Maria Audiléia da Silva Teixeira

Na produção animal, a manutenção da atividade depende da eficiência do sistema que pode ser conquistada pela maior produtividade com menor custo possível. Objetivou-se avaliar os resíduos extraídos das oleaginosas pertencentes a fauna amazônica da Cooperativa Mista dos Agricultores Familiares e Extrativistas dos Caetés a serem fornecidos para animais monogástricos. Esta pesquisa foi um estudo de caso, com abordagem quantitativa descritiva através de visitas e aplicação de questionário. Os resultados observados foram que os resíduos de oleaginosas são utilizados na complementação da ração animal, adubação e combustão dos fornos da usina de extração dos óleos vegetais. No entanto, todos os entrevistados não souberam informar a quantidade de resíduos fornecidos aos animais e nem seu real ganho de peso, também desconhecem seus valores nutricionais. A maior parte dos cooperados aproveita resíduos do buriti (Mauritia flexuosa), tucumã (Astrocaryum vulgare) e murumuru (Astrocaryum murumuru) como alimentos alternativos na criação de frangos e suínos, diminuindo custos na produção desses animais. O aproveitamento desses descartes pode contribuir imensamente na sustentabilidade, gerando atividades na agricultura e pecuária, trazendo inúmeros benefícios sociais e fortalecendo a agricultura familiar.

Herpesviruses are significant pathogens of ruminants. In water buffaloes (Bubalus bubalis), however, herpesviruses have not been thoroughly studied. Although bubaline alphaherpesvirus 1 (BuAHV1) and bovine alphaherpesvirus 1 (BoAHV1) have already been recovered from water buffaloes, to date, no reports on the occurrence of bovine alphaherpesvirus 5 (BoAHV5) in these animals have been published. Therefore, the aim of this study was to search for BuAHV1, BoAHV1, and BoAHV5 in palatine tonsils of apparently healthy water buffaloes from the Pará state, Northern Brazil. Tissue samples of tonsils (n = 293) were screened by a nested PCR (nPCR) targeting a region of UL44 (gC coding gene), followed by sequencing, to detect and differentiate between the viral types. Viral genome segments were detected in 18 out of 293 (6.1%) of the palatine tonsil samples. Two animals carried genomes of BoAHV1 only, eleven animals carried BoAHV5 genomes only, and four animals carried BuAHV1 only. Another animal had both BoAHV1 and BoAHV5 genomes in its tonsils. No infectious virus could be recovered from any of the samples. The BuAHV1 sequences identified here were more closely related to BuAHV1 genomes identified in India. Phylogenetic analyses suggested a closer relationship between the recovered BoAHV5 and BuAHV1 genomes. Therefore, evidence is provided here to confirm that not only BoAHV1 and BuAHV1, but also BoAHV5, can infect water buffaloes. This report highlights (i) the first detection of BoAHV5 in water buffaloes and (ii) the occurrence of coinfections with BoAHV1 and BoAHV5 in that species. Such findings and the similarity of BoAHV5 to Indian herpesvirus genomes suggest that the origin of type 5 may be linked to recombinations between bovine and bubaline herpesviruses within bubalines, since the scenario for generation of recombinants in buffaloes is potentially present.

This study evaluated palatine tonsils from 327 water buffaloes collected in a slaughterhouse located in the city of Belém, Pará State, Brazil, over four months (nine sample collecting visits). The overwhelming majority (84.71%) of these buffaloes came from Marajó Island, Pará State, Brazil. The main pathological findings were crypt dilatations/keratin cysts (96.0%, 314 cases), mild to moderate follicular lymphoid hyperplasia (93.0%, 304 cases), crypt abscesses (79.8%, 261 cases), tonsillar corpuscles (31.2%, 102 cases) and tuberculoid granulomas (1.53%, 5 cases). Acid-fast bacilli (AFB) were observed in 20% (1 out of 5 cases) of these granulomas. The study indicates that pathological evaluation of tonsils in buffaloes can provide details of structural features of the organ in the species and information on subclinical or asymptomatic tonsillitis.