The AFBI Repository
Not a member yet
442 research outputs found
Sort by
Determinants of adoption of multiple sustainable agricultural practices among smallholder farmers in Nigeria
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 28 October 2020; Published online - 3 November 2020.Despite the important roles of Sustainable Agricultural Practices (SAPs) in improving productivity,
welfare, and food security of farming households, the adoption rates of SAPs have been perceived to be
generally low, especially in developing countries. Using cross-sectional data collected from the 2015
Nigeria General Household Survey, this study examines the factors influencing the adoption of multiple
SAPs, while also considering the drivers of the intensity of adoption of these practices. The methods of
data analysis are based on the Multivariate probit and the Ordered probit models. The SAPs considered
include improved seeds, inorganic fertilizer, mixed-cropping techniques, and organic manure. The
empirical results show that farmers’ adoption of different SAPs and their intensity of use depend
significantly on factors such as the age of household head, gender, education, household size, access to
extension services, and household wealth status. Our findings imply that policymakers and agricultural
development agencies should seek to maintain or increase household asset bases, and encourage both
formal and informal training programme among farming households to facilitate the adoption of SAPs
The effect of natural antimicrobials against Campylobacter spp. and its similarities to Salmonella spp, Listeria spp., Escherichia coli, Vibrio spp., Clostridium spp. and Staphylococcus spp.
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 5 November 2020; Published online - 13 November 2020The increased resistance of campylobacters to antibiotics required the identification and isolation of novel antimicrobials able to inhibit its virulence, to cause less or no resistance and display no host toxicity. Acquiring all this knowledge was only possible through a better understanding of their antibacterial potency and of the biological mechanisms involved attenuating the bacterial virulence factors. This review describes the most recent developments in the area by looking at the new antimicrobial interventions aiming to combat the transmission and colonisation of Campylobacter spp. and its commonalities with other pathogenic bacteria. In this review we are also looking into the most recent developments, both in vitro and in vivo, focusing on the biological mechanisms by which natural antimicrobials express their anti-pathogenic effect. Following this extensive literature search we conclude that further studies are essential to elucidate the efficiency of plant, animal, bacteria and marine-derived antimicrobials as well as their role as promising alternatives to antibiotics
The Effect of Frequency of Fresh Pasture Allocation on Pasture Utilisation and the Performance of High Yielding Dairy Cows
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 19 November 2020; Published - 21 November 2020.Pasture allocation frequency (PAF) can influence pasture availability and grazing behaviour,
which subsequently may impact on animal performance. Limited research to-date has investigated
grazing management methods to improve the performance of high production dairy cows whilst
also achieving high grass utilisation rates. This study evaluated the e ect of three di erent PAF’s
(12, 24 and 36 h) on pasture utilisation, the performance of high yielding dairy cows and the interaction
with parity. The experiment included two 60-day periods, 90 spring calving dairy cows (27 primiparous
animals) in period one and 87 (24 primiparous animals) in period two. The average pre-grazing sward
height (11.4 cm) was similar for all treatments in both periods. In period one, pasture utilisation
rate was significantly higher (8%) in the 36 h compared to the 12 h treatment. In period two,
milk energy output was significantly greater for primiparous animals in the 36 h treatment relative to
the other treatments.This research was funded by AgrisearchNI
Preventing and mitigating farmed bivalve disease: a Northern Ireland case study
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 13 August 2020; Published online - 26 August 2020.Shellfish production forms a large proportion of marine aquaculture production in
Northern Ireland (NI). Diseases represent a serious threat to the maintenance and
growth of shellfish cultivation with severe consequences to production output and
profitability. In Northern Ireland, production generally benefits from a good
health status with the absence of notifiable diseases, except for localised cases
of Bonamia ostreae, Marteilia refringens and ostreid herpes virus. In this paper,
we qualitatively explore that the prevalence, risk, impact, mitigation and experience
shellfish farmers in this region have in relation to disease. Sixteen semistructured
interviews were conducted with stakeholders within the sector. The
interviews were transcribed verbatim, and Nvivo 12 was used to facilitate an
inductive thematic analysis. Our results highlighted that the industry has varying
attitudes and experiences with disease. At present-day temperatures, disease is not
an issue and this provides vast market opportunities for the region. However,
disease outbreaks have led to detrimental consequences to financial income,
production output and reputation in the past, whilst control and mitigation remain
reactive. It is imperative proactive disease prevention and control that are
employed and enforced to sustain NI’s reputation as a healthy shellfish region,
particularly under increasing global temperatures and intensified production systems.
A cultural shift to disease appreciation, risk analysis and surveillance
through research, education, training and collaboration is essential. This study
highlights the importance of providing a bottom-up communication platform with
the stakeholders directly involved in shellfish culture and management, the value
of cross sector engagement and the need to improve knowledge transfer between
science the sector.The authors received financial support provided by Horizon 2020 project VIVALDI
(Scientific basis and tools for preventing and mitigating farmed mollusc diseases; grant agreement 678589) of the
European Commission and by the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) for the
post-graduate studentship to conduct Ph.D. research on Aquaculture Security
Screening method for the detection of residues of amphenicol antibiotics in bovine milk by optical biosensor
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 16 July 2020; Published online - 10 September 2020.An immunobiosensor assay was developed for multi-residue screening in bovine milk of the parent
amphenicols, thiamphenicol and florfenicol, along with the metabolite florfenicol amine.
A polyclonal antibody raised in a rabbit after immunisation with a florfenicol amine-protein
conjugate was employed in the assay. Milk samples were subjected to acetonitrile extraction,
reconstituted in buffer and diluted prior to biosensor analysis. Validation data obtained from the
analysis of fortified samples has shown that the method has a detection capability of less than
0.25 μg kg−1 for florfenicol and less than 0.5 μg kg−1 for florfenicol amine and thiamphenicol. The
cross-reactivity profile and validation data for the detection of these amphenicols is presented
together with results obtained following the analysis of florfenicol incurred samples using the
developed screening method along with a comparison of results obtained from the analysis of the
same incurred samples using an MRM3 UPLC-MS/MS confirmatory method. Results are also presented
obtained from the analysis of samples from both treated and non-treated animals which
were co-housed and which show the potential for cross-contamination
Altitude influences microbial diversity and herbage fermentation in the rumen of yaks
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 27 November 2020; Published online - 4 December 2020Background: Rumen microbiota in ruminants are vital for sustaining good rumen ecology, health, and productivity.
Currently, limited information is available regarding the response of yaks (Bos grunniens) to fluctuating
environments, especially the rumen microbiome. To address this, we investigated the diet, rumen bacterial
community, and volatile fatty acids (VFA) of rumen fluid of yaks raised in the great Qinghai-Tibet plateau (QTP) at
2800 (low altitude, L), 3700 (middle altitude, M), and 4700 m (high altitude, H) above sea level.
Results: The results showed that despite a partial diet overlap, H yaks harbored higher fibrous fractious contents
than the M and L grazing yaks. Bacteria including Christensenellaceae_R-7_group, Ruminococcus_1, Romboutsia,
Alloprevotella, Eubacterium coprostanoligenes, Clostridium, Streptococcus, and Treponema were found to be enriched
in the rumen of yaks grazing at H. They also showed higher rumen microbial diversity and total VFA concentrations
than those shown by yaks at M and L. Principal coordinates analysis (PCoA) on weighted UniFrac distances revealed
that the bacterial community structure of rumen differed between the three altitudes. Moreover, Tax4fun
metagenome estimation revealed that microbial genes associated with energy requirement and carbohydrate
metabolic fate were overexpressed in the rumen microbiota of H yaks.
Conclusions: Collectively, our results revealed that H yaks had a stronger herbage fermenting ability via rumen
microbial fermentation. Their enhanced ability of utilizing herbage may be partly owing to a microbiota adaptation
for more energy requirements in the harsh H environment, such as lower temperature and the risk of hypoxia.This research was supported by grants from the Program for Strategic Priority Research Program of Chinese Academy of Sciences (XDA20100102), the Second Tibetan Plateau Scientific Expedition and Research: Grassland Ecosystem and Ecological Animal Husbandry (2019QZKK0302), and Innovative Research Team of Ministry of Education (IRT_17R50). The funding bodies had no role in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript
Opinion dynamics of social learning with a conflicting source
Get PDFPublication history: Published online - 27 October 2020.The way in which agents are influenced by the truth and/or a conflicting source can have
a significant effect on the extent to which social learning is successful. We investigate
these influences via several variations of the Hegselmann–Krause model of opinion
dynamics. First, we compare two ways of modelling the influence of truth in the absence
of a conflicting source and find that in a model where access to the truth is more
restricted, increasing the proportion of truth seekers in the society has little effect
on convergence to the truth. Second, we investigate the same models of truth in the
presence of a conflicting source, which could represent the opinions of a radical group,
opinion leader or media source. The results show that a consensus on the truth can be
reached in certain cases in both models, but also that in a wide range of cases both
models give rise to the same partition of the society into truth seekers and non-truth
seekers
VectorNet Data Series 3: Culicoides Abundance Distribution Models for Europe and Surrounding Regions
Get PDFPublication history: Published online - 16 SeptemberIntroduction/Study Description
VectorNet [1] is a joint initiative of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), which started in May 2014. The project supports the collection of distribution data on tick, sandfly, mosquito and Culicoides midge vectors, related to both animal and human health.
While VectorNet and its predecessor VBORNET [2] have made substantial progress collating European data on key vector species, the coverage is still incomplete. The ‘Gap Analysis’ work within these projects aims to identify those areas of likely species distribution within the project extent where there are no current data. These estimates were produced throughout the project and were intended to meet two objectives: firstly to help direct extensive VectorNet sampling efforts in the field, and secondly to provide first indications of the current likely extent and distribution of key vector species within continental Europe and its surrounding regions. The models provided here are the latest iteration using the distribution data available at the end of 2018. It is hoped that publishing these models will aid experts to engage the more extensive research and professional community in the drive to expand and validate the VectorNet database, and will also contribute to the veterinary and public health planning for Europe and its neighbouring countries. Readers are encouraged to contact the authors or visit the VectorNet website [1] for further details of the project, and to view distribution maps of arthropod disease vectors of midges, ticks, mosquitos, and sandflies.
For each model, abundance maps with a resolution of 1 km were generated using both Boosted regression trees and Random Forest spatial modelling techniques available through the VECMAP [3] system. The outputs from each technique were ensembled to create a ‘consensus’ output of Ln Maximum Annual number per trap per day.This work was carried out with support from the VectorNet framework contract OC/EFSA/AHAW/2013/02-FWC1 funded by the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) and the European Food Safety Agency (EFSA) and the PALE-Blu H2020 Project ID: 727393
Impact of endophyte inoculation on the morphological identity of cultivars of Lolium perenne (L) and Festuca arundinacea (Schreb.)
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 9 April 2020; Published online - 5 May 2020Grass endophytes have been shown to confer enhanced environmental resilience to symbiont cultivars with reports of modified growth. If inoculating with an endophyte (E+) made an accession morphologically distinct from its registered endophyte free (E−) accession, there could be protection and ownership issues for testing authorities and breeders. This study investigated if, in official Plant Breeders Rights (PBR) field trials, the morphological characteristics of E+and E− accessions of perennial ryegrass and tall fescue cultivars were sufficiently modified to designate them as mutually distinct and also distinct from their definitive accessions (Def), held by the testing authorities. Testing perennial ryegrass on 17 characters at 2 sites generated 48,960 observations and for tall fescue on 9 characters at 1 site, 12,960 observations (each for 3 accessions of 4 cultivars × 60 plants × 2 growing cycles). Distinctness required a p < 0.01 difference in a single character from the combined over years analysis (COYD). A few significant differences were recorded between E− and E+accessions. Cultivar Carn E+ was smaller than Carn E− for Infloresence Length (p < 0.01) in both years but COYD analysis (p < 0.05) was insufficient to declare distinctiveness. Overall, the number of observed differences between E−/E+ accessions was less or similar to the number expected purely by chance. In contrast, comparisons between Def and E− or E+ accessions showed a number of significant differences that were substantially more numerous than expected by chance. These results showed no conclusive evidence of endophyte inclusion creating false PBR distinctions but unexpectedly, several E− and E+ accessions were distinguished from their official definitive stock.This study was jointly funded by the EU Community Plant Variety Office, Angers, France and Euroseeds, Brussels, Belgium
Between- and within-herd variation in blood and milk biomarkers in Holstein cows in early lactation
Get PDFPublication history: Accepted - 26 September 2019; Published online - 7 November 2019Both blood- and milk-based biomarkers have been analysed for decades in research settings, although often only in one herd, and without focus on the variation in the biomarkers that are specifically related to herd or diet. Biomarkers can be used to detect physiological imbalance and disease risk and may have a role in precision livestock farming (PLF). For use in PLF, it is important to quantify normal variation in specific biomarkers and the source of this variation. The objective of this study was to estimate the between- and within-herd variation in a number of blood metabolites (β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), non-esterified fatty acids, glucose and serum IGF-1), milk metabolites (free glucose, glucose-6-phosphate, urea, isocitrate, BHB and uric acid), milk enzymes (lactate dehydrogenase and N-acetyl-β-D-glucosaminidase (NAGase)) and composite indicators for metabolic imbalances (Physiological Imbalance-index and energy balance), to help facilitate their adoption within PLF. Blood and milk were sampled from 234 Holstein dairy cows from 6 experimental herds, each in a different European country, and offered a total of 10 different diets. Blood was sampled on 2 occasions at approximately 14 days-in-milk (DIM) and 35 DIM. Milk samples were collected twice weekly (in total 2750 samples) from DIM 1 to 50. Multilevel random regression models were used to estimate the variance components and to calculate the intraclass correlations (ICCs). The ICCs for the milk metabolites, when adjusted for parity and DIM at sampling, demonstrated that between 12% (glucose-6-phosphate) and 46% (urea) of the variation in the metabolites’ levels could be associated with the herd-diet combination. Intraclass Correlations related to the herd-diet combination were generally higher for blood metabolites, from 17% (cholesterol) to approximately 46% (BHB and urea). The high ICCs for urea suggest that this biomarker can be used for monitoring on herd level. The low variance within cow for NAGase indicates that few samples would be needed to describe the status and potentially a general reference value could be used. The low ICC for most of the biomarkers and larger within cow variation emphasises that multiple samples would be needed - most likely on the individual cows - for making the biomarkers useful for monitoring. The majority of biomarkers were influenced by parity and DIM which indicate that these should be accounted for if the biomarker should be used for monitoring.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613689.
Additional funding was provided by the respective national research agencies and the Belgian authors thank the European Union’s INTERREG NWE program and the Ministry of Agriculture of Walloon Region of Belgium (Service Public de Wallonie Agriculture) for their financial support through the OptiMIR and the HappyMoo projects