The drinking and eliminative behaviour of buffaloes was compared with that of Holstein cattle, using ten animals of each species, over a total period of ten days (144 hours and 96 hours in separate years) .
Significantly more water was consumed by cattle than by buffaloes. The frequency of defaecation and urination were far less in the buffaloes than the cattle. Total water and insensible water losses in cattle exceeded those in the buffaloes.

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Asian pear cv. Pien Pu fruits coated with a sucrose ester wax for fruit coating and seal-packaged on foam trays over-wrapped with polyvinyl chloride (PVC) or Polyethylene (PE) film were stored at ambient temperature (28-33°C) and 81-85%RH and at 17°C and 90-95%RH in a water-roof pond passively cooled room. At room tempeature, PE film packaging reduced fruit weight loss to 2-5% during 5 weeks in storage, which was about one-fifth of the packless control. PVC film reduced water loss to about half and about one-third. Wax coating reduced weight loss by about 5-15% which is inadequate in retaining texture quality during prolonged storage. Fruits stored in the passively cooled room (17°C) lost less than 5% of their weight. Waxing or film packaging were benefical in reducing fruit weight loss in the passively cooled room.
Wax coating was better than film packaging in delaying loss of fruit firmness and retarding ripening. At 17°C, storage life of wax-coated fruits was extended to more than 6 weeks and the fruits were unripe.
PVC film packaging slowed down the rate of chlorophyll breakdown and the packaged fruits had greener skin color for one week. Wax-coated fruits retained chlorophyll longer than PVC film packaged fruits, but the green skin fruits had blotchy skin. Conbined treatment of waxing plus PVC film packaging had an additive effect by increasing the number of green fruits with uniform green skin color.

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In recent years, so-called grain sterility has become a serious problem for rice production in Sri Lanka. Surveys and investigations aimed at clarifying the causes of this phenomenon were carried out using panicles affected with so-called sterility that were collected from experimental and farmers' paddy fields in three representative climatic zones during the 1985 Yala and 1985-86 Maha cropping seasons. Percentage fertility of each sample affected with so-called sterility distributed within a normal range in both Yala and Maha seasons, except for 3 samples which showed low percentage fertilities. While pollination and fertilization were considered to be normal, the percentage of whole grains was significantly low in almost all the samples.
The major causes of unfilled grains were ascribed to damage to grain development by the Rice Bug (Leptocorisa oratorius Fabricius) and Bacterial Grain Rot of Rice (Pseudomonas glumae Kurita & Tabei) . More than 80% of grain damage occurred within 8 days after flowering.

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Changes in the total nitrogen (N) and heavy nitrogen (¹⁵N) contents in the main stem and tillers of floating rice varieties grown at different water levels were investigated. The total N was predominantly accumulated in the main stem and the primary tillers originating from the lower nodes of the stem, regardless of the rate of increase of the water level, while that in the primary tillers on the upper nodes and in the secondary tillers decreased with the increase of the water level. The amounts of ¹⁵N in the primary tillers on the higher nodes and in the secondary tillers increased under standard submerged conditions and under deep water conditions, while those in all the tillers were translocated to the main stem when the water level was high (8 cm increase per day) . These results suggest that under deep water conditions in floating rice the sink-source activity of N in the organs varies to preserve adequate physiological conditions.

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Two kinds of fruit rot were observed on passion fruit (Passiflora edulis) in Hachijo shima, Tokyo, Japan. At first, a water-soaked lesion appeared on the surface of the immature fruit, and the lesion rapidly enlarged and developed over the whole surface. The affected fruit fell down in its early stage. Later, two different signs appeared on the fallen fruits. One formed dense grayish mold on the affected fruit, and Botrytis sp. was isolated from the lesion. The other formed whitish mycelia and large, blackish sclerotia on the affected fruit, and Sclerotinia sp. was isolatd from the lesion.
Botrytis sp. isolated from passion fruit showed pathogenicity to fruits of Japanese apricot, peach, cucumber and tomato by artificial inoculation. This fungus formed conidiophores of Botrytis types, and conidia are oblong, slightly ash in color, continuous, 9 to 13 by 7 to 10μm in size. From these pathological and morphological characteristics, this fungus was identified as Botrytis cinerea, and this disease was named Botrytis fruit rot of passion fruit.
Sclerotinia sp. isolated from passion fruit showed pathogenicity to fruits of Japanese apricot, peach, tomato and eggplant by artificial inoculation. This fungus formed sclerotia and apothecia. Sclerotia are black irregularly shaped, 2 to 8.5mm in length. Apothecia are slightly brownish in color, funnel-shaped, 3.5 to 6mm in diameter. Ascospores are hyaline, ovate, continuous, 11 to 15 by 6 to 7.5μm in size. From these pathological and morphological characteristics, this fungus was identified as Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, and this disease was named Sclerotinia rot of passion fruit.

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This study was attempted to reveal the factor of a high productivity in the site of a levelled termite mound. The site where a termite mound has ben levelled and the surrounding site without pedoturbation by termites in cassava and seasme field were selected for the study in Phon, Khon Kaen.
Morphologically, the A horizon in the levelled mound was thicker, darker, and more clayey than in the surrounding undisturbed site. The severe pedoturbation by termite activity was found in the site of a levelled mound. Epecially at the center of it, pedoturbation took place the surface to the overlying part of the bed rock. The degree of pedoturbation by termite activity gradually weakened toward the outside from the center.
As for the physico-chemical properties, higher contents of clay, total C, total N, available P, exchangeable Ca, Mg, K were found in the A horizon of the levelled mound than in that of the surrounding site.
Changes in the morphological and physico-chemical properties by termite activity could be thought to be based upon smectite rich clay from the overlying part of the bed rock and organic materials such as salivary and faecal to cement soil particles or aggregates during the construction of a mound.
A higher productivity in the site of a levelled mound could be explained by the betterment of soil fertility because of incorporation of the abovementioned clay and organic materials. But crop growth at the center of a levelled mound was limited by the deficiency of minerals such as P and Fe due to high pH.
Therefore, i can be said that pedoturbation caused by termite activity is strong enough to change the original soil properties completely and has a great significance in view of soil genesis and fertility.

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This study was conducted to clarify the time of stem cuttings, the branch position and branch age where stems were prepared, and also the effect of indole butyric acid (IBA) on the rooting of layerings in Plau-Noi trees.
It was found that the optimum time of stem cuttings in, Plau-Noi tress were the growth-resting season from October to February, and the best position and the best age of prepared stems were top part of branches and two-year-old branches, respectively
For the rooting of layerings in Plau-Noi trees, the treatment with IBA at 5 ppm was found to be the most effective.

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