Pacific Russet: An early maturing, attractive russet cultivar with excellent culinary quality

Pacific Russet is a high-yielding, early maturing, oblong russet fresh market cultivar with excellent tuber appearance and culinary quality. In trials conducted in western Canada the yield of the new cultivar was generally superior to Russet Burbank, Ranger Russet, and Atlantic at 80, 90, and 110 days after planting. In the North Central Regional Variety Trial the yield of Pacific Russet exceeded that of Russet Norkotah in four of the eight sites in 2000 and three of the eight sites in 2001. In trials conducted in Ontario (Canada) Pacific Russet exceeded the yield of Goldrush at both sites in 2001 and in 2002 at two of the three sites that included both cultivars. External and internal defects occur at very low levels. The new cultivar is resistant to common scab and moderately resistant to Verticillium and Fusarium wilt, but susceptible to Fusarium dry rot and late blight (foliar). Pacific Russet shows clear foliar but not tuber symptoms when infected with bacterial ring rot.     

New constituents from noni (Morinda citrifolia) fruit juice

Morinda citrifolia L. (Rubiaceae), known as noni, has a long history of traditional use in the Hawaiian and Tahitian islands. More recently, an array of commercial noni fruit juice products are gaining popularity as dietary supplements, with claims of anticancer and immunostimulant activities. The biologically active principles of noni are not fully known. In continuation of work on the isolation of markers from dietary supplements, this paper reports the isolation of three new markers, namely, 1-O-(3'-methylbut-3'-enyl)-beta-D-glucopyranose (1), 1-n-butyl-4-(5'-formyl-2'-furanyl)methyl succinate (2), and 4-epi-borreriagenin (3), together with the known iridoid glycosides asperulosidic acid (4) and deacetylasperulosidic acid (5) and a mixture of 1-n-butyl-4-methyl-2-hydroxysuccinate (6a) and 1-n-butyl-4-methyl-3-hydroxysuccinate (6b), as well as a mixture of alpha- and beta-glucopyranose from noni fruit juice obtained from Puerto Rico. The structures of compounds were based on 1H and 13C NMR, mainly 2D NMR COSY, HMQC, HMBC, and NOESY experiments, and HRMS. Furthermore, samples from fresh-squeezed noni fruit juice from Japan revealed the presence of scopoletin (7), in addition to compounds 1-6, indicating no significant differences in the marker constituents of noni collected from Atlantic and Pacific regions.     

Prevalence of fur mites in pet rabbits in South Korea

The prevalence of fur mites, Cheyletiella parasitovorax and Leporacarus gibbus, in pet rabbits in South Korea was investigated by a diagnostic evaluation of skin surface tape strips and hair coat combings. C. parasitovorax was found in 80 of 140 rabbits (57.1%) and L. gibbus in six of 140 rabbits (4.3%). Clinical signs of pruritus and scaling were observed in 17 of 80 and 76 of 80 infested rabbits, respectively.     

Phytoplankton community structure and the drawdown of nutrients and CO2 in the southern ocean

Data from recent oceanographic cruises show that phytoplankton community structure in the Ross Sea is related to mixed layer depth. Diatoms dominate in highly stratified waters, whereas Phaeocystis antarctica assemblages dominate where waters are more deeply mixed. The drawdown of both carbon dioxide (CO2) and nitrate per mole of phosphate and the rate of new production by diatoms are much lower than that measured for P. antarctica. Consequently, the capacity of the biological community to draw down atmospheric CO2 and transport it to the deep ocean could diminish dramatically if predicted increases in upper ocean stratification due to climate warming should occur.