Advocating a need for suitable breeding approaches to boost integrated pest management: a European perspective

Currently, European farmers do not have access to sufficient numbers and diversity of crop species/varieties. This prevents them from designing cropping systems more resilient to abiotic and biotic stresses. Crop diversification is a key lever to reduce pest (pathogens, animal pests and weeds) pressures at all spatial levels from fields to landscapes. In this context, plant breeding should consist of: (1) increased efforts in the development of new or minor crop varieties to foster diversity in cropping systems, and (2) focus on more resilient varieties showing local adaptation. This new breeding paradigm, called here ‘breeding for integrated pest management (IPM)’, may boost IPM through the development of cultivars with tolerance or resistance to key pests, with the goal of reducing reliance on conventional pesticides. At the same time, this paradigm has legal and practical implications for future breeding programs, including those targeting sustainable agricultural systems. By putting these issues into the context, this article presents the key outcomes of a questionnaire survey and experts' views expressed during an EU workshop entitled ‘Breeding for IPM in sustainable agricultural systems’. © 2017 Society of Chemical Industry     

Dose-dependent influence of commercial garlic (Allium sativum) on rats fed cholesterol-containing diet

The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the dose-dependent influence of commercial garlic on rats fed cholesterol-containing diets. It was found that commercial garlic contains high concentrations of dietary fibers, microelements, and total polyphenols, and its total antioxidant capacity as determined by two independent assays [1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) and 2,2'-azinobis(3-ethylbenzthiazoline-6-sulfonic acid) (ABTS)] was similar to that of the original garlic samples. Wistar rats (35) were randomly divided into five diet groups, named control, Chol, Garlic500, Garlic750, and Garlic1000. Control rats were fed basal diet (BD), which included wheat starch, casein, soybean oil, and vitamin and mineral mixtures. To the BD of the Chol group was added 1% of cholesterol. To the BD of the other three groups (Garlic500, Garlic750, and Garlic1000) were added 1% of cholesterol and commercial garlic equal to 500, 750, and 1000 mg of raw garlic per kilogram of animal weight. After 4 weeks of the experiment only in rats from the Garlic500 group were a significant hindering in the rise in plasma lipids and also a significant hindering in a decrease of plasma antioxidant activity registered. A significant decrease in plasma circulating fibrinogen and an increase in the clotting time were found in the same group of rats (P < 0.05 in both cases). The fibrinogenolytic effect of garlic diets was visualized by sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. In the fibrinogen fraction of Garlic500 the 66, 24, and 14 kDa protein bands were detected with weaker protein intensity than in the corresponding ones in the Garlic750 and Garlic1000 diet groups. In conclusion, the positive influences of commercial garlic on plasma lipids, proteins, antioxidant activity, and some indices of blood coagulation are dose-dependent. Therefore, commercial garlic (Elena, Zelazków, Poland) could be a valuable component of atherosclerosis-preventing diets only in optimal doses.     

The effect of dairy sewage sludge amendment on repellency and hydraulic conductivity of soil aggregates from two depths of Eutric Cambisol

Appropriate management of sewage sludge is an important worldwide issue due to the still growing amount of wastewaters. In the study we examined to what extent the addition of dairy sewage sludge compared with mineral fertilization affects porosity, repellency index, and hydraulic conductivity of variously sized aggregates from two soil depths of Eutric Cambisol derived from loess: 5–15 cm and 25–35 cm. The repellency index was calculated as a ratio of ethanol and water sorptivity. Data on water and ethanol sorptivities of initially air‐dry soil aggregate fractions were obtained from steady state flow measurements using an infiltration device. Hydraulic conductivity was determined by measuring water infiltration at five pressure heads: –8, –6, –4, –2, and 0 cm of water column with the same device as for sorptivity determination. Addition of sewage sludge to the soil decreased the soil repellency index by an average of 27% in topsoil and 32% in subsoil for both aggregate sizes, respectively, and increased hydraulic conductivity about four times in both layers. Smaller aggregates (15–20 mm diameter) from soil amended with sewage sludge, in comparison with larger ones (30–35 mm diameter), had a higher repellency index by 36 and 24% in topsoil and subsoil, respectively. As for aggregates from soil with mineral fertilization, those differences were smaller and equal to 15% in subsoil, in topsoil smaller aggregates even had slightly lower repellency index (by 5%). Aggregates taken from the upper soil layer were more water repellent and had smaller hydraulic conductivity than those taken from subsoil, regardless of soil treatment and aggregate size.     

Resistance to powdery mildew in populations of barley landraces from Morocco

Forty-eight populations of barley landraces collected from Morocco were screened for resistance to powdery mildew and a number of different resistance genes were detected. Landraces originated from the collection of the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas – ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria. Twenty populations of tested landraces (about 42%) showed resistance reactions and 46 single plant lines were selected. Fourteen of these lines were tested in the seedling stage with 17 and another 32 lines with 23 differential isolates of powdery mildew, respectively. The isolates were chosen according to their virulence spectra observed on the Pallas isolines differential set. Five lines originating from five populations of landraces showed resistance to all prevalent in Europe powdery mildew virulence genes. Thirty-five lines (76%) showed resistance reaction type 2. The distribution of reaction type scores indicated that about 81% of all reaction types observed were classified as powdery mildew resistance (scores 0, 1 and 2). In forty-one lines (89%) the presence of unknown genes alone or in combination with a specific one was detected. Four different resistance alleles (Mlat, Mla6, Mla14 and Mla22) were postulated to be present in the tested lines alone or in combination. Among specific resistance alleles the most common was allele Mlat (resistance Atlas). This allele was postulated to be present in twenty-three (50%) tested lines. The use of new identified sources of resistance to powdery mildew in barley breeding is discussed.     

Mutual relations between PAHs derived from atmospheric deposition,enzymatic activity,and humic substances in soils of differently urbanized areas

Purpose

The aim of this study was to determine the mutual relations between polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) originated from atmospheric emissions and enzymatic activity and humic substances in soils at differently urbanized area, on an example of the Lublin city, east Poland.

Materials and methods

The chosen areas represented three differently urbanized environments: old tenement houses and modern residential blocks, mixture of different building and rural landscape, and typical rural environment with smallholding farms, respectively. On each of the urban, suburban, and rural areas, one representative plot was chosen on fallow lands classified as luvisol derived from loess. The soil samples were collected from the top 25 cm layer. The following properties were determined: pH, organic carbon, total nitrogen, humic and fulvic acids, PAHs content (14 PAHs from US EPA list), and the activities of the following enzymes: dehydrogenases, acid phosphatase, alkane phosphatase, protease, and urease.

Results and discussion

Higher contents of organic C and total N were found in the rural soil samples. The share of humic acid was similar in all soils investigated, ranging from 19.38 to 25.27%, while fulvic acid values differ significantly between urban and rural areas. The urban soils indicated much lower share of fulvic acids (9.78–10.99%) than those of rural (29.02–29.32%). Consequently, the values of the C_HA:C_FA ratio of the urban soil were approximately two times higher than those of the rural soil. The results showed that both the rate of humification and the activity of dehydrogenases, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and proteases in the soils increased in the following sequence: urban < suburban < rural.

Conclusions

The results showed that an increase of PAHs in the urbanized areas affect other soil properties. The phenanthrene/anthracene and fluoranthene/pyrene ratios pointed to coal combustion as the principal source of PAHs in the investigated soils. The PAH content in the urbanized area inhibit humification processes in the soil and the activity of dehydrogenases, acid phosphatase, alkaline phosphatase, and proteases.