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Consumers' interest in animal welfare-friendly systems with outdoor access is growing and therefore the necessity has arisen for genotypes suitable for free-range systems. This study aimed to investigate the suitability of two slow-growing broiler genotypes by comparing growth performance, pasture usage, carcass yield and breast meat traits. Two slow growing genotypes Hubbard ISA Red JA-57 (n= 240) and Sasso XL44 × SA51A (n= 240), were raised in free-range system for 63 days, and their suitability was assessed. Body weight, feed consumption and feed conversion rate were weekly determined. To assess the pasture usage (interior, buffer and outer zones), the observations were performed twice a day. The total of 60 birds (n: 30 broilers/genotype) were randomly sampled for slaughter process at 63rd day of age, and subsequently breast muscle samples were processed for the physical quality and chemical composition parameters of the meat. At 63 days of age, the final body weight was found to be 2918.0 g and 3253.6 g in Hubbard and Sasso birds respectively (P<0.001). Also, a higher body weight gain was observed for Sasso birds than Hubbard birds as well (3210.2 vs. 2874.8 g, P<0.001). The broilers preferred to pasture at the interior zone rather than buffer and outer zones (P<0.001), and usually in the morning (27.54%) than in the evening (20.93%, P=0.010). The average slaughter weight, carcass weight and carcass yield were higher in Sasso genotype (3296.7, 2540.4 g, 77.1%, respectively] at 63 days of age compared to Hubbard genotype (2878.3, 2192.3g and 76.2%, respectively, P<0.001). The weight and relative weight of breast were also higher in Sasso (746.2 g and 29.4% respectively) than the Hubbard genotype (617.6 g and 28.2% respectively, P>0.001). These findings could help free-range broiler producers to choose a more suitable genotype according to the final body weight, feed efficiency, pasture usage, carcass yield, and breast meat characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay, which is the 6th in the series “Recollections, Reflections, and Revelations: Ethnobiologists and Their First Time in the Field”, is a personal reflection by the researcher on his first field experiences with ethnobiology. Author writes on how Hungarian herders in the Hortobágy salt steppes and Csángó people in the Carpathian mountains changed his views on landscape, vegetation, local people, traditional small-scale grassland management and finally, ecology and nature conservation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Population pressure increasingly endangers high-mountain ecosystems such as the pastures in the Eastern Pamirs and the mountain forests on Mt. Kilimanjaro. At the same time, these ecosystems constitute the economic basis for millions of people living there. In our study, we, therefore, aimed at characterising the land-use effects on soil degradation and N-cycling by determining the natural abundance of 15N. A short review displays that δ15N of plant–soil systems may often serve as an integrated indicator of N-cycles with more positive δ15N values pointing towards N-losses. Results for the high-mountain pastures in the Eastern Pamirs show that intensively grazed pastures are significantly enriched in 15N compared to the less-exploited pastures by 3.5 ‰, on average. This can be attributed to soil organic matter degradation, volatile nitrogen losses, nitrogen leaching and a general opening of the N-cycle. Similarly, the intensively degraded savanna soils, the cultivated soils and the soils under disturbed forests on the foothill of Mt. Kilimanjaro reveal very positive δ15N values around 6.5 ‰. In contrast, the undisturbed forest soils in the montane zone are more depleted in 15N, indicating that here the N-cycle is relatively closed. However, significantly higher δ15N values characterise the upper montane forest zone at the transition to the subalpine zone. We suggest that this reflects N-losses by the recently monitored and climate change and antropogenically induced increasing fire frequency pushing the upper montane rainforest boundary rapidly downhill. Overall, we conclude that the analysis of the 15N natural abundance in high-mountain ecosystems is a purposeful tool for detecting land-use- or climate change-induced soil degradation and N-cycle opening. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inflammatory airway disease is common in stabled horses, with a prevalence of 17.3% in Michigan pleasure horses. Stable dust is rich in endotoxin, which may induce neutrophilic airway inflammation. Climatological conditions (ambient temperature and relative humidity) may influence endotoxin concentrations in pastures. The aim of this project was to determine if endotoxin levels in the breathing zone of horses in stables were higher than of horses on pasture, and if the endotoxin on pasture was associated with climatological conditions. Endotoxin exposure of six horses that were stabled or on pasture was determined by a Limulus amebocyte lysate assay. Climatological data were obtained from the US National Climatic Data Center. Endotoxin exposure was significantly higher (about 8-fold) in stables than on pasture. On pasture, endotoxin varied widely, despite constant climatological conditions. It was concluded that stabled horses are exposed to higher endotoxin concentrations than horses on pastures. Local endotoxin concentrations may be more important than ambient climatological conditions in determining endotoxin exposure of individual horses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]