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Six New Weeds Added To State Noxious Weed List

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture (MDA) has added six new weeds to the state’s Noxious Weed List. The Noxious Weed List places weeds into four categories, Prohibited Eradicate, Prohibited Control, Restricted, and Specially Regulated, and defines how the weeds must be controlled. Three weeds on the list also changed categories.
 
As the lead agency for noxious weed regulation, the MDA, with recommendations from the Noxious Weed Advisory Committee, updates the state’s Noxious Weed List every three years. Plants are placed on the Noxious Weed List because they may be harmful to public health, the environment, public roads, crops, livestock, or other property. There are restrictions on the weed’s sale, transport, growth, or spread.
 
The six new species added to the list are:
The three species that changed categories are:
  • Japanese knotweed (Polygonum cuspidatum) and giant knotweed (P. sachalinense) were moved from Specially Regulated to Prohibited Control.
  • Tree of heaven (Ailanthus altissima) was moved from Restricted to Prohibited Eradicate.
Prohibited Eradicate species are considered a serious threat and are the state’s highest priority noxious weeds. These species must have all above- and below-ground parts of the plant destroyed.
 
Prohibited Control weeds are found in higher populations than those on the Eradicate species list, and they must be stopped before the weeds mature and spread through seeds, cuttings, and other plant parts.
 
Restricted noxious weeds are widely found throughout Minnesota. Landowners with Restricted weeds on their property are encouraged to manage these species but cannot be forced to do so under the Noxious Weed Law.
 
Specially Regulated plants are native or have the potential to cause harm in non-managed landscapes. These weeds have specific management plans developed by the MDA, and measures must be taken to minimize their potential harm.
 
 
Source : mn.us

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US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”