While reading the two interesting papers on immune wheats in the last number of this Journal it occurred to us that our observations on rust resistant wheats in India might be of some interest. During the past two years a large number of varieties of Indian and European wheats have been grown by us at Pusa in Behar and at Lyallpur in the Punjab, one of the objects being to obtain wheats immune or at least resistant to rusts which would serve as parents in raising rust resistant hybrids. Biffen last year suggested that a trial should be made with Einkorn (Triticum monococcum vulgare, Kcke.), and kindly supplied us with a sample of the seed.

Initial pH of buffalo semen as measured electrometrically is 7.2 ± 0.025 and the buffering capacity 1.40 ± 0.026. Sulphamezathine in glucose–egg yolk–bicarbonate diluent depressed fructolysis in buffalo semen. This depression is considered to be a factor in the better maintenance of motility in this than in other media investigated. The more alkaline pH of this medium also appears to be beneficial in preserving motility on storage.

Kale silage was made in five large silos and the losses of dry matter and kale constituents determined.

The losses of dry matter averaged 33%, of N-free extract 41% and of crude protein 34%.

The percentage losses are higher than with wellmade grass silage, but, nevertheless, the yields of silage (and animal nutrients) per acre compare very favourably with those of other crops, including grass.

Inclusion of straw in kale silage did not reduce losses of dry matter; it merely reduced slightly the quantity of water lost.

Data from the laboratory examination of fleece samples from representative animals of the parental Border Leicester and Cheviot stock, the F1 “half-breds” and the F2 ewes, are submitted.

The characters of mean fibre length, fineness and mean fibre volume are discussed, the variability found in the various types being particularly noted. The distributions of fibre lengths are also considered, it being found that all the parental forms also appear in the succeeding generations.

Evidence of blending inheritance is not manifest in the results, which support the interpretation of multiple factors as responsible for the expression of the wool characters of length and fineness.

Attention is called to the importance of considering fibre volumes as criteria of follicle activity.

The potential benefits of high-energy supplements, such as cereal grains, for grazing ruminants are commonly eroded by an accompanying depression in the digestion and intake of the basal herbage (McCullough, 1959). Low ruminal pH (< 6·0) induced by the rapid rate of production of the acids of starch fermentation, and competition between cellulolytie and amylolytic bacteria for limited nutrients, are known to be responsible for inhibition of cellulolysis (Terry, Tilley & Outen, 1969; Stewart, 1977; el Shazly, Dehority & Johnson, 1961). However, there are reports of reduced roughage digestion when nutrients appear to be non-limiting and pH is maintained above 6·0 (Gilchrist et al. 1979; Henning et al. 1980). The possibility remains that intermediates or end products of starch digestion have specific inhibitory effects on the numbers of cellulolytie organisms or on the activity of their extracellular cellulases.

1. Studies lead to the conclusion that Chibnall-preparations of pasturage proteins, in spite of their small amounts of carbohydrate impurity, may yet yield, on hydrolysis by mineral acids, practically the right amounts even of most of those amino-acids which are adversely affected by carbohydrates to some extent when tested singly under the conditions.

2. Preparations made in another way after treating the pasturage with ether as in the original Chibnall-method showed features of interest in the problem of attaining very pure proteins now much needed for purposes of comparison.

3. A new method is introduced by which it is possible to compare what may be extracted from the protoplasm of fresh unpulverized pasturages with the composition of the natural saps on a unit weight basis.

4. Production and breakdown of protoplasmic protein in perennial rye-grass during growth consistently appeared related to variations in the content of “nitrogen” and phosphates in the saps and the supplies of “nitrogen” and phosphates from the soil.

A comparison of objective and subjective appraisals of the yield of Australian greasy wool sale lots is reported.

Results suggest that although the overall agreement between the two systems of appraisal is good, the subjective estimate of an individual sale lot will only lie within ± 6% of the objective estimate in 95% of cases.

1. Early transplanting of seedlings resulted in the production of rice plants with greater total tiller and leaf number, greater total leaf area, leaf area per shoot and per leaf lamina, greater height, greater total fresh weight yield and yield of grain than late transplanting.

2. Early transplanting reduced the number of days from seeding to ear emergence.

3. Deep transplanting favoured greater leaf area per shoot and per leaf lamina and greater maximum tiller number and reduced the percentage tiller mortality.

4. Deep placement of fertilizer resulted in the production of plants with greater tiller and total leaf numbers, greater height, greater total leaf area, leaf area per shoot and per leaf lamina and greater total fresh weight and grain dry weight than surface placement.

5. Deep placement of fertilizer hastened the time of ear emergence of late transplanted seedlings.

6. The practical significance of these findings is that early transplanting of seedlings (30 days old), shallow transplanting, and deep placement of fertilizer will lead to greater yield of the rice variety BG 79.

During recent years increasing use has been made of carcass measurements to assess differences in the conformation, growth rates and carcass quality of bacon pigs. The measurements usually taken are: (a) thickness of back fat at one or more points, (b) thickness of flank at one or more points, and (c) the length of the carcass. Whilst at present there is fairly general agreement as to where the back-fat and flank measurements should be taken, the same agreement is not found in the case of carcass length.

Field experiments of modern design that included carrots were first made at Woburn in 1934, to compare the value of nitrogen in dried poultry manure with ammonium sulphate. The experiments were repeated at several centres and continued until 1939. Most other crops responded well to nitrogen but in only one of the five experiments containing carrots did ammonium sulphate at 3 cwt/acre increase the root yield, and in two it significantly depressed yield. Ammonium sulphate tended to lessen plant numbers, but it increased the yield of tops (Rothamsted Experimental Station, 1934)

Whole-body oxygen (O2) consumption was measured continuously in pigs from the product of blood flow through the pulmonary artery and arterio-venous (AV) difference of blood O2 content across the lungs (pulmonary AV procedure). Blood flow in the pulmonary artery, a measure of cardiac output, was monitored continuously using a transit-time ultrasound flow probe surgically implanted around the artery. The O2 content of pulmonary artery blood, which represents mixed venous blood O2 aturation (SvO2) was recorded continuously by fibre-optic oximetry. The relative constancy of arterial blood oxygen saturation (SaO2), obtained by catheterization of the saphenous artery, obviated the need for continuous monitoring. Complete recovery from surgical procedures, as indicated by the absence of infection and a return to pre-surgery food intake, occurred in 3–5 days. The combination of transit-time ultrasound and fibre-optic oximetry allowed the pulmonary AV procedure to provide continuous data on the oxygen consumption of growing pigs at high temperatures.

Singh & Taneja (1978a, 6, 1981) have reported on several aspects of salinity tolerance in Indian desert sheep breeds, for example, maintenance of body weight, feed and water intake, body water compartments and blood characteristics. No report is available in the literature on the effect of varying levels of salt intake from drinking water on reproductive performance in these animals. The earlier reports on salinity tolerance in sheep have been almost wholly based on the animals' response to different levels of sodium chloride in synthesized drinking waters. It is, however, generally agreed that the upper limit of total salt tolerance in sheep depends not only on the concentration of the most abundant salt constituent in the drinking water (usually sodium chloride), but also on the concentrations of the other constituents. Divalent cations (calcium and magnesium) and anions (sulphates and carbonates) in the water are believed to be more toxic than the monovalent cations and anions (sodium and chloride).

Response of wheat to fertilizer-P on soils low and medium in available P increased with increasing doses up to 26 kg P/ha; responses were proportionately greater on medium-P soils. Application of 39 kg P/ha increased the response slightly on low-P but decreased it drastically on medium-P soils. The relatively small response on low-P soils may be due to fixation of fertilizer-P. The results indicate that the maximum response to fertilizer-P may be obtained only when P fixing capacity of the soil is satisfied so that sufficient P for the crop remains in the soil solution. The results of this investigation suggest that fertilizer should be applied on the basis of soil test data of individual fields instead of following regional recommendations.

The weights of components of the alimentary tract were recorded in 55 swamp buffaloes and 51 zebu cattle slaughtered at Bogor in West Java. These were related to hot carcass weight (HCW) and slaughter live weight (SLW), the latter being calculated from locally developed regressions relating live weight to chest girth. Huxley's (1932) allometric equation was used in its logarithmic form as the basis for covariance analyses of the data. A stepwise regression analysis was also undertaken using a linear model relating HCW and gut component weight to species, sex, age and slaughter condition with SLW as the independent variable.

There were significant differences in dressing percentage between buffaloes (38·1 %) and zebus (44·8%) at 340 kg SLW and these were due to species differences in full gut weight rather than weights of other non-carcass components. The allometric growth coefficients for total gut, or gut component, were generally higher in buffaloes than zebus, but the differences were not statistically significant. Together with other published data, these observations suggest that the gut contents may contribute more to the increase in live weight of buffaloes than in zebus.

At the same SLW or HCW, the buffaloes had the heavier weights of full and empty total gut, full and empty reticulo-rumen and total gut contents. At the same total empty gut weight, buffaloes had the heavier empty reticulo-rumen. It was suggested that Indonesian swamp buffaloes and zebu cattle fed on village-type low-quality diets may also differ in the rate of development of their alimentary tract and this could have implications for their comparative nutritional physiology.

The present study was made to evaluate the protein quality of 11 samples of fish meal (FM) covering a wide range of nutrient content to find a suitable laboratory method for predicting nutritive quality. The nutrient content of the samples ranged from 34 to 62% in crude protein, 28 to 48% in true protein and 0·99 to 2·87% in available lysine. The true protein content of FM was further partitioned into myogen, myosin and stroma proteins. The stroma protein accounted for 61% of total crude protein suggesting that a large portion of FM comprised scales, viscera, cartilage, bones and other inedible parts of fish (head, tail, etc.). Neither true protein nor its different fractions was found suitable to detect differences in protein quality of FM although there was an inverse relationship between stroma protein and nitrogen solubility.

Available lysine content and relative nutritive value (RNV) were found accurate and reliable laboratory tests for assessing the protein quality of FM. The linear equations to predict gross protein value (GPV) from available lysine content and RNV are

GPV = 11·2×% available lysine+34·5;

GPV = 0·55×RNV+51.

The correlation coefficients between biologically assayed and predicted GPV from available lysine and RNV were 0·71 and 0·62, respectively. The findings suggest that the screening of FM samples for their nutrient content is essential before compounding diets for different categories of chickens.

In each of two experiments the comparative slaughter technique was used to compare the retention of energy by young Border Leicester × Merino wethers when the same total amount of food was offered according to two different feeding regimens. These were designed to simulate, in pens with a diet of pelleted lucerne, feeding patterns typical of continuous and intensive rotational grazing.

In the first experiment ten 9-month-old sheep that were offered the same amount of food daily (mean intake 367 g digestible organic matter) during each of 14 weeks made mean daily gains of 39 g live weight, 6·3 g body fat and 0·59 MJ (140 kcal) energy compared with a gain of 30 g live weight, a loss of 1·4 g body fat and a gain of 0·28 MJ (67 kcal) energy by a similar group that ate the same total quantity of food but in amounts that ranged, during each week, from 1·8 to 0·1 times the daily intake of the other group. This cyclic feeding pattern caused a small decrease in the digestibility of dietary organic matter.

In the second experiment two similar feeding patterns were compared with ten pairs of 3-month-old sheep eating twice as much food each week as in the first experiment. One member of each pair was, in each of 13 weeks, offered food ad lib. for 3 days and then amounts falling to 20% of voluntary intake on the seventh day; the other one ate the same amount of food each week but in seven almost equal feeds. The latter sheep gained, on average, 132 g live weight daily and retained 58 g body fat and 2·96 MJ (707 kcal) energy compared with 124 g live weight, 49 g body fat and 2·61 MJ (624 kcal) energy by the sheep on the cyclic feeding pattern. In neither experiment was wool growth affected by feeding pattern.

The greater effect of the cyclic feeding pattern in reducing the efficiency of energy retention in the first experiment is attributed to the higher number of days each week during which these animals were estimated to be in negative energy balance. These results suggest that adverse nutritional effects of a fluctuating feeding pattern in rotational grazing are likely to be most important where sheep are being rationed near their maintenance level and only small where food is ample.

The personality of an animal is described by traits that cause consistent actions and reactions to environmental stimuli. An important part of personality is the reaction to unpleasant or uncontrollable situations. Methods described in the literature to measure personality in animals are often based on measuring or rating escape behaviour in these situations. In the methods described, human handlers are frequently part of the experiment or the animals’ personalities are scored by humans. Thus, these methods are at least partly subjective.

In the current study, an appliance to measure objectively the escape behaviour of ungulates and their reluctance during an uncontrollable situation (restraint) with a rather simple and comprehensible methodology is presented using a force transducer with adequate peripheral equipment. While the animals were restrained, a tractive force-time diagram describing escape behaviour was recorded and later analysed with software developed specifically.

To evaluate this newly developed technical method, 24 three-month-old calves were restrained by being tethered for 30 min on a halter that was connected to the force transducer. From the tractive force-time diagram, tractive force, maximal tractive force and the number of pulls that the calves performed during 5-min intervals were calculated. The multivariate results were analysed with a k-means-algorithm (function ‘kcca’) and a hierarchical clustering (function ‘hclust’) included in R version 2.12.1.

Both analyses revealed two clearly separated clusters including the same individuals in each analysis. The animals of cluster 1 showed a continuously higher reaction level than those of cluster 2 with a strong reaction in the beginning, a short decrease before increasing during the middle of the experiment and a final decrease at the end of the test. The animals of cluster 2 had a lower and quite steady reaction level throughout the experiment, although even here a slight increase during the middle of the experiment could be detected before a final decrease towards the end of the test was shown. There was no significant difference in weight between the two clusters.

The results showed that this newly developed method was able to detect differences in the animals’ escape behaviour patterns and reluctance with the measured parameters.

The aim of the current study was to determine how cooling and supplemental recombinant bovine somatotropin (rbST) affect body function with respect to digestion kinetics, digestibility and other variables relevant to milk production in cross-bred Holstein cattle. Ten primiparous cross-bred dairy cattle (0·875 Holstein Friesian×0·125 Red Shindi) were used and divided into two groups of five animals each that were housed in a normal shaded barn (NS barn; non-cooled cows) and in a shaded barn with mist-fan cooling (MF; cooled cows). The cows in each group were supplemented with rbST in early, mid and late stages of lactation with three consecutive subcutaneous injections of 500 mg rbST every 14 days. All cows were fed the same total mixed ration twice daily at approximately 1·1 of assumed ad libitum intake and water was offered ad libitum. During the experimental periods, values of ambient temperatures and temperature humidity index (THI) in the NS barn were significantly higher than in the MF barn, whereas the relative humidity in the MF barn was significantly higher than in the NS barn (P<0·01). The respiration rate and rectal temperature were significantly higher for non-cooled cows than for cooled cows during the daytime whether there was or was not rbST supplementation. Supplementation of rbST for either cooled or non-cooled cows significantly increased dry matter intake (DMI), the efficiency of feed utilization and milk yields (P<0·05). Digesta kinetics using chromic oxide as an external marker showed a high digesta passage rate constant and low mean retention time of digesta in cows either by cooling or supplementation of rbST, whereas no changes were seen for the digestibility of dry matter (DM), organic matter (OM), crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF). The half-time of Cr2O3 in the whole digestive tract of cooled cows was lower than those of non-cooled cows and significantly decreased (P<0·05) during rbST supplementation in both groups in all stages of lactation. The magnitude of responses for the digesta passage rate and efficiency of feed utilization were larger in animals supplemented with rbST than in animals under MF cooling only.

The main effect of cooling and supplemental rbST was to improve digestion by an increase in the rate of passage of digesta and in turn an increase in feed intake. Digestibility was not influenced by changes in passage rate of digesta either by cooling or rbST supplementation. Milk production in response to rbST supplementation is probably enhanced with cooling. The increased milk production induced by rbST supplementation was mediated by increased efficiency of feed utilization without changes in diet digestibility.

A detailed study of nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) and its components in three cultivars of winter wheat, Hereward, Rialto and Riband was undertaken in cultivar trials conducted in Northern Ireland in 1998 and 1999. Yield, grain N concentration, harvest index (HI), nitrogen harvest index (NHI), N uptake efficiency (NUpE), total N uptake, grain N off-take, N utilization efficiency (NUtE) and NUE itself all showed significant variation between sites. Cvars Hereward and Rialto had similar mean values across all the sites for many of the characteristics, with Riband usually differing. In all but one characteristic, grain N concentration, the responses of the three cultivars varied significantly from trial to trial and this, along with the substantial variation between sites, indicates that genetic control of the characteristics is partial. The amount of N applied as fertilizer accounted for little of the variation among the trials with weak associations for NUpE, which decreased, and grain yield, which increased with increasing fertilizer N. Neither grain yield nor NUE was associated with the amount of N taken up by the crop, but grain N concentration increased and NUtE decreased significantly. HI and NHI differed significantly among the cultivars, diverging at higher N uptakes, with Hereward and Rialto being similar and distinctly different from Riband. Grain yield was only weakly associated with NUpE but was strongly and positively associated with NUtE and NUE. The strong negative association between NUtE and NUpE highlights the potential and the urgency of understanding factors influencing uptake of nitrogen by crops. The extent of the non-genetic, i.e. environmental and management, variation in the characteristics, along with the relative similarity of the cultivar means, throws up a challenge to plant breeders, agronomists and researchers wishing to improve NUE genetically and through management. As with yield and other characteristics, a large number of trials will be required to identify consistent differences in NUE among cultivars. Thus, while mechanisms underlying NUE, NUpE and NUtE need to be understood, the possibility of using the HGCA UK Recommended List database to investigate NUE and identify cultivars with improved NUE should also be considered. Since in each of the HGCA trials cultivars have access to the same available N, and since grain yield=available N×NUE, grain yield itself is a surrogate for the NUE of cultivars. Grain N concentration is only determined in a few cultivars at present but could be used as an indicator of optimal N availability in individual trials, allowing variation in NUE of cultivars in response to agro-ecological factors on NUE to be studied.