Detection of Incipient Germination in Malting Barley with a Starch Viscosity Method and a Proposed Ethanol Emission Method

The risk of germination loss during storage in two‐row malting barley can be reduced by identifying grain lots that have undergone incipient germination (IG) during harvest. A method based on starch viscosity that utilizes a Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA) is currently available for IG analysis. A new potential method, based on the measurement of ethanol emission (EE) from whole barley, may be more efficient and less expensive than the RVA procedure. Three storage experiments were performed: experiments 1 and 3 at 25°C and 80% rh, and experiment 2 in unheated, uninsulated buildings. Decline in germination energy (GE) varied from <1% to about 80% during storage. In experiments 1 and 3, R² for GE loss (expressed as [weeks to 5% loss of GE]^0.2) versus EE was 0.76 in both cases, whereas R² for GE loss versus RVA viscosity was 0.64 and 0.68, respectively. In experiment 2, the greatest loss of GE was associated with high temperatures and relative humidity in July and August. EE performed as well as RVA in the prediction of germination loss in all three trials. Although further evaluation of the EE method is required, it appears to be a promising alternative to the RVA technique.     

Public health effects of accidents in self-employed forestry work

Little is known about the extent of work-related accidents occurring during the performance of forestry work by the non-industrial private forest owner or their assistant (hereafter called self-employed NIPF). The absence of an effective accident registration system largely excludes this group from accurate representation in official statistics. In this study, data from 1996 to 2001 were collected from hospital injury records managed by the Umeå Accident Analysis Group at the University Hospital in Umeå. During that period, it was found that 485 persons in the Umeå region were given medical attention due to injuries possibly acquired during self-employed forestry work. Questionnaires about the accidents were sent to each of the 485 injured persons and 80% were returned. Responses revealed that 225 of the respondents were injured during self-employed forestry work. Out of these, 81% performed fewer than 31 days of forestry work annually. Due to the injury, 29% had been on sick leave for some period of time and 42% had persistent symptoms. On average, each injury led to 13 days of sick leave and 24 hours of institutional care. Firewood production was shown to be a key factor behind the large number of accidents for self-employed NIPF. Further studies on the lack of knowledge about how the work should be done and conscious risk taking should be considered as an important link to the development of effective accident prevention strategies.     

Tracking leaf area index and coefficient of light extinction over the harvesting cycle of black wattle

The amount of photosynthetic radiation intercepted by a crop is a function of the incident solar radiation on the plants, the leaf area index (L _AI), and the light extinction coefficient (k). We quantified L _AI and k in stands of black wattle (Acacia mearnsii De Wild.) over a 7-year growth cycle at two locations in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. Our study was conducted in commercial stands in agroecological regions with high densities of black wattle plantations. L _AI was calculated as the ratio between the leaf area of a tree and its planting space, and k was derived from Beer’s law. L _AI depends on the planting site and stand age. Between the two sites, the L _AI was similar over time, the amount of variation differed. Values of k depended only on stand age, with the highest average observed for stands up to 5 years old. The trend of k during the plantation cycle was inversely proportional to L _AI and was correlated with L _AI, leaf area, leaf dry mass, canopy volume, height, branches dry mass, total dry mass, and crown diameter.     

Improvement of the tissue culture technique for <Emphasis Type="Italic">Melaleuca alternifolia</Emphasis>

Tea tree oil is extracted from the leaves and twigs of Melaleuca alternifolia (Maiden & Betche) Cheel, and it is widely used in medicines, food preservatives, cosmetics and health care products. Traditional propagation of M. alternifolia from seeds does not necessarily transfer the desired characteristics from their mother trees, the seedlings are not uniform, and the multiplication rate from cuttings is relatively low. For these reasons, it is necessary to develop tissue culture techniques for this species. This study showed that an efficient explant initiation medium for M. alternifolia was MS 1/2 + BA 0.6 mg L^?1 + NAA 0.1 mg L^?1 + sucrose 30 g L^?1, which yielded a 75.9 % initiation rate. An efficient multiplication medium was MS + BA 0.3 mg L^?1 + NAA 0.15 mg L^?1 + sucrose 30 g L^?1, which yielded a 4.3 multiplication rate and 3.2 cm shoot length. The rooting medium was MS 1/2 + IBA 0.1–0.25 mg L^?1 + sucrose 15 g L^?1, which yielded a 100 % rooting rate, 2.94–3.32 roots per individual and 1.36–1.44 cm root length. Local red-core soil was suitable as a transplant medium, and yielded 98 % survival. This study improved the tissue culture technique for mass-propagation of M. alternifolia, enabling the production of high quality plants for market.     

Temporal and spatial dynamics of an old-growth beech forest in western Japan

Dendrochronological approaches enable us to understand forest stand dynamics by estimation of disturbance history and age structure. The present study was conducted in an old-growth beech forest in a forest reserve in western Japan. Increment cores were taken for tree ring analysis from all canopy trees in a 50 m × 130 m study plot. Radial growth release criteria were developed to identify significant growth releases in each tree ring series and to characterize the disturbance history of the study site. The age structure of the forest was indicative of continuous establishment by Fagus crenata and simultaneous establishment by Magnolia obovata. A variety of low-intensity disturbances were identified in each decade, especially after the 1900s, but the occurrence of high-intensity catastrophic disturbance was rare, and likely played an important role in maintaining species diversity in the existing forest canopy. The results also suggest that F. crenata regenerates gradually before and after both large- and small-scale disturbances, whereas M. obovata and Betula grossa regenerate only after large-scale catastrophic disturbances.     

The performance of community organisers in promotion of community forestry in Leyte Province,Philippines

A study was conducted to assess the role and effectiveness of community organisers in supporting the development of people’s organisations in achieving community-based forest management objectives in Leyte Province Philippines. Community organisers were found to be effective in forming people’s organisations (POs), motivating people to participate in voluntary activities organised by POs and encouraging cohesiveness among PO members. Community organisers manage to raise the level of environmental awareness and knowledge of members of people’s organisations, develop leadership interest and skills, create various livelihood opportunities and provide direction and facilitate the establishment of large tree plantations. However, the short duration of community organisers’ contracts (typically two years) is insufficient to establish mature and cohesive POs prepared to assume management on their own, including the management of tree plantations. Further, lack of training and funding support, low wages, delayed payment of salaries and limited time to work with people’s organisations, as well as the pressure to produce tangible outputs such the establishment of large tree plantations, prevents them from placing greater emphasis on the development and empowerment of the people.     

Signals of summer drought in crown condition data from the German Level I network

Crown transparency estimates of Scots pine, Norway spruce, common beech, pedunculate and sessile oak, annually surveyed between 1990 and 2004 within a grid over Germany, provide a suitable response variable to study drought effects on forest trees. Major climatic factors, available on a monthly basis as plot-specifically interpolated values and parameters of site and stand conditions, biotic and other relevant factors were used as predictors in different cross- and length-sectional, and longitudinal models. Stand age is a considerable and most constant driver of crown transparency in all species. Pine, spruce and beech responded—mainly with a delay of 1 year—with some foliar loss in areas where there was a surplus of temperature after the generally hot and dry summer of 2003. Parallel time-series analyses delivered species-specific geographic large-scale patterns with delayed or recent precipitation deficits or temperature surpluses. Even if beech is partly responding in current years with leaf loss towards precipitation surpluses, defoliation is especially high 1 year after hot summers, partly a result of high seed sets after such summers. Crown condition of oak responds in dry and warm areas according to the drought stress hypothesis, however, in cool and wet mountainous ranges oak responds after wet summers with higher defoliation. Longitudinal approaches revealed for all 4-tree species significant relationships between crown condition and deviations from the long-term means of temperature, precipitation but also global radiation and wind speed. Results do not always match the drought stress hypothesis, however, this is not to expect considering the heterogeneous site, stand and climatic conditions across Germany. Complex interactions of climatic and biotic factors also impede simple relationships. Soil-related clusters reveal higher sensitivity of spruce and beech towards climatic drought factors on more acid soils with thin humus layers. Also clusters constructed from plot-specific courses of defoliation reveal groups with rather closer relationships like a group of pine plots in the Oberpfalz, which seems to be especially sensitive to summer drought.     

Canopy recruitment in the beech (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Fagus engleriana</Emphasis>) forest of Mt. Shennongjia,Central China

A dendrochronological technique was used to investigate canopy recruitment of beech (Fagus engleriana Seem.) trees in western Hubei Province of Central China by identifying growth releases through gap formation. The results indicated that 83% and 17% of the canopy trees regenerate in gaps and the understory, respectively. Radial growth analyses demonstrated that there are three modes for beech regeneration and canopy recruitment: (1) gap origin without suppression; (2) gap origin with period(s) of suppression; and (3) understory origin. Multiple periods of release and suppression imply that beech regeneration and canopy recruitment are very sensitive to gap formation.     

Petroleum flotation technique upgrades the germinability of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Casuarina equisetifolia</Emphasis> seed lots

The germination of Casuarina equisetifolia Forst seed lots is low (40–50%) even when freshly collected. This study aimed at upgrading the germination performance by removing non-germinable seeds using petroleum flotation technique. Seeds collected from 19 individual trees in seedling seed orchards in India were assessed using X-ray to determine the proportion of different seed lot fractions. The feasibility of petroleum ether as a separation medium was tested. Morphological characters of floating and sunken seeds were further studied using image analysis technique to examine their effects on the separation efficiency. The X-ray analysis revealed a large quantity of shrivelled, empty and insect-damaged seeds, altogether accounting 50%, which were the causes of low percentage germination of un-graded seed lots (48%). Petroleum flotation resulted in 90% germination in the sunken fraction and 4% in the floating fraction. The separation was distinct for most seed lots, except few seed lots that had relatively low germination in the sunken fractions and more than 10% germination in the floating fractions. As a whole, petroleum flotation appears to be a feasible technique to upgrade the germination of C. equisetifolia seed lots, and its efficacy is influenced by wing surface area, seed density and wing quotient of filled and empty seeds.