The inheritance of chemical phenotype in <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cannabis sativa</Emphasis> L. (III): variation in cannabichromene proportion

The mechanism that controls the proportion of cannabichromene (CBC), a potential pharmaceutical, in the cannabinoid fraction of Cannabis sativa L. is explored. As with tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD), CBC is an enzymatic conversion product of the precursor cannabigerol (CBG). CBC is reported to dominate the cannabinoid fraction of juveniles and to decline with maturation. This ontogeny was confirmed in inbred lines with different mature chemotypes. A consistent CBC presence was found in early leaves from a diverse clone collection, suggesting that CBC synthase is encoded by a fixed locus. Morphological variants possessing a ‘prolonged juvenile chemotype’ (PJC), a substantial proportion of CBC persisting up to maturity, are presented. PJC is associated with a reduced presence of floral bracts, bracteoles, and capitate-stalked trichomes. Genetic factors causing these features were independent of the allelic chemotype locus B that was previously postulated and regulates THC and CBD synthesis and CBG accumulation. In contrast to previously described Cannabis chemotypes, the cannabinoid composition of PJCs showed plasticity in that reduced light levels increased the CBC proportion. The ability of PJC plants to enable the production of pharmaceutical raw material with high CBC purity is demonstrated.     

Response of gladiolus (Gladiolus spp) plants after exposure corms to chitosan and hot water treatments

The state of Morelos, Mexico has gradually become an important producer of gladiolus. Some preconditioning treatments of corms are empirically done causing uneven emergence and low quality of flowers. In this investigation, before planting, gladiolus corms var. ‘Blanca Borrego’ were dipped in chitosan (chitosan reagent and commercial chitosan Biorend^®), in hot water at various temperatures and in treatments combined with Biorend^® at 1.5% and hot water. Results indicated that the most influenced variables were corm germination, number of flowers per spike, number of cormlets and vase life. Overall, the commercial product Biorend^® at 1.5% accelerated corm emergence in approximately 4 days, the number of flowers increased by 2–7 and the vase life extended for 3 days. The number of cormlets was also duplicated. Corms dipped in the commercial chitosan Biorend^® at 1.5% at different intervals of time were not greatly affected except for the emergence and number of cormlets. However, for this experiment there were significant effects on the number of leaves and flowers because of the interactions between chitosan and the immersion time. The temperature of 55 °C affected plant development because emergence was delayed by 6 days; and there were less number of leaves, flowers and cormlets. On the other hand, the incidence of Fusarium oxysporum in naturally infected corms was 0% at temperatures of 55 °C and 50 °C. Immersion times (0, 10, 15 and 20 min) in hot water at 50 °C did not show significant effects on plant development and vase life. Corms dipped in Biorend^® at 1.5% and hot water at 50 °C accelerated their emergence for about 1–7 days, the number of flowers increased by two, extended the storage life for 1–3 days and increased the number of cormlets. The integration of these two treatments -Biorend^® and hot water- might be a good option for increasing the gladiolus plant quality and vase life.     

Evaluation of tangerine hybrid resistance to Alternaria alternata

The Alternaria Brown Spot, caused by Alternaria alternata, is a major fungal disease in some kinds of tangerines, tangor, mandarins and pomelos. In Brazil as well as worldwide, A. alternata can cause necrosis in fruits, branches and leaves, causing substantial profit loss. In the present research, in laboratory conditions and in the field, we evaluated the resistance to the fungus, in leaves and fruits, for 22 varieties and hybrids of tangerines. To this end, we evaluated genotypes belonging to the Germplasm Bank of the Estação Experimental de Citricultura de Bebedouro. The resistant genetic materials (found in leaves and fruits) represented four varieties of clementines (Citrus clementina); six varieties of mandarins (two belonging to C. reticulata, two to C. tangerina, one to C. deliciosa and one to C. nobilis); one tangelo (C. tangerina × C. paradisi); two mandarin hybrids (one resulting from crossing C. nobilis × C. deliciosa and the other from crossing C. clementina × C. reticulata); one tangor hybrid (C. clementina) and two satsuma hybrids (C. unshiu × C. deliciosa). We also determined a relation between the inoculation of leaves and fruits. The resistance and susceptibility following inoculation in leaves and fruits supports a relationship between these organs and the physiological responses observed for the evaluated genotypes.     

Upscaling as ecological information transfer: a simple framework with application to Arctic ecosystem carbon exchange

Transferring ecological information across scale often involves spatial aggregation, which alters information content and may bias estimates if the scaling process is nonlinear. Here, a potential solution, the preservation of the information content of fine-scale measurements, is highlighted using modeled net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of an Arctic tundra landscape as an example. The variance of aggregated normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), measured from an airborne platform, decreased linearly with log(scale), resulting in a linear relationship between log(scale) and the scale-wise modeled NEE estimate. Preserving three units of information, the mean, variance and skewness of fine-scale NDVI observations, resulted in upscaled NEE estimates that deviated less than 4% from the fine-scale estimate. Preserving only the mean and variance resulted in nearly 23% NEE bias, and preserving only the mean resulted in larger error and a change in sign from CO₂ sink to source. Compressing NDVI maps by 70–75% using wavelet thresholding with the Haar and Coiflet basis functions resulted in 13% NEE bias across the study domain. Applying unique scale-dependent transfer functions between NDVI and leaf area index (LAI) decreased, but did not remove, bias in modeled flux in a smaller expanse using handheld NDVI observations. Quantifying the parameters of statistical distributions to preserve ecological information reduces bias when upscaling and makes possible spatial data assimilation to further reduce errors in estimates of ecological processes across scale.     

Implementation of two high through-put techniques in a novel application: detecting point mutations in large EMS mutated plant populations

Background  

The establishment of mutant populations together with the strategies for targeted mutation detection has been applied successfully to a large number of organisms including many species in the plant kingdom. Considerable efforts have been invested into research on tomato as a model for berry-fruit plants. With the progress of the tomato sequencing project, reverse genetics becomes an obvious and achievable goal.     

Sodicity and salinity in a Brazilian Oxisol cultivated with sugarcane irrigated with wastewater

Changes in soil sodicity-salinity parameters are one of the most characteristic alterations after treated sewage effluent (TSE) irrigation in agro-systems. Considering the importance of these parameters for agricultural management, as well as the economical value of sugarcane for Brazil, the present study aimed at evaluating effects on soil sodicity and salinity under tropical conditions over 16 months of TSE irrigation in a sugarcane plantation at Lins, São Paulo State, Brazil. Soil samplings were carried out in February 2005 (before planting), December 2005 (after 8 months of TSE irrigation) and September 2006 (after 16 months of TSE irrigation) following a complete block design with four treatments and four replicates. Treatments consisted of: (i) control, without TSE irrigation; (ii) T100, T150 and T200, with TSE irrigation supplying 100% (0% surplus, total of 2524 mm), 150% (50% surplus, total of 3832 mm) and 200% (100% surplus, total of 5092 mm) of crop water demand, respectively. Compared to initial soil conditions, at the end of the experiment increases of exchangeable sodium (from 2.4 to 5.9 mmol_c kg⁻¹), exchangeable sodium percentage (ESP) (from 8 to 18%), soluble Na (from 1.4 to 4.7 mmol L⁻¹) and sodium adsorption ratio (SAR) of soil solution (from 3.6 to 12.6 (mmol L⁻¹)^0.5) were found in the soil profile (0-100 cm) as an average for the irrigated plots due to high SAR of TSE. Associated with the increments were mostly significant increases in clay dispersion rates at depths 0-10, 10-20 and 20-40 cm. Electrical conductivity (EC) of soil solution increased during the TSE irrigation period whereas at the end of the experiment, after short term discontinuation of irrigation and harvest, EC in the topsoil (0-10 and 10-20 cm) decreased compared to the previous samplings. Moreover, despite increasing sodicity over time mainly insignificant differences within the different irrigated treatments were found in December 2005 and September 2006. This suggests that independent of varying irrigation amounts the increasing soil sodicity over time were rather caused by the continuous use of TSE than by its quantity applied. Moreover, also plant productivity showed no significant differences within the TSE irrigated plots. The study indicates that monitoring as well as remediation of soil after TSE irrigation is required for a sustainable TSE use in order to maintain agricultural quality parameters.     

Blood and haemoglobin meal as protein sources in diets for gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata): effects on growth, nutritive efficiency and fillet sensory differences

Two parallel experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of partial substitution of fish meal by two different animal protein sources, blood meal (B) and haemoglobin meal (H) at 0, 50 and 100 g kg⁻¹ of level inclusion in diets for gilthead sea bream, considering a long feeding period for juveniles (Trial 1) and a short feeding period (Trial 2) for on-growing fish. In Trial 1, 33 g juveniles were fed for 242 days and the fish fed with 5% and 10% of haemoglobin dietary inclusion obtained less growth, although feed efficiency, protein efficiency ratio and muscle composition were similar in all diets. In Trial 2, 179 g initial weight fish were fed for 164 days and growth of fish fed H10 showed the lowest growth, although nutrient efficiency and muscle composition were not affected significantly. The results of these experiments demonstrated that blood meal can substitute fish meal (up to 10%) with no effect on performance, but may lead to sensory differences compared with fish fed diet 0, while the inclusion of 5% blood meal had no effect on growth or sensory characteristics. Fish fed 10% haemoglobin inclusion had the poorest growth values.     

Feeding responses of juvenile shrimp Litopenaeus vannamei (Boone) fed at different frequencies under laboratory conditions

In shrimp farms, food partitioning during the course of the day is contradictory, ethology studies may help in determining the proper frequency. Litopenaeus vannamei juveniles were placed in 30 L aquariums (41 m⁻²), exposed to a 12:12 h light–dark cycle. Feeding was provided at 10% of biomass three, four and seven times per day, with observations made in 15 min h⁻¹ windows, initiated after the ration was offered. Latency to access the feeding tray and to start eating was recorded using instantaneous focal sampling and digestive tract filling (DTF) by the continuous focal method. Weight gain was recorded at the end of the experiment. We performed seven repetitions, with 28 individuals observed for 33 days for each treatment (490 h of observation). The three-times offering induced less latency for accessing the tray and for ingesting the feed as well as a higher DTF when compared with the other frequencies. Animals fed three and four times had similar weight gains, and were greater than those fed seven times. Our results indicate that a more spaced food offering stimulates the search for and ingestion of feed. As compared with other frequencies, the three-times-per-day option assumes lower labour costs and a more efficient use of the feed.     

Growth,absorption and assimilation efficiency by mature cuttlefish (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Sepia officinalis</Emphasis>) fed with alternative and artificial diets

The effects of feeding three natural frozen diets, grass shrimp (Palaemonetes sp.), crayfish (Procambarus clarkii) and fish (Sardina pilchardus) and two semi-humid artificial diets (based on fish powder) to mature cuttlefish, Sepia officinalis, were analysed. Growth and feeding rates (GR and FR, % BW day⁻¹), food conversions (FC, %), and total protein and lipid composition of the diets were determined. Digestive gland to body weight ratio and absorption efficiency were calculated for each diet. Cuttlefish fed shrimp and crayfish grew larger (1.5 and 1.1% BW day⁻¹, respectively) compared to the other diets. Shrimp promoted the highest FC, followed by crayfish, and sardine. The highest FR was obtained for cuttlefish fed crayfish (8.4% BW day⁻¹). Although both artificial diets were accepted, none produced growth. A positive correlation (r = 0.96) between cuttlefish ingestion rate and digestive gland weight was obtained. Some cannibalism occurred among cuttlefish fed the artificial diets during the last week of the experiment. According to the results obtained, P. clarkii could be used as an alternative prey to shrimp for rearing adult mature (>50 g) S. officinalis.