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Pre-maturity alpha-amylase is associated with temperature shocks during grain filling. In some cases this coincides with an increase in grain area, but there is no evidence of a mechanistic link between high alpha-amylase and grain or endosperm cavity area.

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1. Different wheat cultivar samples were grown in replicated trials on a single site in three harvest years. A total of 23 wheat samples were harvested. Nutritionally complete, meal-form diets that included each wheat sample at 650 g/kg were used to compare broiler growth performance and determine apparent metabolisable energy (AME). The relationships were examined between these variables of nutritive value for broilers and the chemical composition and tests of quality on the wheat samples. 2. The total starch contents of the wheat samples ranged from 594 to 732 g/kg dry matter (DM). The mean total non-starch polysaccharide (NSP) content was 100g/kg DM comprising 73.5 g/kg DM of insoluble material. Endosperm hardness ranged between 10 and 77 relative units and Beaver was the softest cultivar in two of the batches of samples. The AME of the wheat-based diets had a maximum range of 0.5 MJ/kg within each of the three batches of wheat that were tested. 3. Endosperm hardness of the wheat grains, within a harvest year, was positively correlated with broiler weight gain and the 1000-grain weight was negatively correlated with feed conversion efficiency (FCE). Starch content and gross energy were positively correlated with determined AME, and DM, 1000-grain weight and water holding capacity were negatively correlated with AME. 4. A step-wise regression technique indicated that endosperm hardness and ash content of the wheat were the explanatory variables that, within harvest years, significantly reduced the unexplained variation in broiler growth rate, feed intake and FCE. The contents of total starch, crude protein and ether extract were the explanatory variables that, within harvest years, significantly reduced the unexplained variation in AME.

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About 80% of global farmland is under rain-fed conditions and most of it prone to drought, which limits crop productivity. Due to climate change, drought will become more frequent and severe threatening world food security.Antitranspirants, materials that reduce transpiration, could potentially result in greater food production by realising more of a crop's potential yield during drought. Despite antitranspirants also reducing photosynthesis, research has shown that they can mitigate drought stress resulting in increased grain yield.Although this paper is not restricted to specific years, part of it is a systematic review of 173 original research articles published between 2009 and 2018.Overall, the analysis suggests that interest in the potential of antitranspirants is growing.One major achievement in antitranspirant research during the past decade was establishing the optimal timing of application of the substances, which is linked to reproductive processes most vulnerable to drought. Despite research evidence of the efficacy of antitranspirants in ameliorating drought stress, they are not widely used for commercial arable crop production. However, in fruit horticulture, 2 products with antitranspirant effects are being used for various non-antitranspirant purposes such as synchronising fruit ripening, enhancement of nutritional quality, protection against sunburn and controlling diseases and insect pests.

Cladosporium conidia have been shown to be important aeroallergens in many regions throughout the world, but annual spore concentrations vary considerably between years. Understanding these annual fluctuations may be of value in the clinical management of allergies. This study investigates the number of days in summer when spore concentration exceeds the allergenic threshold in relation to regional temperature and precipitation at two sites in England and Wales over 27 years. Results indicate that number of days in summer when the Cladosporium spores are above the allergenic concentration is positively correlated with regional temperature and negatively correlated with precipitation for both sites over the study period. Further analysis used a winter North Atlantic Oscillation index to explore the potential for long-range forecasting of the aeroallergen. For both spore measurement sites, a positive correlation exists between the winter North Atlantic Oscillation index and the number of days in summer above the allergenic threshold for Cladosporium spore concentration.

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