proved by a conference committee 10 days ago and was scheduled for debate last week in both House and Senate. The bill covers National Defense Education Act activities and includes such existing programs as student loans, scholarships, fellowships, workstudy grants, and grants for construction of academic facilities. The bill also covers funds for such new programs as special services for the disadvantaged, improvement of graduate education, and public service education. The language concerning student disturbances in the bill approved by the conference is identical with that in the Labor-HEW appropriations bill.
FIBERS:
Avisco Offers Preblend Preblended bales of polyester and high-modulus rayon staple fibers have been made available to small textile
American Viscose's MacFarlan Scoring with an important first
On the flip side of the coin, this move also has advantages for Avisco, which earlier this year announced a five-fold increase in its polyester capacity—to 200 million pounds a y e a r over the next five years (C&EN, April 1, page 10). If preblends take hold, the company will be moving two fibers at once: Rayon will carry Avisco polyester into the trade. The polyester business today is a rough one for a relative newcomer like Avisco to crack. Current producers include Du Pont, Celanese, Eastman, and Monsanto—all huge, sophisticated, and aggressive companies. The preblend route may, therefore, serve to help deepen Avisco's penetration. The big target for Avisco is the man-made fiber broad-woven goods market. For example, production in this area totaled 1.263 billion linear yards during the first quarter of 1968. This record level is 24% above the production level in the same period last year. Large volumes of polyester staple in blended fiber fabrics account for most of the increase. The production of polyester cotton blended goods during this same period also reached a record level— 394.8 million linear yards, up 52% from the like period of 1967. On the other hand, spun polyester blends with rayon reached only 37.4 million linear yards, up about 10% over first-quarter 1967 but still totaling less than 10% of the polyester cotton production. At the moment Avisco has only moderate capacity for blends. But it should be able to handle all customer requirements for preblend stock by mid-October, Mr. MacFarlan says.
TX102 and TX99 hybrids. Opaque-2 is a recessive gene and the only gene from the popcorn variety that needed to be introduced into existing hybrids, Trojan's vice president of research Keith Keltgen tells C&EN. "Because opaque-2 is recessive, the cross-breeding was a more difficult job.
Trojan's Mack and Keltgen Bridging Latin America's protein gap
HYBRIDIZATION: mills by American Viscose division of FMC Corp. According to M. V. MacFarlan, vice president and director of sales for fibers operations, this is the first step by a major fibers producer to offer advantages of technology and economy to small textile mills. Small mills can now take advantage of blends while continuing to operate with what amounts to a one-fiber system. Large savings come from not having to buy blending equipment. Usable in spinning, weaving, and knitting mills of every type, the bales of Avisco Fiber-200 (Avlin) polyester and Fiber-40 (Avril) rayon will be tailor-made to customer requirements, Mr. MacFarlan says. Avisco's move is yet another phase of the company's all-out assault on cotton markets—especially vulnerable because of recent poor crops and a continuing scarcity of high-quality longstaple cotton (C&EN, July 8, page 18).
High-Protein Corn Bred High-protein corn will make its commercial debut next spring. The new hybrid has 50% greater protein content with double the amounts of two essential amino acids—lysine and tryptophan. Ramifications of the new hybrid may include changes in the U.S. farm economy, less expensive hog and poultry products, and a more practical method to help reduce malnutrition in impoverished countries. The new hybrid differs from other corn hybrids by a single gene, called opaque-2. In 1963, biochemist Edwin T. Metz and geneticist Oliver E. Nelson of Purdue University discovered that opaque-2 increased the protein content of popcorn. This gene has been bred into standard corn hybrids by Trojan Seed Co., Olivia, Minn. It took four years and eight generations to breed opaque-2 into Trojan's
However, ours was primarily an engineering problem after the Purdue scientists discovered the gene's effects." Compared with normal corn, the opaque-2 hybrid contains 12% protein vs. 8%, 0.49% lysine vs. 0.24%, and 0.15% tryptophan vs. 0.09%. Opaque-2, so-called because the kernels are opaque, will mean changes in the way corn is marketed. The high-protein corn will have to be separated from normal corn because it will carry a premium price. Also, the amino acid content will have to be analyzed, which could lead to pricing corn by protein content. At least initially, Trojan expects the hybrid to be grown only for feed and on a contract basis. In the U.S., opaque-2 corn will be used mainly as a feed for single-stomach livestock, primarily hogs and poultry. (Double-stomach animals, such as cattle, sheep, and goats, don't require high-protein feed.) Tests in the SEPT. 30f 1968 C&EN
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