Escalated aggressive behaviour and facultative parental care in the nest building gladiator frog, Hyla faber

Agonistic encounters and facultative parental care in Hyla faber were observed in two localities in southeastern Brazil. Maximum male density was 0.9 and 3.3 males/m2 in Campinas and Ribeirão Branco, respectively. Aggression was escalated and the highly variable aggressive calls were specific to each phase of the encounter. The last, more aggressive phases rarely occurred in Campinas; in Ribeirão Branco they occurred frequently. Male parental care (egg attendance) was common in Ribeirão Branco while it was never observed in Campinas. Egg attendance lasted one to two nights and was observed only during high male density. The main benefit of egg attendance seemed to be avoiding nest intrusion by other males (sunken eggs and/or embryos invariably die). Males may build additional nests during egg attendance, but attending males did not attract females (they did not call).

Comparison of intestinal response of chicks from light and heavy eggs to posthatch fasting

The effects of posthatch fasting on villi height and number, crypt depth and number of globet cells in duodenum, jejunum and ileum of broiler chicks from heavy and light eggs were compared. The 2×3×3 factorial design (egg weight: light and heavy eggs; treatments: with water and feed, with water, without water and feed; treatment duration: 24, 48 and 72 h) was used. The villi presented higher size in chicks from heavy than from light eggs. The fasting resulted in lower villi in duodenum (at 48 h), jejunum and ileum (at 72 h). The villi number increased in duodenum and jejunum of chicks from light eggs and only in jejunum of chicks from heavy eggs, but the increase was more accented in chicks from light ones. The fasting reduced the globet cells number in jejunum. Water intake avoided the fasting effects on villi height but had no effect on villi number. Chicks from heavy eggs fed with water and ration presented deeper crypts in all regions of the small intestine. The duodenum and ileum crypt depth of the chicks from heavy eggs reduced when they were submitted to fasting and when they were fed only with water. The results showed that chicks from light eggs were more affected than chicks from heavy eggs. The water intake partially avoided the fasting effects. © Asian Network for Scientific Information, 2011.

Balance of pH of chicks from eggs injected with ascorbic acid and subjected to thermal stress

This study aimed to verify that chicks from eggs injected with ascorbic acid and subjected to heat stress would have changes in acid-base balance, compared to chicks incubated at thermoneutral without injection of ascorbic acid. The parameters evaluated were blood pressure of carbon dioxide and oxygen, base excess, total carbon dioxide, concentration of sodium, potassium, ionized calcium, bicarbonate and pH of newly hatched male chicks, hatched from eggs injected with acid ascorbic acid (AA) and subjected to heat stress during incubation. The experimental design was completely randomized in factorial scheme 5 (application levels of ascorbic acid) x 2 (incubation temperatures). The data were subjected to analysis of variance using the General Linear Model procedure (GLM) of SAS ®. For the blood pH was observed significant interaction (p <0.05) between treatments with application in eggs and incubation temperatures. For the other parameters were not significant effects (p< 0.05) of AA level and neither temperature of incubation. Analyzing the unfolding of the interaction to pH was observed that chicks from eggs injected with 6% ascorbic acid and subjected to heat stress during incubation had a higher pH value compared with the thermoneutral temperature incubated (p <0.05). Therefore, it is suggested that the incubation of eggs in high temperature (39°C) can alter the metabolic rate of these embryos.

Comparison of eggs, larvae, and pupae of plutella xylostella (lepidoptera: Plutellidae) as prey for podisus nigrispinus (Hemiptera: Pentatomidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Drivers of clutch-size in Fork-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus savana) at temperate and tropical latitudes in South America

Many species of birds exhibit a latitudinal gradient in annual reproductive investment, laying more eggs and producing more nestlings at higher latitudes. However, few studies have evaluated the mechanisms that underlie such patterns and such differences in grassland birds specifically. We monitored nests of Fork-tailed Flycatchers (Tyrannus savana) over two breeding seasons at a tropical site in Bolivia (in 2010-11 and 2011-12) and three breeding seasons at a southern temperate site in Argentina (2010-11, 2011-12 and 2012-13), testing two hypotheses explaining variation in clutch-size among populations: the food-limitation hypothesis and the nest-predation hypothesis. Mean clutch-size and mean brood-size were significantly larger at the temperate study site than at the tropical site. Availability of arthropod food per individual bird was significantly higher at the temperate site. There was no relationship, positive or negative, between rates of nest predation and either clutch- or brood-size, and thus no support for the nest-predation hypothesis. We conclude that food availability explains much of the latitudinal variation in clutch-size in this species. We discuss avenues for future research on the mechanisms underlying geographical variation in the life histories of Neotropical birds.

The Influence of Dietary Lysine on Yellow Perch Female Reproductive Performance and the Quality of Eggs

The objectives of this study were to (1) evaluate if dietary lysine (Lys) has an effect on the free amino acid (FAA) pool of Yellow Perch Perca flavescens eggs, and (2) determine how dietary Lys influences the reproductive performance and eggs fertilization rate (embryo survival) of female Yellow Perch. Two-year-old Yellow Perch of initial size of approximately 75 g were randomly distributed into six 400-L tanks at 32 +/- 1 fish per tank. This experiment included two wheat gluten-based diets in triplicate Lys-deficient ([-] Lys) and Lys-supplemented ([+]Lys; 2.23% in dry feed) diets. Females from the reference group were fed a commercial diet. Females from reference, (+) Lys, and (-) Lys groups were stripped and their eggs divided into 0.4-1.2-g portions and mixed with sperm (21.4 +/- 4.3 mu L) from either reference, (+) Lys, or (-) Lys males. The mean weight of Yellow Perch females and mean total weight of ovulated eggs were the greatest in the reference group compared with both (+) Lys and (-) Lys groups. There were no differences in the ratio of weight of eggs to female body weight as well as egg size among groups. There was no difference among treatments in the concentration of free amino acids except glutamic and aspartic acids in Yellow Perch eggs. There was significant effect of female dietary treatments on the egg fertilization rate averaged across all males. The higher fertilization rate was observed in the reference and (+) Lys groups compared with the (-) Lys group. The effect of female dietary treatment on the egg survival was also dependent on the dietary treatment of males.

The importance of relative humidity for telenomus remus (Hymenoptera: Platygastridae) parasitism and development on Corcyra cephalonica (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae) and Spodoptera frugiperda (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) eggs

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Larvicidal activity of the water extract of Moringa oleifera seeds against Aedes aegypti and its toxicity upon laboratory animals

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Fecundity and pre-imaginal period of Chrysoperla externa (hagen) (neuroptera: chrysopidae) under different populations and laboratory generations

The lacewings appear in many agroecosystems, preying several species of agricultural pests. They have great search capability, high voracity, high reproductive potential and are easily maintained in laboratory conditions. In laboratory rearing, to avoid problems in the mass production are recommended adjustments in the type and quality of prey to be used in order to obtain individuals with desirable characteristics. It is necessary special care with the laboratory populations, avoiding problems from inbreeding. Larvae were reared individually in Petri dishes (9.0 cm diameter) and fed with eggs of Sitotroga cerealella (Olivier, 1789) (Lepidoptera: Gelechiidae), in the amount of 25 mg / larva, while the adults were kept in PVC cylindrical cages (10 cm x 30 cm). Thus, the study analyzed the influence of the size of the population of Chrysoperla externa (Hagen, 1861) (Neuroptera: Chrysopidae) on the pre-imaginal period (egg to adult) and reproductive capacity of this specie come from different populations and generations of laboratory. To this end, we used two populations, one of Jaboticabal (F-8 and F-21) and one of Piracicaba (F-6 and F-15), and subpopulations of 1, 5, 10, 15 and 20 couples, analyzing the incubation of eggs and the number of eggs per female in each population, generation and subpopulation. The pre-imaginal period (egg to adult) and the number of eggs per female of C. externa are influenced by the generation and the number of founding individuals, being these parameters favored when laboratory populations are established with the largest number of couples.

Effect of bean genotypes, insecticides, and natural products on the control of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotype B (Hemiptera: Aleyrodidae) and Caliothrips phaseoli (Hood) (Thysanoptera: Thripidae)

Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq)

Egg traits and physiological neonatal chick parameters from broiler breeder at different ages

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Early development of Astronotus ocellatus under stereomicroscopy and scanning electron microscopy

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Beak trimming methods and their effect on the performance and egg quality of Japanese quails (Coturnix japonica) during lay

A total number of 720 Japanese quail females, reared under identical management conditions, and receiving feed and water ad libitum, was used. Quails were housed and reared from 1-35 days of age in litter pens in a rearing house, and then were transferred to a quail layer house. This study aimed at verifying if different beak trimming method could optimize egg production and quality by reducing stress and cannibalism among birds. A completely randomized experimental design was used, with six treatments in a 2x3 factorial arrangement, with two beak trimming ages (14 and 21 days) and three beak trimming variants (non-trimmed, 1/3 of the beak trimmed, or 1/2 of the beak trimmed), 6 replicates of 20 birds each. Performance was evaluated by feed intake, percentage of lay, egg mass, feed conversion ratio per dozen and per kg eggs, and mortality. Performance was influenced by trimming variant, with the best results obtained by birds with intact and those with 1/3 of the beak trimmed. Better specific gravity was in quails submitted to beak trimming at 21 days of age, whereas other egg quality parameters did not present significant results. Based the results obtained in the present study, it is recommended to submit to beak trimming either at 14 or 21 days of age.

Effects of dietary calcium levels and limestone particicle size on the performance, tibia and blood of laying hens

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Economic traits and performance of Italian quails reared at different cage stocking densities

This study assessed the effect of different cage stocking densities on the performance of Italian quails in the laying period. Two hundred and sixty four quails with 30 weeks of age and 280g mean body weight were used. Birds were randomly assigned to 96 x 33 x 16 cm cages and distributed in a randomized block design with 4 treatments (12, 15, 18 and 21 quails per cage or 264, 211, 176 and 151 cm² per quail, respectively) and 4 replicates. Birds were given feed and water ad libitum and submitted to the same experimental conditions. The experimental diet was formulated based on NRC (1994) recommendations. There were no significant differences among treatments for feed conversion per egg mass (kg:kg), percentage of broken eggs and mortality. There was a linear reduction (p<0.05) in egg weight, feed consumption, percentage of production, egg mass and feed conversion per dozen with the increase in stocking density. The gain per house per day was better at the cage density of 151 cm² per bird. However, the density of 211 cm² per bird provided the best gain per bird per day, because this stocking density had better productive indexes when compared with the other treatments.