It has been observed that there is an appreciable from the beginning of flowering till its completion percentage of flower shedding in pulse crops but and the total number of flowers shed was calculated, reliable data are lacking. Preliminary studies were, At maturity, the number of full-size pods per plant therefore, vindertaken to collect information on the was counted and the percentage of flowers shed extent of flower shedding in some kharif (rainy was calculated, season) pulses.

Sugarcane is usually grown after paddy in tropical and subtropical India; this rotation is adopted when sugarcane is planted in October (autumn planting). Soil puddling is required for paddy, but puddling disturbs the soil structure and impedes development of roots beyond the puddled layer. Adverse effects on growth and yield of sugarcane are therefore expected, but contrary to such expectations, sustained or increased yields of cane after paddy have been observed (Alvarez & Snyder, 1984; Anon. 1984; Snyder el al. 1986). It appears that certain other soil factors overcome the harmful effects of adverse soil physical conditions. Therefore, the present study was undertaken to investigate such factors.

The productivity of grazing sheep was assessed under 7-year-old rubber at the Rubber Research Institute of the Malaysia Experimental Station at Sungai Buloh near Kuala Lumpur between October 1988 and May 1990. The sheep were Dorset × Marlin crossbred lambs and they grazed planted leguminous cover crops and naturally occurring species at a range of stocking rates.

In the immature rubber trial, presentation yields of forage declined with time regardless of stocking rate. In the mature rubber trial, presentation yields of forage were low (<1000 kg/ha) due to low light transmission. High stocking rates (>6 sheep/ha) resulted in a decrease in the proportion of palatable species, namely Pueraria phaseoloides, Paspalum conjugatum, Asystasia gangetica and Mikania micrantha and an increase in the proportion of the less palatable species such as Calopogonium caeruleum and Cyrtococcum oxyphyllum.

Daily liveweight gains ranged from 100 g/lamb per day at 4 sheep/ha to 70 g/lamb per day at 14 sheep/ha in the immature rubber trial. Only the lowest stocking rate of 2 sheep/ha was continuously sustainable in the mature rubber trial. The estimated maximum liveweight gain that could be achieved under immature rubber was 266 kg/ha per year at a stocking rate of 13·2 sheep/ha.

Experiments of balanced design in harvest years 1981 and 1982 were used to measure interactions between plots of winter barley with different amounts of leaf blotch, caused by the splash-dispersed pathogen Rhynchosporium secalis. On the appropriate transform scales (logarithms of counts and logits of percentages), the effects of extreme treatments on neighbouring plots were up to 30% of the effects of the same treatments on the plots to which they were applied. Powdery mildew (Erysiphe graminis f.sp. hordei) was commonly least severe in plots with most leaf blotch except soon after fungicide sprays had been applied which, although chosen to decrease leaf blotch, also had short-lived effects on mildew. Consequently, contrasts in mildew between differently treated plots changed sign during the season. The effects of the same treatments on neighbouring plots similarly changed with time but not necessarily in phase with their direct effects. Analyses of the rhynchosporium data that recognized the effects of neighbouring treatments typically had much smaller residual mean squares than analyses that ignored neighbour effects but assumed randomized block designs.

Treatments had mostly small effects on grain yield but these data from two of the experiments showed marked positional variation. Individual plots yields from one of these experiments, testing five treatments, are quoted in the appendix so that they are available to others with an interest in alternative methods, such as nearest-neighbour models, to adjust for local correlations between plots.

A completely randomized experiment was designed to evaluate the effects of α-amylase (AMY) and glucoamylase (GLU) on total losses, fermentative profile, chemical composition and amylolytic activity of rehydrated maize. Eighty-four experimental silos of rehydrated maize [0.33 litres/kg ground maize, 4-mm theoretical particle size, and 625 g/kg dry matter (DM)] were assigned to the following treatments: (1) control (CON), no enzyme addition; (2) GLU added at 300 µl/kg of ground maize (as-fed); and (3) AMY added at 300 µl/kg of ground maize. Seven silos from each treatment were opened after 7, 14, 21 and 28 days. Differences among treatments were evaluated through orthogonal contrasts (CON v. enzymes, and AMY v. GLU). Time effects were decomposed using polynomial regression. Glucoamylase silage exhibited greater total losses than AMY. Enzymes increased acetate and lactic acid concentrations and decreased ethanol concentration. Regardless of treatment, gas, effluent and total fermentative losses linearly increased, whereas DM recovery linearly decreased with higher storage length. Glucoamylase silage had lower ammonia nitrogen and higher lactic acid concentrations than AMY. Enzyme treatments decreased silage neutral detergent fibre content and increased in vitro DM degradation. Glucoamylase silage exhibited a more moderate starch content and greater in vitro DM degradation than AMY. Storage time linearly decreased DM, starch and fibre content of rehydrated maize. In vitro degradation of DM linearly increased as the storage length increased. This study showed evidence that enzymes with amylolytic activity, particularly GLU, improve the fermentative profile and DM degradation of rehydrated maize silage.

Intercropping maize (Zea mays L.) with cover crops (Crotalaria spectabilis and Urochloa ruziziensis) is a sustainable cultivation strategy that can generate ecological benefits combined with grain yield (GY). However, cover crops may require nitrogen (N) fertilization management to be adjusted to obtain a high GY in intercropping systems. This study was carried out over 2 years in southeastern Brazil using randomized complete block design in a split-plot scheme. The plots were composed of three cropping systems: sole maize, maize + U. ruziziensis and maize + C. spectabilis. The subplots consisted of four N levels: 0, 70, 140 and 210 kg/ha. The GY of the maize + U. ruziziensis may be reduced by 13% compared to the sole maize. The GY of the sole maize increased up to 11.3 Mg/ha for 95 kg/ha of N in the first year and 6.7 Mg/ha for 169 kg/ha of N in the second year. The GY of the maize + U. ruziziensis intercropping system showed linear increments of 120 kg/ha for every 10 kg/ha of N applied. In the maize + C. spectabilis intercropping, GY increased up to 9.8 Mg/ha for 201 kg/ha of N in the first year, without any variation during the second year. The land equivalent ratio (LER) of intercropping was increased by more than 35% compared to that of sole maize, and N fertilization increased the LER of the sole maize and maize + U. ruziziensis intercropping. Maize intercropping had higher LER values with greater demand for nitrogen to obtain similar yields compared to sole maize cropping.

1. An experiment with one non-laying and four laying hens was carried out. Food and water consumption was measured hourly from 06.00 to 22.00 hr. and in the same period the exact time of each excretion was noted. Determinations of water and dry matter were made on each separate excretion.

2. Each bird showed a typical pattern of behaviour in relation to the time of day when it ate food and drank water. For any one bird, variations of this pattern from day to day were small.

3. For each bird there was a highly significant relationship between water intake and temperature on the one hand, and water excretion via droppings and eggs on the other. Water intake, however, had a far greater influence than had temperature on water output.

4. Calculations showed that, despite errors caused by not knowing the amount of metabolic water produced, the excretion from the lungs varied greatly from bird to bird on constant intakes of water and also in the same bird at different intakes.

Oestroua activity of three flocks of Ossimi (O) and Rahmani (R) subtropical fattailed and imported Finn (F) ewes was followed over a calendar year under the prevailing subtropical conditions in Egypt.

Rahmani had quite consistent oestrous activity throughout the year, with a slight drop in March and June, and may be regarded as a non-seasonal breed. Oestrous activity of the O ewes was lower than the R at different times of the year. They showed high individual variation. Most of the O ewes had an anoestroua period during July–September but had regular oestrous activity during their breeding season.

Overall number of oestruses per ewe per year was 15·9, 13·0 and 10·3 for R, O and F, respectively. Normal cycle length tended to be longer, though not significantly so, in both R and O subtropical breeds than the F (17·8 and 17·6 v. 17·1 days). Heat duration was significantly longer in F (47·0 h) than in both local breeds (37·7 and 37·5 h for R and O, respectively).

The soils of on area around Llangadog (mid-Wales) have been systematically sampled on a grid basis at 0–8 cm and 30–35 cm depths.

A P-sorption index was determined for these samples as were Fe and Al extractable by both 0·1 M K-pyrophosphate solution and 0·2 M-NH4-oxalate solution at pH 3. The reactivities of the soils with 1 M-NaF solution at pH 6·8 and pH 8 were also measured.

The results were stratified in terms of parent material, soil classification at subgroup level and soil series, and correlation coefficients calculated between the P-sorption index and the other variables (singly and in combination).

Only pyrophosphate-extractable Fe, i.e. ‘organically bound’, correlated reasonably well with the P-sorption index. However, the correlation was such that tolerably good estimates of P-sorption in an agronomic context could be made from pyrophosphate-extractable Fe values only for previously uncultivated brown podzolic soils (Manod series).

Fluoride reactivities at both pH values were poor predictors of P-sorption in these soils. Fluoride reactivity at pH 6·8 and oxalate-extractable Al, which have both been proposed as indices of the amounts of ‘poorly-ordered’ Al compounds in soils, failed to group these soils in similar ways. Doubt exists therefore as to whether these variables are measures of the same (or similar) property in these soils.

Measurements were made during 1987/88 on 20 winter wheat crops grown in Essex, four on each of five soil types – sandy loam, sandy silt loam, silt loam, calcareous clay loam and clay loam – where winter wheat, dried peas, winter faba beans or winter oilseed rape was the previous crop in 1986/87. The sites had a wide range of soil mineral N (SNS), 40–198 kg/ha N, as NH4 plus NO3, in the 0–90 cm soil profile. Optimum grain yield and fertilizer N could not be estimated but yields measured in the absence of fertilizer N enabled evaluation of the use of SNS on its own and the response to fertilizer N (187 ± 32 kg/ha). For crops receiving fertilizer N, each tonne of grain was associated with 35kg of total available N in the soil profile (SNS + fertilizer N); a little over 63% of this N was found in the above-ground parts of the crops at harvest. Fertilizer N requirement was predicted as:

Fertilizer N needed (kg/ha) = [35 × predicted grain yield (t/ha)]–SNS (kg/ha)

An arbitrary assumption of 8 t/ha grain for every site (fortuitously the same as the average of 8·07t/ha measured in crops given fertilizer N) showed that differences between added and predicted amounts of N differed by c. 30 kg/ha for only seven of the 20 sites, mostly because of large SNS or yields much less than 8 t/ha. Measuring SNS and using the formula would be justified in the majority of winter wheat crops, provided reliable yield estimates could be made in time.

1. An experiment has been carried out to compare the results of feeding the B-group diets of Parts II and III of this series to ewes during pregnancy and lactation.

2. The ewes fed a diet containing maize in place of dried molassed sugar beet pulp again maintained better bodily and skeletal condition.

3. The basis for other experiments in this series is discussed.

1. The live-weight gain of lambs initially infected at five different levels was compared with that of similar but worm-free animals, under conditions of set-stocking at a high rate per acre.

2. Over a period of 9 months the worm-free controls gained 67·7% more weight than the total infected group, but the live-weight gains of the five levels did not appear to be related to their original infection or to their egg counts.

3. Although a few nematode eggs were detected in the faeces of some control lambs, reinfection was negligible under the conditions of this experiment.

4. It was concluded that a marked depression of productivity may be associated with an egg count as low as 114 e.p.g. in sheep 4–7 months of age.

At the close of the digestion experiments described in the foregoing communication a quantity of the “seeds” hay of known composition and digestibility remained which was sufficient for one further experimental period. The opportunity was therefore taken of determining the digestibility of dried yeast, a by-product of the fermentation industries which is being produced in increasing quantities and which has attracted notice since the outbreak of war.

Two fundamental explanations have been advanced to account for the unequal distribution of electrolytes on either side of a cell membrane: the one bases the unequal distribution on the existence of a cell membrane of so-called selective permeability, by which the membrane is endowed with the property of presenting varying resistance to the passage of different ions; the other regards the unequal distribution as being due to the selective action of the cell constituents themselves. This latter theory regards the cell primarily as a system in which the distribution of electrolytes is governed by the equilibrium existing on either side of a membrane permeable to electrolytes but impermeable to other ionised constituents of the cell.

Twelve experiments in the East of Scotland tested a hypothesis that the smaller yield responses to salt in Scotland than in England shown by previous work was due to the adverse effects of soluble salt concentration brought about by ridging, and also to test a wider range of salt and potash than used previously. All combinations of three rates of salt (0, 315, 630 kg/ha) and three rates of muriate of potash (0, 315, 630 kg/ha) were applied in four ways: (1) ploughed down in winter, (2) on the furrow in February, (3) in the seed bed and (4) half as (1) and half as (3). Plant emergence was decreased by salt and potash in only three experiments and then only when the larger amounts of both fertilizers together, along with nitrogen and superphosphate, were applied in the seed bed prior to ridging. Both experiments were in a year when the weather was dry while the plants emerged. Yield of sugar was greatest with the February application on the furrow and smallest with the ploughing down method. At equal weights, salt and muriate of potash had similar effects on sugar yield. Equations derived from the response surface gave the most profitable dressing as 377 kg/ha of salt plus 127 kg/ha of K2O which gave a £4.90 greater margin per hectare over costs than the best potassium application without salt.

A field study was conducted to evaluate the effect of weed management practices in the main crop on growth, yield and economics of rice- ratoon rice cropping system in two consecutive years i.e., 2014–15 and 2015–16. The result showed that Cyperus difformis was the most dominant weed in the main rice crop, whereas Ludwigia adscendes was the dominant weed in ratoon rice. In weed-free plots, the main crop recorded the highest productivity of 47.52 kg/ha/day, whereas the ratoon crop registered productivity of 37.70 kg/ha/day which was the 79.3% of the main crop productivity. In the weedy plot, crop-weed competition caused 28.8 and 37.5% reduction in energy use efficiency and energy productivity of the rice-ratoon rice cropping system respectively. Yield reduction of 37.3 and 43.6% in the main crop and ratoon crop respectively recorded due to weed infestation in weedy check. All the weed control practices registered an increase in system productivity, nutrient uptake and energy use efficiency. Among the herbicidal treatments, application of bensulfuron-methyl + pretilachlor (60 + 600 g/ha) at 10 DAS to the main crop registered a higher net return of USD$ 639.2 and 260.1 of main crop and ratoon crop, respectively. Hence it can be recommended for weed management in rice-ratoon rice cropping system.

A field experiment was made on Gurdaspur clay loam to assess the relative efficiency of various sources of fertilizer phosphorus for a paddy-wheat cropping sequence. Urea ammonium phosphate, superphosphate, a nitrophosphate fertilizer containing 30% water-soluble P and fertilizers containing 50 and 70% water-soluble P prepared from the nitrophosphate and superphosphate, dicalcium phosphate and rock phosphate were applied to the paddy crop at the rate of 0, 15, 30, 45 and 60 kg p2O6/ha and to wheat at double these rates.

The cumulative yield data for paddy and wheat show a slight reduction in efficiency of phosphatio fertilizers, with the exception of dicalcium phosphate, as their watersoluble content decreased below 70%. In general, the relative efficiency of the less water-soluble sources and of rock phosphate was considerably higher for paddy than for wheat.

The results show that the relative efficiency of low water-soluble phosphate fertilizers increased with time. The efficiency of phosphorus fertilizers declined with the rate of their application, more so in the case of higher water-soluble materials.

The effects of recommended application rates of the herbicide methabenzthiazuron (MBT) (2·5 and 4 kg ha-1) on vegetative growth, nodulation and N2 fixation in faba bean plants were studied in the field at Barcelona during 1990 and 1991. Nodulation, specific nitrogenase activity (SNA) of excised nodules, dry weight of plants and seed nitrogen content at harvest were compared in MBT-treated, hand-weeded (HW) and control plants. In 1990 the higher MBT application (4 kg ha-1) caused a decrease in nodulation and acetylene reduction activity (ARA) per plant during the mid-period of pod-fill, and also in vegetative growth, seed production and N content of seeds, whereas the lower rate (2·5 kg ha-1) did not have a significant effect on any of these factors. However, in 1991, growth and herbicide effects were different from those in the previous year. No inhibitory effect of MBT on nodulation, SNA or ARA per plant was observed and vegetative growth, seed production and N content of seeds were not significantly different from those of plants from HW plots. In 1991, both 4 kg ha-1 of MBT and the HW treatment caused a stimulatory effect on seed N recovery and yield compared to control plants. Rates of ARA per plant at late pod-fill were positively related to N recovery by seeds. These differences could have been due to the low rainfall in 1990, which may have permitted MBT to remain in the soil for a longer period and to inhibit N fixation and plant growth in the Vicia faba crop.

The tissue copper concentrations of Black Najdi sheep at the Hofuf Agricultural Research Centre (HARC) are reported. Lambs suffering from a delayed neonatal ataxia had low concentrations of copper in blood, liver and kidney, consistent with a diagnosis of copper deficiency, which was supported by histological examination of their brains and spinal cords.

Low concentrations of copper and high concentrations of molybdenum and sulphate in forages produced at the HARC appear to contribute to the high incidence of neonatal ataxia observed there.

The parenteral administration of 40 mg of copper to pregnant ewes improved the viability and weight increases of lambs over lambs born to untreated control ewes, even though all lambs had received an injection of 20 mg of copper soon after birth.

The provision of supplementary barley to the lambs running with their mothers and with access to lucerne hay increased their growth and blood copper concentrations over animals restricted to the hay diet.

The blood copper, haemoglobin and packed cell volumes of lambs born to ewes maintained on Rhodes grass were significantly lower than lambs born to ewes given lucerne, all ewes having received copper during pregnancy. This effect was attributed to the low copper and high molybdenum and sulphate content of Rhodes grass (Chloris gayana).

1. On storage under good farm conditions Calcium Cyanamide gained steadily in weight, the increase reaching about 10 per cent. after 27 months. The percentage of nitrogen decreased at a practically equivalent rate, so that there was little change in total nitrogen. The form of the nitrogen remained practically unchanged for the first 6 months; by 12 months there was a slight reduction in cyanamide nitrogen and a slight production of dicyanodiamide—less than 1 per cent. of the total nitrogen.

2. In a farm mixture of Calcium Cyanamide and superphosphate (1:3) cooled by spreading in a thin layer after mixing, 16 per cent, of the nitrogen was converted to dicyanodiamide in the fresh mixture and this increased to 25 per cent, after 1 month's storage. More dicyanodiamide was produced in a series of laboratory mixtures of Calcium Cyanamide and superphosphate, in which heating was allowed to take place. Dicyanodiamide production varied regularly with the composition of the mixtures, rising to a maximum of 50 per cent. of the total nitrogen in the mixture containing 20 per cent. of Calcium Cyanamide, and falling to below 20 per cent. of the nitrogen in the 50 per cent. mixture.