Several town-refuse manures were compared with farmyard manure at Rothamsted and five other places between 1940 and 1947. The organic manures were used at 8 and 16 tons/acre with and without fertilizer nitrogen and potash. Direct and residual effects were measured on agricultural and horticultural crops.

All organic manures improved yields in the year of application, FYM most and consistently. The average percentage increases in yield produced by the pulverized refuses tested, in relation to the increase from an equal weight of FYM, were: sugar beet 22, mangolds 83, carrots, 85, potatoes 51. The corresponding figures for screened dust were: sugar beet 40, mangolds 28, carrots 41; the dust slightly depressed potato yields. Averaging all sixteen experiments on root crops, the pulverized refuses had 64% of the first-year effect of FYM and the screened dust 25%.

The effects of trypanosomiasis on digestible organic matter intake, milk yield and composition, dam liveweight changes during lactation and lamb growth rates were investigated at Ibadan, Nigeria 1991/92, using 20 West African Dwarf sheep nursing single lambs. Although digestibility coefficients were neither affected by infection nor by level of feed intake, organic matter intake during early and late lactation was significantly lower in infected dams. Nitrogen retained in late lactation was lower in infected animals due to reduced feed intake. Mean daily milk yields were not affected by the infection during early lactation; however, during the second half of lactation, average daily milk yields were significantly lower in infected animals than in uninfected controls. Variations in milk component concentrations between experimental groups did not attain statistical significance throughout lactation. While control ewes on a high plane of nutrition (CH) gained 12·1 g/day, infected ewes (IH) and uninfected control ewes on a medium plane of nutrition (CM) lost 45 and 5·4 g/day respectively during lactation. Liveweight gain in the lambs was not affected by infection in the dams.

This study demonstrated reduction in feed intake, late lactation milk yield and dam liveweight gain with no adverse effect on digestibility coefficients, milk composition, early lactation milk yield and lamb weight gain during T. vivaxinfection of lactating ewes.

1. The equivalent parallel capacity and conductance of a series of soil blocks have been measured for decreasing moisture content.

2. The results obtained depend on the electrodes used. With mercury, all soils give curves of the same general type for the variation of the capacity with moisture because the capacity effects associated with the soil electrode interface are large compared with those due to the soil. The electrical properties of the interface have been shown to exhibit marked changes in their variation with moisture at certain moisture contents.

Soils from grass-arable cropping sequences and from an experiment where grassland had been treated with slurry were dispersed by shaking as a soil-water mixture, followed by ultrasonic treatment. Organo-mineral particle size fractions were separated by sieving and by sedimentation.

Generally, concentration of C and N in the fractions decreased with increasing particle size. However, when expressed as weight of C per fraction maximum contents were in the 2–10 μm range. With N, maximum contents occurred about 2 μm. Largest differences in C and N contents between soils were found in the 0·2–20 μm size range.

Identification of the source of the materials in the various fractions was attempted by interpretation of the C/N ratios, but was generally inconclusive.

Experiments in 1986–88 compared the spring field bean cultivars Alfred, Minden, Ticol and Troy, grown on clay-with-flints soil at Rothamsted, at row spacings of 12 and 48 cm, and compared two pest and pathogen control programmes based on (i) ‘standard’ control of Ascochyta fabae, Ditylenchus dipsaci and seed-borne viruses and (ii) ‘enhanced’ control of Sitona lineatus, bean leaf roll virus via the vector Acyrthosiphon pisum, Botrytis fabae and Uromyces viciae-fabae in addition to the pests and pathogens in the ‘standard’ control.

With standard control, Minden had the largest mean seed yield of 4·6 t/ha; with enhanced control, Alfred was best with 6·1 t/ha.

The yield benefits of enhanced control ranged from 0·2 t/ha on Ticol in 1986 to 2·4 t/ha on Alfred in 1988. They were related to the control of weevils (S. lineatus), chocolate spot (B. fabae) and rust (U. viciae-fabae). At 1989 prices, the cost of materials used for enhanced control would be repaid by a yield increase of 0·3 t/ha.

The closer row spacing increased yields by 0·15 t/ha on average but effects differed greatly between years. Benefits were largest in 1986 when plants were shortest and in that year were largest for the shorter cultivars.

It is suggested that trials of field bean cultivars should always include a test of pest and pathogen control.

1. The mineral content of pasture as grazed under the Intensive System of Grassland Management has been examined. The pasture samples were collected from two centres in 1927 and from one centre in 1929. Magnesium, manganese, iron, sulphur and chlorine were determined in addition to the more common elements.

2. The mineral content of intensive pasture is equal to that of the best type of pasture produced by other systems of management, and superior to that of average good cultivated pasture in Great Britain.

3. The seasonal variations of the soluble ash, potash, soda and phosphoric acid depend principally on the climatic conditions.

4. The effect of drought at one centre has been to lower the percentages of soluble ash, potash and phosphoric acid.

5. Correlations exist between nitrogen and phosphoric acid, and soluble ash and potash. There is no evidence of further correlations between the constituents.

Heat-tolerance tests and observations on coat shedding were made on Santa Gertrudis and Hereford heifers of similar age in the warm humid climate of Fiji.

Coat shedding (which is influenced by day length) was normal in the locally bred, smooth-coated Santa Gertrudis whose heat-tolerance was good. However, the Herefords, which had come from New Zealand and had very woolly coats failed to shed properly and suffered serious heat stress.

Clipping and the use of a close-fitting jute rug demonstrated the specially high heatretaining properties of a thick natural coat of cattle hair; also the special need to select animals of low coat score for the very humid tropics.

Crop residues, consisting of cereal stovers and hays made from the vegetative parts of grain legumes, are important dry-season feeds for ruminant livestock in the Savannah Zone of West Africa (van Raay, 1975; McCown, Haaland & de Haan, 1979; Jahnke, 1982). With the increasing demand on land to produce more crops and animal products, traditional systems are under pressure. There is need for a reliable means to quantify the supply of feed from various sources and to monitor the type, quantity and quality of crop residue available to livestock.

Potatoes (var. Pentland Dell) were grown in pots containing soils from the Bothamsted ley–arable experiments. When about half the initially available K was used, the tops were harvested and the potential limiting K uptake, inferred from K uptakes, was – 4150 cals/equiv. The plants grew on until they exhausted the available K and died, having set tubers. The potential then limiting K uptake, inferred from total K uptakes, was – 4900 cals/equiv., similar to the mean potential in the exhausted soils, – 4710 ± 61 cals/equiv. The significance of these measurements is discussed.

Total K uptake was closely related to the amount of K that had to be removed from each soil to lower the potential to – 4900 cals/equiv. and the relationship suggested that the potatoes did not use any K from initially non-available reserves.

Dry-matter yields of tubers and of tops + roots, and the ratio of the two, were well related to quantity and potential of K in the soil; tuber yield was also well related to K in tops. The K potential needed for maximum yield of tubers exceeded – 2430 cals/equiv.

A model was developed to simulate tuber yield and water use of a potato crop by modifying and extending an existing water-use model. Empirical validation of the model was carried out with data from 37 crop-years of experiments on a wide range of cultivars at five sites within the UK (viz Silsoe, Gleadthorpe, Rothamsted, Woburn and Dundee). The study confirmed the validity of the model over a range of yields from 1·67 to 73·7 t/ha and under conditions from severely droughted to fully irrigated.

A study on the energy expenditure of sheep was carried out at the Central Sheep and Wool Research Institute, India during August 1995 to July 1996 by conducting two experiments: one on tracheal cannulated rams maintained on stall-feeding in autumn 1995 (Expt 1) followed by year-round grazing on silvipasture (Cenchrus ciliaris pasture interspersed with fodder trees) over three seasons: monsoon, winter and summer, 1995/96 (Expt 2). Physiological responses and energy expenditure measurement of housed and grazing sheep were recorded at 06.00, 14.00 and 22.00 h for 5 consecutive days in each season. Tracheostomized sheep harness with meteorological balloon were used for collection of expired air and measurement of energy expenditure. Rectal temperature (RT) of sheep at 06.00 h was similar in all the seasons except for a significant (P<0·05) lower value in monsoon. The rise of RT from 06.00 to 14.00 h in grazing animals was 1·6 °C, higher than that in housed sheep (0·9 °C). Skin temperature (ST) was least in winter and highest at 14.00 h in the monsoon and autumn seasons. Respiration rate (RR) showed a marked rise at 14.00 h in all the seasons. The heart rate (HR) of grazing sheep was higher, irrespective of season, at 14.00 h. At 06.00 and 22.00 h, the heart rate was higher in winter and summer than in the monsoon season. Overall energy expenditure (EE) was 4·85 MJ/24 h during winter which increased to 5·85 MJ/24 h in summer and 6·70 MJ/24 h in the monsoon. The mean rise in energy expenditure per °C rectal temperature in all the seasons was 338 kJ/kg W0·75. Comparable mean values per 10 °C ambient temperature and 10 °C black globe temperature were 404 and 173. The increase in energy expenditure of grazing compared to housed sheep in monsoon, winter and summer was 78, 15 and 33 % respectively. The mean value was +43%.

Polymorphisms in the myostatin (MSTN) gene were detected in 150 female Iranian Markhoz goats. Two 573 base pairs (bp) and 475 bp fragments of the MSTN gene, which contains a deletion 5 bp indel (206 TTTTA/), in the region of exon 1 encoding the 5′ untranslated region (UTR) of the MSTN transcript, and two single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of substitution (339T/A, 169T/G) in exon 1 and 3 regions, respectively, were amplified. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) products were digested separately using restriction enzyme endonuclease DraI, HinIII and HindIII. The digestion results indicated AA and AB genotypes in the region of exon 1 encoding the 5′UTR of the MSTN transcript, AA, AT and TT genotypes in exon 1 and TT, TG and GG genotypes in exon 3. The SNPs loci were in Hardy–Weinberg disequilibrium but the deletion locus showed equilibrium in the Markhoz goat population. Evaluation of associations between the polymorphisms with the studied growth traits showed that the AA and GG genotypes of exons 1 and 3 have a significant positive effect on weight at 6 months of age (W6) and average daily gain (ADG) traits, but genotypes in the region of exon 1 encoding the 5′UTR of the MSTN transcript did not have any significant effect on the studied growth traits. The statistical analyses showed a positive and significant effect of the 339A allele (exon 1) for W6 and negative and significant effect of the 169G allele (exon 3) for ADG trait. Therefore, these results suggest that the MSTN gene could be a potential candidate gene that affects ADG and W6 traits in goats. More studies are needed to simultaneously consider variants of this region in a larger population to better understand MSTN gene effects on the economic traits in goat.

The flowering response of a late-flowering mutant of Sesbania rostrata was compared with that of the parent plants by sowing it on ten different dates, from December 1990 to September 1991, in India. Flowering response was also studied following exposure to an 8-h photoperiod at four different stages of growth. The parent flowered at different times of the year depending on the time of sowing, while the mutant flowered only during October–November irrespective of sowing date. The parent was sensitive to a short-day photoperiod as early as 15 days after sowing, but the mutant became sensitive to the critical photoperiod only after 60 days of vegetative growth. The mutant, by virtue of its longer vegetative phase, had the potential to produce adequate phytomass irrespective of the time of sowing.

Safety evaluation of a genetically modified crop entails assessing its equivalence to conventional crops under multi-site randomized block field designs. Despite mounting petitions for regulatory approval, there lack a scientifically sound and powerful statistical method for establishing equivalence. The current paper develops and validates two procedures for testing a recently identified class of equivalence uniquely suited to crop safety. One procedure employs the modified large sample (MLS) method; the other is based on generalized pivotal quantities (GPQs). Because both methods were originally created under balanced designs, common issues associated with incomplete and unbalanced field designs were addressed by first identifying unfulfilled theoretical assumptions and then replacing them with user-friendly approximations. Simulation indicated that the MLS procedure could be very conservative in many occasions irrespective of the balance of the design; the GPQ procedure was mildly liberal with its type I error rate near the nominal level when the design is balanced. Additional pros and cons of these two procedures are also discussed. Their utility is demonstrated in a case study using summary statistics derived from a real-world dataset.

In a field trial at Rukuhia, New Zealand, ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) and white clover (Trifolium repens L.) seed was direct drilled into pasture (i) without herbicide suppression of the resident sward, (ii) with banded application of glyphosate or paraquat herbicide at drilling to remove 50% of the resident sward and (iii) after complete removal of the grass and weed components of the old sward with glyphosate or paraquat before drilling. These treatments were compared with the untreated old swards. Where the old sward was removed by herbicide before drilling, pests moved onto the drilled seedling rows, but, where herbicide was sprayed in bands over the drill rows, the pests remained in or moved into the residual bands of the old sward. Significant beneficial interactions between herbicide use and in-furrow applications of molluscicides and insecticides resulted in reductions in the numbers of pests on the seedling rows. The influence of vegetation control on the pest burden is discussed in the context of current pasture renovation practices.

The reduction in the electrical conductivity of a mixed solution of K2HPO4 and KH2PO4 caused by the addition of soil is a measure of the potassium uptake, and is therefore an indication of the “;base exchange capacity” of the soil at pH. 7. Two disturbing factors are noted, and it is concluded that the method is likely to be most useful where a rapid comparison of soils of a similar nature and pH is required.

The number of replications and locations used in a cultivar evaluation scheme is an important factor affecting the trial heritability (H) and optimum resource allocation. The aim of the present study was to calculate the required number of replications and locations for realizing an optimum H of 0·75 and to identify the most effective test locations for cotton (Gossypium hirsutum L.) in Greece. The data for lint yield, plant height, verticillium wilt (Verticillium dahliae Kleb.) and fibre quality were derived from an 8-year experiment (2000–2007) conducted under irrigated, Mediterranean conditions at 14 locations along the Greek mega-environment. Analysis of variance was performed to calculate H as well as genotype plus genotype × environment (GGE) biplot analysis to determine the location's desirability. It was determined that the four replications currently used in the evaluation of lint yield were sufficient, whereas four locations were proposed as optimum in lieu of the current 8–14 locations used in the evaluation. Two locations excelled as the most effective for lint yield evaluation and one for selection of genotypes tolerant to verticillium wilt using as criteria: the high and consistent across years H (0·75), GGE biplot representativeness and discriminating ability. Moreover, one location was selected as a backup based on average trial failures. Plant height was sufficiently evaluated by four replications and two locations, while verticillium required four replications for realizing lower H (0·60) and three locations for even lower H (0·40). Regarding quality, an increase of replications from the two currently used to four was sufficient for evaluation of all the traits. The advantage of reducing the number of locations for evaluation of lint yield to just four casts no doubt on the evaluation precision of lint percentage, length, strength and elongation but does for micronaire, short fibre index and uniformity, which realized lower H (0·60 or 0·50).

Flour whiteness (FW) is an important factor in assessing flour quality and determining the end product quality. It is an integrated sensory indicator reflecting flour colour and is negatively correlated with protein content. In order to dissect the genetic relationship between FW and its five related traits at the quantitative trait locus (QTL)/gene level, a recombinant inbred line population was evaluated under three environments. Quantitative trait loci for FW were analysed by unconditional and conditional QTL mapping. Four unconditional additive QTLs and 16 conditional additive QTLs were detected across the three environments. Of these QTLs, only one major additive QTL (Qfw1D1-1) was consistently identified using both unconditional and conditional QTL analysis. This QTL was independent of flour colour a* (a function of red-green with a positive a* for redness and negative for greenness) and b* (a green-blue value with positive value for yellowness and negative for blueness) and was only slightly affected by flour protein content. A minor additive QTL (Qfw4A-4) was also detected using these two QTL mapping methods, being independent of flour colour a* and b*. Five unconditional and ten conditional epistatic minor QTLs were detected, from which only one pair (Qfw3A-10/Qfw6B-6) was identified by both unconditional and conditional QTL mapping, also independent of flour colour a* and b*. The major QTL (Qfw1D1-1) identified in the current study for the first time can be used for improving wheat FW in marker-assisted breeding.

A 50–fold increase in peach tree growth over a 98-day spraying season resulted in a 64 and 96% reduction in nigrosine dye deposit in the periphery and centre of the tree, respectively. Drift from spraying of adjacent rows made a significant contribution (18–39%) to the total chemical deposit in the tree periphery in four of six applications. Drift between rows was not a factor in centre tree deposit, except for a 38% contribution in the initial application. A variable reduced application rate of methyl parathion, calculated using a regression equation, resulted in a more uniform deposit throughout the season than a full application rate, providing comparable control of Oriental fruit moth with c. 50% less insecticide.

Pelleted seed of the crisp lettuce variety Pennlake was sown on five occasions with units from either the experimental dibber drill designed by the National Institute of Agricultural Engineering or a Stanhay S870 drill. There were three dibber-drill treatments: seeds left in open holes or covered with peat–vermiculite or perlite. Seedling emergence and growth from each sowing of the four drill treatments were compared under different moisture regimes.

There were large differences between drill treatments in emergence percentage, time to emergence of 50% of the seedlings which emerged (t50) and seedling weight at all sowings but there was a significant effect of drill treatment on the standard deviation of seedling emergence times at only one sowing. Of the dibber-drill treatments, only very occasionally did open holes or perlite cover give significantly better emergence than peat-vermiculite cover, which gave the most consistent results. In general, the dibber drill with peat-vermiculite cover gave significantly faster and higher emergence and heavier seedlings than the Stanhay drill. Differences in percentage seedling emergence tended to be greater under dry conditions.