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The European corn borer (Ostrinia nubilalis) is one of the most important insect pests of maize, and has a significant impact on the production of this crop. In this work, we examined the effects of different insecticides on the antioxidative defense system of O. nubilalis larvae. The experimental setup consisted of a completely randomized block design with 4 replicates. Four experimental groups were formed as follows: control (C), indoxacarb (250 mL ha-1), chlorantraniliprole (100 mL ha-1) and the chlorantraniliprole+lambda cyhalothrin (200 mL ha-1) group. Larvae from maize stems were collected 20 days after insecticide application and the whole larvae were homogenized. The activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), glutathione peroxidase (GPx), glutathione reductase (GR) and glutathione S-transferase (GST), and the total amount of free SH groups were assessed. Comparison of the experimental groups showed that indoxacarb significantly affected the activities of GST, GPx and the total amount of free SH groups, while chlorantraniliprole significantly affected the activities of SOD, CAT, GST and the total amount of free SH groups, while chlorantraniliprole+lambda cyhalothrin significantly affected the activities of CAT, GST and the total amount of free SH groups. The results show that exposure to insecticides considerably affects the antioxidative defense components of the European corn borer larvae, especially chlorantraniliprole (T2). [Project of the Serbian Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development, Grant no. 173027]

Meat quality is an important trait in the pig industry. To identify genomic regions and haplotype blocks responsible for meat quality traits in pigs, a genome-wide association study was conducted for five traits including intramuscular fat content, pH at 45 min and 24 h, drip loss within 24 h and water-holding capacity in 231 Yorkshire barrows using illumina porcine 60k SNP chips. The results showed that a total of 344 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) were significantly associated with five meat quality traits (P-4). Moreover, 323 SNPs were within the reported QTL regions, of which 21 were novel. Also, 158 SNPs fell into the proximal region of meat quality related genes. In addition, 25 haplotype blocks based on 116 SNPs were revealed with SNP combination patterns for five traits. Our study added new SNP information for identification of meat quality traits in pigs and will help elucidate the mechanisms of meat quality in pigs.

This paper measured the numbers and biomass of soil microbes as well as the soil respiration rate under mixed coniferous--broadleaved forest, mixed coniferous forest, pure coniferous forest, pure deciduous broadleaved forest, shrubs, and bare land in Taihang Mountain area, aimed to evaluate the soil microbial characters under different vegetation communities in this area. The results showed that shrub land had the greatest numbers and biomass of soil microbes, followed by deciduous broadleaved forestland, mixed coniferous--broadleaved forestland, pure coniferous forestland, and bare land. Soil respiration rate had the similar trend. When restoring the vegetations on degraded mountain land, more attention should be paid to the natural restoration capability of forest ecosystems.