Effects of plastic film mulch and tillage on maize productivity and soil parameters

This paper determined the effects of mulching time for double furrows and ridges using plastic film on soil water status, grain yield of maize, soil quality, and economic benefits. The study was conducted in a typical semiarid area during two growing seasons of 2006–2007 with the following three treatments: (i) plastic film mulching at maize sowing with conventional tillage, and the film was removed at harvest (CK); (ii) mulching applied 30 d before sowing with conventional tillage, and the film was removed at harvest (T1); and (iii) mulching at sowing with no-tillage, and the film left on the field after harvest in the first season and used for mulching in the second season (T2). The T1 in both years and T2 in the second year (2007) improved soil water content (in the 0–60 cm layer) and temperature (10 cm) at sowing compared with CK. After the two seasons, the soil water content was significantly higher in the 0–80 cm soil layer in CK and T1, and in the 0–120 cm soil layer in T2; however, it decreased significantly in 140–200 cm soil layer in CK and T1, compared to their initial values at sowing in April 2006, and there was no significant change in T2. The rainfall storage in the 0–200 cm soil layer during the non-growing season (late September 2006 to late April 2007) was 18.2 mm in CK, 34.0 mm in T1, and 59.7 mm in T2, and the rainfall storage in 100–200 cm soil layer was 16.5 and 18.6 mm higher in T2 than in CK and T1, respectively. In 2006, there were no significant differences in yield and water use efficiency (WUE) in all treatments. In 2007, the yield in T1 was significantly higher than in T2, but yields in T2 and CK were not significantly different, and there was no significant difference in WUE among treatments. Soil organic carbon (SOC) (0–20 cm) decreased in CK and T1, but increased (by 2.7%) in T2 at harvesting in September 2007 from the initial value of sowing in April 2006. The ratio of output to input was 1.32:1 for CK, 1.40:1 for T1, and 1.67:1 for T2 averaged across the two seasons. Therefore, T2 was a more sustainable model for increasing water storage, producing greater economic benefit and maintaining SOC balance for maize production in semiarid area.     

Assessment of partial resistance to powdery mildew in Chinese wheat varieties

Field trials in two cropping seasons and two locations in central China were conducted on 60 Chinese autumn‐sown wheat varieties to assess their partial resistance to powdery mildew. Mean levels of disease severity ranged from close to 0 to more than 90%. The method of inoculation and the location in which trials were conducted affected the relative performance of the varieties, but these effects were much smaller than the main effect of variety. The area under the disease progress curve was highly correlated with final disease severity, but both were poorly correlated with apparent infection rate. Disease severity was regressed against frequencies of virulence in the Blumeria graminis (syn. Erysiphe graminis) f sp. tritici populations in the trial plots. A vertical distance (D) from the mean mildew severity to the fitted line was calculated for each variety and was used to quantify partial resistance. Five of the 60 varieties, ‘Hx8541’, ‘E28547’, ‘Chuan1066’, ‘Zhe88pin6’ and ‘Lin5064’, consistently expressed relatively low levels of disease despite high frequencies of virulence in the pathogen and had consistently high D‐values. They may therefore have good levels of partial resistance.     

The drought response of landraces of wheat from the northern Negev Desert in Israel

Summary Diverse landraces of wheat, collected from the semi-arid (150 to 250 mm of total annual rainfall) Northern Negev desert in Israel were considered as a potential genetic resource of drought resistance for wheat breeding. These materials were therefore evaluated for their reponses to drought stress in agronomical and physiological terms. Up to 68 landraces, comprising of Triticum durum, T. aestivum, and T. compactum were tested in two field drought environments, in one favourable field environment, under post-anthesis chemical plant desiccation which revealed the capacity for grain filling from mobilized stem reserves, under a controlled drought stress in a rainout shelter and in the growth chamber under polyethylene glycol (PEG)-induced water stress. Biomass, grain yield and its components, harvest index, plant phenology, canopy temperatures, kernel weight loss by chemical plant desiccation, growth reduction by PEG-induced drought stress and osmotic adjustment were evaluated in the various experiments.Landraces varied significantly for all parameters of drought response as measured in the different experiments, which was in accordance to their documented large morphological diversity. Variation in grain yield among landraces under an increasing drought stress after tillering was largely affected by spike number per unit area. Kernel weight contributed very little to yield variation among landraces under stress, probably because these tall (average of 131 cm) landraces generally excelled in their capacity to support kernel growth by stem reserve mobilization under stress. Yield under stress was reduced with a longer growth duration of landraces only under early planting but not under late planting. Landraces were generally late flowering but they were still considered well adapted phenologically to their native region where they were always planted late.Landraces differed significantly in canopy temperature under drought stress. Canopy temperature under stress in the rainout shelter was negatively correlated across landraces with grain yield (r=0.67^**) and biomass (r=0.64^**) under stress. Canopy temperature under stress in the rainout shelter was also positively correlated across landraces (r=0.50^**) with canopy temperature in one stress field environment. Osmotic adjustment in PEG-stressed plants was negatively correlated (r=–0.60^**) with percent growth reduction by PEG-induced water stress. It was not correlated with yield under stress in any of the experiments. In terms of yield under stress, canopy temperatures and stem reserve utilization for grain filling, the most drought resistant landrace was the Juljuli population of T.durum.     

Origin and genetic diversity of Tunisian grapes as revealed by microsatellite markers

Ten SSR loci, previously developed for grapevine, were analyzed to evaluate the genetic variability, cultivar relatedness, and parentage in a collection of 61 autochthonous Vitis vinifera cultivars from Tunisia.The number of alleles per locus ranged from 6 to 11, while the number of genotype patterns varied between 10 and 21. The expected heterozygosity varied between 0.621 and 0.855 and the observed heterozygosity was higher than 0.9 at 4 loci (VVMD28, VVMD5, VVIP31 and VVS2) indicating that the SSRs were highly informative.Cluster analysis using unweighted pair group method with arithmetic averaging (UPGMA) suggested 14 groups among studied cultivars and 53 grapevine denominations out of 61 were unequivocally distinguished, with all accessions showing at least one-specific combination of alleles.On the other hand, in order to overcome the existing confusion in Tunisian grapevine nomenclature, of the analyzed homonymous pairs of cultivars, only ‘Balta 2’ and ‘Balta 3’ have shown identical allelic profiles, consistent with their being the same genotype. Hence, nomenclature distinction is meaningless and only one denomination should be retained.Due to the high overall power of exclusion (Q) (greater than 99.99%) and to the absence of null alleles, the set of microsatellite loci used is appropriate to determine parentage in Tunisian grapevines beyond any reasonable doubt. The analysis of fingerprints indicated that the Tunisian grape vines have evolved through out crossing between five possible parents: Balta 1, Beldi Baddar, Beldi Rafraf, Beldi Local Rafraf and Khedhiri 3.     

Analysis of flowering,stigmas yield and qualitative traits of saffron (Crocus sativus L.) as affected by environmental conditions

Saffron is well known for its use as a condiment spice, as a dye and traditional medicine. Saffron is experiencing an increasing interest mainly due to its peculiar and manifold properties of the metabolic pool of its stigmas, mainly crocetin esters and picrocrocin. This species is cultivated in environments with very different climatic conditions and with very different corm rates from place to place, passed down over the centuries. The aim of this study was therefore the evaluation of the influence of rainfall, temperature and corm density on flower phenology, stigmas yield and main compositional characteristics of two saffron corms provenience. Flowering beginning in saffron seems to be influenced by the combination of temperature and soil moisture, whilst its flowering calendar proves independent of corm provenance, environment and plant density. On the contrary, the studied factors exert a strong effect on both total stigmas yield and qualitative characteristics: colder environment resulted in a higher flower production, but lower quality of stigmas. Flower number was positively correlated with the stigmas yield, but negatively with its unitary weight. The content of crocetin esters and picrocrocin has been evaluated according to the spectrophotometric ISO normative, which ranked the samples into three qualitative decreasing categories (I–III). The spectrophotometric data showed positive correlation with the unitary stigmas weight and negative with stigmas production.     

Improved micropropagation protocol and enhancement in biomass and chlorophyll content in Stevia rebaudiana (Bert.) Bertoni by using high copper levels in the culture medium

Incorporation of a range of higher concentrations of CuSO₄·5H₂O in MS medium [Murashige, T., Skoog, F., 1962. A revised medium for rapid growth and bioassay with 240 tobacco tissue cultures. Physiol. Plant 15, 473–497] significantly enhanced direct shoot bud induction and proliferation from cultured leaf and nodal explants taken from mature plants of Stevia rebaudiana. Shoot bud induction medium was supplemented with BAP (2.2 μM) and IAA (2.8 μM). When the concentration of CuSO₄·5H₂O in the induction medium was raised to 0.5 μM (five times the MS level, i.e. 0.1 μM) there was significant increase in percentage response along with increase in shoot bud number per explant. The shoots were healthy, well developed with dark green broader leaves. There was remarkable increase in total biomass and chlorophyll content at increased (0.5 μM) copper level in the medium. During proliferation stage also presence of high copper levels in the medium favoured increase in shoot bud number per explant.     

Regeneration of adventitious shoots from mature stored cotyledons of Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lind1)

Adventitious shoot regeneration from mature stored cotyledons of Japanese plum (Prunus salicina Lind1) was achieved in vitro. The influences of the presence and absence of the light, different concentrations of thidiazuron (TDZ) and benzyladenine (BA) in the culture media, TDZ pretreatments and different basal salts on shoot regeneration were evaluated. TDZ was more effective in inducing shoot regeneration from mature stored cotyledons than BA. Dark incubation significantly increased the regeneration frequencies. Quoirin/Lepoivre (QL) basal salts stimulated shoot regeneration more than woody plant (WPM) or B5 salts did. The frequency of adventitious shoot formation varied among the varieties and the regeneration ability appeared to be genotype depended. The frequency of regeneration under the optimum tested conditions for ‘Bruce’, ‘Shiro’, ‘Redheart’, ‘Gladstone’ and ‘Early Golden’ cotyledons were 66.7%, 46.7%, 43.3%, 26.7% and 6.7%, respectively.     

Early flower initiation allows ample manipulation of flowering time in cherimoya (Annona cherimola Mill.)

Flower initiation date and readiness to flowering in buds of different age were studied in ‘Fino de Jete’ cherimoya (Annona cherimola) cultivar in order to establish the limits for the manipulation of its flowering date. Flower initiation was analyzed by light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) collecting axillary buds from May to the following February, whereas the bud readiness to produce perfect flowers was determined by forcing buds of different age to sprout by means of leaf removal and tipping the new growth. SEM images confirm that cherimoya buds are differentiated into flowers almost a year before blooming. In this regard, axillary buds have already formed the sepals when the subtending leaf has just begun unfolding (week 0), while the petals are clearly visible in 1-week-old buds. Sectioning of paraffin-embedded buds illustrate that cherimoya buds are in fact a bud complex that 1 week after its inception comprises 4–5 buds of different size of which the two largest ones are reproductive, while the 2–3 smallest buds often remain undifferentiated at that time. The high capacity of flowering expressed by young buds that have been forced to grow proves that cherimoya meristems are early competent for flowering. No differences in fertility or in the time needed to reach anthesis after leaf removal were found among buds of different ages. Node position had no effect on bud break and flowering potential. The early flower initiation in cherimoya deduced from this work opens a wide temporal window for the experimental manipulation of flowering and harvest dates in this crop.     

Polygalacturonase and β-galactosidase activities in Hayward kiwifruit as affected by light exposure,maturity stage and storage time

Softening process and total antioxidant activity were evaluated in kiwifruit differently exposed to light intensity and harvested at two different times (October 10 and November 14). Fruit was stored for 2 months at 0 °C (S1) and then maintained for a week at ambient temperature (S2). The results showed that fruit harvested later presented a faster softening rate during storage than fruit harvested earlier, even if antioxidant activity did not change. Light-exposed fruit showed higher flesh firmness than that of shaded ones. Polygalacturonase activity was higher in kiwifruit maintained for a week at ambient temperature after cool storage and, in particular the highest value was recorded in fruit harvested later. The behaviour of β-galactosidase was different: it did not show changes in fruit harvested later and significantly decreased in light- and shade-exposed fruit harvested earlier.     

A SCAR marker linked to the N gene for resistance to root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) in pepper (Capsicum annuum L.)

The root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.) are important nematode pests and cause serious diseases in pepper in the world. No molecular markers linked to the nematodes resistance N gene have been reported. In this paper, ‘Carolina Wonder’ (Capsicum annuum L.), a sweet pepper line resistant to root-knot nematode with N gene, ‘20080-5-29’ (C. annuum L.), an inbred line susceptible to root-knot nematode with good horticultural characteristics, and their F₂ progeny with 320 individuals were used as materials. Evaluation of resistance and susceptibility of parental lines, F₁ and F₂ progeny inoculated with root-knot nematodes (Meloidogyne incognita) were carried out. ‘Bulked segregant analysis’ method was used to search for polymorphic markers from 512 pairs of AFLP primers. Based on the assessment of resistance and susceptibility and polymorphism of the AFLP marker in F₂ population, the genetic linkage distance between the AFLP marker and the N gene was estimated. One AFLP marker E39/M41-339 was obtained and transferred to a SCAR marker amplifying a 315 bp DNA fragment linked to the N resistant allele and a 331 bp fragment linked to the N⁺ susceptible allele. The distance between the molecular marker and the nematodes resistance N gene is 6.3 cM. This research delivered a valuable tool for the marker assisted selection of nematodes resistance in pepper.