Microsomal 11-Alpha-hydroxylation of progesterone in Aspergillius ochraceus: Part I: Characterization of the hydroxylase system

Microsomes (105,000xg sediment) prepared from induced cells of A.ochraceus was found to hydroxylate progesterone to 11-Alpha-hydroxyprogesterone (11a-OHP) in high yields (85-�90% in 30 min.) in the presence of NADPH and O2. The pH optimum for the hydroxylase was found to be 7.7. However, for the isolation of active microsomes grinding of the mycelium should be carried out at pH 8.3. Metyrapone, carbon monoxide, SKF-525A, p-CMB and N-methyl maleimide inhibited the hydroxylase activity indicating the involvement of cytochrome P-450 system. The inhibition of the hydroxylase by cytochrome Image and the presence of high levels of NADPH-cytochrome Image reductase in induced microsomes suggest that the reductase could be one of the components in the hydroxylase system.

Evaluation of a remote drafting system for regulating sheep access to supplement

Remote drafting technology now available for sheep makes possible targeted supplementation of individuals within a grazing flock. This system was evaluated by using 68 Merino wethers grazing dry-season, native Mitchell grass pasture (predominantly Astrebla spp.) as a group and receiving access to lupin grain through a remote drafter 0, 1, 2, 4 or 7 days/week for 8 weeks. The sole paddock watering point was separately fenced and access was via a one-way flow gate. Sheep exited the watering point through a remote drafter operated by solar power and were drafted by radio frequency identification (RFID) tag, according to treatment, either back into the paddock or into a common supplement yard where lupins were provided ad libitum in a self-feeder. Sheep were drafted into the supplement yard on only their first time through the drafter during the prescribed 24-h period and exited the supplement yard via one-way flow gates in their own time. The remote drafter operated with a high accuracy, with only 2.1% incorrect drafts recorded during the experimental period out of a total of 7027 sheep passes through the remote drafter. The actual number of accesses to supplement for each treatment group, in order, were generally less than that intended, i.e. 0.02, 0.69, 1.98, 3.35 and 6.04 days/week. Deviations from the intended number of accesses to supplement were mainly due to sheep not coming through to water on their allocated day of treatment access, although some instances were due to incorrect drafts. There was a non-linear response in growth rate to increased frequency of access to lupins with the growth rate response plateauing at similar to 3 actual accesses per week, corresponding to a growth rate of 72.5 g/head. day. This experiment has demonstrated the application of the remote drafting supplementation system for the first time under grazing conditions and with the drafter operated completely from solar power. The experiment demonstrates a growth response to increasing frequency of access to supplement and provides a starting point with which to begin to develop feeding strategies to achieve sheep weight-change targets.

Rice responses to soil management in a rice-based cropping system in the semi-arid tropics of southern Lombok, Eastern Indonesia

This paper is the first of a series that investigates whether new cropping systems with permanent raised beds (PRBs) or Flat land could be successfully used to increase farmers' incomes from rainfed crops in Lombok in Eastern Indonesia. This paper discusses the rice phase of the cropping system. Low grain yields of dry-seeded rice (Oryza sativa) grown on Flat land on Vertisols in the rainfed region of southern Lombok, Eastern Indonesia, are probably mainly due to (a) erratic rainfall (870-1220 mm/yr), with water often limiting at sensitive growth stages, (b) consistently high temperatures (average maximum - 31 C), and (c) low solar radiation. Farmers are therefore poor, and labour is hard and costly, as all operations are manual. Two replicated field experiments were run at Wakan (annual rainfall = 868 mm) and Kawo (1215 mm) for 3 years (2001/2002 to 2003/2004) on Vertisols in southern Lombok. Dry-seeded rice was grown in 4 treatments with or without manual tillage on (a) PRBs, 1.2 m wide, 200 mm high, separated by furrows 300 mm wide, 200 mill deep, with no rice sown in the well-graded furrows, and (b) well-graded Flat land. Excess surface water was harvested from each treatment and used for irrigation after the vegetative stage of the rice. All operations were manual. There were no differences between treatments in grain yield of rice (mean grain yield = 681 g/m(2)) which could be partly explained by total number of tillers/hill and mean panicle length, but not number of productive tillers/hill, plant height or weight of 1000 grains. When the data from both treatments on PRBs and from both treatments on Flat land, each year at each site were analysed, there were also no differences in grain yield of rice (g/m(2)). When rainfall in the wet season up to harvest was over 1000 mm (Year 2; Wakan, Kawo), or plants were water-stressed during crop establishment (Year 1; Wakan) or during grain-fill (Year 3: Kawo), there were significant differences in grain yield (g/1.5 m(2)) between treatments; generally the grain yield (g/1.5 m(2)) on PRBs with or without tillage was less than that on Flat land with or without tillage. However, when the data from both treatments on PRBs and from both treatments on Flat land, each year at each site, were analysed, the greater grain yield of dry-seeded rice on Flat land (mean yield 1 092 g/1.5 m(2)) than that on PRBs (mean 815 g/1.5 m(2)) was mainly because there were 25% more plants on Flat land. Overall when the data in the 2 outer rows and the 2 inner rows on PRBs were each combined, there was a higher number of productive tillers in the combined outer rows (mean 20.7 tillers/hill) compared with that in the combined inner rows on each PRB (mean 18.2 tillers/hill). However, there were no differences in grain yield between combined rows (mean 142 g/m row). Hence with a gap of 500 mm (the distance between the outer rows of plants on adjacent raised beds), plants did not compensate in grain yield for missing plants in furrows. This suggests that rice (a) also sown in furrows, or (b) sown in 7 rows with narrower row-spacing, or (c) sown in 6 rows with slightly wider row-spacing, and narrower gap between outer rows on adjacent beds, may further increase grain yield (g/1.5 m(2)) in this system of PRBs. The growth and the grain yield (y in g/m(2)) of rainfed rice (with rainfall on-site the only source of water for irrigation) depended mainly on the rainfall (x in mm) in the wet season up to harvest (due either to site or year) with y = 1. 1x -308; r(2) = 0.54; p < 0.005. However, 280 mm (i.e. 32%) of the rainfall was not directly used to produce grain (i.e. when y = 0 g/m(2)). Manual tillage did not affect growth and grain yield of rice (g/m(2); g/1.5 m(2)), either on PRB or on Flat land.

Non-specific conducting polymer-based array capable of monitoring odour emissions from a biofiltration system in a piggery building

A commercial non-specific gas sensor array system was evaluated in terms of its capability to monitor the odour abatement performance of a biofiltration system developed for treating emissions from a commercial piggery building. The biofiltration system was a modular system comprising an inlet ducting system, humidifier and closed-bed biofilter. It also included a gravimetric moisture monitoring and water application system for precise control of moisture content of an organic woodchip medium. Principal component analysis (PCA) of the sensor array measurements indicated that the biofilter outlet air was significantly different to both inlet air of the system and post-humidifier air. Data pre-processing techniques including normalising and outlier handling were applied to improve the odour discrimination performance of the non-specific gas sensor array. To develop an odour quantification model using the sensor array responses of the non-specific sensor array, PCA regression, artificial neural network (ANN) and partial least squares (PLS) modelling techniques were applied. The correlation coefficient (r(2)) values of the PCA, ANN, and PLS models were 0.44, 0.62 and 0.79, respectively.

A Hierarchical System of Learning Automata

A learning automaton operating in a random environment updates its action probabilities on the basis of the reactions of the environment, so that asymptotically it chooses the optimal action. When the number of actions is large the automaton becomes slow because there are too many updatings to be made at each instant. A hierarchical system of such automata with assured c-optimality is suggested to overcome that problem.The learning algorithm for the hierarchical system turns out to be a simple modification of the absolutely expedient algorithm known in the literature. The parameters of the algorithm at each level in the hierarchy depend only on the parameters and the action probabilities of the previous level. It follows that to minimize the number of updatings per cycle each automaton in the hierarchy need have only two or three actions.

High-temperature superconductivity in the 100 K region in perovskite-related oxides of the Ln-Ba-Cu-O (Ln=Y or La) system

Oxides of the Y-Ba-Cu-O system are found to show onset of superconductivity in the 100–120 K region.

Inter-seasonal population dynamics and pest status of Bemisia tabaci (Gennadius) biotype B in an Australian cropping system

Bemisia tabaci, biotype B, commonly known as the silverleaf whitefly (SLW) is an alien species that invaded Australia in the mid-90s. This paper reports on the invasion ecology of SLW and the factors that are likely to have contributed to the first outbreak of this major pest in an Australian cotton cropping system, population dynamics of SLW within whitefly-susceptible crop (cotton and cucurbit) and non-crop vegetation (sowthistle, Sonchus spp.) components of the cropping system were investigated over four consecutive growing seasons (September-June) 2001/02-2004/05 in the Emerald Irrigation Area (EIA) of Queensland, Australia. Based on fixed geo-referenced sampling sites, variation in spatial and temporal abundance of SLW within each system component was quantified to provide baseline data for the development of ecologically sustainable pest management strategies. Parasitism of large (3rd and 4th instars) SLW nymphs by native aphelinid wasps was quantified to determine the potential for natural control of SLW populations. Following the initial outbreak in 2001/02, SLW abundance declined and stabilised over the next three seasons. The population dynamics of SLW is characterised by inter-seasonal population cycling between the non-crop (weed) and cotton components of the EIA cropping system. Cotton was the largest sink for and source of SLW during the study period. Over-wintering populations dispersed from weed host plant sources to cotton in spring followed by a reverse dispersal in late summer and autumn to broad-leaved crops and weeds. A basic spatial source-sink analysis showed that SLW adult and nymph densities were higher in cotton fields that were closer to over-wintering weed sources throughout spring than in fields that were further away. Cucurbit fields were not significant sources of SLW and did not appear to contribute significantly to the regional population dynamics of the pest. Substantial parasitism of nymphal stages throughout the study period indicates that native parasitoid species and other natural enemies are important sources of SLW mortality in Australian cotton production systems. Weather conditions and use of broad-spectrum insecticides for pest control are implicated in the initial outbreak and on-going pest status of SLW in the region.