• Climate change could increase the frequency with which plants experience abiotic stresses, leading to changes in their metabolic pathways. These stresses may induce the production of compounds that are structurally and biologically different from constitutive compounds. • We studied how warming and altered precipitation affected the composition, structure, and biological reactivity of leaf li...

In the present study a deterministic bio-economic model was used to estimate economic values for reproduction traits (conception rate, twining rate and litter size), production traits (body weight of kid sold at 6.5 months, annual cashmere weight, body weight of doe and annual milk yield) and longevity (survival of doe, survival of kid until weaning and survival of kid until sale age at 6.5 mon...

Effect of Poultry Litter Biochar on Saccharomyces cerevisiae Growth and Ethanol Production from Steam-exploded Poplar and Corn Stover

With global food demand expected to increase by 100% in the next 50 yr, urgency to combine comprehensive strategies for sustainable, efficacious, and environmentally sensible agronomic practices has never been greater. One effort for US meat bird management is to reduce NH(3) volatilization from litter to create a better growing environment for the birds, improve production efficiency, retain N...

Global changes such as variations in plant net primary production are likely to drive shifts in leaf litterfall inputs to forest soils, but the effects of such changes on soil carbon (C) cycling and storage remain largely unknown, especially in C-rich tropical forest ecosystems. We initiated a leaf litterfall manipulation experiment in a tropical rain forest in Costa Rica to test the sensitivit...

Emission of nitrogen in the form of ammonia from poultry rearing facilities has been an important topic for the poultry industry because of concerns regarding the effects of ammonia on the environment. Sound scientific data is needed to accurately estimate air emissions from poultry operations. Many factors, such as season of the year, ambient temperature and humidity, bird health, and manageme...

To determine the risk of infection associated with exposure to low-pathogenic avian influenza (AI) virus-contaminated poultry litter, the tenacity of low pathogenic A/Ck/CA/431/00(H6N2), A/Mallard/MN/355779/00(H5N2), and A/turkey/Ohio/313053/04(H3N2) was evaluated. Viral stocks were incubated with poultry litter from commercial flocks at 25°C. Three types of poultry litter, wood shavings, shavi...

Laboratory decomposition experiments measuring the mineralization of C from plant residue are increasingly used to test the effects of different litter sources and soil conditions. To date, the most widely used methods are infra-red gas analysis (IRGA) and gas chromatography, which are time-consuming, and relatively expensive and complex to operate. The aim of this study was to devise a simple ...

1. This study examines limitation of nesting resources for leaf-litter and twig-nesting ants as a mechanism of diversity loss across an intensification gradient of coffee production in Colombia. Twelve farms were selected and classified into four management types: forest, polygeneric shade coffee, monogeneric shade coffee, and sun coffee (unshaded coffee monocultures). 2. At each of the farms, ...