POTENTIAL FOR MEASUREMENT OF LYSINE BIO AVAILABILITY IN POULTRY FEEDS BY RAPID MICROBIOLOGICAL ASSAYS — A REVIEW

Optimizing economic utilization of feed protein sources for poultry nutritional requiremens is difficult to achieve given the varied protein quality of the respective sources. Although there are several limiting amino acids in feeds that would benefit from development of rapid and more reliable bioavailability assays, lysine is of key importance since this amino acid is usually the first or second limiting amino acid in poultry feeds and is susceptible to processing treatments. However, to incorporate incoming sources in the most cost-effective manner, accurate and timely prediction of lysine bioavailability prior to use is desired to achieve a consistent nutritional value. Animal bioassays involving chicks are one of the standard accepted practices for evaluating protein quality and amino acid bioavailability, but such assays have several limitations. Alternative in vitro tests that accurately predict lysine bioavailability for feed proteins would solve many of the problems associated with currently used animal bioassays. The expected focus should be on the development of more rapid in vitro lysine bioavailability assays that could be easily used for evaluation of poultry feed protein sources.     

The allopolyploid origin of Narcissus obsoletus (Alliaceae): identification of parental genomes by karyotype characterization and genomic in situ hybridization

Karyological and genomic in situ hybridization (GISH) approaches provided evidence of the parentage and origin of the hybrid species Narcissus obsoletus. Here, we demonstrate that the putative parental species, N. serotinus L. and N. elegans (Haw.) Spach, recently proposed because of their intermediate morphological traits, have participated in the hybridization process forming this taxon. Karyotype characterization of parental genomes in populations from S Spain and N Morocco has revealed differences in chromosome length and karyotype asymmetry, highlighting their diploid nature. Multicolour GISH on metaphase plates of N. obsoletus, with N. serotinus and N. elegans DNA used as probes, showed differential fluorescent staining of 10 and 20 chromosomes from parental genomes, respectively. Both parental genomes were detected in the allopolyploid, albeit in a duplicated manner. Secondary hybridization between N. obsoletus and N. serotinus was also detected karyologically. Little karyological differentiation between different geographic regions was found in either N. serotinus or N. obsoletus. © 2009 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society, 2009, 159 , 477–498.     

棉花和香瓜的甘薯粉虱Bemisia tabaci (同翅目 ,粉虱科 )B生态型虫体大小和重量的田间调查(英文)

20 0 0和 2 0 0 1年在美国凤凰城和北达科塔州法哥城田间 ,调查棉花和香瓜上甘薯粉虱BemisiatabaciB生态型所有虫期虫体大小和重量。从若虫大小计算出若虫的体积。第一到第四龄晚期 ,若虫平均体积以指数方式增加。体积增加最快的是第三到第四龄早期。棉花上的若虫比香瓜上的宽 ,但是并不比较长。香瓜上第一到第四龄早期的若虫 ,最厚部位的腹部和背部厚度比例显著比棉花上的要高。两种寄主作物上的若虫从第一到第四龄发育期 ,腹部厚度平均增加将近 5 1倍 ,而背部厚度只增加 2 8倍。雌虫和雄虫从头顶到翅尖平均长度分别为 112 6和 95 3微米 ,重量为 39和 17微克。棉花和香瓜上的虫卵平均长 ,宽 ,重分别为 197微米 ,99微米 ,和0 8微克。未被寄生的蛹壳长 ,宽 ,重分别为 6 73微米 ,4 92微米和 1 2微克 ;被寄生的蛹壳为 6 6 5微米 ,4 5 2微米 ,和 3 6微克。棉花上未被寄生和被寄生的蛹壳比香瓜上的长 ,宽 ,和更重。     

CONSTRUCTION AND GROWTH KINETICS OF A BIOLUMINESCENT METHIONINE AUXOTROPH ESCHERICHIA COLI STRAIN FOR POTENTIAL USE IN A METHIONINE BIOASSAY

Methionine is one of the essential and first limiting amino acids in animal nutrition. In this study, an Escherichia coli methionine auxotroph bacterial strain that exhibits a linear growth response to methionine concentrations was transformed with a plasmid containing genes encoding ampicillin resistance and bioluminescence in order to develop a microbiological technique for methionine quantitation. Transformants were selected based on antibiotic resistance and plasmid containing candidates were confirmed by restriction enzyme digestion and gel electrophoresis. To confirm the bioluminescent phenotype, video imaging of the strain using long exposure photography yielded colonies exhibiting bioluminescence. The strain was also tested in the presence of ampicillin supplemented media with increasing methionine concentrations and growth response (measured as optical density, OD), growth rates and methionine affinities were compared before and after transformation. Although the transformed E. coli methionine auxotroph exhibited somewhat different growth kinetic responses than the nontransformed strain, the standard curves used for estimating methionine concentrations were not different. Based on the results in this study the transformed bioluminescent strain could be used as an OD-based assay if bioluminescence equipment and materials are not available.     

Plant trait responses to grazing – a global synthesis

Herbivory by domestic and wild ungulates is a major driver of global vegetation dynamics. However, grazing is not considered in dynamic global vegetation models, or more generally in studies of the effects of environmental change on ecosystems at regional to global scale. An obstacle to this is a lack of empirical tests of several hypotheses linking plant traits with grazing. We, therefore, set out to test whether some widely recognized trait responses to grazing are consistent at the global level. We conducted a meta‐analysis of plant trait responses to grazing, based on 197 studies from all major regions of the world, and using six major conceptual models of trait response to grazing as a framework. Data were available for seven plant traits: life history, canopy height, habit, architecture, growth form (forb, graminoid, herbaceous legume, woody), palatability, and geographic origin. Covariates were precipitation and evolutionary history of herbivory. Overall, grazing favoured annual over perennial plants, short plants over tall plants, prostrate over erect plants, and stoloniferous and rosette architecture over tussock architecture. There was no consistent effect of grazing on growth form. Some response patterns were modified by particular combinations of precipitation and history of herbivory. Climatic and historical contexts are therefore essential for understanding plant trait responses to grazing. Our study identifies some key traits to be incorporated into plant functional classifications for the explicit consideration of grazing into global vegetation models used in global change research. Importantly, our results suggest that plant functional type classifications and response rules need to be specific to regions with different climate and herbivory history.     

Reproductive performance changes with age and laying experience in the Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa

Most studies of birds have reported positive effects of ageing on reproductive traits during the first years of life followed by a decline. We examined the effects of age and laying experience, controlling for confounding factors such as food availability/quality and timing of pair formation in a captive population of Red-legged Partridge Alectoris rufa . We found that all reproductive traits, except for the period between eggs, were highly repeatable within females both within and between years. The repeatability of egg mass was lower than that of clutch size, laying onset or chick traits other than the mass and size increase rates, perhaps suggesting a lower heritability value. As females aged, they showed a tendency to produce marginally lighter eggs (1.3%) and larger clutches, although this latter trend was not significant. We suggest that the senescence process implies the involvement of hormonal changes that could affect the reduction of egg mass (e.g. low levels of oestradiol). Younger females tended to start laying later than older females, which could be due to a low responsiveness to photoperiodic stimulation of the reproductive system, which would indicate a delay in gametogenesis and steroidogenesis. The mass of last-laid eggs decreased with age of the female. We suggest that physiological changes through the laying sequence could vary with age. Experienced breeders laid larger clutches linked with the advancement of laying onset. For a given age, females with more experience fared better than those with less experience.     

Nitrate Metabolism in Alfalfa Root Nodules under Water Stress

Three-month-old plants (vegetative stage) of alfalfa (Medicagosaliva L cv. Aragon) were supplied for one week with 1.0dm³(uniformly distributed) nutrient solutions containing 0 or 20mol m^–3 . One week after initiation of treatment, the plants were subjected to drought by withholding water. Bacteroidsand cytosol of nodules were obtained at different stages ofstress, and used for enzyme assays and for determination of, and . Proteins of bacteroids were more stable than cytosolic proteinswith respect to the detrimental effects of water stress and. Protein contents of bacteroids and cytosol were inversely related to proteolytic activitiesagainst azocasein in both nodule fractions. Specific nitrate reductase activity (NRA) and nitrite reductaseactivity (NiRA) of bacteroids from -treated plants were inhibited by c. 70% and 45%, respectively, as leafwater potential (_w) declined from –0.5 MPa (control) to–1.8 MPa. At still lower _w both activities began to increase:NRA was doubled, whereas NiRA only returned to its control level.Cytosolic NRA was strongly inhibited by drought, but the correspondingNiRA remained constant. Ammonia concentration in bacteroids and nodule cytosol keptbasically constant, whereas accumulated in the cytosol at severe stress, due to the activationof bacteroid nitrate reductase. Results indicate that nitrate and nitrite reductases of thebacteroids and the nodule cytosol act in different form: assimilatory,the cytosolic enzymes; and dissimilatory, the enzymes of bacteroidsat low _w The possibility that assimilation of also occurs in bacteroids at control or mild waterstress conditions is suggested. Key words: Assimilatory and dissimilatory reduction, bacteroids, Medicago saliva, nodule cytosol, water stress     

Karyology and reproductive biology of Muscari matritensis M. Ruíz Rejón et al. (Liliaceae)

VALDÉS, B. & DÍAZ LIFANTE, Z., 1992. Karyology and reproductive biology of Muscari matritensis M. Ruíz Rejón et al. (Liliaceae). Muscari matritensis M. Ruíz Rejón et al. , previously known from only five localities, has been recorded for S.W. Spain. The plants have a karyotype composition which differs from the other four karyotypes described for this species, and experimental studies of the breeding system provide evidence that they are moderately autogamous.