Farm Life and Physical Activity
Norman S. Giddan, Jane J. Giddan in Autistic Adults at Bittersweet Farms, 2020
A 48-foot by 32-foot barn with stalls for horses, cows, sheep and goats was constructed in 1985 from funds donated by the Toledo Rotary Club and the Lucas County Commissioners. The animal care program instructs four to five students during the day and is also important in Bittersweet Farms’ evening programming. Stu-dents care for two horses, two calves, pigs, goats, sheep, chickens, rabbits, ducks, and geese. Their activities include cleaning stalls and housing, exercising the animals, maintenance of equipment and fence building. Manure from the barn is transferred to the gardens where it enriches the soil. Students from all training areas take turns riding the horses. Each year, one hundred day-old chicks are raised for a fund-raising chicken barbecue in September. Within the next two years, plans for expansion include construction of a grade-A goat dairy which will produce milk and cheese for sale as well as processed milk for local small producers. This will eventually be another co-op enterprise to employ residents and day participants. The beef cattle, pigs, and lambs, as well as fowl and rabbits, are raised for their meat and used by the residents.
Infections of the Central Nervous System
Keith Struthers in Clinical Microbiology, 2017
Clostridium tetani is a spore forming, motile gram-positive obligate anaerobe. The spore is very stable and can survive in soil and animal manure for years. When anaerobic conditions exist in a soft-tissue injury, the spores germinate and the vegetative cells produce the toxin. An outline of the action of the toxin is shown in Figure 14.11. The active component enters the terminals of lower motor neurons, where it inhibits neurotransmitter release. It also travels in a retrograde direction to reach the cell bodies and terminals of inhibitory cells in the CNS. By irreversibly inhibiting the action of glycine and γ-amino-n-butyric acid (GABA)-mediated inhibitory neurons, the motor neurons are left relatively unaffected and spastic paralysis occurs.
Endangered Medicinal Plants of Temperate Regions: Conservation and Maintenance
Amit Baran Sharangi, K. V. Peter in Medicinal Plants, 2023
Use of various organic manures mainly FYM, vermicompost, green manure, etc., may be used as per the requirement of the plant (Table 9.8). The research conducted in Kalimpong (Darjeeling) revealed that use of vermicompost @ 0.50 t/ha and forest litter @ 3 t/ha was the best in producing good economic yield. To prevent diseases, bio-pesticides could be prepared (either single or mixture) from neem (kernel, seeds, and leaves), chitrakmool, dhatura, cow’s urine, etc. The disease can be prevented with the help of various bio-pesticides either in a single or mixture of neem (i.e., kernel, seed, and leaves), powder, dhatura, chitrakmool, cow’s urine, etc. Observation revealed that under field conditions, the plant is mostly attacked by ant and termite. To overcome this problem, Phorate should be applied as per the need and necessity.
Profiles and potential health risks of heavy metals in polluted soils in NE-Iran
Published in Toxin Reviews, 2022
Masumeh Taheri, Mohamad Hosein Mahmudy Gharaie, Jalil Mehrzad, Michael Stone, Reza Afshari
Generally, HMs have a tendency to accumulate in surface depths (see Figure 3(a–l)), especially As, Sb, and Se. Geologically, the alteration zone and mineralization parts of the out crops are younger than bed rocks. The soils were formed by pedogenic and weathering process on bedrock such as conglomerate, sandstone and marl; so, the surface soils are normally more influenced by alteration zone. In addition, wind currents play a great role in the transfer of particles in fine dust. Ophiolitic rocks and sulfide mineral alteration zones are cropped out in the western part of the region. Dominant wind currents from the West to the East (Memarian et al. 2019) can cause the transfer of fine particles as dust containing heavy metals on the surface soils. There is no anthropogenic source for HMs in this area. Also, for agricultural purposes, manure is applied in traditional agriculture in the area.
The rumen microbiome: a crucial consideration when optimising milk and meat production and nitrogen utilisation efficiency
Published in Gut Microbes, 2019
Chloe Matthews, Fiona Crispie, Eva Lewis, Michael Reid, Paul W. O’Toole, Paul D. Cotter
The usage of antibiotics in animal production systems has encouraged the abundance of antimicrobial resistance genes in farm environments to increase. It is a current threat to both human and animal health. Antibiotics are used therapeutically to treat or prevent specific diseases and those that are not entirely absorbed are excreted in the faeces and urine.90 As animal manure is collected in large pits for use as a high nutrient fertiliser, antimicrobial compounds can then be transferred to the soil.91 This may result in the possible uptake of these compounds by plants. Different land uses may require higher quantities of manure in order to provide higher concentrations of nutrients needed by specific plants. For example, land with which will be used for ensiling of grass may have larger quantities of manure applied in comparison to land used for seasonal grazing. This, in turn may result in varying abundances of AMR genes found in animals. In a study carried out by,92 the influence of diet on the ruminal resistome and abundance of pathogenicity genes was examined. The animals used in the study were antibiotic-free beef cattle on two different diets consisting of different levels of concentrate. Over 200 genes associated with antimicrobial resistance were detected across 4966 metagenomic genes, with results showing a higher diversity and abundance of these genes in animals fed a higher level of concentrate than animals on lower levels of concentrate. These results suggest, therefore, that not only does diet impact the microbial ecosystem but it also has the potential to impact antimicrobial resistance in the gut.
An ethical investigation into the microbiome: the intersection of agriculture, genetics, and the obesity epidemic
Published in Gut Microbes, 2020
Around 60% of human pathogens have zoonotic (primarily livestock) origins.37 It is not a far reach to think that gut bacteria are similarly transferrable between animals and humans. In fact, there are studies that support this idea and demonstrate that domesticated animals and humans share gut microbes with one another.16,17 We also have several mechanisms through which livestock gut microbiota can be transferred to humans. First, U.S. livestock animals alone produce 2 billion tons of manure per year, management of which is variably regulated state by state.38 Raw cattle manure is frequently spread over fields harvested for human food, and many farms reuse animal feces as components of feed for their livestock.