Calag Archive

A formulation containing volatile attractants has been developed against pestiferous and disease-carrying flies—such as eye gnats, houseflies, blowflies, and flesh flies. The material, known as UC fly attractant, or Lursect, when mixed with standard fly killing toxicants, has shown considerable promise for the suppression of pest fly populations. The attractants show greatest activity when the preparation is dispensed on moist soil or other damp substrates. Efficacy is greatest when the production potential of flies is at a low to medium level. The attractant proved far superior to commercial fly baits against centric and pericentric populations of a number of species of synanthropic flies.

A senescent type of watery breakdown of Bartlett pears, comparable to one that had caused serious losses to processors in 1972, was induced in laboratory tests. Prompt, thorough cooling and low storage temperatures reduced the incidence of the disorder. Precise definition of temperature relationships and the possible effect of other seasonal, climatic, cultural or handling variations must await further studies. The methods and results reported here will provide guides to these studies.

Input-output analysis, long used by national planners, is being used by economists in California Cooperative Extension to help local governments develop economic information to aid in making resource planning decisions. As the name suggests, input-output analysis involves tracing the purchases (input) and production (output) of different sectors in an economy. Data are gathered on actual production and consumption relationships among the sectors. With this knowledge, an economic model of a selected area is created so that the effect of changes in any sector's production on all the othersector's can be measured. These models can and have been created on a national, state, regional, county and city basis.

An irrigation technique utilizing crop moisture-stress symptoms as a guide to subsequent irrigations was used successfully with field corn in the San Joaquin Valley. Results compared favorably with soil-moisture data obtained from gypsum-block readings within the plots and evapotranspiration information from nearby lysimeters containing grass (tall fescue). Results indicate that the risk of crop-yield losses due to improper or late irrigations can be largely overcome by the method.

Liquid wax extracted from jojoba nuts I has a variety of potential uses including use in the manufacture of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, linoleums, and lubricants, and as a substitute for sperm whale oil. While the potential of this wax has never been disputed, no attempts have been made to establish commercial plantations of jojoba. This is partly because it has not been possible to predict with any degree of confidence whether the culture of jojoba would be economically profitable. While guesses can be made as to the approximate price at which the wax could sell, no information has been available about the yielding ability of jojoba under cultivation.