Diuron mineralisation in a Mediterranean vineyard soil: impact of moisture content and temperature

BACKGROUND: The diuron‐mineralising ability of the microbiota of a Mediterranean vineyard soil exposed each year to this herbicide was measured. The impact of soil moisture and temperature on this microbial activity was assessed. RESULTS: The soil microbiota was shown to mineralise diuron. This mineralising activity was positively correlated with soil moisture content, being negligible at 5% and more than 30% at 20% soil moisture content. According to a double Gaussian model applied to fit the dataset, the optimum temperature/soil moisture conditions were 27.9 °C/19.3% for maximum mineralisation rate and 21.9 °C/18.3% for maximum percentage mineralisation. The impact of temperature and soil moisture content variations on diuron mineralisation was estimated. A simulated drought period had a suppressive effect on subsequent diuron mineralisation. This drought effect was more marked when higher temperatures were used to dry (40 °C versus 28 °C) or incubate (28 °C versus 20 °C) the soil. The diuron kinetic parameters measured after drought conditions were no longer in accordance with those estimated by the Gaussian model. CONCLUSION: Although soil microbiota can adapt to diuron mineralisation, its activity is strongly dependent on climatic conditions. It suggests that diuron is not rapidly degraded under Mediterranean climate, and that arable Mediterranean soils are likely to accumulate diuron residues. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Local plants as potential sources of tannins in Egypt,part. IV (Aceraceae to Flacourtiaceae)

Continuing a previous study, the leaves and barks of thirty one plants collected from the botanical gardens in Cairo, were subjected to detailed studies with the aim of identifying the type of tannins present in each plant. The study included colour tests and paper chromatography of both the free sugars and phenolic aglycones. The plants recorded here are those ranging fromAceraceae toFlacourtiaceae.

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Zusammenfassung In Fortsetzung dieser Reihe wurden die Blätter- und Rindermaterialien von 31 Pflanzen, gesammelt aus den botanischen Gärten in Kairo, auf ihre Gerbstoffe untersucht. Mit Hilfe der Papierchromatographie wurden sowohl die freien Zucker als auch die phenolischen Komponenten dieser Pflanzen identifiziert.In dieser Mitteilung wurden die Untersuchungsergebnisse der Pflanzen der Familien Aceraceae bis Flacourtiaceae gegeben.

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Résumé En poursuivant nos études précédentes, les feuilles et les écorses de 31 plantes cueillies dans les jardins de Caire, ont été soumises à des études détaillées. En vue d'identifier le type des tannins présent dans chaque plante, les études contenaient des expériments par chromatographie sur papier concernant les sucres natifs et les aglycones phénoliques. Les plantes qui ont été rapportées ici sont celles des familles Aceraceae à Flacourtiaceae.

     

Recent research in Roumania on blackleg and bacterial soft rot of potato

Summary Potato blackleg has been known in Roumania for more than 35 years, but has become increasingly serious in recent times. The disease is mainly restricted to the central and northern regions, which have a rainy climate with moderate temperatures. In areas where the climate is warm and dry, the disease appears only sporadically, and even then, its development is slow. The principal means of transmission of the disease from one year to another is by infected tubers, the causal organ does not persist long in unsterile soil. Potato blackleg and soft rot in Roumania is produced not only byE. atroseptica, for an important part in the disease complex especially in storage is played by the bacteriaE. carotovora andE. aroideae. E. atroseptica, owing to its special preference for the stems of the plants, is considered as the principal pathogenic agent, while the other two organisms occur more frequently in the tubers. It is considered that the divergent characteristics of the organisms justify keeping them as two or even three separate species and not as variants of a single species.

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Zusammenfassung In den Jahren 1961 bis 1963 wurden am Biologischen Institut Traian Savulescu in Bukarest, Rum?nien, Untersuchungen durchgeführt über die Verbreitung der Schwarzbeinigkeit bei Kartoffeln im Zusammenhang mit den klimatischen Verh?ltnissen in Rum?nien, mit den Bedingungen, unter welchen die Infektion und die übertragung der Krankheit stattfindet, mit der Etiologie der Krankheit in Rum?nien und mit gewissen charakteristischen Eigenschaften der Krankheitserreger. Kartoffel-Schwarzbeinigkeit ist in Rum?nien schon seit mehr als 35 Jahren bekannt, aber in letzter Zeit hat sie ernstere Formen angenommen. Die Infektion im Feld schwankt von 1–15% und nimmt w?hrend der Lagerung zu. Die Krankheit beschr?nkt sich haupts?chlich auf die zentralen und n?rdlichen Regionen des Landes, wo ein regnerisches Klima mit m?ssigen Temperaturen vorherrscht. Im Süden, wo Frühling und Sommer in der Regel heiss und trocken sind, scheint sie eigentlich nicht vorzukommen, selbst nicht in Feldern, die mit Knollen aus befallenen Gebieten bepflanzt sind. Es ist festgestellt worden, dass die übertragung dieser Krankheit von einem Jahr auf das andere haupts?chlich durch befallene Knollen geschieht. Der Boden bildet nur in dem Mass eine Infektionsquelle, als er nicht verfaulte Reste von kranken Pflanzen enth?lt. Es wurde dargelegt, dass die Bakterien in nicht sterilem Boden ihre überlebensf?higkeit rasch verlieren (Tabelle 1). Was die Etiologie der Schwarzbeinigkeit betrifft, wurde herausgefunden, dass nebenErwinia atroseptica—in Rum?nien bis jetzt als die einzige Ursache dieser Krankheit angenommen — auchE. carotovora undE. aroideae, speziell w?hrend der Lagerung, eine wichtige Rolle im Krankheitskomplex spielen. Unsere Beobachtungen und Untersuchungen haben ergeben, dassE. atroseptica der Hauptkrankheitserreger im Feld ist, der besonders die Stengel bef?llt. Die beiden andern Bakterien kommen ebenfalls vor, doch werden sie gew?hnlich auf den Knollen am Lager gefunden, wo sie — unter günstigen Bedingungen — einen viel h?ufigeren Befall erzeugen k?nnen alsE. atroseptica. Es wurde festgestellt, dass sowohl Eigenschaften, wie der Grad der Pathogenit?t an Stengeln und Knollen, Reaktionen auf Zuckern und besonders das Verhalten auf Maltose und auf durchtr?nktes Korn-Pepton-Glukose-Agar-Medium, das Wachstum bei hohen Temperaturen (Tabelle 2) und serologische Reaktionen (Tabelle 3) wie auch toxische und immunologische Wirkungen auf Tiere bei der Unterscheidung der drei Bakterien von Nutzen sind. Es wird darauf hingewiesen, dass die hier berichteten Ergebnisse die Ansicht jener Forscher best?rken und rechtfertigen, die glauben, dass die drei Bakterien als verschiedene Arten betrachtet werden sollten.

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Résumé A l'Institut de Biologie Traian Savulescu à Bucarest. Roumanie, les recherches suivantes ont été effectuées durant la période 1961–1963; l'apparition de la maladie de la jambe noire en relation avec les conditions climatiques en Roumanie, les conditions sous lesquelles ont lieu l'infection et la transmission de la maladie, l'étiologie de la maladie en Roumanie et certains caractères des pathogènes. La jambe noire de la Pomme de terre est connue en Roumanie depuis plus de 35 ans mais est devenue progressivement grave dans les derniers temps. L'infection dans les champs varie de 1 à 15% et augmente pendant la conservation. La maladie est essentiellement limitée aux régions du centre et du nord du pays qui ont un climat pluvieux et des températures modérées. Dans le sud, où le printemps et l'été sont habituellement chauds et secs, la jambe noire semble être réellement absente, même dans les champs plantés avec des tubercules provenant de régions infectées. Il a été établi que la transmission de la maladie d'une année à l'autre a lieu principalement par les tubercules infectés, le sol étant la source d'infection dans la seule mesure où il contient des restes non détruits de plantes malades. Il a été démontré que les bactéries perdent rapidement leur viabilité dans les sols non stériles (Tableau 1). Concernant l'étiologie de la jambe noire, on a trouvé que outreErwinia atroseptica que, jusqu'à présent, on croyait être la seule cause de la maladie en Roumanie,E. carotovora etE. aroideae jouent également un r?le important, spécialement pendant la conservation. Selon nos observations et expériences,E. atroseptica est le principal agent pathogène dans le champ, montrant une préférence marquée pour les tiges, tandis qu'apparaissent aussi les deux autres bactéries qui, toutefois, sont plus communément trouvées sur les tubercules pendant la conservation; à ce moment, sous des conditions favorables, les attaques de ces dernières peuvent être beaucoup plus grandes que celles deE. atroseptica. Les déterminations des comportements suivants se sont révélées pleinement utiles pour différencier les trois bactéries: les degrés d'attaques sur tiges et tubercules, les réactions sur sucres et spécialement leurs réactions sur maltose et sur milieu agar glucose peptone de grains trempés, leur développement à hautes températures (Tpableau 2) et leurs réactions sérologiques (Tpableau 3) aussi bien comme effets toxiques qu'immunologiques sur les animaux. Les résultats rapportés ici prouvent et développent les vues de ces chercheurs qui croient que les trois bactéries seraient à considérer comme espèces séparées.

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Paper read to the Pathology Section of the Second Triennial Conference of the European Association for Potato Research, Italy, September 1963.     

Local plants as potential sources of tannins in Egypt. Part VI (Moraceae to Rosaceae)

This study is a continuation of the previous parts and also deals with the colour tests, free sugars and phenolic aglycones of thirty four plants, ranging from the familyMoraceae toRosaceae, with the aim of identifying the type of tannins present.

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Zusammenfassung Diese Arbeit ist eine Weiterführung der vorangegangenen Mitteilungen und befaßt sich ebenfalls mit Farbreaktionen, freien Zuckern und phenolischen Aglykonen von weiteren 34 Pflanzen (Morraceae bis Rosaceae) mit dem Ziel, den Typ des jeweils vorliegenden Tannins zu identifizieren.

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Resume Suite du travail précédent. Réactions colorées, sucres libres, aglycones phénoliques de 34 autres espèces végétales (Moracées à Rosacées). Essai d'identification des tannins présents dans chaque échantillon.

     

Design and implementation of an electronic mobile poultry production documentation system

Documentation is a major component of any traceability system where traceability is defined in the ISO Regulation 8402:1994 as the ability to trace the history, application and location of what is under consideration. Traceability systems are record keeping systems designed to track the flow of product or product attributes through the production process or supply chain. All international supply chains are forced to comply with traceability requirements. In this paper, we develop and implement an end-to-end mobile application prototype that traces the poultry production. This application consists of front-end and back-end systems. At the front-end, the worker uses a GPRS enabled handheld device (cell phone, PDA, etc.) to capture information on poultry operations collected at a remote chicken farm and transmit it to a back-end server in the main office. Through customized application the back-end server analyses all information received from the front-end and based on a built-in business process and business rules, intelligently updates various stakeholders of any breach of bio-security measures that requires immediate attention. The proposed system administrators can also access this application via Internet for management decision making. The back-end system consists of web server, defined business application logic and database server.     

Accumulation of phytoalexins in leaves of plane tree (Platanus spp.) expressing susceptibility or resistance toCeratocystis fimbriata f. sp.platani

Inoculation of leaves of resistantPlatanus occidentalis and susceptiblePlatanus acerifolia leaves withCeratocystis fimbriata f. sp.platani, the canker stain disease agent, induced foliar necrosis and biosynthesis of two phytoalexins, scopoletin and umbelliferone. Foliar symptoms keep localized and accumulation of coumarin phytoalexins was rapid for incompatible interactions. Necrosis spread widely and accumulation of these phenolic compounds was much later and lower for compatible interactions. The differential response could be used in a genetic improvement program for resistance against canker stain.     

Water Requirements of Safflower Entries in Middle Egypt

Two promising selected land races of safflower ( Carthamns tinctorious L.) designated as line 11 and line 13, together with the local variety Giza 1 , were examined under three levels of moisture depletions, i.e. 40, 60 and 80 % ASMD at Fayoum, Middle Egypt during 1986/87 and 1987/88 seasons. In both growing seasons, the second irrigation treatment i.e. 60 % ASMD gave the highest means for growth characters as well as seed yield and most of its components. Seed oil content per cent exhibited an increased as soil moisture depletion increased with no significant difference between entries. Safflower entries showed clear differences in some yield components which compensate each other and resulted in no significant difference in seed yield per hectar.
Consumptive use of water by safflower plants increased as the available soil moisture around the root zone increased. No significant differences were found in water consumed by safflower entries used in all experiments.
In the two experimental seasons, the best water use efficiency (WUE) for seed production was obtained also from the second treatment (60 % ASMD). The line 11 gave the best WUE.     

An approach for precision farming under pivot irrigation system using remote sensing and GIS techniques

The current work is aimed to realizing land and water use efficiency and determining the profitability of precision farming economically and environmentally. The studied area is represented by an experimental pivot irrigation field cultivated with maize in Ismailia province, Egypt. Two field practices were carried out during the successive summer growing seasons (2008 and 2009) to study the response of maize plants single hybrid 10 (S.H.10) to traditional and precision farming practices. Traditional farming (TF) as handled by the farm workers were observed and noted carefully. On the other hand precision farming (PF) practices included field scouting, grid soil sampling, variable rate technology and its applications. After applying PF a dramatic change in management zones was noticed and three management zones (of total four) were merged to be more homogenous representing 84.3% of the pivot irrigation field.Under PF Remote Sensing and Geographic Information System techniques have played a vital role in the variable rate applications that were defined due to management zones requirements. Fertilizers were added in variable rates, so that rationalization of fertilizers saved 23.566 tonnes/experimental pivot area. Natural drainage system was improved by designing vertical holes to break down massive soil layers and to leach excessive salts. Crop water requirements were determined in variable rate according to the actual plant requirements using SEBAL model with the aid of FAO Cropwat model. Irrigation schedule of maize was adopted considering soil water retention, depletion, gross and net irrigation saving an amount of water equal to 93,718 m³ in the pivot irrigation field (153.79 acre). However costs of applying PF were much higher than TF, the economic profitability (returns-costs) achieved remarkable increase of 29.89% as a result of crop yield increment by 1000, 2100, 800 and 200 kg/acre in the management zones 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Finally applying adequate amounts of fertilizers beside water control the environmental hazards was reduced to the acceptable limits.     

Evaluation of variability in argan oil content through different environments and preselection of elite genotypes

This investigation was carried out to determine the variability in oil content with the aim to identify genotypes of argan tree expressing high oil yield. The 150 argan trees were collected from five provenances in south west of Morocco over 3 years (2008–2010) and were screened from their oil content using Soxhlet method based on the 840 samples. Univariate and multivariate analysis were used to study the genetic variation between and within provenances. According to the results on the mean of the 3 years, the oil content was ranged from 38.45 to 62.54 %. The genotypes from Aoulouz and Had Dra expressing high oil yield. Variance components for fruit, seed, kernel traits and oil content showed significant differences (P < 0.01) among years, provenances, genotypes and their interaction. Principal component analysis proved that fruit, seed, kernel, weight traits are correlated with oil content and are discriminate characters between the genotypes. The results of the cluster analysis support the results of the principal component analysis, showing no correlation between oil content with geographical localization parameters. For all the promising genotypes, at least 25 % were found to be better and exceed the oil mean of the provenance for 3 years. So, 31 promising elite genotypes were preselected, and open new ways for future comparative test of them in diverse environments.