Charcoal column/thin layer chromatographic method for high fructose corn sirup and spectrophotometric method for hydroxymethylfurfural in honey: collaborative studies.

A new spectrophotometric method is described for determining hydroxymethylfurfural in honey in which interfering background absorption of honey is corrected for by use of a bisulfite-treated sample as blank. Two procedures for detecting high-fructose corn sirup (HFCS) in honey were also tested. In one, charcoal column pretreatment is used to concentrate trace oligosaccharides, followed by thin layer chromatography to differentiate those of HFCS from those of honey. The other method depends on measurement of the isomaltose/maltose ratio by gas-liquid chromatography. The charcoal/thin layer chromatographic method for HFCS has been adopted official first action. The bisulfite method for hydroxymethylfurfural has been adopted interim first action.     

The effect of propionic acid on the storage losses of hay

Storage losses in moist hay treated with propionic acid were compared with those occurring in untreated moist hay in two experiments and with field-cured hay in three experiments. Dry matter losses in treated hays ranged from 41 to 8.6% and from 1.7 to 12.6% in untreated hays. Digestible organic matter losses in both treated and untreated hays were generally greater than dry matter losses. Only in one experiment did propionic acid application significantly reduce nutrient losses in moist hays. Nutrient losses, and water-soluble carbohydrate losses in particular, were shown to be correlated with maximum and cumulative bale temperatures during storage in two of the experiments. The rise in hale temperatures during storage was reduced in all three experiments, to a greater or lesser extent, by application of the additive. Loss of propionic acid from the hay during and after application was very large. In the three experiments 86.2, 85.3 and 85.6% of the acid applied was lost by the end of the storage period. Acid distribution studies indicated that variation in acid concentration within bales was as great as between bales. It was concluded that more research is needed into applicator design and position on the baler and into alternative application methods if the benefits of propionic acid as a moist hay preservative are to be fully exploited.     

Production and persistence of urease activity in soils

Addition of urea to Iowa soils did not induce urease activity, but production of urease activity was observed on addition of glucose and other organic materials that promote microbial activity. The persistence of the urease activity produced on addition of these materials varied with the soil, but, with each soil studied, the urease activity after addition of organic materials eventually was identical to that of the unamended soil. No increase or decrease in urease activity was observed when unamended or urea-treated soils were incubated under aerobic conditions for several months. It is concluded that soil constituents protect urease against microbial degradation and other processes leading to inactivation of enzymes and that every soil has a stable level of urease activity determined by the ability of its constituents to provide this protection.     

The effect of delayed autumn harvest on the survival of varieties of perennial ryegrass

The reactions of five early and five late varieties of perennial ryegrass to stimulation of bulky autumn growth and deferment of harvesting were compared in terms of spring growth and subsequent recovery during three winters. Winterkill was marked in 1971–72, particularly when harvesting was deferred to late November, in early varieties S24 and Presto Pajbjerg and in the late variety S23. Least affected among early varieties were Premo and Barvestra (tetraploid) and among late varieties, Perma and Barpastra (tetraploid). All varieties showed rapid recovery. The results are discussed in terms of the significance of winterkill, and the effects of age of sward, variety susceptibility and deferment of autumn defoliation. It is concluded that the form of winterkill which occurs in the west of Scotland can have serious consequences to farm productivity in severe winters. Autumn growth left standing into November can also lead to winterkill. Under good management, varietal differences are unimportant. In a severe winter, no varieties of perennial ryegrass are reliable.     

Removal of mineral nutrients by red clover varieties

K, P, Ca and Mg contents and uptakes are reported from total herbage of plots sown with six varieties of red clover harvested three times a year for 3 years. K, P and Mg contents were above those reported as critical for growth; values for Ca were lower than quoted ranges which suggested that growth might have been affected by either deficiency of Ca or low pH. Hungaropoly was characterized by relatively low K and P and high Ca contents. Maximum uptakes in red clover total herbages over 3 years were 1198 kg ha^?1 K (Hera), 112 kg ha^?1 P (Hera), 494 kg ha^?1 Ca (Hungaropoly) and 104 kg ha^?1 Mg (Mars). Results were compared with those found for S101 perennial ryegrass, harvested on a similar system and receiving similar fertilization with uptakes of 759 kg ha^?1 K, 100 kg ha^?1 P, 200 kg ha^?1 Ca and 46 kg ha^?1 Mg, by expressing accumulating uptakes and inputs as linear regression equations. The better varieties of red clover, Hera, Hungaropoly, Mars and S123 show rates of DM accumulation similar to S101 perennial ryegrass and similar uptake rates of K and P but higher rates of uptake of Ca and Mg. The levels of application of K and P used in the experiment seem to be more than adequate but attention to the Ca status may be required to sustain high-yielding red clover swards.     

Cherry leaf roll virus causing a disease of Betula spp. in the United Kingdom

A virus, serologically related to isolates of cherry leaf rollvirus (CLRV) from Prunus avium (L.) L. and Sambucus nigra L.was transmitted to a range of herbaceous plants from leavesor roots of thirty-one of forty-seven trees of Betula spp. growingat two heathland sites in Berkshire. Ageing leaves of virus-infectedindividuals which had mild chiorotic blotches or ring and linepatterns in July showed bright yellow ring and line patternsin October. In the season after B. verrucosa seedlings wereinoculated with CLRV isolates, leaves developed chlorotic ringand blotch patterns; the symptoms being similar whether theinocula were originally isolated from S. nigra, P. avium orB. verrucosa. Palisade and mesophyll cells of naturally infectedleaves of B. verrucosa contained chloroplasts in which granalorganization was appreciably less distinct than that of chloroplastsfrom virus-free leaves. In many instances, virus-infected leafcells had spherical virus-like particles about 30 mn in diametercontained within tubular structures in cell wall projections;these structures were not seen in virus-free material. An isolate of CLRV from B. verrucosa, purified from systemicallyinfected leaves of Nicotiana clevelandii Gray by ammonium sulphateprecipitation and differential centrifugation, contained twomajor components having sedimentation coefficients of 118s and130s. Each component was composed of spherical particles withdiameters in the range 26–30 nm and having buoyant densitiesin caesium chloride of 1·460 and 1·493 gm/cm³.Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of preparations from bothbuoyant components indicated that they each contained a singlespecies of protein whose molecular weight was in the range 53,000–54,000daltons.     

Some observations on plant lectins and Rhizobium specificity

The ability of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labelled lectins extracted from the legumes Aspalathus linearis, Glycine max, Lotononis bainesii, Phaseolus vulgaris and Pisum sativum, respectively, to react with strains of various Rhizobium spp. was studied. With the exception of six out of ten strains of R. phaseoli and two out of ten strains of R. japonicum, none of the Rhizobium strains tested were able to bind lectin from their normal host plants. Many strains of R. leguminosarum, R. trifolii and R. phaseoli bound each of the plant lectins studied with the exception of the P. sativum lectin. This lectin was only bound by two strains of R. meliloti and a slow-growing strain isolated from Macroptilium atropurpureum. These results do not support suggestions by other workers that plant lectins play an important role in Rhizobium specificity.     

INTERACTIONS BETWEEN FIRST AND SECOND APPLICATIONS OF FERTILIZER NITROGEN AND IMPLICATIONS IN EFFICIENCY OF NITROGEN USE

DM yield and N uptake data are presented from primary growth and two successive regrowths of perennial ryegrass treated with combinations of three N treatments for the primary growth viz. 0, 50 and 100 kg N/ha (PN) and four N treatments applied for the second growths, viz. 0, 33, 66 and 100 kg N/ha (SN). Primary growth gave a response of 24·2 kg DM/kg applied N to PN50 with only a further l±0 kg DM/kg applied N from the second PN increment. A significant interaction between PN and SN treatments was shown in second growth. The residual DM response to PN was highest at SN0 and reduced as the level of SN was raised. Substantially greater residual responses to PN treatments were shown in the third growth. Third growth DM responses to SN treatments were high. High apparent recovery of fertilizer N reached 111% of primary N where SN66 followed PN50. High available soil N is partly responsible for both high apparent recovery of N and high DM response. The latter appears to be associated with inclusion of growths given no fertilizer N so that the full residual effects of fertilizer N and ‘priming’ of available soil N can be realised.     

Enzyme activity in soils at subzero temperatures

Urease activity, phosphatase activity, and sulfatase activity were detected in soils at ?10 and ?20°C. The occurrence of enzyme activity in soils at subzero temperatures is attributed to enzyme-substrate interaction in unfrozen water at the surfaces of soil particles. Support for this explanation was obtained from experiments showing that hydrolysis of urea by jackbean urease occurs at ?10 or ?20°C in the presence, but not in the absence, of clay minerals or autoclaved soils. No enzyme activity could be detected in soils at ?30°C.