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The aim of this study was to validate an enzymatic in vitro method that estimates the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of phosphorus (P) in feed ingredients from plant origin used in pig nutrition. Sixteen individually housed castrated male pigs (19.5 ± 2.9 kg) were fed a semisynthetic diet, either alone (control) or containing: wheat, barley, maize, potato protein concentrate, soybean expeller or rapeseed expeller for periods of 14 days. The ATTD of P was determined indirectly using celite as a marker. The in vitro released P was determined after three consecutive steps: preliminary soaking in acid medium, pepsin digestion in strong acid medium and pancreatin digestion in neutral medium. The in vivo ATTD of P were 0.21, 0.37, 0.48, 0.41, 0.33 and 0.39 in the respective feed ingredients as listed above. The in vivo ATTD of P and the in vitro released P were linearly correlated ( in vitro released P = −0.118 (P>0.10) + 1.171 (P<0.01) × in vivo ATTD of P, R 2 = 0.91). Thus, the in vitro method was successful in predicting in vivo ATTD of P in the plant feed ingredients tested here. The in vitro method can be proposed as an inexpensive tool to rapidly estimate ATTD of P in plant feed ingredients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a result of agricultural intensification, populations of farmland birds have been in steep decline for several decades. Reduction in food abundance has been mentioned as one factor behind these declines. Extensive farm management, such as use of organic methods, is expected to provide more food for birds. In this study we compared invertebrate prey abundance for birds during the breeding season between organic and conventional arable farms. We made comparisons for three different groups of birds: (1) birds feeding on soil-living invertebrates (earthworms), (2) birds feeding on ground-dwelling invertebrates and (3) birds feeding on aerial invertebrates. Invertebrate abundance was compared between organic and conventional farms, crop and non-crop habitats, and between crop and non-crop habitats under the same farm management. On organic sites, earthworm abundance was 2–4 times higher than on conventional sites, but no differences were found between crop types. Total abundance of ground-dwelling invertebrates did not differ between organic and conventional sites, but positive effects were found for several individual taxonomic groups, such as carabid beetles and spiders. On organic farms, invertebrate abundance was higher in carrots, cereals and onions compared to other crops; on conventional farms this was true for onions. When compared with most crops, ground-dwelling invertebrate abundance was low in uncropped field margins and on ditch banks. On organic farms, aerial invertebrate abundance was approximately 70% higher than on conventional farms. On cereal fields, aerial invertebrates were especially abundant. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The revised EFSA 2023 Guidance on the risk assessment of plant protection products for birds and mammals emphasises vulnerability as a relevant criterion for focal species (FS) selection rather than prevalence. The EFSA 2023 Guidance suggests to rank FS candidates for each dietary group according to their expected exposure by estimating a species-specific daily dietary dose (DDD). Species experiencing higher exposure would be ranked as potentially more vulnerable and can be identified as FS candidates. The DDD is calculated using an estimated "proportion of diet an individual obtains from the (treated) crop" (PT). A PT is derived from a radio-tracking field study in the crop of interest, but such data are not available for all species. We introduce the frequency of occurrence in surveys (FOsurvey) in each study field from FS field studies as a proxy for PT in theoretical DDD calculations. The presence of a species during a high proportion of surveys, resulting in a high FOsurvey, could indicate a high proportion of foraging time spent in this crop. To evaluate whether FOsurvey is an appropriate proxy for PT, empirical PT values from radio-tracking studies for different bird species were correlated to respective FOsurvey values from FS studies in the same crop and growth stage. Based on 10 case examples covering different species and crops, a positive correlation was shown between PT and FOsurvey, supporting the suitability of the proposed approach. Based on a positive correlation between the species' prevalence and the new theoretical DDD, the list of the most relevant FS resulting from the new ranking approach is not expected to differ significantly from the FS selection, according to the methodology proposed in EFSA 2009. However, in a few cases, additional species were identified as potential FS, therefore requiring further consideration in the risk assessment., (© The Author(s) 2025. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry.)

Energy content, moisture content, and energy assimilation efficiency are essential parameters in the food intake rate (FIR) and exposure calculations for bird and mammal risk assessments. The updated European Food Safety Authority guidance document on risk assessment for birds and mammals summarizes these parameters for different food items. For seed treatments, values for cereal seeds are proposed as surrogates for other crops. Oil-containing seeds are expected to have a higher energy content than cereal seeds. This would result in lower FIR and, thus, exposure from consuming such seeds. To be able to calculate reliable exposure values for risk-assessment purposes, we conducted a systematic literature review to collect information on these three parameters for oil-containing seeds (sunflower, oilseed rape, soybean, peanut, sesame, safflower, linseed [flax], white mustard, and castor bean). The search yielded 401 papers, of which 151 contained values for at least one of the parameters of the crops in focus. The overall average energy content value of oil-containing seeds was 24.25 kJ/g (n = 124, SD = 3.00), whereas that for moisture content was 6.57% (n = 296, SD = 1.15). Energy assimilation values were only available for peanut, oilseed rape, soy, linseed, and sunflower for a limited number of bird and mammal species. Mean energy assimilation efficiency for mammals was 82.69% (n = 4, SD = 1.55), whereas values for birds were 57.54% (n = 2, SD = 6.77) for Galliformes and 79.25% (n = 2, SD = 1.82) for Passeriformes. The values presented can be used to calculate appropriate FIR values for future bird and mammal risk assessments. Environ Toxicol Chem 2024;43:2080-2085. © 2024 The Author(s). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC., (© 2024 The Author(s). Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.)

For plant protection products applied as seed treatments, the risk to birds and mammals possibly feeding on such treated seeds needs to be addressed in the EU, in order to register these products for commercial use. For this purpose, the European Food Safety Food Authority (EFSA) has provided guidance on how to execute such a risk assessment. The risk assessment follows a tiered approach. In the Tier 1 risk assessment of the EFSA guidance (2023), it is assumed that birds or mammals have ad libitum access to treated seeds and exclusively feed on treated seeds. Due to this conservative assumption, the Tier I risk assessment typically indicates an unacceptable risk to birds and mammals and higher-tier refinements are required. One option for refinement is to use data on the availability of treated seeds on the soil surface directly after drilling. Published data on seed counts are, however, limited to a few countries and crops, and often these data are not contemporary, that is, do not reflect advances in sowing technology and current agronomic practice. To address this data gap, we provide recently generated data from industry field trials (the studies were conducted from 2000 to 2022, >70% between 2019 and 2022), covering 270 fields from seven countries (Austria, France, Germany, Hungary, Poland, Spain, UK) for spring and winter cereals, winter oilseed rape, and sunflower. This comprehensive data set realistically reflects modern agronomic practice and is thus suitable for consideration in a regulatory context for refining the risk assessment for birds and mammals. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:1706-1714. © 2024 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)., (© 2024 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).)

The relationship between agriculture and wildlife can be both synergetic and challenging, as the increased surface of agricultural land makes it increasingly important for agriculture and wildlife to coexist. This study aims to describe the use of freshly drilled dry bean fields by birds and mammals in Brazilian Cerrado and Atlantic Forest sites and their diversity and abundance within in-crop and off-crop areas (with native permanent vegetation and other surrounding crop fields) at four different farms. A comprehensive survey was conducted, using various sampling methods, including point counts, foraging counts, trail cameras, and occasional encounters. In all, contacts for 12 518 birds across 306 species and 313 mammals across 34 species were registered. The off-crop areas exhibited greater species richness, abundance, and diversity than the in-crop areas on all farms. For birds, 47 species were recorded in-crop, of which 15 were classified as insectivores, 15 as granivores, seven as omnivores, seven as carnivores, and three as frugivores. The number of in-crop observations per species was small. The abundance off-crop was greater for 31 species observed in-crop, indicating that dry bean fields are probably not a preferred habitat for those species. Species classified as granivorous are most likely to feed on dry bean seeds. However, almost all granivorous species observed in-crop areas are too small to be able to feed on dry bean seeds. For mammals, nine species were recorded in-crop, of which four were classified as carnivores, three as omnivores, one as insectivore, and one as granivore. Additionally, despite the considerable effort in this study, no evidence was found that birds and mammals feed on dry bean seeds. The results highlight the importance of off-crop areas in dry bean fields, characterized by a more diverse and abundant bird community than in-crop. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:864-874. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)., (© 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).)

For plant protection products applied as seed treatments, the risk to birds and mammals possibly feeding on treated seeds must be addressed in the EU to register products for commercial use. One assumption of the Tier 1 long-term risk assessment of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) is that residues of pesticides on treated seeds do not decline over time after seeding. Consequently, a time-weighted average factor (f TWA ) of 1 (i.e., no dissipation) is used to calculate residue concentrations on seeds. In contrast, for spray applications, a default dissipation half-life (DT 50 ) of 10 days is considered corresponding to an f TWA of 0.53. The aim of this study was to establish a default f TWA for treated seeds based on 29 industry-conducted seed dissipation studies, providing 240 datasets covering different active substances, crops, and regions. For f TWA calculation, two approaches were used: (i) kinetic fitting and (ii) using measured data without kinetic fitting. From kinetic fitting, 145 reliable DT 50 values were obtained. Because there were no significant differences in DT 50 values between crops and between the central and southern EU, the DT 50 data from all studies were pooled. The geometric mean DT 50 was 3.8 days and the 90th percentile was 13.0 days, corresponding to 21-day f TWA values of 0.27 and 0.59, respectively. Twenty-one-day f TWA values could be calculated directly from measured residues for 204 datasets. The resulting 21-day f TWA values were comparable with those from kinetic fitting (geometric mean: 0.29, 90th percentile: 0.59). The results demonstrate that residue decline on seeds is comparable with foliar dissipation after spray applications. Therefore, the risk assessment scheme by EFSA should implement a default f TWA  < 1.0 in the Tier 1 risk assessment for treated seeds (e.g., either 0.53 as for foliage or 0.59, the 90th percentile f TWA in seeds reported in this study). Integr Environ Assess Manag 2024;20:239-247. © 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC)., (© 2023 The Authors. Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Society of Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry (SETAC).)

An environmental risk assessment for birds and mammals is an important part of any application package for potential registration of pesticides in Europe. A realistic estimation of the exposure of a certain species to the pesticide under field conditions is a refinement factor in long-term higher-tier risk assessments. Although guidance on how to collect specific exposure data is provided, there is not yet a harmonized view on how to use and assess existing and newly recorded field data. Exposure is defined as the portion of diet taken from a pesticide-treated crop field over time (the PT factor), and it is set equal to the time a (tracked) individual is active (= foraging) in the crop of concern at the crop growth stage relevant to the pesticide application being assessed. While the PT factor is set to 1 in a first tier, it can be refined in higher tiers. Differences in the methodologies influencing the robustness of a data set and intraindividual variance in PT data are currently not considered. Our study, based on data recording in accordance with the European Food Safety Authority's recommendations, shows this variance for different species in different crops for both breeding and nonbreeding periods, with tracking sessions showing both interindividual as well as intraindividual variation across several days. We discuss PT data quality and how it can be used, considering intraindividual variance in a manner that is protective and conforms to current European guidance. The present study intends to support the planned revision of the current European guidance on how to conduct environmental bird and mammal risk assessments, and its further purpose is to open constructive discussions about how and which kind of PT data can be used. Environ Toxicol Chem 2022;41:1344-1354. © 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC., (© 2022 The Authors. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of SETAC.)

Two experimental periods were employed to investigate the fate of ingested CT from BT and their effects on the intake, digestibility, and N balance in lambs fed diets differing in CP levels. In period 1, 24 lambs were fed a basal diet either treated with polyethylene glycol (PEG+) to deactivate CT or without polyethylene glycol (PEG-). In period 2, the same lambs were used in a 2 × 2 factorial design and fed either the basal diet (BP) or a high protein diet (HP), again treated with or without PEG. In both experimental periods, feeding lambs diets without PEG caused a reduction in the dry matter (DM) intake and an increase in the DM digestibility. Urinary and total N excretion decreased in lambs fed diets without PEG, but only in absolute terms and not in relation to the N intake. The total N intake, total N excretion, and body N retention were higher with a higher dietary CP level. Related to the CT intake, less soluble and protein-bound CT were excreted by lambs fed diets without PEG, and more protein-bound and fiber-bound CT were excreted by lambs fed BP diets. Regardless of the PEG treatment and CP level, not all CT that are ingested are also excreted. The effect of PEG treatment on the N excretion pathway was independent of the CP level.

The registration of pesticides follows guidance published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). As a default, the EFSA guidance document on risk assessment for birds and mammals assumes that animals feed exclusively on pesticide-treated fields. However, the guidance document suggests refining the risk via the proportion of food animals obtain from a treated field or specific crop (expressed via the portion of diet obtained from a treated area [PT value]). The EFSA guidance equalizes the portion of food taken from a treated area per day with the portion of time spent potentially foraging over the course of a day within this area. Therefore, radiotracking is commonly used to gather species-, crop-, and season-specific PT data, and radio telemetry of continuously tracked farmland species can deliver individual PT values for a given day, crop, and species. In the present study the authors introduce a way of calculating long-term PT values based on empirically recorded data via telemetry field studies for the most appropriate use in wildlife risk assessment of pesticides. The novel aspect of the proposal is that the authors follow the prerequisite given by EFSA to cover the long-term risk by introducing 21-d PT values that aim to cover both intra- and inter-individual variability of foraging focal farmland species in cropped habitats. Currently, the intra-individual variability is not taken into account for PT calculations. The authors demonstrate this approach and discuss EFSA guidance input requirements for PT values recorded in field studies, based on a PT field study conducted with woodpigeons (Columba palumbus) radiotracked in an agricultural landscape in the United Kingdom. The results indicate that a 21-d PT value considering intra-individual variability gives a more appropriate PT value for long-term risk assessments. Environ Toxicol Chem 2017;36:1270-1277. © 2016 SETAC., (© 2016 SETAC.)

Background: Tannins intensively interact with rumen microbes, which is expected to have consequences for meat quality., Results: Silages prepared from birdsfoot trefoil (BT), sainfoin (SF), alfalfa (AF) or red clover (RC) were fed alone to 48 lambs. The SF contained five times more condensed tannins than BT, the other tanniferous plant. Growth and carcass performance, but not general meat quality, was reduced with BT and SF compared to AF and RC. Lambs fed SF had half the skatole levels in the perirenal fat than AF-fed lambs. The longissimus thoracis et lumborum muscle of the SF-fed lambs, compared to RC and BT, had a lower intensity for 'livery' and 'sheepy' flavors but a stronger 'grassy' flavor. The intramuscular fat of BT- and SF-fed lambs contained less saturated and more polyunsaturated fatty acids, especially 20:4n-6, 20:3n-6, 20:5n-3 and 22:5n-3, with SF being more efficient than BT., Conclusion: The SF was most promising to increase beneficial fatty acids and to reduce skatole content in lamb meat., (© 2015 Society of Chemical Industry.)

Thirteen unilaterally cryptorchid Large White pigs, which had been immunized at 4 and 8 weeks of age and a third time at 64 ± 4 kg body weight against the gonadotropin releasing hormone with the vaccine Improvac®, were slaughtered at the age of 170 ± 9 days at a body weight of 102 ± 12 kg. Twelve pigs tested negative in the olfactory test of the salivary gland; their descended testicles were small and their fat androstenone concentration was low compared to normally developed boars of a previous experiment which had been vaccinated twice with Improvac® according the manufacturer's recommendation. One cryptorchid boar, which tested positive in the olfactory test and whose testicular weight and fat androstenone concentration corresponded to values of unvaccinated boars of the same age, obviously had not responded to the vaccination. It is an open question if the vaccination protocol for normal boars is sufficient to prevent boar taint in the majority of cryptorchid pigs, too.

Pesticide use in The Netherlands is very high, and pesticides are found across all environmental compartments. Among individual farmers, though, there is wide variation in both pesticide use and the potential environmental impact of that use, providing policy leverage for environmental protection. This paper reports on a benchmarking tool with which farmers can compare their environmental and economic performance with that of other farmers, thereby serving as an incentive for them to adopt more sustainable methods of food production methods. The tool is also designed to provide farmers with a more detailed picture of the environmental impacts of their methods of pest management. It is interactive and available on the internet: www.agriwijzer.nl. The present version has been developed specifically for arable farmers, but it is to be extended to encompass other agricultural sectors, in particular horticulture (bulb flowers, stem fruits), as well as various other aspects of sustainability (nutrient inputs, 'on-farm' biodiversity, etc.). The benchmarking methodology was tested on a pilot group of 20 arable farmers, whose general response was positive. They proved to be more interested in comparative performance in terms of economic rather than environmental indicators. In their judgment the benchmarking tool can serve a useful purpose in steering them towards more sustainable forms of agricultural production. The benchmarking results can also be used by other actors in the agroproduction chain, such as food retailers and the food industry.