ALBERT

Beschreibung: We present prehistoric mercury accumulation rates in a dated sediment core from Lagoa da Pata, a remote lake in São Gabriel da Cachoeira, northern Amazon. The sediment samples were subdivided for mercury and radiocarbon analyses. A group of 18 samples have been prepared at ANU for 14C dating by accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). The dating results show a good correlation with depth in the core, down to 41,500 BP. Three distinct sections are clearly identified in the core. They consist of upper and lower organic-rich layers, separated by an inorganic layer which represents a short period of rapid accumulation around 18 ka BP. The mercury accumulation rate is found to be larger in the upper layer (18 ka to present) than in the lower one (41 ka to 25 ka), by a factor of three. The larger accumulation rate of mercury is probably associated with warmer temperatures and a higher frequency of forest fires during the Holocene.

Beschreibung: SummaryDry-matter intake (D.M.I.) from Panicum maximum(guinea grass) was studied in digestibility trials with Holstein and water buffalo bulls and in a feeding trial with lactating cows.Differences in voluntary D.M.I. per unit body weight0·73 between the Holsteins and water buffaloes were not significant. Average D.M.I. for all bulls in all main trials was 2·16 kg per 100 kg B.W. Average D.M.I. by the lactating cows was 2·08 kg per 100 kg B.W., for all practical purposes the same as for the bulls.D.M.I. was not related to stage of maturity or season of harvest of the guinea grass. Intakes of digestible protein, T.D.N., and digestible energy in different seasons and at different growth stages were related to the percentage of those nutrients in the grass.Correlation coefficients were 0·68 between D.M.I. and B.W.0·73, 0·59 between D.M.I. and T.D.N. content, and 0·58 between D.M.I. and crude protein content, D.M.I. was not closely related to dry-matter content (r = 0·30) or crude fibre content (r= 0–01) of the guinea grass.

Beschreibung: Fifteen digestibility trials were conducted in the wet, early dry, and late dry seasons in the Philippines. Panicum maximum (guinea grass) was fed at growth stages of 1–4 months to Bos taurus (Holstein), Bos indicus (Red Sindhi), and Bos bubalis (water buffalo) bulls.Significant differences were shown between digestibility coefficients from water buffaloes and those from Holstein cattle, the former having a 5–7 % advantage in most cases. Ratios of volatile fatty acids in rumen fluid from the two species were not different. Separate tables of digestible protein, TDN and digestible energy values for guinea grass were computed for cattle and water buffaloes.

Beschreibung: SUMMARYGestating female pigs received either a low or a high intake per day of diets containing either a low or high protein concentration. A change in the composition of both diets occurred after 2 years, when the protein quality of the high protein diet was improved and the energy content of both diets was increased. Vitamin A determinations were carried out on 245 piglet livers and 32 pairs of kidneys and lungs at birth from 47 sows. The livers, kidneys and lungs of 16 sows were also analysed for vitamin A after approximately 4 years on experiment. Vitamin A was detected at birth with antimony trichloride in the liver of the piglet, but not in the kidney or lung. The sow's kidney was found to contain only small amounts and lung tissue only traces.A dietary vitamin A level of 4800 i.u./kg during the breeding life of healthy sows, or 8600 i.u./day during gestation, was adequate from the point of view of both a constant storage in piglet livers at birth over eight to ten parities and a relatively high concentration remaining in sow livers after that period. This conclusion is in line with recommendations of the Agricultural Research Council (1966).As a consequence of differences in both the condition of the sows and in their responses in the two periods, the results for each period are presented separately. In the first 2-year period, when the sows received a relatively low intake of dietary protein during gestation (between 248 and 317 g protein/sow/day), and a low energy intake; that is, when protein was used for energy production, the liver vitamin A storage of the piglet at birth was increased by raising either the daily protein intake during gestation to 352 g, or the food intake from 1·8 to 2·3 kg/sow/day. Liver vitamin A and N concentrations were negatively correlated with liver weight, but increasing dietary protein concentration raised liver weight and its vitamin A content. Liver vitamin A per piglet was not affected by litter size.A conclusion may not be drawn concerning the contribution of dietary energy to the differences in response between periods, because in addition to dietary changes other differences occurred between periods. Nevertheless, in the second 2-year period, when energy intake during gestation was adequate for normal growth and development, a difference of 150 g in protein intake/sow/day (363 g against 208 g) had no effect on liver weight or its vitamin A content. Furthermore, there was no significant treatment effect on total protein or albumin concentrations in the serum of the sow.

Beschreibung: SUMMARYAn experiment, involving 68 female pigs, was undertaken to measure the effects of two diets differing in protein content, and of two patterns of feeding. The animals were housed in an enclosed building. The experiment extended through several parities; culled sows were replaced by gilts during the experiment, the whole course of which lasted 5 years.The diets were given at the rate of 1–8 or 2–3 kg per day throughout gestation, but the rate was reversed during the 5-week lactation so that, for litters of eight to nine pigs sows in each treatment group received the same quantity of food per parity. As a result of unsatisfactory performance, dietary composition was changed after 2 years so that for the last 3 years the digestible energy contents were higher.Treatments significantly influenced gestation live-weight gain, lactation weight loss and gestation backfat gain. The lower rate of gestation feeding was associated with low or negative gestation weight increases after the third to fourth litters, and a greater apparent rate of decline with increasing age in birth and 3-week weight per piglet. The high gestation, low lactation, rates of feeding led to slightly greater litter size and lower weaning weights per pig. A daily intake of 208 g crude protein and 8'3 g lysine appeared to meet the sow's requirements throughout gestation.In the pregnant sow feeding area, winter air temperatures were on average 16 °C below those in the summer, but were rarely below freezing point. Winter backfat gain was lower than, and gestation gain only half that in the summer. Litter size was also greater following summer pregnancies and 3-week weight per pig was greater following winter pregnancies. Independent of litter size, birth and 3-week weight per pig were positively correlated with gestation gain within treatment and season. The apparent positive correlation of litter size at 3 weeks with gestation backfat and weight gain was not found at birth. Litter size at birth was negatively correlated with gestation gain within season. The percentage of fertile matingswas less for matings between 1 September and 31 January. This coincided approximately with the reduced litter size (alive) which occurred following winter gestations.Lactation weight loss and 3-week weight per pig declined with increasing age of sow and the degree of weight loss was unrelated to subsequent litter size.The apparent effect of seasons and treatments on litter size at birth appeared not to be an obvious function of changes in live weight, which were also marked between seasons and treatments, but level of food intake in early gestation may have affected litter size independently. It was concluded that birth weight especially in the older sows, was associated with the rate of food intake in gestation, and possibly also in lactation, and with gestation empty weight gain.

Beschreibung: The Russian Far East is characterized by widespread peat bogs with a sufficiently thick peat accumulation. A series of radiocarbon dates from the studied peat bogs (in Lower Amur) were obtained. Analysis of these dates shows that the total peat formation in this territory began in the Late Pleistocene–Holocene (11830 ± 820, TIG-157; 9975 ± 120, SOAN-4025). The rates of peat accumulation and the humidity index were counted. In addition, the botanical composition and degree of peat decomposition were defined. These data allow to study in more detail climate fluctuation and the 14C chronology of Holocene events in the region studied.

Beschreibung: We investigated Csípo-halom, one of the kurgans that served as a burial place in the Hortobágy area of the Hungarian Great Plain. For pedological description and other studies of the protected mound and its surroundings, only a few monitoring drillings were permitted to get soil samples. On the basis of morphological and visual studies, the structure and layers of the mound were reconstructed. The Laboratory of Environmental Studies of the Institute of Nuclear Research at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (INR/HAS) performed radiocarbon measurements of soil samples, applying a bulk combustion pretreatment method. The measured 14C ages of soil samples from reference points, such as the top layer of the mound, the center of mound body, the base layer of the mound, the near surroundings, and the distant surroundings, are in good agreement with the preliminary archaeological concept for this field and give substantial information about the rate of soil generation processes in this area.

Beschreibung: Reliable radiocarbon dating depends upon well-defined samples. We have been investigating whether or not reliable 14C dates can be obtained directly from sub-fossil insect cuticle or biochemical fractions derived from it. Initial carbon and nitrogen stable isotope measurements on sub-fossil insect chitin from species with known feeding behaviors found within a single site (St Bees, Cumbria) clustered in a manner reminiscent of trophic level effects seen in terrestrial ecosystems. Although this finding implied some chemical stability, the measurement of CN ratios from the same samples indicated compositional variability. In addition, 14C dates obtained from these same samples were different from dates obtained from plant macrofossils found at the same depth. We have experimented with protocols designed to biochemically reduce chitin to its principle carbohydrate component glucosamine with the aim of using this compound to generate reliable 14C dates. Solvent extractions of sub-fossil chitin were carried out to remove both endogenous and exogenous lipid-soluble materials. Base hydrolysis reactions designed to extract polypeptides retained surprisingly high levels of contaminating amino acids. Proteinase K enzyme treatment had little affect on the level of amino acid contamination. Strong acid hydrolysis reactions designed to depolymerize chitin to glucosamine yielded only 5% glucosamine. Clearly alternative methods of chitin depolymerization must be identified before the purification and 14C dating of glucosamine from sub-fossil chitin becomes practical.

Beschreibung: Lynch's Crater in northeastern Australia provides a long, continuous record of environmental change within the Late Quaternary. Here, we present newly determined radiocarbon ages, using acid-base-acid stepped combustion (ABA-SC) and acid-base-wet oxidation stepped combustion (ABOX-SC) pretreatment strategies. The new results largely confirm the original untreated radiocarbon results for the uppermost 9 m of sediments, (ca. 35 ka BP). Below this depth, results from both pretreatment methods are in stratigraphic agreement and extend the dating of the record from 38 ka BP to about 48 ka BP, although an apparent increased sedimentation rate below 12 m is questionable. The scarcity of “charcoal” in several of the samples raises questions regarding the application of ABOX-SC to lake or swamp sediments, with evidence for contributions from younger, chemically resistant bacterial carbon along with fine “charcoal” in some samples. However, the extent to which this phenomenon is significant to the final age estimate appears to be sample specific, and is probably dependent upon the length of the wet oxidation step in the pretreatment.