Effects of Land‐Related Policies on Land Development during a Real Estate Boom and a Recession

Our research evaluates and compares the effects of three land‐related policies on land development in a sprawling metropolitan area during a real estate boom and a recession. Our findings suggest that during a real estate boom 1) the urban growth boundary (UGB) serves its purpose of attracting urban development inside the given boundary during a boom while its effectiveness diminishes with increased development pressure from lower‐valued land outside of the UGB during a recession period, 2) the agricultural zone works well for restraining new development during a boom period while agriculture zoned parcels are more likely developed during a recession period, and 3) an increase in the land‐value tax bill increases the incentive for development during a recession period while higher tax bills do not affect development during a boom period. In anticipation of a re‐emergence of urban sprawl with the recovery of the real estate market, our findings imply that land planners and others concerned with sprawling development should pay more attention to development in sprawl‐prone areas during recession periods.     

Camera steered mechanical weed control in sugar beet,maize and soybean

In sugar beet, maize and soybean, weeds are usually controlled by herbicides uniformly applied across the whole field. Due to restrictions in herbicide use and negative side effects, mechanical weeding plays a major role in integrated weed management (IWM). In 2015 and 2016, eight field experiments were conducted to test the efficacy of an OEM Claas 3-D stereo camera^® in combination with an Einböck Row-Guard^® hoe for controlling weeds. Ducks-foot blades in the inter-row were combined with four different mechanical intra-row weeding elements in sugar beet, maize and soybean and a band sprayer in sugar beet. Average weed densities in the untreated control plots were from 12 to 153 plants m^?2 with Chenopodium album, Polygonum convolvulus, Thlapsi arvense being the most abundant weed species. Camera steered hoeing resulted in 78% weed control efficacy compared to 65% using machine hoeing with manual guidance. Mechanical intra-row elements controlled up to 79% of the weeds in the crop rows. Those elements did not cause significant crop damage except for the treatment with a rotary harrow in maize in 2016. Weed control efficacy was highest in the herbicide treatments with almost 100% followed by herbicide band-applications combined with inter-row hoeing. Mechanical weed control treatments increased white sugar yield by 39%, maize biomass yield by 43% and soybean grain yield by 58% compared to the untreated control in both years. However, yield increase was again higher with chemical weed control. In conclusion, camera guided weed hoeing has improved efficacy and selectivity of mechanical weed control in sugar beet, maize and soybean.     

Physicochemical and Biological Characterization of Fucoidan from Fucus vesiculosus Purified by Dye Affinity Chromatography

A comparative study concerning the physicochemical, monomeric composition and biological characters among different fucoidan fractions is presented. Common purification techniques for fucoidan usually involve many steps. During these steps, the important structural features might be affected and consequently alter its biological activities. Three purified fractions were derived from Fucus vesiculosus water extract which, afterwards, were purified by a recently-developed dye affinity chromatography protocol. This protocol is based on dye-sulfated polysaccharide interactions. The first two fractions were obtained from crude precipitated fucoidan at different pH values of the adsorption phase: pH 1 and 6. This procedure resulted in fucoidan_1 and 6 fractions. The other, third, fraction: fucoidan_M, however, was obtained from a buffered crude extract at pH 1, eliminating the ethanol precipitation step. All of the three fractions were then further evaluated. Results revealed that fucoidan_M showed the highest sulfur content (S%), 12.11%, with the lowest average molecular weight, 48 kDa. Fucose, galactose, and uronic acid/glucose dimers were detected in all fractions, although, xylose was only detected in fucoidan_1 and 6. In a concentration of 10 µg·mL⁻¹, Fucoidan_6 showed the highest heparin-like anticoagulant activity and could prolong the APTT and TT significantly to 66.03 ± 2.93 and 75.36 ± 1.37 s, respectively. In addition, fucoidan_M demonstrated the highest potency against HSV-1 with an IC₅₀ of 2.41 µg·mL⁻¹. The technique proved to be a candidate for fucoidan purifaction from its crude extract removing the precipitation step from common purification protocols and produced different fucoidan qualities resulted from the different incubation conditions with the immobilized thiazine toluidine blue O dye.     

Pesticide exposure assessment for surface waters in the EU. Part 1: Some comments on the current procedure

In 2001, the European Commission introduced a risk assessment project known as FOCUS (FOrum for the Coordination of pesticide fate models and their USe) for the surface water risk assessment of active substances in the European Union. Even for the national authorisation of plant protection products (PPPs), the vast majority of EU member states still refer to the four runoff and six drainage scenarios selected by the FOCUS Surface Water Workgroup. However, our study, as well as the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), has stated the need for various improvements. Current developments in pesticide exposure assessment mainly relate to two processes. Firstly, predicted environmental concentrations (PECs) of pesticides are calculated by introducing model input variables such as weather conditions, soil properties and substance fate parameters that have a probabilistic nature. Secondly, spatially distributed PECs for soil–climate scenarios are derived on the basis of an analysis of geodata. Such approaches facilitate the calculation of a spatiotemporal cumulative distribution function (CDF) of PECs for a given area of interest and are subsequently used to determine an exposure concentration endpoint as a given percentile of the CDF. For national PPP authorisation, we propose that, in the future, exposure endpoints should be determined from the overall known statistical PEC population for an area of interest, and derived for soil and climate conditions specific to the particular member state. © 2016 Society of Chemical Industry     

Dissolved and colloidal phosphorus fluxes in forest ecosystems—an almost blind spot in ecosystem research

Understanding and quantification of phosphorus (P) fluxes are key requirements for predictions of future forest ecosystems changes as well as for transferring lessons learned from natural ecosystems to croplands and plantations. This review summarizes and evaluates the recent knowledge on mechanisms, magnitude, and relevance by which dissolved and colloidal inorganic and organic P forms can be translocated within or exported from forest ecosystems. Attention is paid to hydrological pathways of P losses at the soil profile and landscape scales, and the subsequent influence of P on aquatic ecosystems. New (unpublished) data from the German Priority Program 1685 “Ecosystem Nutrition: Forest Strategies for limited Phosphorus Resources” were added to provide up‐to‐date flux‐based information. Nitrogen (N) additions increase the release of water‐transportable P forms. Most P found in percolates and pore waters belongs to the so‐called dissolved organic P (DOP) fractions, rich in orthophosphate‐monoesters and also containing some orthophosphate‐diesters. Total solution P concentrations range from ca. 1 to 400 µg P L^?1, with large variations among forest stands. Recent sophisticated analyses revealed that large portions of the DOP in forest stream water can comprise natural nanoparticles and fine colloids which under extreme conditions may account for 40–100% of the P losses. Their translocation within preferential flow passes may be rapid, mediated by storm events. The potential total P loss through leaching into subsoils and with streams was found to be less than 50 mg P m^?2 a^?1, suggesting effects on ecosystems at centennial to millennium scale. All current data are based on selected snapshots only. Quantitative measurements of P fluxes in temperate forest systems are nearly absent in the literature, probably due to main research focus on the C and N cycles. Therefore, we lack complete ecosystem‐based assessments of dissolved and colloidal P fluxes within and from temperate forest systems.     

Mapping of male sterility gene ms10 in chilli pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

Most of the hybrid seed in chilli are produced manually, but the use of male sterility (MS) can reduce the cost of hybrid seed production. MS‐12, a nuclear male‐sterile (NMS) line developed at Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana (India), has been utilized to develop commercial F₁ hybrids. A recessive gene, designated as ms10, governs MS in MS‐12. Due to recessive gene control, development of new NMS lines incorporating ms10 gene is tedious and time‐consuming. We identified SSR markers AVRDC‐PP12 and AVRDC_MD997* linked to the ms10 gene. A total of 558 primer pairs were screened following bulked segregant analysis (BSA). Linkage analysis in 210 F₂ plants indicated that the two SSR markers were linked to the ms10 gene and the marker AVRDC‐PP12 was closest to the gene at 7.2 cM distance. The marker was mapped to chromosome 1 at genome position 175 694 513 to 175 694 644. Until more closely linked markers are developed, the marker AVRDC‐PP12 would facilitate transfer of ms10 gene through marker‐assisted selection (MAS). Fine mapping would lead to cloning of the ms10 gene.     

Sprouting Ability and Seasonal Changes of Sugar Concentrations in Rhizomes of Calystegia sepium and Roots of Convolvulus arvensis

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - Factors influencing the sprouting ability of rhizome pieces of Calystegia sepium and root pieces of Convolvulus arvensis were analyzed in four...     

A presumably exotic Phytophthora species causing dieback of Buxus sempervirens in Germany and Romania

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - Roots, collars and rhizosphere soils from diseased boxwood saplings (Buxus sempervirens) from German and Romanian nurseries were shown to be colonized by...     

Characterization and mapping of a QTL derived from Solanum habrochaites associated with elevated rutin content (quercetin-3-rutinoside) in tomato

Consumption of flavonoids found in fruits and vegetables is linked to beneficial health outcomes. Tomato is among the most widely consumed and economically important vegetables worldwide and improvement of the nutrient content could lead to significant health benefits. Rutin, (quercetin-3-rutinoside), the main flavonol in tomato fruit, is confined to the peel. Rutin synthesis is limited by low expression of chalcone isomerase, the enzyme catalyzing the conversion of naringenin chalcone to naringenin quercetin. The wild tomato species Solanum habrochaites is a major source of new alleles to improve cultivated tomato (Solanum lycopersicum). AVRDC—The World Vegetable Center identified introgression line (IL) LA3984 containing a segment of S. habrochaites on chromosome 5 expressing high levels of rutin in full red ripe fruit. An AVRDC high rutin tomato line evaluated for 2 years and two seasons in Taiwan produced mean rutin content about four- to five-fold greater than the mean of all entries and about 11–12 times higher than the commercial fresh market and processing tomato cultivars. The quantitative trait locus (QTL) conditioning high rutin content was mapped to a 0.42 Mb segment on chromosome 5 flanked by markers c2_At3g55120/TaqI and ch05-4.883/ApaLI. Marker c2_Atg55120 overlaps with the chalcone-flavonone isomerase gene Solyc05g10320, and a second chalcone-flavonone isomerase gene is located 3,000 bp upstream from c2_At3g551220. Results of this project will facilitate breeding of high flavonoid tomato lines.     

Vertical distribution of soil properties under short‐rotation forestry in Northern Germany

Short‐rotation forestry (SRF) on arable soils has high potentials for biomass production and leads to long‐term no‐tillage management. In the present study, the vertical distributions of soil chemical and microbial properties after 15 y of SRF with willows and poplar (Salix and Populus spp.) in 3‐ and 6‐year rotations on an arable soil were measured and compared to a pertinent tilled arable site. Two transects at different positions in the relief (upper and lower slope; transect 1 and 2) were investigated. Short‐rotation forestry caused significant changes in the vertical distribution of all investigated soil properties (organic and microbial C, total and microbial N, soil enzyme activities), however, the dimension and location (horizons) of significant effects varied. The rotation periods affected the vertical distribution of the soil properties within the SRF significantly. In transect 1, SRF had higher organic‐C concentrations in the subsoil (Bv horizon), whereas in transect 2, the organic‐C concentrations were increased predominantly in the topsoil (Ah horizon). Sufficient plant supply of P and K in combination with decreased concentrations of these elements in the subsoil under SRF pointed to an effective nutrient mobilization and transfer from the deeper soil horizons even in the long term. In transect 1, the microbial‐C concentrations were higher in the B and C horizons and in transect 2 in the A horizons under SRF than under arable use. The activities of β‐glucosidases and acid phosphatases in the soil were predominantly lower under SRF than under arable use in the topsoil and subsoil. We conclude, that long‐term SRF on arable sites can contribute to increased C sequestration and changes in the vertical distribution of soil microbial biomass and soil enzyme activities in the topsoil and also in the subsoil.