Apparatus for hourly aphid assessments with yellow water traps

Samenvatting Er wordt een apparaat beschreven om automatisch per uur bladluisvangsten te verrichten. De apparatuur bestaat uit 24 gele vangbakken, die ieder één uur per etmaal open staan. Onder de vangbak bevindt zich een Servo-motor, die op het gewenste tijdstip een deksel over de bak schuift of wegschuift (Fig. 1). De Servo-motor krijgt het commando daartoe van een programma-schakelaar (Fig. 2).     

Pesticide degradation in a 'biobed' composting substrate

Pesticides play an important role in the success of modern farming and food production. However, the release of pesticides to the environment arising from non-approved use, poor practice, illegal operations or misuse is increasingly recognised as contributing to water contamination. Biobeds appear to offer a cost-effective method for treating pesticide-contaminated waste. This study was performed to determine whether biobeds can degrade relatively complex pesticide mixtures when applied repeatedly. A pesticide mixture containing isoproturon, pendimethalin, chlorpyrifos, chlorothalonil, epoxiconazole and dimethoate was incubated in biomix and topsoil at concentrations to simulate pesticide disposal. Although the data suggest that interactions between pesticides are possible, the effects were of less significance in biomix than in topsoil. The same mixture was applied on three occasions at 30-day intervals. Degradation was significantly quicker in biomix than in topsoil. The rate of degradation, however, decreased with each additional treatment, possibly due to the toxicity of the pesticide mixture to the microbial community. Incubations with chlorothalonil and pendimethalin carried out in sterile and non-sterile biomix indicated that degradation, rather than irreversible adsorption to the matrix, was the main mechanism responsible for the reduction in recovered residues. Results from these experiments suggest that biobeds offer a viable means of treating pesticide waste.     

Spectral Properties of Near-Earth Asteroids: Evidence for Sources of Ordinary Chondrite Meteorites

Although ordinary chondrite (OC) meteorites dominate observed falls, the identification of near-Earth and main-belt asteroid sources has remained elusive. Telescopic measurements of 35 near-Earth asteroids ( approximately3 kilometers in diameter) revealed six that have visible wavelength spectra similar to laboratory spectra of OC meteorites. Near-Earth asteroids were found to have spectral properties that span the range between the previously separated domains of OC meteorites and the most common (S class) asteroids, suggesting a link. This range of spectral properties could arise through a diversity of mineralogies and regolith particle sizes, as well as through a time-dependent surface weathering process.     

Semi-lethality in hybrid offspring of wheat

Summary Seven of the wheat crosses which were performed in 1954 and 1955 produced a uniform semi-lethal F₁. Among these were four combinations with the spring wheat Koga and two with the Turkish winter wheat Eskischir. The degree of withering in the F₁ appeared to be dependent on the variety with which Koga or Eskischir were combined. In the F₂ of the Koga crosses carried out in 1954 a 9 : 7 ratio of semi-lethals and normal plants was found. The almost continuous gradation in semi-lethality within the group of semi-lethal plants of every F₂ was conspicuous.The facts are explained as follows: Two complementary genes determine the semi-lethality as such, while modifying genes are responsible for the different degrees of semi-lethality of the different F₁'s and for the variation in degree of semi-lethality within every F₂. In the discussion this explanation is given in detail.It is pointed out that it is perhaps possible, with the aid of the phenomenon of semi-lethality, to discover or confirm relationships between species and/or varieties.Finally it is suggested that the rejection of F₁'s with withering symptoms is premature.     

Variation in resistance to the cabbage aphid ( Brevicoryne brassicae) between and within wild and cultivated Brassica species

Seven Brassica species were evaluated for their resistance to the cabbage aphid, Brevicoryne brassicae, in a series of field experiments. Four wild Brassica species, two 8 chromosome species with similarities to the B genome of Brassica nigra (Brassica fruticulosa and Brassica spinescens) and two 9 chromosome species containing the C genome (Brassica incana and Brassica villosa) were identified as possessing consistently high levels of antibiosis mediated resistance to B. brassicae. None of the species were shown to possess consistently high levels of antixenosis resistance. In more detailed glasshouse experiments one B-like genome species, B. fruticulosa, showed considerable variation between accessions collected from different sites for resistance to B. brassicae. In addition, individual accessions of one A genome species (Brassica rapa) and one C genome species (Brassica alboglabra) were shown to be highly variable in their resistance to B. brassicae, some plants of each accession being highly resistant and others very susceptible. The implications of the variability in resistance to B. brassicae within wild Brassica species for exploitation in Brassica breeding programmes are discussed.