No abstract

The green iguana appears to be a carrier for bacteria causing gastrointestinal infections in humans. The presence of diarrheagenic E. coli (DEC) pathotypes, however, has not been studied in this reptile. The aim of the current work was to investigate the prevalence of DEC in the intestines of 240 captive green iguanas, their phylogenetic groups, and the antibiotic susceptibility profile. E. coli strains were isolated from 41.7% (N = 100/240) of the intestinal content of green iguanas. DEC strains was identified in 25.9% of the screened population and were detected in the majority (62%, p = 0.009) of those reptiles carrying E. coli strains. Among DEC strains, STEC strains carrying the stx1 gene were the most prevalent pathotype isolated (38.7%), followed by EAEC and ETEC (27.4% each). Genetic markers of DEC strains belonging to the EHEC pathotype were not detected. More than a half of DEC strains were classified into the Clade I-II phylogroup (64.5%), followed by the phylogroup A (14.5%). The antibiotic susceptibility method demonstrated that a high proportion of DEC strains were resistance, or non-susceptible, to carbenicillin, amikacin, and ampicillin. We conclude that the green iguana kept in captivity is a carrier of DEC strains bearing resistance to first-line antibiotics, including penicillins. Given the increase presence of the green iguana in Latin American households, these reptiles represent a potential source of transmission to susceptible humans and therefore a potential source of gastrointestinal disease.

No abstract

Keywords: Glomus fasciculatum, organic cultivation of tomato, pH in tomato fruit, soluble solids. Abbreviations

Mechanical defoliation of sugar cane plants (Saccharum spp.) will provide leaves that can be used as fodder. The effect of partial mechanical defoliation on sucrose content, enzyme activities and agronomic parameters of sugar cane is still unknown. We investigated how sucrose accumulation, activities of sucrose phosphate synthase, soluble acid invertase, sucrose synthase, neutral invertase, brix grades, purity grade, moisture content, fibre content, maturity index and reduced sugars of two commercial sugar cane plants (Mex 69‐290 and Mex 57‐473) were affected in a field experiment. The concentration of sucrose in stems of partial defoliated plants was not significantly different from that found in intact plants. Agronomic parameters and enzyme activities were not different in defoliated plants compared with intact plants except for the moisture content which was higher in defoliated plants than in intact ones. These results indicated that sugar cane plants could be partially defoliated without changing sucrose production and agronomic parameters while providing leaves that could be used as fodder.