The measurement of tensile creep in thin wood strips

Summary Tensile creep of 100 m thick wood strips cut parallel to the grain was measured using a high resolution high accuracy creep apparatus. Rigorous attempts were made in both design and use of the apparatus to reduce errors to a minimum: the standard deviation of the random errors about a smoothed curve was assessed as 0.34 m. By comparing elongation of strips under load with control strips at zero load viscous and visco-elastic elongation may be accurately measured.     

Critical toxic concentrations of boron are variable in barley

The use of leaf symptoms and plant analysis in diagnosing and predicting yield depressions associated with boron (B) toxicity in barley was examined. Barley (Hordeum vulgare L., cv. Stirling) was grown in pots of a sandy soil to which six levels of B were added. With increasing additions to the soil, B accumulated in the older leaves, increasing leaf injury and senescence. Leaf injury symptoms at high levels of B supply appeared in time well before dry mailer was depressed. Root weight was decreased more than shoot weight. Grain filling was affected only at severe levels of B toxicity. Critical toxic concentrations (CTC) of B in shoots were found to vary between approximately 40 and 150 μg, depending on the stage of plant growth at the lime of B analysis and the yield parameter chosen. A distinction is made between CTC values of B that are diagnostic or prognostic.     

Allylglucosinolate and herbivorous caterpillars: a contrast in toxicity and tolerance

Allylglucosinolate, found in many cruciferous plants, is acutely toxic to Papilio polyxenes larvae, which do not normally attack crucifers. By contrast, larval growth of Pieris rapae, a crucifer specialist, is not affected even by artificially high concentrations of allylglucosinolate. Larval growth of Spodoptera eridania, a generalist feeder, is inhibited by high but not by low concentrations of the compound.