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Graphical abstract Highlights • Application of an ambient MS method, paper spray MS, for sensitive and accurate analysis of antibiotic residues in foodstuff. • Multiplexed analysis of antibiotics with qualitative and quantitative capabilities. • High sensitivity/specificity, no need of analyte labelling, and readiness to couple with a miniature mass spectrometer. Abstract Antibiotics monitoring is of importance in providing healthy diets by preventing animal husbandry from antibiotic misuse. The development of paper spray provides a time-efficient strategy to analyze antibiotics in complex matrices without sample preparation. In this work, paper spray mass spectrometry was applied to identify and quantify nine antimicrobial residues in four antimicrobial families from four kinds of general food matrix, including beef, chicken meat, milk and egg. Samples were directly placed on the paper without any further sample treatment. The limits of detections (LODs) were obtained as 15.0 μg/kg for marbofloxacin in chicken meat, 15.0 μg/kg for difloxacin in chicken meat, 12.5 μg/kg for lincomycin in beef, 12.5 μg/kg for clindamycin in beef, 4.0 μg/kg for amoxicillin in milk, 4.0 μg/kg for penicillin-G in milk, 10.0 μg/kg for cloxacillin in milk, 12.5 μg/kg for minocycline in egg, and 6.2 μg/kg chlortetracycline in egg, respectively. All the LODs were in accordance with the restriction of maximum residue limits (MRLs) of antimicrobial residues announced by the Council Regulation 2377/90/EEC, which suggests a sufficient capability of the paper spray mass spectrometry (PS-MS) method to rapidly screen antimicrobial residues in foods of animal origins. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Flight is a fundamental characteristic for the majority of bird species, but how well is this behaviour catered for when birds are housed in managed populations under human care? Zoo enclosure design and animal care practices often balance natural behaviour performance and what is feasible in a human-made environment. As zoos focus more on animal welfare, enclosures should be evaluated to ensure they provide adequate space, natural habitat features, and opportunities for natural behaviours. This paper highlights the need for a better understanding of behaviours, using flight in bird as the core example, and recommends posing and then answering directed questions to gather evidence for improved enclosure design to provide for what birds need to do. We call for changing "best practice" guidelines to "better practice guidelines" to emphasise continuous improvement in animal care based on evidence and regular reassessment, and to encourage all stakeholders in zoos to regularly consider the impacts of housing and husbandry on animal behaviour and welfare. Zoo enclosure design, and housing and husbandry protocols, will always be a compromise between what a species has evolved to do and what is possible to offer in a human-created environment. For some species, behaviours that are commonly performed in the wild may be constrained by husbandry practices that are used for ease or aesthetics or are accepted conventions. As zoos place more emphasis on positive animal welfare states, zoo enclosures should be scrutinised to check that what is provided, in terms of useful space, appropriate replication of habitat features, and maximal potential for natural behaviour performance, is relevant to the species and individuals being housed. For some species, zoos need to grapple with tough questions where the answer may not seem immediately obvious to ensure they are continuously improving standards of care, opportunities for the performance of species-typical behaviours, and advancing the attainment of positive welfare states. Determining the importance of flight, for example, and what this behaviour adds to the quality of life of a zoo-housed bird, is an important question that needs addressing to truly advance aviculture and how we determine bird welfare. This paper provides questions that should be answered and poses measures of what flight means to a bird, to provide evidence for the development and evolution of zoo bird housing. If we can devise some way of asking the animals in our care what they need, we can more firmly support decisions made that surround enclosure design, and housing decisions. Ultimately, this means gathering evidence on whether birds like to fly (e.g., from birds in training or demonstration activities) by applying mixed methods approaches of behavioural analysis, data on wild ecology, qualitative behavioural assessment, and cognitive bias testing to develop a robust suite of tools to address avian welfare considerations. Avian welfare scientists should attempt to define what meaningful flight is (i.e., flight that truly suggests a bird is flying) in order to support guidelines on aviary dimensions, space allowance, and welfare outputs from birds in both flighted and flight-restricted populations, and to determine what is most appropriate for an individual species. Changing the term "best practice" husbandry guidelines to "better practice" husbandry guidelines would instil the importance of regular review and reassessment of housing and management suitability for a species to ensure such care regimes remain appropriate. With an increasingly welfare-savvy public visiting zoos, it is essential that we seek more evidence to support and justify how birds are kept and ultimately use such evidence to enact changes to practices that are shown to infringe on avian welfare. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Tibetan sheep industry is a typical representative of plateau animal husbandry and grassland animal husbandry and is also one of the characteristic industries in the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau region. The study of this industry is of great significance to promoting the high-quality development of animal husbandry and the region. Based on the production data and statistical data of Tibetan sheep in the main producing areas of Qinghai Province, this paper adopts the entropy method and the coupling coordination degree model to study the high-quality development of animal husbandry in Qinghai province from five dimensions: product quality, production efficiency, economic benefits, environmental friendliness and environmental conditions. The results showed that the high-quality development level and coupling coordination degree of the Tibetan sheep industry in Haibei Prefecture, Hainan Prefecture, Haixi Prefecture and Huangnan Prefecture of Qinghai Province showed an upward trend from 2015 to 2020. Among them, the high-quality development level of the Tibetan sheep industry in Haibei Prefecture and Hainan Prefecture of Qinghai Province significantly increased from 2019 to 2020, but the coupling coordination degree decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This article introduces an animal welfare monitoring app based on the 2020 Five Domains Model that considers how an animal's nutrition, environment, health, and behavioural interactions, influence their mental state. Adapted for smartphone use, the Mellorater app allows animal guardians (carers, keepers, and owners) to record structured observations of an animal's life-world with a free research-backed tool. The aim is to help them monitor and improve their animal's daily lived experiences, make better management decisions, and achieve a good life for their animals. Completing the checklist does not require specialist training and a user-guide with step-by-step instructions on using the app is provided. Users respond to 18 statements by noting their level of agreement with each statement, using a five-point scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree. The authors acknowledge that this form of self-reporting has some limitations but propose that these may be outweighed by the benefits of structured monitoring being repeated over time. This approach helps to identify ongoing shortfalls in an animal's life-world and trends in their observed quality of life indicators. Both of these outcomes may stimulate contact with sources of further advice, including veterinarians and other animal health and welfare professionals. When monitoring an animal's welfare, it helps to have comprehensive and day-to-day information about the animal's life. The goal is to ensure that animal guardians (carers, keepers, and owners) use such information to act in the animals' best interests. This article introduces the Mellorater, an animal welfare monitoring app based on the 2020 Five Domains Model. This framework provides a means of capturing comprehensive information about the world in which individual animals exist. The Mellorater asks animal guardians to rate their agreement with 18 statements covering any focal animal's nutrition, environment, health, and behavioural interactions using a five-point Likert scale. No specialist training is required other than following straightforward instructions on using the app, which are provided. The Mellorater is not proposed as a validated welfare auditing tool because it relies on reflective self-reporting and, thus, is vulnerable to the user's subjectivity. If users' subjectivity is stable over time, then the longitudinal data may be considered useful proxies for trends in quality of life. That said, it has the potential to be used by trained auditors if scientifically validated, species-specific indicators are applied. The Mellorater collects anonymous data and has been approved for a study to explore how the use of such scales may differ among guardians of different species and in different contexts. In this paper, we conduct the following: (1) summarise the app's purposes; (2) clarify its capabilities and limitations; and (3) invite animal welfare scholars, veterinarians, health and welfare professionals, and animal guardians to use it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Although Europe was not a primary centre of cattle domestication, the cattle expansion from the Middle East and subsequent development created a complex pattern of cattle breed diversity. Many isolated populations of local historical breeds still carry the message about the physical and genetic traits of ancient populations. Historical cattle diversity is currently at the intersection of two leading directions of genetic research. Firstly, it is archaeogenetics attempting to recover and interpret the preserved genetic information directly from archaeological finds. Secondly, it is collecting genomic information about the previous development of extant populations. The present paper aims to place selected archaeogenetic, genetic, and genomic findings in the picture of cattle history in Central Europe, as suggested by archaeozoological and historical records. The importance, actuality, and effectiveness of combining different approaches to each archaeological find, such as morphological characterization, interpretation of the historical context, and molecular data, are stressed. Although Europe was not a primary centre of cattle domestication, its expansion from the Middle East and subsequent development created a complex pattern of cattle breed diversity. Many isolated populations of local historical breeds still carry the message about the physical and genetic traits of ancient populations. Since the way of life of human communities starting from the eleventh millennium BP was strongly determined by livestock husbandry, the knowledge of cattle diversity through the ages is helpful in the interpretation of many archaeological findings. Historical cattle diversity is currently at the intersection of two leading directions of genetic research. Firstly, it is archaeogenetics attempting to recover and interpret the preserved genetic information directly from archaeological finds. The advanced archaeogenetic approaches meet with the population genomics of extant cattle populations. The immense amount of genetic information collected from living cattle, due to its key economic role, allows for reconstructing the genetic profiles of the ancient populations backwards. The present paper aims to place selected archaeogenetic, genetic, and genomic findings in the picture of cattle history in Central Europe, as suggested by archaeozoological and historical records. Perspectives of the methodical connection between the genetic approaches and the approaches of traditional archaeozoology, such as osteomorphology and osteometry, are discussed. The importance, actuality, and effectiveness of combining different approaches to each archaeological find, such as morphological characterization, interpretation of the historical context, and molecular data, are stressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In spite of significant reductions in the numbers of animals entering shelters and being killed there over the last decades, the beliefs that companion animals must be under the direct control of a human guardian, and that capturing and often killing animals is morally justifiable and even necessary, continue to guide animal sheltering practices in the United States. Looking at the historical origins of animal control and sheltering in the US reveals a high level of consistency in ideologies and practices across almost 150 years. In this commentary, two scholars on animal sheltering in the US examine the historical legacies of animal control and sheltering in the US to show how they are problematic and dysfunctional and need to be abandoned to improve the lives of companion animals and the human communities of which they are a part. This paper examines the legacies of the emergence of the animal control and sheltering industry in the United States and their impact on contemporary public animal shelters. While decades of gradual reform have helped substantially reduce the number of animals entering shelters and being killed there, contemporary animal sheltering largely continues to follow the path set when animal sheltering developed in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Three key interrelated legacies of the pound model of early animal control and sheltering enduringly shape sheltering today: (1) the institutional culture of animal shelters grounded in the logics of caging and killing; (2) the lack of visibility and transparency, especially within government shelters; and (3) the economic logics of the pound model, including the disparities in sheltering resources across communities. Examining the origins of animal control and sheltering and identifying the specific legacies of this pound model within contemporary government-funded shelters improves understanding of why such shelters in the US have developed with a particular set of practices and ideologies, and thus provides an important footing for envisioning and enacting radical changes in animal sheltering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the historical evolution of crop-livestock integration in China with a specific focus on its role in mitigating non-point source pollution. Extensive examination of existing literature has unearthed the roots of croplivestock integration dating back to the Western Zhou Dynasty (1046 to 771 BCE), ultimately culminating in a multifaceted and intricately interwoven system of rural development policies seen in contemporary China. This paper identifies and characterizes four distinct stages in the historical trajectory of crop-livestock integration: the era of self-sufficient subsistence production in traditional times (1046 BCE to 1948); the period where crop-livestock integration emerged as a pivotal strategy for augmenting grain and meat production under collectivist policies (1949-1977); the phase marked by the industrialization and expansion of the livestock sector during the early years of economic reforms (1978-2011); and the present era in which crop-livestock integration is harnessed as a mechanism for pollution control and ecologicalpreservation in contemporary China (2012 to present). This paper illuminates the diverse contributions of crop-livestock integration in different epochs of rural development within China, which contributes to a nuanced and more theoretically grounded comprehension of circular agriculture. This understanding has the potential to be leveraged to promote sustainable rural development in broader contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measurement of zoo animal welfare states enables improvement to husbandry and management to be evidence-based and implemented according to species' needs. Theoretical welfare concepts are often discussed, and whilst it is helpful to ensure wide consensus across all stakeholders on what welfare comprises, practical application of such evidence-based information is as equally important. All species housed in zoos will have specific needs that must be met by their housing, husbandry, and care to enable them to thrive. Therefore, this paper examined how to identify key animal care needs and an animal's responses to them to form a basis for species-specific welfare assessment approaches. There are examples of familiar-to-the-zoo species that still pose challenges regarding delivery of optimal husbandry and management. As such, the identification and evaluation of core concepts of the biology, behaviour, "needs and wants" of these species is required to support validation and refinement of physical, behavioural, and psychological welfare measures. This article evaluated the use of evidence to build capacity in welfare measurement for a familiar zoo-housed species, the giraffe (Giraffa camelopardalis, Linnaeus 1758), by outlining seven key needs and requirements that must be provided in the zoo ("giraffe W-E-L-F-A-R-E" = Warmth, Enrichment, Leaves, Feeding, Alfalfa, Rumination, Exercise). Provision of these inputs, and opportunities for all giraffes in a herd to engage with them, provides the foundation for further welfare assessment to be implemented. Specifically, the validation and measurement of mental states that are more likely to be positive if key behavioural and ecological needs have already been met. This paper advocated for this evidence-based approach to "welfare-focussed husbandry", with distillation of key information that supports species-relevant care, to be developed for other zoo-housed species as support for their welfare assessment protocols. Such welfare-focussed husbandry is layered on top of the basic animal care requirements of the species in the zoo to ensure all individuals have the best opportunity to attain positive welfare states. In this way, and once validated, foundational welfare assessment can be easily completed by busy animal care staff, capacity is built into zoo operations as all stakeholders are aware of exactly what each species needs, and deeper dive welfare assessment (especially concerning animal mental states) can be targeted more effectively. Further evolution of these seven steps for the giraffe is suggested and extrapolation of this approach, to aid identification of key welfare indicators across all zoo-housed species, is encouraged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: This paper presents a technique for acquiring 3D point cloud data of pigs in precision animal husbandry. The method combines 2D detection frames and segmented region masks of pig images with depth information to improve the efficiency of acquiring 3D data. Our method achieves an average similarity of 95.3% compared to manually labelled 3D point cloud data. This method provides technical support for pig management, welfare assessment, and accurate weight estimation. This paper proposes a method for automatic pig detection and segmentation using RGB-D data for precision livestock farming. The proposed method combines the enhanced YOLOv5s model with the Res2Net bottleneck structure, resulting in improved fine-grained feature extraction and ultimately enhancing the precision of pig detection and segmentation in 2D images. Additionally, the method facilitates the acquisition of 3D point cloud data of pigs in a simpler and more efficient way by using the pig mask obtained in 2D detection and segmentation and combining it with depth information. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed method, two datasets were constructed. The first dataset consists of 5400 images captured in various pig pens under diverse lighting conditions, while the second dataset was obtained from the UK. The experimental results demonstrated that the improved YOLOv5s_Res2Net achieved a mAP@0.5:0.95 of 89.6% and 84.8% for both pig detection and segmentation tasks on our dataset, while achieving a mAP@0.5:0.95 of 93.4% and 89.4% on the Edinburgh pig behaviour dataset. This approach provides valuable insights for improving pig management, conducting welfare assessments, and estimating weight accurately. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The principal economic sector devoted to the breeding, raising, and production of farm animals is known as the livestock industry. There are precise standards for making high-quality feed in animal husbandry. Precision livestock feeding is a crucial component, with the potential to significantly impact the profitability of livestock; it permits the provision of diets to animals that are precisely tailored to their specific daily nutritional needs. Through simulation modeling, a single model can be created for automated systems to determine daily rations for farm animals. For the purposes of this document, precision livestock feeding refers to the practice of tailoring feed to individual animals or groups of animals, taking into account their changing nutritional needs over time and individual differences in terms of nutritional requirements. The practice aims to optimize animal health and performance while reducing feed waste. This paper presents a formal model for determining the quantities of components needed to achieve a minimum cost mixture that satisfies compositional and quantitative criteria. The present research calculates the amount of hay and silage required to feed an animal per day at the most economical cost by applying an optimization approach that involves defining and solving an optimization problem. The problem is solved using a well-known software package, which is necessary for the practical application of the resulting model. Real data from livestock production in Bulgaria are used to numerically test the model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The almost complete absence of regulations to protect invertebrates is a common condition in legal systems, including the European one, especially when it comes to invertebrates intended for human consumption. Thus, in the vast majority of cases, edible invertebrates do not receive even the most basic protection at slaughter. Despite recent research indicating that invertebrates are capable of feeling pain and stress, the humane step of stunning is not used on them. This is also the case for land snails, which are gastropod invertebrates whose consumption has now reached significant levels, already involving tonnes and that is expected to increase significantly as edible snail farming becomes more popular as a relatively low-cost, easy-to-perform, and sustainable alternative animal husbandry, thereby making land snails an increasingly economically important species. This paper presents and investigates a proposed stunning method based on the immersion of mollusks in CO2-supplemented and refrigerated water that could be used in the snail meat production chain to reduce the slaughter suffering of millions of these invertebrates. To this end, body condition descriptors (hemolymph parameters) in snails were determined before and after CO2 treatment in cold water, while generating useful data for defining a preliminary set of reference intervals for basal values. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to theoretically and empirically test whether the Weather Index Insurance for Mutton Sheep (WIMS) which protects the herders from increased feeding costs resulting from drought and snow disasters promotes the income of herders in China's Inner Mongolia or not. We have applied the OLS, PSM, and quantile regression models using field survey data from 261 herders in Xilin Gol, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region for our objective. The findings demonstrate that the WIMS significantly increases the overall and high-income herders' income, but has no significant effect on herders' income at other income levels. According to the results, we recommend that as the subsidized agricultural insurance product, the government should expand the pilot region of WIMS to furtherly test its income effect and consider reducing or exempting insurance premiums for low-income herders to reduce their financial pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Silk fibroin (SF) from silkworms is exceptionally biocompatible and biodegradable. The nanoparticle delivery systems constructed with SF can improve drug delivery and enhance action efficiency. This review outlines the various nanoparticle delivery systems, focusing on the application and potential of eco-friendly SF as a delivery system in animal husbandry. The aim is to provide theoretical references for the further development and application of SF in animal husbandry. Silk fibroin (SF), a unique natural polymeric fibrous protein extracted from Bombyx mori cocoons, accounts for approximately 75% of the total mass of silk. It has great application prospects due to its outstanding biocompatibility, biodegradability, low immunogenicity, and mechanical stability. Additionally, it is non-toxic and environmentally friendly. Nanoparticle delivery systems constructed with SF can improve the bioavailability of the carriers, increase the loading rates, control the release behavior of the deliverables, and enhance their action efficiencies. Animal husbandry is an integral part of agriculture and plays a vital role in the development of the rural economy. However, the pillar industry experiences a lot of difficulties, like drug abuse while treating major animal diseases, and serious environmental pollution, restricting sustainable development. Interestingly, the limited use cases of silk fibroin nanoparticle (SF NP) delivery systems in animal husbandry, such as veterinary vaccines and feed additives, have shown great promise. This paper first reviews the SF NP delivery system with regard to its advantages, disadvantages, and applications. Moreover, we describe the application status and developmental prospects of SF NP delivery systems to provide theoretical references for further development in livestock production and promote the high-quality and healthy development of animal husbandry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces an approach to the automated measurement and analysis of dairy cows using 3D point cloud technology. The integration of advanced sensing techniques enables the collection of non-intrusive, precise data, facilitating comprehensive monitoring of key parameters related to the health, well-being, and productivity of dairy cows. The proposed system employs 3D imaging sensors to capture detailed information about various parts of dairy cows, generating accurate, high-resolution point clouds. A robust automated algorithm has been developed to process these point clouds and extract relevant metrics such as dairy cow stature height, rump width, rump angle, and front teat length. Based on the measured data combined with expert assessments of dairy cows, the quality indices of dairy cows are automatically evaluated and extracted. By leveraging this technology, dairy farmers can gain real-time insights into the health status of individual cows and the overall herd. Additionally, the automated analysis facilitates efficient management practices and optimizes feeding strategies and resource allocation. The results of field trials and validation studies demonstrate the effectiveness and reliability of the automated 3D point cloud approach in dairy farm environments. The errors between manually measured values of dairy cow height, rump angle, and front teat length, and those calculated by the auto-measurement algorithm were within 0.7 cm, with no observed exceedance of errors in comparison to manual measurements. This research contributes to the burgeoning field of precision livestock farming, offering a technological solution that not only enhances productivity but also aligns with contemporary standards for sustainable and ethical animal husbandry practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) causing vector-borne diseases (VBDs) can circulate among humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, with cattle in particular serving as an important source of exposure risk to humans. The close associations between humans and cattle can facilitate the transmission of numerous VBPs, impacting public health and economic security. Published studies demonstrate that cattle can influence human exposure risk positively, negatively, or have no effect. There is a critical need to synthesize the information in the scientific literature on this subject, in order to illuminate the various ecological mechanisms that can affect VBP exposure risk in humans. Therefore, the aim of this systematic review was to review the scientific literature, provide a synthesis of the possible effects of cattle on VBP risk to humans, and propose future directions for research. This study was performed according to the PRISMA 2020 extension guidelines for systematic review. After screening 470 peer-reviewed articles published between 1999–2019 using the databases Web of Science Core Collection, PubMed Central, CABI Global Health, and Google Scholar, and utilizing forward and backward search techniques, we identified 127 papers that met inclusion criteria. Results of the systematic review indicate that cattle can be beneficial or harmful to human health with respect to VBDs depending on vector and pathogen ecology and livestock management practices. Cattle can increase risk of exposure to infections spread by tsetse flies and ticks, followed by sandflies and mosquitoes, through a variety of mechanisms. However, cattle can have a protective effect when the vector prefers to feed on cattle instead of humans and when chemical control measures (e.g., acaricides/insecticides), semio-chemicals, and other integrated vector control measures are utilized in the community. We highlight that further research is needed to determine ways in which these mechanisms may be exploited to reduce VBD risk in humans. Author summary: Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are caused by pathogens spread by blood-feeding arthropods from an infected to an uninfected organism. These infections may be caused by pathogenic bacteria, viruses, or protozoans and arthropod vectors may spread these pathogens to humans, domestic animals, and wildlife. Humans and cattle spend a significant amount of time in close proximity with each other through various activities such as agriculture, animal husbandry, trading, and animal farming, which can potentially increase risk to human health. Previously published studies indicated cattle can impact vector-borne pathogen (VBP) transmission both positively and negatively, however, there has not been a recent synthesis of the scientific literature on this subject. Through this global systematic review of the scientific literature, we found that cattle could have either harmful or beneficial impacts on human health when it comes to VBDs, but most often increase exposure risk to VBPs in humans. We identified various mechanisms from the scientific literature by which cattle can impact VBP risk in humans. Further research is needed to better understand specific ecological mechanisms by which cattle impact human health and develop measures that will prevent and reduce VBP exposure risk in humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: In the realm of intelligent animal husbandry, the fundamental underpinning of intelligence lies in the capability to identify individual livestock and perform automatic headcounts. Presently, many farming operations still rely on manual counting methodologies, which exhibit notable deficiencies, particularly when confronted with the challenges posed by the substantial populations of sheep and the frequent need for counting. Manual counting is marred by inefficiency and susceptibility to errors such as duplication and omission, thereby presenting formidable hurdles. In response to these challenges within the domain of animal husbandry, this research introduces a deep neural network model that leverages contactless computer vision technology for the automatic detection and enumeration of sheep. We have systematically deployed a series of advanced and efficacious strategies to enhance the model's performance. Empirical investigations substantiate that our approach can proficiently and accurately automate the counting of sheep within practical farming environments. This method holds significant promise for the intelligent management of sheep farms and possesses adaptability for application across diverse livestock types, underscoring its practical utility. In essence, this study furnishes an effective and practical solution that advances precision and automation in animal husbandry. To achieve rapid and precise target counting, the quality of target detection serves as a pivotal factor. This study introduces the Sheep's Head-Single Shot MultiBox Detector (SH-SSD) as a solution. Within the network's backbone, the Triple Attention mechanism is incorporated to enhance the MobileNetV3 backbone, resulting in a significant reduction in network parameters and an improvement in detection speed. The network's neck is constructed using a combination of the Spatial Pyramid Pooling module and the Triple Attention Bottleneck module. This combination enhances the extraction of semantic information and the preservation of detailed feature map information, with a slight increase in network parameters. The network's head is established through the Decoupled Head module, optimizing the network's prediction capabilities. Experimental findings demonstrate that the SH-SSD model attains an impressive average detection accuracy of 96.11%, effectively detecting sheep's heads within the sample. Notably, SH-SSD exhibits enhancements across various detection metrics, accompanied by a significant reduction in model parameters. Furthermore, when combined with the DeepSort tracking algorithm, it achieves high-precision quantitative statistics. The SH-SSD model, introduced in this paper, showcases commendable performance in sheep's head detection and offers deployment simplicity, thereby furnishing essential technical support for the advancement of intelligent animal husbandry practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As an innovative technology in biological applications, cold plasma is widely used in oral treatment, tissue regeneration, wound healing, and cancer therapy, etc., because of the adjustable composition and temperature which allow the plasma to react with bio-objects safely. Reactive oxygen species (ROS) produced by cold plasma regulate cell activity in an intensity- and time-dependent manner. A low level of ROS produced by cold plasma treatment within the appropriate intensities and times promotes proliferation of skin-related cells and increases angiogenesis, which aid in the acceleration of the wound healing process, while a high level of ROS produced by cold plasma treatment performed at a high intensity or over a long period of time inhibits the proliferation of endothelial cells, keratinocytes, fibroblasts, and cancer cells. Moreover, cold plasma can regulate stem cell proliferation by changing niche interface and producing nitric oxide directly. However, the molecular mechanism of cold plasma regulating cell activity and its potential application in the field of animal husbandry remain unclear in the literature. Therefore, this paper reviews the effects and possible regulatory mechanisms of cold plasma on the activities of endothelial cells, keratinocytes, fibroblasts, stem cells, and cancer cells to provide a theoretical basis for the application of cold plasma to skin-wound healing and cancer therapy. In addition, cold plasma exposure at a high intensity or an extended time shows excellent performances in killing various microorganisms existing in the environment or on the surface of animal food, and preparing inactivated vaccines, while cold plasma treatment within the appropriate conditions improves chicken growth and reproductive capacity. This paper introduces the potential applications of cold plasma treatment in relation to animal-breeding environments, animal health, their growth and reproduction, and animal food processing and preservation, which are all beneficial to the practice of animal husbandry and guarantee good animal food safety results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine fisheries are undeniably important to Taiwan in terms of economic development and industrial strategies. In the past 10 years, Taiwan's fishery GDP accounted for 14% to 21% of all agriculture, forestry, fishery, and animal husbandry, which is higher than both animal husbandry and forestry. Since the domestic population structure of Taiwan has changed, the domestic fishery industrial labor force has gradually been replaced by migrant fishing workers. The issue of migrant fishing workers' protection has received attention from non-governmental organizations, and cross-national recruitment administration has become the greatest challenge faced by Taiwan's authority. Therefore, this paper describes the necessary protection of the labor conditions and interests of migrant fishermen by analyzing their status and human rights protection in the historical development of Taiwan's marine fisheries. In addition, considering the well-being of migrant fishing workers, this paper conducts a feasibility assessment on the operation of the "Nan-Fang-Ao Fishermen's Hostel" at the Nan-Fang-Ao Fishing Harbor and illustrates the urgent need to re-examine the migrant fishing workers' protection. This paper suggests that the government agencies should actively advise employers to accept migrant fishermen's requests for better living environments onshore and guarantee basic living conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Establishing relationship between fluorescence type and percentage content of good-quality cocoons from silkworm Bombyx mori L. was the aim of this paper. The study was conducted during 2016-2020 at the training experimental station of the sub-department "Special branches (Sericulture)", department "Animal husbandry - Non-ruminant animals and special branches", Faculty of Agriculture, Trakia University - Stara Zagora. In fulfillment of the purpose and tasks, biological material from 8 breeds, 16 dihybrids and 10 tetrahybrids reared with mulberry leaf was used. The type of fluorescence of the silk sheaths was established when exposed to ultraviolet (UV) rays with a wavelength in the range 254-365 nm. The analysis of the obtained data shows that the type of fluorescence of the silk sheath, as well as the breed (hybrid), have a highly reliable influence (p = 0.001) on the variation of the percentage of good-quality cocoons (an-ras). Of the three fluorescent groups, that of the yellow-fluorescent cocoons was characterized by the highest mean percentage of good-quality cocoons in both dihybrid (94.75%) and tetrahybrid (95.34%) forms of the mulberry silkworm. This gives reason to consider that the results obtained by us confirm the established in the scientific literature relationship between ultraviolet fluorescence and the technological qualities of cocoons. This relationship can be used to increase the quality of the obtained production by applying the methods selection and breeding by type of the fluorescence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent decades, nanotechnology has been rapidly advancing in various fields of human activity, including veterinary medicine. The review presents up-to-date information on recent advancements in nanotechnology in the field and an overview of the types of nanoparticles used in veterinary medicine and animal husbandry, their characteristics, and their areas of application. Currently, a wide range of nanomaterials has been implemented into veterinary practice, including pharmaceuticals, diagnostic devices, feed additives, and vaccines. The application of nanoformulations gave rise to innovative strategies in the treatment of animal diseases. For example, antibiotics delivered on nanoplatforms demonstrated higher efficacy and lower toxicity and dosage requirements when compared to conventional pharmaceuticals, providing a possibility to solve antibiotic resistance issues. Nanoparticle-based drugs showed promising results in the treatment of animal parasitoses and neoplastic diseases. However, the latter area is currently more developed in human medicine. Owing to the size compatibility, nanomaterials have been applied as gene delivery vectors in veterinary gene therapy. Veterinary medicine is at the forefront of the development of innovative nanovaccines inducing both humoral and cellular immune responses. The paper provides a brief overview of current topics in nanomaterial safety, potential risks associated with the use of nanomaterials, and relevant regulatory aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to study the impact of inclusive finance on agricultural green development, This paper uses both static panel and dynamic panel (system GMM model) estimation methods to make empirical analysis of the impact of inclusive financial development on agricultural green development. The results both find that there is a significant positive correlation between the level of inclusive financial development, real GDP per capita, the proportion of the added value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery in GDP and agricultural green development. This paper puts forward some countermeasures and suggestions to promote agricultural green development, including vigorously developing inclusive finance, promoting economic growth, promoting the development of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery, and increasing environmental protection expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Disease and death of young livestock cause financial and production difficulties to farmers around the world. High rates of disease and death occur in various production systems in Ethiopia, hampering livestock production, reducing incomes, and damaging livelihoods. Over the last 10 years, studies carried out in Ethiopia have reported death and disease incidence rates in young livestock as high as 31% and 67%, respectively. Diarrhea and respiratory infections are the two leading causes of disease and death in calves in all production systems. In this paper, we describe findings from the experience of the Young Stock Mortality Reduction Consortium. This unique group produced important information on the main causes of disease and death in Ethiopia and created activities for small-scale farmers to address these problems. We found that several diseases caused diarrhea and respiratory infections in young calves in Ethiopia. Improving farmer knowledge and behaviors with respect to basic livestock management led to considerable reductions in young livestock disease and death and has the potential to help improve livestock productivity and human livelihoods in Ethiopia. Morbidity and mortality of young stock present economic and production challenges to livestock producers globally. In Ethiopia, calf morbidity and mortality rates, particularly due to diarrhea and respiratory disease, are high, limiting production, incomes, and the ability of farmers to improve their livelihoods. In this paper, we present findings from the combined experience of the Young Stock Mortality Reduction Consortium, which conducted epidemiological and intervention testing in calves across three production systems. This innovative alliance identified Cryptosporidium parvum and E. Coli K99 as the most common causes of diarrhea in pastoral and peri-urban calves; Strongyloides spp. as the most common fecal parasite in mixed crop–livestock and peri-urban calves; and bovine adenovirus, parainfluenza virus-3, and bovine respiratory syncytial virus as the most common respiratory pathogens in peri-urban calves. Furthermore, by improving producer knowledge with respect to fundamental livestock husbandry, feeding, housing, and neonatal care practices, calf mortality risk across production systems was reduced by 31.4 to 71.4% compared to baseline (between 10.5 and 32.1%), whereas risk of diarrhea was reduced by 52.6–75.3% (baseline between 11.4 and 30.4%) and risk of respiratory disease was reduced by 23.6–80.8% (baseline between 3.3 and 16.3%). These findings have informed scaling strategies and can potentially contribute to improved livestock productivity and human livelihoods in Ethiopia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of geographically indicative (GI) agricultural products can effectively promote the development of local rural residents' per capita net income (PCNI) and the gross output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry, and fishery (GOV-AFAHF). This paper takes agricultural products with geographical indications in Anhui Province as the object of study and uses numerical analysis to analyze their application, geographical distribution, and various distribution in detail. By comparing it with the central region, this paper conducts an empirical study on its impact on agricultural economic development, analyzes its related variables and data, draws its effect on farmers' PCNI, and on this basis puts forward some countermeasures. In order to make the agricultural products with GI in Anhui Province develop better, according to the results of comparative analysis and empirical analysis, it puts forward suggestions for regulating the development of management industry associations, implementing the regional branding strategy of GI agricultural products, and increasing the construction of rural infrastructure. In addition, the experiment shows that under the condition of controlling other influencing factors unchanged, for every 1% increase in GI agricultural products, the average increase of PCNI of rural residents is 0.08%, which further confirms the conclusion that GI agricultural products can promote the development of GOV-AFAHF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycological and mycotoxinic contamination of plant substrates endangers the most important sectors globally - agriculture, animal husbandry and the food industry. The starting point of contamination is the spread of pathogens in the field, transport and even handling before storage. Increasing the temperature and humidity of these seeds can be an important factor in the development of fungi and mycotoxins. In this paper, we aimed to evaluate the fungal and mycotoxinic potential in the samples that characterize the area of the Moldavian Plateau. From agricultural farms, samples such as corn grains, wheat, barley, soybeans, rapeseed, peas and sunflowers were collected and analyzed and a series of 10 determinations / sample were performed in order to establish the fungal and mycotoxinic load. The results clearly indicate the presence on the seed coat of fungal spores of the genera Penicillium (60%), Aspergillus (52.8%), Fusarium (48.5%) together with species from the Mucoraceae family (38.5%). The most contaminated samples were corn, wheat and barley grains. The climatic conditions in this geographical area are favorable for these species of micromycetes and regarding the mycotoxinic examination performed by the TLC technique, the mycotoxins identified in the 70 plant substrates were aflatoxins B1, G2, ochratoxin and zearalenone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sum of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological characteristics of water determine the water quality evolution in water courses. Animal husbandry is one of the main causes of water courses pollution, especially if it does not have a wastewater treatment plant and they are discharged directly into the water course. The water quality determine the treatment technology and costs of water treatment to meet the quality requirements of the users in downstream, and the measures necessary for the protection / improvement of the water quality. An important aspect of the activity of water specialists is to monitor, analyze and forecast the evolution of water quality, especially in sectors where there are significant sources of pollution. In this paper is realized the modeling of the evolution of the water quality of the Crasna River, situated in the north-west part of Romania, using the MIKEbyDHI software, an advanced hydroinformatic tool. The evolution of Crasna River water quality is important because it is a cross-border river and is subject to the Romania - Hungary bilateral conventions and EU directives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper intends to optimize the landscape of the agricultural and animal husbandry (AG and AH) production park using the deep reinforcement learning (DRL) model under circular symbiosis. Therefore, after reviewing the relevant literature, decision tree evolutionary algorithm, and ensemble learning criteria, this paper studies and constructs the circular symbiotic industrial chain. Then, an experiment of landscaping the park and optimizing the production is made with full consideration of practical institutions. Finally, the numerical results show that the yield of several crops has been significantly improved after the landscape optimization by the proposed DRL model. Remarkably, the increase in rice yield is the most prominent. The yield of rice and wheat was about 12 kg before optimization and 18 kg after DRL model optimization, which has increased by 6 kg. This research has important reference value for improving the output efficiency of AG and AH products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agriculture encompasses both plant growing (agronomy, horticulture, and forestry) and animal husbandry. Aquaculture is the aquatic embodiment of agriculture. Lagoons are the main sources of aquaculture in various countries around the world which especially yield shrimp, finfish, macrophytes, and mollusk. Agricultural effluents are highly affecting the lagoon water quality parameters in Sri Lanka since most of the agricultural farmlands in the country are on coastal landmasses. It leads to the increased risks of lagoon water contamination. Therefore, it is essential to identify the water quality parameters affected by anthropogenic agricultural activities and establish their threshold limits for ensuring the sustainability of lagoons. This study has identified the influential lagoon water quality parameters associated with agricultural effluents using bibliographic references, tested the existing values of the most influential parameters in five Sri Lankan lagoons, and briefly discussed their fate and transport. The lagoon water quality was classified into biological, physical, and chemical parameters and studied for their importance in enhancing the water quality. The overall experimental findings on temperature, turbidity, pH, salinity, DO, BOD, COD, phosphates, nitrates, ammonia content, and faecal coliforms in water specimens suggest that the selected Sri Lankan lagoons are heavily polluted because of the accumulation over the decades from the agricultural lands which worsens even more with this salinity from the seawater when the tide comes in. This paper concludes that there is a growing need for mechanisms that can be used to monitor and apply control measures to effectively manage lagoon water quality not only for the integrity of the lagoon itself but also for the dependent ecosystems both in and out of the lagoon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was aimed at discussing the information monitoring of animal husbandry based on the Internet of Things and wireless communication system. The breeding and health of animals in the breeding industry has always been a topic that people talk about. The advent of the wireless communication system has made monitoring and positioning technologies more and more simple. The wireless communication network technology is applied to the environmental monitoring of animal breeding farms, and a real-time reporting system is designed to pay attention to animal health in real time. This article focuses on the connection between the two. First, this article briefly describes the state of the wireless communication network and the aquaculture industry, furthermore explains the research methods, such as the livestock breeding environment monitoring system model, which needs to have the characteristics of humanization, fast and simple, easy to maintain, high reliability, compatibility, scalability, and intelligence, and designs related monitoring systems and hardware systems to integrate carbon dioxide, ammonia, and other gas sensors with temperature and humidity sensors to sense the environment. Next, this article shows the wireless communication network monitoring and positioning algorithm, namely, the TOA-based wireless communication positioning algorithm and the LTE prediction algorithm. The predicted time is used as the link weight, and the weight within the wide link cluster is defined according to the time threshold, making the link maintain stability for a short time to enhance the network topology. Then, this article conducts experiments based on ZigBee wireless communication network sensor combined with improved genetic algorithm in the temperature and humidity test of farms, designs the environmental monitoring system, improves the algorithm, and cooperates with experiments and analysis to verify the feasibility and apply it to the temperature and humidity test of the livestock farm. The results are good, and the temperature and humidity errors are reduced by 88.28% and 84.21%, respectively. It has a certain degree of guidance. Finally, it is discussed and summarized. It can be seen that the system and algorithm designed in this paper have a good prospect in the development of animal husbandry. However, this algorithm takes a long time and has a broader research space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Horn of Africa is a large area of arid and semi-arid land, holding about 10% of the global and 40% of the entire African livestock population. The region's livestock production system is mainly extensive and pastoralist. It faces countless problems, such as a shortage of pastures and watering points, poor access to veterinary services, and multiple endemic diseases like foot-and-mouth disease (FMD). Foot-and-mouth disease is one of the most economically important livestock diseases worldwide and is endemic in most developing countries. Within Africa, five of the seven serotypes of the FMD virus (FMDV) are described, but serotype C is not circulating anymore, a burden unseen anywhere in the world. The enormous genetic diversity of FMDV is favored by an error-prone RNA-dependent RNA polymerase, intra-typic and inter-typic recombination, as well as the quasi-species nature of the virus. This paper describes the epidemiological dynamics of foot-and-mouth disease in the Horn of Africa with regard to the serotypes and topotypes distribution of FMDV, the livestock production systems practiced, animal movement, the role of wildlife, and the epidemiological complexity of FMD. Within this review, outbreak investigation data and serological studies confirm the endemicity of the disease in the Horn of Africa. Multiple topotypes of FMDV are described in the literature as circulating in the region, with further evolution of virus diversity predicted. A large susceptible livestock population and the presence of wild ungulates are described as complicating the epidemiology of the disease. Further, the husbandry practices and legal and illegal trading of livestock and their products, coupled with poor biosecurity practices, are also reported to impact the spread of FMDV within and between countries in the region. The porosity of borders for pastoralist herders fuels the unregulated transboundary livestock trade. There are no systematic control strategies in the region except for sporadic vaccination with locally produced vaccines, while literature indicates that effective control measures should also consider virus diversity, livestock movements/biosecurity, transboundary trade, and the reduction of contact with wild, susceptible ungulates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Thermal imaging is gaining popularity in poultry, swine, and dairy animal husbandry for detecting disease and distress. In this study, we present a depthwise separable inception subnetwork (DISubNet) for classifying pig treatments, offering two versions: DISubNetV1 and DISubNetV2. These lightweight models are compared to other deep learning models used for image classification. A forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera captures thermal data for model training. Experimental results show the proposed models outperform others in classifying pig treatments using thermal images, achieving 99.96–99.98% accuracy with fewer parameters, potentially improving animal welfare and promoting sustainable production. Thermal imaging is increasingly used in poultry, swine, and dairy animal husbandry to detect disease and distress. In intensive pig production systems, early detection of health and welfare issues is crucial for timely intervention. Using thermal imaging for pig treatment classification can improve animal welfare and promote sustainable pig production. In this paper, we present a depthwise separable inception subnetwork (DISubNet), a lightweight model for classifying four pig treatments. Based on the modified model architecture, we propose two DISubNet versions: DISubNetV1 and DISubNetV2. Our proposed models are compared to other deep learning models commonly employed for image classification. The thermal dataset captured by a forward-looking infrared (FLIR) camera is used to train these models. The experimental results demonstrate that the proposed models for thermal images of various pig treatments outperform other models. In addition, both proposed models achieve approximately 99.96–99.98% classification accuracy with fewer parameters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cumulative cultural evolution (CCE)—defined as the process by which beneficial modifications are culturally transmitted and progressively accumulated over time—has long been argued to underlie the unparalleled diversity and complexity of human culture. In this paper, I argue that not just any kind of cultural accumulation will give rise to human-like culture. Rather, I suggest that human CCE depends on the gradual exploitation of natural phenomena, which are features of our environment that, through the laws of physics, chemistry or biology, generate reliable effects which can be exploited for a purpose. I argue that CCE comprises two distinct processes: optimizing cultural traits that exploit a given set of natural phenomena (Type I CCE) and expanding the set of natural phenomena we exploit (Type II CCE). I argue that the most critical features of human CCE, including its open-ended dynamic, stems from Type II CCE. Throughout the paper, I contrast the two processes and discuss their respective socio-cognitive requirements. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue 'The emergence of collective knowledge and cumulative culture in animals, humans and machines'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mycological and mycotoxinic contamination of plant substrates endangers the most important sectors globally -agriculture, animal husbandry and the food industry. The starting point of contamination is the spread of pathogens in the field, transport and even handling before storage. Increasing the temperature and humidity of these seeds can be an important factor in the development of fungi and mycotoxins. In this paper, we aimed to evaluate the fungal and mycotoxinic potential in the samples that characterize the area of the Moldavian Plateau. From agricultural farms, samples such as corn grains, wheat, barley, soybeans, rapeseed, peas and sunflowers were collected and analyzed and a series of 10 determinations / sample were performed in order to establish the fungal and mycotoxinic load. The results clearly indicate the presence on the seed coat of fungal spores of the genera Penicillium (60%), Aspergillus (52.8%), Fusarium (48.5%) together with species from the Mucoraceae family (38.5%). The most contaminated samples were corn, wheat and barley grains. The climatic conditions in this geographical area are favorable for these species of micromycetes and regarding the mycotoxinic examination performed by the TLC technique, the mycotoxins identified in the 70 plant substrates were aflatoxins B1, G2, ochratoxin and zearalenone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the essential content of intelligent animal husbandry, identifying each livestock is the only way to achieve modern and refined scientific husbandry. This paper proposes a sheep face recognition method based on European spatial metrics and realizes noncontact sheep identity recognition by training the network using sheep face image samples in the natural environment. The SheepBase data set was first proposed in this process, which contains 6559 images of Inner Mongolia fine-wool sheep and Sunite sheep. To enhance the diversity of the data, the sheep face images were data-enhanced. Secondly, to solve the problems of more redundant information in the sheep face image and the poor posture and angle of the sheep face, we propose the sheep face detection and correction (SheepFaceRepair) method. This method aims to detect the sheep face area in the image to be recognized and align the sheep face area. On this basis, we offer an open sheep facial recognition network (SheepFaceNet) based on the European spatial metric. This method incorporates the biological identity information features of the sheep face to achieve sheep identity. We also tested the effectiveness of this method in the SheepBase data set. The experimental results show that the method proposed in this paper is much higher than the other methods, and the precision of recognition reaches 89.12%. In addition, we found that integrating the biometrics of the sheep face can effectively improve the network's recognition capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the current global policies for sustainable development, agriculture and animal husbandry are among the sectors which need to shift their production concepts towards more efficient, eco-friendly and smart technologies. Poultry farming is currently the most rapidly growing agricultural industry. This sector aims at stable economic growth combined with environmental safety which is an opportunity to introduce a transition of the business from the traditional linear model to circular economy. The present study focuses on the aspects of poultry waste management which sees waste as a resource for utilization. We discuss the main principles of circular economy in the view of a real-life example from one of the intensive poultry-breeding industries in Bulgaria which had implemented practices for waste-to-energy solutions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bulgarian cattle farming plays a key role for the advancement of local agriculture. Bovine milk is an important product for local consumers, with dairy products forming a large part of the local diet. Cattle farming has not stray from the tendency of transformation that Bulgarian agriculture has undergone, resulting in lowering production capacity at the end of the 20th century and continuing development under the CAP of EU after 2007 (the accession of Bulgaria to the EU). Resource management has been an issue for local producers, that face fierce competition on the Common market for most of the processed products. Improving production efficiency through the adaptation of digital resource management can create opportunities for the development of the sector and improving its competitiveness. The purpose of this study is to analyse the resource requirements of Bulgarian animal husbandry farming and disclose some opportunities for application of digital solutions for resource management. The methods used are analysis and synthesis, statistical analysis based on data from centralised databases. The main result from the study is focused on the growth of cattle farming in Bulgaria during the studied period and thus the feeding material requirement, while at the same time the prices of these materials have risen significantly. The conclusion is focused on this significant market change, which leads to the necessity of better resource management for Bulgarian cattle farms and the introduction of digital systems to support it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To analyze the use of probiotics in animal production, their action mechanisms and beneficial effects for animal husbandry. Materials and Methods: An exhaustive bibliographic review was carried out. More than 80 publications related to the topic of probiotics in animal feeding were consulted. The scientific databases Google Scholar, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Latindex and SciELO were used. Searches were performed on the basis of keywords related to the topic of study. To carry out this study, the selected papers were critically analyzed and relevant data were extracted. Results: The analysis indicated that the indiscriminate use of growth-promoting antibiotics in animal husbandry induces residual microbial resistance and increases the risk of transmission of this resistance to human beings. Thus, probiotics appear as an alternative for improving animal productivity without adverse effects. They act as modulators of the intestinal biota, improve the immunological system and productive indicators and decrease greenhouse gas emissions. Conclusions: Probiotics increase animal productivity by improving the immunological system, digestion and nutrient absorption, as well as the intestinal microbiota. In addition, they decrease health problems, for which they constitute a viable alternative to improve the efficiency of animal husbandry systems in different animal species, including monogastric ones and ruminants. However, for them to become an accepted option used in animal husbandry, it is necessary to continue researching and promoting their application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we assess the environmental impact of urbanization in three freshwater biotopes, using the levels of fluctuating asymmetry (FA) in 10 meristic morphological traits in the Marsh Frog (Pelophylax ridibundus (Pallas, 1771)). Two of the studied biotopes are located in the boundaries of the city of Plovdiv (one in the central part, the other in a suburban residential area), and the third is located in the vicinity of the village of Orizare. Our working hypothesis is based on the assumption that urban and suburban sites are more severely affected by human activities than rural sites. However, according to our results, the population of P. ridibundus inhabiting Maritsa River in the central part of Plovdiv City, and that in the suburban zone, have found relatively good living conditions. Contrary to our expectations, the worst environmental conditions were observed in the rural zone, where anthropogenic stress related to intensive pastoral animal husbandry and crop farming was present. The absence of adult individuals in the rural site is also an indicator of unfavorable living conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land ecological security is the core of regional coordinated economic development and land ecological security planning. In this paper, with Shenzhen as the research area, 28 evaluation indicators were selected from 5 dimensions based on the DPSIR model to construct an indicator system for land ecological security evaluation, so as to evaluate the land ecological security status in the research area from 2009 to 2019. Based on the TOPSIS evaluation model, regional levels were determined, and finally the GM (1,1) model was adopted to scientifically predict the land ecological security system of Shenzhen from 2020 to 2025. The results showed that: (1) from the perspective of the main influencing factors, the weight of 16 indicators of Shenzhen's land ecological security exceeds 0.03, including the total output value of agriculture, forestry, animal husbandry and fishery (D5) and Engel coefficient (I4). These factors are the main factors that have led to the deterioration of land ecological security in Shenzhen in the past decade; (2) comprehensive situation analysis revealed that from 2009 to 2019, the level of land ecological security in Shenzhen exhibited an increasing trend overall, but the land ecological security in Shenzhen still needs to be greatly improved; (3) regarding various subsystems, from 2009 to 2019, except the pressure subsystem which was in a downward trend, other subsystems showed a fluctuating and upward trend; (4) after modeling and calculation using the GM (1,1) model, it was concluded that most of the indicator factors are in a slow growing trend with the social and economic development of Shenzhen, but severe land ecological problem still exists. The research result is expected to provide a reference for the stable and sustainable development of society and economy and regional land ecosystem protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal husbandry is one of the main causes of water pollution. Therefore, one of the important problems to be solved in the design, execution and operation of livestock farms is the achievement of a reliable system of collection, treatment and evacuation/storage of wastewater and animal manure resulting from the process of animal husbandry, so that pollutants do not infiltrate in groundwater. However, accidents can occur in the operation of these systems, and wastewater and animal manure can seep into groundwater, determining their pollution. This paper aims to present a way to model the propagation of pollutants in groundwater in the vicinity of livestock farms, using the PMWIN software, an advanced hydroinformatic tool. On the basis of the results obtained from the modelling, the competent authorities can determine the extent of the pollution and the necessary measures to be taken to reduce the negative effects on groundwater quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animal husbandry is one of the main causes of water resources pollution: groundwater, water courses and lakes. The achievement of a reliable system of collection, treatment and evacuation/storage of wastewater and animal manure resulting from the process of animal husbandry has a special importance for reducing the impact of livestock farms on environmental factors (water, air, soil). Accidents can occur during operation of these systems and wastewater and animal manure can reach into nearby water courses, determining their pollution. This is a serious problem, especially if the water taken downstream for different use: drinking water or industrial supply, water for irrigation, recreation etc. This paper aims to present a way to model the spread of pollutants in water course in the vicinity of livestock farms, using the PMWIN software, an advanced hydroinformatic tool. On the basis of the results obtained from the modelling, the competent authorities can determine the degree of the pollution and the necessary measures to be taken to reduce the negative effects on water quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to present the evolution of agriculture in Prahova County, in the period 2014-2018, analyzing in particular the production of cereals, fruits and vegetables without omitting animal husbandry and the production of milk and eggs. In order to highlight the main trends of agricultural production in Prahova County, the areas cultivated with cereals for grains, oil plants, potatoes, vegetables, as well as the areas occupied by orchards, vineyards and livestock were subjected to analysis. Grain cereals occupy an average of 95,502.4 hectares, being the largest area. This is followed by the average of oil plants with 27,156.6 hectares, followed by vegetables with an average of 4,230 hectares and potato cultivation with an average of 2,530.4 hectares. For the other crops analyzed, there were increases in maize, fodder, barley production and decreases in rye production. The analysis of fruit and vegetable production highlighted the fact that it belongs largely to private property, this being an asset for the development of slang tourism in Prahova County. Analyzing the milk production, a decreasing trend was found over the entire analyzed period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global population growth in recent decades, combined with evolving industrialization, and climate change has an immediate negative impact on the environment. Organic farming is a widespread alternative production practice having serious interrelationship with the society, economy, and ecology state worldwide. The aim of this scientific research is to prove the organic agriculture as an environmental protection approach. The paper is also an appeal to farmers, citizens, scientists, and governments for more understanding, applying, and supporting the organic farming to spare the nature. Organic farming today is close to the agriculture practiced by our ancestors. Namely, the production of agricultural products and animal husbandry in a way that protects human health and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Precision animal husbandry based on computer vision has developed promptly, especially in poultry farming. It is believed to improve animal welfare. To achieve the precise target detection and segmentation of geese, which can improve data acquisition, we newly built the world's first goose instance segmentation dataset. Moreover, a high-precision detection and segmentation model was constructed, and the final mAP@0.5 of both target detection and segmentation reached 0.963. The evaluation of the model showed that the automated detection method proposed in this paper is feasible in a complex environment and can serve as a reference for the relevant development of the industry. With the rapid development of computer vision, the application of computer vision to precision farming in animal husbandry is currently a hot research topic. Due to the scale of goose breeding continuing to expand, there are higher requirements for the efficiency of goose farming. To achieve precision animal husbandry and to avoid human influence on breeding, real-time automated monitoring methods have been used in this area. To be specific, on the basis of instance segmentation, the activities of individual geese are accurately detected, counted, and analyzed, which is effective for achieving traceability of the condition of the flock and reducing breeding costs. We trained QueryPNet, an advanced model, which could effectively perform segmentation and extraction of geese flock. Meanwhile, we proposed a novel neck module that improved the feature pyramid structure, making feature fusion more effective for both target detection and instance individual segmentation. At the same time, the number of model parameters was reduced by a rational design. This solution was tested on 639 datasets collected and labeled on specially created free-range goose farms. With the occlusion of vegetation and litters, the accuracies of the target detection and instance segmentation reached 0.963 (mAP@0.5) and 0.963 (mAP@0.5), respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the course of the broad expansion of organic farming, a considerable increase in the number of different cultivation types has also occurred. Compared to the formerly ideal forms with arable farming and animal husbandry around 0.5–1.0 LU ha−1 and the corresponding use of organic manure, an increasing differentiation of cultivation systems can be observed today. There are market crop systems without livestock and purchased fertilizer with less than 20% legumes and forage cropping systems with more than 2.5 LU ha−1 livestock and a cultivation of grain and forage legumes of more than 50% in the crop rotations. From a long list of corresponding survey studies of farms in agricultural practice as well as a number of important long-term field trials, in this overview paper it was possible to investigate and to discuss both the manifold possibilities and the limitations of intensification in organic agriculture by a comparative analysis of results from a wide range of cropping systems from Central Europe. The short-term as well as the long-term effects on the development of yield and quality performance of crop rotations, nutrient management, and soil fertility, as well as of important environmental effects, were quantified, and aspects of further development and sustainability of organic farming systems were shown in detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the extension practices developed by the Regional Institute for Appropriated Small Farming and Animal Husbandry (IRPAA by its acronym in Portuguese), with the objective of analyzing the theoretical-methodological foundations that guide the interventions of this organization with family farmers in the Sertão do São Francisco territory, in the semi-arid region of Bahia. With a qualitative theoretical-methodological support, the research was developed based in three interrelated and complementary methodological processes: the bibliographical research, the survey of primary sources, and the semi-structured interview, which privileged the face-to-face interaction with the subjects of the survey, who were five farmers, five extension technicians, two coordinators. The research showed that the practices developed by IRPAA are intertwined with the systematization, construction and sharing of the Coexistence with the Semiarid Region. From this perspective, the interventions carried out by IRPAA are based on the organization's own historical trajectory, considering its emergence from the Base Ecclesial Communities of the Catholic Church, from popular education and from the confrontation of the paradigm of combating the drought. Based on listening, knowledge of reality, problematization and participation, the methodological processes undertaken by the organization seek to overcome the historical trajectory of anti-educational, anti-dialogical and diffusionist Rural Extension and Tech Support. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main purpose of this paper was to use the analysis of the animal husbandry sector of the Republic of Moldova as a tool for predicting skills to be improved in related professional education programs. In order to achieve the proposed goal, the general trends in the evolution of the sector in the Republic of Moldova were evaluated; these trends were compared to those of the European Union level. The general problems of the sector were identified and, on this basis, the skills to be improved were deduced within the professional education programs of agricultural profile. The research resulted in the recommendations to improve skills in related professional education programs so as to create prerequisites for a higher quality educational service and, respectively, to optimize the contribution of professional education in increasing the performance of the animal husbandry sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land use/cover change has become an indispensable part of global eco-environmental change research. The Tarim River Basin is the largest inland river basin in China. It is also one of the most ecologically fragile areas in the country, with greening and desertification processes coexisting. This paper analyzes the evolution of land-use/cover change in the Tarim River Basin over the past 30 years based on remote sensing data. The research also explores the contribution of conversion between different land types to the ecological environment by selecting methods, such as transfer matrix and ecological contribution rate. Results indicate that grassland and barren land are the main land types in the region, accounting for 72.46% and 18.87% of the basin area, respectively. From 1990 to 2019, cropland area increased from 33,585.89 km2 to 52,436.40 km2, an increase of 56.13%, while barren land areas decreased from 781,380.57 km2 to 760,783.29 km2. Most of the land-use conversion was grassland to other land types and other land types to barren land. Since 1990, the conversion of barren land to grassland and cropland in the basin has led to ecological improvement, whereas the conversion of grassland to cropland has caused deterioration, but with a generally improving trend. It is anticipated that, over the next decade, changes in land types will involve increases in grassland and woodland area, decreases in barren land and cropland, and an overall improvement in the ecological environment in the watershed. Since agriculture and animal husbandry are the main industries in the Tarim River Basin and the land-use structure is dominated by cropland and grassland, several key measures should be implemented. These include improving land use, rationalizing the use of water and soil resources, slowing down the expansion of cropland, and alleviating the contradiction between humans and land, with the ultimate aim of achieving sustainable development of the social economy and ecological environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The world's food security largely depends on the stability of agri-business worldwide, but mainly in the main producing countries of agri-food products. The purpose of the study is to determine the current realities and opportunities for the development of agrarian business in Ukraine in crisis conditions for the development of effective strategies and promising growth of the agrarian sector. Research methods: monographic, abstract-logical methods, method of analogies and comparisons, systematic approach, statistical and graphic methods. In the course of the study, it was determined that in 2022, a significant number of agricultural enterprises suffered losses as a result of the system challenges. The loss of 15-20% of cattle, pigs, and poultry, and the loss of production facilities and animal husbandry complexes led to a reduction in production in both the crop and animal husbandry sectors. The article highlights the exogenous and endogenous risks of the functioning of the agricultural sector. Internal risks include loss of production and resource potential of the agricultural sector; the liquidation of a significant number of agrarian business enterprises; change of specialization due to significant economic losses; loss of part of the infrastructure facilities for storage and primary processing of agricultural products; difficulty in selling products to foreign markets. Exogenous risks are described, in particular, the reduction of investments in agricultural production, problems with the purchase and import of fertilizers and plant protection products into the country, and delays in the purchase of modern agricultural machinery. It was noted that the presence of the listed external risks will have a negative impact on the country's economy and food security. The actions of the government for the sustainability of agrarian business are described, namely, the restoration of the export of agricultural products by sea, the development of alternative logistics networks for export, solving the problems of the seed company, and providing the possibility of special credit programs and tax holidays. The main problematic issues that the government needs to solve to ensure the stability of the agrarian business and the possibility of its further effective functioning are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]