A field experiment was made with pigeon pea (Cajanus cajan (L.) Millsp.) at the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, New Delhi, during the rainy seasons of 1975 and 1976 to study the effects of plant type, plant population density and the application of phosphate fertilizer on growth and yield of pigeon pea. Cultivars BS-1 and UPAS-120 produced significantly more grain with 100 × 103 plants/ha, whereas the cultivar Prabhat produced most when 200 × 103 plants/ha were grown. Application of 13 kg P/ha increased most growth and yield attributes and increased the grain yield significantly over the control to which no P was given; however, no additional increase was obtained when 26 kg P/ha was given. The highest-yielding cultivar BS-1 benefited most from phosphate fertilizer.

An insignificant short-term increase in the natural dose of ionizing radiation during the embryogenesis period is beneficial not only for the embryonic development of the chicks, but also for their postembryonic growth and development as well as the egg production of the pullets.

Irradiation of incubated eggs with microdoses of radioactive radiations is another possibility for the utilization of atomic energy bringing about an improvement in the economically useful properties of poultry.

It is now generally recognized that the pH of a silage is the best single criterion of its quality. In other words, it is regarded as the best single guide to the type of fermentation that has taken place in the mass in the silo and thus serves to indicate the degree of success achieved in the ensilage process, whatever the crop or its stage of growth. For instance, in the case of silages, made with or without molasses, where the pH is at or below 4·0, the silage would be deemed to be of ‘excellent’ quality, that at 4·0-4·5 would be designated ‘good’, that at 4·5–5·0 only ‘moderate’, and at or above the latter figure the silage would be classified as ‘bad’. To get a complete picture of the chemical changes that have taken place and to assess the feeding value of a silage is quite a different matter and is not the object of the present note.

A field trial was conducted during 1982–3 and 1983–4 on a loamy sand soil to study the effect of magnesium application to the soil and in foliar spray in relation to various levels of nitrogen on the growth and yield of wheat. Results indicate that wheat responde significantly to magnesium application only at the higher level of nitrogen. At the higher level of N (120 kg/ha), the response of wheat to magnesium application (10 kg/ha) to the soil and in foliar spray was 56 and 68 kg grain/kg Mg, respectively. However, the corresponding values at a low level of N (60 kg/ha) were only 14 and 15 kg grain/kg Mg. Magnesium at the higher level of N increased the chlorophyll content of leaves, leaf area index, interception of photosynthetically active radiation, number of ear-bearing tillers and number of grains per ear. The higher level of magnesium (20 kg/ha) did not result in extra beneficial effect compared with the lower level of Mg (10 kg/ha). Maximum interception of photosynthetically active radiation by the wheat canopy coincided with the attainment of maximum leaf area index and chlorophyll content of leaves at 90 days after sowing.

Soya beans grown on land planted the previous year with inoculated soya beans produced more nodules, lodging, seed yield, 1000 seed weight, and protein content and less seed oil concentration as compared to those grown on land that was planted with non-inoculated soya beans. Nitrogen fertilization (120kg N/ha) reduced the total number of nodules per plant. Increasing inoculation rates of the seed increased the dry weight of nodules per plant. Location, nitrogen fertilization, and inoculation increased or decreased the levels of certain amino acids but had no significant effect on the sulphur amino acids, cystine and methionine.

Carcass yield and chemical composition of edible meat of fifteen fattened yearling rams and fifteen fattened yearling wethers of Sudan Desert sheep were studied. The animals studied were random samples from groups which had been fattened for 2 months on three different rations. They were about 14 months old at slaughter, and their weights at slaughter ranged from 25 to 52 kg. The average dressing percentage for rams and wethers was 53·0 and 52·2% respectively. Warm carcass weights were 20·22 kg for rams and 19·64 kg for wethers, and these carcasses lost 4·2 and 3·1% of their weight respectively, after 48 h storage in the cold room at 0°C. The bone content of carcasses of rams and wethers was 23·4 and 21·3% respectively. The longissimus dorsi ‘loin eye’ area at the 12th rib was 8·6 cm2 and 8·3 cm2 for rams and wethers. The proportions of wholesale cuts in ram and wether carcasses were comparable, whereas the proportions of slaughter by-products varied between the two ‘sexes’. Mean weight of kidney fat in wethers was 50% greater than in intact rams, but the mesenteric and caul fat was heavier in rams than in wethers.

Ram carcasses had higher specific gravity than those of wether carcasses. Specific gravity was negatively correlated with fat content and positively correlated with protein, moisture and ash content of the edible meat of the carcass. The regression equations relating specific gravity to the major chemical components of meat had too high standard errors to be of predictive value in a practical sense.

The main findings of the present trials may be. summarized as follows:

(1) When ‘mineralized’, cooked potatoes are fed as the bulky supplemental food in the Lehmann system of pig-feeding, and the basal meal allowance is restricted to 3 lb. per head per day, bacon pigs are able to make as good progress, in respect both of rate of live-weight increase and economy of food conversion, and at every stage from 60 to 200 lb. live weight, as they would if kept on a diet composed wholly of balanced meal. In the present trials, pigs of about 200 lb. live weight were able to consume 15–17 lb. of cooked potatoes per day in addition to the daily allowance of 3 lb. of meal. It required, on an average, about 1030 lb. of cooked potatoes and 311 lb. of balanced meal per pig to fatten the animals from 60 to 200 lb. live weight. The cooked potatoes, when assessed on the air-dry standard of 13 % moisture, were able to replace the balanced meal on a lb. for lb. basis without detriment to the progress of the pigs, and the average saving of meal thus made possible amounted to about 225 lb. per pig, or 38·2 % of the total meal consumed per pig on the control, all-meal diet.

(2) Cooked potatoes should be introduced into the ration gradually and the allowance should be scaled according to live weight in the manner adopted in the present trials. When the amount to be fed is large, it is best to feed ‘mineralized’, cooked potatoes only during the morning and to place the basal meal in the trough towards the end of the afternoon.

Two objectives were in view in undertaking this research.; to ascertain the cost in energy of muscular work in the goat and to investigate the adaptability of the Douglas-Haldane method of indirect calorimetry to work experiments on this animal. It is to the results of human experiments chiefly, that the present position of the physiology of muscular exercise is due which owes comparatively little to experiments on other animals. Zuntz and his school (1) have, however, compared the effect of a fixed amount of work on men, horses and dogs, and Lusk (2) has carried out some investigations into the influence of work on the dog. The principal obstacle hitherto in the way of employing animals other than man for work investigations has been the want of a sufficiently adaptable technique. Zuntz's experiments on the horse were conducted by means of a tracheal cannula, a device that, though fairly adaptable for work experiments, is not always desirable. Lusk's experiments were carried out in his respiration calorimeter where the applicability was very limited. Boothby and Sandiford(3) and Kunde(4) have carried out metabolic investigations on dogs by means of the Benedict apparatus, but here again the device is only of limited value for work experiments, which none of these workers have apparently yet undertaken. It was believed therefore that, if the proposed experiments were a success, in addition to possessing a certain physiological value, they would open up a wide field of research of great practical significance.

The use of town stable manure enters so largely into the economy of farms, and especially market-gardens, situated within fairly easy distance of London or other large cities, that it is somewhat curious that but little information has been published in this country as to its chemical composition. In fact, with the exception of a couple of analyses made by myself as long ago as 1889, which were published at the time in the Mark Lane Express, and subsequently reprinted in Aikman's book on “Manures and Manuring,” I do not remember to have seen any analyses of London manure. The samples which were the subject of these analyses were collected from a very limited number of stables, some of which were littered with peat moss and others with straw, the object at the moment being to compare the manure produced with the two kinds of litter. I have more recently however made some fairly full analyses of two more representative samples of London manure, but before proceeding to give these it may be desirable to reprint in this place, for future reference, the old analyses just mentioned.

Greasy fleece weight (12 months growth) and wool samples from hip and shoulder regions were taken on 15 Dorset, 20 Leicester, 20 Suffolk and 17 DLS ewes (a cross of ½ Dorset, ¼ Leicester, ¼ Suffolk obtained by mating DL rams to DS ewes and DS rams to DL ewes). The purpose of the study was to compare wool production and characteristics of the first generation of DLS with that of the three breeds of origin. Wool production of DLS was 3·58 kg, 8·8 and 14% higher than that of Suffolk and Dorset, but 11% lower than that of Leicester (P< 0·01). The percentage of clean wool was highest in Leicester (78·3%), followed by DLS, Dorset and Suffolk (76·1, 74·3 and 70·5%, respectively). The average fibre diameter of the DLS and Leicester was 38 /m, 4 /m thicker than that for Suffolk and Dorset (P < 0·01). Average fibre length was 15 cm in DLS and Dorset, 6 cm shorter than in Leicester, and 3 cm longer than in Suffolk (P < 0·01). The variability in fibre diameter and length was highest in Leicester, followed closely by DLS.

In an earlier paper the estimation of the total digestible nutrients (T.d.n.) to be expected in ruminant feedingstuffs has been described (Glover, J. Duthie, D. W. & Dougall, H. W. 1960). In a like manner the average T.d.n. in pig feeds can be estimated. The necessary equations have been obtained in earlier papers (Glover & Duthie, 1958A, b). They are, respectively

where C.p. and C.f. are percentage crude protein and crude fibre, respectively, in the dry matter of the feed, D.c.p. is digestible crude protein and N.r. the nutritive ratio. They can be used directly for the estimation of T.d.n. because by definition T.d.n. is D.c.p.(N.r. + 1); thus the T.d.n. to be expected at different levels of C.p. and C.f. can readily be calculated. Table 1 shows in abbreviated form some of the values that are obtained in the ranges 0–30% C.p. and 0–40% C.f., while Fig. 1 illustrates in detail the effect on T.d.n. of changing C.p. and C.f. levels of the diet. This figure shows clearly the very marked effect of increasing C.f. depressing the digestibility of the total nutrients in pig feeds, a fact which is already well known.

Data are presented relating various stages of growth of field-grown bush tomatoes cv. Sleaford Abundance established from dry and pre-germinated seeds and from transplants to accumulated day-degrees. In general, Ontario units predicted the dates of 50% flowering, of the first harvest and the date when 37·5 t/ha of ripe fruit had been picked, more accurately than day-degrees above 10 °C or calendar days. The number of Ontario units from sowing to 50% flowering for dry and pre-germinated seeds were 956 ± 35 and 871 ± 85, respectively. The corresponding figures from sowing to first harvest were 1958 ± 59 and 1867 ± 85. For transplanted crops the number of Ontario units from planting to 50 % flowering and from planting to first harvest were 322 ± 62 and 1352 ± 133, respectively. For transplanted crops the number of Ontario units required to give a yield of ripe fruit of 37·5 t/ha (the minimum level currently necessary on economic grounds for tomatoes for processing) was 1937 ± 112. Using this figure in conjunction with long-term meteorological records it was estimated that crops established from transplants at East Mailing, Kent (latitude 51° N), would fail to give yields of ripe fruit of 37·5 t/ha by late September on only 1–6 occasions in 100 whereas at Wellesbourne, Warwickshire (52° N) and Warsop, Nottinghamshire (53° N) crops would fail to reach this yield on 13–53 occasions in 100. Crops established directly from seeds would fail to give this yield on more than 50 occasions in 100 at all three sites.

On the adoption of a sampling method for the estimation of the yield of small experimental plots, the need arose for a threshing machine capable of threshing quickly and accurately the small sampling-units which comprise the sample from an individual plot. These sampling-units contain various numbers of ears from some three or four to twenty or more, and there is no commercial machine which deals adequately with such small quantities of grain. The number of sampling-units from a typical randomised block experiment may amount to 2500, and to thresh and winnow such numbers in two distinct operations would take no inconsiderable time. As a direct result of this, a machine was constructed in which these two operations were successively performed, without the need of handling the intermediate products. It is the object of this paper to describe this machine and the manner in which it was used for this purpose at Rothamsted last season. Wheat, oats and barley were treated, only minor alterations of the size of the screens, the speed of rotation and the strength of the blast for the separation of the chaff being necessary.

In comparing the moisture contents of soils in the field, material precision is to be gained if the sticky points are also determined and the comparison based on the difference between the two values. There is a high degree of correlation between the moisture contents and sticky points of soils in moisture equilibrium with each other.

Besides retarding somatic development, hypophysectomy markedly increases the deposition of subcutaneous fat in foetal lambs (Liggins & Kennedy, 1968). Two hypophysectomized (HX) and two pituitary stalk-sectioned (SX) foetuses became available for dissection during a study of the growth of normal Romney sheep (Broad & Davies, 1980a, b and unpublished). The present report supplements the existing information concerning the effects of altered hypophyseal function on the carcass composition of foetal lambs (Liggins & Kennedy, 1968; Alexander, 1978).

Nine normal lactating Murrah buffaloes from the Punjab Agricultural University Dairy herd were used to assess the effect of showers and evaporative cooling on plasma oxytocin concentration, let-down time, milking time and milk yield in buffaloes. The animals were showered four times daily between 10.30 and 16.30 h or provided with evaporative cooling from 07.00 to 21.00 h. In the hot and dry period the oxytocin concentration in buffaloes given a shower was significantly greater than that of the buffaloes of the control group. In the hot and humid period there was a similar trend.

It is concluded from these studies, that cooling may increase the effective milk ejection reflex because the milk-ejection response to a given blood oxytocin concentration is different when the animal is heat stressed from when it is cooled.

The effects of low and high seed rates on height, culm and panicle morphology of four oat cultivars grown in field trials in two growing seasons were investigated. Significant differences were detected between cultivars in the number of extended culm internodes, panicle whorls initiated, total height, length of panicle and individual internodes. Differences in seed rate had no effect on the number of culm internodes, but high seed rate significantly reduced the whorl number in the panicle, total plant height, length of panicle and the three upper internodes. The fourth internode remained unaffected, but the lowermost internode showed a relative length increase at high seed rate. The interaction of cultivar x seed rate was significant for total height, and for the length of the central internodes, but the length of the panicle was similarly affected in all cultivars.

Panicle conformation was markedly affected by seed rate; high population density caused a reduction in number of grain-bearing whorls, and reduced the number of spikelets and total grain weight per whorl, and 1000 grain weight particularly in the lowermost whorls. The percentage of husk in the grain was increased slightly at high seed rate. The effect of seed rate on culm and panicle morphology is discussed in relation to the development of stiffer-strawed oats.

The Agricultural and Related Industries Study Group of the Operational Research Society held a one-day meeting on ‘Decision Support Systems for Profitable Livestock Production’ on 18 November 1992 at the Meat and Livestock Commission, Milton Keynes, UK. The Group promotes the use of the scientific method in solving management problems. The aim of the meeting was to look at the contribution of advances in modelling towards improving management and hence profitability in livestock production. The first four papers concerned feeding and the remaining two breeding. A large part of the discussion could perhaps best be summed up by the regression equation which related dry matter intake and waste output from a cow. When the output was zero, the intake was reduced by 50%!