The effect of added nitrate on the growth ofOphiobolus graminis

Summary The effect of nitrate amendment at several concentrations was compared for four isolates ofOphiobolus graminis with reference to both the saprophytic ability and pathogenicity of each isolate. Maximum saprophytic growth occurred on straws impregnated with a solution of 1.0 and 1.5% sodium nitrate. Minimum saprophytic growth occurred with 0 and 2.0% nitrate. Addition of nitrate increased the pathogenicity of virulent isolates ofO. graminis more than it stimulated root production by the host; so that the highest percentage of plants killed and severely diseased occurred when the inoculum of infected straws was impregnated with 1.5% sodium nitrate.     

Interactions of respiration and the bradycardia of submersion in harbor seals.

Six harbor seals with percutaneous tracheostomies were artificially ventilated while immersed. Changes in the oxygen content of the inspired gas and in the minute-volume altered the magnitude of the bradycardia observed after the animal had been submerged for 30 s. The average heart rate in five seals changed from 16.7 (S.D. = 4.4) beats per minute during artificial ventilation with N2, to 58.7 (S.D. = 10.4) beats per minute while breathing air, but this cardiac chronotropic effect of oxygen was blocked by addition of 7% CO2 to the inspired gas. Ventilatory minute-volumes above approximately 3 litres/min caused cardiac acceleration in a manner related to ventilation; below this, changes in heart rate were inconsistent. While being artificially ventilated with air, the average heart rate in five seals changed from 16.5 beats per minute to 73.4 beats per minute as ventilation was increased from 0 to greater than 8 litres/min. These experiments demonstrate that O2, CO2, and ventilatory minute-volume have significant effects upon the heart rate of seals under water and suggest the presence of chemoreceptor-mediated effects on heart rate during submersion.     

Phytophthora cinnamomi: the Dynamics of Chlamydospore Formation and Survival

Chlamydospore activity was investigated by inoculating 10 day old seedlings of Lupinus angustifolius with Phytophthora cinnamomi. Infected roots were excised and buried in 4 non-sterile media: – glass beads, gravel, sand or soil at different water potentials and incubated at 22°C. Roots were examined and chlamydospores counted initially and after 10, 20 and 30 days. Large numbers of spores formed in the roots buried in the various media. Spore formation was rapid in glass beads and gravel, and slower in soil, but more chlamydospores survived the 30 day period when roots were buried in soil. Nylon mesh squares 1 cm²were inoculated with 38 chlamydospores and buried in the same 4 media. 70–100% of chlamydospores germinated and colonised 90–100% of the mesh, producing mycelia and an increased number of chlamydospores. In some instances there was a ten-fold increase in spore numbers and numbers were still increasing at 28 days. Maximum numbers and maximum survival occurred on mesh buried in soil. The role of the chlamydospores is considered, as that of a dynamic unit with a saprobic phase in the life cycle of the fungus which is independent of host, and has the capacity to increase both population density and distribution of the pathogen.