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Brucellosis is a neglected zoonosis and a public health problem in developing countries that also causes great economic losses in livestock. In Mexico it is endemic and Chiapas, a state in the south of the country, stands out for the presence of the disease in humans. Through the review of the state of the art it was found that factors such as the high production of cattle, the limited institutional strategies to control the disease in livestock, the lack of sanitary regulation of the genus Brucella in dairy and meat products and the location of the state of Chiapas on the border with Central America could be determining factors for the prevalence of human brucellosis in this region of Mexico.

The reduction of the gastrointestinal nematode (GIN) larvae population in faeces of cattle treated with Duddingtonia flagrans chlamydospores on a farm under an organic production system in Chiapas, Mexico, was assessed. Seventeen Cebu/Swiss crossbreed grazing calves naturally infected with GIN, were randomly distributed into two groups and treated as follows: Group 1, an oral administration of 2 × 10 6 D. flagrans chlamydospores/kg BW, every two days for 30 days; group 2, Control, without any treatment. Results indicated that the epg values in both groups remained similar (p > 0.05). The average number of (L 3 ) from coprocultures from the group treated with D. flagrans had an important reduction (53.8%) with respect to the control group and it reached 75.3% maximum larval reduction at the 14th sampling; although, no statistic significance was observed (p > 0.05). Likewise, the average of larvae (L3) recovered from grass corresponding to the animals treated with D. flagrans diminished at 25.1% with respect to the control group (p > 0.05). A mixture of GIN genera including Strongyloides sp., Haemonchus sp., Cooperia sp., Trichostrongylus sp., Oesophagostomum sp. and Mecistocirrus sp., were identified from coprocultures. It was concluded that treatment with D. flagrans chlamydospores reduces the GIN larvae population in grass and in faeces of calves maintained under an organic milk production system., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Silvopastoral systems combine trees and/or shrubs with grazing cattle. In the municipality of Salto de Agua, Chiapas, Mexico, some indigenous communities have developed silvopastoral systems based on their traditional knowledge regarding use of local natural resources. Through analysis of classification based on the composition of tree vegetation, two groups of grazing units were identified in the study area. Different attributes of tree and herbaceous vegetation, as well as of agricultural management and production, were compared between the two groups. Results indicate that at least two strategies of silvopastoral management exist. The first - LTD - is characterized by an average density of 22 adult trees ha(-1) in grazing units with an average surface area of 22.4 ha. The second - HTD - has an average of 54.4 trees ha(-1) in grazing units with an average surface area of 12.2 ha. Average richness per grazing unit for the LTD strategy was 7.2 species, and for HTD strategy it was 12.7 species. Average basal area for LTD was 1.7 m2 ha(-1), and for HTD 3.8 m2 ha(-1). Finally, the average level of fixed carbon for LTD was 2.12 mg ha(-1), and for HTD 4.89 mg ha(-1). For all variables, there was a significant difference between the two strategies. In addition, both strategies differ in prairie management. In the HTD strategy, growers spare their preferred spontaneously growing tree species by clearing around them. Many of these species, particularly those harvested for timber, belong to the original vegetation. In these prairies, average coverage of native grasses (60.8 ± 7.85) was significantly greater than in the LTD strategy (38.4 ± 11.32), and neither fertilizers nor fire are used to maintain or improve the pastures; by contrast, in HTD prairies, introduced grasses, principally Cynodon plectostachyus, have a higher average coverage (43.4 ± 13.75) than in the LTD prairies (17.08 ± 9.02). Regardless of the differences in composition of tree and herbaceous vegetation, in both types of grazing units a similar animal load is maintained. Many attributes of these silvopastoral strategies - based on traditional technology of the Chol farmers of the Tulija River Valley - concord with sustainable agriculture and provide a wide variety of services to the farmer and the environment. Diffusion of this technology in areas similar to that of this region could have a positive impact on the economy of conventional cattle raisers while generating environmental services., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Organic agriculture and livestock farming is claimed to promote animal welfare and can offer animal products with better hygienic-sanitary quality, based on principles of health, ecology, fairness, and care. However, no clear advantages of organic milk (OM) versus conventional milk (CM) from tropical conditions are available. The aims of the study were to determine fatty acid profile, health-promoting (HPI) and thrombogenic (TI) indices, physicochemical composition, and somatic cell counts (SCC) of OM and CM in tropical south-eastern Mexico. Female cross-breed cows (400-600 kg) were employed. CM had larger values of saturated fatty acids (SFA) and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) (63.6 %; 4.57 %) than OM (61.48 %; 4.22 %), while OM resulted in a larger value of monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) (34.3 %) than CM (31.7 %). HPI and TI showed that OM was more favorable than CM. Milk production and physicochemical composition (PC) as well as density had no significant difference, while SCC was significantly lower in OM than in CM on a monthly basis. These results showed that OM promotes a healthful and balanced diet, and is already produced by sustainable ecologic technologies employing traditional agrosilvopastoral management, which is more environmentally friendly and promotes ecological resilience.

Livelihoods of people living in many protected areas (PAs) around the world are in conflict with biodiversity conservation. In Mexico, the decrees of creation of biosphere reserves state that rural communities with the right to use buffer zones must avoid deforestation and their land uses must become sustainable, a task which is not easily accomplished. The objectives of this paper are: (a) to analyze the conflict between people's livelihoods and ecosystem protection in the PAs of the Sierra Madre de Chiapas (SMC), paying special attention to the rates and causes of deforestation and (b) to review policy options to ensure forest and ecosystem conservation in these PAs, including the existing payments for environmental services system and improvements thereof as well as options for sustainable land management. We found that the three largest PAs in the SMC are still largely forested, and deforestation rates have decreased since 2000. Cases of forest conversion are located in specific zones and are related to agrarian and political conflicts as well as growing economic inequality and population numbers. These problems could cause an increase in forest loss in the near future. Payments for environmental services and access to carbon markets are identified as options to ensure forest permanence but still face problems. Challenges for the future are to integrate these incentive mechanisms with sustainable land management and a stronger involvement of land holders in conservation.

This paper examines the effect of income strategies on sufficiency of caloric intake in Mayan domestic groups (DG) of Campeche, Mexico. The analysis was based on the sustainable livelihoods approach. Information was obtained through a survey of households (N = 237) in four communities. The results reveal that all of the DG have diversified income strategies with clearly defined orientations. The caloric sufficiency index (CSI) is different (p < 0.05) among conglomerates (C) of DG and increases with the increase of the proportion of agricultural income in relation to total income. The wage labor strategy (37.6%) corresponding to C1 of DG (CSI-C = 0.69) and the agriculture-wage labor strategy (42.6%; CSI-C2 = 0.87) do not cover energy requirements of the DG. Only the agricultural strategy satisfies caloric intake needs (CSI-C3 = 1.09; CSI-C4 = 1.30) of the DG (19.8%). These results are associated with the heterogeneity of resources of the DG's, particularly, with the quality and extent of land, presence of producer organizations, and current rural policies. Implementation of differentiated local policies, interinstitutional coordination, and community participation could contribute to improving effectiveness of policies aimed at eradicating food insecurity.