Construction of the 'Two-degree Field' (2dF) instrument on the Anglo-Australian Telescope (AAT) is now virtually complete and commissioning is well underway. The key components are described. Several recent milestones are reported, including the first scientific results. Future prospects and plans are discussed.

Chicken skins or carcasses inoculated with Salmonella typhimurium were exposed to 0.1 or 0.5% grapefruit seed extracts (DF-100) for 1 or 3 min to evaluate antibacterial activity of DF-100 and its possible application in proultry processing. The numbers of live salmonellae on chicken skins were reduced by 0.8-1.2 logs/㎠ with 0.1% and by 1.6-1.7 logs/㎠ with 0.5% DF-100. Dipping chicken carcasses into 0.5% DF-100 for 3 min reduced salmonellae by 4.3 logs/ carcass. Scanning electron microaoopy showed that DF-100 killed the cells attached but did not detach cells from the skin. No odor or changes in the color of chicken skin were detected after DF-100 treatment.

Dwarfuess and Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) protein in soybean is useful traits for basic studies. df2 and ti gene control dwarfness and the expression of Kunitz trypsin inhibitor (KTI) protein in soybean, respectively. The objective of this research was to verify genetic linkage or independent inheritance of df2 and ti loci in soybean. The F2 population was made by cross combination between "Gaechuck#2" (Df2Df2titi genotype, KTI protein absence and a normal growth type) and T210 (df2df2TiTi genotype, a dwarf growth type and KTI protein present). A total of 258 F2 seeds were analyzed for the segregation of KTI protein using SDS-PAGE. And so, 198 F2 plants were recorded for the segregation of dwarfness. The segregation ratio of 3 : 1 for Ti locus (201 Ti : 57 titi) and Df2 locus (143 Df2 : 55 df2df2) was observed. Segregation ratio of 9 : 3 : 3 : 1 (116 TiDf2: 44 Tidf2df2: 27 titiDf2: 11 titidf2df2) between df2 gene and ti gene was observed (x2 =3.53, P = 0.223). These results showed that df2 gene was inherited independently with the ti gene in soybean.