Comparison of nuclear DNA content of citrus rootstock populations by flow cytometry analysis

Citrus species are widely grown in the world. Plant characteristics of the rootstock populations used for orange, lemon, mandarin and grapefruit cultivars should be known as well as those of the cultivars that help true‐to‐type nursery plant production. In this study, cell nuclei were isolated from leaf tissues of seedlings of trifoliate orange, sour orange, rough lemon,‘Volkamer’ lemon,‘Cleopatra’ mandarin,‘Hyokan’, ‘Sanbokan’, ‘Kinkoje’, ‘Carrizo’ citrange and ‘Swingle’ citrumelo, and then fluorescence intensities were measured on propidium iodide‐stained nuclei by flow cytometry. Nuclei isolated from the triploid ‘Tahiti’ lime with a known nuclear genome size were used as the internal standard to estimate the nuclear DNA content of Citrus seedling populations in absolute units. Results obtained from cytograms and histograms indicated that all seedlings analyzed were diploid. In addition, differences between the species for nuclear DNA content were also found to be significant. ‘Hyokan’ seedlings had the biggest genome size, 0.984 pg/2C, whereas trifoliate orange seedlings had the smallest genome size, 0.678 pg/2C. Flow cytometry analysis could be used for obtaining accurate and rapid results for cytological observations of seedling populations of Citrus.     

平原丘陵地区水土资源联合优化配置

通过对区域水资源和土地资源概况进行研究,利用大系统递阶优化思想,以供水对象相对缺水率最小和农业经济效益最大为目标,建立了区域水土资源联合优化配置模型,并以句容市为例,对平原丘陵地区的水资源在时间和区域上进行了合理安排、设计、组合和布局,对农业种植结构进行了调整。研究结果表明:水资源是土地资源发挥最大优势的基本条件,水资源利用合理与否,直接影响到土地资源的生产效率;而土地资源的利用程度也影响着水资源的变化,土地资源利用效率高,则为水资源的合理开发利用创造条件。     

Effect of increasing climatic water deficit on some leaf and stomatal parameters of wild and cultivated almonds under Mediterranean conditions

The prevailing environmental conditions, temperature in particular, drive seasonal changes both in leaf development and stomatal characteristics. In order to ascertain the effect of increases in climatic water deficit on some leaf and stomatal parameters under field conditions, a study was carried out on two sets of leaves (spring and summer) on a large sample of Amygdalus communis L. cultivars in comparison with several Amygdalus webbii Spach seedlings, a species more adapted to arid environments and probable ancestor of cultivated almonds. Observations were performed between spring and summer of a particularly hot season. The results showed a significant and general reduction of both leaf area and stomatal frequency and an increase in stomatal size. Nevertheless, there were evident differences between cultivated and wild almonds. A stronger reduction of leaf area was observed in A. webbii (−31%) with respect to A. communis (−14%); on the contrary, the latter reduced stomatal frequency more than the former (−25% and −19%, respectively). The examined cultivated almonds, in response to the increase in climatic water deficit, tended to arrange their stomatal structures like those of wild almonds. Finally, increasing the climatic water deficit, the slope of the linear regressions between stomatal frequency and size did not change in either species, leading to a better understanding of the mechanisms of almond acclimation to environmental stresses.     

Cultivar-based fruit size in olive depends on different tissue and cellular processes throughout growth

In drupe fruits, in addition to fruit size, the proportions of mesocarp and endocarp tissues are critical objectives for fruit quality, crop production and management. The olive fruit is a typical drupe, with cultivars which show a wide range in both fruit size and the proportions of mesocarp and endocarp. Characterizing the roles of tissue and cellular processes in producing genetically based fruit size variability is necessary for crop improvement, as well as deepening our understanding of fruit developmental physiology. This study used microscope image analysis to evaluate cell number and size, the growth of mesocarp and endocarp tissues, and their developmental timing in producing fruit size among six olive cultivars with a large range of fruit size. We found that cultivar mesocarp and endocarp size increased linearly with fruit size, with larger sizes favoring an increasingly greater mesocarp/endocarp ratio. Within the mesocarp, cultivar-based fruit size related directly to cell number and was established soon after bloom by cell division rate. In spite of different cell division rates, all cultivars showed similar timing of cell division activity, with the majority of cells produced in the two months after bloom but, surprisingly, a substantial number of cells formed during the following 6 months. Cell expansion was high throughout fruit growth and an important factor in achieving final fruit size, but cell size did not differ among cultivars at any time. We can conclude that fruit size differences among olive cultivars are due at the tissue level to both mesocarp and endocarp sizes and at the cellular level to cell division throughout fruit growth. Furthermore, since cell size is consistent among cultivars in spite of variable cell division, it is likely that cultivar differences in cell expansion accompany those in cell division.     

Shade improves coffee quality in a sub-optimal coffee-zone of Costa Rica

Quality is an important attribute of coffee. Therefore it is important to understand the effect of overstory trees not only on the environment and long-term coffee production, but also on the quality of coffee grown underneath the trees. This study compared coffee quality of Coffea arabica L. vars. Caturra and Catimor 5175 under different levels of shade in a low-elevation, sub-optimal environment for coffee in Costa Rica. Fruit weight and bean size increased significantly when shade intensity was increased from 0% to more than 80% under unpruned Erythrina poeppigiana. While large beans (diameter > 6.7 mm) accounted for 49 and 43% of the coffee from unshaded Caturra and Catimor, respectively, these proportions increased to 69 and 72% under dense permanent shade. This suggested a stronger shade benefit for Catimor than for Caturra. The conversion percentages from fresh-weight coffee fruits to dry-weight green coffee for export were not affected by the treatments. A blind tasting experiment showed consistent shade-induced improvements in appearance of green and roasted coffee as well as in acidity and body of the brew for both varieties. The effect of shade on aroma of the brew was neutral for Caturra and slightly negative for Catimor. It is hypothesized that, in the sub-optimal (low-altitude) coffee-zone studied, shade promotes slower and more balanced filling and uniform ripening of berries, thus yielding a better-quality product than unshaded coffee plants. Shade experiments along environmental gradients should help to validate this conjecture and its relative importance in different coffee-zones.     

松香酰胺在中性造纸施胶中的应用

利用松香与异腈酸的酰经反应在１００－１５０℃下合成了三个松香酰胺，并应用它们到中性造纸松香乳酸，ＰＨ４－８的抄造试验表明这些松香衍生物在这个ＰＨ范围内具有高的施胶效果。松香酰结构与酰胺化度对施胶效果有很大的影响。     

样木解析法及其在材积表编制中的应用研究

提出了一种材积表编制样本资料收集的新方法———样木解析法。即在标准地中采用随机或机械抽样方法选取样木,进行树干解析,获得样木生长过程;通过建立树皮系数与树皮率回归模型,将样木解析后的各龄阶去皮直径和去皮材积转化为带皮直径和带皮材积,一株样木可获得龄阶数个编表样本。经四川农业大学实习林场楠木一元材积表、二元材积表编制实践,有减少编表样本收集工作量、消耗林木少的优点,且能达到精度要求,同时,也为珍稀树种材积表编制样本资料收集提供了新的方法。     

红汁乳菇菌丝液体发酵条件的优化

采用正交表L18(37)研究红汁乳菇液体培养时影响菌丝产量的主要营养因子,从中筛选出对红汁乳菇菌丝生长影响显著的氮源品种;采用L27(313)正交实验研究了综合因子对菌丝生长的影响.结果表明:牛肉膏、KT、转速、培养时间、三角瓶大小这些因素对红汁乳菇菌丝的生长具有非常显著的影响,糊精、蔗糖 甘露醇对红汁乳菇菌丝的生长也具有显著的影响;根据因子平均生物量的水平比较和交互作用方差分析结果,选择糊精含量为2.5%、牛肉膏含量为2%、蔗糖 故露醇为3%、MgSO4为0.01%、KT为1%、烟酸 核黄素为(0.5% 0.1%),在转速为130 r/min的情况下,培养25 d,红汁乳菇菌丝产量可达449.7 mg/100 mL.     

变形轴中心孔最佳位置的确定

以往生产中只能凭直观或用外圆打表测量方法来确定变形轴中心孔最佳位置，这既不方便又不准确．经分析与计算，得出变形轴中心孔最佳位置为０．３５Ｌ．     

Application of cationic polymer prepared from sulfuric acid lignin as a retention aid for usual rosin sizes to neutral papermaking

Cationic polymers that acted as the retention aids for usual rosin sizes in neutral papermaking were prepared from sulfuric acid lignin (SAL), one type of acid lignin. To convert SAL to the cationic polymer (MP-SAL), SAL was phenolated and then treated by the Mannich reaction to introduce the amino groups. In the MP-SAL single system, MP-SAL exhibited high sizing effectiveness in neutral papermaking with the rosin emulsion size. However, MP-SAL showed no sizing effectiveness when soap rosin size was used. MP-SAL showed increased sizing effectiveness as the pK _a of the introduced amino group increased. From this and comparison of the sizing degrees of MP-SAL and polyethylenimine, which possesses a linear structure, it was suggested that the sizing effectiveness was not only affected by the charge density and molecular weight, but also by the basicity of the introduced amino groups and the molecular structure of the retention aid. In the alum–MP-SAL dual system, alum and MP-SAL synergistically enhanced the sizing effectiveness in the rosin emulsion sizing at neutral pH. In turn, this allowed a decrease in the MP-SAL dosage and resulted in a small decrease in brightness.Part of this report was presented at the 48th Lignin Symposium, October 2003, Fukui