To investigate the effects of a synthetic isoflavone (SI) on meat quality and oxidative stability, 1 500 43-d-old Lingnan yellow male broilers were randomly assigned to five dietary treatments: diets supplemented with 0, 10, 20, 40, or 80 mg SI kg-1, fed ad libitum for a period of 3 wk. After refrigerated storage, a* value of the meat increased with dietary SI supplementation using 10 and 40 mg kg-1 level (P<0.05), L* value decreased (P<0.05), and 40 mg kg-1 increased the pH (P<0.05). Supplementation with SI, at all levels, increased water holding capacity (P<0.05) and decreased lactic acid content of meat (P<0.05). The concentration of malondialdehyde at 72 h decreased linearly (P=0.005) and quadratically (P=0.004) with increasing levels of SI. Dietary SI at 20 and 40 mg kg-1 levels enhanced total superoxide dismutase activity in meat (P<0.05). Meat pH quadratically decreased as the storage time increased (P<0.05), with the highest value at 24 h (P<0.05). Lactic acid and malondialdehyde concentrations of meat increased over time, with value at 96 h being far higher than at earlier times (P<0.05). Supplemental SI linearly and quadratically increased the mRNA abundance of glutathione peroxidase (GPX) (P=0.001 and P=0.002) and catalase (CAT) (P=0.003 and P=0.006) in breast muscle. The results from this study indicate that dietary supplementation with SI can improve meat quality during refrigerated storage by decreasing lipid peroxidation and enhancing oxidative stability and, for male broilers from 43 to 63 d of age, the optimal level of SI was 40 mg kg-1.

The presence of abundant and diverse communities of macro-arthropods is considered an indicator of sustainability in agroecosystems. This study was designed to investigate the effects of different fertilizer treatments on abundance and diversity of insects of arable loess soil on the Loess Plateau of China. These regimes included a control with no fertilizer addition or manure, treatments with application of mineral fertilizers (N, NK, NP, PK, NPK), treatments with NPK in combination with organic materials such as wheat straw or maize stalk, treatments with two rates of organic manure application; and different crop rotations (Rot.1: winter wheat summer maize; Rot.2: winter wheat summer maize soybean intercropping; and Rot.3: winter wheat or rapeseed summer maize soybean intercropping). Soil macro-arthropods were collected from the plough layer (0-20 cm) and sorted by hand after each harvest in June and October 2001 and 2002. A total of 3 132 individuals were collected, from 7 orders and 55 families, dominated by Formicidae (61.72%) and Staphylinidae (14.24%). The results showed that individuals and groups were significantly influenced by sampling dates, while groups were significantly influenced by the fertilization treatments. Soil insect biodiversity, as determined by the Shannon index, was significantly influenced by fertilization and sampling dates. The abundance of soil insects was positively and significantly correlated with soil moisture content in October 2002. Nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium fertilizers and incorporation of organic materials were favorable factors for abundance and diversity in arable loess soil.

Using culture-independent technique polymerase chain reaction-denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (PCR-DGGE) and conventional culture techniques, ecological risk of transgenic maize pollen on gut bacteria of the Chinese honeybee, Apis cerana cerana, was assessed. Honeybees were fed with Bt-transgenic maize pollen, non-transgenic near isoline pollen, linear cry1Ah gene (800 ng mL-1) and supercoiled plasmid DNA (800 ng mL-1) under laboratory conditions. The DGGE profile showed that the number of DGGE bands varied from 10.7 to 14.7 per sample, and the Shannon’s index ranged from 0.85 to 1.00. The similarity calculated by PAST was mostly above 92%, indicating no obvious changes among treatments or within replicates. 14 bacterial strains affiliated with Alphaproteobacteria, Gammaproteobacteria, Firmicutes, and Actinobacteria were isolated and characterized on media under aerobic and anaerobic conditions. These results demonstrated that transgenic cry1Ah maize pollen did not induce significant changes of the honeybee gut bacterial community composition under laboratory conditions.