An accurate, precise, and fast automated method for determining Cl in large numbers of soil and plant samples was needed in the confirmation that Cl toxicity was the cause of leaf scorch, a new disorder of soybean [Glycine max(L.) Merr.] grown on Atlantic Coast Flatwoods soils of Georgia. The method described involves the use of 0.1 M NaNO3as an extractant for soil and plant tissue samples with Cl being determined colorimetrically on a Technicon Auto‐Analyzer. Several studies including evaluation of extractants, shaking time, soils of varying texture, tissues of plants, and varying amounts of sample‐ and carbon‐weights were conducted to compare the proposed method with available methods of Cl analysis. Recovery of Cl after KCl was added to soils was 97% using 0.1 M NaNO3. Chloride concentrations in water and 0.1 MHNO3soil extracts could not be accurately determined due to turbidity and acidity interferences. Recovery of Cl from soils by the NaNO3extractant was not aflected by shaking times of 5, 10, and 20 min. Ten days after soils were incubated with KCI the NaNO3extractant was as effective in extracting CI(84%) as Mehlich No. 1 double acid extractant was in extracting K (86%). The NaNO3 extractant was equally effective in extracting Cl from sandy clay, sandy clay loam, loamy sand, and sand soils. Most of the error in the method was in the extraction procedure rather than in the measurement by the Auto‐Analyzer. The NaNO3extraction method compared favorably to the longer ashing method for leaf samples, but ashing was more accurate for seed samples. Fifty samples per hour can be determined by the Auto‐Analyzer.

Abstract-Currant Creek, a second order stream in southwestern Wyoming, has three large complexes of beaver ponds midway along its 32 km length. To determine whether these ponds improve the quality of water flowing through them, during spring and summer of 1984 and 1985 water samples were taken upstream from, within, and downstream from the pond complexes. During periods of high flow (i.e. spring runoff), concentrations of suspended solids (SS), total phosphorus (TP), sodium hydroxide-extractable phosphorus (NaOH-P, an index of biologically available P) and total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) were reduced in water flowing through the beaver ponds. During low flow, beaver ponds had less effect on these parameters. Concentrations of nitrate nitrogen (NO,-N) were reduced during both high and low flows, while concentrations of ortho-phosphate (ortho-P) did not appear to be affected by beaver ponds. Ammonia nitrogen almost always was at the limit of detection. Regression of NaOH-P versus [SS plus ortho-PI suggested that the primary source of NaOH-P was SS. In general, SS explained a large portion of the variation in TP, TKN, and NaOH-P, and often ortho-P was significantly correlated to TP. The increase in the concentration of most parameters below the area with dam complexes appears to reflect input from bank and channel erosion, and export of SS, TP, TKN and NO,-N from beaver dam complexes was calculated to be less than that from stream sections above or below the dams. Thus the location of dams should be considered before using them to try and improve water quality. The apparent importance of bank and channel erosion as the primary source of nutrients to Currant Creek contrasts with many watersheds in agricultural areas.

Potential disease control methods were evaluated against root and stem rot of cucumber (Cucumis sativus) caused by Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum. Crab/shrimp shell chitin; three composted media; the biological control agents Pseudomonas chlororaphis strain 63-28, Trichoderma harzianum (RootShield Drench), Streptomyces griseoviridis (Mycostop), Gliocladium catenulatum (Prestop WP, Prestop Mix), and Trichoderma (Gliocladium) virens (SoilGard); and the fungicides thiram or benomyl were added at seeding time followed by inoculation with the pathogen. The addition of chitin (4%, vol/vol) to a peat-based medium significantly (P ≤ 0.05) enhanced seedling growth, increased soil pH, and reduced F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum populations, but the severity of disease was increased. The addition of composted media (greenhouse compost, windrow composted dairy solids, and vermi-composted dairy solids) to the seeding cavity in a rock wool block medium, followed 48 h later by inoculation with F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum, reduced seedling mortality when measured after 37 days. Greenhouse compost was significantly (P ≤ 0.05) more suppressive than the other two composts, and the suppression was partially eliminated by sterilization of the compost. The biological control agent G. catenulatum (formulated as Prestop WP and Prestop Mix) significantly reduced seedling mortality when it was applied at seeding 24 h prior to inoculation with the pathogen in the rock wool block medium. None of the other biological control agents reduced disease incidence when compared with control plants under these experimental conditions. Pseudomonas chlororaphis and the fungicide thiram both significantly reduced plant mortality at 17 and 24°C when pathogen-infested seed was treated, or when bacteria-treated and fungicide-treated seed were planted into pathogen-infested peat medium at 24°C. Under semicommercial propagation conditions, treatments consisting of Prestop WP, RootShield Drench, My-costop, and windrow composted dairy solids reduced the severity of disease caused by F. oxysporum f. sp. radicis-cucumerinum in two out of three trials. The efficacy of the biological control agents was affected by seasonal differences in growing conditions, which affected the incidence and severity of the disease. The results from this study indicate that several different approaches can be used at seeding to control Fusarium root and stem rot on greenhouse cucumber.

Yield response to foliar fertilization (N, P, K, S, solution) of soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] in Iowa has stimulated interest in the use of the same or similar materials in other soybean production areas. Inconsistent yield increases were obtained in Iowa, and it is unknown whether foliar fertilization is feasible where environmental conditions, type of soybeans, and other factors are different from those in Iowa. Field experiments were conducted on a Tifton sl (fine‐loamy, siliceous, thermic, Plinthic Paleudult) and on a Norfolk sl (siliceous, thermic, Typic Paleudult) in the Coastal Plain region of Georgia. Urea K‐polyphosphate mix (urea, K‐polyphosphate, and K2SO4) and NH4‐polyphosphate mix (urea, NH4‐polyphosphate, KCl, and K2SO4) treatments were foliar sprayed on soybeans during the seed filling period. All spray treatments damaged the foliage and suppressed yields with the greatest damage to foliage occurring with repeated application of foliar fertilizer. Three sprayings of a mixture containing 28, 2.9, 9.5, and 1.7 kg N, P, K, and S/ha resulted in an average (two sites) yield decrease of 10.9% for the K‐polyphosphate mix and 17.6% for the NH4‐polyphosphate mix. Weight of pods, whole plants, or seeds, and seed quality were not affected by spray treatments. Absorption of applied nutrients into leaf tissue and translocation to reproductive tissue were detected only in a few instances. Increased N levels were detected only in seeds, and P levels increased only in leaves, while K levels were not changed. Under the conditions of this study, foliar N, P, K, and S fertilization of soybeans does not appear practicable for increasing yields.

Structural properties of vascular aquatic macrophyte stems were studied from a mechanical perspective using data from Jackson Lake, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Stem tensile strength, extensibility and cross sectional width were measured for seven vascular freshwater species . Mean values for these properties were significantly different when all species were compared .Moreover, tensile strength and extensibility were significantly different when deep water species were compared with shallow water species . Extensibility was significantly different when species duplicating by clone production were compared with species switching between clonal and sexual duplication, but tensile strength was not statistically different . Force to break a stem was modeled as a significantly increasing power function of stem cross sectional area (R2 = 86 .0%) . Species specific tensile properties are considered as factors that can regulate the upslope distribution of macrophytes in moving water .