Ethical Challenges for Livestock Production:Meeting Consumer Concerns about Meat Safety and AnimalWelfare

Livestock production today faces thedifficult task of effectively meeting emergingconsumer concerns while remaining competitive on majortarget markets. Meeting consumer concerns aboutproduct safety and animal welfare are identified askey attention points for future livestock production.The relevance of these issues pertains to productionefficiency and economic benefits and tore-establishing meat sector image and consumer trust.The current paper analyses consumer concerns about theethical issues of meat safety and animal welfare fromcurrent livestock production. The research methodologyis based on literature review, secondary data sources,and primary research through focus group discussionsand a survey of 320 meat consumers in Belgium.Objectives were to assess importance attached byconsumers to product safety and animal welfare asethical issues in commercial livestock production, andto evaluate consumer perception of these issues forbeef, pork, and poultry. Significant differences inissue importance and perception are identified amongconsumer groups based on socio-demographic andbehavioral characteristics. From the analysis, meatsafety emerges as an absolute but minimum requirementfor future success of livestock and meat production.Additionally, animal welfare can be expected to becomea critical theme especially for pork and poultryacceptance.     

Grazer traits, competition, and carbon sources to a headwater-stream food web

We investigated the effect of grazing by a dominant invertebrate grazer (the caddisfly Glossosoma penitum) on the energy sources used by other consumers in a headwater-stream food web. Stable isotope studies in small, forested streams in northern California have shown that G. penitum larvae derive most of their carbon from algae, despite low algal standing crops. We hypothesized that the caddisfly competes with other primary consumers (including mayflies) for algal food and increases their reliance on terrestrial detritus. Because Glossosoma are abundant and defended from predators by stone cases, their consumption of algal energy may reduce its transfer up the food chain. We removed Glossosoma (natural densities >1000 caddisflies/m2) from five approximately 4 m2) stream sections during the summer of 2000 and measured responses of algae, invertebrate primary consumers, and invertebrate predators. The treatment reduced Glossosoma biomass by 80-90%. We observed a doubling in chlorophyll a per area in sections with reduced Glossosoma abundance and aggregative increases in the biomass of undefended primary consumers. Heptageniid mayfly larvae consumed more algae (as measured by stable carbon isotope ratios and gut content analysis) in caddisfly removal plots at the end of the 60-day experiment, although not after one month. We did not see isotopic evidence of increased algal carbon in invertebrate predators, however. Patterns of caddisfly and mayfly diets in the surrounding watershed suggested that mayfly diets are variable and include algae and detrital carbon in variable proportions, but scraping caddisflies consume primarily algae. Caddisfly and mayfly diets are more similar in larger, more productive streams where the mayflies assimilate more algae. Isotopic analysis, in combination with measurements of macroinvertebrate abundance and biomass in unmanipulated plots, suggested that a substantial portion of the invertebrate community (>50% of biomass) was supported, at least partially, by local algal carbon during midsummer. These data suggest that algae may be more important to community dynamics in headwater streams than their relatively low productivity would suggest. Through their high densities and relative invulnerability to predation, armored grazers may also affect community structure and flow of algal and detrital carbon in headwater streams.     

Recognize fish as food in policy discourse and development funding

The international development community is off-track from meeting targets for alleviating global malnutrition. Meanwhile, there is growing consensus across scientific disciplines that fish plays a crucial role in food and nutrition security. However, this ‘fish as food’ perspective has yet to translate into policy and development funding priorities. We argue that the traditional framing of fish as a natural resource emphasizes economic development and biodiversity conservation objectives, whereas situating fish within a food systems perspective can lead to innovative policies and investments that promote nutrition-sensitive and socially equitable capture fisheries and aquaculture. This paper highlights four pillars of research needs and policy directions toward this end. Ultimately, recognizing and working to enhance the role of fish in alleviating hunger and malnutrition can provide an additional long-term development incentive, beyond revenue generation and biodiversity conservation, for governments, international development organizations, and society more broadly to invest in the sustainability of capture fisheries and aquaculture.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1007/s13280-020-01451-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.     

Studies on seed germination and growth in weed species of rice field under salinity stress

An investigation was made to see the salt tolerance of 10 weed species of rice. Properly dried and treated seeds of weed species were placed on 9 cm diameter petridishes lined with Whatman No. 1 filter paper under 6 salinity regimes, viz. 0 (control), 4, 8, 16, 24 and 32 dS m(-1). The petri dishes were then kept in germinator at 25 +/- 1.0 degrees C and 12 hr light. The number of germinated seeds were recorded daily. The final germination percentage, germination index (GI), seedling vigour index, mean germination time and time for 50% germination were estimated. Root and shoot lengths of the weed seedlings were measured at 20 days after salt application and relative growth values were calculated. Results revealed that salinity decreased final germination percentage, seed of germination as measured by GI, and shoot and root length in all the species. Germination of most of the weed seeds was completely arrested (0) at 32 dS m(-1) salinity except in E. colona (12%) and C. iria (13.9%). The species C. iria, E. colona, J. linifolia and E. crusgalli showed better germination (above 30%) upto 24 dS m(-1) salinity level and were regarded as salt-tolerant weed species. J. linifolia, F. miliacea, L. chinensis and O. sativa L. (weedy rice) were graded as moderately tolerant and S. zeylanica, S. grosus and C. difformis were regarded as least tolerant weed species.     

How temperature and habitat quality affect parasitoid lifetime reproductive success—A simulation study

Adult parasitoid females lay their eggs in or on host insects. Most species are incapable of de novo lipogenesis as adults, and lipids accumulated during the larval stage are allocated either to egg production or to adult survival. Lipid consumption increases with distance covered by the parasitoids and thus with the distance between available hosts within a habitat. Temperature should affect parasitoid fitness because it changes the constraint imposed by a limited reserve of lipids and because it influences behaviour. Climate change involves both an increase in average temperature and an increased frequency of extreme weather such as heat waves. We investigated how the predicted increase of temperature will affect parasitoid fitness and how this depends on habitat parameters (spatial distribution of hosts and lipid cost of habitat exploitation). We studied optimal behaviour and calculated fitness at different temperatures and in different habitats using a stochastic dynamic programming model for pro-ovigenic parasitoids (which mature all their eggs before becoming adult). We show that an increase in temperature decreases fitness of parasitoids adapted to lower temperatures. This decrease in fitness depends on habitat quality. In field conditions (assuming small costs of intra-patch foraging), the loss of fitness should be larger in habitats with high inter-patch distance and in habitats with a more aggregated distribution of hosts. The foraging behaviour of parasitoids is also affected; at higher temperature we show that intra-patch foraging becomes less efficient, and patch residence times are longer.     

Design and Ergonomics. Methods for Integrating Ergonomics at Hand Tool Design Stage

As a marked increase in the number of musculoskeletal disorders was noted in many industrialized countries and more specifically in companies that require the use of hand tools, the French National Research and Safety Institute (INRS) launched in 1999 a research project on the topic of integrating ergonomics into hand tool design, and more particularly to a design of a boning knife.

After a brief recall of the difficulties of integrating ergonomics at the design stage, the present paper shows how 3 design methodological tools—Functional Analysis, Quality Function Deployment and TRIZ—have been applied to the design of a boning knife. Implementation of these tools enabled us to demonstrate the extent to which they are capable ofresponding to the difficulties ofintegrating ergonomics into product design.     

Evidence of a 2-day periodicity of striae formation in the tropical scallop Comptopallium radula using calcein marking

The periodicity of striae formation in the tropical scallop Comptopallium radula (Indo-West Pacific Ocean) was investigated with an in situ marking technique, using the calcein fluorochrome. To minimize scallop stress caused by excessive handling, in situ benthic chambers were used for marking experiments. Once marked, scallops (shell height range: 38.4–75.8 mm) remained on site in a large benthic enclosure and were collected at regular time intervals to count new striae formed after marking, over a period of 3 months. A 3-h exposure period with calcein (150 mg l⁻¹) was sufficiently long to create a detectable mark in nearly all shells. It was, however, impossible to count the striae in 48.2% of the shells (mainly large specimens) because of a very small growth after marking. Lack of significant mortality during the experiments indicated that tested calcein concentrations were not lethal. A decrease in shell growth rate was observed after marking but the respective impacts of calcein toxicity and changes in environmental conditions could not be discriminated. Our results suggest that in situ calcein marking inside benthic chambers is suitable for shell growth studies of scallops, provided the latter are not too old. After marking, the juvenile C. radula formed an average of one stria every 2.1 days in summer. Reports of 2-day periodicity in biological rhythms are rare. Striae formation in C. radula may be controlled by an endogenous oscillator, synchronized by an environmental cue acting as a zeitgeber, such as seawater temperature or sea level pressure, both of which exhibit 2-day variations in the Pacific Ocean. As in many other scallop species, C. radula forms striae periodically under natural conditions, but this study shows that in pectinid juveniles, this periodicity can deviate from a daily cycle. These results suggest that C. radula shells have tremendous potential for recording environmental conditions during periods ranging from months to a few years and with a resolution of 2 days.