Prey Preference of Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) in South Gobi, Mongolia

International audienceAccurate information about the diet of large carnivores that are elusive and inhabit inaccessible terrain, is required to properly design conservation strategies. Predation on livestock and retaliatory killing of predators have become serious issues throughout the range of the snow leopard. Several feeding ecology studies of snow leopards have been conducted using classical approaches. These techniques have inherent limitations in their ability to properly identify both snow leopard feces and prey taxa. To examine the frequency of livestock prey and nearly-threatened argali in the diet of the snow leopard, we employed the recently developed DNA-based diet approach to study a snow leopard population located in the Tost Mountains, South Gobi, Mongolia. After DNA was extracted from the feces, a region of ~100 bp long from mitochondrial 12S rRNA gene was amplified, making use of universal primers for vertebrates and a blocking oligonucleotide specific to snow leopard DNA. The amplicons were then sequenced using a next-generation sequencing platform. We observed a total of five different prey items from 81 fecal samples. Siberian ibex predominated the diet (in 70.4% of the feces), followed by domestic goat (17.3%) and argali sheep (8.6%). The major part of the diet was comprised of large ungulates (in 98.8% of the feces) including wild ungulates (79%) and domestic livestock (19.7%). The findings of the present study will help to understand the feeding ecology of the snow leopard, as well as to address the conservation and management issues pertaining to this wild cat

Animal Models of Cardiomyopathies

Cardiomyopathies are a heterogeneous group of disorders of heart muscle that ultimately result in congestive heart failure (CHF). Rapid progress in genetics as well as in molecular and cellular biology over the past three decades has greatly improved the understanding of pathogenic signaling pathways in inherited cardiomyopathies. This chapter will focus on animal models of different clinical forms of human cardiomyopathies with their summaries of triggered key molecules, and signaling pathways will be described

Effects of functional oils and monensin on cattle finishing programs

The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the use of functional oils (FO) mixture and EssentialTM, with and without ionophores on feedlot performance, carcass characteristics and economic analysis of cattle drylot finishing programs. The FO, natural products composed of cashew nut shell oil and castor oil, have been introduced into the United States because they are thought to offer similar benefits as ionophores without the drawbacks of being synthetic products. A two-trial study was conducted using 120 (322 y 10 kg) Angus and Angus crossbred steer calves in each trial. Calves were weighed and assigned to five treatment groups by weight and color pattern, with four replications and six cattle per replication in each trial. Treatments were: control, no additives (CON); monensin, 223 mg·hd\u3c-l/super\u3e·d\u3c-l/super\u3e (MON); monensin, 223 mg·hd\u3c-l/super\u3e·d\u3c-l/super\u3e + functional oils, 250 mg·kg\u3c-l/super\u3e DMI (MON+FL); functional oils low, 250 mg·kg\u3c-l/super\u3e DMI (FL); and functional oils high, 500 mg·kg\u3c-l/super\u3e DMI (FH). All steers were fed the same diet (0.29 Mcal of NEg/kg DM, 0.41 Mcal of NEm/kg DM) on an ad libitum basis. In the first trial, steers were fed on average for 169 days, and in the second trial, 161 days. The daily DMI was not affected by FO. The MON treatment improved cattle ADG and FE when compared with FL and FH treatments (P \u3c 0.05). The FH treated cattle had a higher percentage of liver abscesses compared with the MON treatment cattle (P \u3c 0.05) and cattle in other treatments. The FH cattle had the highest dressing percentages (DP) among treatments and differed from MON and FL (P \u3c 0.05), but not from CON and MON+FL treatments (P \u3e 0.05). The FH cattle had the largest REA and differed from MON (P \u3c 0.05). However, BF thickness was not different among treatments (P \u3e 0.05). Although, YG for all treatments were YG 2, MON+FL treatment cattle had the best cutability and differed from MON treatment cattle (P \u3c 0.05), but not from CON, FL and FH treatments (P \u3e 0.05). Quality grade was not different (P \u3e 0.05) among treatments. The percentage of Choice and Prime carcasses, however, tended to increase with levels of FO in the diets. The FH cattle had the most Prime grade carcasses and differed from CON and MON+FL treatments (P \u3c 0.05), but not from MON and FL treatments (P \u3e 0.05). Using actual costs and prices, profitability was numerically highest for the MON+FL treatment cattle. The MON treatment cattle tended to have the lowest profitability. Carcass price provided the greatest impact on profitability, followed by feeder price and then corn price when using actual costs and prices. Plus and minus 5% sensitivity analyses for corn, feeder and fed cattle price followed the same trend. When using annual and seasonal price scenarios, profitability favored the FH treatment cattle, presumably a result of their higher percentage of Prime and Choice carcasses. From these results, it is suggested that steer calves provided FO in their diet showed tolerable and similar ADG and FE, and produced carcasses with acceptable and similar YG and QG. The use of FO with an ionophore, such as monensin, in a cattle drylot finishing system is the most profitable compared with other dietary treatments when using actual price; however, when annual and/or seasonal average prices are used, inclusion of FH creates more profitable feeding programs. Thus, the use of FO may provide a viable alternative to ionophores for feedlot cattle

Incorporating condensed corn distillers solubles into an integrated pasture and drylot finishing system for feedlot steers

The objectives of this experiment were to evaluate the use of condensed corn distillers solubles (CCDS) mixed with chopped corn stalks on an intensive cool-season pasture and drylot growing-finishing program. A three-year study was conducted, using 112 Angus and Angus crossbred steer calves each year. Calves were weighed and assigned to four treatment groups by weight and color pattern, with four replications, and seven cattle per replication in each year. Treatments one (FEEDLOT) and two (F+CCDS) were fed in the feedlot from May until harvested. FEEDLOT included chopped alfalfa hay and corn, and F+CCDS included chopped corn stalks and CCDS. Treatment three (PASTURE) and four (P+CCDS) utilized rotational smooth bromegrass pasture grazing (May-September) with P+CCDS also receiving chopped corn stalks and CCDS. Following pasture, chopped alfalfa hay and corn for PASTURE treatment, and chopped corn stalks with CCDS for P+CCDS treatment were provided during the feedlot finishing period. Steers were weighed every 28 days, and daily feed intake was recorded to obtain feed consumption and feed conversion among the treatments during drylot feeding. The smooth bromegrass pasture consisted of 24 paddocks, each 0.69 ha in size. Cattle were fed to a average of 590 kg and harvested to obtain carcass measurements. Comparing FEEDLOT vs F+CCDS and PASTURE vs. P+CCDS, FEEDLOT and PASTURE cattle had greater daily DMI and ADG (P\u3c0.05) than did cattle fed F+CCDS and P+CCDS, respectively. Feed conversion during the drylot feeding period favored FEEDLOT over F+CCDS and PASTURE over P+CCDS cattle (P\u3c0.05), and overall FEEDLOT and F+CCDS over PASTURE and P+CCDS cattle (P\u3c0.05). When cattle on PASTURE and P+CCDS treatments were removed from pasture, P+CCDS cattle had gained well over .23 kg/d better than PASTURE cattle. Though this advantage did not carry over into drylot feeding period, this might be a function of daily energy intake while on pasture. Average carcass weights and liver abscesses were not significantly different across the treatments, but differences were found among treatments (P\u3c0.05) for ribeye area (REA), backfat thickness (BF) and kidney, pelvic and heart fat (KPH). The FEEDLOT cattle had larger REA compared with P+CCDS cattle. The BF was greatest in FEEDLOT cattle compared with cattle of the other treatments (P\u3c0.05). A difference existed in quality grade for FEEDLOT vs P+CCDS cattle (P\u3c0.05). However, overall treatment responses for quality grades were similar and within low Choice and Choice grades. The yield grade was not different among the treatments (P\u3e0.05). Using actual costs, cattle fed F+CCDS were most profitable compared with cattle of other treatments (P\u3c0.05). The FEEDLOT treatment was least profitable, and PASTURE and P+CCDS treatments were intermediate and not different from each other (P\u3e0.05). From these results, we can conclude that substituting corn stalks with CCDS in a drylot finishing system is most profitable, furthermore, incorporating pasture into a feedlot finishing system with or without CCDS may be more profitable than plane drylot finishing

Current Trends in Oirat Dialect Studies

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Strong hydrogen bonding in a dense hydrous magnesium silicate discovered by neutron Laue diffraction

A large amount of hydrogen circulates inside the Earth, which affects the long-term evolution of the planet. The majority of this hydrogen is stored in deep Earth within the crystal structures of dense minerals that are thermodynamically stable at high pressures and temperatures. To understand the reason for their stability under such extreme conditions, the chemical bonding geometry and cation exchange mechanism for including hydrogen were analyzed in a representative structure of such minerals (i.e. phase E of dense hydrous magnesium silicate) by using time-of-flight single-crystal neutron Laue diffraction. Phase E has a layered structure belonging to the space group R (3) over barm and a very large hydrogen capacity (up to 18% H2O weight fraction). It is stable at pressures of 13-18 GPa and temperatures of up to at least 1573 K. Deuterated high-quality crystals with the chemical formula Mg2.28Si1.32D2.15O6 were synthesized under the relevant high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. The nuclear density distribution obtained by neutron diffraction indicated that the O-D dipoles were directed towards neighboring O2- ions to form strong interlayer hydrogen bonds. This bonding plays a crucial role in stabilizing hydrogen within the mineral structure under such high-pressure and high-temperature conditions. It is considered that cation exchange occurs among Mg2+, D+ and Si4+ within this structure, making the hydrogen capacity flexible

Proposals for tax reform in Mongolia

Thesis(Master) --KDI School:Master of Public Policy,2006masterpublishedby Tserendejid Purevjav