Veterinary Science Collected Works - Research Publications
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ItemAn empirical analysis of the use of agricultural mobile applications among smallholder farmers in Myanmar(WILEY, 2021-03)Abstract Mobile phone applications (apps) designed to assist smallholder farmers improve decision‐making have been revolutionizing the agriculture sector. These apps offer solutions to farmer information needs by providing weather information, crop market trends, pest and disease damage identification, and advice on pesticide and fertilizer use. They also facilitate interaction with fellow farmers, extension workers and other stakeholders in the value chain who are interested in information exchange. Much previous research has investigated the contribution of mobile apps to agricultural production. This study explored the agricultural mobile apps available in Myanmar, analyzed factors affecting their use and assessed the potential for farm‐based decision support. Our findings indicate that when introducing mobile‐based tools, focus should be given to younger, more educated farmers growing more specialized crops. The main constraints to adopt agricultural apps are lack of access to smartphone and/or internet (63%) and lack of digital knowledge (20%). However, smallholder farmers in Myanmar were optimistic and positive toward agricultural apps for effective utilization. We also found that majority of the surveyed farmers were familiar with information received through Facebook groups. Incorporating useful information and functions from an agricultural mobile app to a Facebook Page could have a more useful and sustainable impact.
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ItemAmmonia volatilisation losses from urea applied to acidic cropping soils is regulated by pH buffering capacity(CSIRO Publishing, 2023)Ammonia (NH3) volatilisation can be a significant nitrogen (N) loss pathway in the grains industry following the surface broadcast application of urea. However, the extent of urea volatilisation from acidic soils and the soil properties that regulate this N loss pathway have not been investigated widely. Aims. We conducted a laboratory incubation experiment to measure NH3 volatilisation loss potential following the broadcast application of urea prills (1–2mm diameter; 50 kg N ha−1) onto moistened acidic and neutral cropping soils, sampled from four long-term cropping research sites. Methods. The selected soils varied in pH, clay content, organic carbon, pH buffering capacity (pHBC) and cation exchange capacity. Volatilised NH3 was captured in a phosphoric acid trap after 7, 14 and 21 days and then measured using colorimetric analysis. We compared the measured NH3 losses with predicted NH3 losses derived from an existing empirical NH3 volatilisation prediction model. Key results. Of the applied urea-N, 0.9–25% was volatilised. Cumulative NH3 losses were strongly related (R2 = 0.77) with soil pHBC derived from a pedotransfer function. The existing NH3 loss model generally had poor predictive capacity (RMSE = 34%). Conclusions. Using clay content as a surrogate variable for pHBC in the predictive model for sandy kaolinitic soils where it is largely a function of organic carbon content can cause poor estimates of NH3 volatilisation loss potential. Implications. Grain production on sandy, acidic soils with low pHBC could lead to substantial NH3 volatilisation losses if urea is broadcast.
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ItemOutcome following emergency laparotomy in 33 UK donkeys: A retrospective multicentre study(WILEY, 2023-03)BACKGROUND: Emergency laparotomies in donkeys are infrequently performed and there is limited literature on the subject. OBJECTIVES: To determine findings and associated outcomes of exploratory laparotomies in donkeys. STUDY DESIGN: Descriptive retrospective study. METHODS: Donkeys undergoing emergency exploratory laparotomy for investigation and treatment of colic at seven UK referral hospitals between 2005-2017 were included. Data were retrieved from available hospital records. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistical analysis of outcomes of interest was performed in three steps. RESULTS: Thirty-three cases fulfilled the inclusion criteria. Clinical signs on presentation were available for 32 donkeys, of which 53.1% (17/32) presented for investigation of colic while in 46.9% (15/32) the presenting complaint was non-specific. Primary lesion location included small intestine (42.4%, 14/33), large colon (39.3%, 13/33), caecum (6.1%, 2/33), stomach (6.1%, 2/33) and 6.1% (2/33) had multiple abnormal findings without a clear primary lesion. Overall survival to discharge was 54.5% (18/33). Five donkeys (15.2%, 5/33) were euthanased at surgery and of those recovering from general anaesthesia a further 35.7% (10/28) were euthanased or died prior to discharge. Six donkeys (21.4%, 6/28) required a second laparotomy of which 4 (66.7%, 4/6) survived. Post-operative complications occurred in 82.1% (23/28) of cases and included hyperlipaemia (42.9%, 12/28), incisional complications (21.4%, 6/28), ileus (21.4%, 6/28) and persistent colic (17.9%, 5/28). When adjusted for other complications, donkeys with primary gastric lesions were less likely to have presented with severe colic compared with those with primary small intestinal lesions (OR: 0.07, 95% CI 0.01-0.95, p = 0.05). Only age was positively associated with death prior to discharge (OR: 1.18, 95% CI 1.03-1.36, p = 0.02). MAIN LIMITATIONS: Small sample size and retrospective design. CONCLUSION: Donkeys with abdominal lesions may present with a range of signs often not including colic. Surgical findings were diverse and survival to discharge appears to be lower than in horses.
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ItemCross-species emotional political ecology in rural Pakistan(Elsevier, 2023-02-01)This article engages cross-species intersectionality and emotional political ecology to evaluate a dairy extension service that ran in Punjab and Sindh, Pakistan, between 2012 and 2017. The project aimed to mitigate potential negative impacts of implementation, such as the exacerbation of pre-existing social inequality, by applying principles of women’s agency and empowerment in project design. Evidence from the two case study villages reveals how social difference (caste and class) shape women’s access to extension meetings and the resources to implement practices. The evidence also reveals that through cattle work woman cultivate an emotional bond with their animals, given the multiple instrumental and sociocultural values they represent for households. Singh (2013) provides a definition of the agentic potential of this emotional bond as the ‘ability to affect and be affected.’ The higher socioeconomic classes that had good access to the extension service were able to improve animal welfare and milk production through which they cultivated satisfaction, pride and independence. Alternatively, women expressed feelings of longing or boredom in the absence of this invaluable resource in their lives. This article confirms the importance of intersectionality for designing interventions that are sensitive to inter and intra household dynamics and that cross-species relations form pivotal axes for social difference. These cross-species relations cultivate emotions/affect during engagement with the extension service.
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ItemSpatial and temporal distribution of foot and mouth disease outbreaks in Amhara region of Ethiopia in the period 1999 to 2016(BMC, 2020-06-09)BACKGROUND: Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is an economically important trans-boundary viral disease of cloven-hoofed animals. It is caused by FMD virus, which belongs to the genus Aphthovirus and family Picornaviridae. FMD is a well-established endemic disease in Ethiopia since it was first detected in 1957. This retrospective study was carried out to identify the spatial and temporal distribution of FMD outbreaks in Amhara region of Ethiopia using 18 years (January 1999-December 2016) reported outbreak data. RESULTS: A total of 636 FMD outbreaks were reported in Amhara region of Ethiopia between 1999 and 2016 with an average and median of 35 and 13 outbreaks per year respectively. In this period, FMD was reported at least once in 58.5% of the districts (n = 79) and in all administrative zones of the region (n = 10). The average district level incidence of FMD outbreaks was 4.68 per 18 years (0.26 per district year). It recurs in a district as epidemic, on average in 5.86 years period. The incidence differed between administrative zones, being the lowest in East Gojjam and highest in North Shewa. The occurrence of FMD outbreaks was found to be seasonal with peak outbreaks in March and a low in August. The long-term trend of FMD outbreaks indicates a slight, but statistically significant (p < 0.001) decrease over the study period. CONCLUSION: FMD occurred in all zones of the region and showed statistically significant decrease in the long-term trend. Numbers of outbreaks were relatively higher during dry season. The spatial and temporal distribution identified in this study should be considered in controlling the disease. As unregulated and frequent animal movements are the likely causes of high outbreak occurrence during the dry season, animal movement regulations should be considered for the long-term control of FMD.
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ItemPrevalence and associated risk factors of Bovine mastitis in dairy cows in and around Assosa town, Benishangul-Gumuz Regional State, Western Ethiopia(WILEY, 2021-07)BACKGROUND: Mastitis, a complex disease of multifactorial aetiology, is one of the most costly diseases in the dairy industry worldwide. It can be categorized as clinical and subclinical type relying on the clinical sign. The objectives of the study were to determine the prevalence of mastitis and to identify its intrinsic and extrinsic risk factors in dairy cows in and around Assosa town, Western Ethiopia. METHODS: A cross-sectional study design was followed to address the objectives of the study. A total of 367 lactating cows were selected using simple random and systematic sampling techniques. Thorough clinical examination and California Mastitis Test (CMT) were deployed for detection of both clinical and subclinical mastitis, respectively. RESULTS: Based on CMT result and clinical examination the cow level prevalence of mastitis was 40.3% (n = 148), of which 11.99% (n = 44) and 28.34% (n = 104) were clinical and subclinical mastitis respectively. The corresponding quarter-level prevalence was determined to be 26.9% (n = 394), comprising 11.99% (n = 176) clinical and 14.85% (n = 218) subclinical mastitis. The Chi-square analysis of intrinsic risk factors revealed statistically significant differences (p <.05) in the prevalence of mastitis among breed, stage of lactation and body condition score. Likewise, production system, previous mastitis exposure, hygiene practice and type of floor were extrinsic risk factors significantly associated with the occurrence of mastitis. CONCLUSIONS: In general, this study revealed a high prevalence of bovine mastitis in the study area. Thus, the current study shows the need for applying feasible mastitis intervention strategy with special emphasis on sub-clinical mastitis and associated risk factors.
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ItemRoots' Drought Adaptive Traits in Crop Improvement.(MDPI AG, 2022-08-30)Drought is one of the biggest concerns in agriculture due to the projected reduction of global freshwater supply with a concurrent increase in global food demand. Roots can significantly contribute to improving drought adaptation and productivity. Plants increase water uptake by adjusting root architecture and cooperating with symbiotic soil microbes. Thus, emphasis has been given to root architectural responses and root-microbe relationships in drought-resilient crop development. However, root responses to drought adaptation are continuous and complex processes and involve additional root traits and interactions among themselves. This review comprehensively compiles and discusses several of these root traits such as structural, physiological, molecular, hydraulic, anatomical, and plasticity, which are important to consider together, with architectural changes, when developing drought resilient crop varieties. In addition, it describes the significance of root contribution in improving soil structure and water holding capacity and its implication on long-term resilience to drought. In addition, various drought adaptive root ideotypes of monocot and dicot crops are compared and proposed for given agroclimatic conditions. Overall, this review provides a broader perspective of understanding root structural, physiological, and molecular regulators, and describes the considerations for simultaneously integrating multiple traits for drought tolerance and crop improvement, under specific growing environments.
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ItemResearch Progress on Greenhouse Gas Emissions From Livestock in Sub-Saharan Africa Falls Short of National Inventory Ambitions(Frontiers Media SA, 2022-01-01)Livestock are an important source of livelihoods in agricultural systems in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), while also being the largest source of national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in most African countries. As a consequence, there is a critical need for data on livestock GHG sources and sinks to develop national inventories, as well as conduct baseline measurements and intervention testing to mitigate GHG emissions and meet ambitious national climate goals. Our objective was to review studies on GHG emissions from livestock systems in SSA, as well as soil carbon storage in livestock-dominated systems (i.e., grasslands and rangelands), to evaluate best current data and suggest future research priorities. To this end, we compiled studies from SSA that determined emission factors (EFs) for enteric methane and manure emissions, along with studies on soil organic carbon (SOC) stocks in SSA. We found that there has been limited research on livestock GHG emissions and SOC relative to national ambitions for climate change mitigation in SSA. Enteric methane emission factors (EFs) in low productivity cattle systems may be lower than IPCC Tier 1 default EFs, whereas small ruminants (i.e. sheep and goats) had higher EFs compared to IPCC Tier 1 EFs. Manure EFs were equal to or lower than IPCC Tier 1 EFs for deposited manure (while grazing), manure applied as fertilizer, and manure management. SOC stocks for grasslands and rangelands in SSA show broad agreement with IPCC estimates, but there was a strong geographic bias and many studies did not report soil type, bulk density, or SOC stocks at >30 cm depth. In general, the largest data gaps included information for manure (quantity, quality, management), small ruminants, agropastoral/pastoralist systems, and in general from West Africa. Future research should focus on filling major data gaps on locally appropriate mitigation interventions and improving livestock activity data for developing Tier 2 GHG inventories in SSA. At the science-policy interface, all parties would benefit from enhanced coordination within the research community and between researchers and African governments to improve Tier 2 inventories and harmonize measurement for mitigation in livestock systems in SSA.
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ItemApplying C:N ratio to assess the rationality of estimates of carbon sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and nitrogen budgets(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2022-12)Abstract Carbon (C) sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems needs to ensure the reactive nitrogen (Nr) supply. However, the organic C:N ratio is rarely considered in both estimates of C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and N budget at regional and global scale. Here we propose an approach for extracting Nr sequestrated in terrestrial ecosystems with C (termed as Nrc) from N budget and then assessing the rationality of estimates of C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems and N budgets by using the sequestrated organic C:N ratio as a criterion. We extracted Nrc from the N budget of IPCC AR5 at global scale and Chinese N budget (Proc Natl Acad Sci (USA) 112:8792, 2015) at regional scale based on the assumptions that there is no net Nr accumulation in agricultural products and no net Nr (except N2O) accumulation in the atmosphere at annual temporal scale, and N2O is not involved in biological processes. By taking the C sequestration in terrestrial ecosystems from C budget of IPCC AR5 (2.1 Pg C/yr during 2000–2009) to assess the N budget from the same report, the organic C:N ratios calculated by the Nrc extracted from both the upper ranges and averages of Nr input and output in global N budgets of IPCC AR5 fell outside the rational range of organic C:N ratio, but the organic C:N ratio (=31) calculated by the Nrc (68.1 Tg N/yr) extracted from the lower ranges of the N budget fell very well into the range of organic C:N ratio in global terrestrial ecosystems. Nrc extracted from Chinese N budget was 11.6 Tg N/yr in 2010, which could be combined with C into Chinese terrestrial ecosystems in a range between 0.14–0.66 Pg C/yr with a robust estimate of 0.36 Pg C/yr by applying the global terrestrial ecosystem sequestrated organic C:N ratio to calculation. The results indicate that the proposed approach for extracting Nrc from N budget works well. Checking the estimated organic C:N ratio in terrestrial ecosystems will help to assess whether the C and/or N budgets are rational or not. Graphical abstract