施用硒、锌、铁对玉米和大豆产量与营养

采用黄土高原低硒区典型土壤,以玉米、大豆为供试作物,研究施用硒、锌、铁对作物产量和营养品质的影响。结果表明,仅施用氮、磷、钾肥料,玉米、大豆产量无明显变化,施用适量硒、锌、铁时,玉米产量明显提高15.6%～73.8%,大豆产量提高58.9%～115.1%。施用硒、锌、铁,玉米籽粒氮含量明显增加,而磷、钾含量无明显变化,大豆籽粒氮含量无明显变化,磷、钾含量有所下降。土施或结合叶面喷施硒、锌、铁时,玉米和大豆籽粒硒、锌、铁含量明显增加,尤其是土施结合叶面喷施硒、锌、铁时效果突出。与对照比较,玉米籽粒硒增加480.4%、锌增加106.9%、铁增加126.7%; 大豆籽粒硒增加512.9%、锌增加62.2%、铁增加15.6%。综合考虑玉米、大豆产量和籽粒硒、锌、铁含量变化,锌、硒适宜土壤施用,或土施结合叶面喷施施用,叶面喷施铁可有效提高作物籽粒铁含量。     

Management impacts on health of soils supporting Australian grain and sugarcane industries

The grain and sugarcane industries are the dominant cropping enterprises in Australia. Both are facing similar problems in maintaining productivity and profitability, although the management practices employed to achieve these objectives in the two industries differ markedly. The farming systems of both industries have evolved in recent years as our understanding of the physical and chemical benefits of practices like residue retention, reduced tillage and controlled traffic have improved. However the impact of such practices is often evaluated in terms of cost savings, operational efficiencies and efficient capture and use of water.

Soil health has not always been an important consideration in system change in either industry, with the exception that crop rotation has always been recognised as important in minimising the impact of soil-borne pathogens. Rotations have been a key feature of grain cropping systems and short duration legume fallows are becoming more prevalent in the sugar industry after more than 25 years of monocultures. However, intensification of cropping in recent years has meant that the pasture leys that were once a dominant component of the grain rotation systems are increasingly being supplanted by short duration cropping breaks with grain legume or other non-cereal crops.

Soil organic C has generally been recognised as an important component of soil fertility, but more for the role it plays in soil physical and chemical fertility. Links between organic matter status and soil biological health, and particularly to farming system viability and sustainability, have proven difficult to quantify. This has been partly due to a lack of tools or criteria for monitoring relevant soil properties and also to our limited understanding of the interactions between soil health and other system components. However recent studies are suggesting that the amount and quality of organic matter returned as roots and residues, and the placement of that residue relative to areas of future crop root activity, may be significant factors in the sustainable farming systems of the future.

This paper identifies key issues associated with current and developing farming systems in the grain and sugar industries in Australia, and assesses the impact of management practices employed in those systems on soil health. It also identifies some key challenges facing soil biologists and farming systems researchers who are trying to achieve improvements in soil health and sustainability.     

Modification of soil structural and hydraulic properties after 50 years of imposed chaparral and pine vegetation

Although biotic communities have long been recognized as important factors in soil development, especially of A horizons, few studies have addressed their influence on soil physical properties in nonagricultural settings. A biosequence of 50-year-old soils supporting near monocultures of Coulter pine (Pinus coulteri), scrub oak (Quercus dumosa), and chamise (Adenostoma fasciculatum) was used to determine the relative influence of vegetation type and associated soil organisms on the development of soil structural characteristics and water flow. Total porosity ranged from a high of 51% in the heavily worm-worked A horizon under oak to a low of 39% within the 35- to 50-cm depth under pine, where earthworms were absent. Macroporosity (pores with diameters >300 μm) was highest in the A horizon under oak (15.6%) and lowest under pine (9.5%). Saturated hydraulic conductivity of surface soils ranged from 10.8 cm h⁻¹ under oak to 3.2 cm h⁻¹ under pine. Soil under chamise, which had fewer earthworms than that under oak, had K_sat and bulk density values intermediate between oak and pine. Root and macrofauna distributions suggest that roots are the dominant factor in the development of macroporosity under pine, while earthworms have had the greatest effect under oak. Porosity has increased at an average rate of 0.22% per year in the 0- to 7-cm depth under oak (from 41% to 56%), but has not been significantly altered within the same depth under pine. Below the 7-cm depth, porosity values are similar for each vegetation type and the original parent material. Available water capacity (AWC) within the first 0- to 7-cm depth has increased from the original values (about 0.11 m³ m⁻³) to 0.17 m³ m⁻³ under oak, 0.16 m³ m⁻³ under chamise, and 0.13 m³ m⁻³ under pine. The data show that the presence of burrowing macrofauna, which is determined by litter palatability and therefore indirectly controlled by vegetation, can significantly influence porosity, increasing the water-holding capacity of a soil.     

Fishery by-catches of marine mammals in Galician waters: results from on-board observations and an interview survey of fishermen

Rates of cetacean by-catch were investigated in Galician waters (NW Spain) using a combination of observer trips on fishing vessels, a carcase recovery scheme and an interview survey of fishermen, carried out over two years (1998-1999). All these data sources are suspected of underestimating by-catch due to the sample of co-operating fishermen being, necessarily, self-selecting. No by-catches were seen during observer trips, although not all sectors of the fishery could be covered. The carcass recovery scheme yielded seventeen cetacean carcases over two years, which compares to around 35 by-caught cetaceans recorded annually by the Galician strandings network. Analysis of interview data suggested that around 200 cetaceans might be caught annually in inshore waters and around 1500 in offshore waters. Confidence limits were wide for all estimates. The highest by-catch rates were estimated for gillnets and offshore trawling. The majority of by-catches are small dolphins, probably mainly Delphinus delphis. Smaller numbers of Tursiops truncatus and Globicephala melas are also reported. Comparing the interview estimates of by-catch rates with minimum estimates of population size, it is suggested that by-catches of D. delphis and T. truncatus may be unsustainably high and that routine monitoring of fishery by-catches in Galician fisheries is required.     

Effect of extraction time and acid concentration on the separation of proglycogen and macroglycogen in horse muscle samples

The objective of this study was to determine whether the concentrations of proglycogen (PG) and macroglycogen (MG) in biopsy samples of horse muscle are influenced by extraction time or perchloric acid (PCA) concentration. In study 1, individual muscle-biopsy samples from 10 horses were divided into 4 parts each and then randomly subjected to 4 periods of extraction (10, 20, 60, or 120 min) with 1.5 M PCA. In study 2, individual muscle-biopsy samples from 6 horses were divided into 24 pieces each and then randomly subjected to 12 combinations of extraction time (10, 20, 30, or 40 min) and PCA concentration (0.5, 1.5, or 3.0 M). The results from study 1 indicated that PG and MG concentrations are affected only after extraction for 120 min; the PG concentration decreased significantly (P < 0.05), and the MG concentration increased (not significantly). In study 2, extraction in 3.0 M PCA yielded significantly lower PG and higher MG concentrations (P < 0.05) than extraction in 0.5 or 1.5 M PCA with each of the extraction times. The results of this study further support the existence of 2 glycogen pools and demonstrate that they are not an extraction artifact. The study also suggests that the 2 pools are stable during extraction over a range of extraction times and acid concentrations. However, if the exposure to acid is very long and, or, the acid concentration is high, some of the insoluble PG appears to be hydrolyzed and to enter the MG pool.     

Update on the diagnosis and treatment of disorders of calcium regulation.

The availability of PTH, iCa, PTHrP, and 25OHD assays for evaluation of calcium abnormalities in companion animals has been well received [table: see text] by clinicians and diagnosticians. Use of these assays has heightened awareness that some of these disorders are more common than originally thought. Also, there is added insight of alterations of calcium homeostasis as a consequence of other illness or environmental factors such as diet. Animal counterparts of other disorders of calcium metabolism in people are likely to be identified, and use of these assays should play a significant role. As already emphasized, the foundation of using [table: see text] these assays is first assessing whether the calcium abnormality is of a parathyroid-dependent or parathyroid-independent classification.     

Farmers’ participation and breeding for durable disease resistance in the Andean region

In the Andean region, the Preduza project and its partners combined breeding for durable disease resistance using locally adapted cultivars and farmer participatory methods. The approach taken resembles participatory variety selection (PVS). Farmers participated in the selection of advanced materials, rather than finished cultivars. This paper describes this approach and reports experiences with farmers–breeders collaboration. As breeders involved farmers as participants, they learned more about the most important criteria of male and female farmers for preferred cultivars in the marginal environments of Andean cropping systems. This approach encouraged the use of locally adapted cultivars (often landraces), made the breeders less dependent on foreign materials, and has resulted in selection and development of new wheat, barley, common bean, quinoa, potato and maize cultivars. Breeding programmes based on crossing locally adapted cultivars followed by selection by the breeders in the early phases of the breeding programmes and by participatory selection with the farmers in the more advanced stages of the breeding programmes appeared successful. It became clear that breeders must be well acquainted with the farmer preferences such as the requirements for specific agronomic, storage, processing and marketing traits. Over a period of five years the centralized formal breeding approach predominantly based on material produced by the international institutes was replaced by decentralized breeding approaches based largely on local germplasm with extensive farmer participation.     

Inheritance of resistance to Phytophthora infestans in two diploid Mexican solanum species

Inheritance of resistance to Phytophthora infestans in the diploid Mexican species S. bulbocastanum and S. verrucosum appears to be quantitative. In these species there seems to be no clear distinction between a hypersensitive reaction to infection and one indicating a high degree of partial resistance. Sibbing or selfing apparently improves the degree of resistance in the progeny over that of the parents. S. verrucosum, a self-compatible species which shows little or no inbreeding depression after selfing, has especial advantages as a genetic tool and as a source of blight resistance, over S. bulbocastanum and other diploids.Contribution No. 119, Canada Dept. of Agriculture Research Station, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada     

Using multiple objective linear programming to evaluate multi-participant agroforestry systems

Multiple objective linear programming is used to evaluate a simulated two-participant maize/cassava/leucaena/teak agroforestry system. Examples using two different price ratios are presented along with possible methods to optimize the system with regard to the interests of the two profit seeking participants. A third example examines possible solutions to a system involving a profit seeking forester and a non-monetary subsistence farmer.

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Progmación Usando progmacion lineal con objectivos multiples se estudia un sistema agroforestal simulado de maiz, yuca, leucaena y teca, considerando dos participantes. Se presentan ejemplos usando dos niveles de pricios con metodos posibles paraq optimizar el sistema con respcto a intereses monetarios de los dos participantes. En un tercer ejemplo se examinan las soluciones posibles para el sistema, involucrando un silvicultor interesado en beneficios monetarios y un agricultor de subsistencia con interes no monetarios.