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Pea (Pisum sativum L.) is a valuable grain legume in organic crop rotations. Pea rotations provide nitrogen (N) to the system through N fixation and produce animal feed or human food. Because of the high susceptibility of pea to pests, diseases and weeds and due to low profitability, especially in organic systems, pea cropping intensity decreased in the last 15 years in Austria. Therefore, it is important to find strategies for improving pea cropping systems in organic systems, by increasing yields and providing a positive N balance. The objective of this study was to compare pea genotypes of selected field and fodder pea in pure and mixed pea stands for biomass performance, biological N fixation and pre-crop effect under dry site conditions in a 2-year study in Eastern Austria. Pea N fixation was estimated using the extended N-difference method, with oat as the reference crop. The highest grain yield was found for the leafed field pea, with 2.5 Mg dry mass (DM) ha−1, followed by the semi-leafless field pea with 2.1 Mg DM ha−1 and the pea-mixtures with 2.2 Mg DM ha−1. The field pea cultivars yielded more than the fodder pea cultivars with 1.6 Mg DM ha−1. The average N concentration in pea grains was 3.6 mg g−1. The fodder pea type contained 3.8 mg g−1, significantly more N (p −1, corresponding to 42–50% of N derived from the atmosphere (% Ndfa). No differences in N fixation were found among cultivars, types and field/fodder pea. The fodder pea exported less N from the field because of their lower grain yield. Therefore, the N balance (N-input − N-output) of fodder pea was positive, with + 3.4 kg N ha−1 compared to the negative N balance of − 0.6 to − 3.6 kg N ha−1 for the leafed field pea types. These differences were not reflected in the following winter wheat crop, where the DM grain yield was 3.6–3.9 Mg ha−1 with no differences between cultivars and ideotypes. The results demonstrate that leafed field pea could have a sufficient grain yield and fodder pea could produce high N concentration in the grains. Because there are no differences regarding the effect of pea types on the yield of the following crop, it can be concluded that all tested pea types are suitable for successful organic pea production under dry site conditions. While there were no negative effects on the subsequent crop, the different ideotypes and mixtures may be selected based on different management goals.

Seasonal low-input milk production receives increasing interest in Alpine regions. In contrast to typical pasture-based, seasonal milk production regions such as Ireland or New Zealand, the harsher climatic conditions in the Alps require a 5–6 months barn feeding period. In addition, the dairy cow types commonly used in Alpine regions have not been selected under low-input conditions. Among others, this raises the question of the optimum calving season for different Alpine dairy cow types in low-input systems. The aim of this paper was therefore to investigate the effect of calving season on diet composition and productivity of two different cow types in an Alpine low-input and pasture-based production system. Thirty four lactations of Brown Swiss (BS) and 39 lactations of a special strain of Holstein Friesian (HFL) were compared in a seasonal, low-input system. The BS cows represented the average Austrian BS population and were primarily selected for high milk yield. HFL is a local strain of Holstein Friesian and was primarily bred for lifetime performance under low-input conditions. The dataset comprised cows which calved during the barn feeding period (late October/early November until late March/early April); the grazing period lasted from April until October. The date of calving was expressed relatively to the date of turn out to pasture and was included as a continuous covariable in a mixed model. As expected, moving calving dates towards spring increased the proportion of pasture in the diet and decreased concentrate consumption for both breeds. A significant interaction between breed and calving date was found for milk and milk solid yield per lactation, which decreased for BS when comparing autumn and spring calving, while it remained relatively stable for HFL. However, the larger quantities of concentrates fed to cows calving in autumn, did not reduce body weight loss of BS. The results indicate that for HFL spring calving is likely to be more suitable in order to yield the full economic benefit, while moving calving dates towards autumn might support BS to exploit its greater genetic merit for milk production.

The cyclic 3',5'-AMP-binding protein was isolated from the muscle of Ascaris suum and purified to apparent homogeneity. It migrated as a protein with a relative Mr 54,000 on electrophoresis under denaturing conditions. On gel filtration columns it was eluted at a volume corresponding to a protein of Mr greater than 200,000 under conditions which kept the cyclic 3',5'-AMP-binding property intact. The purified catalytic subunit of protein kinase from Ascaris and the C subunit of cyclic 3',5'-AMP-dependent protein kinase from bovine heart were inhibited by the cyclic 3',5'-AMP-binding protein. Gel filtration studies indicated the formation of a stable protein complex between the protein kinase and the cyclic 3',5'-AMP-binding protein from Ascaris.