The wild asparagus Asparagus acutifolius L. is common in the Mediterranean Basin. Wild asparagus spears are an important food source within their native range, and can be used as a sustainable nutrition source. In addition, interest has risen in wild relative species of Asparagus as a source of genetic improvement in Asparagus officinalis L. In this study, the quality traits (spear colour, total soluble solid content, dry matter content and chlorophyll and sugar fractions) and health-related compounds (total phenolics and antioxidant capacity) of fresh spears of wild and cultivated asparagus grown in Turkey were compared using the same three harvest periods for two consecutive years. The results of this study indicated that spears of wild asparagus contained a higher level of greenness (–a*), hue angle, total soluble solid, dry matter, chlorophyll, sugars, total phenolic content and antioxidant activity, compared to cultivated asparagus. Although there was no significant difference in the total soluble solid, glucose, sucrose and antioxidant activity in the contents of the spears of both species throughout the season, the colour, dry matter, chlorophyll, fructose, total sugar and total phenolic content were subject to seasonal variations. Colour, chlorophyll and total phenolic content showed some minor fluctuations over the course of the season, but the patterns of fructose and total sugar differed, which tended to increase throughout the harvest season. The present work suggests greater quality traits and biochemical compounds of the spears of A. acutifolius compared with those of commonly cultivated species.

Placement of fertilizer in the seed furrow to increase nutrient availability is a common practice in row-crop production. While in-furrow application of fertilizer is widely utilized in the production of winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), there is a lack of work evaluating new formulations and nutrient combinations that are available. The objective of this study was to quantify the effects of in-furrow fertilizer products and combinations of products on winter wheat grain yield, nitrogen and mineral concentrations. Trials were conducted across five site-years in central Oklahoma using 11 fertilizer formulations placed in-furrow at the time of planting. In locations that soil test phosphorus (STP) levels or potassium were above sufficiency, the use of in-furrow fertilizers did not improve yield over the control. Inconsistency of response was noted at locations where STP levels were below the critical threshold. While one location showed no response to the addition of P regardless of source, two other locations had significant yield responses from three or more P-containing fertilizers. The addition of both sulphur and zinc resulted in increased yield over the base product at one low STP location. Nutrient concentrations were also influenced in nutrient-limited soils; however, no trends in response were present. Based upon the results of this study, the application of in-furrow fertilizer has the potential to increase winter wheat grain yield and nutrient concentration, when soil nutrients are limiting. As expected the addition of fertilizer when soil test levels are at or above a sufficiency did not increase grain yield.

This paper describes the relationships between large-scale modes of climate variability and its related weather types with the fluctuations in the yield of maize crops in Veneto, Italy. The teleconnections analysed in this work are the winter North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the summer North Atlantic Oscillation (SNAO); the West African monsoon (WAM) and the Intertropical Front (ITF). Despite that these indices are not rigorously linked to one another, they result in being considerably related to atmospheric circulation regimes and associated weather types. They have an impact on temperature and precipitation patterns in Italy and on yields of maize crops in Veneto, a region located in northeast Italy. Yields are strongly affected by large-scale temperate and tropical variability directly through three main circulation regimes. Troughing weather regimes that produced below average temperatures depress yields over the entire Veneto region, as does the zonal regime that affects rainfall. Results confirm the relevance of large-scale modes and associated weather regimes and types on maize crop yields fluctuations in Veneto.

Wet winter conditions can create animal welfare issues in feedlots if the pen surface becomes a deep, wet, penetrable substrate. Feedlot pens with a clay and gravel base (N = 30) bedded with 150 mm (W15) and 300 mm (W30) depth of woodchips were compared to a control treatment with no bedding over a 109-day feeding period, while irrigated to supplement natural rainfall. The pad substrate was measured for variables which would affect cattle comfort and value of the substrate for composting. The penetrable depth of control pens was higher than both woodchip-bedded treatments from week 2, and increased until the end of the experiment. Meanwhile these scores were steady for W30 throughout the experiment, and increased for W15 only after week 10. Moisture content of the pad was higher throughout the experiment in the control pens than in the woodchip-bedded pens. In the control pens, the force required to pull a cattle leg analogue out of the pen substrate was three times that required in woodchip-bedded treatments. The W15 treatment increased C : N in the substrate to the upper limit of suitability for composting, and in W30, C : N was too high for composting after a 109-day feeding period. Overall, providing feedlot cattle with 150 or 300 mm of woodchip bedding during a 109-day feeding period improved the condition of the pad substrate for cattle comfort by reducing penetrable depth and moisture content of the substrate surface stratum, but composting value decreased in W30 over this feeding period duration.

Determination of sample size (the number of replications) is a key step in the design of an observational study or randomized experiment. Statistical procedures for this purpose are readily available. Their treatment in textbooks is often somewhat marginal, however, and frequently the focus is on just one particular method of inference (significance test, confidence interval). Here, we provide a unified review of approaches and explain their close interrelationships, emphasizing that all approaches rely on the standard error of the quantity of interest, most often a pairwise difference of two means. The focus is on methods that are easy to compute, even without a computer. Our main recommendation based on standard errors is summarized as what we call the 1-2-3 rule for a difference of two treatment means.

An isotope dilution model for partitioning phenylalanine and tyrosine uptake by the liver of the lactating dairy cow is constructed and solved in the steady state. An original ten-pool model is adopted and solved by cleaving it into two five-pool sub-models, one representing phenylalanine and the other tyrosine. If assumptions are made, model solution permits calculation of the rate of phenylalanine and tyrosine uptake from portal vein and hepatic arterial blood supply, hydroxylation, and synthesis and degradation of constitutive protein. The model requires the measurement of plasma flow rate through the liver in combination with amino acid concentrations and plateau isotopic enrichments in arterial and portal and hepatic vein plasma during a constant infusion of [1-13C]phenylalanine and [2,3,5,6-2H]tyrosine tracers. It also requires estimates of the rate of oxidation and protein export secretion. Analysis of measurement errors in experimental enrichments and infusion rates on model solutions indicated that accurate values of the intracellular and extracellular enrichments are central to minimising errors in the calculated flows. Solving the model by cleaving into two five-pool schemes rather than solving the ten-pool scheme directly is preferred as there appears to be less compounding of errors and the results consistently appear to be more biologically feasible. The model provides a means for assessing the impact of hepatic metabolism on amino acid availability to peripheral tissues such as the mammary gland.

On soils dominated by high proportions of clay and organic matter, soil acidity and poor nutrient use efficiency have a major impact on output potential. Due to the inherent chemical properties of these soils, reducing soil acidity and the prevalence of undesirable metallic cations poses challenges. As a result, these soils have a large capacity for phosphorus (P) fixation, therefore reducing plant P availability. Limestone (CaCO3 or MgCO3) is applied to agricultural soils to counteract soil acidity and reduce P fixation. The current study investigates the effects of four contrasting annual P application rates (0, 50, 100, 150 kg P/ha); split (50:50) between spring and summer, across soils with a range of soil pH values from a previous liming trial. The effect of soil pH ranges and P treatment rates on seasonal herbage growth and herbage P concentration was investigated over three years. Soil nutrient status was also investigated. Soil pH had a significant impact on the rate of mineralization and soil P concentration across each site. A soil pH of 6.2 caused a 1.8 mg/l increase in soil test P. An annual P application was necessary to maintain sufficient herbage P concentration for animal dietary requirements (0.35% DM), however there was no effect of P application or liming rate on herbage productivity across the three sites as all sites possessed sufficient soil P reserves. The current experiment has shown that despite optimal soil fertility status, ensuring sufficient plant available P is a problem on these particular soils.

This paper assesses the influence of heat and drought stress on the economic performance of the European dairy sector. Climatic data from the Gridded Agro-Meteorological data in Europe were combined with dairy enterprise data from the Farm Accountancy Data Network, resulting in a data set of 4412 farms in 22 European Union (EU) countries over the period 2007–2013. Since the performance of dairy farms is influenced by the context in which they operate, farms were grouped into areas representing similar climatic conditions through the use of a latent class analysis. Technical efficiency (TE) and economic downside risk were used as performance indicators against which the effect of climatic stress factors was evaluated. TE was estimated using a ‘true-fixed’ effect stochastic frontier model. Economic downside risk was based on gross margin deviations. Regression analysis suggests a significant negative effect of drought and heat stress on both TE and the downside gross margin difference in most climatic classes, with few exceptions. Results imply that both drought and heat stress-related issues need to be considered when designing adaptation strategies to address threats to the economic performance of the EU dairy sector.

Genetic gains (ΔG) are determined by the breeders' equation ΔG = [(ck σ2G)/(y σP)], where c, k and y are the parental control, a function of the selection intensity and number of years to complete one selection cycle, respectively, while σ2G and are σP the genetic variance and the square root of the phenotypic variance. Plant breeding programs should deliver above 1% of annual genetic gains after testing and selection. The aim of this research was to estimate genetic gains in potato breeding after testing of cultivars released in western Europe in the last 200 years under high yield potential, and stress-prone environments affected by a pest (late blight) or daylength. The annual genetic gains for tuber yield and flesh's starch content for potato breeding in Europe were about 0.3 and −0.1%, respectively, thus telling that the realized genetic gains of foreign cultivars for both traits are small or negative, respectively, in the Nordic testing sites. The national annual productivity gains in potato grown in Sweden were on average 0.7% in the last 60 years while the genetic gains for tuber yield considering only the table cultivars released after the 2nd World War were about 0.36%, thus showing that breeding contributed just above ½ of it. Furthermore, genetic gains for breeding low reducing sugars in the tuber flesh, and high host plant resistance to late blight were small (<0.2% per year). These results highlight that genetic gains are small when testing bred germplasm outside their target population of environments.

In pasture-based dairy production systems, identifying the appropriate stocking rate (SR; cows/ha) based on the farm grass growth is a key strategic decision for driving the overall farm business. This paper investigates a number of scenarios examining the effects of SR (2–3 cows/ha (0.25 unit changes)), annual nitrogen (N) fertilizer application rates (0–300 kg N/ha (50 kg/ha unit changes)), soil type (heavy and a free-draining soil) and agroclimate location ((south and northeast of Ireland) across 16 years) on pasture growth and forage self-sufficiency using the pasture-based herd dynamic milk model merged with the Moorepark St Gilles grass growth model. The modelled outputs were grass growth, grass dry matter intake, silage harvested and offered, overall farm forage self-sufficiency and N surplus. The model outputs calculated that annual grass yield increased from 9436 kg DM/ha/year when 0 kg N/ha/year was applied to 14 996 kg DM/ha/year when 300 kg N/ha/year were applied, with an average N response of 18.4 kg DM/kg N applied (range of 9.9–27.7 kg DM/kg N applied). Systems stocked at 2.5 cows/ha and applying 250–300 kg N fertilizer/ha/year were self-sufficient for forage. As N input was reduced from 250 kg N/ha/year, farm forage self-sufficiency declined, as did farm N surplus. The results showed that a reduction in N fertilizer application of 50 kg/ha/year will require a reduction in an SR of 0.18 cows/ha to maintain self-sufficiency (R2 = 0.90).

Phenylalanine (PHE) and to a lesser extent TYR are two commonly used amino acid tracers for measuring protein metabolism in a variety of species and tissues. The model examined in this paper was developed to resolve trans-organ and stable isotope dilution data collected from experiments with lactating dairy cows using these tracers. Two methods of solving the model, i.e. as two four-pool submodels, one representing PHE and the other TYR, or as an integrated eight-pool model, are investigated and the alternative solutions are contrasted. Solving the model as the two four-pool submodels rather than the integrated 8-pool model is preferred as the equations are slightly simpler and their application less susceptible to any compounding of measurement errors. The data used to illustrate the model were taken from experiments conducted to investigate the effects of high and low protein diets on the partitioning of PHE and TYR between milk protein synthesis and other metabolic fates by the mammary gland.

Understanding and representing the transformation of agricultural production systems has attracted increasing interest due to its importance for identifying drivers of changes and coping mechanisms in response to global challenges. These challenges are all the most pressing in North African countries exposed to a dramatic reduction in rainfall and increasing temperatures that affect sustainability in more than half of this semi-arid territory. This paper describes an improved way to understand such transformations through a cross-cutting analysis of crop–livestock system indicators over a period of 10 years in one community in Southern Tunisia. Our methodology is divided into four steps: (i) systems identification, (ii) indicator-based assessment of system crop–livestock sustainability, (iii) hierarchical clustering to identify sustainable intensification (SI)-based farm types and, finally, (iv) analysis of trajectories of these farm types. Results showed that the sustainability of the systems studied increasingly depends on diversification rather than intensification, which dominated in the 2000s. However, diversification has not necessarily improved socio-economic viability. Over the 10-year period, results revealed a dramatic increase of almost 50% in the population of small-scale farms whose viability depends on a range of on- and off-farm activities to meet the short-term needs that correspond to a buffer strategy. Additionally, the dominant SI processes were shown to be mostly based on diversification to livestock activities with both milking and fattening. Our holistic and timeline approach to system transformation makes it possible to account for sustainability between (systems) generations, which will be highly needed in future discussions about sustainability.

The use of ‘cut-and-carry’ (the mechanical harvesting and feeding of fresh grass) has increased in some temperate regions in recent years and evidence suggests that sward management practices in this system differ to conventional grazing. In order to investigate this further, a 2 × 3 × 2 factorial experiment was used to examine the effect of low (1489 kg dry matter (DM)/ha; LHM) and high (2142 kg DM/ha; HHM) pre-cutting herbage mass; three ryegrass cultivars, diploid perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne; DIP), tetraploid perennial ryegrass (TET) and a hybrid ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum × L. perenne; HY); and the inclusion of red clover (Trifolium pratense) on sward herbage production, nutritive value and ryegrass morphology. Plots were harvested according to herbage mass from March to November in 2018 and 2019. Annual DM production was 1489 kg DM/ha higher in HHM than in LHM swards. Pre-cutting herbage mass had no effect on organic matter digestibility (OMD) in early season for DIP and TET swards or in late season for all cultivars. There was an interaction between ryegrass cultivar and clover inclusion in annual yield whereby red clover increased DM production in all cultivars however, its effect was largest in HY swards. Red clover inclusion increased DM production but reduced OMD in early and mid-seasons. Overall, TET swards were lowest in neutral detergent fibre and highest in OMD compared to HY and DIP. Pre-cutting herbage mass, ryegrass cultivar and red clover inclusion require careful consideration when establishing and managing pastures in cut-and-carry systems.

To overcome grass supply shortages on the main grazing block, some pasture-based dairy farmers are using zero-grazing (also known as ‘cut and carry’), whereby cows are periodically housed and fed fresh grass harvested from external land blocks. To determine the effect of zero-grazing on cow performance, two early-lactation experiments were conducted with autumn and spring-calving dairy cows. Cows were assigned to one of two treatments in a randomized complete block design. The two treatments were zero-grazing (ZG) and grazing (G). The ZG group were housed and fed zero-grazed grass, while the G group grazed outdoors at pasture. Both treatments were fed perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) from the same paddock. In experiment 1, 24 Holstein Friesian cows (n = 12) were studied over a 35-day experimental period in autumn and offered fresh grass, grass silage, ground maize and concentrates. In experiment 2, 30 Holstein Friesian cows (n = 15) were studied over a 42-day experimental period and offered fresh grass and concentrates. Average dry matter intake and milk yield was similar for ZG and G in both experiments. Likewise, ZG did not have an effect on milk composition, body condition or locomotion. Zero-grazing had no effect on total nitrogen excretion or nitrogen utilization efficiency in either experiment, or on rumen pH and ammonia concentration in experiment 1. While zero-grazing may enable farmers to supply fresh grass to early-lactation cows in spring and autumn, results from this study suggest that there are no additional benefits to cow performance in comparison to well-managed grazed grass.

Livestock plays a crucial role in food and nutrition security. However, livestock production accounts for 0.18 of global greenhouse gas emissions. India has one of the highest livestock densities globally, mainly produced under traditional systems. Specifically, the emission and particularly nitrogen losses from cattle in traditional systems cannot be ignored. Nitrogen emission is substantial when cattle roam free and waste is not collected or managed efficiently. This paper reviews the literature to piece together the available information on nitrogen emissions from cattle in India to synthesize the evidence, identify gaps and contribute to further understanding of the problem. At the same time, the paper highlights the solutions to reduce nitrogen pollution from cattle production in India. The main findings are that most cattle in India are not reared to provide meat protein. The implication is that reactive nitrogen per capita consumption is lower than most developed countries. However, there are substantial inefficiencies in feed conversion, feed nitrogen use and manure management in India. As a result, nitrogen losses and wastage are considerable in the different production systems. Furthermore, the review suggests that social, cultural and economic factors such as convergent social behaviour, urbanization, regulations, changing consumption patterns, the demand for cheap fuel sources, culture and religion influence the production systems and, consequently, the emissions from livestock. Suggested solutions to reduce nitrogen pollution from cattle production in India are improving livestock productivity, adopting better feeding, manure and pasture management practices and using behavioural nudges.

With social network analysis, group structures of animals can be studied. However, underlying behavioural observations face problems of missing events or deviations between observers. The current study analysed the robustness of node-level network parameters based on tail-biting observations in pigs affected by missed events. Real observations of one observer were used as a gold standard to build true networks and to compare two sets of erroneous networks to them. The first set consisted of networks from different observers of the same data basis. The second set consisted of networks with a fixed error rate (random samples of the gold standard). The stability of the ranking order was used as an indication of accuracy (range 0–1; ≥0.49 good accuracy; ≥0.81 very good accuracy). Comparing observers with true networks yielded overall bad accuracy scores. Generally, outgoing network parameters (active: biting) provided better accuracy scores than ingoing network parameters (passive: being bitten). The results of sampled networks showed decreasing accuracy scores with increasing error rates. At the same error rate, longer observation periods yielded better accuracy scores. For sampled networks, differences between outgoing and ingoing network parameters were more distinct and local parameters (direct contacts) provided better accuracy scores than global parameters (direct and indirect contacts). Overall, sampled networks with 3/10 missed events yielded good to very good accuracy. As networks with more observations handle missed events better, studies of behavioural observations always need to evaluate the required accuracy and feasible workload. The current study gives insights in the accurate estimation of behavioural observations.

The spatio-temporal variation of leaf chlorophyll content is an important crop phenotypic trait that is of great significance for evaluating crop productivity. This study used a soil-plant analysis development (SPAD) chlorophyll meter for non-destructive monitoring of leaf chlorophyll dynamics to characterize the patterns of spatio-temporal variation in the nutritional status of maize (Zea mays L.) leaves under three nitrogen treatments in two cultivars. The results showed that nitrogen levels could affect the maximum leaf SPAD reading (SPADmax) and the duration of high SPAD reading. A rational model was used to measure the changes in SPAD readings over time in single leaves. This model was suitable for predicting the dynamics of the nutrient status for each leaf position under different nitrogen treatments, and model parameter values were position dependent. SPADmax at each leaf decreased with the reduction of nitrogen supply. Leaves at different positions in both cultivars responded differently to higher nitrogen rates. Lower leaves (8th–10th positions) were more sensitive than the other leaves in response to nitrogen. Monitoring the SPAD reading dynamic of lower leaves could accurately characterize and assess the nitrogen supply in plants. The lower leaves in nitrogen-deficient plants had a shorter duration of high SPAD readings compared to nitrogen-sufficient plants; this physiological mechanism should be studied further. In summary, the spatio-temporal variation of plant nitrogen status in maize was analysed to determine critical leaf positions for potentially assisting in the identification of appropriate agronomic management practices, such as the adjustment of nitrogen rates in late fertilization.

Seasonality and species are key aspects of the abiotic and biotic environment, respectively, that influence nutrient, phytochemical and antioxidant profiles of invasive alien plants leaf-meals. The current study investigated the effects of season on nutrient, amino acid, fatty acid, mineral, bioactive polyphenolic composition and antioxidant activity of Acacia mearnsii and A. dealbata leaf-meals. Overall, A. mearnsii leaf-meal harvested in the hot-dry-season had greater crude protein, ether extract, neutral detergent soluble fibre, 24 and 48 h in vitro neutral detergent fibre digestibility, macro-mineral contents, individual polyphenols, C18:1n9 and C18:2n6 compared to other leaf-meals. Regardless of the season, A. mearnsii leaf-meals had greater amino acid concentrations than A. dealbata leaf-meals. Hot-dry-season leaf-meals had a greater concentration of total flavonoids than the leaf-meals in the cool-wet-season irrespective of species. Antioxidant potency composite of the Acacia leaf-meals was in the order of A. dealbata × hot-dry-season > A. mearnsii × hot-dry-season > A. mearnsii × cool-wet-season > A. dealbata × cool-wet-season. The findings suggested that A. mearnsii leaf-meal harvested in the hot-dry-season has superior nutritional and polyphenolic profiles, which could support its use as a nutraceutical and preservative for the enhancement of ruminant production and product quality compared to other leaf meals.

The aim of this study was to determine the in vitro digestibility and in sacco disappearance of dry matter (DM) and neutral detergent fibre (NDF) in total almond hulls (TAH), pure almond hulls (PAH) or Debris. The TAH were used because there are no data on the effect of debris (non-hull material) on the nutritional value of almond hulls. Twelve samples of commercial almond hulls were used, with one subsample representing the TAH and the other subsample hand sorted to separate the hulls (PAH) from Debris. Gas production and Ankom Daisy method were used to determine in vitro digestibility, while two rumen-fistulated cows were used to measure in sacco disappearance of PAH and TAH. For in vitro digestibility, both PAH and TAH were more digestible and had greater gas production than Debris. The PAH had greater in vitro true digestibility on a DM basis and NDF digestibility at 48 and 72 h compared with TAH. Nonpareil hulls provided greater metabolizable energy (ME) concentration when compared with other almond varieties, with PAH supplying numerically more ME than TAH for both varieties. For in sacco disappearance, PAH had greater DM and NDF disappearance along with a greater rate of disappearance for NDF compared with TAH. This research demonstrated that Debris is highly indigestible; therefore, hulling, agronomic and harvesting practices should be focused on reducing Debris in commercial almond hulls to improve their nutritive value as a feedstuff for livestock.

Maize is one of the three staple foods in the world. The white variety represents 60% of the maize importation with a world consumption of 1125 million tons in 2019/2020. Currently, new technologies could contribute to the analysis of this seed, supporting quality control and improvement. This study aims to carry out the morphological and proteomic comparison between the hybrid MR2008 and its parental lines LUG03 and CML491 through mass spectrometry and bioinformatics analysis. Herein, we identified that 34.8% of the hybrid proteome differs from the parental proteome. Also, ontological and morphological analyses determined that the hybrid exhibits more characteristics related to CML491 than LUG03, for example, metabolic pathways and enzymes, such as anthocyanidin 3-O-glucosyltransferase (UniProt P16166). This analysis allowed the identification of dominant characters, metabolic pathways and confirms the utility of this methodology in agricultural practices, mainly in processes of selection and quality control of a crop.