The Apelinergic System Immuno-Detection in the Abomasum and Duodenum of Sheep Grazing on Semi-Natural Pasture.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Palmioli E
PROVIDER: S-EPMC8614516 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
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Project description:Semi-natural dry grassland sites are of great importance for nature conservation because they support high species diversity and the abundance of "Red-List" species. Grazing has proved to be a successful management tool in terms of maintenance and restoration of biodiversity. For a deeper understanding of the effects of different grazers on species biodiversity in dry grasslands, it is necessary to study the long-term effects of major changes in grazing management. In a semi-natural dry grassland habitat, which was formerly grazed by cattle, we investigated the changes in plant species composition due to long term grazing by sheep and goats. Specifically we asked: a) How does long-term grazing by sheep and goats change the composition of all plant species and particularly those that are on the Red-List? Are changes caused mainly by species turnover? b) How does long-term grazing by sheep and goats influence the fertility and acidity of the soil? To address these questions, we compared the composition and diversity of plants as well deriving Ellenberg indicator values of the species. Long-term grazing by sheep and goats subsequent to a year-round cattle grazing changed the plant species composition of the dry grasslands resulting in a high species turnover rate. It did not, however, lead to an increase in plant species diversity even though Red-List species were considerably more abundant in 2013. Overall, the grazing regime studied positively influenced vegetation composition. The effects on local species composition due to species turnover might further be influenced by local factors like soil nitrogen availability.
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Project description:Eutrophication through atmospheric nutrient deposition is threatening the biodiversity of semi-natural habitats characterized by low nutrient availability. Accordingly, local management measures aiming at open habitat conservation need to maintain habitat-specific nutrient conditions despite atmospheric inputs. Grazing by wild herbivores, such as red deer (Cervus elaphus), has been proposed as an alternative to mechanical or livestock-based measures for preserving open habitats. The role of red deer for nutrient dynamics in protected open habitat types, however, is yet unclear. Therefore, we collected data on vegetation productivity, forage removal, quantity of red deer dung and nutrient concentrations in vegetation and dung from permanent plots in heathlands and grasslands (eight plots à 225 m2 per habitat type) on a military training area inhabited by a large population of free-ranging red deer over one year. The annual nutrient export of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) by red deer grazing was higher than the nutrient import through red deer excreta, resulting in an average net nutrient removal of 14 and 30 kg N ha-1 a-1 and 1.1 and 3.3 kg P ha-1 a-1 in heathlands and grasslands, respectively. Even when considering approximate local atmospheric deposition values, net nutrient depletion due to red deer grazing seemed very likely, notably in grasslands. Demonstrating that grazing by wild red deer can mitigate the effects of atmospheric nutrient deposition in semi-natural open habitats similarly to extensive livestock grazing, our results support the idea that red deer are suitable grazing animals for open habitat conservation.
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Project description:Parasitic nematodes of ovine abomasum are of economic and hygienic importance throughout the world and Iran. This study was aimed to evaluate molecular identity and species diversity of parasitic nematodes in the abomasum of slaughtered sheep in Ilam, Iran. In this study, a total number of 240 of abomasa were randomly collected from the slaughtered sheep at industrial slaughterhouses in Ilam in all seasons between 2017 and 2018. The abomasum content and abomasal mucosa were removed and washed. The collected nematodes were morphologically identified. The genomic DNA was extracted and a 300 bp-fragment-length from internal transcribed spacer 2 ribosomal ribonucleic acid (ITS2-rRNA) gene was amplified. Overall prevalence was 66.70% (160/240). Five species of four genera of nematodes including Marshallagia marshalli (43.70%), Ostertagia circumcincta (15.50%), Parabronema skrjabini (5.00%), M. occidentalis (2.50%), and Haemonchus contortus (0.04%) were identified. Ostertagia circumcincta and H. contortus were found to be different in two nucleotides. There was no nucleotide difference between M. marshalli and M. occidentalis. This study revealed a significant prevalence of parasitic nematodes in sheep abomasum and species diversity of Trichostrongylid nematodes in the region.
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Project description:Horse grazing may benefit biodiversity, but the impact of year-round grazing on nutrient dynamics has not been evaluated previously. This study compared pasture quality in a forest-grassland landscape grazed year-round by horses with that in exclosed mown areas. Twelve Gotlandsruss stallions were kept without supplementary feeding in three enclosures (~0.35 horse/ha) outside Uppsala, Sweden, from May 2014 to September 2016. Each enclosure contained three mown exclosures, where grass sward samples were collected monthly and analyzed for chemical composition and vegetation density. Fecal grab samples were collected and analyzed for crude protein (CP) and organic matter (OM) content. There were no differences in exclosure pasture energy or CP content between enclosures (p > 0.05). In grazed areas, there were differences in grass energy and CP content (p > 0.05) between enclosures. During the three summers studied, energy and CP content increased in the enclosures, but decreased in the exclosures. By the end, biomass content/ha was greater in the enclosures than in the exclosures. Fecal OM and CP content showed moderate to strong correlations with pasture nutrient content (r = 0.3-0.8, p < 0.05). Thus, in contrast to monthly mowing, horse grazing diversified pasture chemical composition and increased its nutritive value.
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Project description:BackgroundGrasses are hyper-accumulators of silicon (Si) and often up-regulate Si following herbivory. Positive correlations exist between Si and plant water content, yet the extent to which Si uptake responses can be mediated by changes in soil water availability has rarely been studied and never, to our knowledge, under field conditions. We used field-based rain-exclusion shelters to investigate how simulated grazing (shoot clipping) and altered rainfall patterns (drought and elevated precipitation, representing 50% and 150% of ambient precipitation levels, respectively) affected initial patterns of root- and shoot-Si uptake in a native Australian grass (Microlaena stipoides) in Si-supplemented and untreated soils.ResultsSi supplementation increased soil water retention under ambient and elevated precipitation but not under drought, although this had little effect on Si uptake and growth (tiller numbers or root biomass) of M. stipoides. Changes in rainfall patterns and clipping had strong individual effects on plant growth and Si uptake and storage, whereby clipping increased Si uptake by M. stipoides under all rainfall treatments but to the greatest extent under elevated precipitation. Moreover, above-ground-below-ground Si distribution only changed following elevated precipitation by decreasing the ratio of root:shoot Si concentrations.ConclusionsResults highlight the importance of soil water availability for Si uptake and suggest a role for both active and passive Si transport mechanisms. Such manipulative field studies may provide a more realistic insight into how grasses initially respond to herbivory in terms of Si-based defence under different environmental conditions.
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Project description:The complex microbiota that resides within the rumen is responsible for the break-down of plant fibre. The bacteria that attach to ingested plant matter within the rumen are thought to be responsible for initial fibre degradation. Most studies examining the ecology of this important microbiome only offer a 'snapshot' in time. We monitored the diversity of rumen bacteria in four New Zealand dairy cows, grazing a rye-grass and clover pasture over five consecutive seasons, using high throughput pyrosequencing of bacterial 16S rRNA genes. We chose to focus on the digesta-adherent bacterial community to learn more about the stability of this community over time. 16S rRNA gene sequencing showed a high level of bacterial diversity, totalling 1539 operational taxonomic units (OTUs, grouped at 96% sequence similarity) across all samples, and ranging from 653 to 926 OTUs per individual sample. The nutritive composition of the pasture changed with the seasons as did the production phase of the animals. Sequence analysis showed that, overall, the bacterial communities were broadly similar between the individual animals. The adherent bacterial community was strongly dominated by members of Firmicutes (82.1%), followed by Bacteroidetes (11.8%). This community differed between the seasons, returning to close to that observed in the same season one year later. These seasonal differences were only small, but were statistically significant (p < 0.001), and were probably due to the seasonal differences in the diet. These results demonstrate a general invariability of the ruminal bacterial community structure in these grazing dairy cattle.
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Project description:Extensively grazed semi-natural grasslands contribute to a wide range of ecosystem services, including the preservation of biodiversity and provision of livestock feed. Depending on the grazing intensity, cattle are set in motion to fulfill their nutritional needs. In this way, they influence the vegetation composition, while at the same time the foraging behavior is affected by the vegetation. A better understanding of the relationship between grazing intensity and animal behavior is an essential component for strategies to improve the value of semi-natural grasslands and for gaining insights for the development of smart farming technologies. The long-term cattle grazing experiment "FORBIOBEN" with its replicated three paddock-scale (1 ha) grazing intensities [moderate (M), lenient (L), very lenient (VL)] was used to investigate the movement behavior of suckler cows during four grazing periods between 2017 and 2020. For this, pregnant suckler cows (Fleckvieh) were equipped with Vectronics GPS Plus (VECTRONIC Aerospace GmbH, Berlin) collars, which recorded the position of the animals at defined time intervals. The main outcomes were that with an increase in the grazing intensity, the herbage on offer declined and, consequently the herbage allowance. However, the spatial heterogeneity of the herbage on offer decreased with increasing grazing intensity (M < VL) which means that the amount of available herbage was lower but more evenly distributed under moderate grazing. Further, there was a tendency that the moderate grazing intensity was associated with the highest effort of walking compared to lenient and very lenient grazing in three out of four grazing periods. We found a strong (p < 0.001) negative correlation among walking distance vs. herbage variability across all treatments × periods. Consequently, the grazing intensity itself was not a good predictor of walking distances which were mainly a result of the available herbage, its distribution or heterogeneity. Future smart farming livestock management systems will, therefore, likely require interfaces with the grassland growth rates and heterogeneity benchmarks if decisions based on livestock movement should be reliable.
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Project description:Sheep are the most bred species in the Central Italy Apennine using the natural pastures as a trophic resource and grazing activity is fundamental to maintain the grassland biodiversity: this goal can be reached only ensuring an economical sustainability to the farmers. This study aimed to investigate the apelin/apelin receptor system in ovine mammary gland and to evaluate the differences induced by food supplementation, in order to shed light on this system function. A flock of 15 Comisana x Appenninica adult dry ewes were free to graze from June until pasture maximum flowering (MxF). From this period to pasture maximum dryness (MxD), in addition to grazing, the experimental group (Exp) was supplemented with 600 g/day/head of cereals. Apelin and apelin receptor were assessed by Real-Time PCR and immunohistochemistry on the mammary glands of subjects pertaining to MxF, MxD and Exp groups. They were detected in alveolar and ductal epithelial cells. The pasture maximum flowering group showed significant differences in apelin expression compared with experimental and MxD groups. Apelin receptor expression significantly differed among the three groups. The reduced apelin receptor expression and immunoreactivity levels during parenchyma involution enables us to hypothesize that apelin receptor plays a modulating role in the system control.
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Project description:Land-use and land-cover change associated with agriculture is one of the main drivers of biodiversity loss. In heavily modified agricultural landscapes, grazing lands may be the only areas that can provide essential resources for native grassland species. Management decisions, such as choice of livestock species, affect the extent to which grazing lands provide suitable habitat for native species such as pollinators.Our study compared how sheep versus cattle herbivory affected floral resources and butterfly abundance across low-diversity, former Conservation Reserve Program (CRP) pastures managed with patch-burn grazing.Across all years (2017-2019), flowering species richness and abundance were significantly higher in cattle pastures than sheep pastures. On average, we recorded 6.9 flowering species/transect in cattle pastures and 3.8 flowering species/transect in sheep pastures. The average floral abundance per transect was 1278 stems/transect in cattle pastures and 116 stems/transect in pastures grazed by sheep.Similarly, we observed higher butterfly species richness, diversity, and abundance in cattle than in sheep pastures. In cattle pastures, we observed an average of 75 butterflies and 6.75 species per transect, compared with an average of 52 butterflies and 3.37 species per transect in sheep pastures. However, the butterfly community composition did not significantly differ between grazing treatments likely because agricultural-tolerant, habitat generalists comprised the majority of the butterfly community. Five generalist butterflies comprised 92.3% of observations; Colias philodice was the most abundant (61% of observations). Speyeria idalia and Danaus plexippus, two butterflies of conservation concern, comprised less than 0.5% of butterfly observations.Our results, which are among the first attempt quantifying butterfly use of post-CRP fields grazed by livestock, show that increased precipitation and cattle grazing promoted higher forb abundance and richness. However, additional interventions may be needed to enhance floral resources to sustain and improve pollinator diversity in these landscapes.
| S-EPMC8809440 | biostudies-literature
Project description:ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to investigate the effect of 4-month intensive feeding on the meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor, and growth performance of grazing Hulunbuir sheep (HBS).MethodsThe HBS were selected 4-months after birth in a pasture rearing system as the experimental animals (n = 44, female, average body weight 23.8±2.2 kg) then divided equally into pasture-based grazing fattening (PAS) and concentrate-included intensive fattening (CON) groups for another 4-month finishing. When finished fattening, all animals were slaughtered to collect musculus longissimus dorsi subcutaneous adipose tissue and to investigate the influences on meat quality, fatty acid profile, flavor and growth performance.ResultsThe results showed lambs in CON group got significantly higher live weight, hot carcass weight, and dressing percentage. The CON group had significantly higher value of redness (a*), lightness (L*) and water holding capacity (p<0.05), significantly lower value of Warner-Bratzler shear force than the PAS group (p<0.05). The subcutaneous fat from CON group lambs demonstrated a significantly higher content of C18:1 and C18:2 (p<0.05), but lower C14:0 and C16:0, indicating an increased degree of unsaturated fatty acid. The content of 4-methyloctanoic acid, 4-ethyloctanoic acid and 4-methylnonanoic acid had increased 2 to 4 times, representing a more intense odor in the CON group. However, the values were still lower than most sheep breeds reported, indicating the indoor feeding system could not fundamentally deteriorate the excellent meat characteristic of HBS.ConclusionIt was evident that lambs in CON group exhibited a better meat production performance, improved in meat color, texture and healthier fatty acid profile through pastureweaned concentrate included intensive fattening system, which offers a good alternative regimen for lamb finishing and has a wide prospection in the HBS meat industry.
| S-EPMC9271384 | biostudies-literature