Farms In Northeast Research Articles

Harmonizing Population, Grain, and Land: Unlocking Sustainable Land Resource Management in the Farming–Pastoral Ecotone

As an important means of production and habitation, land is the core natural resource for people’s life and production. However, the escalating demand for land resources, along with population growth, has created a pressing challenge at the intersection of land, population, and grain. In this study, we used a combination of temporal and spatial perspectives, along with spatial analysis methods, to analyze the supply and demand of land resources in the Northeast Farming–Pastoral Ecotone (NFPE) based on the population–grain relationship. The results show that the carrying capacity of land resources in this region increased gradually and the number of people it can carry increased from 34.23 million (2000) to 127.96 million (2018). From 2000 to 2018, the land resource carrying index (LRCI) was greater than 1.125, showing a state of surplus in grain, and the LRCI increased by 0.23 per year. Most areas in this region are in a state of grain surplus, with 13 counties showing a population and grain balance, and 2 counties being overpopulated. However, the increasing trend of land resource carrying capacity of the overpopulated areas and the balanced population–grain areas are notable. The carrying capacity of land resources in the NFPE generally exhibits a positive trend with a surplus of grain; however, there are spatial variations. Areas in the south and northeast demonstrate lower change trends, while the north and southeast exhibit higher change trends. This research provides critical insights into the dynamic interplay between land, population, and grain, enabling informed decision making for sustainable development in the NFPE and offering valuable lessons for similar regions globally.

Prospects for soybean production increase by closing yield gaps in the Northeast Farming Region, China

Prospects for soybean production increase by closing yield gaps in the Northeast Farming Region, China

Detection of virulence genes and determination of the antimicrobial susceptibility of Escherichia coli isolates with mastitis in Mashhad, Iran – a short communication

The purpose of this study was to determine the virulence genes and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Escherichia coli isolated from milk samples of cows with bovine mastitis. Forty-seven E. coli isolates from clinical mastitis milk samples, from five dairy farms in Northeast of Iran, were subjected to multiplex PCR to determine virulence genes stx1, stx2, eaeA, hlyA, sta, F4, F17, fliC, and rfbE. In addition, antimicrobial susceptibility was assessed by applying disk diffusion methods. The eaeA and stx1 genes were most frequently detected in 42 (89.3%) and 34 (72.3%) isolates, respectively. However, the least frequent gene was F41 as it was found in only one isolate (2.1%). Furthermore, 9 out of 47 isolates were hlyA positive, and four isolates harbored the sta gene. The antimicrobial susceptibility demonstrated the highest resistance against lincomycin (100%) and neomycin (91.4%). Since these bacteria represent a high-risk pathogen on farms, the emergence of multiple antibiotic-resistant and pathogenic E. coli strains should be of great concern for public health.

Detection of Atrazine and Its Metabolites in Natural Water Samples Using Photonic Molecularly Imprinted Sensors.

In a previous study, photonic-based molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were fabricated using atrazine (ATZ) and its metabolites, desethylatrazine (DEA) and desisopropylatrazine (DIA), as templates in separate matrices. For the purposes of monitoring the abovementioned molecules in natural waters, the effect of natural waters—featuring ionic strength and natural organic matter (NOM) on atrazine MIP—were studied in this work, and the photonic MIP was implemented for monitoring the target molecules in natural water samples collected from land in nearby farms in northeast of Columbia MO. Non-imprinted polymers (NIP) were also fabricated and applied in the experiments as a control test. In presence of NaCl, CaCl2, and NOM, MIPs presented lower responses by 26%, higher responses by 23%, and higher responses by 35%, respectively. NIPs response in terms of an increase or decrease was consistent with those of MIPs, but only for a lower percentage. MIPs response in natural waters—which were characterized for their physicochemical characteristics such as conductivity, total organic carbon content, etc.—provided a good approximation of the real concentrations obtained from the LCMS instrument; in general, they showed a good concordance, although large discrepancies occurred for some samples, which can be related to reproducibility issues in the manufacturing process or the presence of unknown interfering compounds in the real samples.

A stacking-based short-term wind power forecasting method by CBLSTM and ensemble learning

Aiming at the problem that the traditional wind power forecasting is difficult to deal with a large amount of strong volatility data and limited processing capacity of time series, a wind power forecasting method based on multi-model combination under stacking framework was proposed. First, the wind turbine data are cleaned by density-based spatial clustering of applications with the noise clustering method. Considering the differences of data observation and training principles, the proposed stacking method embedded multiple machine learning algorithms to utilize their diversified strength. The stacking base-learner includes the CBLSTM model, which has the advantages of deep architecture feature extraction, and takes into account data timing and nonlinear relationship as well as XGBoost and other tree ensemble learning models that were suitable for complex data modeling. The feasibility of the algorithm was verified by using the actual wind power data of two wind farms in Northeast and Western China. Experimental results show that the stacking ensemble learning method proposed has better forecasting performance and stability than other single forecasting models, which is of great significance to guide wind power dispatching operation and improve wind power consumption capacity.

Characterization of the Full length P and M genes in a Newcastle Disease Virus Isolated from Chicken Farms in Northeast of Iran

BACKGROUND: Newcastle disease virus (NDV) is an avian pathogen that infects various species of birds worldwide. Recurrent outbreaks of ND consistently occurring in Iran cause substantial economic losses each year. The Northeast region of Iran has an extensive commercial poultry industry and is also a big exporter of poultry products to other countries. Therefore, consistent and dynamic surveillance of the NDVs prevalent in this geographic region is very important in keeping the disease under control. OBJECTIVES: The virulence of the virus is determined based on the sequence of Fusion (F) protein. However, though the Phosphoprotein (P) and Matrix (M) proteins of NDV are also involved in the evolution and pathogenicity of the virus, molecular evaluation of their genomic loci in the NDVs prevalent in Iran is limited. Here, we present data for the sequences of full length P and M gene belonging to an NDV that caused the ND outbreak of 2011 in the Northeast of Iran.METHODS: The genomic sequences encoding full-length P and M proteins as well as that of F protein were amplified using PCR and sequenced by Sanger sequencing. The obtained sequences, plus their translated proteins were evaluated using various bioinformatic approaches. Such as homology and phylogenetic analyses.RESULTS: Phylogenetic analyses based on P, M, and F genes clustered our isolate together with VII.I.I GenBank sequences from Iranian sources reported from 2011 to 2019, as well as with those reported from China. But, our isolate showed less homology to vaccine strains commonly used n Iran. CONCLUSIONS: Our study shows that, in addition to the newly evolving sub-genotypes, VII.1.1 variants are still circulating in the region. The weak homology in determinant regions between this strain and those used for vaccine production needs to be considered in vaccination programs. Further, the persistent presence of NDV genotypes already prevalent in the Far East in Iran highlights the importance of biosecurity management and dynamic surveillance in controlling ND.

Using a cross-scale simulation tool to assess future maize production under multiple climate change scenarios: An application to the Northeast Farming Region of China

The Northeast Farming Region (NFR) is a major maize cropping region in China, which accounts for about 30% of national maize production. Although the regional maize production has an increasing trend in the last decades, it has greater inter-annual fluctuation. The fluctuation is caused by the increased variations of the local temperature and precipitation given the dominance of rainfed maize in the region. To secure high and stable level of maize production in the NFR under the warmer and drier future climate conditions, we employed a cross-scale model-coupling approach to identify the suitable maize cultivars and planting adaptation measures. Our simulation results show that, with proper adaptations of maize cultivars and adjustments of planting/harvest dates, both maize planting area and yield per unit of land will increase in most regions of NFR. This finding indicates that proactive adaptation can help local farmers to reap the benefits of increasing heat resource brought in by global warming, thus avoiding maize production losses as reported in other studies. This research can potentially contribute to the development of agricultural climate services to support climate-smart decisions for agricultural adaptations at the plot, farm and regional scales, in terms of planning the planting structure of multiple crops, breeding suitable maize varieties, and optimizing planting and field management schedules.

Maize Drought Hazard in the Northeast Farming Region of China: Unprecedented Events in the Current Climate

AbstractThe Northeast Farming Region (NFR) of China is a critically important area of maize cultivation accounting for ~30% of national production. It is predominantly rain fed, meaning that adverse climate conditions such as drought can significantly affect productivity. Forewarning of such events, to improve contingency planning, could therefore be highly beneficial to the agricultural sector. For this, an improved estimate of drought exposure, and the associated large-scale circulation patterns, is of critical importance. We address these important questions by employing a large ensemble of initialized climate model simulations. These simulations provide 80 times as many summers as the equivalent observational dataset and highlight several limitations of the recent observational record. For example, the chance of a drought greater in area than any current observed event is approximately 5% per year, suggesting the risk of a major drought is significantly underestimated if based solely on recent events. The combination of a weakened East Asian jet stream and intensified subpolar jet are found to be associated with severe NFR drought through enhanced upper-level convergence and anomalous descent, reducing moisture and suppressing precipitation. We identify a strong 500-hPa geopotential height anomaly dipole pattern as a useful metric to identify this mechanism for relevance to seasonal predictability. This work can inform policy planning and decision-making through an improved understanding of the near-term climate exposure and form the basis of new climate services.

Establishing ethical organic poultry production: a question of successful cooperation management?

In reaction to growing critics regarding ecological and ethical aspects of intensive animal husbandry, different initiatives of ethical poultry production try to establish alternative food supply chains on the market. To be able to stabilise these niche innovations parallel to the mainstream regime, new forms of cooperation along the value added chain and with the consumers play an important role. Based on a case study of integrated egg and meat production from a dual-purpose breed by small multifunctional farms in Northeast of Germany, the paper exemplifies the challenges for the different partners of the food supply chain and cooperation management. Empirical data were obtained via nine qualitative interviews with actors along the value chain and via participatory observation of workshops and meetings. The research was embedded in a transdisciplinary project, where different measures to meet the existing challenges were taken and evaluated. Analysing the existing cooperation reveals possibilities for improving cooperation management by e.g. clarifying the goals of the cooperation, including the points of sale as part of the food supply chain and communication of the ethical and sustainability qualities of the product to the consumers. However, the analysis also shows the limits of cooperation in an environment dominated by the paradigm of specialisation, economies of scale and cost reduction, which is also characteristic for parts of the organic sector. The paper discusses if the challenges of establishing this radical niche innovation can be met without a fundamental change of framework conditions as e.g. regulation on animal husbandry.

Future increases in irrigation water requirement challenge the water-food nexus in the northeast farming region of China

Northeast Farming Region of China (NFR) produces about one-third of the national maize output. Shortage of crop irrigation water is one of the main threat to the stable level of maize production in the NFR. Previous studies on the sensitivity of maize production to drought are typically based on field experiments and treat the maize growing season as a whole, with rare attention to the varying impacts of drought across different maize growth stages. Given the importance of NFR on China’s food security, it is crucial to optimize the irrigation schedule to mitigate the adverse effects of drought. In this study, we employ Agro-ecological Zone (AEZ) model to investigate how climate change affects irrigation water requirement (IWR) of maize during different growth stages and under different climate change scenarios. Results indicate that the NFR would experience a substantial increase in the probability of extremely shortage of crop irrigation water under future climate change. The ensemble simulation under future climate projections indicates more frequent demands for irrigation with substantially increased amount in the mid-season stage (G3) when maize is more sensitive to water deficit compared with other stages. These findings indicate that earlier planning of irrigation infrastructure and development of more efficient irrigation scheme and technologies is of great importance to secure maize production in the region.

Habitat use, nest-sites and chick diet of Grey Partridge Perdix perdix on hill farms in north east England

ABSTRACTCapsule: Breeding Grey Partridges Perdix perdix on hill farms preferred Soft Rush-infested rough grazing which provided nesting cover and invertebrates for foraging chicks.Aims: To measure habitat use, nest sites, chick diet and breeding productivity of Grey Partridge on hill farms in north east England.Methods: We measured actual habitat use of radio-tagged individuals in relation to its availability both within home ranges and over the wider study area. Nesting habitat and breeding productivity data were collected from radio-tagged pairs. Faecal samples from roost sites of broods were collected to assess chick diet.Results: Grey Partridges preferred rough grazing habitats. Sixty-nine per cent of nests were found in rough grazing with females preferring to nest in tall rushes which provided cover. Chick diet differed between habitats and in relation to brood age. In rough grazing, sawfly larvae were the most numerous item eaten by young (46%) and older broods (27%).Conclusion: On hill farms, breeding Grey Partridges preferred rough grazings, where broods preferred sawfly larvae. It is important that rush-infested rough grazings are not agriculturally improved and grazing regimes that provide abundant sawfly larvae are practised.

Impacts and adaptation of the cropping systems to climate change in the Northeast Farming Region of China

Abstract The Northeast Farming Region of China (NFR) is a very important crop growing area, comprising seven sub-regions: Xing’anling (XA), Sanjiang (SJ), Northwest Songliao (NSL), Central Songliao (CSL), Southwest Songliao (SSL), Changbaishan (CB) and Liaodong (LD), which has been severely affected by extreme climate events and climatic change. Therefore, a set of expert survey has been done to identify current and project future climate limitations to crop production and explore appropriate adaptation measures in NFR. Droughts have been the largest limitation for maize ( Zea mays L.) in NSL and SSL, and for soybean ( Glycine max L. Merr.) in SSL. Chilling damage has been the largest limitation for rice ( Oryza sativa L.) production in XA, SJ and CB. Projected climate change is expected to be beneficial for expanding the crop growing season, and to provide more suitable conditions for sowing and harvest. Autumn frost will occur later in most parts of NFR, and chilling damage will also decrease, particularly for rice production in XA and SJ. Drought and heat stress are expected to become more severe for maize and soybean production in most parts of NFR. Also, plant diseases, pests and weeds are considered to become more severe for crop production under climate change. Adaptation measures that have already been implemented in recent decades to cope with current climatic limitations include changes in timing of cultivation, variety choice, soil tillage practices, crop protection, irrigation and use of plastic film for soil cover. With the projected climate change and increasing risk of climatic extremes, additional adaptation measures will become relevant for sustaining and improving productivity of crops in NFR to ensure food security in China.

Adapting maize production to drought in the Northeast Farming Region of China

Abstract Maize (Zea mays L.) is the most prominent crop in the Northeast Farming Region of China (NFR), and drought has been the largest limitation for maize production in this area during recent decades. The question of how to adapt maize production to drought has received great attention from policy makers, researchers and farmers. In order to evaluate the effects of adaptation strategies against drought and examine the influences of policy supports and farmer households’ characteristics on adopting decisions, a large scale household survey was conducted in five representative maize production counties across NFR. Our survey results indicated that using variety diversification, drought resistant varieties and dibbling irrigation are the three major adaptation strategies against drought in spring, and farmers also adopted changes in sowing time, conservation tillage and mulching to cope with drought in spring. About 20% and 18% of households enhanced irrigation against drought in summer and autumn, respectively. Deep loosening tillage and organic fertilizer are also options for farmers to resist drought in summer. Maize yield was highly dependent on soil qualities, with yields on land of high soil quality approximately 1050 kg/ha and 2400 kg/ha higher than for normal and poor soil conditions, respectively. Using variety diversification and drought resistant varieties can respectively increase maize yield by approximately 150 and 220 kg/ha under drought. Conservation tillage increased maize yield by 438–459 kg/ha in drought years. Irrigation improved maize yield by 419–435 kg/ha and 444–463 kg/ha against drought in summer and autumn, respectively. Offering information service, financial and technical support can greatly increase the use of adaptation strategies for farmers to cope with drought. However, only 46% of households received information service, 43% of households received financial support, and 26% of households received technical support against drought from the local government. The maize acreage and the irrigation access are the major factors that influenced farmers’ decisions to apply adaptation strategies to cope with drought in each season, but only 25% of households have access to irrigation. This indicates the need for enhanced public support for farmers to better cope with drought in maize production, particularly through improving access to irrigation.

Effects of climatic factors, drought risk and irrigation requirement on maize yield in the Northeast Farming Region of China

SUMMARYDrought risk is considered to be among the main limiting factors for maize (Zea maysL.) production in the Northeast Farming Region of China (NFR). Maize yield data from 44 stations over the period 1961–2010 were combined with data from weather stations to evaluate the effects of climatic factors, drought risk and irrigation requirement on rain-fed maize yield in specific maize growth phases. The maize growing season was divided into four growth phases comprising seeding, vegetative, flowering and maturity based on observations of phenological data from 1981 to 2010. The dual crop coefficient was used to calculate crop evapotranspiration and soil water balance during the maize growing season. The effects of mean temperature, solar radiation, effective rainfall, water deficit, drought stress days, actual crop evapotranspiration and irrigation requirement in different growth phases were included in the statistical model to predict maize yield. During the period 1961–2010, mean temperature increased significantly in all growth phases in NFR, while solar radiation decreased significantly in southern NFR in the seeding, vegetative and flowering phases. Effective rainfall increased in the seeding and vegetative phases, reducing water deficit over the period, whereas decreasing effective rainfall over time in the flowering and maturity phases enhanced water deficit. An increase in days with drought stress was concentrated in western NFR, with larger volumes of irrigation needed to compensate for increased dryness. The present results indicate that higher mean temperature in the seeding and maturity phases was beneficial for maize yield, whereas excessive rainfall would damage maize yield, in particular in the seeding and flowering phases. Drought stress in any growth stage was found to reduce maize yield and water deficit was slightly better than other indicators of drought stress for explaining yield variability. The effect of drought stress was particularly strong in the seeding and flowering phases, indicating that these periods should be given priority for irrigation. The yield-reducing effects of both drought and intense rainfall illustrate the importance of further development of irrigation and drainage systems for ensuring the stability of maize production in NFR.

Climate effects on crop yields in the Northeast Farming Region of China during 1961–2010

SUMMARYCrop production in the Northeast Farming Region of China (NFR) is affected considerably by variation in climatic conditions. Data on crop yield and weather conditions from a number of agro-meteorological stations in NFR were used in a mixed linear model to evaluate the impacts of climatic variables on the yield of maize (Zea mays L.), rice (Oryza sativa L.), soybean (Glycine max L. Merr.) and spring wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) in different crop growth phases. The crop growing season was divided into three growth phases based on the average crop phenological dates from records covering 1981 and 2010 at each station, comprising pre-flowering (from sowing to just prior to flowering), flowering (20 days around flowering) and post-flowering (10 days after flowering to maturity). The climatic variables were mean minimum temperature, thermal time (which is used to indicate changes in the length of growth cycles), average daily solar radiation, accumulated precipitation, aridity index (which is used to assess drought stress) and heat degree-days index (HDD) (which is used to indicate heat stress) were calculated for each growth phase and year. Over the 1961–2010 period, the minimum temperature increased significantly in each crop growth phase, the thermal time increased significantly in the pre-flowering phase of each crop and in the post-flowering phases of maize, rice and soybean, and HDD increased significantly in the pre-flowering phase of soybean and wheat. Average solar radiation decreased significantly in the pre-flowering phase of all four crops and in the flowering phase of soybean and wheat. Precipitation increased during the pre-flowering phase leading to less aridity, whereas reduced precipitation in the flowering and post-flowering phases enhanced aridity. Statistical analyses indicated that higher minimum temperature was beneficial for maize, rice and soybean yields, whereas increased temperature reduced wheat yield. Higher solar radiation in the pre-flowering phase was beneficial for maize yield, in the post-flowering phase for wheat yield, whereas higher solar radiation in the flowering phase reduced rice yield. Increased aridity in the pre-flowering and flowering phases severely reduced maize yield, higher aridity in the flowering and post-flowering phases reduced rice yield, and aridity in all growth phases reduced soybean and wheat yields. Higher HDD in all growth phases reduced maize and soybean yield and HDD in the pre-flowering phase reduced rice yield. Such effects suggest that projected future climate change may have marked effects on crop yield through effects of several climatic variables, calling for adaptation measures such as breeding and changes in crop, soil and agricultural water management.

Detection of Coxiella burnetii and sequencing the IS1111 gene fragment in bulk tank milk of dairy herds

Coxiella burnetii is the etiologic agent of Q fever in human. This study is aimed to determine the contamination rate of C. burnetii in bulk tank milk samples. In this study, a total number of 100 bulk milk samples collected from dairy farms in northeast of Iran and were examined for C. burnetii using touchdown PCR assay. The primers were designed to amplify a 687-bp fragment of the IS1111 gene of C. burnetii. Five samples (5%) of bovine milk were found positive for C. burnetii. Sequence analysis of PCR products revealed 100% identity with published sequences of C. burnetii in genBank. Results of this study indicate that bovine milk is an important source of C. burnetii infection in Iran.

Energy use and economical analysis of seedy watermelon production for different irrigation systems in Iran

Abstract Resource and energy use efficiency is one of the principal requirements of eco-efficient and sustainable agriculture. Seedy watermelon (Citrullus vulgaris; Joboni population) is irrigated by two methods including full and reduced irrigation systems in Iran. The objective of the present study was to compare seedy watermelon production in full (high input) and reduced (low input) irrigation systems in terms of irrigation water energy use efficiency (IWEUE), energy budget and economic analysis. Data were collected from 116 full irrigated and 93 reduced irrigated farms in northeast of Iran by using a face-to-face questionnaire in 2011–2012. The results showed that the total energy consumed under high input systems was 25625.94 MJ ha − 1 , whereas under low input was 3129.3 MJ ha − 1 . IWEUE and all of the energy indexes were improved in the reduced irrigation system compared to the full condition. The direct and renewable energies in the reduced irrigation system were higher than full irrigation. The economical analysis indicated that higher return was gained by the full irrigation system due to higher yield compared to the reduced irrigation system. Human labor had the highest impact on seedy watermelon among the other inputs based on the Cobb–Douglas production function.

Bovine salmonellosis in Northeast of Iran: Frequency, genetic fingerprinting and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Salmonella spp.

ObjectiveTo evaluate serovar and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Salmonella spp isolated from healthy, diseased and necropsied cows and calves in this observational study. MethodsNineteen isolates recovered from feces and tissues of salmonellosis-affected animals of two commercial farms in north-east of Iran. In second part of the study, the two farms were sampled 4 times with an interval of 2 month. The samples included calves' feces, adult cows' feces, feeds, water, milk filters, and milk fed to calves. Five Salmonella were isolated from 332 fecal samples collected from calves and peri-parturient cows. No Salmonella was recovered from water, feed, milk filers and milk fed to calves. ResultsSalmonella Typhimurium was the most frequently isolate among all sero-groups. S. Dublin was only accounted for 8% (two out of 24) of isolates. Isolated Salmonella strains were used for the ERIC PCR DNA fingerprinting assay. Our results grouped Salmonella isolates into 3 clusters, suggesting that specific genotypes were responsible for each sero-group of Salmonella. The results also revealed diversity among Salmonella isolates in cluster III (sero-group B). Eighteen out of 19 Salmonella spp. were resistant to oxytetracycline. Five isolates out of 19 showed more than one drug resistance. Multi-drug resistance was seen only among Salmonella Typhimurium isolates. Enrofloxacin was the most susceptible antibiotic against all isolates in this study. ConclusionThe emergence of multiple antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella Typhimurium should be of great concern to the public. No correlation between ERIC fingerprinting and resistance patterns of Salmonella isolates was found, which indicates resistance to antimicrobial agents was not related to specific genetic background.

The Impact on the Voltage Fluctuation of Wind Power Integrated Separately in Chongqing Distribution Network

Recently, the development of Chinese wind power generation has formally entered the strategic transformation stage with the combination of large-scale integrated exploitation and distributed access exploitation. It is suitable to adopt distribution access mode due to the characteristics of Chongqings planning wind farm including small generation capacity and distributed location. However, considering that most of planning wind farms are located in the mountain area of northeast and southeast Chongqing with the large-scale geographic area and small load request and the distribution networks are relatively weak, there may be remarkable effect on quality of electric energy even though the distribution access mode is adopted. In this paper, aiming at the voltage fluctuation of access point, the relationships among variables affecting the voltage fluctuation is analyzed, then taking two planning wind farms in northeast and southeast Chongqing respectively as examples, the effects of voltage fluctuation caused by different access points are calculated and analyzed in order to get the allowed maximum capacity of wind farms fitting national standards. In the end, the proposals relevant to the development of wind power and contribution of distribution network are submitted according to the case results.

Determination of Intronic Sequences Adjacent to an Exon Using Polymerase Chain Reaction and Genomic DNA Library Constructed by TA Cloning

To evaluate serovar and antimicrobial resistance patterns of Salmonella spp isolated from healthy, diseased and necropsied cows and calves in this observational study.Nineteen isolates recovered from feces and tissues of salmonellosis-affected animals of two commercial farms in north-east of Iran. In second part of the study, the two farms were sampled 4 times with an interval of 2 month. The samples included calves' feces, adult cows' feces, feeds, water, milk filters, and milk fed to calves. Five Salmonella were isolated from 332 fecal samples collected from calves and peri-parturient cows. No Salmonella was recovered from water, feed, milk filers and milk fed to calves.Salmonella Typhimurium was the most frequently isolate among all sero-groups. S. Dublin was only accounted for 8% (two out of 24) of isolates. Isolated Salmonella strains were used for the ERIC PCR DNA fingerprinting assay. Our results grouped Salmonella isolates into 3 clusters, suggesting that specific genotypes were responsible for each sero-group of Salmonella. The results also revealed diversity among Salmonella isolates in cluster III (sero-group B). Eighteen out of 19 Salmonella spp. were resistant to oxytetracycline. Five isolates out of 19 showed more than one drug resistance. Multi-drug resistance was seen only among Salmonella Typhimurium isolates. Enrofloxacin was the most susceptible antibiotic against all isolates in this study.The emergence of multiple antibiotic-resistant strains of Salmonella Typhimurium should be of great concern to the public. No correlation between ERIC fingerprinting and resistance patterns of Salmonella isolates was found, which indicates resistance to antimicrobial agents was not related to specific genetic background.