Search results for "Livestock"
showing 10 items of 86 documents
The genetics of phenotypic plasticity in livestock in the era of climate change: a review
2020
Climate change has the potential to adversely affect the health of livestock, with consequences to animal welfare, greenhouse gas emissions, productivity, human health and livelihoods. Phenotypic plasticity is the ability of a genotype to produce different phenotypes, depending on environmental, biotic or abiotic conditions; it is a factor influencing and modifying the genes of animal and plant organisms, to adaptation to climate change. Among the various climate variables, heat stress has been reported to be the most detrimental factor to the economy of the livestock industry. There are a number of candidate genes that are associated with adaptation of ruminants, monogastric and poultry to…
Case Study of Potential Production of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) from Livestock Wastes in Mediterranean Islands
2017
The aim of this work is to evaluate the potential production of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) from livestock wastes that are commonly found on Mediterranean islands, by using the island of Malta as a case study. Organic wastes in the form of livestock manure and slurry, as well as other by-products originating from the food transformation industry in the making of alcoholic beverages and the processing of olives, tomatoes and other streams, if mixed in such a way to achieve a correct C/N ratio, can be subjected to anaerobic co-digestion for the production of biogas and digestate. Biogas can be further transformed into biomethane, a fuel that can be used to power surface transportation and …
Diversity and zoonotic potential of rotaviruses in swine and cattle across Europe.
2011
Group A rotaviruses can infect both humans and animals. Individual rotavirus strains can occasionally cross species barriers and might hereby contribute to the emergence of new genotypes in heterologous hosts. The incidence and impact of zoonotic rotavirus are not well defined, and one reason for this is a lack of data about strains circulating in suspected reservoir animal hosts. In this study we report the incidence, genetic diversity, and molecular epidemiology of rotaviruses detected in domestic cattle and swine in 6 European countries. From 2003 to 2007, 1101 and more than 2000 faecal specimens were collected from swine and cattle, both healthy and diarrhoeic, and tested for rotaviruse…
Review of group A rotavirus strains reported in swine and cattle
2013
Group A rotavirus (RVA) infections cause severe economic losses in intensively reared livestock animals, particularly in herds of swine and cattle. RVA strains are antigenically heterogeneous, and are classified in multiple G and P types defined by the two outer capsid proteins, VP7 and VP4, respectively. This study summarizes published literature on the genetic and antigenic diversity of porcine and bovine RVA strains published over the last 3 decades. The single most prevalent genotype combination among porcine RVA strains was G5P[7], whereas the predominant genotype combination among bovine RVA strains was G6P[5], although spatiotemporal differences in RVA strain distribution were observ…
Qualitative analysis of goat and sheep production data using self-organizing maps
2009
The aim of this study was to analyse the relationship between different small ruminant livestock production systems with different levels of specialization. The analysis is carried out by using the self-organizing map. This tool allows high-dimensional input spaces to be mapped into much lower-dimensional spaces, thus making it much more straightforward to understand any set of data. These representations enable the visual extraction of qualitative relationships among variables (visual data mining), converting the data to maps. The data used in this study were obtained from surveys completed by farmers who are principally dedicated to goat and sheep production. With the self-organizing map …
Distribution and characteristics of Listeria monocytogenes isolates from surface waters of the South Nation River Watershed, Ontario, Canada
2007
ABSTRACT Listeria monocytogenes is a facultative intracellular pathogen thought to be widely distributed in the environment. We investigated the prevalence and characteristics of L. monocytogenes isolates from surface waters derived from catchments within the South Nation River watershed (Ontario, Canada). This watershed is dominated by urban and rural development, livestock and crop production, and wildlife habitats. From June to November 2005, a total of 314 surface water samples were collected biweekly from 22 discrete sampling sites characterized by various upstream land uses. Presumptive Listeria spp. were isolated using a selective enrichment and isolation procedure, and 75 L. monocyt…
Cellulolytic activity in Aspergillus spp. contaminating livestock feeds and raw materials
2020
The contamination by Aspergillus spp. have become a global concern in food and feedstuffs and can lead to a reduction in yield and quality of agricultural products with significant economic losses. Most species of Aspergillus produce cellulose-degrading enzymes and some of them also have mycotoxigenic activity. This study aimed i) to evaluate the Aspergillus contamination in feeds (16) and row materials (32) collected in Sicily; ii) to isolate and identify fungi belonging to the genus Aspergillus and iii) to analyze their ability to produce cellulolytic enzymes. Aspergillus spp. contamination was evaluated on PDA using serial ten-fold dilution and spread plate technique (Mirabile et al., 20…
Could cattle ranching and soybean cultivation be sustainable? A systematic review and a meta-analysis for the Amazon
2021
Abstract: Tropical forests are being destroyed to make space for agricultural activities with the assumption that they are required to feed the growing global population. Consequently, more sustainable practices are needed to guarantee food security and environmental protection of highly threatened natural biodiversity hotspots like the Amazon rainforest. Cattle ranching and soybean cultivation are by far the greater drivers of land use change and deforestation in the Amazon region. We performed a systematic review of papers related to these two main drivers and a meta-analysis on the effects of sustainable practices on different ecosystem services. The results of the review highlight a lar…
The beginning of the Neolithic in Southern Italy and Sicily
2018
Abstract The process of Neolithization of Southern Italy and Sicily covers about 500 years (6200–5700 cal BC) and involves two cultural horizons: Archaic Impressed Ware or “Impresse Arcaiche” and Advanced Impressed Ware or “Impresse Evolute”. In Southern Italy the Neolithic peopling from the East is characterized by a “package” of plenty domesticated plants and livestock; in Sicily the adoption of the new economical system is apparently more slow and with no evidences of ruptures between the Mesolithic groups and first farmers. In this paper we present the chronological and cultural framework of the sixth millennium BC within the area of investigation, with an up-to-date bibliography about …
Rapid differentiation between livestock-associated and livestock-independent Staphylococcus aureus CC398 clades.
2013
Staphylococcus aureus clonal complex 398 (CC398) isolates cluster into two distinct phylogenetic clades based on single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) revealing a basal human clade and a more derived livestock clade. The scn and tet(M) genes are strongly associated with the human and the livestock clade, respectively, due to loss and acquisition of mobile genetic elements. We present canonical single-nucleotide polymorphism (canSNP) assays that differentiate the two major host-associated S. aureus CC398 clades and a duplex PCR assay for detection of scn and tet (M). The canSNP assays correctly placed 88 S. aureus CC398 isolates from a reference collection into the human and livestock clade…