The effects of vernalization and photoperiod on times from planting of seedlings to ear emergence were measured in 68 Australian and 49 overseas varieties of wheat, comprising a broad spectrum of genetic material, in a glasshouse in Canberra (latitude 35�S). Vernalization was carried out by growing germinated seedlings in the dark at 1-2�C for 6 weeks. Long photoperiods (16 h) separated unvernalized plants into two distinct groups, corresponding to commonly recognized spring and winter types. Responses to vernalization were generally small under natural photoperiods (11-15 h), but much more pronounced in long photoperiods, particularly with winter wheats. In a second experiment, 24 varieties of wheat gave widely different responses to vernalization treatments. With 8 weeks' vernalization and long photoperiods, all varieties reached ear emergence within 66 days, but in some winter wheats 4 weeks treatment had little effect and 6 weeks gave incomplete vernalization. Under the conditions of these experiments, Australian wheats showed a wide range of responses to photoperiod and a narrow range of responses to vernalization compared with overseas varieties. The need to investigate the control of flowering time in obtaining varieties suited to the high-rainfall zone of Australia is discussed.

Two methods to determine numbers of the blackleg pathogen, Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica, in tuber peel extract were compared; (1) growth and cavity formation on crystal violet pectate (CVP) medium (PCrombelon, Lumb & Hyman, 1987) and (2) immunofluorescent colony (IFC) staining (Van Vuurde & Roozen, 1990) using an antiserum against the bacterium conjugated with fluorescein isothiocyanate. Detection, identification and quantification of the bacterium based on the differential effect of temperature on growth in the CVP method were severely restricted and in some cases could not be done at low peel extract dilutions containing > lo6 saprophytic bacteria ml-' and > lo3 cells ml-' of E. carotovora subsp. carotouora. In contrast, although recovery was c. 50% relative to growth of E.c. atroseptica alone on nutrient agar, numbers of the bacteria could be determined by the IFC method regardless of numbers of saprophytic bacteria and E. c. carotovora present. Moreover, the tedium of counting colonies on a UV microscope could be avoided by automation using an imaging system on photograph film negatives of the microscope fields.Readily accessible tubers from the top layer of one tonne boxes in commercial stores were c. 10 times less contaminated than those from the middle of the boxes. For the two methods of peel extract preparation examined, the estimated sample size needed with an allowable error of loglo10 E.c. atroseptica cells ml-' extract with 95% confidence, was c. five tubers per box and 14 boxes for extract prepared from individual tubers and c. three lots of 10 tubers per box and 10 boxes for extract from 10 pooled tubers. A blackleg potential index for seed stocks was proposed based on the summation of the weighted number of individually tested tubers in different classes of contamination level.

Immunomagnetic separation (IMS) procedures for the selective separation of Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica from potato peel extract were optimized for the recovery of target and removal of non-target bacteria. A streptomycin-resistant strain of Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica was used in combination with a crystal violet pectate (CVP) medium supplemented with 100 micrograms ml-1 of streptomycin to determine the recovery level of the target bacterium. Recovery obtained with a polyclonal antiserum against Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica at a concentration of 6 micrograms IgG ml-1 was greater than that obtained with two monoclonal antibodies against lipopolysaccharides of Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica at a concentration of 10 micrograms IgG ml-1. A linear relationship was found between particle concentration ranging from 12 to 200 micrograms ml-1 and recovery level. When the Advanced Magnetics (AM) protein A and anti-rabbit IgG particles in the AM separation system and the Dynal anti-rabbit IgG particles in the Dynal separation system were examined, the highest recovery level per microgram of particles (66%) was obtained with the Advanced Magnetics protein A particles, followed by AM anti-rabbit particles (37%). Without IMS, detection of Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica in tuber peel extracts on a CVP-medium without streptomycin was impossible when the ratio of Erw. carotovora subsp. carotovora to Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica was greater than 100 or when large numbers of other saprophytic bacteria were present, because of overcrowding. IMS, using the AM anti-rabbit IgG particles, ensured that Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica could be enumerated in tuber peel extract consistently, to a detection level of 100 cells ml-1. Similarly, the IMS procedure lowered the detection level of Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica in a twofold diluted peel extract by PCR to ca 2.0 x 10(3) cells ml-1 or 50 cells per reaction tube. In contrast, positive results in PCR without IMS were obtained only when the peel extract was diluted 100 times and when the concentration of Erw. carotovora subsp. atroseptica was at least 10(5) cell ml-1.

Attempts to differentiate Erwinia carotovora subsp. atroseptica (Eca) from Erwinia carotovora subsp. carotovora (Ecc) by indirect ELISA using polyclonal antisera against the former bacterium were unsuccessful. However, when bacterial cells were preincubated with an antiserum against Eca serogroup I and excess serum washed away prior to coating on micro‐ELISA plates, specificity was improved. This modified indirect ELISA was able to separate Eca serogroups I, XVIII and XXII from all the Ecc serogroups tested. Cross adsorption of the antiserum with Ecc serogroup XXIX resulted in greatly reduced absorbance values for all strains/serogroups except Eca serogroups I and XXII. Cross adsorption with the homologous Eca strain reduced absorbance values for all strains/serogroups. It is suggested that the differentiation of Eca serogroups I and XXII obtained with the modified indirect ELISA could be attributed to the removal of antibodies cross reacting to soluble antigens and the retention of antibodies to specific cell surface antigens.

Lettuce obeys the Shinozaki-Kira relationship in which the reciprocal of plant weight is linearly related to plant density. The intercept (a) represents the reciprocal of the weight of an isolated plant and the slope (6) represents the reciprocal of yield/unit area at high densities (the ' ceiling yield'). This work examines the time course of (a) and (6) in an 'ideal environment' in which water and nutrients are non-limiting, and the light/temperature regime is constant.Two pot experiments are described: the first showed that the growth of isolated lettuces follows a logistic expression, which can therefore be substituted for a~x in the Shinozaki-Kira equation. It was then hypothesized that 6" 1 , the 'ceiling yield' would be constant over time. This was confirmed by the second experiment, giving the equation 1 ^ î n which w t is mean plant weight at time t, w 0 and w m^z are the initial and final weights of isolated plants, k is the early relative growth rate of such plants, b~x is the constant ceiling yield, and d is the plant density.Two examples of the use of the equation are given: one shows how it predicts the interaction between seed size and plant density within a species (subterranean clover): the other illustrates how it can be used to explain why lettuce growth appears to be log-linear against time whereas cereal growth is more nearly just linear.-^ __._._ T _, T of growth. Seed size exerts a profound influence on subsequent growth: the growth rate of a plant is the The way in which plant density, time, and initial product of its weight and its relative growth rate: plant size interact to determine yield is of interest soon after emergence the former may vary 10,000-primarily in the quest towards maximizing the fold between species such as broad bean and production of plants of a particular size at a par-tobacco, whose seed weights are in this ratio. By ticulartime.lt is also important to those attempting contrast, the relative growth rates of young crop to model the uptake of plant nutrients: optimum plants in a particular environment do notvary more mineral composition of plants varies relatively little than twofold between species, and probably much either between species or at different stages of less within species: it follows that the overriding ingrowth within a species. The problem of estimating fluence on early absolute growth rate is that of seed nutrient demand rates is therefore largely one of size. From this initial value plants grow to an estimating potential growth rates.asymptotic final weight which is normally much This paper is concerned with finding the simplest less than its potential value because of competition possible growth model for an 'ideal environment' from neighbouring plants. The total above-ground in which water and nutrients are unrestricted, and yield at this stage is independent of density above temperature and radiation cycles are roughly the a certain limiting value. This has been called the same every day. The aim is to estimate for any ' ceiling yield' (Donald, 1...

A method is proposed for assessing the degree to which the availability of photosynthate during grain filling limits the yield of a cereal ('source limitation'). The technique uses shading and carbon dioxide enrichment to alter photosynthesis after anthesis, and may be applied in the field. From only final dry weight determinations, the degree of source limitation of grain yield is quantified on a 0 to 1 scale by relating differences in grain weight to differences in plant weight. For a crop of barley (cv. Resibee) on which the method was tried, the degree of source limitation was about one-half, which suggested that for this particular crop neither the source nor the sink presented an overriding limitation to grain yield. This was so for four stands of the cultivar produced by different levels of shading and carbon dioxide enrichment before anthesis. A yield component analysis indicated that kernel weight was the major component changed by post-anthesis treatments. Pre-anthesis treatments, which also affected grain yield, mainly influenced the numbers of ears produced.

Summary.Surveys were made for the presence of potato virus Y (PVY) in the planted seed and harvested tubers in ware potato crops of cv. Record grown at three sites in England in 1994 (survey 1) and seven sites in 1995 (survey 2). PVY was not found in samples of planted seed, but high levels of infection were found in many, but not all, harvested crops. However, plants of volunteer potatoes (VP) (i.e. plants arising from tubers or true seed derived from previous crops and surviving in the soil) were frequently found to be infected.Infection in tubers harvested from crops in the first survey ranged from 2–52%. In 1995, VP were collected from two of the three English sites where potato crops had been grown the previous season and also from a site in Scotland where PVY infection in an experimental crop of cv. Record had been monitored in 1994. The percentages of infected VP ranged from 2–54%. PVYN was the predominant strain found in sampled VP, with only two plants (out of 300 infected) containing PVYO.In the second survey, VP were assessed within the 1995 ware crops and were found at four sites, at which they comprised between 4–8% of emerged potato plants. Between 31–93% of VP were infected. Again, PVYN was the predominant strain with one plant containing PVYO and another PVYC (out of 189 infected). A sample of harvested tubers from each site was also tested for PVY. At those sites which had many infected VP, the harvested crop contained a large percentage of infected tubers, ranging from 60–97%. Two sites which had not previously been used for cropping potatoes had no VP and a very low incidence of PVY infection in the harvested tubers (1% and 2%). However, although no VP were found at one site, 31% of harvested tubers were infected, suggesting that alternative inoculum sources may be important.