Plant genetic resources of Nepal: A guide for plant breeders of agricultural, horticultural and forestry crops

Summary Nepal is rich in indigenous wild and landrace plant genetic resources for agronomic, horticultural, forestry, or medicinal uses, but much of this germplasm remains uncollected and awaits economic development. We list 485 entries (species, or genera for ornamental plants) in 14 categories, and compare these to existing germplasm collections in Nepal and the United States to highlight collection and conservation needs. To help plant plant collecting, we outline the key botanical and logistical data and legal framework for planning field work in Nepal.     

Effects of soil disturbance from roadworks on roadside shrubs in a fragmented agricultural landscape

We investigated how soil disturbance from roadworks affects the population structures of roadside shrubs in an agricultural landscape of southern New South Wales, Australia. Size structures of Acacia pycnantha, A. montana and A. decora were assessed, and a separate dendroecological study undertaken. On a regional scale, populations were expanding, but classification of structures showed distinct groups of colonising, stable and senescent populations. Soil disturbance from previous roadworks was recorded in 88% of populations, and there was a significant relationship between major recruitment and roadworks events in Acacia populations situated along bitumen roads. For Acacia species, soil disturbance from roadworks are analogous to periodic disturbance from a natural fire regime, which in conjunction with historical changes in grazing pressure, are suggested as the main causes of increased Acacia recruitment. Ongoing management of disturbance regimes in roadside environments may be critical to Acacia persistence and associated fauna habitat.     

An analysis of recent taxonomic concepts in wild potatoes (Solarium sect. Petota)

Summary Solanum L. sect. Petota Dumort., the potato and its wild relatives, contains 232 species, according to the latest taxonomic interpretation of Hawkes (1990). Section Petota is distributed in the Americas from the southwestern United States to southern Chile. This economically important group has attracted the attention of numerous taxonomists with various taxonomic philosophies. There are 531 validly published basionyms in the group, plus 67 nomina nuda or nomina dubia, and subsequent transfers to other ranks raise the number of names to 664. The taxonomy of sect. Petota has been dominated in recent years by J. G. Hawkes & J. P. Hjerting (co-workers) and C. M. Ochoa. The near simultaneous and independent publication of three recent books by these workers, treating the Bolivian species of sect. Petota, provides a novel opportunity to compare their taxonomic philosophies. Additionally, a recent independent treatment of all of the South American species by L. E. Gorbatenko provides a new interpretation of affiliations of species to series that is compared to the recent treatment of Hawkes and earlier treatments of S. M. Bukasov and D. S. Correll. These treatments differ in the placement of species into series, species boundaries, rank of infraspecific taxa, and hypotheses of hybridization. Our analysis illustrates the wide differences of taxonomic interpretation possible when independent workers treat the same material. The comparison provides insights into unresolved taxonomic questions in sect. Petota and indicates the need for a practical taxonomic resolution that will benefit plant breeders and other researchers on wild potatoes. Reasons for the discrepancies are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.     

Revaccination with the sameTheileria annulata infected cell line may not be feasible for boosting immunity against tropical theileriosis

Tropical Animal Health and Production - A model for studying re-immunisation using skin grafting was developed as the allogeneic responses produced byT. annulata cell lines were similar to those...     

Case-control study of orf in preweaned lambs and an assessment of the financial impact of the disease

Orf, a viral disease which causes proliferative skin lesions around the mouths of lambs and on the teats of ewes, has long been assumed to have production-limiting consequences. This case-control study involved the collection of data from naturally occurring outbreaks of orf in young lambs on eight commercial farms in north-east England. Measurements of weight were taken and orf lesions were scored on a numerical scale for 44 orf-affected lambs, matched to unaffected controls within the same group. Data from corresponding ewes were available from five farms. Paired t tests showed that affected lambs weighed approximately 10 per cent less than their unaffected controls for a period of at least five weeks following the start of the outbreak. The effects were highly significant whether the orf lesions affected the mouth or were found elsewhere on the body. If a lamb had orf, then there was a 82 per cent chance that its mother also had orf on its udder or teats. The financial consequences of orf in young lambs were estimated using average UK figures and conservative assumptions based on the results of this study.     

Endurance Training Has Little Impact on Mineral Content of the Third Metacarpus in Two-Year-Old Arabian Horses

Although previous research suggests that short bouts of high-speed exercise will increase bone mass in horses, little research has been conducted to determine the impact of endurance exercise on bone. Although many in the equine industry believe that months of slow training will increase bone strength, we hypothesized that endurance training would not alter bone mineral content as determined through optical density. Eleven 2-year-old Arabians were split into two groups, Exercised (E, 6 geldings) or Control (C, 5 fillies), with radiographs taken on day 0 for estimation of bone mineral content by radiographic bone aluminum equivalence (RBAE). The E horses were then trained on a high-speed treadmill for 90 days; training consisted of walking (1.6 m/second), trotting (4 m/second) and cantering (8 m/second) at increasing distances until the target of 60 km/day was met. On day 90, E horses were confined to 9 × 14 m dry lots and placed on a regular exercise schedule, including a 60-km endurance test once every 3 weeks. The C horses remained on pasture throughout the study. On day 162, radiographs were made again on all 11 horses. No differences between treatments, days, or interactions were noted in any cortex or the total RBAE, suggesting that endurance exercise does little to alter bone optical density compared with free-choice exercise on pasture.     

Spatial analysis of roadside Acacia populations on a road network using the network K-function

Spatial patterning of plant distributions has long been recognised as being important in understanding underlying ecological processes. Ripley’s K-function is a frequently used method for studying the spatial pattern of mapped point data in ecology. However, application of this method to point patterns on road networks is inappropriate, as the K-function assumes an infinite homogenous environment in calculating Euclidean distances. A new technique for analysing the distribution of points on a network has been developed, called the network K-function (for univariate analysis) and network cross K-function (for bivariate analysis). To investigate its applicability for ecological data-sets, this method was applied to point location data for roadside populations of three Acacia species in a fragmented agricultural landscape of south-eastern Australia. Kernel estimations of the observed density of spatial point patterns for each species showed strong spatial heterogeneity. Combined univariate and bivariate network K-function analyses confirmed significant clustering of populations at various scales, and spatial patterns of Acacia decora suggests that roadworks activities may have a stronger controlling influence than environmental determinants on population dynamics. The network K-function method will become a useful statistical tool for the analyses of ecological data along roads, field margins, streams and other networks.This revised version was published online in May 2005 with corrections to the Cover Date.