Overview of 2015 International Symposium on Animal Environment and Welfare held in Chongqing,China

On October 24-25,2015 International Symposium on Animal Environment and Welfare(ISAEW2015),jointly sponsored by the International Research Center for Animal Environment and Welfare(IRCAEW)and the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering,was convened in Chongqing Academy of Animal Sciences(CAAS),Chongqing,China.Prof.Baoming Li from China Agricultural University(CAU)and Distinguished Prof.Hongwei Xin from Iowa State University were the Co-Chairs of ISAEW2015,and Prof.Zuohua Liu from CAAS chaired the Organizing Committee.

Cloud-based data management system for automatic real-time data acquisition from large-scale laying-hen farms

Management of poultry farms in China mostly relies on manual labor.Since such a large amount of valuable data for the production process either are saved incomplete or saved only as paper documents,making it very difficult for data retrieve,processing and analysis.An integrated cloud-based data management system(CDMS)was proposed in this study,in which the asynchronous data transmission,distributed file system,and wireless network technology were used for information collection,management and sharing in large-scale egg production.The cloud-based platform can provide information technology infrastructures for different farms.The CDMS can also allocate the computing resources and storage space based on demand.A real-time data acquisition software was developed,which allowed farm management staff to submit reports through website or smartphone,enabled digitization of production data.The use of asynchronous transfer in the system can avoid potential data loss during the transmission between farms and the remote cloud data center.All the valid historical data of poultry farms can be stored to the remote cloud data center,and then eliminates the need for large server clusters on the farms.Users with proper identification can access the online data portal of the system through a browser or an APP from anywhere worldwide.

A biopolymer-based pH indicator film for visually monitoring beef and fish spoilage

Food safety is a worldwide public concern that has recently gained increased attention due to the emerging outbreaks of foodborne diseases.Therefore,there is a pressing need to make simple,cost-effective,and environmentally friendly methods for detecting food spoilage and to mitigate the impact of possible outbreaks.The aim of this study is to develop a biodegradable indicator film which was made by combining cellulose-nanofiber/chitosan dyed with methyl red synthesis(CCM)as a pH indicator film and followed by a single layer coating of polylactic acid(PLA)on its surface,named PLA/CCM film.The microstructural properties of PLA/CCM films were studied using scanning electron microscopy(SEM)and results showed that PLA effectively adhered to the surface of CCM film.The microbial response to PLA/CCM film was determined via a bacterial plating method.It was found that the contact of film with the microbes caused a substantial color change in the film.The coating of PLA upon the CCM film decreased the percentage of the water vapor transmission rate(WVTR).The color of the film vividly altered from slightly red to yellow in response to a pH change in the range of 4-8.The PLA/CCM film was applied to monitor the spoilage of beef and fish at room temperature(23℃)and revealed the onset of food spoilage by displaying the color change from red to yellow after 1 day.The total viable counts(TVC)of microorganisms and pH of the tested beef sample were determined,and the results revealed that both TVC and pH increased concurrently after beef spoilage.

First Asian Conference on Precision Livestock Farming(PLF-Asia 2016)held in Beijing,China

The 1st Asian Conference on Precision Livestock Farming(PLF-Asia 2016),jointly sponsored by China Agricultural University(CAU),the International Research Center for Animal Environment and Welfare(IRCAEW)and the Chinese Society of Agricultural Engineering,was convened at CAU International Conference Center,Beijing,China on September 9-11,2016.Prof.Li Baoming from CAU and Prof.Hongwei Xin from Iowa State University co-chaired PLF-Asia 2016.Prof.Liu Zuohua from Chongqing Academy of Animal Sciences(CAAS)was the Organizing Committee Chair.Prof.Gong Yuanshi,Vice President of CAU gave a welcome and opening speech.Prof.Wang Maohua,an Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering shared his thoughts on precision livestock farming in the opening remarks.

In Memoriam:Dr.John M.Laflen

The soil erosion research and soil and water conservation global community lost a treasured member on November 20,2020,when Dr.John Matthew Laflen(Fig.1)died.Always one with a friendly welcoming smile,John had hundreds of friends,both personally and professionally throughout the world.This article includes many of his professional and scientific contributions,and impacts from his research and outreach activities.