Water erosion control

Although soil erosion caused by water action is common in our agricultural areas, effective erosion control measures, likely to pay for themselves quickly, can be applied in nearly every case. Plant cover above the soil surface, and fertile soil with good structures are the main factors which enable soils to resist erosion. Dense pasture gives the best cover and at the same time improves the fertility and structure of the soil both effectively and economically, so land management adjusted to the need and capability of soils, slopes and climate is of first importance. Contour practices are of secondary value and are used where needed to support suitable farming methods, thus the care of the soil is essentially in the hands of the farmer. [Article 1 of an ongoing series

Water erosion control - 2

Earthworks are frequently used to help to control or prevent soil erosion where the adjustment of farming methods—as discussed in the March-April issue—is unlikely to be sufficient. Contour earthworks have proved extremely valuable in many cases and incidentally have caused much less inconvenience than most farmers anticipated. Landowners in need of advice on contour earthworks should get in touch with the Soil Conservation Service, Department of Agriculture, Perth, and arrangements will be made for an officer to visit their properties

Firebreaks and soil erosion

Erosion has turned many firebreaks into gullies and farmers have sought support of the Soil Conservation Service against local governing authority orders to make firebreaks. But the interests of farmers demand good firebreaks. Ground cover is undoubtedly improving and hence fire prevention is becoming more important every year

Target mRNA inhibition by oligonucleotide drugs in man

Oligonucleotide delivery in vivo is commonly seen as the principal hurdle to the successful development of oligonucleotide drugs. In an analysis of 26 oligonucleotide drugs recently evaluated in late-stage clinical trials we found that to date at least half have demonstrated suppression of the target mRNA and/or protein levels in the relevant cell types in man, including those present in liver, muscle, bone marrow, lung, blood and solid tumors. Overall, this strongly implies that the drugs are being delivered to the appropriate disease tissues. Strikingly we also found that the majority of the drug targets of the oligonucleotides lie outside of the drugable genome and represent new mechanisms of action not previously investigated in a clinical setting. Despite the high risk of failure of novel mechanisms of action in the clinic, a subset of the targets has been validated by the drugs. While not wishing to downplay the technical challenges of oligonucleotide delivery in vivo, here we demonstrate that target selection and validation are of equal importance for the success of this fiel

Complex octahedral tilt phases in the ferroelectric perovskite system LixNa1–xNbO3

We thank STFC for provision of neutron diffraction facilities at ISIS and Dr Aziz Daoud-Aladine for experimental assistance. CALD was supported by an EPSRC DTA studentship (EP/L50579/1).High-temperature phase behavior in the system LixNa1−xNbO3 has been studied by using high-resolution neutron powder diffraction. Each of the three compositions studied in the Na-rich part of the phase diagram (viz., x=0.03,0.08, and 0.12) shows evidence for distinct and complex structural modulations based on different tilting schemes of NbO6 octahedral units. Whilst octahedral tilting is prevalent in the structural chemistry of perovskites the details of the long-range tilt phases are distinct from those previously observed in NaNbO3 itself. A phase with a well-defined fourfold superlattice is observed for the composition Li0.12Na0.88NbO3, and yet more complex phases with modulations based on 20-fold and 30-fold repeats are observed for Li0.03Na0.97NbO3 and Li0.08Na0.92NbO3, respectively. This peculiar structural frustration makes the system LixNa1−xNbO3 a most structurally complex “simple” perovskite.PostprintPostprintPeer reviewe

Grow more wool

THE amount of wool that each sheep grows is determined by many things, including the amount and quality of pasture available or how the sheep are fed, the stocking rate, the general health and thrift of the sheep and other management considerations such as cropping and the time of lambing

The effect of mulesing and tailstripping at lamb marking on subsequent lamb growth and incidence of fly strike

THE modified mules and tailstrip operation has been shown to be highly effective in reducing the incidence of crutch strike in sheep. In Western Australia the operation is usually performed on ewe weaners or hoggets immediately after either crutching or shearing

Weaner feeding practices need review

Many fanners feed large amounts of grain to their weaners over summer and autumn, in the belief that this is necessary for high lifetime production. The economics of this are open to doubt; in fact, the results of a recent experiment at Wongan Hills Research Station suggested that weaner feeding practices need review

Stocking rates on light land : Wongan Hills Research Station

THE two most important things that determine the rate of return on invested capital in Merino sheep breeding and grazing are the stocking rate and lambing percentage