scholarly journals Post-Release Monitoring Diet Quality and Nutritional Status of Reintroduced Burchell’s Zebra and Blue Wildebeest in Maputo Special Reserve, Mozambique

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
pp. 194008292095839
Author(s):  
Luís Jr. Comissario Mandlate ◽  
Flávio H. G. Rodrigues

The reintroduction of wild animal species into conservations areas is widely used to restore populations of species endangered with extinction. The assessment of the quality of the diet and the nutritional status of the animals is crucial to the success of herbivore reintroduction programs, given that adequate nutrition is essential to ensure the survival and fertility of ungulates. Given this, the present study investigated the quality of the diet and nutritional status of Burchell’s zebra ( Equus burchelli, Smuts 1832) and blue wildebeest ( Connochaetes taurinus, Burchell 1823) reintroduced into Maputo Special Reserve (MSR), in southern Mozambique. The study was conducted between July 2016 and June 2017, and the data were collected through direct observation, by driving a vehicle along the roads within the reserve that pass through the vegetation cover where zebra and wildebeest are known to occur most frequently. The composition of the diet and specific feature of the grass grazed by the two species, such as greenness (an indication of food quality) were assessed. Crude fecal protein and phosphorus were determined to evaluate the nutritional status of the two herbivore species. Both herbivores were pure grazers, consuming a diet composed entirely (100%) of grass. Aristida barbicollis was the principal component of the diets of both zebra and wildebeest and both species grazed almost entirely on green grass (91–100% of greenness). However, wildebeest consumed significantly more green grass (which has a better nutrient content) than zebra, which tolerated a considerably larger proportion of browner grass in both seasons. The levels of crude protein and phosphorus in the zebra and wildebeest fecal samples were not below threshold of nutritional stress recommended for large southern African herbivores, which indicates that neither the zebra nor the wildebeest populations in MSR are undernourished at the present time and that the quality of the forage found in the study area is not a factor limiting the persistence of the reintroduced populations of either species.

Forests ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thaís Chagas Barros de Morais ◽  
Renato de Mello Prado ◽  
Edilaine Istefani Franklin Traspadini ◽  
Paulo Guilherme Salvador Wadt ◽  
Rinaldo César de Paula ◽  
...  

The efficiency of methods in adequately interpreting the nutritional status of Eucalyptus spp. rooted cuttings remains unknown. The aim was to evaluate the quality of diagnoses obtained using the critical level (CL), diagnosis and recommendation integrated system (DRIS) and compositional nutrient diagnosis (CND) methods to assess the nutritional status of Eucalyptus spp. rooted cuttings, based on two different yield indicators. The data were obtained from commercial nursery and calibration experiments, using seven nutrients as treatments (N, P, K, Mg, Ca, B and Fe) and four concentrations per nutrient, arranged in randomized blocks, with four repetitions. The Eucalyptus spp. clone used in the experiments was AEC 0144. A total of 222 rooted cuttings were obtained from the experimental area and commercial nurseries and the following were determined: leaf nutrient content, whole plant dry matter (DM) content and the Dickson quality index (DQI). Diagnostic accuracy in the experimental plots was ascertained by comparing the diagnosis with plant response as a function of adding the corresponding nutrient. Five measures of accuracy were used to test the efficiency of the diagnostic methods: total accuracy, accuracy for deficiency and sufficiency, deficiency ratio, efficiency ratio, and the net increase in in DM and DQI. The performance of diagnostic methods varied between CL, DRIS and CND, and among the nutrients studied. Given that the seedling production system is largely more controlled, where environmental variations are minimal, and considering that the different diagnostic methods exhibited distinct performance in terms of assessing the true nutritional status of eucalyptus rooted cuttings, the CL method is the most indicated for this situation, due to its better performance in evaluating the nutritional status of most nutrients and easy implementation.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 112-120
Author(s):  
Nursari Abdul Syukur ◽  
Susi Purwanti

Many mothers who give birth to Sectio Caesarea (SC) do not Initiate Early Breastfeeding (IMD), which fails exclusive breastfeeding. This study aimed to determine the effect of IMD management in postpartum SC mothers on nutritional status, speed of milk production, and quality of breast milk protein. Method: quantitative research with quasi approach experiment. The research design used was a pre-post-test control non-equivalent control group. A sampling of this study used the Consecutive method sampling with a sample of 20 mothers who gave birth by cesarean section (SC). Hypothesis testing uses the independent t-test and the Mann-Whitney test. The study results showed an influence on the management of IMD in postpartum SC mothers on the speed of ASI production (p-value=0.004) and nutritional status (p-value=0.028). There was no effect of IMD management on postpartum SC mothers on the quality of breast milk protein (p-value = 0.543). This study recommends that the hospital implement an IMD promotion program before the abdominal wall is closed as a form of intervention to increase milk production and maternal nutritional status


Author(s):  
Shawna Holmes

This paper examines the changes to procurement for school food environments in Canada as a response to changes to nutrition regulations at the provincial level. Interviews with those working in school food environments across Canada revealed how changes to the nutrition requirements of foods and beverages sold in schools presented opportunities to not only improve the nutrient content of the items made available in school food environments, but also to include local producers and/or school gardens in procuring for the school food environment. At the same time, some schools struggle to procure nutritionally compliant foods due to increased costs associated with transporting produce to rural, remote, or northern communities as well as logistic difficulties like spoilage. Although the nutrition regulations have facilitated improvements to food environments in some schools, others require more support to improve the overall nutritional quality of the foods and beverages available to students at school.


1995 ◽  
Vol 32 (9-10) ◽  
pp. 341-348
Author(s):  
V. Librando ◽  
G. Magazzù ◽  
A. Puglisi

The monitoring of water quality today provides a great quantity of data consisting of the values of the parameters measured as a function of time. In the marine environment, and especially in the suspended material, increasing importance is being given to the presence of organic micropollutants, particularly since some are known to be carcinogenic. As the number of measured parameters increases examining the data and their consequent interpretation becomes more difficult. To overcome such difficulties, numerous chemometric techniques have been introduced in environmental chemistry, such as Multivariate Data Analysis (MVDA), Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Partial Least Squares Regression (PLSR). The use of the first technique in this work has been applied to the interpretation of the quality of Augusta bay, by measuring the concentration of numerous organic micropollutants, together with the classical water pollution parameters, in different sites and at different times. The MVDA has highlighted the difference between various sampling sites whose data were initially thought to be similar. Furthermore, it has allowed a choice of more significant parameters for future monitoring and more suitable sampling site locations.


Foods ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (3) ◽  
pp. 105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lorena Salvador ◽  
Michelle Guijarro ◽  
Daniela Rubio ◽  
Bolívar Aucatoma ◽  
Tanya Guillén ◽  
...  

Honey is one of the oldest sweetening foods and has economic importance, making this product attractive to adulteration with cheap sugars. This can cause a critical problem in the honey industry and a possible health risk. The present work has the aim of evaluating the authenticity of honey commercialized in two different provinces of Ecuador (Pichincha and Loja) by performing physicochemical and spectroscopic analyses. For this study 25 samples were collected from different places and markets and characterized by water, sucrose, reducing sugars and electric conductivity measurement. Also, their Raman and Infrared (IR) spectra were recorded and analysed using a Principal Component Analysis (PCA) in order to verify the quality of the honeys. In addition, a screening of several pesticides was performed in order to verify possible chemical threats to human health and honey bees. It was found that 8 samples have a deviation from the Standard established parameters. Two of them have a high difference in the content of sucrose and reducing sugars, which are located deviated from all the other samples in the PCA of the applied vibrational spectroscopy (IR/Raman), shaping two clear clusters. The results show that Raman and IR spectroscopy is appropriate techniques for the quality control of honey and correlates well with the physicochemical analyses.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (10) ◽  
pp. 4392
Author(s):  
Apolka Ujj ◽  
Kinga Percsi ◽  
Andras Beres ◽  
Laszlo Aleksza ◽  
Fernanda Ramos Diaz ◽  
...  

The use and quality analysis of household compost have become very important issues in recent years due to the increasing interest in local food production and safe, self-produced food. The phenomenon was further exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine period, which gave new impetus to the growth of small home gardens. However, the knowledge associated with making high-quality compost is often lacking in home gardeners. Therefore, the objective of this research was to find answers to the following questions: can the quality of backyard compost be considered safe in terms of toxicity and nutrient content? Can weed seed dispersion affect the usability of backyard compost? In general, can the circulation of organic matter be increased with the spread of home composting? In this study, 16 different house composts were analysed for stability, weed seed contamination, toxic elements, and nutrient content using analysis of variance. The results of the research showed that the quality properties of the composts (including their weed seed dispersion effect) were greatly influenced by the different techniques and raw materials used. The toxicity levels, as well as the content of macro and microelements, were within the parameters of safe-quality compost. The specific macronutrient (Ca, Mg) and micronutrient (Fe, Mn) contents of the tested composts have a similar and, in some cases, more favorable nutrient supply capacity in crop production than the frequently-used cow manure-based composts. With a plan of basic education on composting, there is potential to encourage farmyard composting.


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