The influence of sucrose,ethanol and calcium nitrate on the freezing-point and long-term low-temperature storage of carnation flowers

Both tight bud and open carnation (Dianthus caryophyllus L.) flowers survived ?4°C for 5 days without injury if flowers were pulsed with 20% sucrose at 25°C for 24 hours prior to storage. Between the 8th and 10th day of storage, both stem and floral tissue froze. Flowers pulsed with 10 or 20% ethanol for 24 hours at 25°C survived ?2°C for 5 days, while those pulsed in water failed to open normally or were frozen when stored at 0°C for 5 days. Flowers stressed (wilted) for 24 hours at 25°C survived for only 5 days at ?4°C. After pulsing, tight buds were more resistant to freezing than open flowers and stem tissue was more resistant than petal tissue. However, during storage stem tissue froze before petal tissue. Using exotherm analysis, petal tissue froze at ?2.3 or ?4.7°C when first pulsed with water or sucrose and at ?3.0 and ?3.8°C after 7 days.     

Deposition,mobility and persistence of sprinkler-irrigation-applied chlorpyrifos on corn foliage and in soil

The insecticide chlorpyrifos (O,O-diethyl O-3,5,6-trichloro-2-pyridyl phosphorothioate) was applied to sweet corn (Zea mays L.) by chemigation, injecting either an emulsifiable formulation or technical chlorpyrifos dissolved in soybean oil into 0·25 cm or 1·27 cm sprinkler-applied irrigation water. Half of the plots treated with chlorpyrifos in 0·25 cm water were immediately irrigated further with 1·27 cm water without chlorpyrifos. Half the plots treated with chlorpyrifos in 1·27 cm water were irrigated with another 1·27 cm water without chlorpyrifos 10 days later. Neither the volume of water used to apply the insecticide nor subsequent irrigation affected chlorpyrifos residues on the corn foliage or in the soil. Chemigation of the soybean oil solution resulted in three times more chlorpyrifos on the foliage than chemigation of the emulsion formulation, apparently because of greater adhesion of the oil droplets to the foliar surface. Chlorpyrifos residues in foliage declined with an initial half-life of one day. Chlorpyrifos on or near the soil surface declined with an initial half-life of approximately four days.     

Characterization of genetic variation and relationships among Choix germplasm accessions using RAPD markers

Choix, a plant in the tribe Maydeae of the grass family, has been cultivated in Asia for several thousand years. It is a potential gene resource for improvement of other cereal crops because of its nutritional value and tolerance to stress. Genetic variation and relationships among 21 Choix lachryma-jobi L. accessions were characterized by random amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) markers. A total of 205 DNA fragments across all materials were amplified with 31 random primers, averaging 6.61 per primer. Among amplified fragments, 115 showed polymorphism averaging 3.71 per primer. Of amplified markers, 56.1% were polymorphic, indicating considerable variation at the DNA level among these accessions. Some fragments were accession-specific. Pair-wise genetic similarity (GS) among 21 accessions ranged from 0.809 to 0.301. The 21 accessions clustered into two major groups. Three exotic Choix accessions clustered together. Three other Choix accessions, collected from Guangxi, China, clustered into a cohesive subgroup. Four wild types of Choix clustered into the same subgroup. These results indicated that the classification by RAPD data reflected the differences in geographic origins and evolution in Choix.     

Anthocyanins, flavonols, and free radical scavenging activity of Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra) extracts and their color properties and stability

Characterization of anthocyanins and flavonols and radical scavenging activity assays of extracts from four Chinese bayberry (Myrica rubra) varieties with different fruit colors were carried out. One dominant anthocyanin and three major flavonols were isolated by HPLC, and cyanidin-3-O-glucoside and two of three flavonols, myricetin and quercetin-3-O-rutinoside, were identified by cochromatography with authentic standards. Both DPPH* and ABTS*(+) cation assays indicated that the black varieties (Biji and Hunan) demonstrated much higher radical scavenging activities than the pink (Fenhong) and yellow (Shuijing) varieties, which may be attributed to much higher levels of anthocyanins, flavonoids, and total phenolics in the black varieties. Biji and Hunan had 6.49 and 6.52 mM Trolox equivalent antioxidant capacity (TEAC) per 100 g of fresh weight, whereas the pink (Fenhong) and yellow (Shuijing) bayberries had 1.32 and 1.31 mM TEAC/100 g. Different fruit color was reflected by the surface color and pigment extract color. Color stability of the pigment was dependent on pH, and the pigment was more stable at low pH (pH approximately 1.5). The lightness (L) increased while the chroma (C value) decreased with increase of pH until pH 5, but higher pH caused a small decrease for L and an increase for C.