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The relative importance of general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) in the year of establishment and in the following year were studied for forage yield, plant height, days to flower, growth habit, vigor, and frost tolerance in a diallel cross population of alfalfa (Medicago sativaL.). For both years GCA was more important than SCA for most of the characters. The ratio of GCA to SCA was generally greater for plants in their second year. There were marked differences in the GCA effects of the seven clones. Clones selected from adapted cultivars produced progenies that performed relatively well; those selected from unadapted cultivars gave progenies that were found to be generally inferior in forage yield, vigor, and frost tolerance. Both days to flower and vigor showed appreciable genotype ✕ environment interaction.

VINCRISTINE SULFATE is an alkaloid with oncolytic activity obtained from the periwinkle plant, Vinca rosea Linn.1,2 Its mode of action has not been clarified, but it has been shown to arrest mitotic division in metaphase.3,4 The drug has been used for the treatment of a variety of neoplasms, particularly acute leukemia in children.5-10 From reports in the literature11-13 and personal observations, it has been noted that patients receiving vincristine often develop flaccid distal weakness, distal paresthesias, and depression or extinction of deep tendon reflexes, all of which are readily reversible on cessation of treatment, suggesting a drug-induced peripheral neuropathy. This study was undertaken to determine the histopathologic and histochemical effects of vincristine on the nerve and muscle. MATERIAL AND METHODS A group of 40 male Sprague-Dawley rats, weighing 165 to 280 gm (6-10 oz), were injected intraperitoneally with vincristine sulfate in doses ranging from 0.2