ALBERT

Description: 1. An experiment was carried out from 3 May to 10 October 1949 to compare close-folding with rotational grazing of dairy cows. With close-folding the cows were moved daily to an area of fresh pasture which was calculated to supply the day's feed requirements; the rate of stocking ranged from 50 to 80 cows per acre. With rotational grazing the cows were stocked on pasture at the rate of 6–8 cows per acre and moved from one pasture to another at intervals of 5–14 days. Two uniform groups of Ayrshire cows were used, and each group spent a period on each system of grazing. Two pastures, a ryegrass-dominant old pasture and a cocksfoot-dominant ley, were used, and as far as possible the pasture grazed by both groups of cows was similar. Nitrogenous top dressings up to 104 Ib. nitrogen per acre in the season were applied uniformly to both the close-folding and rotational areas. No supplementary feeding was given to the cows.2. The best methods of close-folding practised gave 215 and 201 cow-days of grazing per acre with 550 gal. milk per acre from the cocksfoot ley and 582 gal. from the permanent pasture. Rotational grazing on the same two pastures gave 181 and 138 cow-days and 450 and 351 gal. milk per acre respectively.

Description: The analysis of simple change-over trials based on Latin squares is considered. It is shown that several difficulties are encountered when estimates of residual effects are required. In particular, there may be biased error variances.In certain circumstances the amount of bias in the error variance can be estimated in a proportion of the experiments based on a given design. If this bias is sufficiently large to be of importance an average correction can be calculated for use with further experiments of the same type.

Description: 1. The myoglobin contents of selected muscles in horse, pig, domestic fowl and pigeon, and in the foetuses of horse, pig, sheep and cattle, have been determined.2. The order of increasing concentration of myoglobin in the adult animal (4 years) is given by the series heart, longissimus dorsi, diaphragm and psoas, the figures for draught horse being, respectively, 0·325, 0·465, 0·610 and 0·705% and for pig, 0·203, 0·280, 0·350 and 0·435%, and the ratios of these concentrations being the same in each animal.3. In both draught horse and pig, it is shown that the concentration of the pigment rises rapidly from birth, and that, after 2 years in the horse, and 1 year in the pig, it remains fairly constant, except in the case of horse psoas and diaphragm where there is a slow, but significant, rise throughout life.4. This relationship of myoglobin with age has been shown to be significant at a probability level of 0·1%.

Description: 1. Rumen contents of sheep given three different diets contained free bacterial α-amylase. The method of obtaining a cell-free rumen filtrate containing the enzyme is described.2. Amylase potency in the rumen was highest in the sheep given a diet of flaked maize, intermediate in that given a mixed diet of hay and concentrate and lowest in that given a diet of casein.3. The effect of rumen amylase on structural maize and potato starches has been investigated.4. Absence of amylase from sheep saliva was confirmed.5. Where flaked maize is fed, one of the organisms responsible for amylase production in the rumen of the sheep is Cl. butyricum.

Description: A study of residual phosphorus in soils resulting from the use of phosphate fertilizers has been made, using a simplification of Ghani's method for the fractionation of soil phosphorus.In cultivated soils all the residual phosphorus was extractable by successive extractions with 2·5% acetic acid-1% 8-hydroxyquinoline and 0–1 N-sodium hydroxide, and practically all had remained in the inorganic form; very little, if any, change in organic phosphorus was recorded as a result of the application of superphosphate.In pasture soils (uncultivated) the application of phosphatic fertilizers brought about an increase in both inorganic and organic phosphorus and, in addition, some of the applied phosphate may have entered a form not extractable by the two extractants. The increase in organic phosphorus was not directly proportional to the amount of phosphate applied, as were the increases in the extractable inorganic fractions. It tended to approach a constant value, irrespective of amount and nature of the phosphate applied.

Description: 1. The changes in the sheep population and in the sales of fat sheep have been examined for the West Wales region for the period 1940–8. These changes consist of a gradual annual decline in sales, whilst the severity of the 1947 winter conditions brought about a rapid drop in both sales and population by nearly 33% from 1946 to 1947.2. Analyses of sales of the four categories of fat sheep—rams, ewes, sheep and lambs—throughout the twenty-five collecting centres have been completed for the 4 years, 1943–6. These showed that lambs accounted for 85% of the fat sheep sales in this region.3. It was found that the average estimated dressed carcass weight (e.d.w.) of the four categories of sheep (rams, ewes, sheep and lambs) declined gradually from the collecting centres of west Pembrokeshire to the inland centres on the eastern boundaries of the region. This cline is also found in the case of the summer suckling lamb, the autumn wether lamb and the winter-fed fat lamb.

Description: Continuous records of the temperature of potatoes stored in clamps were made in 1942–3 (one clamp) and in 1943–4 (three clamps). In the first year, the temperatures at various positions in the clamp coverings were also recorded.The temperature at the middle of the potato heap showed a drift with time similar to that of mean air temperature. Deviations of mean air temperature from smooth trend, lasting for about a week, had no effect on the temperature of the potatoes; longerperiod deviations were reflected in the temperature of the potatoes after a lag of about a week. The difference in weekly mean temperature between potatoes and external air averaged about 1–5° C. in 1943–4. In 1942–3 it was greater, increasing to over 20° C. in April, because bacterial rotting of the potatoes following blight infection increased the rate of heat production and caused the clamp to collapse at the end of April.

Description: The genitalia of a control series of nineteen animals, slaughtered for other reasons than reproductive failure, were studied. Of these six were in various stages of pregnancy, one was in a ‘proliferative phase’, being slaughtered probably just before the first oestrus after calving, and twelve represented different phases of the oestrous cycle, more than half exemplifying the last 4 days before heat. Stages were judged from the appearance of the ovaries, and checked in five instances by repeated rectal examinations, and observation of behaviour during life. Of the nineteen uteri eight yielded bacteria on culture, sometimes in moderately high density; from two of them, pure cultures were recovered respectively of Pseudomonas and Neisseria catarrhalis; and in another, probably Proteus was found. No previous records of these three genera at such a site have been found. Only aerobic blood agar plate cultures, and those for tuberculosis organisms were made. Dissection results unequivocally supported the view of Tagliavini in opposition to that taken by Hammond, that the sanguineous elements in post-oestral discharge originated from endometrial extravasation. The cow slaughtered 4 days after heat indicated that congestion disappears from the caruncles before leaving the areas between them. Microscopically, no mast cells, as observed by the Italian workers, could be seen; it appeared that a ‘proliferative phase’ occurs in every cycle during the three pre-oestral days, when gland tissue proliferates from its nadir of development, surface epithelium grows in height, and vascularization progresses. The rate and interrelations of these changes seemed variable. Arterioles appeared to be withdrawn from the superficial mucosa during the secretory phase. Tagliavini's claim to have observed sloughing of epithelium about the 17th day, strictly equivalent to the process of menstruation in the Primates, must on the evidence be regarded with considerable reserve.

Description: A review of published work emphasizes the existence of a fundamental relationship between the quantity of milk and butterfat per cent. This general relationship may be stated thus: as the quantity of milk increases, the quantity of fat increases also, but at a slower rate. Therefore, the fat per cent, or concentration, falls as the volume of milk increases.

Description: 1. Sixteen colchicine treatments, involving five main methods of application and six concentrations, have been used on Triticum interspecific crosses, Triticum—Aegilops intergeneric crosses and Agropyron—Triticum intergeneric crosses.2. The efficacy of the major treatments in terms of plant survival, plant fertility and ear fertility has been compared, and the most successful method of application has been found to be absorption through the cut leaves—i.e. capping cut-back tillers with a small glass phial containing colchicine.3. Fertility induced by colchicine is not complete. In plants producing grain, every ear is not necessarily fertile, nor are all spikelets in fertile ears usually fertile.4. Evidence has been obtained of differential cross response to colchicine action, and also of cross-group response to particular treatments.