Two hundred twenty four dairy cattle (6 mo to second calving) representing four breeds (169 Holstein, 24 Guernsey, 19 Jersey, 12 Brown Swiss) were used to determine effects of age, temperature-season, and breed on blood characteristics. A total of 1183 blood samples were collected by jugular venipuncture in the middle of each temperature-season. Covariate age affected blood profile except for hemoglobin, oxyhemoglobin, glutamic-oxalacetic transaminase, and albumin. Temperature-season increased or decreased all measures except enzyme creatine phosphokinase, total creatine phosphokinase, calcium and phosphorus. Years differed for all measures except hemoglobin and oxyhemoglobin. Except for enzyme creatine phosphokinase, total creatine phosphokinase, and phosphorus, breeds differed in other measures. There were interactions between temperature-season and year, temperature-season and breed, and year and breed. Differences among temperature-seasons were not consistent from year to year. Breed differences were not consistent from temperature-season to temperature-season for calcium or protein-bound iodine. Breed differences were not consistent from year to year for glutamic-oxaloacetic transaminase, total protein, albumin, or calcium.

Day of birth in a calendar year (DB), gestation length (GL), birth weight (BW) and survival rate of calves (SR) were recorded for 4 years for single-sire matings of (1) Angus (A) and Brahman (B) sires to A, B, Brangus (BR) and Africander-Angus (AF) dams; (2) BR sires to BR dams, and (3) AF sires to AF dams, a total of four straightbred and six crossbred breed groups. Sex (S) differences were found for GL, BW and SR (P less than .05 to P less than .01), but not for DB (P greater than .05). Age of dam had no effect on GL but influenced DB (P less than .01), BW (P less than .01) and SR (P less than .05). Precalving weight of the dam influenced BW (P less than .01) but not GL. Birth weight was influenced by GL (P less than .01). Differences among breed groups were found for all traits. Purebred A had the shortest GL and the earliest BD, while purebred B had the longest GL, the latest BD, th lightest BW and the lowest SR of any of the breed groups. The BR and AF had higher BW but were generally intermediate to the A and B in other traits. Combined breed of sire and dam effects acccounted for most of the breed differences. The response and percentage heterosis obtained for such traits as DB and SR depended upon characteristics of the breeds involved and environmental factors such as date of breeding season and weather at calving. Heterosis calculated as a percentage of the A and B average was not significant for DB or GL but was 15% for BW and 14% for SR.

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Previous studies to determine row spacing (RS)‐planting date (PD) effects on yield of determinate soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in the southern USA have been conducted north of 33° Lat, and have produced conflicting results. Current data on the effects of these planting variables are not available for a large portion of the Gulf Coast area that now supports a large and rapidly expanding soybean industry. The objectives OP this experiment were to study: 1) the effects of selected RS and PD on yield of selected cultivars of determinate soybeans; 2) the interaction of RS with PD; and 3) the interaction of cultivars with RS and PD. Five cultivars, ‘Forrest,’ ‘Davis,’ ‘Lee 74,’ ‘Centennial,’ and ‘Bragg’ were planted in RS of 25, 50, and 100‐cm on 6 PD between 15 April and 1 July in 1976, 1977, 1978, and 1979. The field plots were located on a Mhoon silty clay soil (Typic Fluvaquent). Averaged over years, the five cultivars evaluated produced significantly higher yields when grown in 25 and 50‐cm RS compared with the 100‐cm RS. The interaction between cultivar and RS was significant due to variability among cultivars in the yield increase when RS was reduced; 3 q/ha with Davis and Bragg, 4 q/ha with Lee 74, and 6 q/ha with Forrest and Centennial. The size of yield increases resulting from reduced row spacing was relatively consistent across PD. Because lower yields were recorded at all three RS at nonoptimum PD the yield increases, when expressed as a percentage of the yields obtained in 100‐cm rows, were larger at the nonoptimum dates, however. Optimum PD was not affected by RS but differed among cultivars. Forrest and Lee 74 had highest yields when planted on 15 May while the other three cultivars had similar yields at PD from 1 May to 1 June. Results indicated that significantly higher yields are possible with current determinate cultivars when both RS and PD are selected for individual cultivars.

SUMMARY Blood pressure levels, anthropometric parameters, and dietary intakes were assessed in 1981 and 1983 in a population of black (n = 236) and white (n = 296) adolescent girls, aged 14 and 16 years in 1983. The 14-year-old black girls exhibited significantly higher mean systolic and diastolic blood pressures than whites in both years. Body weight and Quetelet index were more strongly associated with blood pressure than were height and triceps skinfold thickness. Correcting blood pressures for weight, Quetelet index, 2-year changes in height, and age at menarche decreased in each case (but did not negate) the observed race differences in blood pressure. Dietary calcium and potassium intakes were inversely related to blood pressure, and a race difference in the intake of these nutrients (whites > blacks) was observed. Covariate adjustment for calcium, but not for potassium, decreased the magnitude of race differences in blood pressure. Family type (single-parent vs nuclear) and place of residence (urban vs nonurban) appeared to be the most important confounding variables for race differences in blood pressure, since differences largely were eliminated by controlling for these factors. Conflicting reports in the literature regarding the age range during which race differences in blood pressure become apparent may be partially attributed to the complex interrelationships among these factors and the potential influence of other genetic-environmental interactions that may also play a role in blood pressure regulation. E LEVATED blood pressure is a risk factor for various chronic disease processes including atherosclerosis and thus constitutes a major public health problem in most industrialized countries.