Tissue samples were collected in three biological replicates between March and July 2013 from (1) the bulb basal plate; (2) green foliage leaves and scape; (3) roots; (4) young inflorescences with developing flower primordia, spathe removed; (5) individual flowers at various stages of development, and (6) cloves.
Negative binomial generalised linear models of mistletoe abundance were tested with combinations of seven explanatory variables: study area, landscape connectivity and edge contrast, patch shape, bird disperser abundance, brigalow foliage cover and basal area of standing dead trees.
Samples from HRSP were in sets of three that included foliage, epicormic, and basal samples from the same tree.
It would also be useful to conduct a study using all four tissue types (foliage, epicormic sprouts, basal sprouts, and cambium) from every tree sampled, which was not possible at our collection locations.
For example, if we found a new allele in a cambium sample, we extracted and amplified a second sample from an alternate tissue type (foliage, epicormic, or basal) collected from the same tree to verify the allele.
Wherever foliage, epicormic sprouts, or basal sprouts (hereafter referred to collectively as "leaf" samples) were accessible, they were collected in resealable storage bags with a few drops of distilled water.
Each dried foliage was included at 200 g/kg in a basal maize-soybean meal diet (MSBM) and the difference method was used to calculate the nutritional value of each of the six foliages.
The basal diet was supplemented daily on DM basis with dried foliage of Lablab purpureus, LAB – (230 g) or graded levels of Leucaena pallida 14203, namely, LP1 – (170 g), LP2 – (230 g), LP3 – (290 g), and Sesbania sesban 1198, namely, SS1 – (170 g), SS2 – (230 g), and SS3 – (290 g).
