Is Nymphaea lotus var. thermalis a Tertiary relict in Europe?

Nymphaea lotus L. is a tropical and subtropical species of waterlilies with an African distribution. A conspicuous satellite occurrence can be found in Europe in a thermal spring in NW Romania. This population (treated as var. thermalis (DC.) Tuzson) received much attention as a potential Tertiary relict in the flora of Europe, although its relict vs. planted nature has been part of great debate among scholars during the last 200 years. We revisit this question by using molecular phylogenetic methods to estimate the timing of divergence of this species, and put this population into a phylogeographic context by comparing it to samples coming from the whole area of the species. By using sequences of the nuclear and the plastid genome, we reconstructed the phylogeographic relationships within N. lotus with a haplotype network building approach, that identified a genetically distant lineage in western Africa, which we relate to N. zenkeri Gilg, the sister species of N. lotus. All the populations of N. lotus s.str. displayed genetic distance between each other except for the Egyptian and Romanian populations. On our dated phylogeny of the subgenus Lotus the separation between N. lotus and its sister species was found to be younger than the end of the Tertiary (1.26 Mya). These results clearly refute the Tertiary relict status of the European population of N. lotus

Micro-mineral profile in different grassland species

The aim was to investigate the micro-mineral profile of herbage as affected by grassland species, cutting time and seasonality and in relation to dairy cow requirements. The different grassland species were grown and harvested in mixtures with one grass and one legume for two growing seasons. The species turned out to have very individual mineral profiles, not influenced by year. Among the legumes red clover (Trifolium pratense) had high concentrations of Co, Cu and Zn, white clover (Trifolium repens) of Mn and Fe, lucerne (Medicago sativa) of Se and lotus (Lotus corniculatus) of Co, Mn, Zn and Fe. Among the grasses perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) generally had the highest concentrations of all the micro-minerals. Hybrid ryegrass (Lolium hybridum) had slightly lower concentrations than perennial ryegrass for all minerals. Meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) had lower concentrations still, and timothy (Phleum pratense) had, with the exception of Zn, the lowest concentrations. In general, the mineral concentrations were higher in summer than in spring growth. During the growth Cu, Zn and Fe concentrations decreased, whereas Co, Se and Mg were unaffected. It was concluded that a mixture of red clover and perennial ryegrass had the best profile of micro-minerals for cattle feeding

Computer Programs, User Interfaces, and Section 102(b) of the Copyright Act of 1976: A Critique of Lotus v. Paperback

The Supreme Court\u27s landmark ruling Lotus Development Corp vs Paperback Software International is critiqued. The ruling did not resolve the issue of whether copyright law protects user interfaces

Herbs in high producing organic grasslands – effect of management

In many organic grasslands herbs are established due to their expected beneficial properties for nutritive value and biodiversity. However, knowledge about grassland herbs is limited. Three mixtures were therefore established at different grazing/cutting and fertilization managements to examine the growth potential and feeding value. The competitiveness of the different species varied greatly. Chicory, plantain and caraway were competitive in mixtures with traditional grassland species. Lotus and salad burnet were weak competitors and chervil and sainfoin were very weak. The feeding value was also highly variable. Caraway had high digestibility of organic matter, also compared with the traditional grassland species, whereas plantain and salad burnet had lowest digestibility. The management, grazing, cutting, slurry and sward age, affected the proportion of the herb species. The proportion of caraway increased at cutting, slurry application and sward age. The proportion of plantain also increased at cutting but decreased at slurry application and sward age. The proportion of chicory increased with slurry application and decreased with sward age independently of cutting/grazing. The experiment showed that inclusion of herbs in the sward increased the biodiversity, made the herbage mass more diverse without affecting the dry matter yield

Vitamin and mineral content and feeding value of different legumes and grass species grown in seven legume-grass mixtures

The aim was to examine if including a range of grassland species could help to balance the diet on organic dairy farms compared with traditional mixtures. Four different grass species and four legume species were grown and harvested in mixtures with one grass and one legume for two growing seasons. The species turned out to have very individual mineral, vitamin and fiber profiles and organic matter digestibility, not influenced by year. Among the legumes red clover (Trifolium pratense) and white clover (Trifolium repens) had the highest feeding value and red clover had further a high content of Co, Cu and Zn. Lucerne (Medicago sativa) had as red clover a high growth potential in mixture but had in general a low content of macro and micro minerals with exception of Se. Lotus (Lotus corniculatus) had a low competitive strength, and the effect of the whole herbage was therefore limited even that the content of the vitamins were high. Among the grasses perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne) generally had the highest feeding value, and a higher content of the macro and micro minerals and of vitamins as well than the other grasses (hybrid ryegrass (Lolium hybridum), meadow fescue (Festuca pratensis) and timothy (Phleum pratense)). The only exception was meadow fescue, which had a higher content of alfa-tocopherol

Pollen characterisation of Maltese honey

In 2004 and 2005, pollen characterisation of 35 samples of honey collected from the islands of Malta and Gozo, was carried out with the aim to identify the botanical origin of honey produced on these islands. Pollen was extracted from the honey samples via centrifugation and identified to pollen type, generic level and where possible, specific level via microscopic analysis. This was done by comparison with available literature and with the aid of prepared reference slides of pollen collected from the plant species commonly present in the Maltese islands. A total of 61 pollen types were identified from 33 families. The best represented families were the Asteraceae, Brassicaceae, Fabaceae and Apiaceae. Thyme (Thymbra capitata (L.) CAV.) pollen was found to be predominant in ten samples, with a percentage frequency that ranged from 10\% to 67\%. Hedysarum coronarium L. was found to be predominant in five honey samples with percentage frequencies from 48\% to 78\% while Lotus spp. pollen was found to be predominant in one honey sample with a percentage frequency of 57\%. The remaining 14 honey samples possessed pollen spectra which were characterized by a few frequent pollen types that possessed similar percentage frequencies and were thus considered to be multifloral. This is the first work of pollen characterisation of Maltese honey.peer-reviewe

Copyright, Potential Markets, and the User Interface: Defining the Scope of the Limited Monopoly

Although most court cases involving copyright protection of the user interface appear to have been decided correctly on their facts, the language of the decisions has left uncertainty as to the scope of protection

Organic beef and sheep production (OF0147)

This is the final report from Defra project OF0147 To study the potential of organic farming in the hills and uplands, a comparison of organic and conventional production systems at similar stocking rates was made at ADAS Redesdale. This was supported by additional assessments in two further organic flocks, managed at reduced stocking rates, and by data collection on 10 commercial organic farms. Data were provided on physical and financial performance, animal health and welfare, and changes in botanical composition. Specific studies were done to quantify the potential of novel crops for parasite control, the performance of treated and untreated animal manures, and the requirement for trace element supplementation in organic hill stock. The attached main report starts with a detailed executive summary of the methods and findings

The role and management of herbal pastures for animal health, productivity and product quality

This review seeks to address the role and management of herbal pastures for animal health, productivity and product quality. It aims to do this by way of reviewing available Defra funded and other research and identifying key and relevant aspects. In particular the target issues are: •Impact on animal health and growth • Mixtures/varieties • Meat quality • Production/yield; and • Climate change issues. There is however a clear variation in the number of papers focused on these various issues, with the majority of research being concerned with the impact on internal parasites and animal production performance primarily in sheep and deer. There is however more recently some research coming out of New Zealand concerning climate change issues with respect to dairy cows. This review highlights the key findings of individual papers, areas of knowledge and weakness along with opportunities for additional research. In section 2 the key points (in terms of this review) from the relevant papers are identified and presented. In section 3 the key advantages of mixed species pasture (MSP) and individual components are listed along with areas of weakness and opportunities for further research