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Eight cows were used to evaluate the effects of supplementation of soy sauce oil (SO) or Ca salts of fatty acids (FA) on rumen fermentation and milk production. The control diet (CO) consisted mainly of hay, corn silage and a concentrate. In the experimental diets, 400 g/day per cow of SO or FA (soybean oil and rapeseed oil) was supplemented to the CO diet. Experimental period for the three treatments was 14 days, and milk samples were taken during the last 2 days and rumen sample was taken on the last day. Dry matter intake was not affected by the treatments. The number of rumen protozoa at 0 h increased by SO and FA diets. Total volatile fatty acids at 2 h after feeding of SO diet was decreased compared to CO. The milk composition yield did not differ among treatments, although the percentages of fat and protein were decreased by SO and FA diets. The proportions of C8-C16 fatty acids in milk fat decreased, and those of C18 increased by SO and FA diets. The proportion of cis-9, trans-11 conjugated linoleic acid in milk fat by SO and FA diets increased by 120% and 135%, respectively. In spite of the slight suppression of rumen fermentation by SO diet, negative effects on feed intake and milk production were not detected., (2011 The Authors. Animal Science Journal © 2011 Japanese Society of Animal Science.)

The chemical aspects of the circadian leaf movement known as "nyctinasty" are discussed in this paper. Each of the nyctinastic plants of five different genera so far examined contained a pair of factors, one of which induced leaf closure and another induced leaf opening. The relative contents of the closing and opening factors changed correlating with the nyctinastic leaf movement. The use of fluorescence-labeled and photoaffinity-labeled factors revealed that the factors bind to specific cells, the motor cells, present in the pulvini, and that the membrane fraction of the motor cells contained two proteins of 210 and 180 kDa, which can bind to the factors.

Maternal reproductive success was examined in Styrax obassia (Styracaceae), a bumble-bee pollinated mass-flowering tree in a cool-temperate deciduous forest in northern Japan. The effects of flower number on the success of individual flowers at three levels (inflorescence, individual, and population) were considered. During 1995 and 1996, variations in size, light availability to branches, floral display size, and fruit set were monitored in 37 out of 211 individual S. obassia trees in a 4-ha forest plot. In addition, the locations of the 211 trees in this plot were mapped and the number of inflorescences in each tree was counted. A multiple regression analysis showed that flower number per inflorescence and inflorescence number per individual had negative effects on fruit set, and inflorescence number of aggregated clumps of flowering trees, tree size, and light resource had positive effects on fruit set although significant level were marginal. It is concluded that pollinator attraction may occur not at the individual tree level, but at the level of a clump of flowering trees. It is also suggested that geitonogamy increased with inflorescence number of tree and inflorescence size and that resource limitation was related to the light condition and variation of tree size.

The effects of adrenaline and dibutyryl adenosine 3':5' - cyclic monophosphate (db cyclic AMP) on nicotinic transmission in bullfrog sympathetic ganglia were compared by use of an intracellular recording technique. The evoked release of transmitter, acetylcholine (ACh), was decreased in the presence of adrenaline (10-100 microM), while the postsynaptic sensitivity to ACh was unchanged (10 microM adrenaline) or slightly reduced (100 microM). Transmitter release was similarly inhibited by dopamine (10 microM), but not by isoprenaline (10 microM). The inhibitory action of adrenaline on transmitter release was blocked by phenoxybenzamine but not by propranolol. The inhibition of transmitter release was independent of the external calcium concentration. The evoked release of transmitter and the electrical properties of the postsynaptic membrane were unchanged during exposure to db cyclic AMP (1-4 mM), while the postsynaptic sensitivity to ACh was slightly but significantly depressed. The spontaneous release of transmitter in a high K+ (10 mM) solution was decreased in the presence of adrenaline (100-300 microM), but unchanged with db cyclic AMP (4 mM). In contrast to the effects during exposure, both the evoked and spontaneous release of transmitter were enhanced after the removal of adrenaline or db cyclic AMP. Neither adrenaline (100 microM) nor db cyclic AMP (4 mM) affected the presynaptic spike and synaptic delay. It is concluded that adrenaline mainly inhibits the release of ACh from the presynaptic terminals through its alpha-action, while db cyclic AMP reduces slightly the postsynaptic sensitivity to ACh and that both agents facilitate transmitter release when they are removed from the presynaptic terminals. It is further suggested that the inhibitory action of adrenaline is independent of endogenous cyclic AMP and calcium ions.