Grasslands are one of the world's major ecosystems groups and over the last century their use has changed from being volunteer leys, or a resource on non-arable land, to a productive resource equal to any crop and managed as such. Many grasslands are now being acknowledged as having a multifunctional role in producing food and rehabilitating crop lands, in environmental management and cultural heritage. However, grasslands across the globe are under increasing pressure from increasing human populations, reduced areas with increasing livestock numbers, and declining terms of trade for livestock production, and they are managed to varying degrees of effectiveness. The complexity of grassland uses and the many aspects of grassy ecosystems require a framework wherein solutions for better management can be developed. The present paper discusses a generic approach to grassland management to satisfy these multiple objectives. A focus on ecosystem functionality, i.e. on water, nutrient and energy cycling and on the biodiversity required to sustain those functions, provides a means of resolving the dilemmas faced, through the intermediary, management-related, criteria of herbage mass, which also relates directly to animal production. Emphasis is placed on the opportunities to satisfy multiple objectives. A consideration of the basic relationships between stocking rate and animal production shows that the longer-term, economically optimal stocking rate is associated with improved environmental outcomes. There may be environmental objectives that go beyond economically sustainable limits for livestock producers and in those cases direct payments from the government or others will be needed. These are likely to be where degradation is clearly apparent. The achievement of desirable outcomes in grassland management that satisfy multiple objectives will require new areas of research that seek viable solutions for farmers and society.

Even and successful retting of flax through application of a desiccating herbicide and stand-retting is a major constraint to increasing its incorporation in industrial products. With the release of a new form of glyphosate based on the isopropylamine (IPA) salt with biactivator (Roundup Biactive, Monsanto Ltd), a field trial was planted using three flax varieties with differing levels of ease of desiccation at the Henfaes Research Centre, University of Wales Bangor in 2004. The crop was sprayed at four different times of maturity: mid-point of flowering plus 7 days (MPF+7), MPF+14, MPF+21 or MPF+28 using two different herbicide treatments; Roundup Biactive (Monsanto PLC) or Roundup Biactive+Restore (40% ammonium sulphate, AmegA Sciences PLC). Fibre quality was assessed following retting and the ease of decortication was measured. The highest fibre yields were obtained from the MPF+28 spray date, and from the Biactive herbicide treatment. Although lower yields were recorded with the Biactive+Restore treatment, the stems were easier to decorticate. It is suggested that an early sowing date and the use of the IPA salt-based glyphosate with biactivator, and careful monitoring of the crop during the retting process, contributed to the early and successful harvest from the MPF+28 plots, allowing mature seeds as well as fibre to be harvested from the flax plants.

A fast and simple method for analysing volatile compounds in Asyrtiko wines has been developed, with good reproducibility and suitability for routine analysis, and which is able to quantify many of the major odorant compounds in a single chromatographic run. The method allows satisfactory determination of fusel alcohols and their acetates, short-chain fatty acids and their ethyl esters. The linear dynamic range of the method covers the normal range of occurrence of analytes in wine, with typical r values of 0·992–0·999. Reproducibility ranges from 0·036 to 0·092 (as relative standard deviation; RSD). The method was applied for two consecutive years to wines from cv. Asyrtiko from Santorini, in order to establish the effect of pre-fermentative cryomaceration on the odorant compound levels of the resulting wines. Pre-fermentative cryomaceration significantly increased the levels of hexan-1-ol for both the vintages studied, while hexanoic acid and 2-phenylethyl acetate levels were higher in the classical vinification samples. The vintage (year) effect was important. Difference tests revealed significant differences between the samples using sensory analysis tests but preference tests did not reveal any preference for one or other treatment.

Average seed yields per hectare of Brassica oilseed crops in Finland, mainly summer turnip rape (Brassica rapa L. var. oleifera subvar. annua), which covers 0·93–0·99 of the total oil crop cultivation area depending on year, have fallen dramatically during the last 15 years. This downward trend is contrary to those in other temperate regions, where rapeseed yields have increased or levelled off after reaching a relatively high level. The 5-year moving averages for Finland show that seed yield started to diminish gradually after reaching its highest level of over 1700 kg/ha in the early 1990s. By 2005 it had fallen to 1270 kg/ha. The present study evaluated the possible reasons for the recorded collapse in Finnish turnip rape yields. All the statistical analyses were based on large, previously produced, datasets from multi-location Agrifood Research Finland (MTT) Official Variety Tests, Finnish Food Safety Authority (EVIRA) Seed Testing datasets and the Information Centre of the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in Finland (TIKE) national production datasets. Results from MTT trials indicated that the latest turnip rape cultivars were more sensitive to elevated temperatures at late seed set and during seed fill – and such temperatures often occurred during the years of greatest yield reduction. When taking into account how commonly sown these cultivars were at national level during the last 10 years, increased sensitivity contributed to up to two thirds of the recorded yield reduction. Even though the growing area of turnip rape has slightly exceeded 100 000 ha, after long being 60 000–70 000 ha, by extending cultivation to more northern areas of Finland, such changes do not explain the yield collapse according to data from TIKE. Furthermore, lower national yields do not stem from larger, but rather are associated with narrower within year variation in seed yield. Additional empirical work is needed to understand the causes of increased temperature sensitivity in modern cultivars (e.g. possible linkage to drought, diseases and/or drastically increased seed energy content). Furthermore, a national survey is essential for a thorough and up-to-date picture of the prevalence of pests and diseases in turnip rape and their contribution to reduced yields.

The objective of the present research was to study the genetic variability for total dry matter (DM) yield, tiller number, heading date and three quality traits, namely content of digestible dry matter (DDM), water-soluble carbohydrate (WSC) and crude protein (CP), in cocksfoot (Dactylis glomerata L.). Twenty-five parents were randomly chosen from a genetically broad-based population, and their respective half-sib (HS) families were generated. Clonally-propagated parents and their HS family seeds were grown as individual plants using a randomized complete block design with two replications in Alborz Research Center, Karaj, Iran, during 2002–04. The results of combined analyses over 2 years showed significant variances between clonal parents for all traits except CP. In the HS generation, between-family variances were only significant for tiller number, heading date and WSC. Clone×year (S2GY) and family×year (S2FY) interactions were significant for all traits except for WSC in HS families. The estimates of broad-sense heritability (h2b) were moderate to high for all traits (h2b=0·37–0·69), except CP. Narrow-sense heritability (h2n) estimates from analyses of progenies and from regression of HS progenies on parents (h2op) were moderate, relatively the same values as h2b for heading date, tiller number and WSC, which suggested that additive genetic variance was the main component controlling these traits. For DM yield and DDM, h2n and h2op estimates were low, whereas h2b estimates were moderate, which suggested that both additive and non-additive gene effects played an important role in the genetic regulation of these traits. Genetic correlations among CP with both WSC and DDM were generally negative, whereas WSC was positively correlated with DDM and tiller number. The genetic correlation among DM yield with DDM was weak and inconsistent and, in general, negative. DM yield had negative and positive correlation with heading date and tiller number, respectively. It was concluded that there was significant variation and moderate heritability for most traits in the cocksfoot populations evaluated to improve yield and quality traits. Selection for high WSC is a means to improve quality in general. The data also indicate that response to combined selection for both DDM and DM yield should be possible. Selection for DDM alone could result in reduction in yield.

Increasing grain legume yields via autumn sowing requires winter-hardy material. Forty-nine pea, 24 faba bean and 11 white lupin cultivars recently released by 29 breeding institutions worldwide were sown in autumn 2002 at Lodi (northern Italy) and Foggia (southern Italy) on two different dates at each location, with the objective of assessing the winter survival of species and cultivars, its consistency across locations and sowing times, its relationship with grain yield and various morphophysiological traits and the implications for selection. The winter seasons were representative for the sites and had 54 frost days and −7·3°C absolute minimum temperature in Lodi, and 8 frost days and −3·4°C absolute minimum temperature in Foggia. The species differed in optimal sowing time at each location. Mild winter temperatures, preventing a sufficient hardening against late frosts, led to higher proportions of plants killed over winter in Foggia than in Lodi (0·17 v. 0·12 for pea; 0·20 v. 0·16 for faba bean; 0·34 v. 0·11 for lupin). Variation in winter mortality was much larger within species than among species. Winter mortality and grain yield of cultivars were inversely correlated (r=−0·49, −0·43 and −0·74 for entry means over locations of pea, faba bean and lupin, respectively). The consistency across environments of genotype winter mortality, estimated by genetic correlations, was high across sowing times and low across locations for faba bean, moderate across sowing times and fairly low across locations for pea, and always fairly high for lupin. A visual cold tolerance score was always related to better winter survival. Winter survival tended to correlate with larger seeds in faba bean and lupin, and was associated with later flowering in lupin. A rosette-like winter growth habit (defined by lower height/number of leaves ratio of seedlings in January) was correlated with winter survival in all species (after partialling out the influence of seed size in faba bean and lupin). The optimal index of indirect selection for low winter mortality included the cold tolerance score, the seedling height/number of leaves ratio and the seed size for faba bean, the first two of these variables for pea, but only the first variable for lupin. The gain in predicted efficiency over direct selection was high for faba bean (29%) and modest for pea and lupin (⩽10%).

Medial claws from the right hind feet were obtained post mortem from four 19–20-month-old beef heifers and from four 28-month-old first-calving dairy heifers 3–4 days postpartum. X-ray diffraction (XRD) studies were undertaken on samples of soft and hard (cornified) integumental tissues of dorsal wall, sole and heel (bulb) for varying sites and planes of exposure. The measurements were interpreted as defining diffraction patterns and intermolecular spacings of cytoskeletal and extracellular fibrous structural proteins. The orientation of these proteins was examined in relation to physical characteristics and function including bearing of body weight by these tissues.

Physical measurements taken included impression hardness which showed typically greater values for wall than sole and variable differences between horn of dairy and beef origin and husbandry systems. Claws from dairy heifers had significantly smaller values for toe (dorsal wall) angle, claw height and heel height and thickness of solear horn and heel soft tissue. Although few were studied, the results reflected typical husbandry origins and indicated the susceptibility to the lesion formation well recognized in postpartum dairy cattle.

Typical XRD patterns for horn samples showed defined arcs of reflectance on the equatorial axis consistent with findings for the presence of α-helices in fibrils reported to occur in other hard-keratin-containing integumental tissues. However, reflectance on the meridional axis also reported for these other tissues was not detected. A similar defined pattern was obtained for less than 0·10 of samples of internal soft pre-cornified epidermal and attached dermal tissue although the values for intermolecular ‘d’ spacing for these were consistent with those reported for type I collagen. Diffuse reflection patterns were thus evident for the majority of samples of soft tissue epidermis and dermis and also for adipose tissue of the digital cushion.

The formation of defined arcs of reflectance allowed the determination of fibril alignment in wall and solear horn. For the orientated samples of dorsal wall horn tissue, the outer layer showed a longitudinal angle of orientation essentially maintained proximal to distal. This pattern was maintained throughout the depth of horn at the proximal site. In contrast, layers in mid-wall and towards the distal edge showed a greater circumferential (horizontal) orientation in sections collected anterior to posterior towards the inner corial, including laminar, tissues. The orientation of fibrils in inner wall horn appears to relate to the direction of load-bearing forces in connecting horn to the distal phalanx. Horizontal alignment of fibrils was observed in the sole. In presenting the long axis of cells to the ground surface this orientation may facilitate erosive forces and contribute to the thinning of cornified sole horn under adverse underfoot conditions.

This group, which is concerned with the applications of mathematics to agricultural science, was formed in 1970 and has since met at approximately yearly intervals in London for one-day meetings. The thirty-ninth meeting of the group, chaired by Professor N. Crout of the University of Nottingham, was held in the Kohn Centre at the Royal Society, 6 Carlton House Terrace, London on Friday, 30 March 2007 when the following papers were read.