Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior / It was evaluated the performance of beef heifers on grazing receiving different levels of supplement: 0,0; 0,3; 0,6 and 0,9% of live weight (LW), in black oats (Avena strigosa Schreb.) plus Italian ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) pasture and exclusively in natural pasture engaged by Annoni grass (Eragrostis planna Nees) after the end of the cycle of these forages. On cultivated pasture it was evaluated the botanic composition and the diurnal ingestive behavior of beef heifers. The supplement utilized was a commercial ration (14% CP; 18,8% NDF; 78,2% TDN) daily supplied at 2 pm. The studied variables were the average daily gain (ADG), body condition (BC), stocking rate (SR), weight gain per area (WGA), total forage on offer (TFO), height, live weight:height relation at 12 and 18 month of age and efficiency of transformation of forage in animal product. On the diurnal ingestive behavior were determined: grazing time, rumination, idle, trough permanence, biting rate and bite weight, in four dates. In cultivated pasture the ADG did not differ between animals that received different levels of supplement and it was bigger to supplemented animals. At 12 month of age the BC, SR, WGA, TFO and height of the animals did not differ between the supplement levels. On supplemented animals it was necessary 8.8 kg of DM of grass to produce 1 kg of live weight. The supply of supplement for heifers in grazing of oats and ryegrass interfere in a positive way on life weight, body condition and life weight: height relation of these animals at 18 months of age. The supplement levels affected partially the diurnal ingestive behavior of animals, reducing grazing time, increasing idle time, interfering on trough permanence time, biting rate and bite weight (P<0.05). The rumination time was not affected by supplement levels (P>0.05). The botanic and structural composition of pasture is influenced by supplement levels utilized and it is related with the cycle of forages production (P>0.05). / Foi avaliado o desempenho de bezerras de corte em pastejo recebendo diferentes níveis de suplemento: 0,0; 0,3; 0,6 e 0,9% do peso vivo (PV), em pastagem de aveia (Avena strigosa Schreb.) mais azevém (Lolium multiflorum Lam.) e exclusivamente em campo nativo ocupado por capim Annoni (Eragrostis plana Nees), após o final do ciclo destas forrageiras. Na pastagem cultivada foi avaliada a composição botânica e o comportamento ingestivo diurno de bezerras de corte. O suplemento utilizado foi uma ração comercial (14% PB; 18,8% FDN; 78,2% NDT), fornecida diariamente às 14:00 h. As variáveis estudadas foram ganho médio diário (GMD), condição corporal (CC), carga animal (CA), produção animal por hectare (GPA), oferta de forragem total (OFT), altura, relação peso vivo:altura aos 12 e 18 meses de idade, e eficiência de transformação de Kg de forragem em produto animal. No comportamento ingestivo diurno foram determinados: tempo de pastejo, ruminação, ócio, permanência no cocho, taxa de bocada e peso de bocado, em quatro datas. Em pastagem cultivada o GMD não diferiu entre animais que receberam diferentes níveis de suplemento e foi maior para animais suplementados. Aos 12 meses de idade a CC, CA, GPA, OFT e altura dos animais não diferiram entre níveis de suplemento. Nos animais suplementados foram necessários 8,8 kg de MS do pasto para produzir 1 kg de peso vivo. O fornecimento de suplemento para novilhas em pastejo em aveia e azevém interfere de forma positiva no peso vivo, CC e relação peso vivo:altura destes animais aos 18 meses de idade. Níveis de suplemento afetaram parcialmente o comportamento ingestivo diurno dos animais, reduzindo o tempo de pastejo, aumentando o tempo de ócio, interferindo no tempo de permanência no cocho, na taxa de bocada e peso do bocado (P<0,05). Tempo de ruminação não foi afetado pelos níveis de suplemento (P>0,05). A composição botânica e estrutural da pastagem é influenciada pelos níveis de suplemento utilizados e está relacionada com o ciclo de produção das forrageiras.

Abstract :Bluetongue (BT) is a vector-borne infectious disease primarily transmitted to even- toed ungulates by the bite of several Culicoides species. The global distribution of BT can be attributed to the ubiquity of its vectors and its rapid spread, likely to the enhancement of human activities (intensification of animal production, trans- port, changing habitat). During the last decades, BT established in Southern Europe and more recently emerged in Northern Europe, causing the death of millions of domestic ruminants. On the same time, a Belgian research project has been set up to develop remote-sensing tools to study the EPidemiology and Space-TIme dynamicS of infectious diseases (EPISTIS). In that general framework, this thesis aimed to study the space-time distribution of the main Culicoides vectors occurring in Italy and Belgium, at two different scales. Firstly, we aimed to clarify the role of several eco-climatic factors on the regional-scale distribution of C. imicola in time, based on weekly samplings achieved throughout Italy from 2001 to 2006 and to develop an easy-to-use and reproducible tool, which could be widely validated on the basis of former vector sampling and freely accessible remote-sensing data. Secondly, we aimed to investigate how Culicoides species were distributed in the fine-scale habitat encountered throughout the agro-ecological landscapes of Belgium, while recent studies have suggested that the landscapes configuration could explain the spatial distribution of BT. In the first part, we showed that an autoregressive model where the observed monthly growth rate is predicted by monthly temperature, allowed predicting >70% of the seasonal variability in C. imicola trap catches. The model predicted the seasonality, the altitudinal gradient, and the low populations’ activity taking place during the winter. Incorporating eco-climatic indices such as the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index into the model did not enhance its predictive power. In the second part, we quantified how Culicoides populations are spatially structured in the neighbourhood of farms, and demonstrated the unexpectedly high level of population found in forest. We also showed how four classes of land use could influence the relative abundances of Culicoides species in the agro-ecological landscapes of Belgium. Although in summer, BT vectors were abundant in each of the four classes investigated, their relative abundances varied strongly as a function of sex, species and environmental conditions, and we quantified these variations. Finally, we also presented a new method to quantify the interference between Onderstepoort light traps, and used it to measure their range of attraction for several of the most common BT vectors species in Northern Europe. The model developed on C. imicola in Italy provided enthusiastic perspectives regarding the regional-scale analyses of its distribution in time, although further improvements are nevertheless required in order to assess the broad scale ecology of BT vectors throughout Europe. Mapping the abundances of C. imicola in Sardinia high- lighted an important lack of reliability attributable to the many land use classes that are currently not sampled in the vector surveillance achieved across Europe. Together with the novelties presented in the second part and the recent findings establishing that BT could circulate among wild hosts in both epidemiological systems (i.e. in Southern and Northern Europe), we call for increasing epidemiological and entomo- logical studies at the interface between farms and the surrounding natural habitats. Last, depicting in time the landscape-scale findings for Northern Europe highlighted how dramatic could be the role played by intensive farming practices to maintain BT within the agro-ecological landscapes studied and to facilitate its circulation between them. Quantifying the amplitude of the risk of disease transmission linked to these practices would require a further complex modeling approach accounting simultaneously for the diel activity of hosts, mainly resulting from the farming activities, the diel activities of different vector species and the landscapes configuration found in contrasted agro-ecological systems.<p>Résumé :La fièvre catarrhale ovine (FCO), encore appelée maladie de la langue bleue, est une maladie infectieuse des ruminants transmise par la piqûre d’un vecteur de type moucheron appartenant au genre Culicoides (Diptera :Ceratopogonidae). L’ubiquité de ses vecteurs peut expliquer son succès d’installation à l’échelle globale. Par ailleurs, sa rapide expansion a été grandement facilitée par l’importante activité anthropique (élevage, transport, modification de l’habitat) et peut-être même par les changements climatiques globaux. La FCO a été récemment qualifiée de maladie infectieuse émergente en Europe du fait de (i) son récent établissement dans la région, bien au delà de son aire de répartition traditionnelle, (ii) de sa forte capacité de dispersion affectant chaque jour un nombre plus important d’hôtes et enfin (iii) de sa forte virulence. Après avoir détaillé les caractéristiques majeures des deux principaux foyers de FCO rencontrés en Europe depuis 1998, la présente thèse s’est plus particulièrement intéressée à l’étude de la distribution spatio-temporelle de ses principaux vecteurs dans le sud (partie 1) puis dans le nord (partie 2) de l’Europe, à différentes échelles. Dans la première partie, un modèle discret, spatialement et temporellement explicite, a été développé afin de mesurer l’influence de différents facteurs éco-climatiques sur la distribution de Culicoides imicola, principal vecteur de la FCO dans le Bassin Méditerranéen. Les profils mensuels de distribution rencontrés en Sardaigne durant 6 années consécutives ont ainsi pu être reconstitués, principalement sur base de la température. Une cartographie de l’abondance de C. imicola sur le territoire a permis de mettre à jour le manque d’information sur sa distribution en dehors des exploitations agricoles. Dans la deuxième partie du travail, nous nous sommes penchés sur la distribution spatiale des Culicoides tels qu’on peut les rencontrer au sein de différents paysages agro-écologiques de Belgique. Nous avons ainsi pu décrire la structure adoptée par les populations de Culicoides au voisinage des fermes ainsi que quantifier l’importante population présente dans les forêts avoisinantes. Nous avons par ailleurs montré l’influence de différentes catégories d’utilisation du sol sur l’abondance et la composition en espèces. Enfin, nous avons présenté une méthode permettant de quantifier l’interférence entre des pièges lumineux utilisés dans un même paysage pour échantillonner les populations, et l’avons utilisé afin de mesurer leur rayon d’attractivité sur les espèces vectrices les plus communément rencontrées dans le nord de l’Europe. En guise de conclusion générale et conjointement aux récentes découvertes de cas de FCO au sein de la faune sauvage européenne, nous appelons à réaliser un plus grand nombre d’études éco-épidémiologiques à l’interface entre exploitations agricoles et zones (semi-) naturelles avoisinantes. En outres, les résultats présentés dans la seconde partie ont été mis en relation avec le mode de fonctionnement journalier de nos exploitations agricoles. Nous avons ainsi pu déduire le rôle dramatique joué par les pratiques agricoles intensives dans le maintien du virus de la FCO au sein de nos paysages agro-écologiques, ainsi que dans sa circulation d’un paysage à l’autre. Un cadre de modélisation complexe permettant une analyse simultanée de l’activité nycthémérale des hôtes de la FCO et de ses vecteurs Culicoides en fonction de la configuration des paysages agro-écologiques est néanmoins requis afin de quantifier l’amplitude du risque de transmission de la FCO lié aux pratiques agricoles intensives. / Doctorat en Sciences agronomiques et ingénierie biologique / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished