Effect of nitrogen on the oxalate and calcium content of Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum Hochst)

The effect of the nitrogen content of Kikuyu grass (Pennisetum clandestinum) on the oxalate and calcium content of leaf and stem material was investigated. The grass contained equal portions of soluble and insoluble oxalate. Leaf material contained more than three times as much total oxalate as stem tissue. A high nitrogen content was associated with a high insoluble oxalate content of the sward. The calcium content of both leaf and stem material was extremely low. Results suggested that approximately 95% of the calcium could be bound as calcium oxalate and would probably not be available to ruminants. The bio‐availability of calcium in the herbage tended to decrease with an increase in nitrogen content of the grass.     

Wheat leaf rust resistance gene Lr59 derived from Aegilops peregrina

An Aegilops peregrina (Hackel in J. Fraser) Maire & Weiller accession that showed resistance to mixed leaf rust ( Puccinia triticina Eriks.) inoculum was crossed with, and backcrossed to, hexaploid wheat ( Triticum aestivum L.). During backcrossing a chromosome segment containing a leaf rust resistance gene (here designated Lr59 ) was spontaneously translocated to wheat chromosome 1A. Meiotic, monosomic and microsatellite analyses suggested that the translocated segment replaced most of, or the complete, 1AL arm, and probably resulted from centromeric breaks and fusion. The translocation, of which hexaploid wheat line 0306 is the appropriate source material, provided seedling leaf rust resistance against a wide range of South African and Canadian pathotypes.     

Attempts to remove gametocidal genes co-transferred to common wheat with rust resistance from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aegilops speltoides</Emphasis>

Rust resistance genes (introgressions S24 and S13) transferred to hexaploid wheat from two Aegilops speltoides accessions could not be used commercially due to associated gametocidal (Gc) genes. Crosses to wheat followed by rigorous selection for increased fertility were employed in an attempt to separate the unmapped S24 stem rust resistance from the Gc gene(s). However, improved fertility of the better selections could not be maintained in subsequent generations. Since the S13 introgression (leaf, stripe and stem rust resistances) mapped to chromosome 3A, allosyndetic pairing induction was used in an attempt to remove the Gc gene(s). This produced putative primary recombinants with improved fertility and plant type, the best of which had exchanged a small region of Ae. speltoides chromatin, yet was still associated with (reduced) Gc effects. This selection (04M127-3, which appears to have the Su1-Ph1 suppressor) was then crossed with wheat. Surprisingly, the 04M127-3 gametocidal effect differed drastically from that of the original introgression allowing the recovery of 35 recombinant, leaf rust resistant progeny. Microsatellite and DArT markers showed that each secondary recombinant had exchanged most of the Ae. speltoides chromatin. Although the data suggested that a complex multigenic interaction may govern the gametocidal response, preliminary indications are that the Gc effect had largely been removed and it now seems possible to completely separate the gametocidal genes from the S13 leaf rust resistance gene (here designated Lr66). The associated (S13) stripe rust and stem rust resistance genes were lost during recombination.     

An evaluation of the economic viability of commercial pastoralism in the smaldeel area of the Eastern Cape

Abstract

Carrying capacity models and financial data from study group farmers were used to derive attainable net revenue per ha on veld in good, moderate and poor condition. From these data, minimum farm sizes required for a reasonable standard of living (R20 000 net personal income per annum) were estimated for each veld condition class. These minimum sizes were compared with actual farming unit sizes determined from a farm survey.

Most farming units are large enough to provide a reasonable standard of living, on condition that the farmer has little debt and does not have to incur costs of land development. However, most farmers cannot afford to implement the development required for currently recommended conservation practices. If conservation is required by society, subsidization of conservation practices should be considered.     

Reproduction in the yellow mongoose revisited

Previous reports on female reproduction in yellow mongooses, based on anatomical examination of specimens, concluded that this species is monoestral but with an extended breeding period. Our long-term studies on known females provide clear evidence of the production of two litters annually within a period of 2-4 months, females initiating a new oestrus cycle while still lactating. We present a biological explanation for the adaptive significance of polyoestry in this species based on a unique mode of infant nutrition for viverrids.     

Effect of D-Genome Chromosome Substitutions on Hybrid Seed Development and Viability in T. turgidum var. durum X S. cereale Crosses

Triticum turgidum var. durum cv. ‘Langdon’ and the set of D-genome disomicsubstitutions in ‘Langdon’, produced at Fargo, U.S.A., were grown in a temperature controlled greenhouse and crossed with diploid spring rye (Secale cereals), to determine the effect of each substitution on 1. the crossability with rye, and 2, the viability of the resulting hybrids kernels. None of the disomicsubstitutions lines, with the possible exception of the 5D (5Bj line, gave an appreciable improvement in hybrid kernel set, -development, and -viability over the control, ‘Langdon’ The post-zygotic barrier to endosperm and embryo development, which operates in crosses between durum wheat and rye, could therefore not be suppressed by any specific chromosome of the D-genome.     

Evaluation and reduction of Lr19-149, a recombined form of the Lr19 translocation of wheat

The Lr19 translocation was introgressed from Thinopyrum ponticum in 1966. It has not been used in wheat breeding in many countries despite it being an excellent source of leaf rust resistance as it carries an undesirable gene(s) coding for yellow endosperm pigmentation. A shortened form, Lr19-149, was since produced and lacks the yellow pigment genes. A yield trial with near isogenic lines of both the original and shortened translocations suggested that Lr19 may cause a small reduction in kernel size and anincrease in loaf volume, effects which are not associated with Lr19-149. In Lr19-149 heterozygotes the translocation generally showed reduced pollen transmission whereas its transmission through egg cells was mostly normal. An attempt to shorten Lr19-149 through allosyndetic recombination in the absence of Ph1b produced four recombinants which were characterized by means of RFLP and AFLP polymorphisms and physically mapped with a set of 27 deletion lines. In three recombinants (252, 299 and 462) Thinopyrum chromatin proximally to Lr19 was exchanged for wheat chromatin. In one recombinant (478) chromatin distally from Lr19 was replaced. Based on physical map distance estimates it appears that the Lr19 translocation in the shortest recombinant (299) may have been reduced to about one third or less of its original size. It may now be possible to obtain a further, albeit relatively small, decrease in the size of the translocation through homologous crossover between recombinants 299 and 478. Similar to Lr19-149, the new recombinants show self elimination in heterozygotes and they have apparently retained the Sd2 locus. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.