A Weld experiment was conducted to investigate the eVects of white clover living mulch on the arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungus colonization of corn roots and the yield of silage corn. The following seven treatments were setup in a Weld that had been kept bare by rotary tillage from August 2003 to July 2004: two white clover living mulch treatments without phosphorus (P) application, with the white clover shoots clipped and removed or allowed to lie in place before sowing corn; one no-tillage treatment without P application; and four rotary tillage treatments with diVerent P application rates. White clover was broadcasted in the living mulch treatments in August 2004. In June 2005, the white clover shoots in the living mulch treatments were clipped. After tilling the four rotary tillage treatments, corn was sown in all the treatments. The fallow period before sowing corn was 0 month (living mulch treatments) and 22 months (no-tillage and rotary tillage treatments). At knee high stage, the AM fungus colonization of the corn roots and the P concentrations of the corn shoots in both the living mulch treatments were increased relative to those in the other treatments. The yield of corn tended to increase in the no-tillage and rotary tillage treatments with an increase in the P application rate. On the other hand, the yields of corn in the living mulch treatments without the P application were not signiWcantly diVerent from the maximum yield among the no-tillage and rotary tillage treatments. These results suggested that the white clover living mulch increased the yield of corn by facilitating the AM fungus colonization and improving the P nutrition of corn.

To identify the region in which a root perceives a decrease in the ambient water potential and changes its elongation rate, we applied two agar blocks (1 3 1 3 1 mm 3 ) with low water potential bilaterally to primary roots of maize (Zea mays) at various positions along the root. When agar blocks with a water potential of 21.60 MPa (21.60-MPa blocks) or lower were attached to a root tip, the rate of elongation decreased. This decrease did not result from any changes in the water status of elongating cells and was not reversed when the 21.60-MPa blocks were replaced by 20.03-MPa blocks. The rate decreased slightly and was unaffected, respectively, when 21.60-MPa blocks were applied to the so-called decelerating region of the elongating zone and the mature region. However, the rate decreased markedly and did not recover for several hours at least when such blocks were attached to the accelerating region. In this case, the turgor pressure of the elongating cells decreased immediately after the application of the blocks and recovered thereafter. The decrease in elongation rate caused by 21.60-MPa blocks applied to the root tip was unaffected by additional 20.03-MPa blocks applied to the accelerating region and vice versa. We concluded that a significant reduction in root growth could be induced by water stress at the root tip, as well as in the accelerating region of the elongating zone, and that transmission of some signal from these regions to the decelerating region might contribute to the suppression of cell elongation in the elongation region.

The infrared absorption spectra of D2O monomers and clusters isolated in rare-gas matrices were systematically reinvestigated under the control of the following factors: the D2O concentration, deposition rate, heating temperature, and rare-gas species. We clearly show that the cluster-size distribution is dependent on not only the D2O concentration but also the deposition rate of a sample; as the rate got higher, smaller clusters were preferentially formed. Under the heating procedures at different temperatures, the cluster-size growth was successfully observed. Since the monomer diffusion was not enough to balance the changes in the column densities of the clusters, the dimer diffusion was likely to contribute the cluster growth. The frequencies of the bonded-OD stretches of (D2O)k with k = 2-6 were almost linearly correlated with the square root of the critical temperature of the matrix material. Additional absorption peaks of (D2O)2 and (D2O)3 in a Xe matrix were assigned to the species trapped in tight accommodation sites.

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