Dormancy release and chilling requirement of buds of latitudinal ecotypes of Betula pendula and B. pubescens

Bud burst and dormancy release of latitudinal ecotypes of Betula pendula Roth and B. pubescens Ehrh. from Denmark ( approximately 56 degrees N), mid-Norway ( approximately 64 degrees N) and northern Norway ( approximately 69 degrees N) were studied in controlled environments. Dormant seedlings were chilled at 0, 5 or 10 degrees C from October 4 onward and then, at monthly intervals from mid-November to February, batches of seedlings were held at 15 degrees C in an 8-h (SD) or 24-h (LD) photoperiod to permit flushing. A decline in days to bud burst occurred with increasing chilling time in all ecotypes. In November, after 44 chilling days, time to bud burst was least in plants chilled at 0 and 5 degrees C. The difference diminished with increasing chilling time, and in February, after 136 chilling days, bud burst was earliest in plants chilled at 10 degrees C. Long photoperiods during flushing significantly reduced thermal time after short chilling periods (44 and 74 days), but had no effect when the chilling requirement was fully met after 105 or more chilling days. No significant difference in these responses was found between the two species. In both species, chilling requirement decreased significantly with increasing latitude of origin. Bud burst was normal in seedlings overwintered at 12 degrees C, but was erratic and delayed in seedlings overwintered at 15 and especially at 21 degrees C, indicating that the critical overwintering temperature is between 12 and 15 degrees C. We conclude that there is little risk of a chilling deficit in birch under Scandinavian winter conditions even with a climatic warming of 7-8 degrees C. The likely effects of a climatic warming include earlier bud burst, a longer growing season and increased risk of spring frost injury, especially in high latitude ecotypes.     

Seasonal timing of floral initiation in strawberry: Effects of cultivar and geographic location

It was previously shown that nitrogen fertilization immediately after commencement of SD exposure enhanced the floral induction effect of SD in June-bearing strawberries (Sønsteby et al., 2009). In order to optimize the timing of such fertilization under field conditions, seasonal timing of floral initiation in the strawberry cultivars ‘Frida’, ‘Polka’, ‘Korona’ and Florence’ was studied in the field at five contrasting latitudinal and altitudinal geographic locations in Norway and, for comparison, under controlled environment conditions with 12 h photoperiod and temperatures ranging from 9 to 18 °C. Serial collections and dissections of crowns from the various locations revealed that floral initiation was successively delayed with increasing latitude and altitude of the location, and with decreasing temperature under controlled environment conditions. Both in the field and in the phytotron, floral initiation was earliest in ‘Frida’ closely followed by ‘Polka’ and in due course by ‘Korona’ and finally ‘Florence’ which was particularly slow to respond. Floral initiation in the phytotron was progressively advanced with increasing temperature and was optimal at 15–18 °C. Flowering time in the field was mainly determined by thermal relations in the spring and early summer, and accordingly, it was strongly delayed with increasing latitude and altitude of the location. In addition, late floral initiation in autumn also delayed flowering in the spring. Based on these observations, optimal timing of autumn fertilization for the various locations and cultivars are suggested.     

Development of an attenuated apathogenic reovirus vaccine against viral arthritis/tenosynovitis

A fully attenuated apathogenic reovirus vaccine was developed by 235 serial passages of S1133 strain avian reovirus in embryonating chicken eggs and 100 additional passages in chicken embryo fibroblast (CEF) cultures, 65 of which were cultured at 32 C. Chickens with and without maternal antibodies to avian reovirus were vaccinated subcutaneously at 1 day of age and challenged via footpad at 14 days of age. It appeared that the 40th, 66th, and 100th CEF passage levels were apathogenic at doses ranging from 10(2.5) to 10(6.8) TCID50/chick. No gross or microscopic lesions of tenosynovitis developed in vaccinated chicks. Vaccinated chicks were protected against challenge; unvaccinated control chickens were not.     

Temperature responses,flowering and fruit yield of the June-bearing strawberry cultivars Florence,Frida and Korona

The effect of night temperature on short day (SD) floral induction has been studied in three June-bearing strawberry cultivars of different geographic origin and compared with yield performance in the cool Nordic environment. At the optimum day temperature of 18 °C, the SD flowering response of the cultivars ‘Florence’ and ‘Korona’ increased significantly with increasing night temperature from 9 to 18 °C, while an optimum was reached at 15 °C in the cultivar ‘Frida’ that is selected under cool-environment conditions in Norway. Also, while saturated flowering response was obtained with 3 weeks of SD treatment at all temperatures in ‘Frida’, several plants of ‘Florence’ and ‘Korona’ failed to initiate flowers at 9 °C night temperature even with 5 weeks of SD. The effect of extended SD period was particularly pronounced in ‘Florence’. The slow SD floral induction response of ‘Florence’ was associated with a 2 week delay of anthesis in subsequent long day (LD) conditions at 21 °C. Yield performance of the same cultivars during 2 years under field conditions at Nes Hedmark and in North Norway also demonstrated that the yield potential of ‘Florence’ was not realized under the climatic conditions prevailing at these locations. In both years the yields varied significantly among the cultivars, ‘Frida’ having the highest yields followed by ‘Korona’, with ‘Florence’ far below. It is concluded that, in the Nordic environment, autumn (September) night temperatures are obviously sub-optimal for yield performance of some June-bearing strawberry cultivars, and that this effect is mediated by autumn temperature effects on flower initiation responses.     

The Chemistry of Intercepted Clouds in Northern Arizona during the North American Monsoon Season

Cloudwater samples have been collected for the first time at a high-elevation site in the US interior Southwest. Cloud samples were collected at the summit of Mt. Elden near Flagstaff, Arizona. The samples were analyzed for pH, ionic composition, trace metals, organic carbon content, and volatile organic compounds. All of the samples showed high pH values (5.12–6.66), which appear to be the result of soil/crustal acid-neutralizing components. Ammonium and nitrate were the dominant ionic species. Organic carbon concentrations ranged from 3 to 18 mg/l. Volatile aromatic compounds (toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes) were detected, although they did not contribute significantly to the dissolved organic matter (<1% of dissolved organic carbon). Still, their aqueous-phase concentrations were substantially higher than equilibrium partitioning from the gas phase would suggest. Metal concentrations were high when compared to other cloud studies in remote areas. Overall, with the exception of pH, the cloud chemistry showed marked inter-event variability. The source of the variability was investigated using NOAA HYSPLIT dispersion calculations. Like the cloud composition, the air mass back trajectories differed widely from event to event, and consistently, air masses that passed over highly urbanized areas had higher trace metal, organic, and ion concentrations than more pristine air masses.