Evaluating the impact of application of anaerobic bacterial fermentation enhancer on digital dermatitis.

The control of digital dermatitis (DD) among cattle is crucial; however, effective and environmentally-sound control measures have yet to be identified. From the monitoring data of DD which were recorded during regular hoof trimmings in a farm in Hokkaido, Japan, we detected a decrease in the DD prevalence in a herd where an anaerobic bacterial fermentation enhancer (ABFE) was distributed. The possible effect of ABFE was analyzed using a retrospective repeated cross-sectional design. The prevalence of DD decreased over time in the ABFE-distributed group. Furthermore, a selected regression model indicated the time-dependent enhancement of the decreasing trend. While potential coincidental factors may influence, this study provides a basis for further research on the preventive effect of ABFE against DD.

Chrysanthemum stunt viroid disturbs the photoperiodic response for flowering of chrysanthemum plants.

Chrysanthemum ( Dendranthema grandiflorum Kitam.) is one of the qualitative short-day flowering plants. Therefore, the flowering of chrysanthemum can usually be controlled by photoperiod. However, it was noted that 'Piato' plants infected by the chrysanthemum stunt viroid (CSVd) flowered autonomously even under long-day conditions. In this study, CSVd-free and CSVd-infected plants were prepared by culturing different-sized dissected shoot apical meristems (SAMs) of 'Piato'. Using these CSVd-free and CSVd-infected plants, we clarified the relationship between CSVd infection and the autonomous flowering of 'Piato'. Under natural short-day conditions, the flowering of plants regenerated from SAMs containing leaf primordia (LPs) was 1 month earlier than plants regenerated from LP-free SAMs. CSVd was detected from these early flowering plants by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction. On the other hand, CSVd was not detected in plants regenerated from LP-free SAMs. CSVd-infected and CSVd-free plants were grown under long-day conditions simulated by night-break lighting at 22:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. All CSVd-infected plants flowered autonomously even under long-day conditions; on the other hand, CSVd-free chrysanthemum plants maintained their vegetative growth. When the CSVd-free plants were inoculated with CSVd by grafting them to CSVd-infected rootstocks, they flowered autonomously even under night-break lighting. In this study, the results suggest that CSVd may control the qualitative development process, flowering, i.e. CSVd can induce the autonomous flowering of chrysanthemum.