棉花黄萎病菌致病型的AFLP分析

 选用41个棉花黄萎病菌(Verticillium dahliae)代表菌系,在温室条件下,对4个棉花品种鄂荆1号(感)、中棉所12(耐)、文-5(抗)和唐棉2号(抗)进行致病性测定,结果可将供试菌系分为落叶型与非落叶型2类。选取8对AFLP引物PCR扩增的结果中,统计带型稳定、清晰且有多态性的条带,共169条作系统聚类分析,将上述菌系分为2大类,第一类为非落叶型菌系,包括10个非落叶型菌系和1个过渡菌系;第二类为30个落叶型菌系。根据聚类分析建立树状图,发现菌系与地理来源存在一定的相关性,而依据菌系致病力强弱分类则相关关系不大。选用25对EcoRⅠ和MseⅠ引物组合,对供试的41个V.dahliae进行AFLP扩增,筛选到2对引物E64(GACTGCGTACCAATTCGAC)、M53(GATGAGTCCTGAGTAACCG)和E49(GACTGCGTACCAATTCCAG)、M65(GAT-GAGTCCTGAGTAAGAG),能分别扩增出433bp和110bp2条仅为V.dahliae非落叶型菌系独有的特异片段,可将落叶型与非落叶型菌系分开,这2条特异片段被命名为EM₄₃₃和EM₁₁₀。     

棉酚和单宁酸对棉铃虫幼虫生长和消化生理的影响

作者利用昆虫人工饲料测试了棉酚和单宁酸对棉铃虫幼虫生长、营养指标以及中肠主要蛋白酶活力的影响。结果表明,棉酚和单宁酸均能显著地抑制幼虫的生长,但二者之间无交互作用,其中单宁酸的作用较棉酚强。含3％棉酚或单宁酸的人工饲料,饲喂4龄幼虫48h后,可引起幼虫近似消化率减小和食物转化率增大,但食物利用率无显著变化。棉酚在离体条件下对类胰蛋白酶和类胰凝乳蛋白酶活力有不同程度的抑制作用,但在活体条件下,上述酶活力无显著变化,仅有中肠总蛋白酶活力下降。单宁酸在离体条件下对类胰蛋白酶有抑制作用,而对类胰凝乳蛋白酶活力无作用:在活体条件下,仅总蛋白酶活力和弱碱性类胰蛋白酶活力显著下降。由此可知,棉酚和单宁酸对棉铃虫的生长抑制作用与幼虫中肠蛋白酶活力和食物消化率的降低有关。     

棉花调亏灌溉的生理基础研究

以盆栽棉花为材料,通过苗期和现蕾期不同程度的亏水处理(低、中、高三个水平),对调亏灌溉节水效应及生理机制进行了研究。结果表明:适时适度的水分亏缺可使植株旺盛的营养生长得以有效控制,株型和根冠比都更为理想。调亏期间,蒸腾速率和气孔导度都明显下降,而光合速率下降不明显,复水后光合速率和气孔导度明显恢复且接近或高于对照;此外,水分亏缺不仅影响棉桃的数量,而且影响单果重。表明适度的亏水处理可使水分利用效率明显提高,而经济产量接近或高于对照,同时节水20%以上。     

限水灌溉对转基因抗虫棉产量形成的影响

采取限水灌溉的方法,研究了灌水对棉花产量形成的影响。研究结果表明,合理灌水能促进棉花开花成铃,延长最佳成铃时段,增加棉株优质节位的成铃数,单株籽棉干物重增加23.4%～61.9%,产量提高16.8%～45.3%。灌水量以675m3/hm2效果最好,灌水效益高达0.57kg/m3,灌水量达1350m3/hm2增产幅度下降,灌水效益仅0.21kg/m3。     

Auxins increase the occurrence of leaf-colour variants in Caladium regenerated from leaf explants

Leaf explants of Caladium ‘Pink Cloud’ were cultured in vitro on MS medium containing various auxins (NAA, IBA, IAA, 2,4,5-T and 2,4-D) in combination with cytokinin (BA). NAA gave the most vigorous in vitro propagation of this plant, and only 15% of the plants were leaf-colour variants on the medium containing 0.5 μmol NAA. Leaf colour variation was observed in all plants regenerated on the medium containing 2,4-D at 0.5–4.5 μmol. In hormone-free medium, only a few leaf-colour variants (6%) occurred, but the rate of plant regeneration was very low. Application of 0.5 μmol NAA together with 4.5 μmol BA seemed to be the most appropriate for in vitro propagation of Caladium ‘Pink Cloud’ with only a few leaf-colour variants.     

Study of some factors affecting the growth and development of myoga (Zingiber mioga Roscoe)

In order to optimise production of the edible flower buds produced by myoga (Zingiber mioga Roscoe) a greater understanding of the growth and development of the plant and factors influencing flower initiation and development are required. The vegetative growth phase in myoga was characterised by a distinct period of pseudostem development from the planted rhizome piece followed by an extended period of rhizome growth from both the base of pseudostems and the planted rhizome piece. The transition from pseudostem formation to the initiation of rhizome growth occurred at the same time as the dry weight of the planted rhizome piece ceased to decline. Flower bud initiation and development occurred over an extended period, beginning soon after the commencement of new rhizome growth and ending prior to foliage senescence. Flower buds were observed at the terminal meristem of first, second, third and fourth order rhizomes. Increasing temperatures stimulated both increased vegetative growth and flower bud initiation and development. Low flower bud yields recorded under conditions of low temperature were the result of reduced rate of floral initiation and not abortion of flower buds. Increased shading of plants grown under glasshouse conditions resulted in reduced flower bud yield and similarly the response resulted from decreased initiation rather than abortion.     

Clone identification and genetic relationship among vine cacti from the genera Hylocereus and Selenicereus based on RAPD analysis

Clones of Hylocereus and of Selenicereus species were distinguished from each other by the banding pattern generated by one to nine 10-mer oligonucleotide primers in the random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) reaction. RAPD analysis was also applied to estimate the genetic relationship among five Hylocereus and nine Selenicereus species. A dendrogram was constructed based on a data matrix of 173 polymorphic bands originated by nine primers. Two groups were identified, one consisting of Hylocereus species and the other consisting of Selenicereus species. These results are consistent with the accepted taxonomic classification of the genera studied. The principal coordinate analysis (PCO), i.e. the plot drawn on the basis of the RAPD data, clearly distinguished between three groups, namely, Hylocereus species, S. megalanthus and the rest of the Selenicereus species studied. PCO thus strongly support the notion that the tetraploid S. megalanthus is an exception among the Selenicereus group. The RAPD results support our hypothesis regarding the allopolyploid (rather than autopolyploid) origin of this species.     

Kaolin treatment to reduce pomegranate sunburn

The aim of this study was to reduce pomegranate losses due to sunburn in south-western Spain. Summer temperatures may rise above 45 °C, resulting in sunburn damage to the fruits, which may inflict losses of up to 40% of the total yield. Data were obtained in two consecutive years. Surround^® WP, a product comprising processed, refined kaolin, was sprayed over the whole canopy and fruits four times at 2–3-week intervals from mid-June to early August, the first application at 5% and the other three at 2.5%. The resulting white coating significantly reduced fruit and leaf surface temperatures relative to the control by averages of 4.9 and 2.5 °C, respectively. Sunburn damage of fruits was reduced from 21.9% in untreated control to 9.4% in the Surround WP-treated fruits.     

Ascorbic acid level of Belgian apple genetic resources

With the help of the public, a wide collection of old apple cultivars (cvs) was established progressively at our Department from 1975 onwards. Currently, more than 1400 apple accessions are being maintained and three quarters of them are subjected to field evaluation for disease resistance and agronomic characters. This paper presents results of the ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) contents of old cvs combining interesting disease resistance and agronomic features in order to promote them as cvs adapted to production systems which are more environmentally friendly or to be used as parents in breeding programmes. First, a methodological study shows the importance of the variability of ascorbic acid content depending on fruit position in the trees, fruit size, fruit skin colour and maturity stage. Statistical analyses show that the sample size of six fruits per cv is sufficient to detect a difference of 20% between cvs. Old apple cvs such as Grenadier^RGF, Transparente de Croncels, Bramley’s Seedling, Reinette des Capucins, Reinette Libotte and Reinette de Waleffe contain three and seven times more ascorbic acid than the commercial cvs Gala and Elstar, respectively. The paper highlights the need to evaluate the rich potential in our genetic resources.     

Seasonal variation in pigmentation and anthocyanidin phenetics in commercial Eustoma flowers

The seasonal change in petal color and pigmentation of 29 commercial Eustoma cultivars was studied. The flowers are basically divided into four groups according to the major anthocyanidin phenotype in association with petal coloration, i.e., delphinidin (Dp)-based (purple flower), cyanidin (Cy)-based (reddish purple flower), pelargonidin (Pg)-based (pink flower), and none (white flower) groups. The constitution of petal anthocyanidins was not changed by forcing treatment in most of the flowers. Lightness (L^*) and chroma (C^*, color saturation) showed a change along with the increase/decrease of hue angle difference (ΔH^*), thus simultaneously the chromatic tonalities tended to move to redder and bluer, respectively. Floral pigment clustering described two flower groups in a dendrogram, based on anthocyanidin constitutions as phenetic markers, which are apparently the Dp- and Pg-based phenotypes of anthocyanidin syntheses. The Cy-based flowers made a subcluster with the Pg-based flowers, indicating a close relationship in the biosynthesis of the two anthocyanidins, and suggesting the Dp- and Pg-syntheses complement one another.