No description available.

No description available.

In seven experiments carried out under natural-daylength conditions at 57oN, Scottish Blackface and Border Leicester x Scottish Blackface ewes of varying physiological states and nutritional regimes received daily at 1500 h an oral dose of either melatonin dissolved in water and alcohol or the vehicle alone. Throughout the experiments blood samples were collected thrice weekly for progesterone, prolactin and follicle stimulating hormone concentrations (FSH) and at 10 to 15 minute intervals for periods of up to 24 h for luteinizing hormone (LH). Ovulation rates were determined by laparoscopy. When given from the beginning of June and mid-March respectively melatonin advanced and reversed the breeding season, the reversal being as effective in ewes with an extended lactation as in those weaned early or those that had not bred in the previous year. Short-term treatment (30 days) with melatonin during mid-anoestrus not only failed to advance the breeding season but delayed it. Longer term treatment (60 to 90 days) produced transient oestrous cyclicity with ewes returning to anoestrus within one month after the end of treatment. For ewes on a low plane of nutrition melatonin increased ovulation rate at first behavioural oestrus and appeared to reduce embryo mortality. In all experiments melatonin suppressed plasma prolactin 10 to 15 days after the start of treatment with levels remaining low throughout the period of treatment except during late pregnancy. There was no evidence that melatonin promoted a progressive increase in the frequency of the pulsatile release of LH or had any stimulatory effect on FSH secretion in the first 6 weeks of treatment. It did however increase plasma progesterone concentrations in the post-oestrus period.

Cauliflower curd meristem activity (organogenic, plastochronic, phyllotactic) was analysed biometrically and confirmed that the curd is the product of a constant process of meristem production and branch ramification with little if any dominance between branch apices. A growth model based on curd branching pattern was developed and its mathematical expression enabled the estimation of the number of meristems carried by a curd at maturity to be over ten million which was previously widely underestimated. Analysis of the response to the in vitro culture of this meristematic tissues revealed that meristems are not predetermined to produce flower and that their shoot regeneration capacity is under several levels of control, the most important being explant physical property (size) and the culture system (nutrient supply). Optimisation of these parameters enabled the development of a low cost, semi-automated protocol for mass production of cauliflower propagules at an unprecedented scale with over 10000 propagules produced per curd. Micropropagules a few millimetres in length were produced, encapsulated in calcium alginate hydrogel, stored at 4°C for several months and used as an 'artificial seed' system of cauliflower propagation. The response to the procedure of micropropagule production is genotype-dependent with summer heading varieties being less reactive than winter heading varieties, this phenomenon was also associated with plasmalemma instability at the cellular (protoplast) level. Furthermore, this material was successfully cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen using a dehydration / vitrification method. The micropropagation protocol is of great interest when used as a regeneration system for experiments involving genetic manipulation such as genetic transformation. A preliminary study of genetic transformation by microprojectile bombardment, using the gus reporter gene, allowed transient expression in curd meristematic tissue. The fundamental and industrial implications for cauliflower breeding of the different protocols developed in this thesis are discussed.

No description available.

No description available.

LD2668 .T4 1950 C373 / Master of Science

Typescript, etc. / Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries