Júlio Cesar Lopes

Poultry meat is an important part of the human diet, and the valorisation of autochthonous breeds is a determinant for the sustainability of the rural areas. The increasing demand for niche products demands for better knowledge of the carcass characteristics and meat quality of these local populations. The present study aims to characterise the roosters’ meat from the “Branca” (BR), “Amarela” (AM), “Pedrês Portuguesa” (PP), and “Preta Lusitânica” (PL) breeds. A total of 80 birds (n = 20 per breed) between 38 and 42 weeks old were slaughtered. The physicochemical and nutritional composition were determined in the breast and drumstick meat. The meat of the PL breed had a higher (p ≤ 0.05) pH value, the AM meat revealed a water-holding capacity (WHC) of superior value and moisture content (p ≤ 0.05), while the BR breed had the highest (p ≤ 0.05) ash content. On the other hand, it was observed that the PP meat had a higher (p ≤ 0.05) yellowness index (b*). The breast meat exhibited, in all breeds, a lower pH value, WHC, redness (a*), and lipid content and greater (p ≤ 0.05) lightness (L*), b*, moisture, and ash and protein contents compared to the drumstick. Furthermore, it presented higher (p ≤ 0.05) K, P, and Mg contents and a superior proportion of total and sensorial relevant amino acids. Regarding the fatty acid profile, the breed differences were more significant in the drumstick, with the AM breed lipids presenting a higher (p ≤ 0.05) percentage of MUFAs in the fat, a lower atherogenic index, and a higher (p ≤ 0.05) value for the hypocholesterolemic/hypercholesterolemic fatty acids ratio, while the BR breed lipids presented a higher (p ≤ 0.05) percentage of PUFAs and PUFAs/SFAs ratio and a lower n-6/n-3 ratio. Considering the results obtained, it can be concluded that the meat from these breeds is a wholesome dietary option, distinguished by a favourable overall nutritional composition marked by elevated protein content, reduced lipid amounts, and amino and fatty acid profiles with desirable nutritional indices.

The “Branca” breed is a dual-purpose Portuguese autochthonous chicken breed, produced in extensive systems and in small flocks, especially in the Entre Douro and Minho regions. A total of 40 birds (n = 20/sex) were slaughtered between 38 and 42 weeks (males) and 110 and 120 weeks (females), and carcass and meat quality parameters were evaluated. The results showed significantly higher weights and differences for males between sexes and pieces (p ≤ 0.05) in the meat physicochemical composition. Water holding capacity (WRC), moisture and ash contents were influenced by sex. They were higher in males in the breast and drumstick and lightness (L*) and lipid content were higher in females (p ≤ 0.05). The breast meat presented greater lightness, moisture, ash and protein contents, while the drumstick showed a higher pH value, redness (a*) and lipid content, in both sexes (p ≤ 0.05). Regarding the nutritional properties, “Branca” meat revealed a good proportion of minerals and the female meat showed, in both pieces (p ≤ 0.05), significantly lower values for total saturated fatty acids (SFAs) and higher values for monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFAs). Breast meat was richer in n-3-PUFAs (C22:5n-3 and C22:6n-3) in both sexes (p ≤ 0.05). Considering the results obtained, it can be concluded that “Branca” breed meat is a healthy food characterized by a good general nutritional profile.

Ten roosters produced according to “Barcelos Confraria” rules and ten roosters of autochthonous “Amarela” breed, reared on a similar traditional production system, were analyzed, and the chemical profile of two of the most significant meat portions, breast and drumstick, was determined. The results demonstrated that the “Barcelos” rooster raw meat is rich in proteins (22.3%) and fat (4.31%), particularly in monounsaturated fatty acids (39.1%). Significant differences (p ≤ 0.01) were observed, with the breast having a higher protein content (25.1 vs. 19.7%) and less fat (1.9% vs. 6.7%), compared to the drumstick. The fatty acid profile revealed (SFA 30.0%, MUFA 39.1%, and PUFA 24.6%) a similar composition to the roosters reared in the traditional or organic production systems, such as the “Amarela” autochthonous rooster. The “Barcelos” rooster can be regarded as a highly nutritional meat, with an interesting chemical profile ensuring a high-quality traditional product to consumers.

Understanding and detecting diseases of amphibians has become vitally important in conservation and ecological studies and prevent and biosecurity a determinant priority in experimental farms, mainly when related with academic and research activities. Ranavirus belongs to the family Iridoviridae, and causes an emergent infectious disease that affects different species, especially fish, reptiles and amphibians, with a significant contribution to the decline of the population. In amphibian systems, Ranaviruses transmission can occur between vertebrate classes through direct contact, by scavenging or through virus particles persisting in the environment. Subclinical infected individuals may serve as reservoirs in the most susceptible anura species. Humans play a significant role in this emergent disease and biosecurity measures are determinant to prevent the introduction of these viruses, either in commercial or experimental farms. A Biosafety Plan is a fundamental tool in the Ranaviruses prevention and include educational and training programs, relevant to the mission of a Higher Education Institution.

Promotion of the conservation and preservation of local breed’s biodiversity combined with the concept of sustainable agriculture and development of economically marginal areas are important policies to implement in modern society. The biometric characterization, contributing to maintain phenotypic traits, is a significant tool in breeding programs, which revaluate local breeds, allow the preservation of animal biodiversity and support consumer demands. This paper approaches the biometric characterization of the Portuguese poultry breeds through the study of sexual dimorphism and breed differentiation using six zoometric measures as differentiation criteria. A total of 429 fowl (66 males and 426 females) were studied and the parameters recorded were body weight, body length, chest circumference, shank length, shank diameter and wingspan. A highly sexual dimorphism was evident, in all breeds, with the “Branca” breed being the most zoometrically distant. Concerning Principal Component Analysis, the highly correlations observed between body length, wingspan and shank length, determined the generalized animal form and could be used as selection criteria for improving body size. Breeding programs aiming to preserve these local genetic resources should consider the dual purpose of these breeds: sustainability and cultural legacy, and the offer to urban consumers a source of differentiated high-quality products.

Soil microorganisms play a crucial role in one of the most important ecological processes, break down complex organic molecules and release inorganic nutrients that can then be used by plants. Microorganisms react quickly to changes in their environment due to low homeostasis, changes in biomass and metabolic activity or community structure may be an early sign of changes throughout the ecosystem (Stefanowicz, 2006). This project aims to trace the physiological profile of sediments of the Cávado, Lima and Minho rivers to the microbial community in order to study the annual evolution, and characterize the sediments physically and chemically. Community-level physiological profiles (CLPPs) based on the ability of microorganisms to oxidize different carbon substrates at 84 hours of incubation, were used to determine the correlation with the chemical and physical sediment parameters. The data are collected from the three rives estuaries; five samples each, during the November month in 2014, 2015 and 2017 years. The total dry extract, ranges between 80 and 90%. River Minho had the highest percentage of organic matter, while river Cávado showed to have the lowest. The tree rivers have alkaline waters overall. River Minho had the highest percentage of organic matter, and river Cávado showed to have the lowest. The Cávado river showed to be the main conductor of electric current while the Lima river is the one that is less able to conduct the electric current. The results show significant positive correlations to Total AWCD with pH, Ca, Ni, Cd and Mn concentration; to Polymer AWCD with pH, Ca, Cr, Ni, Cd, Mn an Fe concentration; to Carbohydrates AWCD with Cd, Mn and Fe concentration; to Carboxylic Acids AWCD with Mn and Fe concentrations; to Fenolic Compounds AWCD with Mg concentration and to Amino Acids AWCD with pH, Mg, Cd, and Mn concentration. The significant negative correlations were observed to Total AWCD with K concentration; to Polymer AWCD with Electric Conductivity and K concentration; to Carbohydrates AWCD with Electric Conductyviti and K concentration.

Multifunctional Artificial Reefs (MARs) are alternatives created for the preservation of marine coastal areas. They can be made from various types of materials, and if they are inserted in a suitable environment and under the right conditions, can be colonized by plants and animals as a natural structure. Many aquaculture programs still use rocks removed from natural environments, because little is known about the influence of materials used on artificial reefs in water quality. In this work, 10 different formulations were developed using cement, coral sand, salt, crushed oyster shell, perlite and water, after dry, the rocks are placed in tanks with 15 liter of salt water and distilled water. In order to identify the most suitable formulation for later use in aquariums or artificial reefs, after maturation time, the water parameters where evaluate: salinity, density, pH and water hardness. The water parameters are monitored a week, during 8 weeks. With the results obtained, we can conclude that the maturation process was not complete, as evidenced by the too alkaline pH. However, the rocks placed in salt water already have a pH very close to that desired in some formulations, which may mean that these are close to reach the end of maturation. The same is not true of rocks in distilled water. At the end of the 8 weeks of maturation, the rocks were not fully matured. There were differences between the two types of maturation in all analysed parameters

Carbon is a principal factor to microbial growth in soil, and functional aspects related to substrate utilisation can provide important information. The functional diversity of microorganisms, particularly as defined by the substrates used for energy metabolism, is fundamental to our understanding of biogeochemistry. Community-level physiological profiling (CLPP) based on sole carbon substrate utilization profiles (CSUP) is a rapid screening method used to characterize microbial communities of different habitats, ranging between sediments to seawater and between oligotrophic groundwater to soil and fertilizers. This method involves the direct inoculation of environmental samples in microtiter plates containing different carbon sources, nutrients and a redox dye, incubation and detection by mass spectrometry of heterotrophic microbial activity. It has the advantage that it is a simple and fast technique to analyse but as the disadvantages that require careful with the data acquisition and the interpretation analysis. CLPP has advantages over both classic cell culturing techniques and molecular level RNA amplification as these other techniques are time consuming and require specialized expertise. BIOLOG EcoPlates™, consisting of 96 well plates containing 31 different carbon sources and a blank in triplicate, have been developed specifically for ecological studies (other BIOLOG plates were originally designed for species identification). The coastal areas are the zone with the greatest impact of human activity, because the waste that reach these areas from land-based sources, drainages of the rivers and the dumping of sewage and even the generation of waste. Only the estuary of Cávado, in the north of the Tagus, is considered a protected area because it is made up of representative species of plant communities of the Iberian coastline with relative abundance and even for some endangered species justifies the maintenance of measures protection that led to the creation of that protected area and that subsequently resulted in the creation of the Parque Natural do Litoral Norte. The objective of this study is determine the physiological profile at the community level in the estuary of the river Cávado. Five samples were taken from the river Cávado estuary in October, in two consecutive years (2014 and 2015), to investigate and compare the functional diversity obtained through the analysis to different carbon source utilization. The samples analyzed were collected at five sampling points: three of the collections took place on the north bank distributed between the mouth of the river Cávado and the Fão bridge and two on the south bank, one under the Fão bridge and the other next to the sailing club. Each well of the BIOLOG Eco-Plate™ (Biolog Inc., Hayward CA., USA) was inoculated with 150 μL of inoculum and incubated at 20°C. Absorbance readings were taken periodically (0, 12, 24, 36, 60, 84, 108, 132, 156, 180, 220, 268, 336 and 456 h) at 592 nm with an automatic plate reader. The collected data where used to determine average well colour development (AWCD) and the different AWCD value is used to determine the carbon source utilization and the adjust kinetic parameters (K, r and s) using a model proposing by Lindstrom (1998), where K is the asymptote (or carrying capacity) that the test well OD curve approaches, r determines the exponential rate of OD change, t is the time following inoculation of the microplates, and s is the time when the midpoint of the exponential portion of the curve (i.e., when y = K/2) is reached. The principal component analysis (PCA) is used to determine the effect of different class of carbon sources in the variation of CLPP. The estimation of the kinetic parameters results in values between 0,103 (Amines) and 0,238 (Polymers) to K, -5,309 (Amino acids) and -47,324 (Carbohydrates) to r and 7,309 (Amino acids) and 49,324 (Carbohydrates) to s. No significant differences are found between carbon sources classes parameters. The PCA demonstrates the importance of Polymers and Carbohydrates (explain 91% of the observed variance) on the AWCD development.

Throughout the extensive Portuguese coastline there are extensive wetlands of great environmental and economic importance. Examples of these wetlands are coastal lagoons called "Ria", lagoons and estuarine systems such as river Lima estuary. Coastal areas are typically activities of conflict zones; it is imperative to establish a solid foundation for its integrated management. Community-level physiological profiling (CLPP) based on sole carbon substrate utilization profiles (CSUP) was first demonstrated by Garland and Mills (1991) using BIOLOG microplates to distinguish between different communities of heterotrophic soil bacteria. The CLPP is a rapid screening method used to characterize microbial communities of different habitats, ranging between sediments to seawater and between oligotrophic groundwater to soil and fertilizers. This method involves the direct inoculation of environmental samples in microtiter plates containing different carbon sources, nutrients and a redox dye, incubation and detection by mass spectrometry of heterotrophic microbial activity. It has the advantage that it is a simple and fast technique to analyse but as the disadvantages that require careful with the data acquisition and the interpretation analysis (Gomez et al., 2006). Monitoring of the sludge plays a key role in contamination studies because they act as a reservoir of contaminants and thus as a source of these contaminants to the water column and living beings. In Portugal, more than 40% of the population is concentrated in the coastal strip, which corresponds to 4 million inhabitants and thus there is a high human pressure on the coastal zone and there are currently 13 estuaries and lagoons: north Tagus (Minho, Cávado, Lima, Ave, Douro, Ria de Aveiro, Mondego, Tagus) and south lies the Sado, Mira, Arade, Ria Formosa and Guadiana. The study estuaries exhibit a high degree of difficulty since these water systems include hydrodynamic flow patterns and geometries very complex and present it is strongly altered by anthropogenic actions. The aim of this study is determine the physiological profile at the community level in the estuary of the river Lima. Five samples were taken from the river Cávado estuary in October, in two consecutive years (2014 and 2015), to investigate and compare the functional diversity obtained through the analysis to different carbon source utilization. The samples were collected at five sampling points distributed over both banks of the River Lima: one in the nautical park (Darque) in Cabedelo, in the Chapel of St. Lawrence, the river beach of Viana do Castelo and in the City Park of Viana do Castelo. Each well of the BIOLOG Eco-Plate™ (Biolog Inc., Hayward CA., USA) was inoculated with 150 μL of inoculum and incubated at 20°C. Absorbance readings were taken periodically (0, 12, 24, 36, 60, 84, 108, 132, 156, 180, 220, 268, 336 and 456 h) at 592 nm with an automatic plate reader. The collected data where used to determine average well colour development (AWCD) and the different AWCD value is used to determine the carbon source utilization and the adjust kinetic parameters (K, r and s) using a model proposing by Lindstrom (1998), where K is the asymptote (or carrying capacity) that the test well OD curve approaches, r determines the exponential rate of OD change, t is the time following inoculation of the microplates, and s is the time when the midpoint of the exponential portion of the curve (i.e., when y = K/2) is reached. The principal component analysis (PCA) is used to determine the effect of different class of carbon sources in the variation of CLPP. The estimation of the kinetic parameters results in values between 0,077 (Amines) and 0,482 (Polymers) to K, -5,072 (Amines) and -12,167 (Polymers) to r and 7,072 (Amines) and 14,167 (Polymers) to s. No significant differences are found between carbon sources classes parameters. The PCA demonstrates the importance of Polymers and Carbohydrates (explain 96% of the observed variance) on the AWCD development.

Community-level physiological profiling (CLPP) based on sole carbon substrate utilization profiles (CSUP) was first demonstrated by Garland and Mills (1991) using BIOLOG microplates to distinguish between different communities of heterotrophic soil bacteria. The CLPP is a rapid screening method used to characterize microbial communities of different habitats, ranging between sediments to seawater and between oligotrophic groundwater to soil and fertilizers. This method involves the direct inoculation of environmental samples in microtiter plates containing different carbon sources, nutrients and a redox dye, incubation and detection by mass spectrometry of heterotrophic microbial activity. It has the advantage that it is a simple and fast technique to analyze but as the disadvantages that require careful with the data acquisition and the interpretation analysis. CLPP has advantages over both classic cell culturing techniques and molecular level RNA amplification as these other techniques are time consuming and require specialized expertise. BIOLOG EcoPlates™, consisting of 96 well plates containing 31 different carbon sources and a blank in triplicate, have been developed specifically for ecological studies (other BIOLOG plates were originally designed for species identification). Coastal regions in recent decades have been characterized by a high population and urban growth that was aided by the rapid industrial development, which translates into a reduction of the environmental quality of coastal areas. In Portugal, more than 40% of the population is concentrated in the coastal strip, which corresponds to 4 million inhabitants and thus there is a high human pressure on the coastal zone and there are currently 13 estuaries and lagoons: north Tagus (Minho, Cávado, Lima, Ave, Douro, Ria de Aveiro, Mondego, Tagus) and south lies the Sado, Mira, Arade, Ria Formosa and Guadiana. The samples analyzed were collected at 5 sampling points in the estuarine area of the river Minho, in the Portuguese bank. The collected data where used to determine average well colour development (AWCD) and the different AWCD value is used to determine the carbon source utilization and the adjust kinetic parameters (Gompertz model).