scholarly journals A spatial analysis of lime resources and their potential for improving soil magnesium concentrations and pH in grassland areas of England and Wales

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Bide ◽  
E. L. Ander ◽  
M. R. Broadley

AbstractMagnesium (Mg) is essential for animal health. Low Mg status (hypomagnesaemia) can be potentially fatal in ruminants, like cattle and sheep, and is widespread in Europe with economic impacts on farming. The application of Mg-rich agricultural lime products can help to ensure pasture forage consumed by animals contains sufficient Mg and, in areas of low pH, has the dual benefit of reducing soil acidity to levels best suited for grass production. This aim of this study was to determine if Mg-rich lime products could be used in a more effective manner in agricultural production systems. Potential resources of carbonate rocks (limestone, dolostone and chalk) in the UK, and their Mg:Ca status were identified, using datasets from the British Geological Survey (BGS). These data were combined with the locations of agricultural lime quarries, and areas where soils are likely to be deficient in Mg and/or require liming. Areas of potential demand for Mg-rich agricultural lime include areas in south east Wales, the Midlands and North East England. Although, areas where this may be an effective solution to low soil Mg values are restricted by the availability of suitable products. Conversely, areas of low soil pH in England and Wales are often found close to quarries with the ability to supply high Ca limes, suggesting that the low rates of lime use and liming is not due to supply factors. This study provides information that can help to guide on-farm decision making for use of Mg-rich and other lime resources. This could be used in conjunction with other options to reduce risks of Mg deficiency in livestock, and improve soil pH.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Bide ◽  
E. L. Ander ◽  
M. R. Broadley

Abstract Magnesium (Mg) is essential for animal health. Low Mg status (hypomagnesaemia) can be potentially fatal in ruminants, like cattle and sheep, and is widespread in Europe with economic impacts on farming. The application of Mg-rich agricultural lime products can help to ensure pasture forage consumed by animals contains sufficient Mg and, in areas of low pH, has the dual benefit of reducing soil acidity to levels best suited for grass production. This aim of this study was to determine if Mg-rich lime products could be used in a more effective manner in agricultural production systems. Potential resources of carbonate rocks (limestone, dolostone and chalk) in the UK, and their Mg:Ca status were identified, using datasets from the British Geological Survey (BGS). These data were combined with the locations of agricultural lime quarries, and areas where soils are likely to be deficient in Mg and/or require liming.Areas of potential demand for Mg-rich agricultural lime include areas in south east Wales, the Midlands and North East England. Although, areas where this may be an effective solution to low soil Mg values are restricted by the availability of suitable products. Conversely, areas of low soil pH in England and Wales are often found close to quarries with the ability to supply high Ca limes, suggesting that the low rates of lime use and liming is not due to supply factors.This study provides information that can help to guide on-farm decision making for use of Mg-rich and other lime resources. This could be used in conjunction with other options to reduce risks of Mg deficiency in livestock, and improve soil pH.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alannah S. Deeney ◽  
Rachael Collins ◽  
Anne M. Ridley

Abstract Background Mycoplasma species have been associated with economically important diseases affecting ruminants worldwide and include contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) and contagious agalactia, listed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). The Mycoplasma Team at the Animal and Plant Health Agency provides an identification service for Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma species of veterinary importance to the United Kingdom (UK), supporting the detection of new and emerging pathogens, as well as contributing to the surveillance of endemic, and the OIE listed diseases exotic to the UK. Mycoplasma and other Mollicutes species were identified from diagnostic samples from farmed ruminants in England and Wales using a combination of culture and 16S rRNA gene-based PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, submitted between 2005 and 2019. Results A total of 5578 mollicutes identifications, which include mycoplasmas and the related acholeoplasmas and ureaplasmas, were made from farmed ruminant animals during the study period. Throughout the study period, the pathogen Mycoplasma bovis was consistently the most frequently identified species, accounting for 1411 (32%) of 4447 molecular identifications in cattle, primarily detected in the lungs of pneumonic calves, followed by joints and milk of cattle showing signs of arthritis and mastitis, respectively. M. bovirhinis, M. alkalescens, M. dispar, M. arginini and Ureaplasma diversum, were also common. Mixed species, principally M. bovis with M. alkalescens, M. arginini or M. bovirhinis were also prevalent, particularly from respiratory samples. The non-cultivable blood-borne haemoplasmas Candidatus ‘Mycoplasma haemobos’ and Mycoplasma wenyonii were identified from cattle, with the latter species most often associated with milk-drop. M. ovipneumoniae was the predominant species identified from sheep and goats experiencing respiratory disease, while M. conjunctivae preponderated in ocular samples. The UK remains free of the ruminant mycoplasmas listed by OIE. Conclusions The continued high prevalence of M. bovis identifications confirms its ongoing dominance and importance as a significant pathogen of cattle in England and Wales, particularly in association with respiratory disease. M. ovipneumoniae has seen a general increase in prevalence in recent years, notably in coughing lambs and should therefore be considered as a primary differential diagnosis of respiratory disease in small ruminants.


Author(s):  
A. L. Collins ◽  
Y. Zhang ◽  
P. Naden

Abstract. A major collaborative research project in the UK is delivering new science to support improved targeting of on-farm pollution mitigation measures for the benefit of freshwater ecology. One important aspect of the project concerns a national scale evaluation of the costs and efficacy of packages of sediment mitigation measures which can be delivered over and above the existing implementation of abatement through various policy instruments including advice and new targeted agri-environment schemes. The assessment includes typical farm types present across England and Wales. Outputs from this assessment of costs and efficacy will eventually be used to help model the potential for closing the sediment pollution gap in those water bodies currently failing water quality targets due to sediment loss from agriculture. Some preliminary uncertainty ranges in costs (–£146,402 to £175,631) and effectiveness (0–80%) associated with a potential policy scenario implementing a large number (up to 93) of abatement measures at 95% uptake are presented in this paper.


2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (1) ◽  
pp. 172-186 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. H. GILBERT ◽  
B. N. HÄSLER ◽  
J. RUSHTON

SUMMARYSurveillance for new and re-emerging animal diseases in England and Wales is based on post-mortem and syndromic analysis of laboratory data collated in a central database by the Animal Health and Veterinary Laboratories Agency (AHVLA), with the aim of providing early warning of disease events prior to clinical diagnosis. Understanding the drivers for participation in such systems is critical to the success of attempts to improve surveillance sensitivity. The aim of this study was to investigate the decision-making process governing the submission of biological samples on which this surveillance system is based by use of questionnaires. Data extracted were used to structure and parameterize scenario trees modelling the probability of generating an entry in the surveillance database. The mean probability for database entry per case ranged from 0·085 for neurological disorders to 0·25 for enteric disease. These findings illustrate the importance of on-farm decision making to the generation of surveillance data.


2009 ◽  
Vol 69 (1) ◽  
pp. 119-132 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher C. Johnson ◽  
Fiona M. Fordyce ◽  
Margaret P. Rayman

Se is essential to human and animal health but can be toxic in excess. An interest in its geochemistry has developed alongside a greater understanding of its function in a number of health conditions. Geology exerts a strong control on the Se status of the surface environment; low-Se rock-types (0·05–0·09 mg Se/kg) make up the majority of rocks occurring at the Earth's surface, which in turn account for the generally low levels of Se in most soils. However, there are exceptions such as associations with sulfide mineralisation and in some types of sedimentary rocks (e.g. black shales) in which contents of Se can be much higher. Baseline geochemical data now enable a comparison to be made between environmental and human Se status, although a direct link is only likely to be seen if the population is dependent on the local environment for sustenance. This situation is demonstrated with an example from the work of the British Geological Survey in the Se-deficiency belt of China. The recent fall in the daily dietary Se intake in the UK is discussed in the context of human Se status and declining use of North American wheat in bread making. Generally, US wheat has ten times more Se than UK wheat, attributed to the fact that soils from the wheat-growing belt of America are more enriched in Se to a similar order of magnitude. In agriculture effective biofortification of crops with Se-rich fertilisers must be demonstrably safe to the environment and monitored appropriately and baseline geochemical data will enable this process to be done with confidence.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alannah S. Deeney ◽  
Rachael Collins ◽  
Anne M. Ridley

Abstract Background: Mycoplasma species have been associated with economically important diseases affecting ruminants worldwide and include contagious bovine pleuropneumonia (CBPP), contagious caprine pleuropneumonia (CCPP) and contagious agalactia, listed by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). The Mycoplasma Team at the Animal and Plant Health Agency provides an identification service for Mycoplasma and Ureaplasma species of veterinary importance to the United Kingdom (UK), supporting the detection of new and emerging pathogens, as well as contributing to the surveillance of endemic, and the OIE listed diseases exotic to the UK. Mycoplasma and other Mollicutes species were identified from diagnostic samples from farmed ruminants in England and Wales using a combination of culture and 16S rRNA gene-based PCR-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis, submitted between 2005 and 2019.Results: A total of 5578 mollicutes identifications, which include mycoplasmas and the related acholeoplasmas and ureaplasmas, were made from farmed ruminant animals during the study period. Throughout the study period, the pathogen Mycoplasma bovis was consistently the most frequently identified species, accounting for 1411 (32%) of 4447 molecular identifications in cattle, primarily detected in the lungs of pneumonic calves, followed by joints and milk of cattle showing signs of arthritis and mastitis, respectively. M. bovirhinis, M. alkalescens, M. dispar, M. arginini and Ureaplasma diversum, were also common. Mixed species, principally M. bovis with M. alkalescens, M. arginini or M. bovirhinis were also prevalent, particularly from respiratory samples. The non-cultivable blood-borne haemoplasmas Candidatus ‘Mycoplasma haemobos’ and Mycoplasma wenyonii were identified from cattle, with the latter species most often associated with milk-drop. M. ovipneumoniae was the predominant species identified from sheep and goats experiencing respiratory disease, while M. conjunctivae preponderated in ocular samples. The UK remains free of the ruminant mycoplasmas listed by OIE. Conclusions: The continued high prevalence of M. bovis identifications confirms its ongoing dominance and importance as a significant pathogen of cattle in England and Wales, particularly in association with respiratory disease. M. ovipneumoniae has seen a general increase in prevalence in recent years, notably in coughing lambs and should therefore be considered as a primary differential diagnosis of respiratory disease in small ruminants.


2009 ◽  
Vol 38 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.K. Misra ◽  
C.A. Rama Rao ◽  
K.V. Subrahmanyam ◽  
Y.S. Ramakrishna

A rainfed agroecosystem occupies 68% of India's cultivated area and supports 40% of the human and 65% of the livestock population. Dairy production is an important component of rural development programmes in rainfed areas to improve the livelihoods of farmers. The objective of the study was to characterize the status of smallholder dairy production systems in rainfed areas to generate information that would assist in designing strategies for dairy development programmes. These objectives were achieved by adopting a participatory system approach, which uses diagnostic survey and techniques of participatory rural appraisal. The dairy production systems in rainfed areas are complex and are generally based on traditional and socioeconomic considerations, guided largely by the available feed resources. A scarcity of feed and fodder resources (both quantity and quality), the low production potential of animals, the non-availability of critical inputs or services in time, along with access to capital and markets, were the primary reasons for the low productivity of dairy animals. The study suggests that farmer participation is essential for developing and promoting technical interventions. A favourable policy environment in terms of access to microcredit, assured market and veterinary services will have to be provided, and socioeconomic and technical constraints need to be addressed. Animal health camps and on-farm trials need to be conducted to create awareness among farmers about better dairy production practices.


Until 2019, TBE was considered only to be an imported disease to the United Kingdom. In that year, evidence became available that the TBEV is likely circulating in the country1,2 and a first “probable case” of TBE originating in the UK was reported.3 In addition to TBEV, louping ill virus (LIV), a member of the TBEV-serocomplex, is also endemic in parts of the UK. Reports of clinical disease caused by LIV in livestock are mainly from Scotland, parts of North and South West England and Wales.4


2003 ◽  
Vol 7 (48) ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  

The Health Protection Agency Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre for England and Wales and others have reported that the number of people living with HIV in the UK has increased


2017 ◽  
pp. 54-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
H.M. (Mac) Boot

The incompleteness of Victorian census returns of marriage and birth records for England and Wales, and the high costs of using civil and church records, have greatly restricted research into the timing and character of the decline in marital fertility in the second half of the 19th century. This article argues that, in spite of these limitations, the census returns provide enough data to allow the well-known the 'Own-children method of fertility estimation', when used within Bongaarts' framework for analysing the proximate determinants of fertility, to derive estimates of total and age-specific marital fertility for women 15 to 49 years of age. It uses data from the census returns for the town of Rawtenstall, a small cotton textile manufacturing town in north-east Lancashire, to generate these estimates and to test their credibility against other well respected measures of marital fertility for England and Wales.


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