The use of air‐coolers in broiler houses under subtropical conditions in Iraq

1. Under summer conditions in north Iraq, 2 000 chicks were reared for 56 d in two broiler houses. One house was provided with two air‐coolers. The birds were housed at densities of eight to 16 birds/m².

2. Differences in weight gain between birds in cooled and uncooled houses ranged from 101.5 g at eight birds/m² to 385 g at 16 birds/m². Food consumption increased gradually with increasing bird density. Food conversion efficiency, meat yield and carcass conformation were much better in the cooled house than under conventional conditions.

3. The financial return/m² ranged from 2.30 to 4.51 ID¹ in the cooled house, compared with 2.01 to 2.77 ID in the uncooled house at different floor densities.     

Storage time‐temperature effects on the odour preferences for uncooked chicken parts

1. Whole broilers and separated legs were stored at ‐12 ± 1 °C, —18 ± 1 °C and — 75 ±2 °C (reference group, whole carcasses only), for up to nine months.

2. Legs cut from the whole birds after removal from store, unpacking and thawing, and legs from the portions were compared in odour preference at four times of examination.

3. After only 1 d the odour of the legs stored as parts at —12 °C was less preferred than that of the reference group; this was also true for legs cut from whole birds after 3 months at the same temperature.

4. After 3 months at — 12 °C the odour of the legs stored as parts was less preferred than the odour of legs obtained from whole birds.

5. Storage of legs as parts at —18 °C resulted in a comparatively less preferred odour after 3 months, while the same was true after 9 months for legs cut from the carcasses.     

Rapeseed Meal and egg taint

1. Certain rapeseed meals in the diet of hens laying brown eggs result in the production, from some birds, of eggs which have a “ fishy ” or “ crabby ” odour because of the presence of trimethylamine.

2. Such susceptible birds have been used to demonstrate that the activity can be extracted from rapeseed meal with appropriate solvents.     

The role of histamine and fish meal in the incidence of gizzard erosion and pro‐ventricular abnormalities in the fowl

1. The role of certain fish meals in the production of localised gizzard erosion is confirmed.

2. Lesions typical of gizzard erosion could be produced by the addition of histamine to the diet.

3. The amount of histamine occurring naturally in fish meal depends on the species of fish and the extent and nature of bacterial spoilage.

4. These variables may explain why histamine has not been implicated previously and also why there have not been consistent associations between the condition and geographical source or common factors in bulk consignments of the meal.     

Ovipositor length of threeApocrypta species: Effect on oviposition behavior and correlation with syconial thickness

We investigated oviposition behavior in three non-pollinating fig wasps: the sympatric speciesApocrypta bakeri Joseph onFicus hispida L.,A. westwoodi Grandi onF. racemosa L., andApocrypta sp. onF. semicordata Buch.-Ham. The oviposition behavior differs significantly between one pair of species (A. bakeri andA. westwoodi) and the other species (Apocrypta sp. onF. semicordata).A. bakeri andA. westwoodi were similar in the following aspects: the posture of the abdomen and the action of the hind legs before penetration, and the bending ovipositor sheath during penetration. In contrast, the oviposition behavior ofApocrypta sp. is quite different. This difference can be explained by the significant correlation between ovipositor length and syconial thickness.Apocrypta sp. has a shorter ovipositor than the two other species, which correlates with the thinner syconial wall of its host figF. semicordata. It is deduced that the ovipositor length adapts to the syconial thickness and induces the oviposition behavior in the different species to diverge. For all threeApocrypta species, the midleg length and hindleg length are significantly correlated with their ovipositor lengths. This may be explained as due to the fact that body movement adjusting the hindlegs and midlegs up and down, or forward and backward, is also influenced by the ovipositor length.     

番木瓜遗传改良研究进展

就番木瓜的株性和抗病性等性状遗传、杂交育种、人工诱变育种、离体培养、分子标记及基因工程育种等现代生物新技术育种方面的研究进展及相关问题进行了评述,重点综述了番木瓜株性遗传、远缘杂交与胚胎学、基因工程在抗环斑型花叶病毒病(PRSV)品种培育及分子标记辅助选择育种应用的研究进展,并分析了今后番木瓜育种的发展趋势。     

苹果绵蚜综合防治试验

通过根施、灌根、涂环、虫疤涂泥、喷雾、综合防治等试验,明确了苹果绵蚜防治的关键时期,确定了防效好的药剂,总结出了加强检疫、根施药剂、树干刮涂、树上喷药、全程保护利用自然天敌等一系列综合治理措施,有效地控制了苹果绵蚜的危害。     

瓜类嫁接栽培技术探讨

从6个瓜类砧木品种中，选出了黄瓜适宜砧木为黑籽南瓜，苦瓜适宜砧木为黑籽南瓜和本地肉丝瓜，西瓜适宜砧木为超丰F1和欣京砧一号。瓜类嫁接方法以顶插接法和劈接法为宜，嫁接时期在3月初为宜。重病地黄瓜嫁接苗比自根苗枯萎病发病率降低95．8％，产量提高34．9％；嫁接苦瓜发病率降低83．7％，增产16．9％；嫁接西瓜发病率降低88．9％，增产13．7％。     

海藻肥对黄瓜种子萌发盐胁迫伤害的缓解作用

盐胁迫会破坏种子细胞的结构和功能,导致代谢紊乱,活力降低乃至失去活力。李庭红认为在15g·L-1NaCl盐胁迫下,黄瓜种子的发芽率一般为50%-60%。前人曾以乙烯利、矮壮素、水杨酸等溶液浸种的方法缓解盐胁迫对萌发种子的伤害,但成本高,操作繁琐,效果也不尽理想。海藻肥是一种从海藻中提取的天然生长调节     

应用PCR技术检测空肠弯曲菌及结肠弯曲菌的研究

本研究根据空肠弯曲菌及结肠弯曲菌的16s rRNA基因相同保守序列来设计引物,建立了一种PCR检测方法,该方法具有较强的特异性及灵敏性,其对空肠弯曲菌及结肠弯曲菌的最低检测限度为5 CFU/mL,它无需增菌培养过程可以直接对样品进行检验,在对鸡肉样品空肠弯曲菌及结肠弯曲菌的检测中取得了较好的效果.