ALBERT

Notes: As a preliminary step in the development of improved bred varieties an examination has been made of the factors which contribute to the success or failure of white clover (Trifolium repens) in hill land reseeding. Severe restrictions are placed on clover performance and N fixation in many hill areas in Britain by the poor climate, the low pH and exchangeable base status of the soils and the low frequency of effective indigenous Rhizobium strains.Agronomic solutions to some of these problems exist, but experience in mid-Wales suggests the need for new bred varieties with improved adaptation to the prevailing conditions, particular attention being directed to the limitation of N fixation by low soil temperature.

Notes: Swards based on a mixture of SI 70 tall fescue and S215 meadow fescue were very early in spring, gave high yields for conservation in mid-season and, rested from mid-August, gave good grazing in November-December. Under this treatment, the tall fescue assumed dominance, and the swards were persistent and remained productive. The digestibility of the tall fescue swards was always higher than that of swards based on cocksfoot with which they were compared. During spring and autumn the former sward was better grazed by stock, but the position was reversed in mid-summer. Cattle grazing tall-fescue-dominant swards made better liveweight gains than those grazing cocksfoot swards during November-December.

Notes: The distribution of natural and cultivated grasslands in relation to climate and the use of various indices and diagrams in studies of crops and climate are discussed. Attempts to establish simple linear relationships between yield and weather components have been disappointing. Studies involving light, theoretical considerations of productivity, adaptation of herbage plants in relation to climatic origin, etc. have proved more useful. Problems involved in extending the work conducted under controlled conditions to the field, are stressed. Particularly important is a better characterization of the environment prevailing in and immediately above swards of different types. The importance of winter survival in Britain is discussed.

Notes: The botanical changes in a wet (Molinia) and a drier (Nardtts) upland pasture that followed a single defoliation by a forage harvester are briefly described. Without fertilizer the bare and litter-covered areas were soon recolonized by the original dominants; with lime and fertilizer the recolonization was mainly by Agrostis spp., even when Agrostis was a minor element in the original sward. These changes were markedly accelerated by the forage-harvester treatment. The results of surface seeding after the forage-harvester treatment are compared with those obtained after rotary cultivation. Contrasting moisture regimes and competitive thresholds led to considerable differences in sward balance and in establishment of sown species, and seeding was successful only on the wetter site. Too rapid regeneration of undesirable remnants was prevalent, but this and other hazards are related to the uneven deposit of litter left by the forage harvester; thick, slowly-rotting accumulations inhibited the redevelopment of rapidly-growing species and germination on seeded areas.

Notes: For trade union bargainers one of the infallible laws of political economy is that wages lag behind prices. This means that in an inflationary era the real value of the wage to which their members are entitled will be eroded, and some compensation will have to be made for this at the next round of wage negotiations. Therefore, changes in the cost of living since the last settlement will be regarded by trade unions as one of the most important factors to be taken into account in arriving at a new settlement. This is implicit in the statement made by the TUC in 1971 that “it requires pay increases of at least 10 per cent simply to restore the real disposable pay of a union's previous settlement 12 months earlier”. Economists, on the other hand, argue that once an inflation is under way, then economic agents will develop an inflationary psychology—that is, they will expect it to continue and will adjust their behaviour accordingly. If this is correct, trade union bargainers will attempt to anticipate inflation by trying to fix the money wage at a higher level than they would aim for if the price level were more stable.

Notes: The author argues that an incomes policy with an element of enforced saving could be an effective way of combating cost inflation

Notes: The alluvial aquifer underlying and adjacent to the Mojave River near Barstow, California, has been subjected to degradation from percolation of industrial and municipal wastes for more than 60 years. Effluents discharged to the aquifer have contained high concentrations of both organic (detergents, oil and grease, phenols, humic compounds, and others) and inorganic (chromium, chloride, phosphates, and others) substances. The concentration of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), as determined by a wet combustion technique, has been shown to be a definitive parameter in identifying ground water affected by waste disposal. DOC concentrations ranged from 0.1 to 0.8 milligram per liter in the nondegraded ground water and exceeded 6 milligrams per liter in the ground water affected by the waste discharge.The general distribution of DOC in the degraded ground water has been defined both areally and vertically. The vertical distribution of DOC and other constituents indicates that two plumes of degraded water occur at different depths. A comparison of the areal distribution of DOC and detergents (as MBAS) suggests that some organic compounds may have been adsorbed by the aquifer sediments.

Notes: (1) A survey of the macro-invertebrates and fish in the River Cynon, a trout stream in south-east Wales receiving industrial and domestic wastes, and nine of its tributaries, was carried out in the summer of 1970. Its principal purpose was to describe the structure of these communities before waste treatment facilities, in course of construction, reduce the degree of pollution.(2) The macro-invertebrate communities changed dramatically at station C4, there being a very varied fauna upstream and one dominated by chironomids and oligochaetes downstream, principally Nais barbata., Cricotopus bicinctus and Syncricotopus rufiventris. It seems likely that coal particles, influencing the substrate, are largely responsible for this change. Further downstream, and below substantial organic discharges, tubificids and the enchytraeid, Lumbricillus rivalis, became increasingly abundant. The total density of macro-invertebrates increased from about 2000/m2 in the headwaters to over 20,000/m2 in the lower reaches.(3) The fauna of the clean tributaries, Hir (C16) and Wenallt (C19) was similar to that ofthe unpolluted upper reaches ofthe Cynon (C1-C3) whereas that of tributaries affected by coal particles was similar to the fauna of the Cynon downstream of C4.(4) Six species of fish were recorded (bullhead, eel, minnow, trout, stickleback and stoneloach) of which tbree (bullhead, eel and trout) were confined to reaches upstream (C8 and above) of industrial eflluents at Abercwmboi. For 0–8 km downstream of these effluents the river was fishless and further downstream, to the confluence with the River Taff, fish density and biomass were reduced.(5) In the upper Cynon and its tributaries the density and biomass of trout were within the range recorded elsewhere in the British Isles. The growth rate of trout in the catchment is low. Diflerences in growth rate and shape of trout in the main river and tributaries suggest that there is little interchange between these areas, except perhaps with very young fish. 0 +* fish were only caught in abundance at two tributary stations and their numbers, even if widely distributed, could not permanently support the current density of older fish throughout the upper catchment.(6) Stone loach and minnow reached a very large size and individuals caught of the latter species approached the maximum recorded length for the British Isles.

Notes: Two silages of contrasting protein content were compared in a 16-week winter-feeding experiment with 12 Ayrshire cows. One silage contained 8.2% DCP in its DM and the other 15.9% DCP. The silages were fed ad lib. with a supplement of either barley or barley plus groundnut cake. The DM digestibilities of the low and high protein silages were 74 and 67%, respectively, and the calculated S.E.s 56 and 47. Silage and total DM intakes were highest in the treatments containing low protein silage and in those containing groundnut. The mean daily milk yields for the treatments with and without groundnut were 35.4 and 32.s5 Ib (16.1 and 14.8 kg), respectively, with the high-protein silage, and 38.1 and 35.0 Ib (17.3 and 15.9 kg) with the low-protein silage. The S.N.F. contents of the milk were low and averaged 8.26 and 8.34% on the high- and low-protein silage treatments, respectively, and were not affected significantly by the supplements. It is concluded that the low-protein silage was superior to the high-protein silage as a feed for cows, and that the digestibility of the silage DM was a truer indication of quality than protein content.