacity or of potential and different ‘shear sensitivity’ questions. Fed-batch operation gives rise to cell densities that have led to the use of oxygen and enriched air to meet oxygen demands. This strategy, in turn, gives rise to a CO₂ evolution rate that impacts on pH control, pCO₂ and osmolality. These interactions are difficult to resolve but if higher sparge and agitation intensities could be used to achieve the necessary oxygen transfer, the problem would largely disappear. Thus, the perception of ‘shear sensitivity’ is still impacting on the development of animal cell culture at the commercial scale. Microcarrier culture is also briefly addressed. Finally, some recommendations for bioreactor configuration and operating strategy are given.