<Emphasis Type="Italic">In vitro</Emphasis> screening for sunflower (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Helianthus annuus</Emphasis>L.) resistant calli to <Emphasis Type="Italic">Diaporthe helianthi</Emphasis> fungal culture filtrate

Diaporthe helianthi the causal agent of sunflower (Helianthus annuus) stem canker, causes significant reductions in yield and oil content in most sunflower-growing areas. With the aim of enhancing host resistance, we selected in vitro sunflower calli against culture filtrates of two pathogen isolates (7/96 and 101/96). This technique may be an effective and rapid tool to discriminate the most virulent D. helianthi isolate and to screen for host resistance in the early stage of a breeding programme. Further investigation on the mechanisms involved in defence pathways showed no induction of salicylic acid and pathogenesis-related proteins in calli, indicating that the host resistance is not associated with Systemic Acquired Resistance but probably other biochemical mechanisms.     

Zinc phosphate protects tomato plants against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - The purpose of this study was to determine whether zinc phosphate treatments of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) can attenuate bacterial speck...     

Molecular characterization of Diplodia seriata,a new pathogen of Prunus laurocerasus in Italy

Twig cankers and diebacks were observed on cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus L.) hedges located in a private garden of Perugia (Central Italy). Four fungal isolates, forming gray colonies and aerial mycelium, were obtained from cankers. For each isolate, Koch’s postulates were fulfilled by inoculating cherry laurel plants. Based on cultural characteristics, rep-PCR and phylogenetic analyses on ITS and EF1-α nucleotides sequences, the isolates were identified as Diplodia seriata De Not. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of D. seriata as a new pathogen of P. laurocerasus. The severe symptoms and the wide distribution of the host plant make the pathogen potentially dangerous for this ornamental species.     

The emergence of Schmallenberg virus across Culicoides communities and ecosystems in Europe

Schmallenberg virus (SBV), a novel arboviral pathogen, has emerged and spread across Europe since 2011 inflicting congenital deformities in the offspring of infected adult ruminants. Several species of Culicoides biting midges (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) have been implicated in the transmission of SBV through studies conducted in northern Europe. In this study Culicoides from SBV outbreak areas of mainland France and Italy (Sardinia) were screened for viral RNA. The role of both C. obsoletus and the Obsoletus complex (C. obsoletus and C. scoticus) in transmission of SBV were confirmed in France and SBV was also discovered in a pool of C. nubeculosus for the first time, implicating this species as a potential vector. While collections in Sardinia were dominated by C. imicola, only relatively small quantities of SBV RNA were detected in pools of this species and conclusive evidence of its potential role in transmission is required.     

Flavonoid and carbohydrate contents in Tropea red onions: effects of homelike peeling and storage

The content of anthocyanins, flavonols, and carbohydrates of Tropea red onions (Allium cepa L.) was determined by HPLC and HPLC-MS. Cyanidin derivatives constitute >50% of total anthocyanins, but delphinidin and petunidin derivatives, which have not been reported in red onions thus far, were also detected. The flavonoid distribution in the different layers of the bulbs indicates that, after homelike peeling, the edible portion contains 79% of the total content of quercetin 4'-glucoside but only 27% of the anthocyanins. Storage of onions for 6 weeks in different conditions, all of them mimicking home storage habits, resulted in a decrease to 64-73% of total anthocyanins. The same trend was verified for the total antioxidant activity, which was reduced to 29-36%. A decrease in glucose and fructose content correlated with anthocyanin degradation was also observed. Storage at low temperature seems to better preserve the onion anthocyanins.     

Reduction of the environmental impact of pesticides: waxy microspheres encapsulating the insecticide carbaryl

A controlled-release system with reduced environmental impact was produced by encapsulating the pesticide carbaryl in the waxy lipophilic material Gelucire 54/02. The microspheres were prepared by a modified hydrophobic congealable disperse-phase method. The influence of experimental parameters, such as the reciprocal ratio between the amounts of pesticide and wax employed, on size, morphology, loading efficiency, and release behavior of the particles was evaluated. Microspheres were free-flowing and showed a nonporous scaly surface at SEM analysis. The mean particle size ranged from 15.8 to 19.8 microm and was independent of the amount of Gelucire used to prepare the microspheres. At a fixed Gelucire content, the increase in theoretical carbaryl content yielded up to 72% loading efficiency, whereas at a fixed carbaryl content the increase in Gelucire amount produced a 64% increase in encapsulation efficiency. These data were accounted for by the carbaryl leakage from molten Gelucire toward the dispersing aqueous phase. The release profiles of carbaryl from microspheres showed that the use of increasing amounts of waxy material decreased the carbaryl release rate, whereas at a fixed Gelucire content, the release was the slowest when carbaryl was not completely dissolved within the matrix. The possibility to achieve different burst effects by simply varying the formulation parameters offers an efficient tool to ensure the fast release of an active dose of insecticide. The lower vertical mobility of carbaryl encapsulated in waxy microspheres compared to the vertical mobility of the technical-grade product showed that the controlled-release system has a lower potential risk for groundwater contamination.     

Nutritional value of cherry tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Cv. Naomi F1) harvested at different ripening stages

The average content of some classes of antioxidants is generally higher in cherry tomatoes than in normal-sized berries. The aim of this work was to assess the nutritional value of cherry tomato (cv. Naomi F1) by investigating the compositional pattern of berries harvested at different ripening stages and evaluating, in particular, all of the main antioxidants (carotenoids, ascorbic acid, phenolic compounds, and alpha-tocopherol) and the antioxidant activity of the water-soluble and water-insoluble fractions. Results confirmed the relatively high level of carotenoids in cherry tomato but showed that not all biologically active compounds necessarily increase in tomatoes picked at later stages of ripeness. Cherry tomatoes harvested at full ripeness exhibited the highest level of carotenoids and antioxidant activity in the water-insoluble fraction. On the other hand, no significant differences in ascorbic acid content were observed at different ripening stages, whereas the main phenolics content and the antioxidant activity of water-soluble fraction showed slight, but significant, decreases at later stages of ripeness.     

Comparative Morphology,Development, and Function of Blood Cells in Nonmammalian Vertebrates

Much of our knowledge regarding vertebrate blood and blood cells is based on mammalian references. The critical study of nonmammalian vertebrate blood is relatively new, and comparatively few investigations have been published that focus on these animals' ontogeny and structure-function relationships of blood cells. Nonmammalian vertebrates comprise birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fishes, all of which have a wide range of forms and adaptations. For the clinician, a lack of basic knowledge with these species makes the evaluation of a hemogram more challenging than in mammals. This is a concise review of our current knowledge of comparative morphology that describes routine staining procedures and the development and function of blood cells in nonmammalian vertebrates.