The possibility of producing herbage of higher quality than that of tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) in a continental climate with cold winters, hot summers and low precipitation was investigated, with and without irrigation, at Taigu, Shanxi, China. Tall fescue was compared with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) and perennial ryegrass × meadow fescue in field swards, managed by cutting, during the year of sowing and in the three subsequent years. Perennial ryegrass yielded well in the year of sowing, but was low yielding subsequently; perennial ryegrass × meadow fescue yielded well in the year of sowing and in the following year. Both of these grasses had high rates of leaf appearance and extension and a high proportion of cell content in the dry matter. Tall fescue yielded well, but was low in proportion of cell content.

Seeds of watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) with a moisture content of 7.2% were heat treated at 60°C for 15 or 20 h, and their performances compared with that of untreated seeds. Radicle emergence of treated seeds was only slightly lower than that of the control when germinated at 25°C. To ascertain the effect of the treatments on hypocotyl growth (emergence) per se, radicle emergence was synchronized in all treatments and emergence from deep plantings in sand determined. Small differences in emergence were observed when seeds were germinated at 25°C, but seed treatment resulted in large reductions in emergence at 15°C. This demonstrates that the hypocotyls developing from heat-treated, germinated seeds are less able to withstand low germination temperatures, which could be an important factor in emergence failure. Levels of free abscisic acid (ABA) were higher at 15°C than at 25°C, with hypocotyls of treated seeds containing more free ABA and its breakdown products than the control at the lower temperature.

In any experiment the land will not be completely uniform and it is helpful to have ways of allowing for the variation. Some sources, for example altitude, will be obvious; some will be permanent but less obvious, such as depth of topsoil; and some may depend upon season and so be unpredictable. Various methods of local control have been suggested. Where the experimenter has good knowledge of the land it can be divided into blocks, each as far as possible uniform within itself. Then comparisons are made within the blocks rather than within the area as a whole. Where such knowledge does not exist, it is sometimes reasonable to make an assumption about the fertility pattern and make use of that, as in a row-and-column design like a Latin square. There is also the possibility of judging the fertility pattern from the data themselves and assessing the performance of a plot by reference to that of its neighbours.

The approach will be to generate bodies of data on the computer to form realizations of diverse fertility patterns and to use all methods on all realizations, noting success and failure.

When the variation forms a trend, blocks succeed only if they are aligned along fertility contours; the other methods do not depend upon orientation. Row-and-column designs can fail badly if the rows and columns interact. Some random variation is inevitable and it makes all methods less effective, especially nearest-neighbour methods, which can fail also when there are discontinuities. Random patches of different soil types are very difficult to deal with and any method might fail.

Bitter vetch (Vicia ervilia (L.) Willd) is a promising legume, drought tolerant, mainly used in the Mediterranean area for its grains as a source of proteins in animal feed. However, it is an underused crop cultivated in marginal soils. Ecological, agro-morphological, and bromatological diversity evaluations were conducted to study its reintroduction potential. Seeds of seventeen ecotypes were collected in seventeen farms located in Northern Morocco in 2018. The cultivation was realised during the 2019 and 2020 growing seasons using a randomised complete block design with three replicates. Agro-morphological data were collected at the start of flowering, full flowering, and pod setting phenological stages. Yield component assessment and grain and straw bromatological characterisation were performed at maturity. The results indicated significant variations between ecotypes for almost all parameters and interesting results about yield (1 t ha–1) but lower protein content (22.9% of dry matter) compared to other ecotypes of the Mediterranean region. The estimated genetic parameters could emphasise the possibility of selecting highly productive and nutritive cultivars. However, interannual variations were also detected, making the selection of the ecotypes harder. No significant correlations were observed between agro-morphological and bromatological traits of grains and geographical distances. Multivariate analyses (principal component analysis and heatmap) clustered ecotypes into five groups, where the ecotypes included in the second cluster were the most interesting candidates for developing high-yielding and nutritive varieties. That is why this plant could be considered of interest, especially in these times of climate change.

Fruit quality is a key factor – beginning with the producer, continuing through the supply chain, and ending with the consumer. It is described by multiple indicators and varies during the growth and ripening of the fruit. This study focused on two main aspects of Cogshall mango (Mangifera indica L.) quality: (i) the physical properties of the fruit with fresh mass (FM), pulp dry matter content (DMC), and pulp coloration; and (ii) the chemical properties with pulp sugar content and pulp acidity. These indicators were monitored on on-tree fruit, from about 60 days after bloom until full maturity. The same indicators were also monitored on fruit stored in cold storage rooms during ripening. The effects of leaf-to-fruit ratio (manageable by pruning or fruit thinning), maturity stage of fruit at harvest (manageable by harvest date), and storage temperature on the kinetics of quality traits of on-tree and stored fruit were assessed. In addition, a change-point analysis was applied to the sweetness index kinetics (used as a proxy of fruit ripening) to study fruit ripening induction. The leaf-to-fruit ratio mainly influenced fruit growth in terms of FM and pulp DMC, whereas it had less impact on the evolution of fruit chemical properties. The maturity stage of the fruit at harvest was a key factor in determining the potential quality at the ripe stage. Ripening occurs naturally at the mature green stage for on-tree fruit, but ripening at an earlier stage can be induced by harvesting the fruit. During the ripening phase, a low leaf-to-fruit ratio and a cold storage temperature tended to slow down the daily rate of sweetness increase. The use of cold temperatures during storage slowed down starch degradation and sucrose accumulation, while almost stopping the variation in fruit coloration and acidity.

The aim of this work was to compare gas exchanges from leaf to whole plant scales, in two Ethiopian accessions (‘E083’ and ‘E027’), and two bred cultivars (Iapar 59 and Catuaí 99) of Arabica coffee (Coffea arabica L.) cultivated under irrigated and rainfed conditions. Variations in gas exchanges were evaluated over four phenophases (leaf expansion – BE1 and BE2, and berry harvesting – BH1 and BH2), covering the first two production years in the coffee life cycle. We addressed the following questions: Are gas exchanges modified by water availability at leaf and/or plant scales? Do bred cultivars and wild accessions differ in their physiological responses to water availability and phenophases? Photosynthesis (A), stomatal conductance (gs), and transpiration (E) were measured on the recently fully expanded leaves at the upper canopy stratum. The functional-structural plant modelling (FSPM) was used to integrate A at whole plant photosynthesis (A”p), based on 3D virtual trees constructed under VPlants modelling platform. Despite high A values of ‘E083’ overall phenophases, a strong decline in A”p under rainfed condition was observed due to lower plant leaf area as compared to irrigated condition. Catuaí 99 and ‘E083’ were more sensitive to drought than Iapar 59 and ‘E027’, considering photosynthesis at leaf and plant scales. At the last BH2 phenophase, A, gs, E, and carboxylation efficiency were similar between irrigated and rainfed conditions for all genotypes, suggesting some acclimation of leaf gas exchange to the environment. However, A”p benefited by water management in all phenophases as plant leaf area increased. These findings revealed the need to develop methodologies for structural and functional analyses at plant scale, an important step towards the realistic responses of plants and orchards to the surrounding environment.

Readers may be interested to know about the above publication received but not reviewed because of its limited relevance to the majority of readers of Experimental Agriculture.

Nitrate content in the petiole of sugar beet (var. Polygrave) reaches its maximum three months after emergence of the seedling. There is a linear correlation between the final yields and the nitrate content of the petiole at the maximum stage. Nitrogen fertilization should be given in the first three months of the beet growth.

Readers may be interested to know about the above publication received but not reviewed because of its limited relevance to the majority of readers of Experimental Agriculture.

In recent years many economists have been posted to agricultural research stations in Africa but their roles and methodologies have not been clearly defined. Maize research in Nigeria has an exceptionally good structure, good facilities and highly trained manpower, yet the innovations recommended to farmers are not entirely satisfactory. Deficiencies are the result of inadequate attention to the way innovations fit into the farm-household system, identification of farmer's objectives, the uses made of maize and problems of resource shortage. Pilot studies demonstrated how these deficiencies may be rectified by an economist, and suggest changed production recommendations and research priorities.