报春苣苔属新品种特异性、一致性和稳定性测试指南研制

苦苣苔科报春苣苔属具有极其丰富的生物多样性,大多数都具有极高的观赏价值,而其多样化的花朵、叶片和植株形态使其具有开发为极具我国特色的新花卉的潜力。近年来,国产苦苣苔科植物,尤其是报春苣苔属越来越受到人们的重视,在世界苦苣苔科植物新品种登录权威——世界苦苣苔协会（The Gesneriad Society, GS）进行登录的报春苣苔属新品种日渐增多,而该属也有望得以被我国农业农村部新品种保护办公室列入植物品种保护名录。但是目前报春苣苔属植物在国内外均无相关的DUS测试指南与标准,这方面的工作亟待开展。因此,本研究根据植物新品种特异性、一致性和稳定性（简称DUS）测试的原理和技术规则,参考UPOV关于同科不同属的、源自不同国家的测试指南,结合资源现状,研制适用于我国报春苣苔属植物新品种测试的指南,对其适用对象、性状的选择与确定、性状分级、标准品种的选用和DUS判定标准进行详细研讨,为报春苣苔属植物新品种的授权提供测试技术的支撑,为极具我国特色的该类植物测试技术规程的建设与完善提供参考,为将这一类群的新品种培育、园艺化、产业化和新品种保护提供行业标准。     

Are plants in the field already induced? Implications for practical disease control

Plants can be induced to develop enhanced resistance to pathogens by treatment with a variety of biotic and abiotic inducers. The resistance induced is broad spectrum and can be long-lasting, but rarely provides complete disease control, with most inducing agents reducing infection between 20 and 85%. One possible reason for this is that plants in the field are already induced through their continual interactions with the biotic and abiotic environment. This article looks briefly at the evidence for biotic and abiotic induction of resistance and then considers whether plants that are already induced are in any way compromised in their ability to respond to agents that induce resistance. Knowledge of the extent to which plants are already induced in the field and the extent to which resistance can be further induced by application of resistance-inducing agents is likely to be important for effective use of induced resistance in practical crop protection.     

Crop protection services in Southern Africa

Despite the considerable progress made in different farming systems in Southern Africa, effective crop protection services remain a major constraint in their agricultural production systems. Factors responsible for these limitations include the following: the low government priorities still accorded crop protection services; the scarcity or complete lack of trained experienced professional and technical crop protection personnel; the fact that techniques for pest and disease control either are not available to small-scale farmers, or, where available, are not appropriate to the local situation; the inadequacy or lack of cooperation and communication between scientists, extension workers and farmers. A rigorous research, extension and training programme with an efficient infrastructure is advocated. In order to set priorities for appropriate integrated pest management (IPM), a standardized survey of pests of important food crops as well as losses suffered by small-scale farmers in each country of the region is imperative. The crop protection services can also be strengthened through the establishment of a Southern African Development Coordination Conference (SADCC) Crop Protection Collaborative Network to coordinate crop protection activities, as described below.     

Applied Biotechnology to Combat Late Blight in Potato Caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phytophthora Infestans</Emphasis>

Potato is an important crop, grown worldwide. It suffers from many pests and diseases among which late blight, caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans, is the worst. The disease is still causing major damage in many potato production areas and control is only possible by applying fungicides frequently. The knowledge on the molecular biology and genetics of the interaction between the plant and the oomycete is developing rapidly. These are relevant fields of study, currently dominated by the discovery of many resistance genes and numerous effector proteins and the analysis of their specific mode of action. These studies may yield essential information needed for the development of durable resistance. The long-term and worldwide effort to breed for resistance so far has had little effect. A novel breeding approach may change this. It is based on cisgenic modification (CM) consisting of marker-free pyramiding of several resistance genes and their spatial and temporal deployment yielding dynamic varieties that contain potato genes only. It is envisioned that this CM approach with potato’s own genes will not only prove societally acceptable but may also result in simplifications in the legislation on use of the CM approach. Various parties in the potato research arena intend to cooperate in this novel approach in a number of developing countries where potato substantially contributes to food security. The use of resources such as land, water and energy improves when the effect of late blight is markedly reduced.     

Can wild species become problem weeds because of herbicide resistance? Brachypodium distachyon: a case study

A purported drawback to the use of transgenic herbicide-resistant crops is the fear that the crop or interbreeding wild relatives will become weedy. It has been posited that a change even in a single trait can confer weediness. This hypothesis was tested with Brachypodium distachyon. This innocuous species came into contact with herbicides through the use of crushed rock from its habitat for road foundations. It evolved s-triazine resistance and developed as a monoculture. When true weeds later evolved simazine resistance, B. distachyon was partially competed from the ecosystem and then disappeared upon the use of non-triazine herbicides. Thus, this wild species remained a weed only until true weeds evolved resistance or until other herbicides were used. One gene mutation did not convert it into a weed, which implies that this will be equally improbable in other cases, when the gene codes for an otherwise neutral trait such as herbicide resistance.     

Potassium phosphite combined with reduced doses of fungicides provides efficient protection against potato late blight in large-scale field trials

Potato late blight caused by the oomycete Phytophthora infestans is a devastating disease of potato worldwide. Most of the potato cultivars grown in conventional agriculture are susceptible, or at best moderately resistant, and require frequent applications of fungicides to avoid heavy yield losses.In field trials spanning four years, we have investigated the effect of potassium phosphite, an inorganic salt on potato late blight. Potassium phosphite is known to induce defence responses in potato and to also have direct toxic effects on oomycetes, which in turn counteract late blight and tuber blight development. However, the use of this salt is not yet implemented and approved in European potato cultivation. We compared the effect of phosphite alone with fungicides currently used in Swedish potato cultivation. We also investigated the combined use of potassium phosphite and reduced doses of fungicides. Table potato cultivars and starch potato cultivars with different levels of resistance were used.We found that potassium phosphite in combination with reduced doses of fungicides results in the same level of protection as treatments with the recommended full dose of fungicides. These combined treatments reduce the need of traditional fungicides and may also decrease the selection pressure for fungicide resistance development in the pathogen. In relatively resistant starch potato cultivars using phosphite alone gave sufficient protection against late blight. Furthermore, in starch potato a combination of phosphite and fungicides at two-week intervals provided similar protection to weekly applications of fungicide at the recommended dose. Foliar treatment with phosphite also gave protection against tuber blight at similar levels to that of the best-performing fungicide. Our data suggests that potassium phosphite could be used in potato cultivation in temperate regions such as in Sweden, at least in combinations with reduced rates of fungicides. The implementation of the use of phosphite in practical potato crop protection as part of an IPM strategy is discussed. Doses, intervals and combinations could be adjusted to the level of cultivar resistance.     

扫虫光对棉铃虫的防效评价

探讨使用环境友好复合型防治害虫中试药剂扫虫光防治瓜菜害虫的发生与危害及其对作物生长发育的安全性,比较分析扫虫光对棉铃虫的防治效果及其处理对辣椒的安全性,试验结果表明：扫虫光1 000倍液、1 500倍稀释液不仅对棉铃虫具有良好的防治效果,而且对植株生长安全;扫虫光500倍液虽然对棉铃虫具有良好防治效果,但植株生长畸形。因此,综合考虑经济、高效和简便等因素,扫虫光1 000-1 500倍稀释液可广泛用于防治瓜菜棉铃虫的发生与危害。     

Marker-assisted selection in faba bean (Vicia faba L.)

Among the multiple applications of DNA markers in breeding, the most promising for cultivar development is marker-assisted selection (MAS). Genetic improvement by MAS has been carried out with success in several legume crops such as soybean, common bean and pea, however, in other species such as faba bean it is still in its early stages. This article provides an overview of the genomic resources and molecular markers currently available in faba bean, with an emphasis on development and application of MAS for genetic improvement of the crop. In general, genetically simple traits have received more attention than genetically complex characters encoded by multiple genes. Research has mainly focussed on developing molecular markers for selecting resistance to a parasitic weed and other major diseases. As a result, molecular breeding for resistance to crenate broomrape, ascochyta blight, rust and chocolate spot is underway, and promising results have been obtained. Recently, markers linked to a gene controlling growth habit or to select against traits affecting the nutritional value of seeds (tannins, vicine and convicine content) have also been reported, which may facilitate a more efficient selection of new cultivars free of anti-nutritional compounds. In the near future, molecular markers should be developed for many other highly sought-after traits that are difficult to breed conventionally such as frost or drought tolerance. Comparative genomics and synteny analyses with closely related legumes, together with extensive mapping of resistance gene analogs (RGAs), will reveal new candidate genes and selectable markers for use in MAS. Finally genomic tools such as macro- and microarrays may eventually become available for use in faba crop improvement.     

Modeling the dependence of the crop calendar for rain-fed rice on precipitation in Northeast Thailand

Rain-fed lowlands are major agricultural ecosystems used for rice production in Northeast Thailand. Developing a tool to assess the effects of variable water conditions on the regional scale yield is also important to predict the effects of climate change on food supply. To estimate regional yields, we need a simple but accurate measure of the crop calendar (i.e., the distribution of planting dates), which has a strong influence on grain yield. In this article, we modeled the dependence of the crop calendar on rainfall patterns based on a survey of the region’s farmers as a part of an effort to provide a stronger basis for regional yield estimates. Our survey, conducted in 11 provinces for 2 years, confirmed the existence of large windows for sowing and transplanting versus narrow windows for heading and harvesting for rain-fed lowland rice culture in all the provinces. Variable water, soil, and toposequential conditions in the paddy fields were responsible for the large sowing and transplanting windows, whereas the use of photoperiod-sensitive varieties explained the narrow windows for heading and harvesting. The crop calendar was well expressed as a function of cumulative precipitation from June onward. When the crop calendar model was combined with a simple phenology-based model that uses growing degree-days adjusted by a day-length factor, we could estimate the rice crop calendar under rain-fed lowland conditions with acceptable accuracy. The model described in this article will be combined with a crop growth model to improve regional yield estimates for rain-fed lowland rice.     

Direct application of reduced rates of aldicarb to potato seedpieces

Aldicarb was applied directly to potato seedpieces at 0.3, 0.6, 1.1, 2.2 and 3.4 kg AI/ha at planting and at 2.24 kg Al/ha over the plants at crop emergence. All seedpiece treatments resulted in superior early season protection from Colorado potato beetle,Leptinotarsa decemlineata (Say). Lower seedpiece rates lost effectiveness by early July, while higher rates protected foliage into early August. In a second study, plots treated with 1.1 kg AI/ha to the seedpiece produced crop yields as high as those treated with additional aldicarb at crop emergence. It is suggested that low rates of aldicarb applied directly to the seedpiece at planting could offer effective early season insect control while reducing the risk of groundwater contamination.     

Peach orchard protection strategies and aphid communities: Towards an integrated agroecosystem approach

Aphid populations, including a widespread pest, Myzus persicae, are known to be affected by cultural practices, plant growth and natural regulation, but their control in orchards most frequently relies on regular treatments aiming to avoid direct damage and virus transmission. This study aimed first at characterising farmers’ management strategies towards aphids and, secondly evaluating them in terms of efficiency and impact on aphid natural enemies. Protection methods were first identified through semi-open interviews and peach orchard pesticide records from 19 organic and conventional fruit farms in south-eastern France. It appeared that in addition to the regular use of direct control, farmers also used cultural and/or alternative methods and various decision-making indicators to optimise their orchard crop protection. Comprehensive variables based on the technical guidelines of the IOBC (International Organisation for Biological and Integrated Control) for crop protection made it possible to differentiate four strategies: intensive, optimised, input-substitution and integrated. Visual monitoring of aphid infestations and of beneficial populations was performed at the plot level. Brachycaudus schwartzi and Myzus varians were the most frequently encountered aphid species but the structures of the communities were affected by protection strategies: the more integrated the strategy, the more diverse and abundant the aphids. The two most effective strategies were dominated by chemical treatments, whereas the other two, less detrimental to aphid antagonists, were mostly carried out by organic farmers. Variations in aphid communities were related to: (i) the use of toxic products, correlated with low-infestations and low-abundance and diversity of antagonists; (ii) alternative and cultural methods (such as mowed ground cover and manual pruning of infested branches, respectively) that promoted high populations of both guilds. Unexpectedly, the structures of these communities were not related to the number of treatments, management of tree vigour or of the surrounding environment. The four strategies identified can be further interpreted as steps towards a redesign of orchard protection where integrated organic farming would be the most advanced stage. However, the paradox between effective protection strategy and biodiversity conservation still remains, casting doubts on the agroecological concept of sustainability.     

Evapotranspiration,irrigation water requirement,and water productivity of rice (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Oryza sativa</Emphasis> L.) in the Sahelian environment

Rice is the main crop produced in the Senegal River Valley under the semiarid Sahelian climate where water resource management is critical for the resource use sustainability. However, very limited data exit on rice water use and irrigation water requirement in this water scarcity environment under climate change conditions. Understanding crop water requirements is essential for better irrigation practices, scheduling and efficient use of water. The objectives of this study were to estimate crop water use and irrigation water requirement of rice in the Senegal River Valley at Fanaye. Field experiments were conducted during the 2013 hot and dry season and wet season, and 2014 hot and dry season and wet seasons. Three nitrogen fertilizer treatments were applied to rice variety Sahel 108: 60, 120, and 180 kg N ha^?1. Rice water use was estimated by the two-step approach. Results indicated that crop actual evapotranspiration (ETa) varied from 632 to 929 mm with the highest ETa obtained during the hot and dry seasons. Irrigation water requirement varied from 863 to 1198 mm per season. Rice grain yield was function of the growing season and varied from 4.1 to 10.7 tons ha^?1 and increased with nitrogen fertilizer rate. Rice water use efficiency relative to ETa and irrigation requirements increased with nitrogen fertilizer rate while rice nitrogen use efficiency decreased with the nitrogen fertilizer rates. The results of this study can be used as a guideline for rice water use and irrigation water requirement for the irrigation design projects, consultants, universities, producers, and other operators within rice value chain in the Senegal River Valley.     

Breeding and physiological aspects of potato cultivation in the Mediterranean region

Summary In the Mediterranean area the potato is a very important crop and can be cultivated throughout the year. However, tuber yields are generally much lower than those in Northern European countries. This is because the environmental and agro-economic conditions are different from those of Northern countries where most cultivars were developed. We feel that the objective for the “new Mediterranean potato” must be the availability of potato cultivars for each environment and for each planting season. Breeding programmes should focus on improving potato production within a specific agro-ecological Mediterranean area rather than improving crop production across areas. This paper reports aspects of potato breeding and physiology related to resistance to stress conditions in the Mediterranean area, with particular emphasis given to resistance to abiotic (heat, drought and frost) as well as biotic stresses. We also discuss the potential to produce seed tubers suitable for potato cultivation in the Mediterranean area.     

Variation in pesticide hazard from arable crop production in Great Britain from 1992 to 2008: An extended time-series analysis

Efforts to assess reductions in the hazard posed by pesticides in arable systems present complex problems to policy makers both nationally and at a European level. Attempts to monitor changes in hazard rely to a large extent on the quality of the surveillance and the indices used to collate multi-faceted data. This study is an update on previous work using the Environmental Impact Quotient (EIQ) to evaluate changes in pesticide hazard following the introduction of the European Directive 91/414/EEC. Findings from the study suggest that pesticide hazard has decreased during the study period 1992–2008 although reduction was not even across all crop types or time periods, with limited change in the past six years. This study is proposed as baseline for further monitoring of the effectiveness of the new European regulations 1107/2009 ‘the placing of plant protection products on the market’ to further reduce the impact of pesticides on non-target organisms.     

Important Threats in Potato Production and Integrated Pathogen/Pest Management

Since the 1970s climate in Europe warmed rapidly. Over the next years climate is expected to become gradually milder and more humid in northern Europe and hotter and drier in southern Europe. These changes are forecasted to be responsible for major changes in the distribution of plant and animal species, pathogen/pest prevalence and their biodiversity. On the other hand, some changes in variability and epidemiology of pathogens are affected by biological factors. In the first part of this paper an overview is given of pathogens and pests that are potentially affected by climate change and are or will become a significant threat in potato production. The second part of the paper deals with integrated crop protection of potato against various pathogens and pests, considered the best solution for these disease and pest problems. Management of persistent and recurrent diseases and pests of potato requires the integration of many control measures to achieve an efficient crop protection. The protection of potato has to start very early before planting.     

Measuring and predicting canopy nitrogen nutrition in wheat using a spectral index—The canopy chlorophyll content index (CCCI)

Varying the spatial distribution of applied nitrogen (N) fertilizer to match demand in crops has been shown to increase profits in Australia. Better matching the timing of N inputs to plant requirements has been shown to improve nitrogen use efficiency and crop yields and could reduce nitrous oxide emissions from broad acre grains. Farmers in the wheat production area of south eastern Australia are increasingly splitting N application with the second timing applied at stem elongation (Zadoks 30). Spectral indices have shown the ability to detect crop canopy N status but a robust method using a consistent calibration that functions across seasons has been lacking. One spectral index, the canopy chlorophyll content index (CCCI) designed to detect canopy N using three wavebands along the “red edge” of the spectrum was combined with the canopy nitrogen index (CNI), which was developed to normalize for crop biomass and correct for the N dilution effect of crop canopies. The CCCI–CNI index approach was applied to a 3-year study to develop a single calibration derived from a wheat crop sown in research plots near Horsham, Victoria, Australia. The index was able to predict canopy N (g m⁻²) from Zadoks 14–37 with an r² of 0.97 and RMSE of 0.65 g N m⁻² when dry weight biomass by area was also considered. We suggest that measures of N estimated from remote methods use N per unit area as the metric and that reference directly to canopy %N is not an appropriate method for estimating plant concentration without first accounting for the N dilution effect. This approach provides a link to crop development rather than creating a purely numerical relationship. The sole biophysical input, biomass, is challenging to quantify robustly via spectral methods. Combining remote sensing with crop modelling could provide a robust method for estimating biomass and therefore a method to estimate canopy N remotely. Future research will explore this and the use of active and passive sensor technologies for use in precision farming for targeted N management.     

我国粮食的地理标志知识产权保护

我国粮食资源中,有61种国家地理标志产品、95件国家地理标志商标、119种国家农产品地理标志.介绍了我国粮食资源的地理标志产品保护、地理标志商标注册、农产品地理标志登记的现状,探讨地理标志知识产权保护发展对策,并提出几点有关建议.     

Application of Microbial Fertilizers in Sustainable Agriculture

Summary

This paper summarizes the conception and development of microbial fertilizers and inoculants in China that are used to improve soil quality and the growth, yield and protection of crops. The results presented show the relative effects of these microbial products applied singly or with chemical fertilizers on soil fertility, crop yield and protection. The paper discusses current trends in the development and use of microbial fertilizers in China and suggests areas of high priority research.     

A critique of “Preventive control and desert locust plagues”

Magor, J.I., Lecoq, M., Hunter, D.M. [2008. Preventive control and desert locust plagues. Crop Protection 27, 1527–1533, doi:10.1016/j.cropro.2008.08.006], claim that their version of a desert locust preventive control programme has caused plagues to be rarer, shorter and geographically more limited, but without producing any evidence of control campaign success. There are many reasons why success is unlikely, some of which they admit. Their “model” does not support the case; it has sundry flaws and is not consistent with actual events.