Is N‐feedback involved in the regulation of nitrogenase activity in Medicago truncatula?

To determine whether senescing leaves provoke an active nitrogen (N) remobilization that results in the reduction of nitrogenase activity, 60% of Medicago truncatula lower leaves were either darkened or individually excised for two weeks. Although a considerable amount of N was remobilized, N₂ fixation activity was found to be increased to maintain the N source/sink balance, indicating an absence of the negative N‐feedback regulation of nitrogenase activity in the senescing M. truncatula.     

P0 protein of cotton leafroll dwarf virus-atypical isolate is a weak RNA silencing suppressor and the avirulence determinant that breaks the cotton Cbd gene-based resistance

Cotton blue disease (CBD) is the most important disease present in cotton crops in South America and cotton leafroll dwarf virus (CLRDV) is the causal agent. The disease has been controlled by sowing cotton varieties resistant to CLRDV. However, in the 2009/10 growing season, an outbreak due to an atypical CLRDV isolate (CLRDV-at) occurred in northwest Argentina. Although CLRDV and CLRDV-at genomes are very closely related, the symptoms they produce in cotton plants are quite different. P0 is the most divergent protein between the isolates and in CLRDV is a silencing suppressor protein. This work characterized the silencing suppressor activity of the P0 protein encoded by CLRDV-at (P0^CL-at) and evaluated its role in Cbd-resistance break in cotton plants. It was demonstrated that P0^CL-at, despite having a mutation in the consensus of the F-box-like motif, was able to suppress local RNA silencing, but displayed lower activity than P0^CL. P0^CL and P0^CL-at showed no differences in the interaction with Gossypium hirsutum SKP1 orthologue (GSK1) and Nicotiana benthamiana SKP1 and both P0 proteins triggered destabilization of ARGONAUTE1. However, when the ability to enhance PVX symptoms was evaluated, P0^CL-at was shown to be a weaker pathogenicity factor than P0^CL in N. benthamiana. Interestingly, trans-expressed P0^CL-at enabled CLRDV to systemically infect CBD-resistant plants, and a chimeric CLRDV-P0^CL-at infectious clone succeeded in establishing infection in CBD-resistant cotton varieties with symptoms resembling those produced by CLRDV-at. These results strongly suggest that P0^CL-at is the avirulence (Avr) determinant involved in breaking cotton Cbd gene-based resistance.     

Temporal and spatial progress of the diseases caused by the crinivirus tomato chlorosis virus and the begomovirus tomato severe rugose virus in tomatoes in Brazil

Efficient management of whitefly-borne diseases remains a challenge due to the lack of a comprehensive understanding of their epidemiology, particularly of the diseases tomato golden mosaic and tomato yellowing. Here, by monitoring 16 plots in four commercial fields, the temporal and spatial distribution of these two diseases were studied in tomato fields in Brazil. In the experimental plots these diseases were caused by tomato severe rugose virus (ToSRV) and tomato chlorosis virus (ToCV), respectively. The incidence of each virus was similar in the plots within a field but varied greatly among fields. Plants with symptoms for both diseases were randomly distributed in three of four spatial analyses. The curves representing the progress of both diseases were similar and contained small fluctuations, indicating that the spread of both viruses was similar under field conditions. In transmission experiments of ToSRV and ToCV by Bemisia tabaci MEAM1 (former biotype B), these viruses had a similar transmission rate in single or mixed infections. It was then shown that primary and secondary spread of ToCV were not efficiently controlled by insecticide applications. Finally, in a typical monomolecular model of disease progress, simulation of the primary dissemination of ToSRV and ToCV showed that infected plants were predominantly randomly distributed. It is concluded that, although the manner of vector transmission differs between ToSRV (persistent) and ToCV (semipersistent), the main dispersal mechanisms are most probably similar for these two diseases: primary spread is the predominant mechanism, and epidemics of these diseases have been caused by several influxes of viruliferous whiteflies.     

Influence of temperature,humidity duration and growth stage on the infection and mycotoxin production by Fusarium langsethiae and Fusarium poae in oats

High occurrence of Fusarium poae (FP) and Fusarium langsethiae (FL) and their mycotoxins nivalenol (NIV) and T-2/HT-2 have been observed in Swiss oats. Early prediction of mycotoxin levels is important for farmers and the cereal industry to minimize the risk of contaminated food and feed. Therefore, climate chamber experiments were conducted to investigate the influence of different temperatures (10, 15, 20 °C) and durations (4, 8, 12 h) at 99% relative humidity (RH) on the infection of oats with FP and FL. In addition, to discover the most susceptible period of oats, artificial FL inoculations were conducted at different growth stages. Field experiments were performed to observe the dispersal of these fungal species within the field and to investigate the weather conditions that influence the dispersal. The climate chamber experiments revealed higher contamination with NIV and T-2/HT-2 in the 10 °C treatments and with a prolonged humidity duration of 12 h 99% RH. Inoculations of oat plants at early (DC 61) and mid (DC 65) anthesis, led to higher FL infection and T-2/HT-2 accumulation in the grains compared with treatments at earlier growth stages, which might be due to an increased susceptibility during anthesis. No indication for spore dispersal was observed in the field experiments. The results obtained, together with the cropping factors that influence infection and mycotoxin production, could be used as a first step in developing forecasting models to predict the contamination of oats with the mycotoxins NIV and T-2/HT-2.     

Tomato brown rugose fruit disease: current distribution,knowledge and future prospects

Tomato is the most economically important fruit/vegetable crop grown worldwide. However, viral diseases remain an important factor limiting its productivity, with estimated quantitative and qualitative yield losses in tomato crops often reaching up to 100%. Many viruses infecting tomato have been reported, while new viral diseases have also emerged. The climatic changes the world is experiencing can be a contributing factor to the successful spread of newly emerging viruses, as well as the establishment of disease in areas that were previously either unfavourable or where the disease was absent. Because antiviral products are not available, strategies to mitigate viral diseases rely on genetic resistance/tolerance to infection, control of vectors, improvement in crop hygiene, roguing of infected plants and seed certification. Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is an emerging viral threat to tomato productivity and is currently spreading into new areas, which is of great concern to the growing global production in the absence of mitigation measures. This review presents the current knowledge about ToBRFV and future prospects for an improved understanding of the virus, which will be needed to support effective control and mitigation of the impact it is likely to cause.     

Exploiting chemical ecology to manage hyperparasitoids in biological control of arthropod pests

Insect hyperparasitoids are fourth trophic level organisms that commonly occur in terrestrial food webs, yet they are relatively understudied. These top‐carnivores can disrupt biological pest control by suppressing the populations of their parasitoid hosts, leading to pest outbreaks, especially in confined environments such as greenhouses where augmentative biological control is used. There is no effective eco‐friendly strategy that can be used to control hyperparasitoids. Recent advances in the chemical ecology of hyperparasitoid foraging behavior have opened opportunities for manipulating these top‐carnivores in such a way that biological pest control becomes more efficient. We propose various infochemical‐based strategies to manage hyperparasitoids. We suggest that a push‐pull strategy could be a promising approach to ‘push’ hyperparasitoids away from their parasitoid hosts and ‘pull’ them into traps. Additionally, we discuss how infochemicals can be used to develop innovative tools improving biological pest control (i) to restrict accessibility of resources (e.g. sugars and alternative hosts) to primary parasitoid only or (ii) to monitor hyperparasitoid presence in the crop for early detection. We also identify important missing information in order to control hyperparasitoids and outline what research is needed to reach this goal. Testing the efficacy of synthetic infochemicals in confined environments is a crucial step towards the implementation of chemical ecology‐based approaches targeting hyperparasitoids. © 2019 The Authors. Pest Management Science published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of Society of Chemical Industry.     

Asystole associated with cerebrospinal fluid collection in a 3-month-old foal under general anaesthesia

A 3-month-old colt foal presented to the Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital for investigation of progressive neurological signs. Diagnostic investigation included cerebrospinal fluid collection, which was performed under general anaesthesia. During this procedure, severe bradycardia which progressed to asystole occurred. Initial resuscitation was successful; however, the foal had clinical signs consistent with cerebral hypoxia post-resuscitation and was euthanased the following day due to deterioration of neurological function. Asystole was presumed due to a Cushing-type reflex as a result of changes in intracranial pressure during the sampling procedure.     

Random-effects linear model application to herd-level assessment of bovine hepatic trace mineral concentrations

To evaluate the utility of random-effects linear modeling for herd-level evaluation of trace mineral status, we performed a retrospective analysis of the results for trace mineral testing of bovine liver samples submitted to the Michigan State University Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory between 2011 and 2017. Our aim was to examine random-effects models for their potential utility in improving interpretation with minimal sample numbers. The database consisted of 1,658 animals distributed among 121 herds. Minerals were assayed by inductively coupled plasma–mass spectroscopy, and included cobalt, copper, iron, molybdenum, manganese, selenium, and zinc. Intraclass correlation coefficients for each mineral were significantly different (p < 0.001) from zero and ranged from 0.38 for manganese to 0.82 for selenium, indicating that the strength of herd effects, which are presumably related to diet, vary greatly by mineral. Analysis of the distribution and standard errors of best linear unbiased predictor (BLUP) values suggested that testing 5–10 animals per herd could place herds within 10 percentile units across the population of herds with 70–95% confidence, the confidence level varying among minerals. Herd means were generally similar to BLUPs, suggesting that means could be reasonably compared to BLUPs with respect to the distributions reported here. However, caution in interpreting means relative to BLUPs should be exercised when animal numbers are small, the standard errors of the means are large, and/or the values are near the extremes of the distribution.     

Policy options for Agriculture Green Development by farmers in China

Farmers are the key agents who manage land and water. Agriculture Green Development (AGD) requires a transformation in farming from high resource consumption and environmental cost to sustainable intensification with high productivity, high resource use efficiency and low environmental risk. This paper analyzes the public policy challenge of AGD and makes the case for a location-sensitive policy mix made up of regulation, advice provision, voluntarism and targeted incentives. The public agricultural extension service in China is a key resource, but one that requires reorientation and reform with the aim of better balancing high farm productivity with environmental protection.