Standardising bull breeding soundness evaluations and reporting in Australia

There is substantial variation in bull breeding soundness evaluation procedures and reports in Australia; the situation is compounded by difficulties in interpretation and the validity of many reports. In an effort to overcome this, the scientific literature was reviewed [Fordyce G. In: Fordyce G, editor. Bull fertility: selection and management in Australia. Eight Mile Plains, Australia: Australian Cattle Vets; 2002] and the needs of stakeholders were considered in preparing a manual, Evaluating and Reporting Bull Fertility [Entwistle KW, Fordyce G. Evaluating and reporting bull fertility. Eight Mile Plains, Australia: Australian Cattle Vets; 2003.] that outlined standards for assessing and reporting bull breeding soundness. A new recording and reporting system, called Bull Reporter, is based on standards from this manual and groups bull fertility traits into five summary categories: Scrotum, Physical, Crush-side Semen, Sperm Morphology, and Serving. The client will generally select which categories they wish to have included in the evaluation to suit their specific purposes. While there is adequate room for comments, the veterinarian is not required to make an overall judgment of whether the bull has normal capacity to sire calves under natural mating management, but ensures the standards for each selected category are met. Professional, standardised, easy-to-read reports are produced either electronically [Entwistle KW, Fordyce G. Evaluating and reporting bull fertility. Eight Mile Plains, Australia: Australian Cattle Vets; 2003.] or manually. A bull owner or their agent signs the certificate to affirm that bulls have not undergone procedures to rectify faults which may have otherwise caused them to fail the standards. An accreditation system for assessing sperm morphology was established because of its demonstrated relationship with pregnancy rates and because of the difficulties in achieving consistent and accurate assessments among laboratories. It is considered that Bull Reporter is applicable to beef and dairy bulls across all levels of management, genotypes and environments throughout Australia, with substantial potential for application elsewhere in the world.

Rice molecular breeding laboratories in the genomics era: Current status and future considerations

Using DNA markers in plant breeding with marker-assisted selection (MAS) could greatly improve the precision and efficiency of selection, leading to the accelerated development of new crop varieties. The numerous examples of MAS in rice have prompted many breeding institutes to establish molecular breeding labs. The last decade has produced an enormous amount of genomics research in rice, including the identification of thousands of QTLs for agronomically important traits, the generation of large amounts of gene expression data, and cloning and characterization of new genes, including the detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms. The pinnacle of genomics research has been the completion and annotation of genome sequences for indica and japonica rice. This information-coupled with the development of new genotyping methodologies and platforms, and the development of bioinformatics databases and software tools-provides even more exciting opportunities for rice molecular breeding in the 21st century. However, the great challenge for molecular breeders is to apply genomics data in actual breeding programs. Here, we review the current status of MAS in rice, current genomics projects and promising new genotyping methodologies, and evaluate the probable impact of genomics research. We also identify critical research areas to "bridge the application gap" between QTL identification and applied breeding that need to be addressed to realize the full potential of MAS, and propose ideas and guidelines for establishing rice molecular breeding labs in the postgenome sequence era to integrate molecular breeding within the context of overall rice breeding and research programs.

Growing organic prawns - in inland saline waters

This report details the results of research into organic production of prawns in Australia. This has involved activities and experiments over two years at several sites and using a multidisciplinary approach. This includes farm trials at an inland demonstration prawn farm which solely utilises saline bore water, sample collection from two commercial prawn farms in coastal regions of south-eastern Queensland, replicated feed trials at one of DPI&F’s aquaculture research stations, specified feed manufacture at the laboratories of University of Queensland, and packaging and product storage trials and food analyses at two of DPI&F’s food technology laboratories. This work was designed to investigate and assist in the possible adoption of organic procedures by the Australian prawn farming industry. The import from Asia of cheaply produced prawns has forced all Australian prawn farmers to review their marketing procedures. Additionally investors are becoming increasingly concerned at the prospects for the expansion of this industry in Australia. Since the competition of seafood products in the marketplace is increasing on a global basis, alternate products are being investigated by those wishing to maintain and/or grow their market share. The premium paid for organic food products would hopefully provide an economic incentive for farmers to convert to organic production systems, with an added advantage that the standards that apply have beneficial implications also for the social and environmental practices of industry.

First detection of extended-spectrum cephalosporin- and fluoroquinolone-resistant Escherichia coli in Australian food-producing animals

This study aimed to define the frequency of resistance to critically important antimicrobials (CIAs) [i.e. extended-spectrum cephalosporins (ESCs), fluoroquinolones (FQs) and carbapenems] among Escherichia coli isolates causing clinical disease in Australian food-producing animals. Clinical E. coli isolates (n = 324) from Australian food-producing animals [cattle (n = 169), porcine (n = 114), poultry (n = 32) and sheep (n = 9)] were compiled from all veterinary diagnostic laboratories across Australia over a 1-year period. Isolates underwent antimicrobial susceptibility testing to 18 antimicrobials using the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute disc diffusion method. Isolates resistant to CIAs underwent minimum inhibitory concentration determination, multilocus sequence typing (MLST), phylogenetic analysis, plasmid replicon typing, plasmid identification, and virulence and antimicrobial resistance gene typing. The 324 E. coli isolates from different sources exhibited a variable frequency of resistance to tetracycline (29.0–88.6%), ampicillin (9.4–71.1%), trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole (11.1–67.5%) and streptomycin (21.9–69.3%), whereas none were resistant to imipenem or amikacin. Resistance was detected, albeit at low frequency, to ESCs (bovine isolates, 1%; porcine isolates, 3%) and FQs (porcine isolates, 1%). Most ESC- and FQ-resistant isolates represented globally disseminated E. coli lineages (ST117, ST744, ST10 and ST1). Only a single porcine E. coli isolate (ST100) was identified as a classic porcine enterotoxigenic E. coli strain (non-zoonotic animal pathogen) that exhibited ESC resistance via acquisition of blaCMY-2. This study uniquely establishes the presence of resistance to CIAs among clinical E. coli isolates from Australian food-producing animals, largely attributed to globally disseminated FQ- and ESC-resistant E. coli lineages.