Genomic prediction for yields,processing and nutritional quality traits in cultivated potato (Solanum tuberosum L.)

Current potato breeding approaches are hampered by several factors including costly seed tubers, tetrasomic inheritance and inbreeding depression. Genomic selection (GS) demonstrated interesting results regardless of the ploidy level, and can be harnessed to circumvent these problems. In this work, three GS models were evaluated using 50,107 informative SilicoDArT markers and 11 traits in two values for cultivation and use (VCU) potato trials. Two key breeding problems modelled included predicting the performance of (i) new and unphenotyped clones (cross‐validation) and (ii) a VCU using another as training set (TS). GS models performed comparably. Cross‐validation accuracy was high for D35, D45, DMW and BVAL, in ascending order. Prediction accuracies of the VCUs were highly correlated, but the best prediction was obtained for the smaller VCU using the bigger as TS. Cross‐validation and VCU prediction accuracies were higher when bigger TSs were used. The findings herein indicate that GS can be attractively integrated in potato breeding, particularly in early clonal generations to predict and select for traits with low heritability which would otherwise require more testing years, environments and resources.     

Nature conservation in Italy: Proposed national and regional parks and other areas deserving protection

The complex geological history of Italy is responsible for the remarkable number of different landscapes and ecosystems present today. The immigration of animals and plants from neighbouring lands, when natural bridges were available, the survival of warm species along the coast during the Quaternary glaciations, and the relict populations which remained in the Apennines after the withdrawal of the ice, have all contributed to the richness of wildlife. In order to preserve adequately this biotic variety it is necessary to protect a large number of separate areas as National or Regional Parks or as nature reserves. In addition, the existence of important bird migration routes along or across the Italian peninsula and islands makes it necessary to provide safe areas where these birds can rest and feed. In spite of these needs, the State and the Regional Governments are not sufficiently concerned with wildlife and environmental conservation and so far have done very little to improve the protection of nature in Italy. In this paper 56 main areas are discussed which are in urgent need of protection from commercial speculation and the threat of irreparable damage. The authors hope that national and international public opinion will encourage the Italian Government to establish many more protected territories and to provide the resources for realistic management.     

Nature conservation in Italy: the existing national parks and other protected areas

This paper briefly reviews the present status of the Italian National Parks and other protected areas. Nature conservation is still rather weak in Italy and the likely causes of this are pointed out and discussed. Inadequate boundaries, hostility of park inhabitants, speculation by promoters, insufficient support by the State and by the Regional Governments badly affect all National and Natural Parks. This may depend partly on historical factors and partly on the lack of State interest and public opinion on nature preservation. On the other hand, there are a few signs that this situation is slowly becoming better and the management of the Parks has noticeably improved during the last five years. The activity of associations such as the World Wildlife Fund has been of particular importance in stimulating public opinion and in protecting valuable areas.     

Short-wave solar radiation level willingly tolerated by lactating Holstein cows in an equatorial semi-arid environment

The amount of short-wave solar radiation willingly tolerated by lactating Holstein cows on pasture was determined in an equatorial semi-arid environment. The study was carried out on a dairy farm located in Limoeiro do Norte, CE, northeastern Brazil. The observed behaviours were as follows: grazing, under the sun, under the shade, standing, lying, ruminating, idling and wallowing in the water. The behaviours were recorded using instantaneous scan sampling at regular intervals of 15 min from 0600 to 1800 hours over 5 days. On all sampling days, the meteorological variables, including local short-wave solar radiation (R _S-W, W m^?2), were recorded. The R _S-W data were divided into five levels. The sun exposure was more frequent under low (100 %) and moderately low (97 %) levels, when R _S-W remained below 500 W m^?2. The grazing was more intense under low (100 %) and moderately low (93 %) levels. Above 500 W m^?2, the grazing time significantly decreased (11 %). The cows avoided grazing under high (0 %) and very high (0 %) levels, when R _S-W exceeded 700 W m^?2. The ruminating behaviour was more frequent under high (33 %) and very high (37 %) levels, in which the highest averages of R _S-W were recorded (815 and 958 W m^?2, respectively). The standing posture was more frequent under low (100 %) and moderately low (97 %) levels. Therefore, the critical R _S-W level that motivates cows to stop grazing and seek shade was in the interval between 500 and 700 W m^?2.     

Assessment of the performance of Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) larvae fed with fresh and preserved Pavlova lutheri concentrates

The Prymnesiophycea Pavlova lutheriwas produced using a traditional technique (batch mode in carboys) and by an innovative technique (semi-continuous mode in alveolarphotobioreactor). Two experimental feedingtrials were carried out with Pacific oyster(Crassostrea gigas) larvae with freshand preserved (4 °C and 1 °C)P. lutheri concentrates used inmonospecific and bispecific diets, incombination with fresh Chaetoceroscalcitrans forma pumilum. Nodifferences in terms of gross composition andlarval performance were noticed between thefresh algae biomass produced by the twotechniques. The low temperatures allowedpreservation of the nutritionalcharacteristics of the P. lutheri freshculture for the time period considered (27days). The P. lutheri concentratespreserved at 4 °C or 1 °C didnot differ substantially in terms ofnutritional value. Larvae fed a monospecificdiet of P. lutheri, both fresh andpreserved, exhibited a modest growth rate (<2.1 µm day^–1), in some cases notsignificantly different from that observed inthe unfed larvae (the control), and a lowsurvival rate. In contrast, when Chaetoceros calcitrans forma pumilumwas used as a monospecific diet, good growthperformance (>4.5 µm day^–1) and ahigh survival rate (>86%) were observed inlarvae. A substitution of 50% (trial 1) or80% (trial 2) of fresh C. calcitransforma pumilum with the preserved P. lutheri concentrates did not adverselyaffect growth rate or survival of C.gigas larvae.     

Tracking Anthropogenic Inputs in Barigui River, Brazil Using Biomarkers

The Barigüi River watershed is located in the metropolitan region of Curitiba, Southern Brazil, passing through several neighboring counties. In recent years, due to growth and disorderly occupation along the river, in addition to lack of sanitation, the Barigüi River suffered a very large inflow of untreated domestic wastewater. Current programs to monitor the watershed use traditional physical–chemical parameters. Here, the presence of some molecular tracers found in domestic effluents was investigated, such as caffeine and coprostanol at some selected sites in Barigüi River. Caffeine is highly soluble in water and its presence in water bodies is due to the disposal of untreated sewage. Caffeine is eliminated in the urine (approximately 0.5% to 10% of the consumption). The samples were collected in three campaigns, two in dry weather and another during a week in the rainy season. The results showed that caffeine concentration ranged between zero and 753.5 μg g^?1. Higher values were found on rainy days. Caffeine showed a positive correlation between BOD and nitrate; it also showed a positive correlation with coprostanol, a fecal biomarker. Finally, caffeine has been shown to be a good parameter to determine the contamination by domestic wastewater.     

Chemical composition of the essential oils of Juniperus from ripe and unripe berries and leaves and their antimicrobial activity

The composition of the essential oil from ripe and unripe berries and leaves of Juniperus oxycedrus L. ssp. oxycedrus, Juniperus phoenicea ssp. turbinata and Juniperus communis ssp. communis was analyzed by GC-MS, and microbiological assays were carried out. Samples were collected in different localities (Sardinia, Italy) and hydro distilled. The yields ranged between 2.54% +/- 0.21 (v\w dried weight) and 0.04% +/- 0.00. A total of 36 components were identified. The major compounds in the essential oils were alpha-pinene, beta-pinene, delta-3-carene, sabinene, myrcene, beta-phellandrene, limonene, and D-germacrene. Both qualitative and quantitative differences between species and between different parts of the plant were observed. The essential oils and their major compounds were tested against Candida albicans, Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and the minimum inhibitory concentration and minimum bactericidal concentration were determined. The results obtained led to a nonsignificant inhibitory effect, although all the essential oils from Juniperus phoenicea ssp. turbinata and the essential oil from leaves of Juniperus oxycedrus ssp. oxycedrus exhibited rather good or weak activity against Candida albicans and Staphylococcus aureus.     

Survey onYersinia Enterocolitica and related bacteria in shellfish

Results from examining shellfish collected from ‘safe’ (2–34Escherichia coli/100 mL) and ‘unsafe’ (> 34E. coli/100 mL) waters for the presence ofYersinia enterocolitica and related bacteria are reported. The recovery of these microorganisms was low in bivalve mollusks destined for food consumption, high in those derived from prohibited areas. No human pathogenic bio-serogroup f Yersinia was found during the entire survey.     

Analytic and algorithmic solution of random satisfiability problems

We study the satisfiability of random Boolean expressions built from many clauses with K variables per clause (K-satisfiability). Expressions with a ratio alpha of clauses to variables less than a threshold alphac are almost always satisfiable, whereas those with a ratio above this threshold are almost always unsatisfiable. We show the existence of an intermediate phase below alphac, where the proliferation of metastable states is responsible for the onset of complexity in search algorithms. We introduce a class of optimization algorithms that can deal with these metastable states; one such algorithm has been tested successfully on the largest existing benchmark of K-satisfiability.