Environmental filtering along a bathymetric gradient: A metabarcoding meta-analysis of free-living nematodes.

Identifying and understanding patterns of biological diversity is crucial at a time when even the most remote and pristine marine ecosystems are threatened by resource exploitation such as deep-seabed mining. Metabarcoding provides the means through which one can perform comprehensive investigations of diversity by examining entire assemblages simultaneously. Nematodes commonly represent the most abundant infaunal metazoan group in marine soft sediments.

Milk yield residuals and their link with the metabolic status of dairy cows in the transition period.

The transition period is one of the most challenging periods in the lactation cycle of high-yielding dairy cows. It is commonly known to be associated with diminished animal welfare and economic performance of dairy farms. The development of data-driven health monitoring tools based on on-farm available milk yield development has shown potential in identifying health-perturbing events.

Integrating heterogeneous across-country data for proxy-based random forest prediction of enteric methane in dairy cattle.

Direct measurements of methane (CH) from individual animals are difficult and expensive. Predictions based on proxies for CH are a viable alternative. Most prediction models are based on multiple linear regressions (MLR) and predictor variables that are not routinely available in commercial farms, such as dry matter intake (DMI) and diet composition.

The ability of deep eutectic solvent systems to extract bioactive compounds from apple pomace.

The objective of this study was to examine the bioactivity of extracts from apple pomace obtained by non-conventional green extraction methods (DES systems). Bioactivity was antioxidant capacity and ability to stimulate insulin secretion from pancreatic beta-cells. The antioxidant capacity of extracts was examined using the DPPH and the FRAP assay.

The cost of a meal: factors influencing prey profitability in Australian fur seals.

Knowledge of the factors shaping the foraging behaviour of species is central to understanding their ecosystem role and predicting their response to environmental variability. To maximise survival and reproduction, foraging strategies must balance the costs and benefits related to energy needed to pursue, manipulate, and consume prey with the nutritional reward obtained. While such information is vital for understanding how changes in prey assemblages may affect predators, determining these components is inherently difficult in cryptic predators.

Welfare of broiler chickens in Brazilian free-range versus intensive indoor production systems.

We compared broiler chicken welfare in free-range (FR) and intensive indoor (IN) systems using the Welfare Quality® Protocol. Ten FR and 11 IN farms in Brazil were assessed. Results are shown as either scores ranging from 0 to 100, where higher scores indicate better welfare, or prevalence, where lower prevalence indicates better welfare.

Using Expert Elicitation to Abridge the Welfare Quality® Protocol for Monitoring the Most Adverse Dairy Cattle Welfare Impairments.

The Welfare Quality® consortium has developed and proposed standard protocols for monitoring farm animal welfare. The uptake of the dairy cattle protocol has been below expectation, however, and it has been criticized for the variable quality of the welfare measures and for a limited number of measures having a disproportionally large effect on the integrated welfare categorization. Aiming for a wide uptake by the milk industry, we revised and simplified the Welfare Quality® protocol into a user-friendly tool for cost- and time-efficient on-farm monitoring of dairy cattle welfare with a minimal number of key animal-based measures that are aggregated into a continuous (and thus discriminative) welfare index (WI).

Impact of Covid-19 on farming systems in Europe through the lens of resilience thinking.

Context: Resilience is the ability to deal with shocks and stresses, including the unknown and previously unimaginable, such as the Covid-19 crisis.

Objective: This paper assesses (i) how different farming systems were exposed to the crisis, (ii) which resilience capacities were revealed and (iii) how resilience was enabled or constrained by the farming systems' social and institutional environment.

Methods: The 11 farming systems included have been analysed since 2017.

Welfare of broiler chickens reared in two different industrial house types during the winter season in Southern Brazil.

1. The following trial compared broiler chicken welfare in closed-sided (CS) open-sided (OS) industrial house types during the winter season in the South of Brazil.2.

Discrete Choice Analysis of Consumer Preferences for Meathybrids-Findings from Germany and Belgium.

High levels of meat consumption are increasingly being criticised for ethical, environmental and social reasons. Plant-based meat substitutes have been identified as healthy sources of protein that, in comparison to meat, offer a number of social, environmental and health benefits and may play a role in reducing meat consumption. However, there has been a lack of research on the role they can play in the policy agenda and how specific meat substitute attributes can influence consumers to partially replace meat in their diets.

Leaf elongation response to blue light is mediated by stomatal-induced variations in transpiration in Festuca arundinacea.

Reduced blue light irradiance is known to enhance leaf elongation rate (LER) in grasses, but the mechanisms involved have not yet been elucidated. We investigated whether leaf elongation response to reduced blue light could be mediated by stomata-induced variations of plant transpiration. Two experiments were carried out on tall fescue in order to monitor LER and transpiration under reduced blue light irradiance.

Regulation of Secondary Metabolism in the Genus.

, one of the most common fungi occurring in a diverse range of habitats, has a worldwide distribution and a large economic impact on human health. Hundreds of the species belonging to this genus cause disastrous decay in food crops and are able to produce a varied range of secondary metabolites, from which we can distinguish harmful mycotoxins. Some species are considered to be important producers of patulin and ochratoxin A, two well-known mycotoxins.

Husbandry Conditions and Welfare Outcomes in Organic Egg Production in Eight European Countries.

In the European research project HealthyHens, welfare indicators as well as husbandry and management conditions were recorded in 107 organic laying hen farms in eight countries. Farms were visited at peak and end of lay. Egg production was on average comparable to breeder specifications.

Pathogenic potential of Escherichia coli O157 and O26 isolated from young Belgian dairy calves by recto-anal mucosal swab culturing.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the occurrence of Escherichia coli O157 and O26 on Belgian dairy cattle farms, the presence of virulence genes in the confirmed isolates and the association of E. coli O26 presence with calf diarrhoea.

Methods And Results: In total, 233 recto-anal mucosal swabs (RAMS) were obtained from healthy and diarrheic dairy calves on three farms, each alternately visited three consecutive times.

Phylogenetic clustering and rarity imply risk of local species extinction in prospective deep-sea mining areas of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone.

An understanding of the forces controlling community structure in the deep sea is essential at a time when its pristineness is threatened by polymetallic nodule mining. Because abiotically defined communities are more sensitive to environmental change, we applied occurrence- and phylogeny-based metrics to determine the importance of biotic versus abiotic structuring processes in nematodes, the most abundant invertebrate taxon of the Clarion-Clipperton Fracture Zone (CCFZ), an area targeted for mining. We investigated the prevalence of rarity and the explanatory power of environmental parameters with respect to phylogenetic diversity (PD).

Global distribution of mating types shows limited opportunities for mating across populations of fungi causing boxwood blight disease.

Boxwood blight is a disease threat to natural and managed landscapes worldwide. To determine mating potential of the fungi responsible for the disease, Calonectria pseudonaviculata and C. henricotiae, we characterized their mating-type (MAT) loci.

Optimizing the Use of Zebrafish Feeding Trials for the Safety Evaluation of Genetically Modified Crops.

In Europe, the toxicological safety of genetically modified (GM) crops is routinely evaluated using rodent feeding trials, originally designed for testing oral toxicity of chemical compounds. We aimed to develop and optimize methods for advancing the use of zebrafish feeding trials for the safety evaluation of GM crops, using maize as a case study. In a first step, we evaluated the effect of different maize substitution levels.

Review of Sensor Technologies in Animal Breeding: Phenotyping Behaviors of Laying Hens to Select Against Feather Pecking.

Damaging behaviors, like feather pecking (FP), have large economic and welfare consequences in the commercial laying hen industry. Selective breeding can be used to obtain animals that are less likely to perform damaging behavior on their pen-mates. However, with the growing tendency to keep birds in large groups, identifying specific birds that are performing or receiving FP is difficult.

Possible risk factors for keel bone damage in organic laying hens.

Keel bone damage (KBD) in laying hens is an important welfare problem in both conventional and organic egg production systems. We aimed to identify possible risk factors for KBD in organic hens by analysing cross-sectional data of 107 flocks assessed in eight European countries. Due to partly missing data, the final multiple regression model was based on data from 50 flocks.

Metabarcoding free-living marine nematodes using curated 18S and CO1 reference sequence databases for species-level taxonomic assignments.

High-throughput sequencing has the potential to describe biological communities with high efficiency yet comprehensive assessment of diversity with species-level resolution remains one of the most challenging aspects of metabarcoding studies. We investigated the utility of curated ribosomal and mitochondrial nematode reference sequence databases for determining phylum-specific species-level clustering thresholds. We compiled 438 ribosomal and 290 mitochondrial sequences which identified 99% and 94% as the species delineation clustering threshold, respectively.

Impact of Cross-Contamination Concentrations of Doxycycline Hyclate on the Microbial Ecosystem in an Ex Vivo Model of the Pig's Cecum.

Aims: Cross-contamination of feed with antibiotics causes pigs to become unintentionally exposed to low concentrations of antibiotics. This study investigates the effect of residues of doxycycline hyclate (DOX) in an ex vivo model of the intestinal tract of pigs, focusing on the microbial community, microbial activity, and the enrichment of resistant bacteria and resistance genes.

Results: The effect of three concentrations DOX were tested; 1 and 4 mg/L correspond to the intestinal concentrations when pigs are fed a compound feed containing 3% of a therapeutic dose, and a reference concentration of 16 mg/L.

Pharmaceuticals and endocrine disruptors in raw and cooked seafood from European market: Concentrations and human exposure levels.

Pharmaceuticals (PhACs) and endocrine disrupting compounds (EDCs) are chemicals of emerging concern that can accumulate in seafood sold in markets. These compounds may represent a risk to consumers through effects on the human reproductive system, metabolic disorders, pathogenesis of breast cancer or development of microbial resistance. Measuring their levels in highly consumed seafood is important to assess the potential risks to human health.

Inulin chain length modification using a transgenic approach opening new perspectives for chicory.

Chicory capable of synthesizing long-chain inulin is of great interest. During the growing season, the sucrose-sucrose 1-fructosyltransferase (1-SST) activity is vital for production of long-chain inulin in chicory. With the purpose to increase inulin chain length, we employed -mediated transformation method.

Introduction of a natural resource balance indicator to assess soil organic carbon management: Agricultural Biomass Productivity Benefit.

The rising demand for feed and food has put an increasing pressure on agriculture, with agricultural intensification as a direct response. Notwithstanding the higher crop productivity, intensive agriculture management entails many adverse environmental impacts. Worldwide, soil organic carbon (SOC) decline is hereby considered as a main danger which affects soil fertility and productivity.