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Soil Organisms Have Favorite Forage Plants
Get PDFCows and sheep eat plants known as forages. Forage plants can include grass, chicory, and clover. Forage plants vary in nutrients and tastiness. These plants can also change the ecosystem belowground for soil animals. Soil animals may move to eat or live beneath different forages. Earthworms mix up the soil and food, improving the soil habitat. Fungi break down dead plants, and organisms that eat fungi speed up this breakdown process, which creates more food for other plants and soil animals. We tested which forage plants soil animals preferred. Large numbers of earthworms were found under white clover. Tiny fungal-feeding worms and springtails (insect-like creatures) were found in greater numbers under clover and chicory. Plant-eating soil animals compete with cows and sheep for food. These plant-eaters were found in larger numbers below ryegrass. Growing plants that increase the numbers of helpful soil animals can lead to healthier soils
Exploring the outcomes of enterprise and entrepreneurship education in UK HEIs: An Excellence Framework perspective
No full textThe purpose of this paper is to investigate data relating to the outcomes of enterprise and entrepreneurship education (EEE) activity in UK higher education institutions (HEIs). This is achieved via the use of data obtained from the Research Excellence Framework (REF), the Teaching Excellence and Student Outcomes Framework (TEF), the Knowledge Excellence Framework (KEF) and the Higher Education Business and Community Interaction (HE-BCI) survey. Overall, the analysis suggests, powerfully, that EEE impacts research, teaching and knowledge exchange in a variety of ways. Firstly, it shows that EEE, in terms of the REF, may be up to 46 times more impactful than other management disciplines. Secondly, with regard to TEF submissions, it highlights a positive relationship between the use of the EEE terms and the award level achieved. Finally, research also demonstrates a link between membership of certain HEI mission groups and improved KEF metrics when compared to the sector averages. There is a clear need to research how to develop successful EEE interventions and demonstrate their impact on the graduate, the university ecosystem and the wider economy. These data sources and methodology have not previously been used to develop a narrative for EEE across a university sector in the UK
Identifying associations between management practices and antimicrobial resistances of sentinel bacteria recovered from bulk tank milk on dairy farms
Get PDFThere is increasing emphasis on the need to reduce antimicrobial use (AMU) on dairy farms to reduce the emergence of resistant bacteria which could compromise animal health and impact human medicine. In addition to AMU, the role of farm management is an area of growing interest and represents an alternative route for possible interventions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of farm management practices and AMU on resistances of sentinel bacteria in bulk milk. Dairy farms from two, geographically separate locations within the British Isles were recruited as part of two study groups. Farm management data from study group 1 (n = 125) and study group 2 (n = 16) were collected by means of a face-to-face questionnaire with farmers carried out during farm visits. For study group 2, additional data on AMU was collated from veterinary medicine sales records. Sentinel bacterial species (Enterococcus spp. and E. coli), which have been reported to be of value in antimicrobial resistance (AMR) studies, were isolated from bulk tank milk to monitor antimicrobial susceptibilities by means of minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs). MIC data for both groups was used to generate an overall “score” for each farm. For both groups, this overall farm mean MIC was used as the outcome variable to evaluate the impact of farm management and AMU. This was achieved through use of elastic net modelling, a regularised regression method which also featured a bootstrapping procedure to produce robust models. Inference of models was based on covariate stabilities and bootstrapped P-values to identify farm management and AMU practices that have significant effects on MICs of sentinel bacteria. Practices which were found to be of importance with respect to Enterococcus spp. included management of slurry, external entry of livestock to the dairy herd, use of bedding materials and conditioners, cubicle cleaning routines and antibiotic practices, including use of β-lactams and fluoroquinolones. Practices deemed to be of importance for E. coli MICs included cubicle and bedding management practices, teat preparation routines at milking and the milking procedure itself. We conclude that a variety of routine farm management practices are associated with MICs of sentinel bacteria in bulk milk. Amendment of these practices offers additional possible routes of intervention, alongside alterations to AMU, to mitigate the emergence and dissemination of AMR on dairy farms
A “Good Life” for Dairy Cattle: Developing and Piloting a Framework for Assessing Positive Welfare Opportunities Based on Scientific Evidence and Farmer Expertise
Get PDFOn-farm welfare assessment tends to focus on minimising negative welfare, but providing
positive welfare is important in order to give animals a good life. This study developed a positive
welfare framework for dairy cows based on the existing scientific literature which has focused on
developing positive welfare indicators, and trialled a participatory approach with farmers; refining
the framework based on their recommendations, followed by a vet pilot phase on farm. The results
revealed that farmers and scientists agree on what constitutes “a good life” for dairy cattle. Farmers
value positive welfare because they value their cows’ quality of life, and want to be proud of their
work, improve their own wellbeing as well as receive business benefits. For each good life resource,
the proportion of farmers going above and beyond legislation ranged from 27 to 84%. Furthermore,
barriers to achieving positive welfare opportunities, including monetary and time costs, were not
apparently insurmountable if implementation costs were remunerated (by the government). However,
the intrinsic value in providing such opportunities also incentivises farmers. Overall, most farmers
appeared to support positive welfare assessment, with the largest proportion (50%) supporting
its use within existing farm assurance schemes, or to justify national and global marketing claims.
Collaborating with farmers to co-create policy is crucial to showcase and quantify the UK’s high
welfare standards, and to maximise engagement, relevance and uptake of animal welfare policy, to
ensure continuous improvement and leadership in the quality of lives for farm animals
Which interventions contribute most to the net effect of England's agri-environment schemes on pollination services?
No full textContext Agri-environment schemes support land management interventions that benefit biodiversity, environmental objectives, and other public goods. Process-based model simulations suggest the English scheme, as implemented in 2016, increased wild bee pollination services to pollinator-dependent crops and non-crop areas in a geographically heterogeneous manner. Objectives We investigated which interventions drove the scheme-wide predicted pollination service increase to oilseed rape, field beans and non-cropped areas. We determined whether the relative contribution of each intervention was related to floral and/or nesting resource quality of the intervention, area of uptake, or placement in the landscape. Methods We categorised interventions into functional groups and used linear regression to determine the relationship between predicted visitation rate increase and each category?s area within a 10 km grid tile. We compared the magnitude of the regression coefficients to measures of resource quality, area of uptake nationally, and placement to infer the factors underpinning this relationship. Results Hedgerow/woodland edge management had the largest positive effect on pollination service change, due to high resource quality. Fallow areas were also strong drivers, despite lower resource quality, implying effective placement. Floral margins had limited benefit due to later resource phenology. Interventions had stronger effects where there was less pre-existing semi-natural habitat. Conclusions Future schemes could support greater and more resilient pollination service in arable landscapes by promoting hedgerow/woodland edge management and fallow interventions. Including early-flowering species and increasing uptake would improve the effect of floral margins. Spatial targeting of interventions should consider landscape context and pairing complimentary interventions to maximise whole-scheme effectiveness
Natural field freeze-thaw process leads to different performances of soil amendments towards Cd immobilization and enrichment
Get PDFCadmium (Cd) soil pollution is a global issue affecting crop production and food safety. Remediation methods involving in-situ Cd immobilization have been developed, but their effectiveness can diminish under seasonal freeze-thaw aging processes. In this study, we assessed the field performance of four soil treatments at a seasonally frozen rice paddy. Amendments were applied at 2 wt%, including: (i) sepiolite (a 2:1 clay mineral), (ii) superphosphate, (iii) biochar (produced by rice husk at 500 °C for 2 h), and (iv) joint application of biochar & superphosphate (1:1 mixture by weight). Immobilization performance was determined as DTPA extractable Cd and plant uptake in various organs. Overall, the four treatments significantly reduced Cd bioavailability during the plant growth period, with average DTPA-extractable concentrations decreasing by 43%, 34%, 39% and 45% for the four treatments, respectively, relative to untreated soil (control). Rice grain yields from the superphosphate and the joint application treatments increased by 8.0% and 11.8%, respectively, and Cd accumulation within those grains reduced by 14.3% and 48.9%, respectively. During the winter non-growth period, freeze-thaw aging facilitated Cd mobilization, with DTPA-extractable Cd increasing by 16.9% in the control soil, relative to the initial period. However, this reduced to 10.9%, 14.4%, 7.6% and 5.0%, for the sepiolite, superphosphate, biochar and joint application treatments, respectively. Overall, the joint application of biochar and superphosphate provided the best performance in terms of both long-term Cd immobilization and rice production enhancement, offering a green remediation option for risk management at Cd contaminated rice paddies in seasonally frozen regions
Eastern Africa and the Early Indian Ocean: Understanding Mobility in a Globalising World
No full textThis paper situates Eastern Africa in the early maritime trade of the Indian Ocean, reviewing evidence for connections from Egypt and Red Sea, the Gulf, and Southeast Asia from prehistory to the Islamic Period. The region played a pivotal role in developing global networks, but we argue that it has become the “forgotten south” in an era of emerging empires. One reason for this is a lack of understanding of maritime mobility around the rim of the Indian Ocean, often undertaken by small scale or specialist groups, including sea nomads. These groups are characterised as marginalised and victimised during globalisation, yet dualising into categories—such as “exploiter” and “exploiting”—oversimplifies what was almost certainly in reality a complex array of roles and activities, both in the context of East Africa and elsewhere around the Indian Ocean. Through modern scientific-based excavation and analysis, we can now begin to more fully understand these interactions
Inconsistent effects of agricultural practices on soil fungal communities across 12 European long-term experiments
Get PDFCropping practices have a great potential to improve soil quality through changes in soil biota. Yet the effects of these soil-improving cropping systems on soil fungal communities are not well known. Here, we analysed soil fungal communities using standardized measurements in 12 long-term experiments and 20 agricultural treatments across Europe. We were interested in whether the same practices (i.e., tillage, fertilization, organic amendments and cover crops) applied across different sites have predictable and repeatable effects on soil fungal communities and guilds. The fungal communities were very variable across sites located in different soil types and climatic regions. The arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) were the fungal guild with most unique species in individual sites, whereas plant pathogenic fungi were most shared between the sites. The fungal communities responded to the cropping practices differently in different sites and only fertilization showed a consistent effect on AMF and plant pathogenic fungi, whereas the responses to tillage, cover crops and organic amendments were site, soil and crop-species specific. We further show that the crop yield is negatively affected by cropping practices aimed at improving soil health. Yet, we show that these practices have the potential to change the fungal communities and that change in plant pathogenic fungi and in AMF is linked to the yield. We further link the soil fungal community and guilds to soil abiotic characteristics and reveal that especially Mn, K, Mg and pH affect the composition of fungi across sites. In summary, we show that fungal communities vary considerably between sites and that there are no clear directional responses in fungi or fungal guilds across sites to soil-improving cropping systems, but that the responses vary based on soil abiotic conditions, crop type and climatic conditions
Foodomics: Advances in product testing in agri-food supply chains
Get PDFThis chapter is written to describe the concept of product testing in agri-food supply chains and the methods that are being developed to identify instances of product non-conformance with either regulatory requirements, market requirements or both. The emergence of a range of new technologies provides opportunity to build on existing product testing protocols and offer complementary alternative and rapid testing of food which can provide assurance that food products are consistently what they are purported to be. Microbiological contamination will not be considered in this chapter. Effective and targeted product testing also acts as a potential deterrent against food safety incidents and food fraud. The chapter also introduces the term “foodomics” and what this means in terms of smart agri-food supply chains