Kimberley Research Station progress report, 1964 : soil fertility and plant nutrition

BEFORE 1963, very little work, other than that described in Burvill\u27s original report, had been done on the analysis of Ord soils, nor had their fertility status been clearly defined

Evidence for Shared Cognitive Processing of Pitch in Music and Language

Language and music epitomize the complex representational and computational capacities of the human mind. Strikingly similar in their structural and expressive features, a longstanding question is whether the perceptual and cognitive mechanisms underlying these abilities are shared or distinct – either from each other or from other mental processes. One prominent feature shared between language and music is signal encoding using pitch, conveying pragmatics and semantics in language and melody in music. We investigated how pitch processing is shared between language and music by measuring consistency in individual differences in pitch perception across language, music, and three control conditions intended to assess basic sensory and domain-general cognitive processes. Individuals’ pitch perception abilities in language and music were most strongly related, even after accounting for performance in all control conditions. These results provide behavioral evidence, based on patterns of individual differences, that is consistent with the hypothesis that cognitive mechanisms for pitch processing may be shared between language and music.National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research Fellowship ProgramEunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U.S.) (Grant 5K99HD057522

Pigeonpea nutrition and its improvement

Pigeonpea (Cajanus cajan [L.] Millsp.), known by several vernacular and names such as red gram, tuar, Angola pea. yellow dhal and oil dhal, is one of the major grain legume crops of the tropics and sub-tropics. It is a crop of small holder dryland fmmers because it can grow well under subsistence level of agriculture and provides nutritive food, fodder, and fuel wood. It also improves soil by fixing atmospheric nitrogen. India by far is the largest pigeonpea producer it is consumed as decorticated split peas, popularly called as 'dhaL' In other countries, its consumption as whole dty and green vegetable is popular. Its foliage is used as fodder and milling by-products [onn an excellent feed for domestic animals. Pigeonpea seeds contain about 20-22% protein and appreciable amounts of essential amino.acids and minerals. DehuHing and boiling treatments of seeds get rid of the most antinutritional factors as tannins and enzyme inhibitors. Seed storage causes considerable losses in the quality of this legume. The seed protein of pigeonpea has been successfully enhanced by breeding from 20-22% to 28-30%. Such lines also agronomically performed well and have acceptable and color. The high-protein lines were found nutritionally superior to the cultivars because they would provide more quantities of utilizable protein and sulfur-containing amino acids

Studies on graminicolous species of phyllachora fckl iii. the relationship of certain scolecospores to species of phyllachora

The present study and a survey of literature- showed that of the various spore types associated with species of Phyllachora, scolecospores typical of the form genus Leptostromella were most common. Examination has shown that certain spore types claimed as imperfect states of Phyllachora species are actually spores of hyperparasites. Evidence that the scolecospores belong to the Phyllachora species with which they are associated has been gathered. Studies on the development of P. parilis showed that the scolecospores associated with the perithecia of this species were genetically related to it. Attempts to germinate the scolecospores associated with three species of Phyllachora were unsuccessful. Similarly, when scolecospores were used as inoculum, test plants did not become infected. When ascosporic inoculum were used, however, infection occurred. Only one type of mycelium was found in each infection court, and pycnidia and perithecia developed from this in close association. Consequently, although the scolecosporous pycnidia developed prior to the perithecia, both types of fructification occurred in individual Phyllachora colonies. Within each mature colony the tissues of the pycnidia, perithecia, and clypeus became fused and were indistinguishable from one another. The development of the pycnidium and scolecospores is described, and it is shown that a different species of Leptostromella is associated with each different Phyllachora species. The Leptostromella species can be distinguished especially by the morphology of their sporophores. When it was shown that the morphology of the Leptostromella associated with each Phyllachora species was distinctive and constant, it was possible to assess the frequency and distribution of these associations. With some species of Phyllachora the association occurred in all specimens, while in others it was not as frequent. Always, however, the distribution of the association was as widespread as the species of Phyllachora concerned. It was noted that hyperparasites were able to parasitize the Leptostromella states as readily as the ascal states of various species of Phyllachora. The function of the scolecospores is not known, but it is suggested that they may be spermatia

Studies on graminicolous species of phyllachora fckl. iv. evaluation of the criteria of species

Recognition of the large number of graminicolous Phyllachora spp. by various authors is attributed to the use of unreliable morphological characters as taxonomic criteria, as well as acceptance of the concept of each Phyllachora species being host- specific. It is considered that in fact there are far fewer Phyllachora spp. than reported in the literature and an attempt is made to clarify the position by making a study of Phyllachoras which occur on grasses. By considering in turn each character previously used to delimit species and by studying the degree of variation of each character within individual specimens as well as groups of specimens on closely related hosts, and between groups of specimens on unrelated hosts, it is possible to evaluate the usefulness of each character in taxonomy. It is shown that of all the characters previously used only two are sufficiently stable for taxonomic purposes. These are the length of the ascus pedicel relative to that of the ascosporific portion of the ascus, and the morphology of ascospores. Ascospore morphology is particularly useful, but only when all the various shapes that can occur in individual specimens are noted and when ascospore shape, as distinct from outline, is used. The use of certain other characters of Phyllachoras is proposed. These are: Appressorium morphology (when appressoria are produced from ascospores germinated on host tissue) and the morphology of the sporophores produced by the Leptostromella- states of certain Phyllachoras. It is suggested that characters of imperfect states of Phyllachora will also provide useful taxonomic characters when these states are known to exist in more species than at present. As well as the characters listed as reliable for delimiting species, other characters such as ascospore size and arrangement, ascus length, and sporophore size may have limited usefulness when used to confirm a diagnosis, but not to delimit species