Influence of site and variety on starch,hemicellulose and cellulose composition of wheats and their digestibilities by adult cockerels

1. It has been shown that both the variety of wheat and the environment under which growth took place influenced the quantities of starch and cell wall carbohydrate contents of wheat.

2. The different varieties of wheat investigated contained different proportions of water‐soluble to water‐insoluble hemicelluloses.

3. By comparison of the arabinose to xylose ratios it was concluded that water‐soluble and insoluble arabinoxylans of wheat were branched to the same degree.

4. Starch from six wheat varieties grown in the U.K. was very well digested by adult cockerels and true metabolisable energy values of the wheats were high.

5. Small amounts of cell wall carbohydrates were digested by adult cockerels.     

Effects of evisceration and storage temperature on changes in meat quality of traditional farm‐fresh Turkeys

1. Conditions affecting the keeping quality of traditional farm‐fresh turkeys were investigated.

2. Storage of uneviscerated Wrolstad turkeys at 4 °C for 10 days caused no statistically significant changes in meat flavour or texture.

3. During further storage at —2 °C, however, there was a slight but significant change in flavour, which became more marked with time in birds which had been eviscerated after the initial period at 4 °C.

4. Both eviscerated and uneviscerated birds became slightly tougher during storage.

5. Initial holding at 4 °C increased the numbers of psychrotrophic bacteria on the skin by about 10³ but subsequent changes at — 2 °C were slight for uneviscerated birds.

6. Eviscerated carcases had higher counts than uneviscerated birds after storage at — 2 °C and, although ‘off’ odours were not detected, spoilage appeared to be imminent at the end of the 20‐d period.     

Book reviews

Birds Their Structure and Function, By A. S. King and J. McLelland, 1984. 2nd ed. 334 pp. illustrated. London, Baillière Tindall. £9.50. ISBN 0 7020 0872 9.

Proceedings of the 2nd European Symposium on Poultry Welfare, 1985. 360 pp. illustrated. German Branch of the World's Poultry Science Association, Celle, Institut für Kleintierzucht.     

A toxic dipeptide from the defense glands of the colorado beetle

The Colorado beetle is protected against predators by the secretions of defensive glands located on the pronotum and the elytra. The single major compound of the secretion was identified as gamma-L-glutamyl-L-2-amino-3(Z),5-hexadienoic acid by spectroscopic and chemical methods. This compound, which contains a nonprotein beta,gamma- unsaturated amino acid, is toxic to ants (Myrmica rubra) at a concentration 10(-2) molar, which is less than its estimated concentration in the secretion (1.8 x 10(-1) molar).     

Age of the earliest african anthropoids

The earliest fossil record of African anthropoid primates (monkeys and apes) comes from the Jebel Qatrani Formation in the Fayum depression of Egypt. Reevaluation of both geologic and faunal evidence indicates that this formation was deposited in the early part of the Oligocene Epoch, more than 31 million years ago, earlier than previous estimates. The great antiquity of the fossil higher primates from Egypt accords well with their primitive morphology compared with later Old World higher primates. Thus, the anthropoid primates and hystricomorph rodents from Fayum are also considerably older than the earliest higher primates and rodents from South America.