Tillering dynamics in spring and summer of marandu palisade grass pastures previously used under deferred grazing

ABSTRACT This work was conducted to evaluate the effect of deferred pasture condition of Brachiaria brizantha cv. Marandu in the late winter on tillering during the growing season. The treatments were three pasture conditions at late winter: short pasture, tall pasture and tall/mown pasture. In September and October, tiller appearance rate (TApR) and tiller mortality rate (TMoR) were greater in the tall/mown pasture. In November and December, tall pasture presented greater TApR. From November to January the TMoR was greater in the tall pasture. The tiller stability index of short and tall/mown pastures were greater in October. The short pasture presented a greater tiller number than the tall and tall/mown pastures during the entire experimental period. Deferred and short pasture of marandu palisade grass at late winter presents in general lower tiller mortality and higher population density of tillers from the early spring onwards, in comparison to tall pasture. The mowing of marandu palisade grass with high forage mass at the late winter, although it only temporarily compromises the population stability of tillers, also stimulates its fast tillering from spring on.

Morphogenesis of stockpiled Marandu, Piatã, Xaraés and Paiaguás brachiariagrass cultivars

ABSTRACT The objective this study was to identify differences in the morphogenic patterns of four Urochloa brizantha cultivars (marandu, piatã, xaraés and paiaguás grasses) during the stockpiling period. A completely randomized design was used, with three replications, in experimental plots of 9m². The evaluations took place over 2 years. The grasses were stockpiled for 92 (Year 1) and 95 (Year 2) days. The leaf appearance rate of paiaguás grass was higher, compared to other grasses. In Year 1, the stem elongation rate of xaraés grass was higher than other grasses. At the end of stockpiling period of Year 1, the tiller population density (TPD) was higher in the paiaguás grass, intermediate in the xaraés and marandu grasses and lower in the piatã grass. At the end of the stockpiling period in Year 2, TPD was higher in the paiaguás grass canopy, intermediate in the marandu and piatã grasses canopies, and lower in the xaraés grass canopy. Paiaguás grass has greater leaf growth during the stockpiling period and is therefore suitable for use under stockpiled grazing. Xaraés grass has high stem elongation during the stockpiling period, which is why its use under stockpiled grazing must be accompanied by adjustments in pasture management.

Antioxidant activity and nano delivery of the most frequently applied stilbene derivatives: A brief and recent review

As of recent, the appearance rate of several degenerative diseases and cancer influenced by oxidative stress continues to increase dramatically. Many compounds with high potential antioxidant activity have been explored and used extensively, i.e., as preventive or curative treatments. Stilbene and its derivates have high potential antioxidant activity contained in several botanical sources. To date, source exploration and antioxidant activity study of stilbene derivate has been reported. However, the nano-delivery of stilbene derivate meant to increase the antioxidant activity and stability is still a limited process. This review is devoted to brief and recent outlooks regarding the antioxidant activity and delivery system of the most frequently applied stilbene and its derivates, namely resveratrol and pterostilbene.

Effects of stubble height and season of the year on morphogenetic, structural and quantitative traits of Tanzania grass

The objective of this study was to evaluate regrowth period (RP), morphogenetic, structural and productive characteristics of the guinea grass cultivar Tanzania [Megathyrsus maximus (syn. Panicum maximum)] under different stubble heights (SH) during dry (DS) and rainy (RS) seasons in the eastern Amazon region. The treatments were: 5, 15, 25, 35, 45 and 55 cm SH, distributed in a randomized complete block design with 6 replicates. In the 2 seasons, RP decreased linearly with increase in SH, and was considerably shorter in the RS (47 d). Leaf appearance rate decreased linearly from 0.071 to 0.051 leaves/tiller/d with increasing SH, and it was higher during the RS. Increase in SH increased leaf elongation rate, stem elongation rate and leaf area index. In the RS, climatic conditions favored the morphogenesis, resulting in higher herbage accumulation (8,693 kg DM/ha) than in the DS (2,597 kg DM/ha). In associating seasons with SH, we recommend that Tanzania grass be managed at SH between 35 and 45 cm in the DS, resulting in RP from 61 to 64 days, and at SH of 35 cm in the RS, resulting in RP of 41 days. Studies to test this management strategy seem warranted.

Numerical model of the spatio-temporal dynamics in a water strider group

The water strider group demonstrates a very complex dynamics consisting of competition for the food items, territoriality and aggression to the conspecific individuals, escaping from the predators, etc. The situation is even more complex due to the presence of different instars, which in most water strider species live in the same habitat and occupy the same niche. The presented swarm model of water striders demonstrates the realistic population dynamics. For the swarm formation in the model, attraction and repulsion forces were used. Animal motion in the model takes into account inertia and kinetic energy dissipation effects. The model includes three different rates related to the growth of individuals: food appearance rate, food assimilation rate, and stored energy loss rate. The results of our modeling show that the size distribution of individuals seems to be an adequate measure for population status, and it has a characteristic shape for different model parameter combinations. Distribution of the distances between nearest neighbors is other important measure of the population density and its dynamics. Parameters of the model can be tuned in such a way, that the shape of both distributions in a steady phase coincides with that shape observed in a natural population, which helps to understand the factors leading to particular momentary distribution of both parameters (size and distance) in the population. From this point of view, the model can predict how both distributions can further develop from certain state depending on particular combination of factors.

Word association analysis of children with disabilities

Purpose: This study aimed to compare the types of response words for stimuli in children with language impairment and normal children through the word association task.Methods: For this study, 60 children with language impairment aged 9-11 years old and 60 normal children of the same language age as them were selected. The list of stimulus words for the word association task consisted of 25 nouns, 6 verbs and 6 adjectives.Results: The research results were as follows. First, it was found that the appearance rate of association words in the form and syntax among the intra-linguistic association was higher in the children with language impairment than in the normal children, and the appearance rate of association words in the meaning and pragmatics was lower than that of the normal children. Second, in children with language impairment, the appearance rate of verb response words was high in the noun stimulus words, and the noun response words appeared high in the verb and adjective stimulus words.Conclusions: In conclusion, compared to the normal children, the form and syntax-oriented syntagmatic associative responses were higher than the semantic-oriented paradigmatic associative responses, indicating that the stimulus and response words were used side by side in sentences.

Gender inequality among champions and players’ reception of gender disproportion of utility support champions in league of legends

Designing female character in video game has been criticized as being sexually objectified and underrepresented in quantity (number of characters and their appearance rate in the game) and in quality (take only secondary role and inferior ability statistics given). In this paper, we analyze world leading multiple-user online battle arena game league of legends to see if previously criticized gender inequality of champions still stands and conduct a survey of 1,403 players of that game and asks how they feel about serious gender disproportion of utility support champions (all females). The result shows that league of legends still has serious gender disparity in performance parameters and there has been only a small change in 5-year span (2014-2019). The survey result tells us that game players also feel political incorrectness of such gender disproportion, but they accept such gender prototype because they have been taught as such as social role theory explains gender inequality issues.

Calibration and validation of a node appearance model in soybean crop

HIGHLIGHTS Improvement of the simulation by calculating a temperature function with the daily minimum and maximum temperatures. Equation to determine the maximum rate of node appearance of soybean cultivars recommended for Southern Brazil. Maximum node appearance rate varies with the maturity group and not with the type of growth of soybean cultivars.

Transplanting increases the leaf production rate in rice, consequently modifying plant development and growth

In Asia, direct sowing and water savings are major trends in previously transplanted and flooded irrigated rice systems because of the higher cost of wages and increasing water shortage. Previous experiments showed that the leaf appearance rate varies between aerobic and flooded cropping systems. This study aimed to further understand how the planting method affects the development rate, flowering time, and yield of lowland irrigated rice crops. A two-year experiment was undertaken at the International Rice Research Institute, Philippines, using three contrasting rice varieties and three planting methods (transplanted, wet direct-seeded, and dry direct-seeded; at a density of 25 plants m-2) in a field submerged in 3–5 cm water from two weeks after the transplanting date. The effect of the planting method was similar in the three varieties, mostly without interaction between the two factors. In 2013, the leaf number of seedlings grown in seedling trays was two leaves behind that of direct-seeded plants at the time of transplanting. However, the young transplanted plants recovered quickly; produced new leaves at a faster rate (with a shorter phyllochron); reached panicle initiation, flag-leaf emergence and flowering time 1 week later; and developed more leaves compared to the direct-seeded plants. In 2014, growing in the nursery induced no delay in leaf appearance due to temperatures lower than those in 2013; therefore, the planting method did not affect the leaf appearance rate. Thus, plant development was primarily delayed by the density stress in the seedling trays under warm temperatures; however, the transplanted rice plants had lower plastochron duration than the direct-seeded plants, which made up for the initial delay in leaf appearance. In both years and at similar plant density, the transplanted plants produced more tillers bearing larger upper leaves that led to a higher leaf area index; however, grain yields were similar for the transplanted and direct-seeded crops.Highlights- In seedling trays, leaf appearance stopped at the appearance of the fourth leaf.- After transplanting, leaf appearance resumed at a faster rate than in direct-seeded plants.- Transplanted plants had delayed panicle initiation and flowering time, more tillers, and more and larger leaves per tiller, but similar grain yield compared to direct-seeded plants at similar planting density.

High throughput LC-MS method to investigate postprandial lipemia: Considerations for future precision nutrition research

Elevated postprandial lipemia is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, yet methods to quantitate post-meal handling of dietary lipids in humans are limited. This study tested a new method to track dietary lipid appearance using a stable isotope tracer (2H11-oleate) in liquid meals containing three levels of fat (low-LF, 15g; moderate-MF, 30g; high-HF, 60g). Meals were fed to 12 healthy men (mean±SD, age 31.3±9.2y, BMI 24.5±1.9 kg/m2) during four randomized study visits; the HF meal was administered twice for reproducibility. Blood was collected over 8h postprandially, TG-rich lipoproteins (TRL) and particles with a Svedberg flotation rate >400 (Sf>400, n=8) were isolated by ultracentrifugation, and labeling of two TG species (54:3 and 52:2) quantified by LC-MS. Total plasma TRL-TG concentrations were three-fold greater than Sf>400-TG. Both Sf>400- and TRL-TG 54:3 were present at higher concentrations than 52:2 and singly-labeled TG concentrations were higher than doubly-labeled. Further, TG 54:3 and the singly-labeled molecules demonstrated higher plasma absolute entry rates differing significantly across fat levels within a single TG species (P<0.01). Calculation of fractional entry showed no significant differences in label handling supporting the utility of either TG species for appearance rate calculations. These data demonstrate the utility of labeling research meals with stable isotopes to investigate human postprandial lipemia while simultaneously highlighting the importance of examining individual responses. Meal type and timing, control of pre-study activities, and effects of sex on outcomes should match the research goals. The method, optimized here, will be beneficial to conduct basic science research in precision nutrition and clinical drug development.