In calf rearing, bovine respiratory disease (BRD) is a major animal health challenge. Farmers incur severe economic losses due to BRD. Additional to economic costs, outbreaks of BRD impair the welfare of the animal and extra expertise and labour are needed to treat and care for the infected animals. Coughing is recognised as a clinical manifestation of BRD. Therefore, the monitoring of coughing in a calf house has the potential to detect cases of respiratory infection before they become too severe, and thus to limit the impact of BRD on both the farmer and the animal. The objective of this study was to develop an algorithm for detection of coughing sounds in a calf house. Sounds were recorded in four adjacent compartments of one calf house over two time periods (82 and 96 days). There were approximately 21 and 14 calves in each compartment over the two time-periods, respectively. The algorithm was developed using 445 min of sound data. These data contained 664 different cough references, which were labelled by a human expert. It was found that, during the first time period in all 3 of the compartments and during the second period in 2 out of 4 compartments, the algorithm worked very well (precision higher than 80%), while in the 2 other cases the algorithm worked well but the precision was less (66.6% and 53.8%). A relation between the number of calves diagnosed with BRD and the detected coughs is shown.
Six insecticides (Malathion, Quik, Cidial, Dimethoate, Actellic, Deltamethrin) and two mineral oils (Super misrona and Kemesol) are currently used to control the most important pests in Mediterranean olive cultivation (olive fly, olive moth and black scale). Potential side-effects of these compounds were tested on the egg parasitoid Trichogramma cacoeciae Marchal, following recommendations of the working group ÔPesticides and Beneficial OrganismsÕ of the International Organization for Biological Control, West Palaearctic Regional Section (IOBC/ WPRS). In the present study, three different types of test methods were carried out: (1) initial toxicity dose-response test on adult wasps; (2) initial toxicity test on pupae, using field recommended rates; and (3) persistent test on olive foliage to assess the duration of harmful activity. The six insecticides tested reduced parasitism by 80-95% and rated as moderately harmful at the field recommended doses. The two mineral oils reduced parasitism up to 25% and were therefore rated as harmless to the adult stage of the parasitoid. The results of the pupal test (parasitoid pupa inside the host egg) showed that Malathion was harmless; Quik, Actellic and Cidial were slightly harmful, while Dimethoate and Deltamethrin were moderately harmful. The results of the persistence test on olive foliage showed that Malathion, Quik and Actellic were slightly persistent, while Cidial, Dimethoate and Deltamethrin were moderately persistent.
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