Animal, Food and Health Sciences

• End-to-end estrus detection from ear-tag accelerometry for on-device use • Compact deep-learning behavior model fits Cortex-M4F MCU for on-tag inference • Causal 14-day baselines normalize behavior deviations per animal to reduce drift • Regularized logistic regression accurately detects estrus from behavior deviations • Suites digital-ag decision support: automated alerts and workflow integration Timely and accurate estrus detection is essential for improving cattle reproductive efficiency and herd management. We present a lightweight deployable pipeline that infers estrus from daily behavior patterns estimated from ear-tag triaxial accelerometer data. As the key enabler, we propose a compact deep-learning model that classifies core cattle behaviors from raw accelerometer readings and supports construction of per-animal daily behavior profiles. To accommodate individual differences and temporal variability, we compute individualized baseline profiles using causal dynamic trimmed means over preceding days and define features as deviations of daily behavior durations from these baselines. We use a regularized logistic regression model to map the behavior-deviation features to the daily probability of estrus. Evaluated on data from 33 Angus cows fitted with smart ear-tags during a four-month grazing trial in temperate Australia, using five-fold stratified non-shuffled cross-validation, the proposed approach achieves mean precision 0.967, recall 0.917, F1 score 0.941, specificity 0.998, and MCC 0.938. The results show that subtle yet systematic behavioral shifts measured by low-cost accelerometers are reliable predictors of estrus, enabling scalable, infrastructure-light, and autonomous reproductive monitoring in extensive grazing systems. The pipeline is compatible with on-tag or edge deployment and integrates readily with digital-agriculture workflows for alerting and decision support.

Herbicide resistance (HR) has been a major management challenge and ongoing threat in cropping regions over several decades, particularly in the time since the widespread adoption of no-tillage cropping systems. Despite extensive and severe development of resistance in Australian cropping regions, growers have been able to maintain control of new weed populations by introducing new herbicides and non-herbicide practices. These integrated weed management (IWM) practices have helped farming systems maintain productivity and adapt to changing environmental and agronomic conditions. Earlier studies found that the adoption of these alternative practices was associated with a reaction to the initial development of forms of HR on a farm. Practices include those classified as harvest weed seed control (HWSC) that kill potentially herbicide resistant weed seeds and reduce overall weed seedbank populations without increasing HR selection pressure. A largely unexplored aspect of the socioeconomics of HR management is whether the initial ‘reactive’ adoption of IWM has a ‘preventative’ effect on the further spread or proliferation of resistance development to other herbicides and in other weed species. To gain a deeper understanding of the farm-scale factors determining the presence of HR, the adoption of IWM practices, and the relationship between IWM use and HR status, we focus on whether initial reactive adoption of IWM has a preventative effect on further resistance development. Data from 602 broadacre grain growers across 13 agroecological zones of Australia were analyzed using Ordinary Least Squares and Logistic regressions to assess the extent of IWM practice adoption, while Ordered Logit models were used to capture the diversity of IWM practice use, including HWSC strategies. Notably, we found that adoption of IWM (including HWSC) was higher in the Western and Southern regions, most likely where HWSC practices can offer greater control on the most common resistant weed types, such as annual ryegrass. There was no evidence to support the argument that IWM use on farms is associated with reduced herbicide use, but there was considerable evidence to show that early forms of HR development on farms have led to the use of IWM practices, such as HWSC, that have the potential to reduce the seed set of weeds with potential new forms of resistance. The extent of HR was the only consistently highly significant variable to explain IWM use. These results have the capacity to pre-emptively identify sustainable weed management scenarios in various regional farming systems and future contexts, including where earlier ‘reactive’ adoption of resistance management practices may now be offering ‘proactive’ benefits. • Examine farm-scale factors influencing IWM and HWSC in Australian cropping systems. • First nationwide farm-level study links HR presence to proactive adoption of IWM practices. • Analysis of 602 growers' data across 13 AEZ using OLS, logistic, and ordered logit models. • HR presence, farm size, no-till years, and advisory support strongly drive IWM uptake, especially in WA & SA. • Evidence-based guidance for regional policymakers to target HR management and support IWM adoption.

The growth performance of Penaeus monodon is often reduced when fishmeal is extensively replaced with terrestrial ingredients. This study evaluated the efficacy of a marine microbial biomass, NovaqPro™ (NQ), and inorganic mineral premixes in improving the performance of low fishmeal diets. Diets containing soybean meal, soy protein concentrate, and bloodmeal were formulated with fishmeal limited to 6%. Treatments included 10% NQ, an experimental inorganic mineral premix, a commercial mineral premix, and their combinations added to the low fishmeal control. A high fishmeal diet was also assessed as a benchmark of performance. NQ supplementation significantly improved shrimp growth, increasing weight gain by 78.7% compared with the low fishmeal control (2.77 vs. 1.55 g shrimp−1) and numerically improved by 25.3% compared with the high fishmeal diet (2.21 g shrimp−1). Similar responses were observed for FCR where NQ diets (1.47–1.68), as well as the high fishmeal diet (1.59), were superior to that of the control diet (2.02). Growth improvements were associated with increased feed intake and higher retention of protein and gross energy. In contrast, mineral premix supplementation did not improve growth, and weight gain was numerically reduced relative to the low fishmeal control. The NQ diet showed higher apparent digestibility of calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium compared with the high fishmeal diet. These results demonstrate that NQ is an effective mitigation strategy to reduce growth limitations associated with low fishmeal diets in P. monodon, without the need for additional inorganic mineral supplementation.

Introduction Maternal nutrition during early gestation is associated with metabolic and immunological adaptations that may influence postnatal growth, with possible long-term and multigenerational effects. Methods This study evaluated how the rate of maternal body weight gain in F0 dams during early gestation affects gene expression in the skeletal muscle of F1 offspring and their F2 fetuses. A subset of 16 crossbred Angus heifers (F0) were assigned to a low gain (LG; 0.28 kg/day) or moderate gain (MG; 0.79 kg/day) treatment during the first 84 days of gestation. Results and discussion F1 heifers from the LG group showed upregulation of PCK2 , ARG2 , PHGDH , PSAT1 , PSPH , and ASNS , associated with the biological processes cytochrome complex assembly, mitochondrion organization, mitochondrial gene expression, and mitochondrial transport, relative to the MG group, suggesting greater metabolic plasticity and possible compensatory adjustments related to satellite cell function and postnatal muscle hypertrophy. Conversely, the upregulation of TNFAIP3 , ITGB2 , EOGT , BOLA-NC1 , and C4A in F1 heifers from the MG group, associated with the pathways cell adhesion molecules (CAMs), antigen processing and presentation, and cytokine–cytokine receptor interaction, may be related to the activation of local immunomodulatory mechanisms and to the preservation of skeletal muscle structural integrity. At the multigenerational level, the modulation of ITGB2 , BOLA-NC1 , C4A , and TNFAIP3 in F1 and F2 progeny from the MG group, associated with enrichment of the CAMs pathway and consistent negative regulation of thermogenesis, oxidative phosphorylation, and ribosome pathways relative to the LG group, together with the positive regulation of bta-miR-133a-1 in the LG progeny, points to the involvement of epigenetic mechanisms in the coordination of persistent metabolicand myogenic adjustments across generations. Moreover, the maternal rate of body weight gain during early gestation is associated with metabolic changes that support postnatal hypertrophic growth and with local immunological modulation in skeletal muscle, with multigenerational molecular outcomes.