Evolution of Qol resistance in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Plasmopara viticola</Emphasis> oospores

QoI resistance in P. viticola was first detected in France and Italy in 1999. Molecular and biological assays have been carried out since 2000 in order to provide reliable methods of detecting and quantifying resistance. Oospores were collected in vineyards located in northern and southern Italy. QoI resistance was evaluated by the germination rate of oospores on azoxystrobin amended medium and the frequency of mutant alleles in the DNA extracted from oospores. Both methods correlated to each other and were used side by side to test QoI resistance. Due to the spontaneous occurrence of the G143A mutation in wild type populations and the immigration from surrounding vineyards, resistance frequencies up to 10% were found in samples collected from vineyards never treated with QoIs. Particularly high values, about 90%, were associated with the application of five to six QoI treatments within the same season, while lower percentages, about 30%, were detected in vineyards treated with QoI used in mixture with fungicides belonging to a different resistance group. A progressive decrease of resistance frequency was observed when QoI applications were reduced in number or completely suspended for at least one season. Therefore, a full recovery of sensitivity may be achieved even in vineyards characterized by high levels of resistance, if particular care is taken during disease control by using QoIs only in mixtures and reducing the number of QoI treatments.     

Effect of Organic Ligands on Copper(II) Removal from Metal Plating Wastewater by Orange Peel-based Biosorbents

A neutrophilic, autotrophic bacterium that couples iron oxidation to nitrate reduction (iron-oxidizing bacteria [IOB]) under anoxic conditions was isolated from a working bioremediation site in Trail, British Columbia. The site was designed and developed primarily to treat high concentrations of Zn and As that originate from capped industrial landfill sites. The system consisted of two upflow biochemical reactor cells (BCR) followed by three vegetated wetland polishing cells with sub-surface flow and a holding pond. During a 5-year period (2003–2007), the system treated more than 19,100 m³ of contaminated water, removing and sequestering more than 10,700 kg of As, Zn and sulfate at average input water concentrations of: As, 58.6 mg?l^?1 (±39.9 mg?l^?1); Zn, 51.9 mg?l^?1 (±35.4 mg?l^?1) and SO₄ ^2?, 781.5 mg?l^?1 (±287.8 mg?l^?1). The bacterium was isolated in order to better understand the mechanisms underlying the consistent As removal that took place in the system. Analysis using Basic Local Alignment Search Tool (BLAST) database showed that the closest homologies are to Candidatus accumulibacterphosphatis (95 % homology), Dechloromonas aromatica (94 %), and Sideroxydans lithotrophicus ES-1 (92 %) Within the BCR cells, the IOB oxidized Fe²⁺ generated by iron-reducing bacteria (IRB); the source of the iron was most likely biosolids and coatings of iron oxide on locally available sand used in the matrix. We have provisionally designated the novel bacterium as TR1.     

Effect of Different Live Prey on Spawning Quality of Short‐Snouted Seahorse,Hippocampus hippocampus (Linnaeus, 1758)

The importance of a suitable diet for reproduction has been recognized as one of the major factors in ornamental aquaculture. In seahorses, mysids have been described as preys in the wild. Also, Artemia has been usually employed for rearing fish, including syngnathids. Therefore, the aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of these live preys on the spawning quality of Hippocampus hippocampus. After 108 d, no differences were found in adults concerning all biological parameters evaluated, but broodstock fed on mysids showed better results than Artemia regarding number of spawning events (12 vs. 3), brood sizes (233.50 ± 59.04 vs. 68.00 ± 57.97 juveniles), and newborn seahorses standard length (10.61 ± 0.64 vs. 8.75 ± 1.32 mm). The better nutritional quality of mysids, overall in Docosahexanoic acid, could be one of the main responsible factors. However, mysids stock is conditioned by natural catches and rearing techniques are little known. Another alternative would be to combine them with Artemia in mixed diet. Further research must be done concerning mysids breeding techniques to delineate their employment as a sustainable prey for seahorse aquaculture. This trial showed for the first time the effect of mysids to enhance reproduction efficiency in H. hippocampus.     

Advanced Onset of Puberty in Gilts of Thrifty Genotype (Iberian Pig)

The Iberian pig is an autochthonous breed of the Mediterranean area, reared extensively in the central and southern areas of Spain and Portugal and that is known worldwide for the production of Iberian ham. The characteristics of the Iberian ham are related to its abundance of intramuscular fat, owing to the high capacity of the pig to accumulate fat under its skin and between the muscular fibres. This ability to store excess fat enables survival during periods of scarcity and it has been found in other antique animal breeds and even in humans, being named as the thrifty genotype. The reproductive management of the Iberian pig, in spite of a lack of accurate information unlike in other swine breeds, is based on the assumption of lower reproductive precocity and efficiency than the modern commercial breeds. The current study characterized and compared the onset of puberty in gilts of Iberian breed and meat commercial crosses (Large White × Landrace) reared in the same conditions by assessing weekly plasma progesterone profiles. At the end of the experimental period, when the gilts became 180 days old, the percentage of Iberian females that had reached puberty was 72.2%, with a mean age and weight of 160.5 ± 2.6 days and 92.9 ± 4.7 kg, respectively. The percentage of Large White × Landrace cross‐breed females reaching puberty at 180 days was only 15% (p < 0.05). The mean age and weight were 165.0 ± 4.1 days and 107.8 ± 2.2 kg (p < 0.05), respectively. Thus, converse to the traditional assumption, onset of puberty was advanced in Iberian gilts. These results are important for the reproductive management of the Iberian pig but, at the same time, may set the basis for future studies on the metabolism–reproduction link and, specifically, on the possible relationship between earlier accumulation of fat and attainment of puberty.     

Deposition of conjugated linoleic acid in market size sea bass (Dicentrarchus labrax) and its effects on performance,composition and fillet sensory and texture attributes

The effect conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) accumulation in fish fillet on sensory and texture attributes has been evaluated. Fish were fed diets with graded levels of CLA, which were administered for different durations prior to harvest. Fish were sampled for fillet proximate composition and fatty acid profile for sensory and texture parameters at the end of the trial. Growth performance, feed conversion ratio and muscle proximate composition were not affected by dietary treatments. Muscle fatty acid profile was not affected by dietary treatments despite the increase in saturated fatty acids in fish fed diet with 10 g kg⁻¹ of CLA for 16 weeks before harvest. Besides, the deposition levels of CLA isomers increased gradually depending on the CLA treatment, reaching its maximum level in fish fed 10 g kg⁻¹ CLA diet for 20 weeks before harvest. Fish fed 10 g kg⁻¹ were juicier (P < 0.05) compared with control group, whereas fish fed 5 g kg⁻¹ CLA diet were less (P < 0.05) chewy than fish fed control diet regarding sensory attributes. Texture parameters were not significantly affected by dietary CLA. These results suggest that market size European sea bass could successfully incorporate CLA isomers with some minor positive effects on sensory analyses.     

Effects on mortality and stress response in European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), fed mannan oligosaccharides (MOS) after Vibrio anguillarum exposure

The effects of dietary mannan oligosaccharides (MOS; 4 g kg^?1; Bio‐Mos, Alltech Inc, USA) in diets for European sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax (L.), juveniles in relation to disease and stress resistance, combining intestinal infection with Vibrio anguillarum and stress challenge by confinement, were assessed in this study. After 8 weeks of MOS supplementation, fish were exposed to a pathogen challenge test against V. anguillarum by direct gut inoculation combined with a confinement stressor panel. Cumulative mortality of fish fed MOS caused by anally inoculated V. anguillarum decreased from 66% to 12.5% and from 54.1% to 25% in infected and infected + stressed fish, respectively, compared to fish fed control diet. Results for European sea bass revealed a positive effect of MOS dietary inclusion on disease resistance, in terms of cumulative mortality, against gut inoculated V. anguillarum, as well as reduced effects of stress on microbiota diversity. Both of these findings, together with the enhanced innate immune response and the higher gut mucus production and density of eosinophil granulocytes in gut mucosa obtained in previous studies after MOS supplementation ( Torrecillas et al. 2007, 2011a,b ) suggest that general reinforcement of the innate immune system, and particularly of the intestinal barrier efficiency, is the main defence mechanism of European sea bass fed MOS against pathogenic microorganisms.     

Potential of three new krill products for seabream larval production

The objective of this study was to evaluate three products derived from krill as sources of essential fatty acids, protein and, particularly, phospholipids in microdiets for larval gilthead seabream (Sparus aurata). Their effect on larval performance, biochemical composition and histological development was investigated. The addition of krill phospholipids, rich in highly unsaturated fatty acids, improved larval sea bream growth in terms of weight and length, enhanced hepatic utilization of dietary lipids and reduced the incidence of enterocyte injuries. These results confirm the higher nutritional value of marine phospholipids for the early development of marine fish larvae in comparison with soybean phospholipids.     

The utility of the ‘Arable Weeds and Management in Europe’ database: Challenges and opportunities of combining weed survey data at a European scale

Over the last 30 years, many studies have surveyed weed vegetation on arable land. The ‘Arable Weeds and Management in Europe’ (AWME) database is a collection of 36 of these surveys and the associated management data. Here, we review the challenges associated with combining disparate datasets and explore some of the opportunities for future research that present themselves thanks to the AWME database. We present three case studies repeating previously published national scale analyses with data from a larger spatial extent. The case studies, originally done in France, Germany and the UK, explore various aspects of weed ecology (community composition, management and environmental effects and within-field distributions) and use a range of statistical techniques (canonical correspondence analysis, redundancy analysis and generalised linear mixed models) to demonstrate the utility and versatility of the AWME database. We demonstrate that (i) the standardisation of abundance data to a common measure, before the analysis of the combined dataset, has little impact on the outcome of the analyses, (ii) the increased extent of environmental or management gradients allows for greater confidence in conclusions and (iii) the main conclusions of analyses done at different spatial scales remain consistent. These case studies demonstrate the utility of a Europe-wide weed survey database, for clarifying or extending results obtained from studies at smaller scales. This Europe-wide data collection offers many more opportunities for analysis that could not be addressed in smaller datasets; including questions about the effects of climate change, macro-ecological and biogeographical issues related to weed diversity as well as the dominance or rarity of specific weeds in Europe.     

Lead and Cadmium in Soils of La Rioja Vineyards,Spain

Land degradation can be triggered by the abuse of chemicals that damage soil quality. Agriculture is changing the chemical and physical properties of soils, and in vineyards, those changes are due to the use of pesticides. In order to assess the Pb and Cd content, 212 soil samples from La Rioja D.O.Ca were analysed. Concentrations of Pb in soil ranged from 0·96 to 64·31 mg kg⁻¹ with a mean concentration of 21·26 mg kg⁻¹ in the surface layer, while they ranged from 7·97–43·93 mg kg⁻¹ with a mean of 20·83 mg kg⁻¹ in the subsurface layer. The mean content of bioavailable lead was 1·03 mg kg⁻¹ in the surface layer and 0·76 mg kg⁻¹ in the subsurface. Cd overall average concentration was 0·29 mg kg⁻¹ in the surface; in the subsurface, the mean was 0·31 mg kg⁻¹ and ranged from 0·10 to 1·22 mg kg⁻¹. The values in the surface layers were 0·15 mg kg⁻¹ and in the subsurface layer 0·01 of Cd bioavailability. On the basis of pedogeochemical Pb and Cd distribution, balanced fertilization will be of great importance for sustainable development of agricultural wine‐producers. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.