Preharvest aminoethoxyvinylglycine treatments reduce internal browning and prolong the shelf-life of early ripening pears

The effect of aminoethoxyvinylglycine (AVG) on internal browning (IB) and keeping quality of early maturing European pears cv ‘Camusina di Genova’ and ‘Camusina di Bonarcado’ was examined over 10 days of storage at 18 °C. AVG was applied at 125 or 250 mg/L 2 weeks before harvest. At harvest fruit treated with AVG was less ripe than control fruit, being significantly firmer and experiencing lower values of maturity stage (based on ground color), maturity index (calculated value) and IB, depending on the AVG dose and cultivar. During storage, there was no treatment-dependent difference in titratable acidity and total soluble solids of juice, while both treatments reduced ethylene and respiration rates, delayed the ripening process and lowered the incidence of IB and the loss of firmness, especially when applied at 250 mg/L. In addition, AVG treatment significantly reduced decay development in both cultivars, mainly when it was applied at 250 mg/L. This effect was related to the delay of ripen and to possible inhibition of ethylene production by the pathogens and/or infected tissues.     

Osmotic adjustment,proline accumulation and cell membrane stability in leaves of Cocos nucifera submitted to drought stress

The role of drought-induced proline accumulation in coconut leaves is still unclear. With the objective of evaluating the impact of water shortage on leaf osmotic potential, proline accumulation and cell membrane stability in young plants of two Brazilian Green Dwarf coconut ecotypes from contrasting areas (Brazilian Green Dwarf from Una, Bahia, UGD, and from Jiqui, Rio Grande do Norte, JGD), a pot experiment was conducted under greenhouse conditions. Three drought cycles consisting of suspension of irrigation until the net photosynthetic rate (A) approached zero and rewatering until recovery of A to 85% of the irrigated control plants. Pre-dawn leaf water potential (Ψ_PD) reached −1.2 MPa at the point of maximum stress (PMS). Dry matter production and leaf area were severely reduced by drought treatment in the two ecotypes. Corrected values of osmotic potential were significantly reduced in stressed plants of the two ecotypes. Green dwarf coconut palm showed low osmotic adjustment (from 0.05 to 0.24 MPa) and significant accumulation of proline (from 1.5 to 2.1 times in relation to control) in leaflets in response to water deficit. Considering the growth reduction observed in both ecotypes, proline was not associated to osmoregulation. On the other hand, the absence of membrane damage, as indicated by electrolyte leakage method, suggests that the protective role of proline in this specie can be more important. The two ecotypes of Green dwarf coconut palm behaved similarly in the present experiment for most traits evaluated. Slight differences among the ecotypes were observed with respect to the response to treatments, such as higher proline accumulation in JGD.     

Object-orientated image analysis for the semi-automatic detection of dead trees following a spruce bark beetle (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Ips typographus</Emphasis>) outbreak

The survey and continuing inventory in the Bavarian Forest National Park of deadwood areas resulting from a spruce bark beetle calamity are being performed by means of visual evaluation of colour infrared aerial photographs. With the aid of the object-oriented image analysis software eCognition, it was possible to develop a partially automated method for this purpose. In order to verify the classification results, a test area was classified, and the results compared with those obtained by the previously used method. In addition, the classification results from two consecutive years were compared, and accuracy assessment methods were used to scrutinize the results. Classification in the deadwood areas yielded a total classification accuracy of 91.5%. In regard to objectivity and degree of detail, the newly developed method is significantly superior to the former method, which is based on visual interpretation with a stereo workstation. One problem, however, was the insufficient spatial accuracy of the respective orthophotos. Because of this, it was not possible to detect changes over the course of specified time intervals. Therefore, a practical application of this method would require that the orthophotos from various dates or times be precisely spatially assigned. This requirement can be achieved with the production of new orthophotos.     

Clinical findings, rhinoscopy and histological evaluation of 54 dogs with chronic nasal disease

Nasal diseases are very common in dogs and rhinoscopy is often required for a definitive diagnosis. Rhinoscopy, while superficial in nature, can guide the clinician to the final diagnosis. In this study, rhinoscopy was performed on 54 dogs with symptoms of chronic nasopharyngeal disease. The endoscopic diagnosis of neoplasia or chronic nasal inflammation was validated with histological examination of pathological samples, in order to evaluate the degree of concordance between endoscopic findings and histological diagnosis. The agreement between endoscopy and histology was tested by application of Cohen''s kappa coefficient. We conclude that correlation between endoscopic results and histological diagnosis, expressed by a Cohen''s kappa coefficient of 0.73, is only possible with a constant cooperation between the clinician and the pathologist.     

Effects of nutritional support on hospital outcome in dogs and cats

Objective – Investigate the effects of assisted nutritional support on hospital outcome in dogs and cats, and the relationship between hospital outcome and energy intake, body condition score (BCS), physical status score, and type of nutritional support used. Design – Retrospective analysis of hospitalized animals. Setting – Teaching Veterinary Hospital. Animals – Four hundred and sixty‐seven dogs and 55 cats. Interventions – Routine clinical nutritional support. Measurements and Main Results – The following variables were recorded for each animal: energy intake, body weight at admission and discharge, BCS, physical status score, and type of nutritional support used. Disease severity was negatively associated with hospital outcome and energy intake (P=0.009). Energy intake was positively associated with hospital discharge (P<0.001). Outcome may be related to BCS, with discharge rates of 73% for animals with low BCS, and 84.7% for those at an ideal BCS or overweight (P=0.04). Sixty‐four percent of animals showed voluntary food intake (92.9% were discharged), 19.0% received enteral support (71.8% were discharged), 7.0% were forced fed (75.0% were discharged), 6.0% received parenteral support (61.9% were discharged), and 4.0% did not receive calories (38.4% were discharged), suggesting a possible relationship between the type of nutritional support, energy intake, and outcome (P=0.009). Conclusions – Energy supply, even if modest and close to resting energy requirements appears to be positively associated with hospital discharge. However, disease severity was the main negative factor on outcome and also had a negative effect on energy intake, making it difficult to separate the effects of both factors when interpreting hospital discharge. Thin animals with low BCS had greater mortality.     

Understanding the relationships between genetic and phenotypic structures of a collection of elite durum wheat accessions

A collection of 191 durum wheat accessions representing Mediterranean Basin genetic diversity was grown in nine different environments in four countries, with productivities ranging from 0.99 to 6.78 t ha⁻¹. The population breeding structure comprised eight genetic subpopulations (GSPs) using data derived from 97 evenly distributed SSR markers. The phenotypic structure was assessed: (i) from the mean values of six agronomic traits across environments (multivariate), and (ii) from data representing each trait in each environment (univariate). Mean daily maximum temperature from emergence to heading was significantly (P < 0.05) and negatively associated to yield, accounting for 59% of yield variations. Significant but weak relationships were obtained between the genetic similarities among accessions and their overall agronomic performance (r = 0.15, P < 0.001), plant height (r = 0.12, P < 0.001), spike–peduncle length (r = 0.06, P < 0.01) and thousand kernel weight (r = 0.03, P < 0.05), suggesting a very low possibility of prediction of the agronomic performance based on random SSR markers. The percentage of variability (measured by sum of squares) explained by the environment varied between 76.3 and 98.5% depending on the trait, while that explained by genotypes ranged between 0.4 and 12.6%, and that explained by the GE interaction ranged from 1.1 to 12.5%. The clustering of the accessions based on multivariate phenotypic data offered the best explanation of genotypic differences, accounting for 30.3% (for yield) to 75.1% (for kernel weight) of the observed variation. The genotype × environment interaction was best explained by the phenotypic univariate clustering procedure, which explained from 28.5% (for kernel weight) to 74.9% (for days to heading) of variation. The only accessions that clustered both in the genetic dissimilarities tree and the tree obtained using Euclidean distances based on standardized phenotypic data across environments were those closely related to the CIMMYT hallmark founder ‘Altar 84’, the ICARDA accessions adapted to continental-dryland areas, and the landraces, suggesting that genetic proximity corresponded to agronomic performance in only a few cases.     

Integrated approach of multiple environmental datasets for the assessment of sediment contamination in marine areas affected by long-lasting industrial activity: the case study of Bagnoli (southern Italy)

Purpose

The Bagnoli’s brownfield site (southern Italy) is an environmental priority for the Italian Government and is currently considered as a case study for the definition and application of innovative approaches to ecosystem recovery after a prolonged pollution history and eventual steel plant decommissioning.

Materials and methods

Here, we analyse high-quality datasets that constrain the distribution patterns and sources of contaminants in the coastal zone facing the site where the steel plant operated for almost one century. Innovative statistical approaches provide new insights into the temporal and spatial distribution of anthropogenic impacts, documented over the last 30 years, following lines of evidence emerging from investigations on grain size, TOC, heavy metals, PAHs, PCBs and high-resolution morpho-bathymetric information.

Results and discussion

The results derived from statistical analysis, referred also to the seafloor morphological variability, highlighted the presence of recent disposal of highly contaminated sediments and their potential pathways of dispersion to wider and deeper water zones.

Conclusions

The adopted multidisciplinary approach yields fundamental information towards an effective and proper ecosystem recovery of highly contaminated marine coastal areas and provides at the same time, a sound base for the refitting of decommissioned industrial plants.