scholarly journals The Case for New Domestic Animals

Oryx ◽  
1974 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 351-360 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael A. Crawford

You do not grow bananas in the north of Scotland or raspberries in the Serengeti. Similarly temperate-zone cattle are not suited to Africa's semi-arid lands but giraffe and eland thrive. So these and other wild species, says the author, should be domesticated for such lands—40 per cent of Africa south of the Sahara is semi-arid—with cattle farming restricted to the highlands. In addition, research on new systems of management should aim to make use of the wild animals’ preferences for different grasses, bush and browse—from the tree-top using giraffe to the root-digging warthog.

Author(s):  
Mihaela- Anca DASCALU ◽  
Florentina BOCANETI ◽  
Oana TANASE ◽  
Elena VELESCU

In order to obtain an overview of the situation of rabies positive cases, but also to establish a true prevalence of the disease among domestic and wild animals, an epidemiological survey was conducted in the north east of the country, targeting the 8 counties of Moldova region,over a period of eight years, between 2010 and 2017. A total of 2306 brain samples coming from animals with suspicion of rabies were received at the laboratories, from which 851 (36,90 %) were represented by domestic animals and 1455 (63,10 %) by wild animals. Following the implementation of the referenced techniques in rabies diagnosis, out of 2306tested samples, 492 (21,36%) were confirmed positive and 1814 negative (78,66%). Out of 1455 samples coming from wild animals, 303 (20,82 %) were confirmed positive, with a total prevalence of 21,32 %, while in the case of domestic animals out of 851 samples, 189 were positive, with a total prevalence of 22,20 %.


Arid and semi-arid lands are areas where rainfall is too low or too unreliable for cropping or sown pastures. Australian arid and semi-arid lands comprise a single vast area extending to the 250 mm mean annual rainfall isohyet in the south and the 750 mm isohyet in the north. The grazeable areas are used for grazing of sheep or cattle under very extensive management, producing wool and meat for export. The industries have a low production per unit area, but are very efficient in terms of production per unit of labour. Graziers and administrators have had an overoptimistic perception of the land and climate which has led to varying degrees of resource degradation. Applied research into resource inventory, range condition and trend, stock carrying capacities, and droughts is described. The land and climate of arid and semi-arid Australia are comparable with those of other parts of the world, but socio-economic factors are very different.


2020 ◽  
Vol 26 (5) ◽  
pp. 542-555 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guillermo Schmeda-Hirschmann ◽  
Cristina Theoduloz ◽  
Felipe Jiménez-Aspee ◽  
Javier Echeverría

Background: The pods from several South American Prosopis species have been considered relevant food in arid and semi-arid South America since prehistoric times. Traditionally the meal from the pods was processed to prepare different foods and beverages. Objective: The objective was to discuss literature from the archaeological evidence of use to study the chemistry and (bio)activity of the extracts and secondary metabolites occurring in different Prosopis food products. Method: The review was carried out by searching electronic databases, including ScienceDirect, SciFinder, Scopus, Scielo, Google Scholar, PubMed and hand-search on literature. The review mainly covers studies performed in the year 1995-2019 and the first-hand experience of the authors. References on the historical and prehistorical uses of the natural resource were also included. Results: In the last decades, most studies on the edible South American Prosopis focused on the constituents of pods meal, traditional preparations and by-products. Total 45 flavonoids, ellagic acid derivatives, catechin and simple phenolics were identified. Alkaloids occur mainly in the leaves, that are not used for human nutrition but as food for domestic animals. Piperidine alkaloids, tryptamine, tyramine and β-phenethylamine were isolated and identified from several species. The (bio)activity studies included mainly the antioxidant effect, antiinflammatory and enzyme inhibition associated with metabolic syndrome. The products showed no toxicity or mutagenic effect. Conclusions: While data on the chemistry, some (bio)activities and toxicity are available for the pods meal and byproducts, little is known about the composition of the fermented Algarrobo beverages. Further studies are needed on the digestion of Algarrobo products both in humans and cattle.


2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ronald Green ◽  
◽  
F. Paul Bertetti ◽  
Beth Fratesi ◽  
Nathaniel J. Toll

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 1359
Author(s):  
Elisa Bona ◽  
Nadia Massa ◽  
Omrane Toumatia ◽  
Giorgia Novello ◽  
Patrizia Cesaro ◽  
...  

Algeria is the largest country in Africa characterized by semi-arid and arid sites, located in the North, and hypersaline zones in the center and South of the country. Several autochthonous plants are well known as medicinal plants, having in common tolerance to aridity, drought and salinity. In their natural environment, they live with a great amount of microbial species that altogether are indicated as plant microbiota, while the plants are now viewed as a “holobiont”. In this work, the microbiota of the soil associated to the roots of fourteen economically relevant autochthonous plants from Algeria have been characterized by an innovative metagenomic approach with a dual purpose: (i) to deepen the knowledge of the arid and semi-arid environment and (ii) to characterize the composition of bacterial communities associated with indigenous plants with a strong economic/commercial interest, in order to make possible the improvement of their cultivation. The results presented in this work highlighted specific signatures which are mainly determined by climatic zone and soil properties more than by the plant species.


2005 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 140-148 ◽  
Author(s):  
H. RICARDO GRAU ◽  
N. IGNACIO GASPARRI ◽  
T. MITCHELL AIDE

In Argentina, deforestation due to agriculture expansion is threatening the Semi-arid Chaco, one of the largest forested biomes of South America. This study focuses on the north-west boundary of the Argentine Semi-arid Chaco, where soybean is the most important crop. Deforestation was estimated for areas with different levels of soil and rainfall limitation for agriculture between 1972 and 2001, with a finer analysis in three periods starting in 1984, which are characterized by differences in rainfall, soybean price, production cost, technology-driven yield and national gross domestic product. Between 1972 and 2001, 588 900 ha (c. 20% of the forests) were deforested. Deforestation has been accelerating, reaching >28 000 ha yr−1 after 1997. The initial deforestation was associated with black bean cultivation following an increase in rainfall during the 1970s. In the 1980s, high soybean prices stimulated further deforestation. Finally, the introduction of soybean transgenic cultivars in 1997 reduced plantation costs and stimulated a further increase in deforestation. The domestic economy had little association with deforestation. Although deforestation was more intense in the moister (rainfall >600 mm yr−1) areas, more than 300 000 ha have already been deforested in the drier areas, suggesting that climatic limitations are being overcome by technological and genetic improvement. Furthermore, more than 300 000 ha of forest occur in sectors without major soil and rainfall limitations. If global trends of technology, soybean markets and climate continue, and no active conservation policies are applied, vast areas of the Chaco will be deforested in the coming decades.


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