The effect of stage of harvesting on dry-matter (D.M.) yield and chemical composition of barley, wheat and the legumes common vetch (F. sativa), woollypod vetch (F. dasycarpa) and fodder peas (P. sativum) were studied in Cyprus under low rainfall conditions in a series of trials sown in four successive years. Cereals were harvested at the beginning of heading, 50% heading and the milk stage of grain, and legumes at three stages from preflowering to full pod formation, D.M., protein and digestible D.M. yields and percentage D.M. content increased with age, whereas percentage protein content and D.M. digestibility declined. Under moisture stress conditions before and during the harvesting period D.M. yields did not increase significantly with age. Protein content of cereals under low rainfall conditions was higher than that of cereals grown in the U.K. under higher N fertilization levels. Rainfall conditions affected drastically the performance of both cereals and legumes. However, average yields were satisfactory; the barley variety 628 gave 8·98 t/ha, the highest D.M. yield among all cereal and legume varieties.

Chopped barley straw was fed ad libitum to penned Romney wether sheep. Supplements of urea, ground wheat grain + urea, lucerne hay and autumn saved pasture (ASP) were given for five periods each of 3 weeks using a 5 × 5 Latin square design. The latter three supplements supplied similar amounts of nitrogen and approximately 20% of the energy required for maintenance.

The concentration of ammonia in the rumen fluid of sheep fed the basal straw diet was low and was increased by all the supplements. The concentration of total volatile fatty acids (VFA) in rumen fluid was unaffected by supplementation with urea, but was increased by the three supplements of nitrogen and energy. Differences in VFA molar proportions between treatments were small.

Sheep offered straw alone had a digestible energy (DE) intake of 69% of maintenance and showed a weight loss of 121 g/day. Supplementation with urea had no effect upon apparent energy digestibility (42%) or voluntary intake, but significantly reduced the rate of live-weight loss. The lucerne hay and ASP supplements also had no effect upon straw consumption, but increased total DE intake to 87% of maintenance due to the additional energy provided by the supplements, and reduced live-weight loss. Supplementation with wheat + urea increased the estimated amount of digestible organic matter derived from straw by 8·5%, increasing DE intake to 94% of maintenance and reducing live-weight loss to 18 g/day.

Averaged over all five groups of animals, straw intake increased by 9% in the second period of feeding and then gradually decreased with time, reaching a value in period 5 which was similar to period 1.

Blood samples were taken on six occasions from a herd of 172 Friesian, Ayrshire and Friesian × Ayrshire dairy cows, and analysed for packed cell volume, blood glucose, haemoglobin and serum albumin, total protein, urea nitrogen, inorganic phosphate, Ca, Mg, K and Na. Differences in blood composition among cows, adjusted for differences in stage of lactation, were demonstrated for all blood constituents (P < 0·001) with the variation among cows proportionally largest for globulin and total protein and smallest for Na. Correlations between blood constituents were for the most part small.

Globulin and total protein concentrations increased with age (P < 0·001) and concentrations of inorganic phosphate, albumin, Mg, Na and urea decreased with increasing age (P < 0·001 for inorganic phosphate and Mg, P < 0·01 for albumin, Na and urea). Frequency distributions of the concentrations of the blood constituents adjusted for age and breed showed significant deviations from normality for globulin (P < 0·05) and Hb (P < 0·01).

There were significant relationships between the concentrations of globulin and total protein of 43 dams and their daughters (P < 0·01 for globulin, P < 0·05 for total protein). There were also significant differences in groups of daughters of different sires for concentrations of urea, globulin, total protein, albumin, Mg, Ca, K and PCV (P < 0·01 for urea and globulin, P < 0·05 for the other constituents).

Twenty experiments between 1970 and 1974 tested the effect of five amounts of triple superphosphate (0–110 kg P/ha) on sugar-beet yield in fields where soil contained little sodium bicarbonate-soluble phosphorus. The average yield without phosphorus fertilizer was 6·69 t/ha sugar and the increase from the optimum dressing 0·46 t/ha; the average soil concentration was 12 mg P/l. The fertilizer increased yield by 0·77 t/ha sugar on fields with 0–9 mg/l soil phosphorus, by 0·31 t/ha when soil phosphorus was 10–15 mg/l and had little effect on soils containing larger amounts.

The concentration of phosphorus in plants harvested in mid-summer contained on average 0·29% P in dried tops and 0·13% in roots when given no phosphorus fertilizer, representing a total of 19·3 kg/ha P uptake. Giving superphosphate increased the phosphorus in both dried tops and roots by up to 0·03% and there was 3·7 and 1·7 kg/ha more phosphorus in tops and roots respectively. On the most responsive fields (0–9 mg/l soil P), the fertilizer increased the phosphorus in tops and roots by 0·05% and total uptake by 7 kg P/ha. The increase in uptake (or recovery) of fertilizer varied from 15% when 14 kg P/ha was given to less than 5% when 110 kg P/ha was used.

A dressing of 27 kg P/ha was adequate for maximum yield on 19 of the 20 fields. When fields were grouped, 0–9, 10–15, 16–25 and > 26 mg/l NaHCO3-soluble soil phosphorus, and taking into account the value of the increased sugar yield, the cost of the fertilizer and its residual value, 60, 30, 20 and 10 kg P/ha respectively were the most profitable dressings. These experiments provide evidence, however, that the fertilizer would be used more efficiently if fields containing 0–9 mg soil phosphorus were subdivided into those with 0–4·5 and those with 4·6–9·0 mg/l and the groups given 80 and 40 kg P/ha respectively. These recommendations are substantially less than those used at present; they are adequate for sugar beet but other crops in the rotation would need similar close examination to ensure maximum yield and maintain adequate soil reserves of phosphorus.

The effect of six intervals between harvests and three levels of N application on the proportion and yield of green leaf, dead leaf, ‘stem’ and inflorescence was studied in four ryegrass (Lolium) varieties during a 30-week period in the first harvest year in a field experiment. In one variety, S.23, the ‘stem’ was divided into true stem, leaf sheath, unemerged leaf and unemerged inflorescence.

There was a bigger yield of ‘stem’ and a bigger total herbage yield response to doubling the interval between harvests in S.321 and S.22 than in S.23 and S.24.

In the absence, but not generally in the presence, of applied N, S.321 outyielded the other varieties. S.24 was particularly responsive to applied N, especially in terms of green leaf yield.

There was a large positive effect on yield of doubling the interval (from 3, 4 or 5 weeks to 6, 8 or 10 weeks respectively) during the main period of stem development. During the subsequent period, however, doubling the interval produced very little extra yield of total herbage and reduced green leaf yield substantially.

The percentage increase in yield due to the application of N progressively decreased as the interval was increased.

Maximum net production of green leaf was obtained by harvesting every 4 or 5 weeks for most of the season, extending to 6 weeks at the end. Harvesting every 3 weeks, by comparison, resulted in a slightly lower annual green leaf yield, but with a distinctly higher proportion of green leaf in the crop.

Applied N generally had little effect on the proportion of crop fractions, but reduced the proportion of green leaf and increased that of' stem' in S.23 and S.24 at the August and September harvests.

The percentage of natural cross pollination was estimated in the Alexandria area (Egypt) in two sites near and far from an apiary. The Egyptian cotton variety Giza 45 and the glandless strain Bahtim 110, as a marker parent, were used during three growing seasons. The average natural crossing within the square of the marker parent were 3·54 and 0·34% near and far from the apiary respectively. For the plants around the square of pollen source, however, the average of natural crossing was 0·56% near the apiary, while it was 0·21% far from the apiary. The natural crossing steadily decreased as the distance from the marker variety increased.

Application of B-9 shortened mainstem and branch internodes of several peanut cultivars at all times of application. The numbers of mainstem and branch nodes were little affected by B-9. Interactions between cultivars and B-9 treatments in these vegetative characters were small, inconsistent and generally non-significant. B-9 had inconsistent effects on plant dry weight and did not increase pod yields. In an upright bunch type, podding was more compact, but mean seed dry weight and number of seeds per pod were slightly reduced by B-9.

It has been observed that there is an appreciable from the beginning of flowering till its completion percentage of flower shedding in pulse crops but and the total number of flowers shed was calculated, reliable data are lacking. Preliminary studies were, At maturity, the number of full-size pods per plant therefore, vindertaken to collect information on the was counted and the percentage of flowers shed extent of flower shedding in some kharif (rainy was calculated, season) pulses.

A period of storage at 2–3 °C followed by storage at higher temperatures more suitable for sprouting, gave a more rapid and greater total sprout development than that produced by continuous storage in sprouting conditions. The effect on the number of sprouts produced and the potential yield advantages to be gained from increasing sprout development by such a treatment are discussed.