ALBERT

Beschreibung: 1. Phytic acid in cereals and in certain rations based on cereals was incompletely hydrolysed during its passage through the intestinal tract of the pullet.2. The percentage recovery in the droppings of phytic acid in a ration (24·2%) based on cereals plus extracted soya bean meal was considerable even when the ration included no calcium supplements. Both calcium carbonate and tricalcic phosphate greatly increased the percentage recovery. A supplement of calcium carbonate led to a somewhat higher recovery of phytic acid than a supplement of tricalcic phosphate containing the same amount of calcium.3. The recovery of phytic acid tended to be somewhat higher in laying birds than in non-laying birds; this may have been associated with decreased amounts of calcium in the alimentary tract due to the demands for egg-shell formation.4. The observations of Knowles et al. on the composition of the droppings of non-laying pullets on certain rations were confirmed; it was found, however, that their rule connecting the amounts of carbonate, calcium and phosphorus in such droppings did not extend (a) to the case of laying pullets, or (b) to certain other rations of wider Ca/P ratio.5. The interpretation of the rule enunciated by Knowles et al. to mean that calcium and phosphorus are normally excreted by the pullet as dicalcium phosphate and calcium carbonate was shown to be untenable in view of the fact that the droppings may obey this rule and yet contain considerable amounts of phosphorus in organic combination.

Beschreibung: 1. For both genetical and methodological reasons, tests for quality, in the majority of breeding schemes, are not required at the early stages of the breeding process.2. Reliability and definition of any one empirical test is not sufficient to safeguard against losses of valuable material.3. It is suggested, therefore, that as a rule agronomically promising lines should be carried on to a stage where comprehensive tests, using a number of selected methods, can be carried out, preferably over a number of seasons. It may be questioned whether a combination of such tests as the wholemeal fermentation and the gluten swelling tests (Pelshenke, 1938a) would suffice. In the light of the available evidence a testing system might be suggested comprising baking tests together with such “indirect” and, better still, “analytical” methods as will afford accurate information of an analytical nature.4. This review of the testing problem suggests the conclusion that empirical tests are limited in their significance and reliability, and that only an increased knowledge of the fundamentals can afford a truly scientific approach. It should be admitted that the plant breeder, with his insistence on empirical tests where fundamental knowledge was lacking, has side-tracked the cereal chemist from the narrow path of scientific approach all too often. It is questionable whether this has been to the ultimate advantage of wheat breeding.5. Inheritance studies on quality should greatly facilitate the task of the breeder. They will become feasible and valuable only when the nature of the desirable characters and the true significance of the testing methods are clearly understood.

Beschreibung: A new method of analysing the results of experiments arranged in lattice (quasi-Latin) square designs is described. By this method the information contained in the inter-row and inter-column comparisons is recovered. The procedure followed is to estimate the actual accuracy of the inter-row and inter-column comparisons relative to intra-row and column comparisons, and assign weights proportional to these relative accuracies.The methods of computation by which this procedure can be carried out expeditiously are described in detail, and are illustrated by two experiments carried out at Rothamsted and Woburn. The gains in accuracy obtained in these two experiments (as compared with ordinary randomized blocks) were approximately 30% and 60% respectively, allowing for losses of information due to inaccuracies of weighting.

Beschreibung: 1. An examination of carcass reports from two groups of bacon pigs (comprising eleven litters and seventy-five pigs) was made to determine whether the variation in growth rate of normally reared pigs was associated with differences in carcass measurements. The method adopted was to fit orthogonal polynomials to the third degree to the last 10–11 fortnightly weighings converted to logarithms.2. The residual standard deviation after fitting was about 2–4%. For present purposes, the fitting of second degree parabolae appeared adequate.

Beschreibung: Apparatus for measuring the rate of diffusion of carbon dioxide through granular solids is described and the results obtained with it are shown to conform to the curve connecting D/D0 and S previously obtained for carbon disulphide and acetone. The equation D/D0 = 0·66S, which it is suggested should replace Buckingham's equation D/D0=S2, is applied to a discussion of soil aeration, and it is shown that at all porosities the rate of diffusion of carbon dioxide from the soil is sufficient to account for normal respiration without invoking the assistance of meteorological changes. A further application of the equation to water vapour movement in soils is briefly discussed.

Beschreibung: 1. With three different groups, each of two zebu and two zebu × Ayrshire grade oxen, and ten typical East African feeding stuffs, no significant difference was found between the average digestibility coefficients recorded with the zebu and the grade oxen.2. The slight differences in feeding values were also of no practical significance.3. Some of the zebu × Ayrshire cattle were 3/4 and others 7/8 Ayrshire but the higher grading to the European breed apparently did not affect the digestive powers.

Beschreibung: The present investigation was intended to furnish information concerning:(1) The movement of water-soluble and exchangeable potassium in the soil profile after successive fertilizer applications.(2) The form of potassium—exchangeable, soluble, or non-exchangeable—into which added potassium fertilizer is converted in the soil.(3) The effect of doubling the fertilizer ration on the absorption of potassium by the soil; and the effect of doubling the ration of irrigation water on the absorption and accumulation of potassium in the soil.(4) The effect of frequent successive summer irrigation following fertilizer application on the distribution of the three forms of soil potassium.(5) The effect of fertilization followed by irrigation on soil pH. value.

Beschreibung: 1. In the Eastern Counties of England, annual wastage from milk recorded dairy herds amounts to 29·3 % of the number of cows at the beginning of the year.2. Average length of productive herd life in milk recorded herds is 3·4 years.3. Average length of total productive life in milk recorded herds is probably a little more than 4 years. Average length of total productive life in all herds is probably longer, and may be of the order of 5 years.4. Deaths of cows are equivalent to 10·4% of the total wastage, and to a mortality rate of 3·0% of the number of cows at the beginning of the year.5. During the three-year period 1934–5 to 1936–7, cows leaving the herd realized an average of £10. 10s. 6d. per head. The average market value placed upon heifers when they entered the milking herd was £20. 14s. per head, while cows for replacement purposes cost an average of £22. 5s. per head.6. Of all replacements, 67·7 % are heifers, but not all of these are home-bred. In annual valuations, 49·0 % of cows are described as homebred, 50·6% as purchased and 0·4% as unknown.

Beschreibung: A method is described by which small quantities of indolyl acetic acid can be detected and measured quantitatively, depending on the effect of this substance on osmotic pressure of root hair cells of wheat seedlings. Full details are given of the procedure adopted and the precautions which it was found necessary to take, and suggestions are put forward as to how the method might be rendered more accurate if necessary. Possible sources of e"rror are also discussed.An experiment is described in which this method is used to determine what effect is produced by different manurial treatments on the content of indolyl acetic acid in the soil. It was found that farmyard manure tended to increase the quantity present.

Beschreibung: No attempt will be made to give a detailed summary of all the findings of the present experiment. It is rather our purpose to draw attention to the main principles emerging.1. The influence of extremes of high and low planes of nutrition during the first 16 weeks of post-natal life upon the growth in body proportions and in anatomical composition has been studied experimentally in six pairs of closely inbred pigs. Quantitative differences in nutrition operative from birth have resulted in an average live weight at 16 weeks of 113 lb. in the High-Plane and 37 lb. in the Low-Plane animals.2. In body proportions, the head, ears, neck, legs, and body length are penalized relatively less by inadequate nutrition than are body depth, loin, and hindquarters. Conversely, good nutrition favours most the latter characters. These effects upon body form are similarly evident i n the gross weight of the different anatomical regions involved. Low-Plane animals to a large extent retain the proportions of the juvenile and High-Plane approach the conformation of the adult