Is there a relationship between the behaviour of beef cattle and emissions of methane and ammonia from feedlot systems?

2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 ◽  
pp. 101-101
Author(s):  
S Muir ◽  
M Bai ◽  
Z Loh ◽  
J Hill ◽  
D Chen ◽  
...  

Associations between animal behaviour and emissions of methane (CH4) and ammonia (NH3) have been noted in studies of grazing cattle (Lockyer, 1997) and feedlot confined cattle (Harper et al., 1999, Flesch et al., 2007). Methane emissions have been predicted as being greatest during bouts of rumination (Harper et al., 1999) whereas the emissions of the indirect greenhouse gas ammonia tends to be low early in the morning but increasing rapidly in the early afternoon after which a rapid decline until sunset (Flesch et al., 2007). With the exception of Harper et al., (1999) there are few complete data sets that examine the interaction between animal behaviour and greenhouse gas emissions from intensive animal production systems. The current study aimed to investigate the relationship between animal behaviour and emissions of CH4 and NH3 in a beef feedlot system in northern Australia.

Plant Disease ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 87 (12) ◽  
pp. 1477-1486 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Furman ◽  
Norman Lalancette ◽  
James F. White

Different numbers of consecutive fungicide applications, beginning at petal fall and continuing into the summer, were examined for their effect on rusty spot epidemics. Disease progressions for each fungicide level were quantified by fitting either the logistic or monomolecular model. When the weighted absolute infection rate (ρ) and maximum disease level (Kmax) parameters were expressed as functions of the number of applications, the logistic decline model provided the best fit for five of six data sets. This model described a gradual decrease in ρ and Kmax in response to the initial fungicide application, a rapid decline in parameter values with the addition of one or two applications, and a diminished parameter response as fungicide applications continued toward the end of the epidemic. Based on examination of model behavior across all 3 years of the study, adequate management was achieved with a total of three to five fungicide applications. Additional analyses of area under the disease progress curve and final disease intensity at harvest supported these results and indicated that further reduction in fungicide usage may be possible. Unlike earlier findings, rusty spot did not significantly decrease fruit volume or weight at midseason or at harvest; as lesion density increased, fruit volume remained constant. The relationship between disease incidence and lesion density within any given year was best explained by the zero-intercept version of the exponential model. However, comparison of model parameters across years revealed significant seasonal variation. Nevertheless, the incidence-lesion density relationships were fairly uniform across years at incidence values below 0.5, where lesion density increased gradually and in a near-linear fashion.


1999 ◽  
Vol 50 (8) ◽  
pp. 1335 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. J. McCrabb ◽  
R. A. Hunter

The northern beef cattle herd accounts for more than half of Australia’s beef cattle population, and is a major source of anthropogenic methane emissions for Australia. National Greenhouse Gas Inventory predictions of methane output from Australian beef cattle are based on a predictive equation developed for British breeds of sheep and cattle offered temperate forage-based diets. However, tropical forage diets offered to cattle in northern Australia differ markedly from temperate forage-based diets used in the United Kingdom to develop the predictive equations. In this paper we review recent respiration chamber measurements of daily methane production for Brahman cattle offered a tropical forage or high grain diet, and compare them with values predicted using methodologies of the Australian National Greenhouse Gas Inventory Committee and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. We conclude that a reliable inventory of methane emissions for cattle in northern Australia can only be achieved after a wider range of tropical forage species has been investigated. Some opportunities for reducing methane emissions of beef cattle by dietary manipulation are discussed.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 (6) ◽  
pp. 990 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brendan R. Cullen ◽  
Neil D. MacLeod ◽  
Joe C. Scanlan ◽  
Natalie Doran-Browne

Previous studies of greenhouse gas emissions (GHGE) from beef production systems in northern Australia have been based on models of ‘steady-state’ herd structures that do not take into account the considerable inter-annual variation in liveweight gain, reproduction and mortality rates that occurs due to seasonal conditions. Nor do they consider the implications of flexible stocking strategies designed to adapt these production systems to the highly variable climate. The aim of the present study was to quantify the variation in total GHGE (t CO2e) and GHGE intensity (t CO2e/t liveweight sold) for the beef industry in northern Australia when variability in these factors was considered. A combined GRASP–Enterprise modelling platform was used to simulate a breeding–finishing beef cattle property in the Burdekin River region of northern Queensland, using historical climate data from 1982–2011. GHGE was calculated using the method of Australian National Greenhouse Gas Inventory. Five different stocking-rate strategies were simulated with fixed stocking strategies at moderate and high rates, and three flexible stocking strategies where the stocking rate was adjusted annually by up to 5%, 10% or 20%, according to pasture available at the end of the growing season. Variation in total annual GHGE was lowest in the ‘fixed moderate’ (~9.5 ha/adult equivalent (AE)) stocking strategy, ranging from 3799 to 4471 t CO2e, and highest in the ‘fixed high’ strategy (~5.9 ha/AE), which ranged from 3771 to 7636 t CO2e. The ‘fixed moderate’ strategy had the least variation in GHGE intensity (15.7–19.4 t CO2e/t liveweight sold), while the ‘flexible 20’ strategy (up to 20% annual change in AE) had the largest range (10.5–40.8 t CO2e/t liveweight sold). Across the five stocking strategies, the ‘fixed moderate’ stocking-rate strategy had the highest simulated perennial grass percentage and pasture growth, highest average rate of liveweight gain (121 kg/steer), highest average branding percentage (74%) and lowest average breeding-cow mortality rate (3.9%), resulting in the lowest average GHGE intensity (16.9 t CO2e/t liveweight sold). The ‘fixed high’ stocking rate strategy (~5.9 ha/AE) performed the poorest in each of these measures, while the three flexible stocking strategies were intermediate. The ‘fixed moderate’ stocking strategy also yielded the highest average gross margin per AE carried and per hectare. These results highlight the importance of considering the influence of climate variability on stocking-rate management strategies and herd performance when estimating GHGE. The results also support a body of previous work that has recommended the adoption of moderate stocking strategies to enhance the profitability and ecological stability of beef production systems in northern Australia.


2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessie Martin ◽  
Jason S. Tsukahara ◽  
Christopher Draheim ◽  
Zach Shipstead ◽  
Cody Mashburn ◽  
...  

**The uploaded manuscript is still in preparation** In this study, we tested the relationship between visual arrays tasks and working memory capacity and attention control. Specifically, we tested whether task design (selection or non-selection demands) impacted the relationship between visual arrays measures and constructs of working memory capacity and attention control. Using analyses from 4 independent data sets we showed that the degree to which visual arrays measures rely on selection influences the degree to which they reflect domain-general attention control.


Author(s):  
David J. Lobina

Recursion, or the capacity of ‘self-reference’, has played a central role within mathematical approaches to understanding the nature of computation, from the general recursive functions of Alonzo Church to the partial recursive functions of Stephen C. Kleene and the production systems of Emil Post. Recursion has also played a significant role in the analysis and running of certain computational processes within computer science (viz., those with self-calls and deferred operations). Yet the relationship between the mathematical and computer versions of recursion is subtle and intricate. A recursively specified algorithm, for example, may well proceed iteratively if time and space constraints permit; but the nature of specific data structures—viz., recursive data structures—will also return a recursive solution as the most optimal process. In other words, the correspondence between recursive structures and recursive processes is not automatic; it needs to be demonstrated on a case-by-case basis.


1993 ◽  
Vol 163 (4) ◽  
pp. 522-534 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. Adams ◽  
R. E. Kendell ◽  
E. H. Hare ◽  
P. Munk-Jørgensen

The epidemiological evidence that the offspring of women exposed to influenza in pregnancy are at increased risk of schizophrenia is conflicting. In an attempt to clarify the issue we explored the relationship between the monthly incidence of influenza (and measles) in the general population and the distribution of birth dates of three large series of schizophrenic patients - 16 960 Scottish patients born in 1932–60; 22 021 English patients born in 1921–60; and 18 723 Danish patients born in 1911–65. Exposure to the 1957 epidemic of A2 influenza in midpregnancy was associated with an increased incidence of schizophrenia, at least in females, in all three data sets. We also confirmed the previous report of a statistically significant long-term relationship between patients' birth dates and outbreaks of influenza in the English series, with time lags of - 2 and - 3 months (the sixth and seventh months of pregnancy). Despite several other negative studies by ourselves and others we conclude that these relationships are probably both genuine and causal; and that maternal influenza during the middle third of intrauterine development, or something closely associated with it, is implicated in the aetiology of some cases of schizophrenia.


2021 ◽  
Vol 99 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 218-219
Author(s):  
Andres Fernando T Russi ◽  
Mike D Tokach ◽  
Jason C Woodworth ◽  
Joel M DeRouchey ◽  
Robert D Goodband ◽  
...  

Abstract The swine industry has been constantly evolving to select animals with improved performance traits and to minimize variation in body weight (BW) in order to meet packer specifications. Therefore, understanding variation presents an opportunity for producers to find strategies that could help reduce, manage, or deal with variation of pigs in a barn. A systematic review and meta-analysis was conducted by collecting data from multiple studies and available data sets in order to develop prediction equations for coefficient of variation (CV) and standard deviation (SD) as a function of BW. Information regarding BW variation from 16 papers was recorded to provide approximately 204 data points. Together, these data included 117,268 individually weighed pigs with a sample size that ranged from 104 to 4,108 pigs. A random-effects model with study used as a random effect was developed. Observations were weighted using sample size as an estimate for precision on the analysis, where larger data sets accounted for increased accuracy in the model. Regression equations were developed using the nlme package of R to determine the relationship between BW and its variation. Polynomial regression analysis was conducted separately for each variation measurement. When CV was reported in the data set, SD was calculated and vice versa. The resulting prediction equations were: CV (%) = 20.04 – 0.135 × (BW) + 0.00043 × (BW)2, R2=0.79; SD = 0.41 + 0.150 × (BW) - 0.00041 × (BW)2, R2 = 0.95. These equations suggest that there is evidence for a decreasing quadratic relationship between mean CV of a population and BW of pigs whereby the rate of decrease is smaller as mean pig BW increases from birth to market. Conversely, the rate of increase of SD of a population of pigs is smaller as mean pig BW increases from birth to market.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eerika Finell ◽  
Asko Tolvanen ◽  
Juha Pekkanen ◽  
Timo Ståhl ◽  
Pauliina Luopa

Abstract Background Little previous research has analysed the relationship between schools’ indoor air problems and schools’ social climate. In this study, we analysed a) whether observed mould and dampness in a school building relates to students’ perceptions of school climate (i.e. teacher-student relationships and class spirit) and b) whether reported subjective indoor air quality (IAQ) at the school level mediates this relationship. Methods The data analysed was created by merging two nationwide data sets: survey data from students, including information on subjective IAQ (N = 25,101 students), and data from schools, including information on mould and dampness in school buildings (N = 222). The data was analysed using multilevel mediational models. Results After the background variables were adjusted, schools’ observed mould and dampness was not significantly related to neither student-perceived teacher-student relationships nor class spirit. However, our mediational models showed that there were significant indirect effects from schools’ observed mould and dampness to outcome variables via school-level subjective IAQ: a) in schools with mould and dampness, students reported significantly poorer subjective IAQ (standardised β = 0.34, p < 0.001) than in schools without; b) the worse the subjective IAQ at school level, the worse the student-reported teacher-student relationships (β = 0.31, p = 0.001) and class spirit (β = 0.25, p = 0.006). Conclusions Problems in a school’s indoor environment may impair the school’s social climate to the degree that such problems decrease the school’s perceived IAQ.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Tabea J. Koch ◽  
Patrick Schmidt

AbstractBirch tar is the oldest manmade adhesive dating back to the European Middle Palaeolithic. Its study is of importance for understanding the cognitive capacities and technical skills of Neanderthals and the aceramic production systems employed in the European Palaeolithic and Mesolithic. Several methods may have been used to make birch tar, the most common proposition being dry distillation in oxygen-depleted atmospheres. One of the major impediments for our understanding of the conditions employed to make Neanderthal birch tar, and ultimately the technique used, is that it remains unknown at which temperatures exactly birch tar forms. The relationship between heating duration and tar formation is also unknown. To address these questions, we conduct a laboratory heating experiment, using sealed glass tubes and an electric furnace. We found that birch tar is only produced at a narrow temperature interval (350 °C and 400 °C). Heating times longer than 15 min have no effect on the quantity of tar produced. These findings, notwithstanding previous propositions of necessarily long heating times and larger tolerances for temperature, have important implications for our understanding of the investment in time needed for Palaeolithic birch tar making.


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