Isolation and characterization of Thiobacillus from alkali soils

Alkali soils are poor in sulphur-oxidizing bacteria. By appropriate enrichment, two bacterial strains resembling Thiobacillus thiooxidans and T. novellus have been isolated from an alkali soil. The strain of T. novellus possesses characteristics which make it suitable in reclamation of alkali soils by sulphur amendment.     

Noise control activities of the state OF California

This paper deals primarily with state activity in the field of noise control. It covers motor vehicle noise, aircraft noise, noise and land use planning, and includes a discussion of what areas for future state legislation are left uncovered by federal preemption under the Noise Control Act of 1972. With regard to motor vehicle noise, California has been enforcing existing state laws that pertain both to sellers of new vehicles and to operators of all vehicles. The enactment of the Noise Control Act raises questions as to the continued legality of the existing new vehicle laws. California's aircraft noise regulations went into effect in December 1972. As a practical matter, full enforcement must await the satisfactory performance of the monitoring systems, none of which have been fully approved. The airlines have sued the state to invalidate the regulations. The outcome may well depend on the decision of the United States Supreme Court in Burbank v. Lockheed, that court's first aircraft noise regulation case, which was scheduled to be argued in February 1973.     

A COMPARISON BETWEEN A PADDOCK SYSTEM AND A 'WYE COLLEGE' SYSTEM OF GRAZING FOR MILK PRODUCTION

Two grazing systems, a paddock system and a ‘Wye College’ system, were compared in two 20-week experiments nsing 16 and 20 spring-calved Ayrshire cows in 1970 and 1971, respectively. A sward of S23 perennial ryegrass was used, and an average of 342 kg N/ha (305 lb N/ ac) was applied per annum. The paddock system had 28 separate paddocks; one paddock was grazed each day in rotation and occasionally topped in mid-season. The Wye College system had 4 plots of equal size and the cows were offered 1/7 of one plot each day; no back fence was used and surplus herbage was neither cut nor topped. The stocking rate on hoth systems was 1 cow per 0.20 ha (0.49 ac) in 1970 and per 0.16 ha (0.40 ac) in 1971. The mean daily milk yields per cow on the paddock and the Wye College systems were 16.2 and 15.3 kg (35.7 and 33.7 lb), respectively, in 1970; and 18.1 and 18.4 kg (39.9 and 40.6 lb) in 1971. The average annual output of milk was 13,500 and 13,150 kg/ha (1200 and 1170 gal/ac) on the paddock and Wye College systems, respectively. The fat and solids-not-fat (S.N.F.) contents of the milk were not significantly affected by the grazing system. It is concluded that the Wye College system was as effective as the paddock system in producing a high output of mUk per ha, but at a lower cost and with far fewer management decisions.     

The Adaptation of Boring Attachments on Motor-driven Chain-saws, for the Detection of Decay in Trees, and Other Uses

Standard boring attachments which can be fitted to chain-sawswere used to power increment borers. They were successfullyused to detect decay in trees, stumps, and logs, in a programmeof research in Fomes annosus.     

THE ERROR IN PREDICTING PASTURE DRY–MATTER DIGESTIBILITY FROM FOUR DIFFERENT METHODS OF ANALYSIS FOR LIGNIN

The lignin content of 50 samples of five grasses of known in vivo digestibility were determined by the methods of Armitage, van Soest and two modifications of the van Soest technique. The error in predicting DM digestibility varied from ±3.1 for tbe Armitage metbod to ±5.0 for the van Soest method. This error compares nnfavourably witb ±2.1 previonsly obtained on tbe same samples with the in vitro technique of Tilley and Terry.     

THE INFLUENCE OF SAMPLE SIZE AND NUMBER ON THE PRECISION OF ESTIMATES OF HERBAGE PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION IN TWO GRAZING EXPERIMENTS

Estimates of forage production and consumption were made, using dry-weight differences between samples from protected and grazed areas. Two sizes of cage for protecting areas from grazing were compared in four forages: brome grass (Bromus inermis Leyss.)/Iucerne (Medicago sativa L.); crested wbeatgrass (Agropyron crista-tum L.)/lucerne; intermediate wbeatgrass (A. intermedium (Host.) Beauv.)/Iucerne; and Russian wild-rye (Elymus junceus Fisch.). Production, over a three-year period, ranged from 1985 to 6286 kg/ha when estimated from 0.84 m² cages. Consumption ranged from 1584 to 5878 kg/ha. Yield estimates wben using 2.51 m² cages averaged 8% less than estimates from 0.84 m² cages. The number of caged sites needed in each plot to estimate a 95% confidence interval for annual production were 14 for four replicates, and over 30 for fewer replicates. Requirements for consumption estimates were similar. To estimate production within a 90% confidence interval 19, 10 and 4 caged sites were required from two, three, and four replicates, respectively. Consumption estimates within tbis confidence interval required 22, 10, and 5 samples from two, tbree, and four replicates, respectively. Caging requirements were tbe same for all combinations of plot size and forage species. Large cages increased precision sligbtly wben used on Russian wild-rye, probably because the forage was in rows 0.91 m apart.     

Collaborative study of the analysis of mestranol in combination with norethindrone or norethynodrel

A collaborative study of the analysis of mestranol in combination with norethindrone or norethynodrel by column chromatography and ultraviolet determination is presented. The study consisted of 4 samples which were a commercial norethindrone tablet, a synthetic norethindrone mixture, a commercial norethynodrel tablet, and a synthetic norethynodrel mixture. The samples were analyzed by 13 collaborators. Average mestranol recoveries were 100.4, 99.9, 98.7, and 101.2%, respectively.