Precision Agriculture - Delineation of management zones (MZs) are needed to manage fields in order to maximize economic return, minimize environmental impact, and improve soil and crop management.... 相似文献
The effect of peat moss on fusarium wilt of melon ( Cucumis melo L.) was studied in order to improve the selection process of resistant melons during breeding programmes. Disease symptoms were evident earlier and disease progress was faster in seedlings that were transplanted to peat following inoculation than in those transplanted to sand. The resistant breeding line used as a control did not show any wilt symptoms in either medium. Mixing the peat with sand or perlite reduced the disease development rate and the final disease incidence. The effects of peat and sand on disease progress were evaluated with two segregating melon populations in which the expected susceptible : resistant ratio was 25 : 75. In both populations, disease incidence was higher in the peat, which enables breeders to identify resistant plants and to lower the risk of using escapees as resistant plants. The mechanism of disease enhancement may include both biotic and abiotic components. There is an indication that peat induces plant susceptibility before inoculation. Melon seedlings germinated in peat and transplanted into sand exhibited significantly greater wilt incidence than those that germinated in sand and were transplanted into sand following the inoculation. Disease progress in sterile peat was significantly slower than that in non-sterile peat, which suggests the possible involvement of microbial activity. 相似文献
Improved short‐ or long‐term fallows are considered suitable low external input technologies for maintaining productivity and sustainability of tropical smallholder upland cropping units, although comparisons on the benefits of this technology are not widely reported. A field study evaluated the impact of improved short (6 months) and long‐term fallow (18 months) using Crotalaria juncea and Tithonia diversifolia, in relation to a natural fallow of the same durations, on the productivity of maize (Zea mays), the most important upland cereal in tropical Asia, over a minor season. The use of improved fallows, especially Tithonia, increased maize yields over the Crotalaria or natural fallow. While the overall yields of maize after a long fallow were greater, the beneficial impact of the green manures was significantly higher in the short fallows. The causal factors for this trend, including biomass production of the improved fallows and possible impact on soils, along with the greater benefits of short‐term fallows for increasing maize yields in the tropics due to lower requirements of unproductive time are presented. 相似文献
Fifteen West African Dwarf grower bucks of about 6–8 months of age and average weights of 8.39 kg were used in a 70-day study to assess the intake and blood profile of West African Dwarf (WAD) goats fed diets containing graded levels of treated sweet orange peel meal (TSOPM), in a completely randomized design. Sweet orange peels were collected from sweet orange retailers within Makurdi, Benue State, Nigeria. The peels were packed into synthetic bags, compressed, and allowed to ferment for 12 h before sun-drying. The sun-dried peels were crushed into a meal and used to compound four treatments diets which consisted of 0, 60, and 80% TSOPM, designated diets A, B, and C respectively. Results showed that there were no significant differences (P?>?0.05) among the treatments in all the performance parameters except in the total forage intake values in which treatment A (19.74 kg) was significantly lower (P?<?0.05) than treatment B (21.77 kg) and treatment C (21.96 kg). But between treatment B and treatment C, there was no difference. Effect of treatments was also not apparent on the haematological indices measured, but the serum biochemical parameters showed significant difference (P?<?0.05) among the treatments for total protein values. The total protein value for treatment C (8.02 g/dl) was significantly higher (P?<?0.05) than treatments A (7.10 g/dl) and B (6.62 g/dl). The study showed that treated sweet orange peel meal can be used up to 80% level to replace maize offal in the diets of goats without adverse effects on the performance blood indices.
We investigated variation in virulence of Cryphonectria hypovirus 1 (CHV‐1) to the chestnut blight fungus, Cryphonectria parasitica, in Macedonia by inoculating chestnut stems in the field. We inoculated trees with two isolates of C. parasitica, each infected with one of five isolates of CHV‐1, four of which were the same for both fungal isolates. Two virus isolates, [Sk28] and [Sk47], were significantly more virulent than the others when compared in the same fungal host isolates, as measured by reduced canker growth and increased callus formation. Mycelial growth rate in vitro was weakly correlated to canker growth or callus formation and is therefore not a reliable predictor for virulence. We found significant fungus × virus interactions for canker growth and callus formation, which seems due mainly to one virus isolate. Significant interactions were not expected because the two fungal host isolates are members of the same clone that is dominant in Macedonia and most of southeastern Europe. Phenotypic variation for response to viruses, therefore, is greater than variation revealed by the genetic markers used to define clones. More than half of the trees inoculated with virus‐free controls were dead within 2 years, and the 30% still alive after 5 years had cankers with extensive callus formation, indicating that natural virus transmission had occurred after inoculation. In contrast, only 2% of the trees inoculated with virus‐infected isolates were dead after 5 years. Hypoviruses naturally occurring in Macedonia reduce canker development and tree mortality similarly to those in other parts of southern Europe, and therefore, may have good potential for biological control of chestnut blight. 相似文献
Despite aggressive pre- or postoperative treatment, feline fibrosarcomas have a high relapse rate. In this study, a new treatment option based on immune stimulation by intra-tumoral delivery of three feline cytokine genes was performed. The objective of this phase-I dose-escalation study was to determine a safe dose for further evaluation in a subsequent phase-II trial. Twenty-five client-owned cats with clinical diagnosis of fibrosarcoma - primary tumours as well as recurrences - entered the study. Four increasing doses of plasmids coding for feIL-2, feIFN-gamma or feGM-CSF, respectively, were previously defined. In groups I, II, III and IV these doses were 15, 50, 150 and 450 microg per plasmid and a corresponding amount of magnetic nanoparticles. Two preoperative intra-tumoral injections of the magnetic DNA solution were followed by magnetofection. A group of four control cats received only surgical treatment. Side effects were registered and graded according to the VCOG-CTCAE scale and correlated to treatment. Statistical analyses included one-way anova, post hoc and Kruskal-Wallis tests. ELISA tests detecting plasma feIFN-gamma and plasma feGM-CSF were performed. One cat out of group IV (450 microg per plasmid) showed adverse events probably related to gene delivery. As these side effects were self-limiting and occurred only in one of eight cats in group IV, this dose was determined to be well tolerable. Altogether six cats developed local recurrences during a 1-year observation period. Four of these cats had been treated with dose IV. Regarding these observations, a subsequent phase-II trial including a representative amount of cats should be tested for the efficacy of dose IV as well as dose III. 相似文献
One of the basic steps in objective analysis of sperm motility is the subdivision of a motile sperm population into slow, medium and rapid categories based on their velocity. However, for CASA analysis of quail sperm, the velocity values for categorization of slow, medium and rapid sperm have not yet been standardized. To identify the cut‐off values of “velocity curvilinear” (VCL) for quail sperm categorization, we captured and analysed 22,300 tracks of quail sperm using SCA®‐CASA. The median and mean VCL values were 85 and 97 μm/s. To define the VCL cut‐off values, we used two methods. In the first, we identified the upper (rapid sperm) and lower (slow sperm) cut‐off values using: (i) median VCL ± 25% or ± 50% or ± 75% of median VCL value; (ii) first and third quartile values of VCL data (i.e. 25% cut‐off setting); and (iii) 33% and 66% of VCL data. Among these settings, sperm categories and their corresponding motility characteristics recorded using the “25%” setting (i.e. slow ≤36 ≤ medium ≤154 ≤ rapid) were found the most realistic and coherent with male ranking by fertility. In the second method, we calculated heteroscedasticity in the total VCL data using PCA and the two‐step clustering method. With this approach, the mean of the high and low clusters was 165 and 51 μm/s, respectively. Together, the mean from two methods suggested that, for SCA®‐CASA categorization of quail sperm, sperm should be classed as “rapid” at VCL ≥160 μm/s and “slow” at VCL ≤45 μm/s. 相似文献