An account is given of three years’ observations on plots of permanent grass managed according to the “New System of Grassland Management”, which consists essentially of periodic dressings of nitrogenous manures followed by rotational grazing.

Results obtained by keeping records of the grazing provided and by sampling the plots show that the dominating factor on total yield has been rainfall. In the wet season 1930 the output of dry matter was about 80 per cent. more than in the dry year 1929: the extra grazing was about 46 per cent.

The increased grazing due to the nitrogenous manures (three dressings per annum each of 1 cwt. sulphate of ammonia per acre) has, on the average, been estimated at between 20 and 30 per cent. above the controls. This increase, however, has not been accurately measured.

In a field study it was found that application of high P induced Zn deficiency symptoms on onion (Allium cepa L.) plants, increased P concentration but decreased that of Zn. Conversely, application of Zn tended to increase Zn concentration of both tops and bulbs and lowered P concentration. Effectiveness of Zn varied with the amount of P applied. Evidently P and Zn are mutually antagonistic. Using sub-soil on the top of raised beds and heavy P fertilization appear to be responsible for inducing Zn deficiency in onions in northern Nigeria.

Silage effluents with pH values of 4·1, 4·7 and 5·1 (normal (N), high (H) and very high (VH), respectively) were treated with hydrochloric acid to bring the pH of each effluent to 40. The effluents were offered to finishing pigs in a randomized block experiment (November 1983 to February 1984 at the Agricultural Research Institute of Northern Ireland) with dietary treatments which comprised a control diet in which meal was given to a standard scale of feeding, or effluent diets N, H and VH, in which the effluent was substituted on a dry matter basis for 150g/kg of the standard scale of feeding. In a negative control diet, meal was offered at 850 g/kg of the control diet. Water or effluent as appropriate was given on the meal, and water was also available ad libitum. A total of 60 pigs was used with mean initial and final live weights (LW) of 37·1 and 86·4 kg, respectively.

Effluents H and VH had higher ammonia N: total N and lower amino acid N: total N and lactic acid contents than effluent N. The rates of LW gain, feed conversion ratios, backfat thicknesses and the proportions of lean and fat in the ham joint were similar for the control diet and effluent diets N and H, indicating a similar nutritive value for all three. Effluent diet VH gave a significantly (P < 0·01) reduced rate of LW gain and poorer feed conversion ratio than diets N and H. While diet VH was consumed reluctantly with widespread refusals (mean refusal 28 g DM/kg DM offered), the feed refusals together with the lower lysine and threonine contents of the effluent would not have produced the observed degree of deterioration in growth and feed conversion. Possible reasons for the lower nutritive value are undetectable wastage of feed or the presence of an antinutritional factor in effluent VHG, or a combination of both factors.

This enquiry has emphatically shown the high protein character of young grass, and this fact undoubtedly constitutes the outstanding feature of the scheme. Herbage of from one to three weeks’ growth is a rich protein forage; its dry matter has a range of from 20 to 30 per cent. protein.

In the early part of the present year the suggestion was made to me by my friend Mr J. C. F. Fryer that I should carry out a series of experiments designed to test the fly-breeding capacity of the open farm manure heap as distinguished from heaps in close proximity to dwellings.

Two varieties of okra were sown at approximately 14-day intervals from 1 April to 1 June for 2 years during the main rainy season in Nigeria. Low soil temperature and moisture, which resulted from a combined effect of high solar radiation, high atmospheric temperature and low rainfall, led to poor seedling emergence at the early sowing dates.

The growth of the fewer plants of the early sowing dates were more vigorous than those of later sowing dates and they attained 50% flowering earlier and had a longer harvest duration. This resulted in increases in number of pods per plant, pod length, pod diameter, pod volume, pod weight and pod yield per ha, indicating compensatory growth by the fewer plants in the early plantings. The relatively lower values obtained for these variables with the late sowing dates were also attributed to possible poor soil aeration arising from the increased rainfall during their growth period.

Sowing dates did not generally affect the percentage moisture, oil and protein in the pods. The effects of varieties on the variables measured were more uniform than those of sowing dates and mostly not significant.

In studies of carrots sown on three dates at Wellesbourne in 1986, mean time to seedling emergence and spread of times to seedling emergence of untreated and fluid-drilled seeds increased as seed-bed moisture at sowing decreased. These differences were not observed with irrigation before sowing.

Osmotic priming increased the percentage of seeds with emerged radicles at the time of fluid drilling from 17% in the untreated control to 56%. Irrespective of seed-bed moisture, time to emergence was shorter from primed germinating seeds than from germinating seeds, both treatments giving earlier seedling emergence than untreated seeds. Seedling shoot weight was greater from treated than from untreated seeds.

Seed-bed characteristics on unirrigated plots had no effect on seedling emergence when soil moisture was adequate but, where soil moisture was limiting, rolling the seed bed to increase capillarity resulted in 79% emergence compared with the 67% average from seed beds that were not rolled. Application of a soil conditioner to stabilize the seed-bed surface structure generally improved emergence when rain fell soon after sowing. The results suggested that a combination of seed-bed and seed treatments can significantly improve the predictability of crop establishment of carrots on different dates.

Twelve stagnogley soils of the Denchworth series from East Kent were studied to determine the effect of indigenous glauconite on their fertility. The presence or absence of glauconite was not the major factor controlling the potassium or magnesium status which was largely determined by the nature of the < 2 μm clay. Glauconitic soils had much higher levels of available phosphate than corresponding non-glauconitic soils due to calcium phosphate associated with the glauconite in the parent material. Weathering has partially converted this to aluminium and iron phosphates which were the main forms of phosphate present, especially in the A (0–15 cm) horizons.

1. An EEL mains-operated colorimeter has been calibrated to obtain rapid estimates of the concentration of spermatozoa in bull semen.

2. A general linear calibration relationship has been calculated giving h, the estimated concentration of spermatozoa per ml. of the original semen, as

where d is the dilution factor and Pd is the absorptiometer reading.

3. Under the circumstances of the experiments described, the accuracy of estimates from the above relation was about 1%, and it is considered that the instrument may be effectively used in semen determinations for artificial insemination and in most cases where a rapid determination is required.

4. Attention is drawn to the desirability of using standards and occasional check calibrations, and to the possibility that in routine use results may be slightly less accurate than those given above, which were obtained with laboratory determinations.

Odén has shown that colour intensity comparisons between alkali extracts of peat soils of varying origin can be made since, despite the possible difference in the nature of their humic matter, the absorption spectra are almost identical within the visible range. These absorption spectra are also comparable with that of Merck's Acidum Huminicum, which is a standard preparation. Odén developed his colorimetric method as a means of measuring the degree of humification of the organic matter of peat soils, that is to say, the proportion of the total organic matter which could be classed as humic matter. In this way the disadvantages of Grandeau's method, in which there is no discrimination between the coloured and the colourless parts of the soil organic matter, are obviated.

1. Hard winter wheat was grown under natural conditions from September, 1930, to June, 1931 (both inclusive). The ash, oils and fats (ether extract), moisture, sugar, starch, hemicelluloses, total nitrogen and the growth of the plants were determined every fortnight. Grains were also analysed twice during their development.

2. The data (for the plants) seem to indicate that there was less moisture during early growth (in winter) and at the time of maturity.

Two fistulated rams were infused through the rumen cannulae with acetic acid or sodium acetate for 4 consecutive days. This infusion has caused a significant drop in the daily feed intake and in the concentrations of rumen ciliate protozoa. The holotrich protozoa were the most susceptible, whereas entodinia were the least sensitive, to the reducing effect of acetic acid or sodium acetate. Decreasing the daily feed intake by 30% has caused little or no change in the concentrations of rumen ciliate protozoa. The in vitro incubation of sodium acetate and rumen contents has resulted in a remarkable depression in the protozoal numbers. Most of this decrease occurred after 5 h of incubation. The addition of acetic acid or sodium acetate to washed suspensions of mixed populations of rumen ciliate protozoa has decreased the in vitro volatile fatty acid production. It is suggested that both the low pH and acetate, ion were responsible for the reduction in the protozoal numbers in the rumen of rams infused with acetic acid or sodium acetate. The effect of acetate on the ciliate protozoa could be an explanation of the diurnal changes in the concentrations of various protozoal groups usually observed in the rumen of the host animal.

Adapting in vitro transgenic carrots to soil is the most crucial step preceding the field investigation of transgenic carrots. A low proportion of plants, around 0·20, acclimatize to soil (Hardegger & Sturm 1998) and thus prohibit the generation of high-expression carrot lines. In the present paper, a protocol for an efficient soil transfer is presented and the impact of carrot cultivar, soil substrate, tissue culture, and transformation process on transfer process is analysed. Somatic embryo germinants of Daucus carota cv. Rote Riesen 2 and Lobbericher Gelbe Futtermoehre showed a tremendous survival proportion – up to 1·00 – when transferred to their optimal soil substrate: sandy and loamy soil, with low content of macro and micro elements and a pH of 5·8. By optimizing the conditions described here, the proportion of soil acclimatized transgenic carrot plants of D. carota Lobbericher Gelbe Futtermoehre was increased from 0·1 to 0·87, and for the cultivar Rote Riesen from 0·09 to 0·67.

Dry matter accumulation and its partitioning to different plant components were studied in six common bean populations (two bred cultivars and four landraces) with different yield potentials. The hypothesis that yield was correlated with leaf area or mass and also with leaf area duration was tested. Leaf area and total above-ground dry matter were sampled weekly between 13 and 62 days after planting (DAP). Yield, yield components and seed yield rate were measured at the final harvest. No differences in total above-ground dry matter were observed among populations up to 62 DAP. Bred cultivars had significantly larger leaf areas than the landraces at the last harvest. Landraces initially partitioned more dry matter to reproductive organs but this was not reflected in higher yields. Temporary differences in growth rate and rate of pod formation were observed among the populations. Landraces, with one exception, tended to grow faster at early stages, and they also reached their maximum number of pods per plant earlier than the bred cultivars. Bred cultivars yielded more than all but one of the landraces. In general, yield was positively correlated with the total number of pods per plant, which in turn was well correlated with leaf area and mass. It was concluded that an increase in leaf area duration and a balanced development of reproductive organs v. other plant components are important traits in conferring improvement in yield of common bean.

Five cross-bred Suffolk lambs (liveweight 24–29 kg) were fed lucerne silage and made acidotic or offered supplemental protein with the objective of determining the effects of acidosis and amino acid undersupply on food intake from silage. In this study, at McGill University, Quebec, Canada in January 1989, lucerne silage (25% DM) was supplemented with equimolar amounts (450 mmol/kg DM) of ammonium chloride, ammonium bicarbonate and sodium bicarbonate; fishmeal was added at 100 g/kg silage DM. The lambs were fed ad libitum according to a 5 × 5 Latin square with 21-day periods.

Digestibility of organic matter (OM) from silage ranged from 78 to 82% and was not significantly affected by diet (P > 0·05). Voluntary intake of digestible organic matter (DOM) from silage was . Fishmeal supplementation of lucerne silage improved nitrogen retention (P > 0·05) but not intake of DOM. The addition of ammonium chloride to silage reduced blood concentration (p < 0·05) and urinary output of HCO3, increased ammonia excretion in urine (P < 0·05), and depressed intake of DOM (P < 0·05). Ammonium bicarbonate also reduced voluntary intake of DOM (P < 0·05) but had no significant effect (P > 0·05) on the acid-base status of the lambs. Sodium bicarbonate depressed food intake but had no significant effect on measures of acid-base balance.

The results suggest that metabolic acidosis is not an underlying mechanism restricting food intake by sheep and that neither acid-base imbalance nor inadequate protein status is likely to explain the limitation in food intake from ensiled lucerne.

Tests were made to determine the juvenilizing effects of TH6040, JH-25, Altosid, Altozar, ZR-777 and ZR-619 on Culex pipiens L. using the IC50 value (dose to inhibit the emergence of 50% of adults) as a criterion. The descending order of activity was Altosid, TH6040, Altozar, ZR-777, JH-25 and ZR·619. Insignificant prolongations were recorded in the larval or pupal durations except in the case of TH6040 (Dimilin). The time lapse from larval treatment (early fourth instar) to adult emergence was prolonged by about 18·7% following treatment with 0·0001–0·1 μg/ml.

Juvenilizing effects of the tested compounds applied to the early fourth instar extended to the adult stage of Culex pipiens L. and affected the duration of the first gonotrophic cycle. The concentrations of TH6040, JH-25, Altosid, Altozar, ZR-777 and ZR-619 tested caused prolongation of the time between emergence and first oviposition by about 20–50% (at 0·0001–0·1 μg/ml), 3–26% (at 0·001–5μg/ml), 0–15% (at 0·1 × 10-8–0·001 μg/ml), 3-–23% (at 0·1 × 10-8–0·001 μg/ml), 9–27% (at 0·1 × 10-7–0·01 μg/ml), and 11–32% (at 0·1 × 10-7–0·01 μg/ml), respectively.

The results obtained indicated that the sex ratio of C. pipiensL. changed progressively in all treatments but with an inconsistent trend according to the concentration of each compound. This conclusion provides further evidence on the effect of juvenile hormone-like activity compounds on adults emerging from treated larvae. The numbers of females produced were increased by about 15–30%, 9–27%, 1–35%, 1–38%, 6–44% and 31–71% after treatment with 0·0001–0·1 μg TH6040, 0·001–5μg JH-25, 0·1x 10-8–0·001 μg Altosid, 0·1 x 10-8–0·001 μg Altozar, 0·1 x lO-7–O·Ol μg ZR-777 and 0·01 × 10-7–0·01 μg ZR-619‘sol;ml, respectively.

The oestrogenic isoflavones genistein, biochanin-A and formononetin, as well as the coumestan derivative coumestrol, were identified by thin-layer, paper and gas chromatography in berseem clover (Trifolium alexandrinum) grown in Israel. Under the conditions studied, the concentration of these oestrogens in the berseem clover (total < 0·01% in the dry matter) was considerably lower than those found in clover species known to be associated with infertility in ruminants.

Nitrogen nutrition of two succeeding wheat crops was studied after ploughing of grassland in July 1987 on a clay soil at ADAS Drayton. The four plots of grassland had received 100, 250, 450 and 750 kg N/ha per year for 4 years from 1984 and were grazed by beef cattle at stocking densities which varied according to grass growth.

Determinations of soil mineral N taken to 60 cm every 3 weeks from July to the following May were particularly variable. However, in the first 2 years after ploughing the means of the series of mineral N measurements were directly proportional to the amounts of fertilizer N applied to the grass.

N offtake in winter wheat grain without fertilizer N was directly proportional to fertilizer N applied to grass but this had little effect on maximum grain yields. Large soil N supplies did not necessarily predispose the wheat crops to large grain N concentrations because fertilizer N caused grain N offtake to reach a similar maximum, irrespective of previous grass N.

Optimum amounts of fertilizer N for the wheat were 188, 147, 87 and nil kg/ha in 1988 and 152,130, 89 and 25 kg/ha in 1989 after 100, 250, 450 and 750 kg N/ha per year applied to the grass. Soil N supply as indicated by both the amount of fertilizer applied to grass and means of mineral N measurements accounted for almost all of this variation. Mean soil mineral N over winter was no better as an indicator of soil N supply than the amount of N applied to the grass. However, before adopting N applied to grass as a more general index of N supply, it would need to be adjusted for variation in N removed and lost during grass growth; these were controlled in this experiment.

A model of a drying swath has been developed and used with 20-year long meteorological data sets from 32 sites in north-west Europe to provide an objective assessment of the influence of weather on field hay drying. The model considered the swath in terms of its bulk properties but incorporated the effects on swath drying of soil evaporation and stubble transpiration: delays in swath drying caused by interception of rain or dew were calculated explicitly.

A cutting season from May to September was assumed, and results given in terms of the number of daily cuts reaching various moisture contents in less than 10 days, and especially those reaching 25% (dry-weight basis) within 5 days so that dry-matter losses were relatively small, and immediate long-term storage was possible. Rainfall amounts on the faster-drying swaths were usually less than 1 mm. A large inter-annual variability in hay-drying prospects was demonstrated, even at sites with fairly good climates for drying on average. The most favourable conditions for field drying were shown to occur substantially earlier in the cutting season at maritime sites than at those with a more continental climate. Conditioning of the swath allowed more cuts to dry to a prescribed moisture content, but with the penalty of larger average rainfall on the swath, and consequent loss of quality.

The reactions of the unmanured and the limed and unlimed portions of the sulphate of ammonia plots on Eothamsted Park Grass and Woburn barley fields change steadily with increasing depth, and at 36 inches still show the same relations as in the surface soil. The difference in pH values between the limed and unlimed portions of the Rothamsted soil is substantially constant at all depths down to 36 inches. The reaction of the subsoil plays an important part in determining the effect of liming. The subsoils from the sulphate of ammonia plots at both centres are highly flocculated. Mixtures of 1 part of soil with 5 parts of water exhibit complete flocculation in the case of all samples below 9 inches and the velocity of sedimentation decreases and the volume of the final sediment increases regularly and markedly with the depth. Such changes in soil texture probably constitute important factors in the action of a high surface acidity.