The rust diseases have plagued cereal cultivation from the early days of domestication. Biblical accounts report on the plight of Hebrews resulting from severe rust epidemics, while the ancient Greeks and Romans made offerings to the corn god, Robigus in attempts to defeat these devastating diseases (McIntosh et al. 1995). Man's approaches to fighting plant disease have changed since the time of the Romans, but still the fight continues. While we may have won many battles, the war is not yet over.

Triticale (×Triticosecale Wittmack) is the intergeneric hybrid between the female parent wheat (Triticum ssp.) and the male parent rye (Secale ssp.). The early work identifying and then producing primary and secondary triticales is described. Early wheat–rye hybrids were characterized by reproductive disorders and the cytology and meiotic characteristics have received much attention. Chromosome constitution has been studied particularly in relation to R-D substitution. Triticale has always been bred as a self-pollinating crop, although outcrossing can occur, and current cultivars are all nearly homozygous and homogeneous lines. Hybrid breeding (using cytoplasmic male sterility) makes the optimum exploitation of heterosis possible and, with the aid of molecular markers, triticale germplasm is presently being investigated to establish genetically diverse heterotic groups.

The first released spring and winter cultivars were generally characterized by good disease resistance, but low grain yield, shrivelled grain, high protein content, excessive height, lodging and preharvest sprouting. Breeding effort has increased yield, reduced shrivelling and improved test weight but at the expense of protein content, which is now comparable to wheat and rye. Plant height and lodging are also now comparable to wheat and rye. Progress in reducing preharvest sprouting by genetic selection is proving difficult and slow. Triticale may be suitable for grain production and for dual purpose usage for forage and grain.

The role of biotechnology in triticale improvement is described. The future of the crop, especially in low-input systems, and as raw material for industrial uses is considered.

Biffen demonstrated that the baking quality of wheat was under genetic as well as environmental control. His variety Yeoman made a major contribution to food supplies in UK in the early twentieth century. The science and art of plant breeding for wheat quality in the twentieth century is reviewed, including the development of tests to provide information on baking quality.

Grass is a complex crop and its value for agriculture must be assessed in terms of the quantity and quality of downstream livestock products (milk, meat and wool). In addition to being a natural low-cost feed for ruminants, grassland protects soil and water resources and enhances the landscape. Temperate grasslands support a major share of the world's milk and beef production but now there is increasing emphasis on sustainability in livestock farming systems rather than maximizing outputs. The economic sustainability of livestock producers in many developed temperate regions is increasingly linked to production from fewer animals giving a higher quality product. A key element in the efficiency of all grassland systems is to optimize the protein/energy balance of forage and value it in a similar way to other livestock feeds. Grasses are rich in energy comprising structural and non-structural carbohydrates while forage legumes are rich in protein. The main forage legumes used in Europe are white and red clover, and lucerne, which form an essential part of sustainable farming systems because of their high nutritive value and ability to fix nitrogen. The productivity of grasslands containing legumes generally reflects the amount of N fixation, which is 65–280 kg/ha/year in W. Europe. Animal production from white clover-based pastures in Europe can be 0·8 that obtained from grass pastures fertilized with 400 kg N/ha/year, and that from lucerne and red clover can be equivalent to animal production from such pastures.

Heritable variation is at the heart of the process of evolution. However, variation is restricted in breeding for uniform crop populations using the pedigree line approach. Pedigree lines are successful in agriculture because synthetic inputs are used to raise fertility and control weeds, pests and diseases. An alternative method promoted for exploring the value of variation and evolutionary fitness in crops is to create composite cross populations. Composite cross populations are formed by assembling seed stocks with diverse evolutionary origins, recombination of these stocks by hybridization, the bulking of F1 progeny, and subsequent natural selection for mass sorting of the progeny in successive natural cropping environments. Composite cross populations can provide dynamic gene pools, which in turn provide a means of conserving germplasm resources: they can also allow selection of heterogeneous crop varieties. The value of composite cross populations in achieving these aims is dependent on the outcome of mass trials by artificial and natural selection acting upon the heterogeneous mixture. There is evidence to suggest that composite cross populations may be an efficient way of providing heterogeneous crops and of selecting superior pure lines for low input systems characterized by unpredictable stress conditions.

The challenge that faces agriculture at the start of the 21st Century is to provide security of food production in a sustainable way. Achieving this task is difficult enough, but against a background of climate change, it becomes a moving target. However, one certainty is that soil factors that limit crop growth must be taken into account as new strategies for crop management are developed. To achieve this, it is necessary to measure the physical and nutritional status of the root environment in the field. Before considering measurement methods, our understanding of how the plant interacts with its soil environment is reviewed, so that it is clear what needs to be measured. Soil strength due to soil drying is identified as an important stress that limits agricultural productivity. The scope to measure soil factors that directly affect plant growth is reviewed. While in situ sensors are better developed, progress in the development of remote sensors of soil properties are also reviewed. A robust approach is needed to interpret soil measurements at the field scale and here geostatistics has much to offer. The present review takes a forward look and explores how our understanding of plant responses to soil conditions, the newly emerging sensing technologies and geostatistical tools can be drawn together to develop robust tools for soil and crop management. This is not intended to be an exhaustive review. Instead, the authors focus on those aspects that they consider to be most important and where the greatest progress is being made.

White clover (Trifolium repens L.) and red clover (T. pratense L.) are the most important legumes of temperate pastures. The former is used largely in systems based around sheep or cattle grazing and is grown together with a companion grass. Breeding aims to optimize the white clover contribution to the sward. This means that yield per se is not the aim but rather to take full advantage of the benefits of white clover; in particular, nitrogen fixation, high protein content, digestibility, mineral content and high intake. The objective is an agronomically and, as far as possible, nutritionally balanced sward, thus persistence of white clover and yield stability over a number of years are key goals. A considerable focus of germplasm improvement has therefore been overcoming biotic and abiotic stresses to clover performance. The former include not only pests and diseases but also the impact of the ruminant animal and the competitive interaction with the companion grass, while abiotic stress could be loosely defined as ‘winter hardiness’ and ‘summer survival’ depending on the site. In recent years the focus of many breeding efforts has shifted to give more consideration to the effects of variation within white clover germplasm on animal performance and the environment. Beneficial effects on productivity have been known for many years, but recent studies of the impact of forage diets on meat and milk quality have opened up new opportunities for improvement. Diffuse pollution of nitrogen and phosphorus from agricultural sources is high on the environmental protection agenda of many governments. Breeding efforts are now being made to reduce the contribution of clovers to both direct (leaching) and indirect (through animal returns) pollution. In particular, recent insights into mechanisms affecting protein breakdown in the rumen and silo offer new prospects for breeding interventions to reduce environmental impacts.

Molecular marker methods are being developed in white clover and the transfer and use of resources and information accumulating in the model legumes Medicago truncatula and Lotus japonicus is likely to be a major route by which the power of genomic approaches is translated into forage legume improvement. Hybrids of white clover and related species have been developed to introgress key traits; namely, drought tolerance, grazing tolerance of large leaf types and enhanced seed yield, for which only limited genetic variation is present within the white clover gene pool.

Red clover is less persistent than white clover, is typically cut three or more times in a season and is used to make silage for winter feed. Although it is often grown with a companion grass, monocultures are common and yield per se as well as persistency and pest and disease resistance are major breeding aims. Fewer agronomic studies and less germplasm improvement have been carried out in this species and molecular studies are not as well advanced although, as with white clover, future developments are likely to benefit greatly from a close relationship to model legumes. Red clover brings considerable benefits in terms of animal production and meat and milk quality. These aspects, alongside approaches to reduce nitrogenous pollution from the silo, represent considerable opportunities for variety development.

The analysis of series of crop variety trials has a long history with the earliest approaches being based on ANOVA methods. Kempton (1984) discussed the inadequacies of this approach, summarized the alternatives available at that time and noted that all of these approaches could be classified as multiplicative models. Recently, mixed model approaches have become popular for the analysis of series of variety trials. There are numerous reasons for their use, including the ease with which incomplete data (not all varieties in all trials) can be handled and the ability to appropriately model within-trial error variation. Currently, the most common mixed model approaches for series of variety trials are mixed model versions of the methods summarized by Kempton (1984). In the present paper a general formulation that encompasses all of these methods is described, then individual methods are considered in detail.

Extensive research has been conducted on temperate cereal development since the inception of the Journal of Agricultural Science, Cambridge in 1905. This review presents an overview of the orderly and predictable development of wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). It begins with the concept of building canopies by the formation, growth and senescence of phytomers (the unit comprised of the leaf, axillary bud, node and internode). Morphological naming schemes for uniquely identifying each plant part are then extended to uniquely name each phytomer unit. The role of the phyllochron (rate of leaf appearance) in synchronizing cereal development and phytomer formation is discussed, as is the use of phenology to predict the timing of the formation, growth and senescence of individual components. The complete developmental sequence of the winter wheat shoot apex correlated with growth stages is extended to spring barley. This overview discusses the abiotic factors controlling cereal development, with special attention given to key questions regarding the critical role of temperature. The review concludes with some cautious glances forward to the exciting possibilities for better understanding of mechanisms controlling the phyllochron and phenology being gained from advances in functional genomics and molecular biology.

The UK rural economy is increasingly driven by consumption-based demands rather than by productive land use. Such demands have been an influence on rural land use for many hundreds of years, but a range of factors, including greater wealth and mobility, have reinforced a long-standing trend for the rural economy to be consumption driven. A number of recent economic analyses and more anecdotal sources are used to furnish evidence of the importance of new consumption demands. It is argued that such demands may impact directly on land markets through land purchase for amenity, etc. and indirectly through bringing affluent people into closer proximity to diversified business opportunities. It is argued that these new economic realities are the dominant drivers of economic change and that their recognition might suggest new approaches to the support of strategies to deliver more sustainable rural development.

Ticks are considered in Europe to be the most important arthropod group responsible for vector-borne diseases in humans, while in the tropics mosquitoes take over this position with ticks being the second most important. Over the last decade, vector-borne diseases have proliferated within Southern Europe (Blue tongue and West Nile viruses, both mosquito-borne diseases) while human ehrlichiosis (a tick-borne disease) has increased dramatically in Eastern Europe.

Demand for milk has waxed and waned over the last 100 years in response to changing perceptions of its health effects. Milk consumption was promoted for health benefits in the first half of the twentieth century, whilst milk fat has increasingly been regarded as something to avoid over the last 30 years. Emerging research is showing that milk fat provides a number of important components, almost uniquely, within a balanced human diet. Understanding of the role of animal diets in controlling milk fat content and milk fatty acid profiles has grown over this period. The multiple correlated changes associated with milk fat depression have led to a number of mechanistic theories which have not been resolved completely. The detailed mechanisms at the molecular level remain to be elucidated. Interestingly, the two research areas of milk fat content and milk fatty acid profiles have merged as it became clear that some of the intermediates of rumen biohydrogenation are involved in regulating milk fat content. The multivariate nature of milk fatty acid profiles means that future studies must make use of multivariate statistical techniques. These approaches will also be of great value in assessing the consequences of fatty acids for human health, where studies of the effects of single nutrients can be misleading. Issues about the sustainability of the marine harvests mean that attention needs to focus on alternative sources to meet the growing demand for n-3 fatty acids, notably from forages. Whilst attention has focused on milk fatty acids for their effects on human health, future work should also address effects on health and reproductive function of cows offered diets designed to alter milk fatty acid profiles.

The nutritional and immunological importance of colostrum for the survival and development of the neonatal pig are reviewed. The pig is born with low body energy stores and devoid of serum immunoglobulins. Colostrum provides the piglet with both energy and maternal antibodies but its fat and protein composition is very variable. Colostrum is very digestible, and both colostral energy and nitrogen (N) are retained with a very high efficiency. Colostrum production by the sow assessed from the weight gain of the litter from birth to 24 h of age is very variable (from 1900 to 5300 g). There is no clear effect of litter size or parity, suggesting that colostrum production is a characteristic of the sow. Within a litter, colostrum consumption by the individual piglets varies considerably. It is independent of birth order, but related positively to birth weight and negatively to litter size. Other factors influencing colostrum consumption, including cold stress, premature birth and birth hypoxia, are discussed. Because of the epitheliochorial nature of the porcine placenta, the new-born piglet must acquire maternal immunoglobulin G (IgG) from ingested colostrum for passive immune protection until the immune system of the piglet becomes fully developed. Colostrum IgG concentrations in milk vary widely between individual sows both in initial concentration and in the rate at which concentrations decline during the first 24 h of life. The piglet can only absorb intact IgG prior to gut closure, which occurs in the first 24 h of life and is induced by intakes of colostrum which are insufficient to maintain piglet live-weight. As a result, the amounts of intact IgG absorbed by the piglet vary widely. The effects of colostrum consumption on neonatal survival are discussed. Consumption of colostrum in amounts sufficient to meet the energy requirement of the piglet is a major determinant for survival. Since most neonatal losses occur in the first 2 days of life, before acquisition of a maternal IgG for immune protection becomes important for survival, piglet serum IgG concentration does not correlate well with early survival but is important in later resistance to disease challenge. It is concluded that colostrum production is a good marker for the maternal quality of the sow. Future research should focus on the ability of the sow to produce more colostrum and on the possible delayed effects of passive immunisation on the health and performance of piglet at weaning and later in life.

Dry matter accumulation and its partitioning to different plant components were studied in six common bean populations (two bred cultivars and four landraces) with different yield potentials. The hypothesis that yield was correlated with leaf area or mass and also with leaf area duration was tested. Leaf area and total above-ground dry matter were sampled weekly between 13 and 62 days after planting (DAP). Yield, yield components and seed yield rate were measured at the final harvest. No differences in total above-ground dry matter were observed among populations up to 62 DAP. Bred cultivars had significantly larger leaf areas than the landraces at the last harvest. Landraces initially partitioned more dry matter to reproductive organs but this was not reflected in higher yields. Temporary differences in growth rate and rate of pod formation were observed among the populations. Landraces, with one exception, tended to grow faster at early stages, and they also reached their maximum number of pods per plant earlier than the bred cultivars. Bred cultivars yielded more than all but one of the landraces. In general, yield was positively correlated with the total number of pods per plant, which in turn was well correlated with leaf area and mass. It was concluded that an increase in leaf area duration and a balanced development of reproductive organs v. other plant components are important traits in conferring improvement in yield of common bean.

Up until the 1940s chemical disease control relied upon inorganic chemical preparations, frequently prepared by the user. Key areas of use were horticulture and vegetable production with key targets being diseases that caused easily recognized damage. After this era and as the damaging effects of more crop diseases became obvious by the use of chemical control, the crop protection industry expanded rapidly and research to discover new active materials began in earnest. As new areas of chemistry were introduced, each one aiming to offer advantages over the previous ones, chemical families were born with research-based companies frequently adopting patent-busting strategies in order to capitalize on the developing fungicides market. Systemic fungicides offered new opportunities in disease control. The rise in Research and Development (R & D) and the increase in the number and quantity of chemicals being applied led to the introduction of regulation in the 1950s, initially on a voluntary basis, but now strictly controlled by legal obligations. In the 1960s, the market switched from horticulture and vegetables to one in which the main agricultural crops dominated. The cereal market, initially based on barley, moved to the current dominant market of wheat. The costs of R & D have risen dramatically in recent years and have become dominated not by the discovery process per se but by the provision of all the extra data needed to obtain registration. These rising costs happened at a time when markets showed little growth and are currently showing some decline. This has resulted in an industry that is continually striving to cut costs, normally by mergers and take-overs. As a consequence, many plant disease problems are not now being targeted by the industry and special measures have been introduced to ensure adequate disease control is available for these minor markets. Plant disease control will remain a necessity and fungicides will remain as a key factor in such control, although it is predicted that integrated control using chemicals, biological controls and biotechnology approaches will begin to dominate.

The aim of the research was to describe and characterize the physiological basis of Mn use efficiency among a range of old and modern UK wheat cultivars grown in Mn-depleted solution culture and to ascertain whether the existence of Mn use efficiency conferred a yield advantage under manganese stress conditions in the field. Results of solution culture experiments demonstrated that the old spring wheat cv. Maris Butler is relatively Mn efficient when grown in Mn-deficient conditions in comparison with both a modern winter wheat, cv. Claire, and a modern spring wheat, cv. Paragon. The mean dry weight gain of plants of cv. Maris Butler grown in Mn-depleted nutrient solution was 0·49 of that shown by plants in Mn-sufficient culture, whereas in cvs. Paragon and Claire the equivalent values were 0·38 and 0·21 respectively. When grown in Mn-deficient soil in a farm-based field trial, cv. Maris Butler showed significantly improved (P<0·05) dry matter accumulation and grain yield compared with other spring wheats including cv. Paragon. There was no significant variation in leaf Mn content between the cultivars examined, either under sufficient or depleted Mn supply; however, cv. Maris Butler showed both a relatively high maximum light-saturated rate of photosynthesis and a high photosynthetic apparent quantum yield (based on O2 evolution) when grown under Mn deficiency. It is argued that the apparent Mn use efficiency of cv. Maris Butler is related to superior internal utilization of Mn, resulting in an increased photosynthetic photosytem II efficiency rather than improved Mn uptake and accumulation. The results suggest that the wheat cultivar Maris Butler may provide a potentially useful source of parental material for future crop improvement programmes designed to produce wheat lines resistant to depleted Mn supply.

Sorghum is grown the world over for both human and animal consumption. Recently, the increase in grain production has slowed; simultaneously, its marketability has declined. Grain size is one of the most important determinants of grain yield and market price in India. One important factor responsible for the decline in consumption of sorghum in India is the inferior quality of rainy season produce. Consumers prefer post rainy season sorghums as the grains are bold, round and lustrous in appearance. Any improvement in the quality of rainy season sorghum grain would help it to fetch higher market prices.

In the present study, the genetics of important grain quality characteristics such as grain size, grain shape and lustre were studied using two crosses based on elite sorghum lines 463B and AKMS 14B, and a germplasm line, IS 17600, during 2001 at the National Research Centre for Sorghum, Hyderabad, India. Generation mean analysis and frequency distribution studies revealed that grain size is governed by dominant genes that are polygenic in nature. Predominance of dominance and epistatic interactions in both crosses indicates that selection for higher grain size would be more effective if the dominance and epistatic effects are first reduced by a few generations of selfing. Biparental mating is suggested for developing homozygous bold grain lines. Round grain shape is governed by a single dominant gene and grain lustre by two complementary recessive genes. The study suggested that developing a sorghum hybrid with bold, round grain is feasible provided either of the parents has bold and/or round grain. However, for the hybrid to be lustrous, both parents need to be lustrous and homozygous for the alleles conferring grain lustre at a common locus. With the possibility of development of sorghum hybrids with bold, round and lustrous grain, there is scope for improvement in consumer preference of rainy season sorghum grain.