• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제23권2호
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• pp.213-225
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• 2010

The objective of the current study was to determine factors influencing concentrations of protein-related blood metabolites in indigenous Nguni and crossbred cattle in the semi-arid communal rangelands in South Africa. The body condition scores (BCS), packed cell volume (PCV) and serum concentrations of protein-related metabolites were determined seasonally in 100 cattle raised on communal rangelands from August 2007 to May 2008. Nguni cattle had lower (p<0.05) albumin-globulin ratio, albumin, urea and creatinine, and higher (p<0.05) globulin concentrations than the local crossbreds. Local crossbreds had higher (p<0.05) alanine aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase concentrations and lower (p<0.05) aspartate aminotransferase concentrations in the postrainy season than Nguni cattle. The creatinine concentrations of Nguni and crossbred cattle were lowest in the sour rangeland during the hot-wet season. The albumin concentrations of Nguni and crossbred cattle were higher (p<0.05) whilst PCV, albumin-globulin ratio and creatine kinase concentration were lower (p<0.05) in the sour rangeland than in the sweet rangeland. Total protein, albumin, globulin, aspartate aminotransferase and creatine kinase concentrations of Nguni and crossbred cattle were lower (p<0.05) in the hot-wet and late cool-dry seasons than in other seasons across rangeland types. Urea concentrations in both breeds were highest in the sweet rangeland in the hot-dry season compared to other seasons. It was concluded that Nguni cattle had lower concentrations of protein metabolites than local crossbreds and protein deficiencies were most prominent in the sweet rangeland during the cool-dry seasons.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제13권9호
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• pp.1228-1234
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• 2000

The reported study was conducted on range managed Malpura ewes that were non-breeding empty, were at an advanced stage of pregnancy, and were in early lactation, under a protocol of free grazing with concentrate supplementation at 1.00, 1.25 and 1.50% of their body weight to assess their plane of nutrition and nutrient intake. The biomass yield of pasture plots was 1689, 1820 and 2912 kg/ha in pregnancy, lactation and empty phases, respectively. In addition to natural shrubs and forbs, Cenchrus ciliaris (36.4%) and dead litter (31.6%) were the major component of pasture vegetation during pregnancy. The dead litter disappeared during the lactation and empty phase with a concomitant increase in distribution of Cenchrus ciliaris to 73.0 and 87.2% respectively. The daily dry matter consumption from supplemental concentrate and free grazing was 70.1, 57.3 and 63.5 g/kg $W^{0.75}/d$ with concentrate to roughage ratio of 40:60, 47:53 and 33:67 in pregnancy, lactation and empty phases respectively. Digestibility of DM and OM were similar in the three phases while CP digestibility was higher (p<0.0l) during lactation than other two phases. Digestibility of NDF, ADF and cellulose were higher (p<0.0l) in empty than pregnancy and lactation, while hemicellulose digestibility was similar in lactation and empty and lower in pregnancy phase. The ewes in ~hases of pregnancy, lactation and empty consumed 7.1, 7.7 and 6.1 g DCP and 197.2, 214.6 and 232.5 kcal DE/kg $W^{0.75}/d$ respectively. It is concluded that ewes maintained on semi-arid Cenchrus dominated pasture with concentrate supplementation during pregnancy, lactation and empty phases consumed 45.2, 45.1 and 35.2 g DCP/Mcal ME respectively.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• 제37권4호
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• pp.292-303
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• 2021

Studies that relate the structure of tropical regrowth vegetation to soil properties are generally lacking in the literature. This study proposes three indices for assessing the structural regeneration of secondary forests. They are: (1) the tree diameter class, (2) the plant life form and (3) the woody/herbaceous plants ratio indices. They were applied to assess the regeneration status of forest regrowth vegetation (aged 1-10 years), derived savanna regrowth vegetation in south western Nigeria, and to secondary forests in different stages of succession in Columbia and Venezuela, Bolivia, Mexico in South and Central America and semi-arid savanna in Ethiopia and seasonal deciduous forest successional stages in India. In all the cases, the indices increased with increasing age of regrowth vegetation and hence, with increasing structural complexity of regenerating vegetation. The tree diameter class index increased from 32.1% in a 9-year secondary forest to 69.0% in an 80-year-old secondary forest in Columbia and Venezuela and from 0.4% in a 1-year fallow to 20.9% in 10-year regrowth vegetation in southwestern Nigeria. In semi-arid savanna in northern Ethiopia, the woody/herbaceous plants ratio index increased from 18.1% in a 5-year protected grazing enclosure to 75.1% in 15-year protected enclosure, relative to the status of 20-year enclosure. The indices generally had correlations of 0.6-0.90 with species richness and Simpson's/Margalef's species diversity, implying that they are appropriate measures of ecosystem development over time. The proposed indices also had strong and positive correlations with soil organic carbon and nutrients. They are therefore, significant indicators of fertility status.

• 한국수자원학회:학술대회논문집
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• 한국수자원학회 2022년도 학술발표회
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• pp.154-154
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• 2022

The frequency of natural disasters, including floods and drought events, driven by climate change has increased in recent times. Investigating the climate regimes and the roles of climate variables are indispensable to forestall future climate change-related disasters. This study compares the variability of two popular and widely used climate indices i.e., the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) aridity index and the Modified De-Martonne (MDM) index to assess the trend of climate change in the Chungcheong provinces of South Korea. The trend of annual and monthly climate indices was conducted using a non-parametric Mann-Kendall test and Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test with daily climate data of 48 years (1978-2020) from 10 synoptic stations. The findings indicate that UNEP and MDM indices had a wet climate regime for the annual trend, with the UNEP index indicating a relatively humid trend of 60% humid, 20% semi-arid, and 10% sub-humid for the 48-years study period. However, the MDM index showed a high frequency of a severe wet climatic condition followed by the semi-arid condition. The months of July and August had the highest occurring frequency of the wet climatic condition (90%) for both UNEP and MDM indices. Comparing the two provinces, Chungnam showed a relatively wetter climatic condition using the UNEP index, while the MDM index indicated no significant regional difference in climate regime between the two provinces. The Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test showed that all the 10 stations are normally distributed for monthly climate conditions at a 5% significant level in the two provinces except five stations for UNEP index and four stations for MDM index in the month of January.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제17권6호
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• pp.814-819
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• 2004

An investigation was carried out to study the effect of two housing systems on feed intake and nutrient utilization of sheep in a semi-arid region of India. Two types of housing managements were adopted. The first was a shed- 20'${\times}$10' structure with all the four sides of 6' chain link fencing with central height of 10'. The roof was covered with asbestos sheets, with mud floorings. The second was an open corral- 20'${\times}$10' open space with all the four sides covered with 6' chain link fencing. Thirty-four (32 ewes and 2 rams) sheep were grazed together on a 35 ha plot of native range. All the sheep were grazed as a flock from 08:00 to 17:00 h during the yearlong study. The flock was divided into two groups (16 ewes+1 ram) in the evening and housed according to two housing systems (Shed and Open Corral). Three digestion trials were conducted during three defined seasons of monsoon, winter and summer seasons to determine the effect of housing on nutrient intake and utilization. Blood samples were collected in three seasons for the estimation of hemoglobin and glucose. Dry and wet bulb temperatures were recorded at 06:00 A.M. and 09:00 P.M. using suitable thermometers both inside the shed and in the open corral and temperature humidity index (THI) was calculated. There was significant (p<0.05) difference in the THI between shed and open corral in all the seasons, indicating that the shed was always warmer compared to open corral. The daily dry matter intake (DMI, g/d) was 965, 615 and 982 in sheep housed under shed and 971, 625 and 1,001 in those housed in open corral during monsoon, winter and summer season, respectively. These differences were however non-significant (p>0.05). The digestibility of DM was 45.92, 45.13 and 50.30 in sheep housed under shed and 43.64, 45.02 and 55.02 in sheep housed in open corral during monsoon, winter and summer seasons, respectively. There was no significant (p>0.05) difference in the digestibility of nutrients in sheep maintained under shed and in open corral. Blood Hb concentration was 13.97, 14.13 and 13.15 in sheep housed under shed and 15.27, 13.63 and 14.82 in those kept in open corral, whereas blood glucose concentration was 59.67, 59.70 and 52.33 in sheep under shed and 61.00, 61.00 and 57.83 in open corral, during monsoon, winter and summer, respectively. There was also no significant effect of housing on the body weight changes, wool yield and survivability in ewes. Although housing had no significant effect on nutrient intake, their utilization and blood parameters, there was significant effect on the physiological responses and energy expenditure of sheep maintained under the two housing systems (Bhatta et al., 2004). It can be concluded from this study that the housing systems didn't have any significant effect on the nutrient intake and utilization of native breed like Malpura, which were well adapted to the hot semi-arid conditions of India. However, while deciding provisions for housing of different breeds of sheep (both crossbred and native) parameters like physiological responses, energy expenditure, health conditions and overall economics of the systems should be taken into consideration.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• 제18권2호
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• pp.296-300
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• 2005

Human-induced soil salinity is becoming a major threat to agriculture across the world. This salinisation occurs in both irrigated and rain-fed agricultural zones with the highest proportions in the arid and semi-arid environments. Livestock can play an important role in the management and rehabilitation of this land. There are a range of plants that grow in saline soils and these have been used as animal feed. In many situations, animal production has been poor as a result of low edible biomass production, low nutritive value, depressed appetite, or a reduction in efficiency of energy use. Feeding systems are proposed that maximise the feeding value of plants growing on saline land and integrate their use with other feed resources available within mixed livestock and crop farming systems. Salt-tolerant pastures, particularly the chenopod shrubs, have moderate digestible energy and high crude protein. For this reason they represent a good supplement for poor quality pastures and crop residues. The use of salt-tolerant pasture systems not only provides feed for livestock but also may act as a bio-drain to lower saline water tables and improve the soil for growth of alternative less salt tolerant plants. In the longer term there are opportunities to identify and select more appropriate plants and animals for saline agriculture.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제43권2호
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• pp.246-253
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• 2019

Background: Water use efficiency (WUE) is an indicator of the trade-off between carbon uptake and water loss to the atmosphere at the plant or ecosystem level. Understanding temporal dynamics and the response of WUE to climatic variability is an essential part of land degradation assessments in water-limited dryland regions. Alternative definitions of and/or alternative methodologies used to measure WUE, however, have hampered intercomparisons among previous studies of different biomes and regions. The present study aims to clarify semantic differences among WUE parameters applied in previous studies and summarize these parameters in terms of their definition and methodology. Additionally, the consistency of the responses of alternative WUE parameters to interannual changes in moisture levels in Northeast Asia dryland regions (NADRs) was tested. Results: The literature review identified more than five different WUE parameters defined at leaf and ecosystem levels and indicates that major conclusions regarding the WUE response to climatic variability were partly inconsistent depending on the parameters used. Our demonstration of WUE in NADR again confirmed regional inconsistencies and further showed that inconsistencies were more distinct in hyper- and semi-arid climates than in arid climates, which might reflect the different relative roles of physical and biological processes in the coupled carbon-water process. Conclusions: The responses of alternative WUE parameters to drying and wetting may be different in different regions, and regionally different response seems to be related to aridity, which determines vegetation coverage.

• 한국대기환경학회지
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• 제12권1호
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• pp.79-90
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• 1996

Total suspended particles were measured at Kosan, Cheju Island, Korea during the period of March 11 .sim. April 19, 1994. Concentrations of non-sea salt(nss) ions were higher than those measured at clean marine areas in Japan and other background marine areas in the world. Especially, nss sulfate concentration is compatable to thoes measured at Seoul. It is suggested that most nss sulfate concentration is originated from anthropogenic sources. Nss sulfate concentration shows strong correlation with ammonium and nss potassium concentrations while shows no a pparent correlation with nitrate and nss calcium concentrations. Nss calcium concentrations shows strong correlation with nss potassium and mss magnesium concentrations. It is deduced that nss potassium has two origins, one anthropogenic, the other crustal. Backward trajectory analysis results show the trajectories of air parcel during the measurement period were mostly originated from China. It is shown that cases of high nss sulfate with high nss calcium can occur when an air parcel originated from arid and semi-arid regions of morthwestern China or Mongolia passes through northeastern China.

• Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• 제35권2호
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• pp.73-78
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• 2012

$Calotropis$ $procera$ L. is a perennial shrub distributed in saline areas of deserts of South Asia. Salt stress is a very challenging subject in arid and semi-arid areas. Germination stage is very sensitive and many plants do not germinate in saline soil. The objective of this study was identifying the salinity effect on seed germination of $Calotropis$ $procera$ L. The experimental design was a complete randomized block design with NaCl and $CaCl_2$ at five levels of isobar concentrations: 0.0, -0.01, -0.05, -0.1, and -0.15 MPa. Osmotic potential had significant effects ($P$ < 0.01) on germination percentage, germination rate, shoot length, root length, and seedling dry weight. All seedling characteristics decreased with decrease in osmotic potential. Shoot length and root length decreased more than the seedling characteristics. Germination was completely inhibited in -0.1 Mpa. Priming with NaCl and $CaCl_2$ (-0.1 MPa) for four days had significant effects ($P$ < 0.01) on the germination percentages. Priming improved the seedling characteristics in all samples, especially in -0.05 Mpa, but a decrease with decrease in osmotic potential.

• Advances in environmental research
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• 제9권4호
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• pp.251-273
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• 2020

Soil degradation has become a major worldwide environmental problem, particularly in arid and semi-arid climate zones due to irregular rainfall and the intensity of storms that frequently generate heavy flooding. The main objective of this study is the use of geographic information system and remote sensing techniques to quantify and to map the soil losses in the Wadi Saida watershed (624 ㎢) through the revised universal soil loss equation model and a proposed model based on the surface erosive runoff. The results Analysis revealed that the Wadi Saida watershed showed moderate to moderately high soil loss, between 0 and 1000 t/㎢/year. In the northern part of the basin in the region of Sidi Boubkeur and the mountains of Daia; which are characterized by steep slopes, values can reach up to 3000 t/㎢/year. The two models in comparison showed a good correlation with R = 0.95 and RMSE = 0.43; the use of the erosive surface runoff parameter is effective to estimate the rate of soil loss in the watersheds. The problem of soil erosion requires serious interventions, particularly in basins with disturbances and aggressive climatic parameters. Good agricultural practices and forest preservation areas play an important role in soil conservation.