The evolution of different feeding guilds in termites is paralleled by differences in the activity of their gut microbiota. In wood-feeding termites, carbon dioxide-reducing acetogenic bacteria were found to generally outprocess carbon dioxide-reducing methanogenic bacteria for reductant (presumably hydrogen) generated during microbial fermentation in the hindgut. By contrast, acetogenesis from...

Ten cultivars of seashore paspalum, Paspalum vaginatum Swartz, were compared for their response to Japanese beetle, Popillia japonica Newman, larval root feeding. Cultivars of Bermuda grass, Cynodon sp., and zoysiagrass, Zoysia sp., also were included for comparison. Turf grown in pots in the greenhouse was infested with second and third instars in this 2-yr study. Grub survival and weight gain...

Dental microwear and 3D surface texture analyses are useful in reconstructing herbivore diets, with scratches usually interpreted as indicators of grass dominated diets and pits as indicators of browse. We conducted feeding experiments with four groups of rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) each fed a different uniform, pelleted diet (lucerne, lucerne & oats, grass & oats, grass). The lowest silica...

Napier grass (Pennisetum purpureum Schumach.) is a fast-growing perennial grass native to Sub-Saharan Africa that is widely grown across the tropical and subtropical regions of the world. It is a multipurpose forage crop, primarily used to feed cattle in cut and carry feeding systems. Characterization and diversity studies on a small collection of Napier grasses have identified a moderate level...

Replacing grass silage with maize silage results in a fundamental change in the ratio of structural to non-structural carbohydrates with commensurate changes in rumen fermentation patterns and nutrient utilisation. This study investigated the effects of feeding four forage mixtures, namely grass silage (G); 67 g/100 g grass silage + 33 g/100 g maize silage (GGM); 67 g/100 g maize silage + 33/10...

A new, biparental species of the genus Encarsia Förster (Hymenoptera: Aphelinidae), E. hera Lahey & Andreason, sp. nov. , is characterized based on morphological and molecular data. The parasitoid was reared from puparia its host, an undescribed grass-feeding aleyrodine Aleurocybotus Quaintance Baker (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) collected in Gainesville, Florida. same whitefly newly recorded Ch...

The effect of feeding freshly-cut common grasses on growth performance of Black Bengal goats during the pre-monsoon and pre-dry season was evaluated. Four castrated goats of 5-6 months age with a mean initial body weight were 11.17 and 10.23 kg for pre-monsoon and pre-dry season respectively, were used as experimental animal. Nutrient during the premonsoon season contained higher nitrogen (15.6...

Grain legumes, such as soybean (Glycine max (L.) Merr.), pea (Pisum sativum L.), faba bean (Vicia faba L.), lupins (Lupinus spp.), common vetch (Vicia sativa L.) and grass pea (Lathyrus sativus L.), represent one of the most quality and least expensive solutions for a long-term demand for plant protein in animal husbandry. One of the limitations to an increased use of grain legumes as feed is t...

This research attempt to establish a grass cover change model based on cellular automata. It took the relationship between elevation, slope, aspect, settlement, road, water system and grass cover change as the foundation of the model, the dynamic progress of grass cover change was expressed by using cellular automata, the grass cover change model based on the basic geographical control conditio...