Cherry-harvesting robot

A cherry-harvesting robot was manufactured for trial purposes and basic experiments were conducted. The main parts of the robot are a manipulator 4 degrees of freedom (DOF), a 3-D vision sensor, an end effector, a computer, and a traveling device. The 3-D vision sensor was equipped with red and infrared laser diodes. Both laser beams scan the object simultaneously. By processing the images from the 3-D vision sensor, the locations of the fruits and obstacles were recognized, and the trajectory of the end effector was determined. Fruits were picked by the end effector, while avoiding collisions with obstacles.     

日本北海道东部高位泥沼远东红皮云杉、库页冷杉和日本桤木树干茎流化学及其对沼泽孔隙水化学的影响(英文)

在日本北海道高位泥沼池,调查了远东红皮云杉(Piceaglehnii)、库页冷杉(Abies sachalinensis)和日本桤木(Alnusjaponica)树干茎流液的化学性质和泥炭孔隙水的化学性质,包括了横切和纵切面孔隙水化学性质。沼泽森林树干基部茎流对泥炭孔隙水化学性质有明显的作用,而且树基部的泥炭孔隙水化学性质具有物种特异性。远东红皮云杉茎流液和泥炭孔隙水中盐分含量最高,日本桤木则最低;盐分从茎基部向树冠形成浓度梯度。树冠下泥炭孔隙水化学受化学过程控制,孔隙水充沛条件下,控制作用减弱,因地势平缓(1°)茎流移动缓慢。事实上,泥炭孔隙水充足会使茎流化学物质浓度降低。微生物活动、优势树冠的营养再生介导的表面水和茎流对森林沼泽地微生境化学环境的空间异质性有贡献。图2表2参44。     

Mechanisms of perception of laid lines in Japanese paper

Laid lines are observed frequently in Japanese paper. For restoration of historic document paper, the laid line intervals should be consistent between the restoration paper and the original paper for harmonized appearance. Considering this prerequisite, the perception mechanisms of the laid lines are discussed. Laid lines can be easily observed against backlight. However, there are several cases where laid lines are not visible against backlight, but are clearly visible with diffuse reflected light. With paper sheets formed on screens with short bamboo splint pitches, laid lines were observed only with diffuse reflected light. Within these sheets, there was no fiber mass distribution or surface roughness that correlated with the periodicity of the laid lines. On the other hand, paper sheets produced using long splint pitches exhibited light transmission unevenness, fiber mass unevenness, and surface roughness. Microscopic observations using two-way low-angle illumination revealed the following mechanism. In the flow sheet-forming method, fibers are oriented strongly in the cross-splint direction in the first layer while some fibers rotate and become aligned along the interspaces between the splints in the second layer during dehydration. Bidirectionally oriented fibers perpendicular to each other result in a contrasting reflectivity perceived as laid lines.     

Accurate analysis of taurine,anserine, carnosine and free amino acids in a cattle muscle biopsy sample

We have established an analysis method for some free amino acids (FAAs), as well as taurine (Tau), anserine (Ans) and carnosine (Car), in a fresh biopsy sample from cattle muscle. A series of model biopsy samples, corresponding to the mixtures of lean meat, fat and connective tissue, was prepared and showed high correlation coefficients between the compound concentration and the 3‐methylhistidine (3‐MeHis) content derived from hydrolysis of the biopsy sample (r = 0.74–0.95, P < 0.01). Interference from blood contamination could not be neglected, because the concentration of some FAAs in blood was comparable to that in muscle. However, it was possible to control the contamination of Tau, Ans, Car, glutamic acid, glutamine, asparatic acid and alanine to less than 5.0% when the blood contamination was controlled to less than 23%.These results suggest the necessity of measuring 3‐MeHis as an index of lean meat and hemoglobin as an index of blood contamination when compounds in muscle biopsy samples are evaluated. We have carried out a series of these analyses using one biopsy sample and reveal differences in Tau, Ans, Car and some FAAs in beef muscle after different feeding regimes.     

Molecular typing of Japanese strains of Ralstonia solanacearum in relation to the ability to induce a hypersensitive reaction in tobacco

The genetic diversity of 120 Ralstonia solanacearum strains isolated from a variety of host plants across Japan was assessed on the basis of hypersensitive response (HR) in tobacco leaves and phylogenetic analyses of endoglucanase gene egl, hrpB, and gyrB. Phylogenetic analysis of egl revealed that only three strains belonged to phylotype IV, and 117 strains belonged to phylotype I. Partial sequences of HrpB were identical among phylotype I strains except for one strain. Analyses using the partial nucleotide sequences of the gyrB and egl gene fragments grouped phylotype I strains into 11 gyrB and 8 egl types, respectively, whereas analyses using the partial amino acid sequences of GyrB and Egl grouped phylotype I strains into 4 GyrB and 5 Egl types, respectively. Using multilocus sequence typing of GyrB and Egl, we identified 10 unique sequence types within the Japanese phylotype I strains. Strains belonging to the GyrB42 or GyrB66 type caused wilt in tobacco, and strains belonging to GyrB2 or GyrB9 type elicited HR, demonstrating that HR induction in tobacco is genetically differentiated in the Japanese strains of R. solanacearum.     

Grapevine crown gall caused by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Rhizobium radiobacter</Emphasis> (Ti) in Japan

In 2005, characteristic symptoms of crown gall on grapevines (Vitis vinifera L. cv. Muscat of Alexandria, and cv. Seto Giants) were observed in a commercial greenhouse-orchard in Okayama Prefecture, Japan. Isolations from diseased tissues consistently yielded bacterial colonies that were white, glistening, and produced abundant polysaccharide on potato semi-synthetic agar (PSA) medium. Ten representative isolates were chosen for further characterization. A multiplex polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assay showed these strains were not Rhizobium vitis but did possess a Ti plasmid. The bacteriological characteristics of the isolates corresponded well with R. radiobacter. The almost complete 16S ribosomal DNA sequences of isolates AT06-1 and AT06-2, selected from 10 grapevine isolates, were determined and corresponded to sequences of R. radiobacter. The pathogenicity of the isolates was tested on young grapevine and tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) plants. Gall symptoms developed on both plant species after inoculation, and bacteria with the same colony morphology as those inoculated were reisolated. Based on these results, the isolates were identified as R. radiobacter (Ti). This report is the first of the occurrence of R. radiobacter (Ti) on grapevine in Japan. Phylogenetic analyses using the partial nucleotide sequences of virC operon located on a Ti plasmid showed that the isolate of R. radiobacter (Ti) isolated from grapevine and some strains of R. vitis (Ti) belonged to the same monophyletic group, which differed from the groups of R. radiobacter (Ti) isolated from plants other than grapevine and of the majority of R. vitis (Ti) strains isolated from grapevine. The nucleotide sequence data reported are available in the DDBJ/EMBL/GenBank databases under accessions AB306890, AB306891, and AB465432–AB465459.     

Production of intraspecific hybrids between wild-type and petaloid-sepal cultivars in Habenaria radiata

Orchids are commercially important plants with flowers that are unique and very specialized in shape and color. The flowers consist mostly of sepals, lateral petals, lip (labellum) and column, and are zygomorphic and resupinate. Whereas most orchid species have petaloid tepals in the first and second whorls, Habenaria radiata has a flower with greenish sepals and white lateral petals and lip. ‘Hishou’, one of the cultivars of H. radiata, is a floral homeotic mutant and has a petaloid median sepal and lip-like lateral sepals in the first whorl. Additionally, this cultivar often has non-resupinate flowers whereas wild-type H. radiata flowers are resupinate. In the present study, we investigated the genetic inheritance of these characters in the ‘Hishou’ cultivar by crossing it with wild-type plants. Some intraspecific hybrids, which were confirmed by PCR-RFLP analysis, had flowers with a petaloid median sepal and lip-like lateral sepals in the first whorl, indicating that these were dominant characters. Since the remainder of the intraspecific hybrids had wild-type flowers, these characters must be heterozygous in ‘Hishou’ plants. Although ‘Hishou’ plants had non-resupinate flowers, intraspecific hybrid flowers were resupinate, even though they had the petaloid median sepal and lip-like lateral sepals. This result indicates that non-resupination must be a recessive character. Since sepal-petalization and triple lip characters of ‘Hishou’ inherited dominantly, these characters can be utilized for the breeding of Habenaria species by intra- and interspecific crosses.     

Promotive effect of soil solution on germination of Monochoria vaginalis under paddy conditions

ABSTRACT

Growth of the weed Monochoria vaginalis (Burm. f.) Kunth under the conditions of organic rice production is a serious problem. The reason for the growth of M. vaginalis being dominant, especially in organic rice production, is not fully understood. In this study, laboratory experiments were conducted to analyze soil and seed factors in relation to the promotion of germination. (1) After incubation of flooded soil with or without the addition of rice bran (0.3%, 0.6%, and 0.9% in an air-dried soil basis), soil solutions were recovered and seeds of M. vaginalis were incubated in the soil solutions. Germination in the soils solutions without and with 0.3% rice bran was greater than that in distilled water. However, germination was suppressed in the presence of 0.6% and 0.9% of rice bran. These findings indicate that the solution from the soils with rice bran has different effects that may either increase or decrease germination. (2) A mixture of air-dried soil and distilled water was filtered to obtain a soil solution. Seeds were incubated in the soil solution (same as above). Environmental and physiological factors affected germination: exposure of seeds to light was an environmental factor and high germination activity and shallow dormancy of seed were physiological. The recovered soil solution promoted germination when these factors were not optimized. (3) There was a negative and significant correlation between dissolved oxygen (DO) in the soil solution and germination, indicating that a low content of DO was a promotive factor for germination. (4) Based on an experiment using pH buffers, germination increased with decrease in pH of soil solution, as long as the pH ranged from 4.0 to 7.0. This finding indicates that pH is also a factor that promotes germination.