A serological comparison of complement fixation reactions using Brucella abortus and B. melitensis antigens in B. abortus infected cattle

Brucella abortus and B. melitensis antigens were used in parallel on the National Standard Brucella abortus antiserum and on field sera coming from cattle where practically exclusively B. abortus biotypes 1 and 2 have been isolated over the last 11 years. With the National Standard serum the titres to B. melitensis were consistently lower than those to B. abortus antigen. Most were 1 dilution (twofold) lower. Although a similar trend was seen with the field sera, there were 7/346 sera which had twofold or higher titres to B. melitensis antigen. Although this may be due to the vagaries of the test it also warrants closer investigation of the animals concerned to see whether M-antigen predominant Brucella biotypes are possibly present. The use of the dual antigens could identify herds which are infected only with A-antigen predominant brucellae but would not be reliable for classifying individual animals.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat XI Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.mn201

Carcass characteristics and meat quality of sheep fed buffelgrass silage to replace corn silage

The aim of the study was to evaluate the carcass characteristics, proximate composition, and sensorial attributes of meat from sheep fed diets in which buffelgrass silage replaced corn silage. Thirty-two intact male crossbred Santa Inês sheep with an average live weight of 20.09 ± 2.0 kg were housed in individual stalls and allotted at random to four treatments in which corn silage was replaced by buffelgrass silage at the levels of 0 (control), 33.3%, 66.6%, and 100%. After an adaption period of 10 days, the sheep were fed for an additional 61 days. Feed was offered ad libitum and corn silage comprised 60% of the diet for the control group. Carcass characteristics, non-carcass components and meat quality were evaluated. Hot carcass yield, cold carcass yield, true carcass yield, trimmings, fat weight, and mesenteric and omental fat weight were highest for the control group (P <0.05). Loin eye area had a quadratic response (P =0.02), with the largest areas being observed in animals fed the diet containing 66.6% buffelgrass silage. Liver weight (P <0.01), luminosity of the meat (P <0.05), and cooking loss (P <0.05) likewise had nonlinear responses to the concentration of buffelgrass silage in the diet. The treatments did not have significant negative influence on the nutritional and organoleptic characteristics of the meat

Desempenho de novilhos de corte em pastos de capim-tanzânia sob quatro alturas de desfolha

This study was carried out to evaluate the effects of four grazing heights under continuous stocking of Tanzânia grass (Panicum maximum Jacq. Cv. Tanzânia) on the stocking rate, performance and beef production per hectare. The experimental area was 12 hectares, divided into paddocks with one hectare each, with three replicates each (20, 40, 60 and 80 cm). There were three male Nellore bovines per paddock, adding animals as needed to adjust the desired heights in a completely randomized design. The stocking rate had a negative linear function of grazing heights in all seasons regarding yield per hectare, while the average daily gain showed opposite behavior. Apparently, Tanzânia grass heights between 40 and 60cm under continuous stocking enable good average daily weight gain in beef cattle, and high yield per hectare.Determinou-se a melhor altura de pastejo do capim-tanzânia (Panicum maximum Jacq. cv. Tanzânia) sob lotação contínua e com taxa de lotação variável na produção de bovinos de corte. A área experimental, de 12 hectares, foi dividida em piquetes de um hectare cada, com três repetições para cada altura - 20; 40; 60 e 80cm. Foram utilizados, em cada piquete, três bovinos machos, da raça Nelore, mais animais adicionais conforme necessidade de ajuste à altura pretendida. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente ao acaso. A taxa de lotação apresentou comportamento linear negativo em razão das alturas de pastejo em todas as estações do ano, e o mesmo efeito foi observado com o ganho de peso vivo por hectare, enquanto o ganho médio diário apresentou comportamento contrário. Alturas de capim-tanzânia entre 40 e 60cm, sob lotação contínua, possibilitam bom ganho de peso médio diário em bovinos de corte e boa produção por hectare.UNESP Faculdade de ciências agrárias e veterináriasUniversidade Estadual de LondrinaUNESP Faculdade de ciências agrárias e veterinária

Fire-Induced Floristic and Structural Degradation Across a Vegetation Gradient in the Southern Amazon

first_pagesettingsOrder Article Reprints Open AccessArticle Fire-Induced Floristic and Structural Degradation Across a Vegetation Gradient in the Southern Amazon by Loriene Gomes da Rocha 1,2,Ben Hur Marimon Junior 1,2,*ORCID,Amauri de Castro Barradas 1,2,Marco Antônio Camillo de Carvalho 1ORCID,Célia Regina Araújo Soares 1,Beatriz Schwantes Marimon 2,Gabriel H. P. de Mello Ribeiro 3ORCID,Edmar A. de Oliveira 2,Fernando Elias 4ORCID,Carmino Emidio Júnior 1,Dennis Rodrigues da Silva 1ORCID,Marcos Leandro Garcia 1,Jesulino Alves da Rocha Filho 1,Marcelo Zortea 1,2,Edmar Santos Moreira 1,Samiele Camargo de Oliveira Domingues 1,2,Eraldo A. T. Matricardi 5ORCID,David Galbraith 2,6,Ted R. Feldpausch 2,7ORCID,Imma Oliveras 2,8 andOliver L. Phillips 6ORCIDremove Hide full author list 1 Graduate Program in Biodiversity and Amazonian Agroecosystems, Campus of Alta Floresta, UNEMAT–State University of Mato Grosso, Alta Floresta CEP 78.580-000, Brazil 2 LABEV–Laboratory of Plant Ecology, Campus of Nova Xavantina, UNEMAT–State University of Mato Grosso, Nova Xavantina CEP 78.690-000, Brazil 3 Faculdade de Engenharia Florestal, UFMT–Federal University of Mato Grosso, Campus of Cuiabá, Cuiabá CEP 78.060-900, Brazil 4 Departament of Biology, Graduate Program in Forest Sciences, UFRA-Universidade Federal Rural da Amazônia, Campus of Capitão Poço, Capitão Poço CEP 68.650-000, Brazil 5 Department of Forestry, UnB–University of Brasilia, Brasilia CEP 70.910-900, Brazil 6 School of Geography, University of Leeds, Leeds LS2 9JT, UK 7 Geography, Faculty of Environment, Science and Economy, University of Exeter, Exeter EX4 4QJ, UK 8 AMAP (Botanique et Modélisation de l’Architecture des Plantes et des Végétations), University Montpellier, CIRAD, CNRS, INRA, IRD, 34090 Montpellier, France * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed. Forests 2025, 16(8), 1218; https://doi.org/10.3390/f16081218 (registering DOI) Submission received: 24 April 2025 / Revised: 30 June 2025 / Accepted: 22 July 2025 / Published: 24 July 2025 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Tropical Forests, Water Cycle, Global Cycles of Greenhouse Gases and Climate Change) Downloadkeyboard_arrow_down Browse Figures Versions Notes Abstract Climate change and landscape fragmentation have made fires the primary drivers of forest degradation in Southern Amazonia. Understanding their impacts is crucial for informing public conservation policies. In this study, we assessed the effects of repeated fires on trees with a diameter ≥10 cm across three distinct vegetation types in this threatened region: Amazonian successional forest (SF), transitional forest (TF), and ombrophilous forest (OF). Two anthropogenic fires affected all three vegetation types in consecutive years. We hypothesized that SF would be the least impacted due to its more open structure and the presence of fire-adapted savanna (Cerrado) species. As expected, SF experienced the lowest tree mortality rate (9.1%). However, both TF and OF were heavily affected, with mortality rates of 28.0% and 29.7%, respectively. Despite SF’s apparent fire resilience, all vegetation types experienced a significant net loss of species and individuals. These results indicate a fire-induced degradation stage in both TF and OF, characterized by reduced species diversity and structural integrity. Our findings suggest that recurrent fires may trigger irreversible vegetation shifts and broader ecosystem tipping points across the Amazonian frontier