In a 3-yr study, 135 crossbred steers (330 ± 10 kg) were used in a randomized complete block design to evaluate corn dried distillers grains plus solubles (DDGS) fed to yearling steers as a substitute for forage and N fertilizer and its effect on N use efficiency in yearling steers grazing smooth bromegrass pastures. Steers were initially stocked at 6.8 animal unit months (AUM)/ha on nonfertili...

The sequential separation of male and female function in flowers of dichogamous species allows for the evolution of differing morphologies that maximize fitness through seed siring and seed set. We examined staminate- and pistillate-phase flowers of protandrous Saponaria officinalis for dimorphism in floral traits and their effects on pollinator attraction and seed set. Pistillate-phase flowers...

In hermaphroditic plants, female reproductive success often varies among different positions within an inflorescence. However, few studies have evaluated the relative importance of underlying causes such as pollen limitation, resource limitation or architectural effect, and few have compared male allocation. During a 2-year investigation, we found that female reproductive success of an acropeta...

Potential trade-offs between learning speed and memory-related performance could be important factors in the evolution of learning. Here, we test whether rapid learning interferes with the acquisition of new information using a reversal learning paradigm. Bumblebees (Bombus terrestris) were trained to associate yellow with a floral reward. Subsequently the association between colour and reward ...

Fertilized residual eggs were observed in the ovaries of spent females of a non-copulatory sculpin Hemilepidotus gilberti Jordan and Starks. Fertilized eggs were present in 23 of 35 females, and approximately 38% of the total residual eggs (n=227) were fertilized. These eggs were thought to be fertilized facultatively with spermatozoa that entered the ovary through ovarian fluid during spawning...

Background: Pittosporum tobira (Thunb.) Aiton is an aromatic medicinal plant widely cultivated in the world. However, the essential oils (EOs) from P. tobira flowers for anti-cancer potential is still not systematically studied. The present aim to elucidate the phytochemical composition of the EOs and to explore mechanism of anticancer action. Methods: The EOs were extracted and analyzed by hea...

In this study, a lab-scale membrane bioreactor (MBR) was operated for a period of more than 10 months to determine the biokinetic coefficients of the system under the hydraulic retention times (HRT) of 20, 15 and 10 hrs and sludge retention times (SRT) of 5-20 days. The results revealed that the biological removal efficiency of styrene and ethylbenzene at a solid retention time of 20 day and a ...

The interaction between floral traits and reproductive isolation is crucial to explaining the extraordinary diversity of angiosperms. Heterostyly, a complex floral polymorphism that optimizes outcrossing, evolved repeatedly and has been shown to accelerate diversification in primroses, yet its potential influence on isolating mechanisms remains unexplored. Furthermore, the relative contribution...

Background and objectives: Humulus lupulus, a plant belonging to the family Cannabaceae, is used as a medicinal plant with therapeutic applications in different nations. In this study, two samples of H. lupulus (vernalized and wild hops) were selected for further analysis about differences of their essential oils. Methods: The essential oils f...

Oocytes collected from superovulated Swiss albino mice were activated by heat-shock and/or fertilized in vitro. Electron microscopy showed that the cortical reaction in heat-treated eggs was incomplete. Digestion of the zona pellucida of untreated, heat-treated and fertilized eggs by pronase showed that zona pellucida hardening did occur but was weaker in heat-treated than in fertilized eggs. F...