Evaluation of thermotherapy against Huanglongbing (citrus greening) in the greenhouse

Huanglongbing （HLB, or citrus greening） is the most destructive disease of citrus, which is associated with Candidatus Liberibacter asiaticus （Las）. Few management options are available, aside from preventive measures such as removing infected plants, planting disease-free seedlings, and managing the insect vector. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of thermotherapy against HLB under controlled greenhouse conditions. A total of 60 two-year-old, graft-infected Citrus reticulata Blanco plants were used. The plants were randomly divided into three groups （45℃, 48℃, and untreated control）, with five plants/replicate （rep） and four reps/treatment. The treated plants were placed in phytotrons for a 4-h treatment session, repeated once per week for three consecutive weeks. Disease remission was observed eight weeks post-treatment. Real-time PCR assays revealed that Las titers in HLB-affected seedlings were significantly reduced in both 45 and 48℃ treatments four weeks after treatment, with the exception of eight plants. In contrast, Las titers in the untreated control plants increased significantly during the same period, with a maximum increase of 28-fold. Except for seven plants, Las titers in the new flushes of treated plants decreased more than 90% eight weeks after treatment. Las titers in mature leaves of treated plants decreased 56 and 60% in average at 45 and 48℃, respectively, eight weeks after treatment. The HLB symptoms and Las titer of seedings were markedly alleviated eight weeks after treatment in both 45 and 48℃ treatments. Our results laid a good foundation for the further development of citrus free-disease seedling cultivation and Huanglongbing control in the field. The whole plants were replaced for scion or branch in previous as the research object in this study, and the expression of Huanglongbing symptoms combined with real-time polymerase chain reaction （PCR） were used to evaluate the effect of heat treatment in the greenhouse.

Piglets Behavior Characteristics under Breeding Mode of Microbial Fermentation Bed

[Objective] This experiment aimed to compare piglets behavior under microbial fermentation bed breeding mode and traditional rearing mode. [Method] Pig behavior＇s statistical analysis under both microbial fermentation bed pig breeding mode and traditional rearing mode was se lected to study the effect of different breeding environment on pig＇s growth [ Result] The results showed that the duration of piglets lying and sleeping behavior accounted for the highest proportion of tested behavior, up to more than 70% ,followed by feeding and drinking which reached 15.96% （under microbial fermentation bed breeding mode） and 9.33% （under traditional rearing mode） respectively. Compared with traditional intensive rearing mode, piglet exploratory behavior＇s occurrence probability and duration increased significantly, by 28.62% and 12.21% respectively. Fighting behavior＇s occurrence probability and duration decreased significantly, by 49.83% and 91.26% respectively. Nutrient index and health index were introduced to evaluate piglet＇s general heath condition under microbial fermentation bed breeding mode, and results indicated that the health index of piglets under microbial fermentation bed breeding mode had slight difference from that under traditional mode, namely 10.83 and 10.03 respectively. But health index of piglets under microbial fermentation bed breeding mode was 245.12, much higher than 21.96 under traditional mode. [ Conclusion] Piglets would be healthier under microbial fermentation bed breeding mode.

Structure Design of Large-scale Sow House with Fermentation Bed

ln this research, the whole contact-type large-scale sow house with fer-mentation bed was designed. The planning area of the entire piggery was 5 700 m2 with workplace and green belts. The sow house was 93 m long and 33 m wide, a total of 3 069 m2, including office area of 60 m2 and aisle area of 107 m2. The fer-mentation bed had an area of 2 902 m2 with length of 88.7 m and width of 27.7 m. lts area accounted for 95% of the total area of sow house. The fermentation mattress had a depth of 80 cm, and had a volume of 2 321 m3, equivalent to 733 t of coconut chaff and rice chaff. On a large fermentation bed, the areas for boars, replacement gilts, pregnant sows, obstetric tables, nursery pigs, etc. were designed. The large-scale sow house with fermentation bed was equipped with the automatic feeding system, automatic sprinkler system, automatic positioning column for preg-nant sows, sows＇ obstetric table system, fanning wet curtain cooling system, video monitoring system, environmental monitoring （light, temperature, water, humidity, CO2, NH3） and automatic control system. Every farming area was equipped with feeding trough and water trough. The water though was fixed with overflow pipe for removing the extra water. The house could hold 500-head sows. Each sow occu-pied 4.9 m2 of the fermentation bed in average. The designed sow house had a maximum annual output of 10 000 piglets.

Grafting of Acrylamide and Trimethylolpropane Triglycidyl Ether onto the Gellan Gum:Synthesis and Characterization

To improve the physiochemical properties of gellan gum（GG）, GG was modified with acrylamide and trimethylolpropane triglycidyl ether（TTE）. The structure and morphology of modified GG were characterized by Fourier transform infrared（FT-IR） spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction（XRD）, differential scanning calorimetry（DSC） and scanning electron microscopy（SEM）. The characteristic peaks at 3448, 2788, 1654, 1411, 1117 and 1044 cm-1）in the FT-IR spectrum confirm the modification. The XRD and DSC data revealed that the modification enhanced the thermal stability of GG. SEM analysis suggested the modification introduced a porous microstructure, resulting in the adsorption of crystal violet. In addition, the adsorption capacity, thermal stability and swelling property of GGTTE3 were superior to GGTTE1, GGTTE2, GGTTE4 and GGTTE5.