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Research was conducted to evaluate the performance of a hydraulically driven turfgrass sod strength machine equipped with a force transducer to measure various strength parameters. The most commonly reported strength parameter, peak force (PF), continued to provide the quickest and easiest measurements of sod strength. Calculations of work involving the continuous measurement of sod strength over the duration of the stretch did not consistently improve the information provided by the PF measurement. Changes in sod bed pull speeds altered the calculations of work, whereas pull speed changes generally had little effect on force measurements, an important consideration for sod strength measurement devices that have limited control of sod bed pull speed. The unit was marginally successful in distinguishing sod strength differences between St. Augustinegrass [Stenotaphrum secundatum (Walt.) Kuntze.] treated with various levels of pyridine herbicides. The device also provided strength parameters that distinguished the relative strengths of four warm-season turfgrass sods.
`Beauregard' storage roots which were discarded from the Mississippi sweetpotato foundation seed program because of the presence of flesh mutations were bedded in Spring 1991. After the plants were pulled from the roots, the roots were further examined, and the flesh mutations were characterized by size and frequency. The progency from the original roots were examined for flesh mutations for three generations in 1991, 1992, and 1993. The degree of mutation in the original root did not influence the degree of mutation in succeeding generations of storage roots. In 1992 and 1993, the degree of mutation in the third and fourth generation roots did not differ from that of storage roots grown from plants from the foundation seed plant beds.