Chlamydospores of Fusarium Oxysporum Schlecht f.sp. orthoceras (Appel & Wollenw.) Bilai as Inoculum for Wheat-flour—Kaolin Granules to be Used for the Biological Control of Orobanche cumana Wallr.

The formation of chlamydospores of Fusarium oxysporum Schlecht. f.sp. orthoceras (Appel & Wollenw.) Bilai, a potential mycoherbicide for the parasitic weed Orobanche cumana Wallr., was optimised regarding the composition of the liquid growth medium. After 16 days of incubation, highest chlamydospore counts (approximately 2 × 10⁷ml^–1) were determined in an aqueous solution amended with 1.5% (w/v) finely ground sorghum stover and 30% (v/v) wheat-based stillage, a liquid by-product of ethanol production. The produced fungal biomass retained viability after being air-dried and stored. Granules made from wheat-flour and kaolin (Pesta) containing microconidia or air-dried chlamydospore-rich biomass were prepared and showed high efficacy in controlling O. cumana in the greenhouse. No differences in efficacy were observed between the different types of inoculum used.     

Genetic variation in nitrogen uptake and utilization efficiency in a segregating DH population of winter oilseed rape

Genetic variation in nitrogen (N) use efficiency, N uptake, and N utilization was analyzed in a doubled haploid (DH) population derived from winter oilseed rape cultivars. The aim was to analyze the relative importance of uptake and utilization efficiency and to identify parameters that allow an easy selection of N efficient genotypes. Fifty-four DH lines were tested in four to seven environments at two levels of N supply: no fertilization and 240 kg N ha^?1. N uptake efficiency is defined as the amount of N acquired by a genotype as the proportion of the N available in the soil. N utilization efficiency is measured as unit grain yield per unit of N taken up. Significant genotypic variation was observed for both uptake and utilization efficiency. At low N supply, variation in N efficiency was mainly the result of differences in uptake efficiency. Seed yield was correlated positively with N uptake and N utilization efficiencies at low N supply and with N uptake at high N supply. The correlation was positive between harvest index (HI) and N use efficiency at both N levels (r = 0.45**; r = 0.36**) and for HI and N utilization at low N supply (r = 0.46**), indicating that a shorter plant ideotype might be more N efficient. The interaction between genotypes and N supply for grain yield was highly significant, and the correlation between low N and high N was of only medium size (r = 0.60**), suggesting the possibility of selecting genotypes with specific adaptation to low N supply.     

Röntgen‐computertomographischer vergleich von lagerungsdichte und makroporosität zwischen lysimetern und herkunftsfläche

Mit Hilfe der Röntgen‐Computertomographie wurde das Bodengefüge an Stechzylinderproben aus zwei 20 Jahre alten Lysimetermonolithen und von deren Herkunftsfläche analysiert. Der Vergleich weist im Fall des Sandlöβ‐Pseudogleys lediglich für die Tiefe 50–60 cm Unterschiede aus, die sich auf eine hohe mechanische Belastung der Herkunftsfläche kurze Zeit vor der Beprobung zurückführen lassen. Dieser Unterschied wird durch die gravimetrisch bestimmten Lagerungsdichten untermauert. Die Abweichungen in gröβeren Tiefen sind dagegen so gering, daß sie durch die kleinräumige Heterogenität des Substrates zu erklären sind.

Im Fall der Löß‐Schwarzerde ergeben sich für die untersuchte Tiefe von 50–60 cm Unterschiede in der Aggregierung und in der Makroporosität. Die Ursache hierfür wird im mittleren Jahresniederschlag gesehen, der auf der Herkunftsfläche um 100 mm niedriger ist als am Lysimeterstandort. Die Gefügeunterschiede werden auf Unterschiede in der Durchwurzelung zurückgeführt. Die gravimetrisch bestimmten mittleren Lagerungsdichten auf der Herkunftsfläche sind mit denen im Lysimeter praktisch identisch.     

Increased Carbon Stabilization in Australian Ferrosol with High Carbon Saturation Deficit

The concept of carbon (C) saturation implies that soils have a finite capacity to store C in a stable form, depending on their silt + clay content. We hypothesized that the stabilization of added organic C would be low in C saturated soil. We tested experimentally the influence of C saturation deficit on stabilization of added grass residue. We incubated 12 highly weathered, oxic soil samples collected from three contrasting land uses (i.e. cropping, improved pasture, and forest) with grass residue for 8 months. Carbon saturation deficit of the forest soils was lower than pasture and cropping soils. After incubation, we found increases in silt + clay associated C in grass residue treatment positively correlated with C saturation deficit of soils. Our results suggest that stabilization of added C was high in soil with low C saturation level and hence higher C saturation deficit.     

<Emphasis Type="Italic">Agrobacterium</Emphasis>-mediated transformation of faba bean <Emphasis Type="Italic">(Vicia faba</Emphasis> L.) using embryo axes

A system for the production of transgenic faba bean by Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was developed. This system is based upon direct shoot organogenesis after transformation of meristematic cells derived from embryo axes. Explants were co-cultivated with A. tumefaciens strain EHA105/pGlsfa, which harbored a binary vector containing a gene encoding a sulphur rich sunflower albumin (SFA8) linked to the bar gene. Strain EHA 101/pAN109 carrying the binary plasmid containing the coding sequence of a mutant aspartate kinase gene (lysC) from E. coli in combination with neomycinphosphotransferase II gene (nptII) was used as well. The coding sequences of SFA8 and LysC genes were fused to seed specific promoters, either Vicia faba legumin B4 promoter (LeB4) or phaseolin promoter, respectively. Seven phosphinothricin (PPT) resistant clones from Mythos and Albatross cultivars were recovered. Integration, inheritance and expression of the transgenes were confirmed by Southern blot, PCR, enzyme activity assay and Western blot.     

Isozyme variation in Ethiopian tetraploid wheat (Triticum turgidum) landrace agrotypes of different seed color groups

Summary Ethiopian landraces of tetraploid wheat can be grouped according to their seed colors in three major groups: brown, purple and white seeded. Seeds with different colours are used for different purposes, and the three seed colour groups are treated separately in breeding programs. The genetic variation between and within these groups was studied by isozyme analyses at six highly polymorphic loci in sixty landrace agrotypes. The mean number of alleles per locus was 1.95. The mean allele frequencies showed significant variation both within and between the seed colour groups. The brown and white seeded types had very high genetic identity and the genetic identity values between the brown and purple and the purple and white groups were only slightly smaller. The average coefficient of gene differentiation between the seed colour types was very low. Only about 5% of the total genetic variation was due to differences between the seed colour groups. This indicates that agrotypes of different seed colours can not be treated as genetically separate and distinct groups.     

High-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry profiling of phenolic compounds for evaluation of olive oil bitterness and pungency

Bitterness and pungency are important parameters for olive oil quality. Therefore, two instrumental methods for evaluation of these taste attributes were developed. The first one is based on the photometric measurement of total phenolic compounds content, whereas the second one is based on the semiquantitative evaluation of hydrophilic compounds by high-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS). Evaluation of total phenolic compounds content was performed by a modified method for the determination of the K(225) value using a more specific detection based on the pH value dependency of absorbance coefficients of phenols at λ = 274 nm. The latter method was not suitable for correct prediction, because no significant correlation between bitterness/pungency and total phenolic compounds content could be found. For the second method, areas of 25 peaks detected in 54 olive oil samples by a HPLC-MS profiling method were correlated with the bitterness and pungency by partial least-squares regression. Six compounds (oleuropein aglycon, ligstroside aglycon, decarboxymethyl oleuropein aglycon, decarboxymethyl ligstroside aglycon, elenolic acid, and elenolic acid methyl ester) show high correlations to bitterness and pungency. The computed model using these six compounds was able to predict bitterness and pungency of olive oil in the error margin of the sensory evaluation (±0.5) for most of the samples.     

Extending the rapeseed genepool with resynthesized Brassica napus L. I: Genetic diversity

Resynthesized Brassica napus L. could be employed to increase the genetic variation in the narrow oilseed rape genepool and to establish a genetically distant genepool for hybrid breeding. One important criterion for selecting appropriate resynthesized lines is their genetic distance to adapted breeding material. In this study we estimated the genetic distances in a wide collection of 142 resynthesized lines and 57 winter and spring rapeseed cultivars from Europe, North America and Asia using RFLP marker data. The highest in-group genetic distance (0.36) was observed in 142 resynthesized lines compared to 0.21 in winter, 0.23 in summer, and 0.28 in Asian genotypes. The group of adapted breeding material clustered into three groups of winter-, spring-type, and Asian genotypes. Resynthesized lines did not form distinct subgroups in the cluster analysis, but large differences were revealed in the genetic distance of resynthesized lines to the adapted winter oilseed rape genepool. The highest distance to winter oilseed rape was found in resynthesized lines with parental lines from the Asian genepool as B. oleracea convar. botrytis var. alboglabra (Bail.) Sun or B. rapa ssp. chinensis (L.) Hanelt.     

Quality evaluation of olive oil by statistical analysis of multicomponent stable isotope dilution assay data of aroma active compounds

An instrumental method for the evaluation of olive oil quality was developed. Twenty-one relevant aroma active compounds were quantified in 95 olive oil samples of different quality by headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) and dynamic headspace coupled to GC-MS. On the basis of these stable isotope dilution assay results, statistical evaluation by partial least-squares discriminant analysis (PLS-DA) was performed. Important variables were the odor activity values of ethyl isobutanoate, ethyl 2-methylbutanoate, 3-methylbutanol, butyric acid, E,E-2,4-decadienal, hexanoic acid, guaiacol, 2-phenylethanol, and the sum of the odor activity values of Z-3-hexenal, E-2-hexenal, Z-3-hexenyl acetate, and Z-3-hexenol. Classification performed with these variables predicted 88% of the olive oils' quality correctly. Additionally, the aroma compounds, which are characteristic for some off-flavors, were dissolved in refined plant oil. Sensory evaluation of these models demonstrated that the off-flavors rancid, fusty, and vinegary could be successfully simulated by a limited number of odorants.     

Literature review of the diagnosis of porcine proliferative enteropathy

Lawsonia (L.) intracellularis is the etiologic agent of ileitis, which occurs in different forms in pigs. The infection can be demonstrated by several methods. In routine diagnosis the indirect detection of L. intracellularis is conducted by measuring antibodies performing an indirect IFT or ELISA. Furthermore, an IFT and PCR on faecal and/or tissue samples are well established for the direct detection. The suitability of PCR on faecal samples is frequently discussed. Problems are related to various inhibitors that are component of faeces. When interpreting laboratory results, the past medical history of pigs, i.e. antimicrobial treatment, has to be considered. Since 2004 a new vaccine against ileitis is licensed. A possible influence of vaccination on diagnostic testing, especially PCR and ELISA, is hardly investigated. Therefore, the interpretation of laboratory results from vaccinated animals is, considering the current literature, restrained.