Soil salinity and sodicity effects of wastewater irrigation in South East Australia

Although ‘sewage farming’ or wastewater irrigation started in Australia in the latter parts of the 19th century, it was in the late 1960s that a considerable interest was revived in arid and semi-arid parts of the world due to scarcity of alternative water sources and the urgency to increase local food production. The practice has manifold benefits in the form of water conservation, nutrient recycling, surface and ground water pollution prevention. But for arid and semi-arid regions like many parts of Australia, while wastewater irrigation can be an attractive solution to irrigation water problems, it might not be the ideal solution for the common soil types encountered in these regions. Due to characteristic low rainfall, high evaporation and low leaching, these soils tend to have higher salt accumulations. This paper examines the soil salinity and sodicity effects of wastewater irrigation in soil types typical to South Eastern Australia and takes the soils of Western Treatment Plant (WTP) as a case study to highlight these issues.     

The effect of salt stress on Arabidopsis thaliana and Phelipanche ramosa interaction

Salinity and Orobanche or Phelipanche spp. infection are important crop stress factors in agricultural areas. In this study, we investigated the effect of salt stress on Phelipanche ramosa seed germination and its attachment onto Arabidopsis thaliana roots. We also evaluated the effect of both stresses on the expression of genes regulated by abiotic and biotic stresses. According to our results, high concentration of NaCl delayed P. ramosa seed germination in the presence of a strigolactone analogue (GR24). A similar pattern was observed in the presence of A. thaliana plants. Furthermore, we found that salt‐treated A. thaliana seedlings were more sensitive to P. ramosa attachment compared with the untreated plants, indicating that there was a positive correlation between salt sensitivity and the ability of P. ramosa to infect A. thaliana plants. At the molecular level, a synergystic effect of both salt and P. ramosa stresses was observed on the cold‐regulated (COR) gene expression profile of treated A. thaliana seedlings. Our data clarify the interaction between parasitic plants and their hosts under abiotic stress conditions.     

Long-established and emerging pesticide poisoning in horses

Poisoning is a frequent problem in domestic animals. Horses are the third most commonly affected species and pesticides are one of the main causes of toxicosis. Here within are reviewed the most frequent toxicoses where it emerges that the main causes are misuse and accidental exposure. Rodenticides, acetylcholinesterase insecticides followed by herbicides are the main cause of toxicosis and effects of emerging chemicals are being reported. Metaldehyde is still a problem, together with methiocarb. No information has been reported on poisoning with pesticide mixtures.     

Pathology methods for the evaluation of embryonic and perinatal developmental defects and lethality in genetically engineered mice

The normal embryonic development of organs and other tissues in mice and all species is preprogrammed by genes. Inactivation of a gene involved in any stage of normal embryonic development can have severe consequences leading to embryonic or postnatal developmental defects and lethality. Pathology methods are reviewed for evaluating normal and abnormal placenta and embryo, especially after E12.5. These methods include pathology protocols for necropsy and histopathology in addition to references that will provide additional knowledge for embryo assessment including histology atlases and advanced embryo imaging techniques.