ABSTRACT: Rumen-protected choline (RPC) promotes benefits in milk production, immunity, and health in dairy cows by optimizing lipid metabolism during transition period management and early lactation. However, the RPC success in dairy cows depends on choline bioavailability, which is affected by the type of protection used in rumen-protected choline. Therefore, our objectives were to determine the effects of a novel RPC on dry matter intake (DMI), identify markers of metabolism and immunity, and evaluate lactation performance. Dry Holstein (n = 48) cows at 245 ± 3 d of gestation were blocked by parity and assigned to control or RPC treatment within each block. Cows enrolled in the RPC treatment received 15 g/d of CholiGEM (Kemin Industries, Cavriago RE, Italy) from 21 d prepartum and 30 g/d of CholiGEM from calving to 21 d postpartum. During the transition period, DMI was measured daily, and blood was sampled weekly for energy-related metabolites such as β-hydroxybutyrate (BHB), glucose, and nonesterified fatty acids (NEFA), as well as immune function markers such as haptoglobin (Hp) and lipopolysaccharide-binding protein (LPB). Vaginal discharge samples were collected at the calving and 7 d postpartum and stored in microcentrifuge tubes at −80°C until 16S rRNA sequencing. The main responses of body condition score, body weight, DMI, milk yield, milk components, and immune function markers were analyzed using the GLIMMIX procedure of SAS with the effects of treatment, time, parity, and relevant covariates added to the models. The relative abundance of microbiome α-diversity was evaluated by 3 indexes (Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson) and β-diversity by principal coordinate analysis and permutational multivariate ANOVA. We found no differences in DMI in the pre- and postpartum periods. Cows fed RPC increased the yields of energy- and 3.5% fat-corrected milk and fat yield in primiparous and multiparous cows, with an interaction between treatment and parity for these lactation variables. However, we found no differences in milk protein and lactose up to 150 DIM between treatments. Glucose, NEFA, and BHB had no differences between the treatments. However, RPC decreased BHB numerically (control = 1.07 ± 0.13 vs. RPC = 0.63 ± 0.13) in multiparous on the third week postpartum and tended to reduce the incidence of subclinical ketosis (12.7% vs. 4.2%). No effects for Hp and LPB were found in cows fed RPC. Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson indexes were lower at calving in the RPC treatment than in the Control. However, no differences were found 7 d later for Chao1, Shannon, and Simpson indexes. The vaginal discharge microbiome was altered in cows fed RPC at 7 d postpartum. Fusobacterium, a common pathogen associated with metritis, was reduced in cows fed RPC. Rumen-protected choline enhanced lactation performance and health and altered the vaginal discharge microbiome which is a potential proxy for uterine healthy in dairy cows. The current study's findings corroborate that RPC is a tool to support adaptation to lactation and shed light on opportunities for further research in reproductive health.
Severino Pinto, Alisa Sergeeva, Christian Ammon
et al.
The present study aimed to evaluate the heat mitigation from evaporative cooling on the respiration rate (RR) and activity behavior in dairy cows under hot and dry climate in Mediterranean conditions. Twelve multiparous high-yielding Holstein dairy cows (2nd to 5th lactation) were randomly selected. Each cow was equipped with one pedometer to monitor different activity traits related to “resting” and “locomotion” behavior. The ambient temperature (AT) and relative humidity (RH) were recorded and the temperature-humidity index (THI) was calculated. A linear mixed model with repeated measurements was established to test the THI influence and cooling effect on animal traits. The RR regarding the second cooling decreased (54.6 ± 10.7) compared to the responses of cows an hour before (74.6 ± 13.1 breaths per min (bpm); p < 0.001). The lying behavior tended to increase after the cooling sessions, especially post-evening cooling (39 ± 4.76 bpm; p < 0.001). The evaporative cooling promoted a heat stress abatement by RR values and lying time behavior in dairy cows under hot and dry climate conditions.
Applications of the two-source energy balance (TSEB) scheme require either in-situ meteorological data to characterize the upper boundary conditions or the implementation of complex multi-scale approaches (ALEXI/DisALEXI). Over remote areas, detailed meteorological forcing (i.e., air temperature and wind speed) are often missing, limiting the quality of the simulated fluxes. To compute surface energy fluxes, the use of wet and dry boundary conditions, commonly referred to as hot and cold pixels, is a widely adopted strategy in thermal-based, single-source surface energy balance models for defining the relationship between satellite land-surface temperature (LST) and the surface-atmosphere temperature gradient. This contextual scaling approach reduces model sensitivity to biases in LST retrievals, but it has been previously tested within the TSEB modelling framework only in limited capacity. An automatic procedure for retrieving the two boundary temperatures is here proposed, removing the need for external meteorological data and leading to temperature values that are unbiased compared to ideal estimations (from in-situ observations) and characterized by deviations on the order of 1.5 and 4.5 °C for cold and hot conditions, respectively. Despite the lower accuracy in the hot pixel temperature, this does not seem to significantly affect the overall capability of the model to reproduce observed fluxes, with errors in instantaneous sensible and latent heat fluxes in the order of 60 W m−2 (slightly above 1 mm d−1 on daily evapotranspiration) over a set of 16 sites in the US and Italy, characterized by typical Mediterranean crops. The proposed TSEB implementation is fully remote sensing based, meaning satellite-consistent retrievals of air temperature and wind speed are obtained directly from information available within the satellite scene itself. This approach represents a suitable alternative to accurately model evapotranspiration and other surface energy fluxes in the absence of reliable meteorological data.
Jasanmol Singh, Ali Bulent Koc, Matias Jose Aguerre
et al.
Alfalfa is a high-yielding forage crop that is widely grown in the United States for grazing, hay and silage making. A proper maintenance of these grasslands is necessary to ensure optimum productivity and profits. The pre-harvest estimation of biomass yield helps in quantifying the profits and optimizing the forage allocation in advance. Most traditional methods of forage estimation are relatively laborious and time-consuming. Recent developments in contact and remote sensing technologies opened numerous paths for performing aboveground biomass estimation tasks with flexibility and easiness. This study focused on the development of crop height measurement systems for estimating the aboveground biomass yield of Alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.). Five different systems for measuring crop height were evaluated on their ability to estimate aboveground wet and dry biomass. The crop height measurement systems used in this study were Structure-from-Motion, Ultrasound Sensor and Ski, Inertial Measurement Unit and Ski, Inertial Measurement Units and Roller, and a Depth Camera. The results indicated that the system using the Inertial Measurement Unit sensor and ski (IMU-Ski) performed the best among ground-based methods (R2= 0.79; SeY= 3166 kg-wet/ha). The Structure-from-Motion (SfM) method using UAV also provided satisfactory results for biomass predictions (R2= 0.74; SeY= 2543 kg-wet/ha). The models based on IMU-Ski and UAV-based SfM methods were facilitated with vegetation coverage as an additional independent variable to evaluate their effect on biomass predictions. The results indicated that the vegetation coverage did not improve the predictions in any of these systems. Thus, the models based on only the crop height (IMU-Ski and UAV-SfM) were the recommended approaches for Alfalfa biomass estimations. The addition of data points for wide ranges of crop height and vegetation coverage is recommended for future studies to improve the results and ensure the adaptability of these systems in varying environmental conditions.
The research work identifies and priorities the factors affecting agri-logistics causing wastage of the agricultural products during its transit from farm to the point of consumption so that logistics mechanism for agriculture sector in India can be optimised by removing the barriers leading to hindrances in safe, timely, economical and good condition delivery of the agri consignment. The field of agri-logistics remains at the crucial nexus of the agricultural and logistics industries and has the potential to improve the nation's system for distributing food. The post-harvest wastage in India has been massive due to inefficiencies agri-logistics management and faulty food distribution mechanism. It is an exploratory study that along the factors (barriers) identified and synthesised from literature review of the concerned area. The identified barriers were reduced and finalised in consultation with the experts using Delphi technique. With the help of ISM questionnaire, a model has been developed reflecting the drivers and dependents out of the barriers considered for the study. The result is further validated through MICMAC analysis. The result of the study has come up with the interpretive structure model depicting hierarchy of the barriers pushing from down to top causing agriculture wastage. The paper holds originality in the sense that it comes up with fresh perspectives on the factors causing hindrances in the efficient logistics operation that certainly helps to minimise wastage of the agri-products in the post-harvest stages. The identification of the barriers and their detriments to the other factors will help to take essential steps on how to overcome the issues and optimize the agri-logistics that would minimise the agri-wastage in India and prove to be a game changer to the agri-trade sector.
Agricultural industries are the foundation of the modernization of agricultural and rural areas in China. National Modern Agricultural Industrial Parks (NMAIPs) provides a considerable nationwide platform for agricultural industries. We take 200 NMAIPs in China as objects. Through spatial analysis, the Herfindahl–Hirschman index, and the SBM-DEA model, we analyzed the development characteristics and regional differences of NMAIPs from the muti-level perspective of national planning, provincial coordination, and county implementation to propose policy recommendations aimed at sustainable and high-quality development. The results are as follows: (1) Regarding geospatial characteristics, NMAIPs are unevenly distributed, with a decreasing gradient from east to west. The direction is east (northward) to west (southward), consistent with the direction of the Hu line. The distribution density shows that the east is dense and the west is sparse. (2) For industrial concentration, the leading industries in NMAIPs tend to be homogenous. The HHI indicates that the homogenization of leading industries is widely represented in each province. The low oligopolistic areas are in the central and eastern regions of China, while the highly oligopolistic locations are in the western and northeastern provinces. (3) In inputs–outputs efficiency, the comprehensive technical efficiency is high but not optimal, while the distribution of values is high in the south and low in the north. Ten provinces are non-effective. According to inputs and outputs, the ineffective contribution of population of townships covered, occupied area and the capital from the collective economy are development barriers, and the high output value of NMAIPs cannot fully drive the employment and income of farmers. Further improvements are needed in terms of both pure technical efficiency and scale efficiency, and adjustments to scale operations should be in response to different returns to scale. Our research results provide policy recommendations for NMAIPs, including the establishment of a multi-level management mechanism, balancing regional development, diversifying and coordinating regional leading industries, and improving the efficiency of utilization factors.
Considering Indonesia is one of the world's major coffee producers, the small coffee agroindustry has much room to grow. The industry faces some challenges, including low output, limited access to the market, insufficient human resource capabilities, and improper waste treatment. This research aimed to create a model for the coffee agroindustry's growth utilizing a sustainable development concept in the form of decision support systems. The model is named AgroCoffee, which comprises six submodels: submodel of superior product selection of coffee agroindustry, submodel of social, submodel of institutional, submodel of technology, submodel of environmental, and submodel of economic. This study used several data analysis methods: exponential comparison approach, multi expert-multi criteria decision-making, interpretative structural modeling, analytical hierarchy process, and financial analysis. The model was verified in the agropolitan area of Bondowoso's Ijen highland in East Java, Indonesia. The findings revealed that the model could accurately simulate the coffee agroindustry system, which allows the model to generate recommendations for decision-makers on how to establish sustainable coffee agroindustry. Further improvements and adjustments to the model need to be conducted to develop a better model that dynamically follows the current needs and conditions to make the latest data and information obtained more accurate.
The products of the industrial fields are an essential part of the agriculture sector of Sulaymaniyah governorate because of their role in providing raw materials for the industrial agriculture establishments. Hence, the growth and development of the Agriculture industry has a strong relationship with the growth and development of the agriculture sector and their products. The study aims to explain the impact of the products of industrial fields on the development of the agricultural industry establishments in the study area .For this purpose, the method of descriptive, statistical and comparative analysis was utilised. Governmental data and information records were obtained and put into a geographical information system program (GIS) to represent the cartography of the maps, at the end of the analysis, the research reached some results. The most important of which was that throughout the research period, except for the products of cotton, the amount of the products saw an increase and the reason is the increase in demand for those products in the agriculture industry. Also, in the research area, all the products of the industrial fields, except for cotton, is used as a raw materials for producing food. These productions are relied on in the agriculture industry which is evident of the weakness of the non-food agriculture industries in Sulaymaniyah province. Of course, the result of this research will be crucial in the future when establishing these kinds of industries, the geographical aspect of producing these agricultural products should be considered. The administrative districts in charge of producing these kinds of products should be developed further and farmers should be encouraged to reproduce cotton, which is one of the most important crops in the industry.
The reductions of climate change and greenhouse gas emissions are an essential objective of the European Union (EU) to achieving the reduction target by 20% by 2020. Along with energy consumption and agriculture, trade has a diverse impact on climate change. International trade usually negatively affects the environment, while the influence of intra-industry trade is more favourable. The paper investigates the impact of energy use, agriculture, and intra-industry trade on environmental pollution in EU countries using panel data for the period 2000–2014. The research frames the theoretical hypothesis that describing the relationship between agricultural intra-industry trade and climate change. The assumptions are confirmed by panel fixed effects, and Generalized Method of Moment (GMM) estimations, and the panel cointegration test. The empirical results have supported by the literature, and all variables used in this study are stationary applying panel unit root test. Results show that agricultural intra-industry trade, renewable energy is negatively correlated with climate change, confirming the less pollutant hypothesis, while economic growth and agricultural productivity induce environmental problems. This study confirms the theoretical hypotheses explaining the effect of intra-industry trade for agricultural products as well as the impacts of renewable energy use, agricultural land productivity, and economic growth on CO2 emissions.
Mohammadreza Mahdikhani, Fatemeh Navaei, Kamal Sadeghi
We hypothesized that phosphorus addition would result in plant morphological changes and changes in rhizosphere carboxylates among wheat and canola cultivars in different acidic soils. Concentration of carboxylates in the rhizosphere extracted with 0.2 mM CaCl2, expressed per unit root dry mass. Dry weight of root and shoot were measures after harvest; total root length, and average root diameter were determined using a scanner. Also, the concentration of phosphorus (Colwell P) in rhizosphere and bulk soil was measured using UV-VIS Spectrophotometer. Shoot and root dry mass of wheat and canola increased significantly with increasing P supply. There was significant difference in total root length and average root diameter between treatments and genotypes in both acidic soils. Citrate was the dominant carboxylate in the rhizosphere of wheat genotypes, and malate was the second one. In canola genotypes, concentration of carboxylates in the rhizosphere were at least 10 times higher than rhizosphere of wheat genotypes. Surprisingly, malonate which there was not in the rhizosphere of wheat genotypes, was the most important carboxylate in the rhizosphere of canola genotypes followed by malate and citrate. This study showed there were significant differences between plant P-efficient and non-efficient in acidic soils when we used different level of P.
Nafiseh Nasirzadeh, Mehran Nazarparvar, Davoud Mahmoudi
et al.
Background and Objective: Deviant behaviors, such as occupational violence, are recognized as a serious crisis all across the globe. It can lead to physiological stress and reduces job satisfaction, as well as social and family relationships. The present study aimed to assess the individual and occupational factors affecting the incidence of workplace violence among workers in different industries in East Azerbaijan.
Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted in 2018. The research population consisted of all personnel in five industries, including the chocolate factory, food industry, health products, steel, and agricultural industry in East Azerbaijan. Data were collected by a researcher-made questionnaire provided based on standard questionnaires developed in International Labour Organization (ILO) and World Health Organization (WHO). The validity and reliability of this questionnaire were confirmed in previous studies. Data analysis was performed in SPSS software (version 22) using Chi-square and multiple logistic regression test.
Results: In all industries, verbal violence with a frequency of 46.6% was the most common type of violence. Moreover, internal organizational factors played a major role in the incidence of occupational violence in these industries. The results of logistic regression pointed to the statistically significant associations of occupational violence with referring to a psychiatrist (P=0.005), gender (P=0.001), and work shift(P=0.001).
Conclusion: The high prevalence of verbal violence highlights the necessity of some plans and measures in this regard. Therefore, it is recommended that ergonomics and psychology intervention be implemented to reduce the stressful environmental conditions and violence among employees.
IntroductionMetals and metalloids with a density greater than 5 g.cm-3, are recognized as heavy metals. These elements are almost thermally stable and non-biodegradable, resulting in high persistence and accumulation of toxic levels in the environment. Some heavy metals like chromium could be distributed as a result of anthropogenic activities like transportation, mining and industries, which may be toxic to human and plants even at low concentrations. For instance, Chromium may be accumulated in human tissues, resulting in some killing diseases. Modelling and monitoring of heavy metals in soil, water bodies and vegetation are vital techniques to developing remediation strategies. Hormozgan province has more than 14000 ha under tomato cultivation with a total yield production about 630 tons. A relatively large part of these farms are located in Western Hormozgan, adjacent to the busy roads and industrial sites, which makes them important to be evaluated for heavy metals pollution in both soil and plant. The present study was undertaken to investigate some soil physical and chemical properties as well as chromium content in soil and tomato plant tissues in farms of western Hormozgan province in Iran.Materials and MethodsThe study was conducted during 2015-2017 in three main regions of tomato cultivation in western Hormozgan. Some industries including an oil refinery, a gas company and medical hospitals were located relatively near the studied farms. However, traffic activities on the busy roads parallel to the studied farms could be the main reason for soil heavy metals pollution. We studied the soil chromium concentration, as well as the uptake and distribution of chromium in different organs of tomato plants in nine heavy metal polluted farms in western Hormozgan. In addition, two important contamination indices of bio concentration factor (BCF) and translocation factor (TF), were calculated for chromium in all studied farms. All data were subjected to analysis of variance and means comparison was performed by Duncan̕s Multiple Range Test.Results and DiscussionThe results showed that chromium concentration was higher than the critical level (2 mg.kg-1) in almost all examined soils. All the studied farms were adjacent to the factories, hospitals and busy roads. Therefore, the location could be considered as the main reason for soil, water and plant pollution. Plant accumulation of Chromium was also as follows: fruit peel-1 dry weight) that could cause serious health problems in human body. More than one third of fruit chromium content was accumulated in the peel, showing a practical suggestion to reduce chromium entrance into the human body through separating the peel from the pulp before consumption of tomato fruits. The results also showed that increasing soil salinity reduced plant potential for soil chromium extraction, despite of the significant enhancement of soil available chromium concentration resulting from increasing salinity level in soil saturation extract. Furthermore, bio concentration factor declined as a result of soil salinity increasing, because the rate and intensity of chromium uptake by the plant was lower than those of soil chromium content increase in saline conditions. ConclusionThe results showed that tomato has a considerable potential for chromium uptake in polluted soils. Neighboring industries and roads were recognized to be the main reasons for high chromium contents in the studied soils in fields of Hormozgan province. Thus, it is highly recommended to establish tomato fields far from crowded roads, factories and industrial sites.AcknowledgmentThe present manuscript was prepared as part of a research collaboration between "Hormozgan Agricultural and Natural Resources Research and Education Center" and "Hormozgan University of Medical Sciences". We are so grateful for the supports.
The agricultural industry has made a tremendous contribution to the foundations of civilization. Basic essentials such as food, beverages, clothes and domestic materials are enriched by the agricultural industry. However, the traditional method in agriculture cultivation is labor-intensive and inadequate to meet the accelerating nature of human demands. This scenario raises the need to explore state-of-the-art crop cultivation and harvesting technologies. In this regard, optics and photonics technologies have proven to be effective solutions. This paper aims to present a comprehensive review of three photonic techniques, namely imaging, spectroscopy and spectral imaging, in a comparative manner for agriculture applications. Essentially, the spectral imaging technique is a robust solution which combines the benefits of both imaging and spectroscopy but faces the risk of underutilization. This review also comprehends the practicality of all three techniques by presenting existing examples in agricultural applications. Furthermore, the potential of these techniques is reviewed and critiqued by looking into agricultural activities involving palm oil, rubber, and agro-food crops. All the possible issues and challenges in implementing the photonic techniques in agriculture are given prominence with a few selective recommendations. The highlighted insights in this review will hopefully lead to an increased effort in the development of photonics applications for the future agricultural industry.
The industry is the current engine of the Indonesian economy over the past three decades; the economic structure in Indonesia has the transformation from the agriculture sector to the industry sector. The objective of this study is to examine the causality between agricultural, industry, and economic growth in Indonesia. By using the vector error correction model (VECM), this research finds that in the long-term, there is directional causality from the industry added value, economic growth on the agricultural added value. Meanwhile, in the short-term, the variable of industry added value and economic growth has the two-way causality. Besides, the agricultural added value can only affect the industrial added value and economic growth in the short-term. These findings support the idea that the agricultural sector plays a vital role in the economy, such as increasing economic growth and growth in other sectors, especially the industrial sector in this case.JEL Classification: F40, L60, O13, O47
This paper aims to analyse the Sparkling Wine international market structure and competitiveness, focusing on the 2004–2018 period. It used the data regarding exports and imports of sparkling wine available in the International Trade Centre’s Trade Map database. The method used to examine sparkling wine’s international market structure and competitiveness consisted of calculation of: (i) Revealed Comparative Advantage (RCA); (ii) Relative Position in the Market (RPM); (iii) Hirschman-Herfindahl Index (HHI); and (iv) Net Export Index (NEI). The paper analyses the growth of the sparkling wine trade worldwide. It demonstrated that France had the greatest relative position in the market, followed by Italy and Spain. This same sequence was found in the revealed comparative advantage, highlighting the increased Italian export level. A high export market structure concentration was also shown. On the other hand, there was an unconcentrated import market structure, and, according to the NEI, it was possible to identify three groups composed of actors who were stable in terms of: i) exports based on domestic production (France, Italy and Spain); ii) trade, reflecting re-export (Singapore and the Netherlands); iii) imports, with strong domestic consumption (Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Australia, and Belgium).
A agricultura familiar tem o desafio de se inserir nas Cadeias Longas de Comercialização. Neste contexto, os processos produtivos devem ser comunicados ao mercado por meio de selos de qualidade. O valor agregado do produto aumenta quando os conceitos ligados ao selo são conhecidos pelos consumidores. O objetivo do trabalho foi o de avaliar o conhecimento dos consumidores a respeito dos conceitos relacionados a selos de qualidade em Dracena/SP. Para isso, foram feitas 257 entrevistas pessoais com o auxílio de questionário estruturado, entre abril e junho de 2018. Os resultados indicam que 1/3 dos consumidores desconhecem a agricultura orgânica e pouco mais da metade desconhecem os conceitos da agricultura familiar. Os produtos de quilombos e de comércio justo são praticamente desconhecidos em Dracena. Verificou-se uma relação positiva entre os níveis de estudos e o conhecimento da agricultura familiar e produtos orgânicos. Como conclusão, o trabalho mostrou que é preciso realizar um amplo e contínuo trabalho de informação dos consumidores sobre os selos de qualidade.