ABSTRACT.- In the summer of 2023, ingestion of Astylus atromaculatus (pollen beetle) was linked to spontaneous fatal disease in grazing cattle and sheep in Argentina and Uruguay. While the disease was experimentally reproduced in sheep and guinea pigs in the 1970's, no experimental reproductions have been attempted in cattle, and controversy exists as to whether this insect is indeed noxious to cattle and at which dose. Here, we demonstrate that A. atromaculatus causes acute fatal disease in Hereford calves at single oral dosages of 2.5, 4.5, 10.0, and 15.0 g of insect/kg body weight.

ABSTRACT.- Residual feed intake (RFI) has become in a widely spread index of feed efficiency. Although most of beef cattle systems in the world are pasture-based, RFI evaluation and research is usually performed in confinement conditions. In this context, residual heat production (RHP) estimated as the difference between actual and expected heat production (HP), could allow to identify efficient animals.

ABSTRACT.- Under the EU Renewable Energy Directive (2009/28/EC), estimating biofuel GHG emissions is essential to gauge emissions reductions compared to fossil fuels. Within this framework, the carbon footprint (CF) was calculated for four bioethanol cropping systems:a maize-wheat-sorghum rotation without the harvest of crop residues (MWS), a maize-wheat-sorghum rotation with harvested crop residues (MWS-R), switchgrass (Sw), and continuous sweet sorghum (Ss). The estimation followed a life-cycle analysis strategy. The CF varied between 0.04 and 3.68 kg CO2-eq l -1 ethanol.

Implications:* The Uruguayan beef industry is moving from a subjective beef carcass grading system to a video image analysis (VIA). Different studies contributed to this. Three Uruguayan Beef Quality Audits showed that 80% of the carcasses received the same muscle conformation and fatness score. This lack of discrimination associated suggested the need to develop a more discriminatory method of sorting carcasses into uniform marketing groups.

ABSTRACT.- Approaches to rapidly collecting global biodiversity data are increasingly important, but biodiversity blind spots persist. We organized a three-day Datathon event to improve the openness of local biodiversity data and facilitate data reuse by local researchers. The first Datathon, organized among microbial ecologists in Uruguay and Argentina assembled the largest microbiome dataset in the region to date and formed collaborative consortia for microbiome data synthesis. © 2024 The Author(s)

ABSTRACT.- Estimations indicate that there will be nearly 10 billion people on Earth by 2050. Then agriculture will be required to generate about 50% more food because of the rise in the world population (FAO, 2017). The great challenge for agricultural systems is to provide secure food for the growing world population while maintaining or improving soil and water quality, together with working towards the mitigation of climate change without exceeding planetary boundaries (Wanyenze et al., 2023).

ABSTRACT.- Advances in technology and analytics to support data-driven agriculture has important implications for global food security and environmental sustainability. However, relatively few studies have investigated the potential to leverage the power of on-farm data for improved agronomy at scale using geospatial machine learning methods.

RESUMEN:Uno de los principales desafíos de las instituciones públicas de ciencia y tecnología radica en alinear las actividades y resultados de la investigación con la agenda de I+D y los lineamientos estratégicos definidos institucionalmente. Dentro de los factores que definen este alineamiento se encuentran las publicaciones científicas, consideradas incluso en muchos casos como el principal producto de las actividades de investigación.

ABSTRACT.- Cover crops with reduced tillage technology (CC-RT) can foster soil health and functioning, a crucial agroecological principle in any transition strategy to more sustainable agricultural systems. However, CC-RT commonly strongly relies on herbicides and synthetic fertilizers, and vegetable crop yields are variable and often low.

ABSTRACT.- Wheat blast, caused by the Pyricularia oryzae Triticum lineage (PoT), first emerged in Brazil and quickly spread to neighboring countries. Its recent appearance in Bangladesh and Zambia highlights a need to understand the disease's population biology and epidemiology so as to mitigate pandemic outbreaks. Current knowledge is mostly based on characterizations of Brazilian wheat blast isolates and comparison with isolates from non-wheat, endemic grasses.