Pasture-finishing of bison improves animal metabolic health and potential health-promoting compounds in meat.

BACKGROUND: With rising concerns regarding the effects of red meat on human and environmental health, a growing number of livestock producers are exploring ways to improve production systems. A promising avenue includes agro-ecological practices such as rotational grazing of locally adapted ruminants. Additionally, growing consumer interest in pasture-finished meat (i.e., grass-fed) has raised questions about its nutritional composition. Thus, the goal of this study was to determine the impact of two common finishing systems in North American bison-pasture-finished or pen-finished on concentrates for 146 d-on metabolomic, lipidomic, and fatty acid profiles of striploins (M. longissimus lumborum). RESULTS: Six hundred and seventy-one (671) out of 1570 profiled compounds (43%) differed between pasture- and pen-finished conditions (n = 20 animals per group) (all, P < 0.05). Relative to pasture-finished animals, the muscle of pen-finished animals displayed elevated glucose metabolites (~ 1.6-fold), triglycerides (~ 2-fold), markers of oxidative stress (~ 1.5-fold), and proteolysis (~ 1.2-fold). In contrast, pasture-finished animals displayed improved mitochondrial (~ 1.3-fold higher levels of various Krebs cycle metabolites) and carnitine metabolism (~ 3-fold higher levels of long-chain acyl carnitines) (all P < 0.05). Pasture-finishing also concentrated higher levels of phenolics (~ 2.3-fold), alpha-tocopherol (~ 5.8-fold), carotene (~ 2.0-fold), and very long-chain fatty acids (~ 1.3-fold) in their meat, while having lower levels of a common advanced lipoxidation (4-hydroxy-nonenal-glutathione; ~ 2-fold) and glycation end-product (N6-carboxymethyllysine; ~ 1.7-fold) (all P < 0.05). In contrast, vitamins B5, B6, and C, gamma/beta-tocopherol, and three phenolics commonly found in alfalfa were ~ 2.5-fold higher in pen-finished animals (all P < 0.05); suggesting some concentrate feeding, or grazing plants rich in those compounds, may be beneficial. CONCLUSIONS: Pasture-finishing (i.e., grass-fed) broadly improves bison metabolic health and accumulates additional potential health-promoting compounds in their meat compared to concentrate finishing in confinement (i.e., pen-finished). Our data, however, does not indicate that meat from pen-finished bison is therefore unhealthy. The studied bison meat-irrespective of finishing practice-contained favorable omega 6:3 ratios (< 3.2), and amino acid and vitamin profiles. Our study represents one of the deepest meat profiling studies to date (> 1500 unique compounds), having revealed previously unrecognized differences in animal metabolic health and nutritional composition because of finishing mode. Whether observed nutritional differences have an appreciable effect on human health remains to be determined.

Paludiculture as paludifuture on Dutch peatlands: An environmental and economic analysis of Typha cultivation and insulation production.

Paludiculture, the cultivation of crops on rewetted peatlands, is often proposed as a viable climate change mitigation option that reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHGe), while simultaneously providing novel agricultural business options. In West Europe, experiments are ongoing in using the paludicrop cattail (Typha spp.) as feedstock for insulation panel material. Here, we use a Dutch case study to investigate the environmental potential and economic viability of shifting the use of peat soils from grassland (for dairy production) to Typha paludiculture (for cultivation and insulation panel production). Using a life cycle assessment and cost-benefit analysis, we compared the global warming potential (GWP), yearly revenues and calculated Net Present Value (NPV) of 1 ha Dutch peat soil used either for dairy production or for Typha paludiculture. We estimated that changing to Typha paludiculture leads to a GWP reduction of ~32% (16.4 t CO2-eq ha-1), mainly because of lower emissions from peat decomposition as a result of land-use management (-21.6 t CO2-eq ha-1). If biogenic carbon storage is excluded, the avoided impact of conventional insulation material is insufficient to compensate the impact of cultivating and processing Typha (9.7 t CO2-eq ha-1); however, this changes if biogenic carbon storage is included (following PAS2050 guidelines). Typha paludiculture is currently not competitive with dairy production, mainly due to high cultivation costs and low revenues, which are both uncertain, and will likely improve as the system develops. Its NPV is negative, mainly due to high investment costs. This can be improved by introducing carbon credits, with carbon prices for Typha paludiculture (30 years) comparable to EU-ETS prices. In conclusion, Dutch Typha paludiculture has a significant climate change mitigation potential by reducing emissions from deep drained peatlands. Nevertheless, attention is needed to increase its economic viability as this is a key aspect of the system change.

Microbiota in Dung and Milk Differ Between Organic and Conventional Dairy Farms.

Organic farming is increasingly promoted as a means to reduce the environmental impact of artificial fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, and antibiotics in conventional dairy systems. These factors potentially affect the microbial communities of the production stages (soil, silage, dung, and milk) of the entire farm cycle. However, understanding whether the microbiota representative of different production stages reflects different agricultural practices - such as conventional versus organic farming - is unknown. Furthermore, the translocation of the microbial community across production stages is scarcely studied. We sequenced the microbial communities of soil, silage, dung, and milk samples from organic and conventional dairy farms in the Netherlands. We found that community structure of soil fungi and bacteria significantly differed among soil types, but not between organic versus conventional farming systems. The microbial communities of silage also did not differ among conventional and organic systems. Nevertheless, the dung microbiota of cows and the fungal communities in the milk were significantly structured by agricultural practice. We conclude that, while the production stages of dairy farms seem to be disconnected in terms of microbial transfer, certain practices specific for each agricultural system, such as the content of diet and the use of antibiotics, are potential drivers of shifts in the cow's microbiota, including the milk produced. This may reflect differences in farm animal health and quality of dairy products depending on farming practices.

Global distribution of earthworm diversity.

Soil organisms, including earthworms, are a key component of terrestrial ecosystems. However, little is known about their diversity, their distribution, and the threats affecting them. We compiled a global dataset of sampled earthworm communities from 6928 sites in 57 countries as a basis for predicting patterns in earthworm diversity, abundance, and biomass. We found that local species richness and abundance typically peaked at higher latitudes, displaying patterns opposite to those observed in aboveground organisms. However, high species dissimilarity across tropical locations may cause diversity across the entirety of the tropics to be higher than elsewhere. Climate variables were found to be more important in shaping earthworm communities than soil properties or habitat cover. These findings suggest that climate change may have serious implications for earthworm communities and for the functions they provide.

Towards resilience through systems-based plant breeding. A review.

How the growing world population can feed itself is a crucial, multi-dimensional problem that goes beyond sustainable development. Crop production will be affected by many changes in its climatic, agronomic, economic, and societal contexts. Therefore, breeders are challenged to produce cultivars that strengthen both ecological and societal resilience by striving for six international sustainability targets: food security, safety and quality; food and seed sovereignty; social justice; agrobiodiversity; ecosystem services; and climate robustness. Against this background, we review the state of the art in plant breeding by distinguishing four paradigmatic orientations that currently co-exist: community-based breeding, ecosystem-based breeding, trait-based breeding, and corporate-based breeding, analyzing differences among these orientations. Our main findings are: (1) all four orientations have significant value but none alone will achieve all six sustainability targets; (2) therefore, an overarching approach is needed: "systems-based breeding," an orientation with the potential to synergize the strengths of the ways of thinking in the current paradigmatic orientations; (3) achieving that requires specific knowledge development and integration, a multitude of suitable breeding strategies and tools, and entrepreneurship, but also a change in attitude based on corporate responsibility, circular economy and true-cost accounting, and fair and green policies. We conclude that systems-based breeding can create strong interactions between all system components. While seeds are part of the common good and the basis of agrobiodiversity, a diversity in breeding approaches, based on different entrepreneurial approaches, can also be considered part of the required agrobiodiversity. To enable systems-based breeding to play a major role in creating sustainable agriculture, a shared sense of urgency is needed to realize the required changes in breeding approaches, institutions, regulations and protocols. Based on this concept of systems-based breeding, there are opportunities for breeders to play an active role in the development of an ecologically and societally resilient, sustainable agriculture.

Phytoextraction of Soil Phosphorus by Potassium-Fertilized Grass-Clover Swards.

In the development of the Dutch National Ecological Network, many hectares of arable land are converted to nature areas to protect plant and animal species. This encompasses development of species-rich grasslands. On former agricultural land on sandy soils, this development is often hampered by relatively high phosphorus (P) levels, which also cause eutrophication. Standard practices to decrease the amount of P are either topsoil removal or long-term mowing of low-yielding established grassland. Both methods have disadvantages, and there is a need for additional techniques. As an alternative, phytoextraction ("mining") of soil P has been proposed. We tested a new technique of mining without mineral N fertilizer by cropping an intensively mown grass-clover with potassium (K) fertilization that could potentially be used as cattle feed. A long-term field experiment was conducted, comparing soil P removal by grass-clover swards with and without supplementary K fertilization on a sandy soil. During the experiment, which ran from 2002 to 2009, soil P levels and nutrient contents of grass-clover were measured, and P and K balances were calculated. Our results show that grass-clover with K fertilization removed excess soil P (also at lower P levels) at a relatively high rate (34 kg P ha yr, significantly higher than without K fertilization; < 0.05) and produced reasonable yields of grass-clover. Our P balance suggested reduced leaching from the topsoil during this experiment. For nature restoration in agricultural areas, this tool opens many possibilities.