Drone Laying Honey Bee Workers in Queen Monitoring Cages

Techniques to monitor honey bee (Apis mellifera) egg production in cages allow researchers to study how different environmental factors contribute to reproduction. However, although the conditions required to facilitate queen egg production in a laboratory setting have been established, limited work has addressed the requirements for stimulating and monitoring worker egg laying. Here, we documented that drone laying workers will lay eggs in Queen Monitoring Cages (QMC), specialized cages designed to facilitate queen egg laying under controlled conditions. Egg production and worker mortality were compared between QMCs containing queens and those containing drone laying workers. High-definition images of the last abdominal segments of living first-instar larvae hatched from worker laid eggs and those putatively laid by queens were qualitatively compared to identify candidate characteristics to determine their sex.     

基于知识工程的车内布置可视化系统

根据中国人体尺寸和人机工程学知识,建立了通用的三维参数化中国人体模型。综合汽车设计标准、设计知识和专家经验,采用面向对象的知识表达方法及基于规则的推理技术,开发了基于知识工程的汽车车身内部布置系统。实现了视野校核、脚踏板与手操纵件的设计、操纵空间与操纵力校核、安全带固定点位置范围确定等功能。     

Effects of dietary vitamin E and fat supplementation in growing-finishing swine fed to a heavy slaughter weight of 150 kg: II. Tissue fatty acid profile,vitamin E concentrations,and antioxidant capacity of plasma and tissue

The study aimed to assess the effects of vitamin E (VE) supplementation and fat source on fatty acid (FA) composition, VE concentrations, and antioxidant capacity in plasma and tissues of pigs fed to a heavy slaughter weight (150 kg). A total of 64 pigs (32 barrows, 32 gilts; 28.41 ± 0.83 kg) were blocked by sex and weight, and randomly assigned to one of eight dietary treatments (n = 8 per treatment) in a 4 × 2 factorial arrangement. Fat sources included corn starch (CS), 5% tallow (TW), 5% distiller’s corn oil (DCO), and 5% coconut oil (CN); VE supplementation levels were 11 and 200 ppm. Five-phase diets were formulated to meet requirement estimates of NRC (2012) and fed to pigs for each period of 25 kg from 25 to 150 kg. Increasing VE supplementation level increased C16:1 (P < 0.05) content but decreased C20:0 (P < 0.05) content in backfat and belly fat, while in liver, it increased C17:0 (P < 0.05) but decreased C18:0 (P < 0.05). Compared to the pigs fed the CS diet, the pigs fed the CN diet had greater (P < 0.05) content of total saturated FA, the pigs fed the DCO diet had greater (P < 0.05) content of total polyunsaturated FA content and iodine value, and the pigs fed the TW diet had greater (P < 0.05) content of total monounsaturated FA in backfat, belly fat, and liver. Plasma VE concentrations increased linearly (P < 0.05) with increasing length of feeding but faster (P < 0.05) in the pigs fed the CN and TW diets compared with the CS and DCO diets within the 200 ppm VE level; the pigs fed the DCO diet had the highest plasma VE concentrations (P < 0.05) from Phase 2 to Phase 5 within the 11 ppm VE level. The VE concentrations in liver and loin muscle (P < 0.05) increased with increasing dietary VE level from 11 to 200 ppm, but it was not affected by dietary fat source. There was no effect of VE supplementation and fat source on antioxidant capacity in plasma and liver except that pigs fed the DCO diet had greater liver SOD activity (P < 0.05) than the pigs fed the CN diet. In conclusion, dietary VE supplementation did not affect FA profile in backfat, belly fat, and liver consistently, while dietary FA composition with different fat sources affected much of the FA profile in backfat, belly fat, and liver. The higher level of VE supplementation increased liver and muscle VE concentrations and dietary fat sources affected plasma VE concentrations differently (P < 0.05), wherein the TW and CN diets increased the VE absorption greater than the DCO diet.     

Development of specific PCR primers for identification and detection of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phytophthora capsici</Emphasis> Leon

A PCR-based method was developed for the identification and detection of Phytophthora capsici in pepper plants. Three PCR primers (CAPFW, CAPRV1 and CAPRV2) specific for P. capsiciwere designed based on the sequence of its internal transcribed spacer regions. CAPFW/CAPRV1 amplify a 452 bp product from P. capsici DNA whereas CAPFW/CAPRV2 a 595 bp fragment; neither set amplifies DNA from pepper or several fungi pathogenic to pepper. In conventional (single-round) PCR, the limit of detection was 5 pg DNA for both primer sets, whereas in nested PCR the detection limit for both was of 0.5 fg. However, when the dilution series of target DNA were spiked with plant DNA, amplification declined two-fold in both conventional and nested PCR. The CAPFW/CAPRV2 set in conventional PCR was used to detect P. capsici DNA in inoculated plants. Detection occurred as soon as 8h post-inoculation in stem samples from infected but still symptomless plants. The method was also tested to detect fungal DNA in infected soils.     

A dynamic model simulating infection of apple leaves by Venturia inaequalis

A new dynamic model of the infection of apple leaves by Venturia inaequalis is described. The model begins with the release of spores by rain and incorporates the effect of light on the discharge of ascospores from pseudothecia. The model then simulates infection through the sub-processes of germination, appressorium formation and penetration, separately for ascospores and conidia landed concurrently on wet leaves. The rate of the infection process is determined using different equations for ascospores and conidia. Spore mortality when leaves dry is determined by the stage of infection and RH in the dry period. The infection process is driven by surface wetness, temperature and RH. The progress of each infection period is measured as infection efficiency (IE), namely the percentage of landed spores which have penetrated and thereby infected leaves. The final IE quantifies the favourability of weather in each infection period. In orchard tests in each of three years, the new model detected crucial infection periods in spring and early summer which accounted for outbreaks of leaf scab. These periods were not detected by a static model based on Mills'criteria. The models performed similarly in detecting infection periods later in summer.     

Spatial and temporal analysis of coffee wilt disease caused by Fusarium xylarioides in Coffea canephora

Coffee wilt disease (CWD) caused by Fusarium xylarioides, considered to be a soil-inhabiting fungus, is endemic in several African countries, affecting commercially important coffee species and causing serious economic losses. Coffee wilt disease development in naturally infected Coffea canephora fields at the Coffee Research Institute in Uganda was assessed from April 2001 to March 2006 to generate information about temporal and spatial spread of the disease. Maps of diseased trees were also generated from the data. Semi-variance analysis was performed on the data to show the spatio-temporal structure of disease. Host influence on the spatio-temporal structure was deduced from the distribution pattern of diseased and healthy trees and analysis of variance. Results show that the temporal disease epidemic progress was slow. The disease was found to spread from initial infections to healthy neighbouring trees, resulting in an aggregated pattern. An infected tree could infect up to three healthy trees away, in any direction. Disease foci formed and expanded with time, coalescing but punctuated in spots planted with resistant hosts. There were varying levels of susceptibility among host genotypes, affecting the rates and levels of epidemic development. The implications of the findings to the control of CWD are discussed.     

Repression of deoxynivalenol accumulation and expression of Tri genes in Fusarium culmorum by fungicides in vitro

A defined medium was developed in which to monitor deoxynivalenol (DON) accumulation, fungal growth and expression of genes involved in trichothecene biosynthesis (designated Tri genes). In liquid culture, DON accumulated shortly after maximum expression of Tri6 and coincident with expression of Tri5. This was generally 96 h after inoculation. The effects of sublethal concentrations of the fungicides azoxystrobin, trifloxystrobin, kresoxim-methyl and tebuconazole on biosynthesis of the trichothecene DON by Fusarium culmorum were studied using this medium. The strobilurin fungicides trifloxystrobin and azoxystrobin significantly reduced the accumulation of DON in culture medium at a range of concentrations. Kresoxim-methyl, also a strobilurin, and tebuconazole, a triazole, did not significantly reduce the accumulation of DON, although levels were lower than those in nonamended cultures. Trifloxystrobin significantly reduced the accumulation of DON when added to cultures before initiation of trichothecene biosynthesis. RT-PCR assays of the expression of Tri6 and Tri5 genes indicated that trifloxystrobin acted by inhibiting the initiation of trichothecene biosynthesis.