Rapid Screening for Aluminum Tolerance in Cereals by Use of the Chlorophyll Fluorescence Test

The effects of aluminum on the photosynthetic apparatus were examined in cereals grown in nutrient solutions (pH 4.5) at two Al levels (0 and 148 μM). The chlorophyll fluorescence kinetics results confirmed that the soft wheat ‘BHG’ cultivar has the potential for growth on acid soils while triticale cultivars ‘Niovi’ and ‘Dada’ appeared to be relatively tolerant. The percentage decrease in F_v/F_m of the less tolerant cultivars after Al-treatment indicated a decrease in the efficiency of the primary photochemistry of PS II, while the decrease in the ratio F_V/F_osuggested that exposure of the cultivars ‘Dio’ and ‘Appulo E’ to aluminum caused injury to the thylakoid structure. The percentage fluctuations of the ratio F_v/F_mwere shown to correlate very closely with the assessment of injury as evaluated by the relative top fresh weight. Measurements of chlorophyll fluorescence in vivo could be used to monitor injury caused by “Al-stress”, and thus they may serve as a rapid screening test for Al tolerance.     

The Inheritance of Aliphatic Glucosinolates in Brassica napus

The inheritance of aliphatic glucosinolates was studied in crosses between synthetic B. napus lines and oilseed rape cultivars. Six unlinked loci are described which determine the aliphatic glucosinolate profile of B. napus. One locus regulates the presence or absence of propyl glucosinolates, while another regulates the expression of pentyl glucosinolates. Two loci regulate the removal of the terminal H₃CS-group from the amino acid derivative to produce alkenyl glucosinolates as opposed to methylthioalkyl and methylsulphinylalkyl glucosinolates, regardless of the length of the alkyl chain. Likewise, another two loci regulate the hydroxylation of both butenyl and pentenyl glucosinolates. The functional alleles at one of the hydroxylation loci results in significantly more hydroxylation than those at the other locus. The large number of aliphatic glucosinolates which have been described in Brassica thus results from an interaction between genes which regulate side chain elongation and genes which modify the structure of the side chain, regardless of its length. The implications of this study for the biosynthesis of aliphatic glucosinolates, the origin of B. napus and the potential to manipulate the leaf and seed glucosinolate profile of oilseed rape are discussed.     

Influence of the Indoleacetic Acid-Lysine Synthetase Gene (iaaL) of Pseudomonas syringae subsp. savastanoi on Yield Attributes of Potatoes

The iaaL gene of Pseudomonas syringae subsp. savastanoi encodes an indoleacetic acid-lysine synthetase which conjugates free indoleacetic acid (IAA) with lysine. lAA-lys is biologically less active than free IAA. The iaaL coding region was expressed under the control of the cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter and transgenic potato plants were produced (Spena et al. 1991). 35S iaaL potato plants are characterized by increased internodal length and epinastic bending of older leaves. In three greenhouse experiments with plants grown in pots of different size and in two growth chamber experiments tuber number increased in iaaL transgenic plants compared to untransformed and vector-transformed controls of the same genotype. The increase in tuber numbers observed under controlled conditions was reflected in tuber yield which increased in the pot grown transgenics.     

Anthelmhntic effects of injectable and oral paste formulations of ivermectin against 28-day infections of parascaris equorum

Efficacy of ivermectin treatment (0.2 mg/kg) against 28-day experimental infections of Parascaris equorum was determined in 18 pony foals6–17.5 weeks old. There were 6 foals in each group: nontreated control, ivermectin injectable or oral paste. In comparison with larvae found in the nontreated controls, ivermectin injectable or paste was 96.0% and 99.9% efficacious. There was a distinct difference in drug effect against the larger (ca 26mm.) vs the smaller (13–19mm) larvae by the 2 formulations of ivermectin. There were no adverse signs related to treatment of the young foals.     

Identification of a potentially important antigen of pasteurella haemolytica

To identify antigens which may be important for stimulating immunity to pneumonic pasteurellosis, a bovine antiserum to whole P. haemolytica was used to screen a recombinant lambda gt11/P. haemolytica expression library. One of the recombinant bacteriophage clones identified with the bovine antiserum, SW20C, expressed a fusion protein which was also recognized by rabbit antiserum to partially purified P. haemolytica culture supernatant and was found to be immunogenic in guinea pigs. The guinea pig antibody recognized a 100 kDa protein in P. haemolytica cell lysates. Sequence analysis of the cloned DNA from SW20C identified a fragment of 1443 bp with a small open reading frame that was contiguous with the lacZ sequence. The 153 bp P. haemolytica-specific open reading frame encoded a polypeptide of approximately 6kDa. Homology searches of Genbank and the EMBL data bases revealed no homology of this open reading frame with any other bacterial sequences including P. haemolytica leukotoxin and Ssa1. Evaluation of sera from calves that were scored either susceptible or resistant to experimental pneumonic pasteurellosis demonstrated a significant (P < 0.001) correlation between the intensity of the antibody response to the SW20C antigen and resistance to disease.     

Survey of internal parasites in Western Australian pig herds. 1. Prevalence

Between September 1982 and March 1984, 101 Western Australian piggeries with 15 or more sows were surveyed to determine the prevalence of internal parasites and examine the relationship between parasitism and management practices. Faecal samples were collected from 20 pigs in 4 age groups in randomly selected piggeries, and examined for the presence of eggs of helminth parasites and protozoan cysts. Evidence of nematode parasites was found in 79% of piggeries. Sows were more commonly affected than other classes of pigs with worm eggs being found in 68% of herds. Oesophagostomum spp was the most prevalent worm species, being found in pigs from 65% of piggeries and in sows in 60% of herds. Ascaris suum was the most common species of worm found in growing pigs. There was no evidence of infection with either Metastrongylus spp or Strongyloides spp in any of the herds sampled. Oocysts of coccidia were found in pigs from 56% of piggeries and Balantidium coli cysts were detected in pigs from 42% of piggeries sampled.     

西瓜蔓枯病研究 Ⅰ.症状及病原

本文详细报道了西瓜蔓枯病的症状和病原菌的形态特点,并鉴定其有性阶段为Mycosphaerellamelonis(Pass)Chiu et Walker,无性阶段为Ascochyta-cucumis Fautr et Roum.此外,还在其他瓜类作物上作了病原菌的致病性试验.     

Armillaria species in northern Britain

Five species of Armillaria, A. borealis, A. cepistipes, A. ostoyae. A. mellea and A. lutea , were identified among 145 isolates collected from sites in northern Britain. Most of the collection sites were in coniferous woodland containing dead or dying trees and A. ostoyae , a well-known pathogen of conifers, was the most frequently isolated species. Two species believed to be weakly pathogenic, A cepistipes and A. lutea , were also commonly found; the former has only rarely been recorded in Britain before. The significance of the records is discussed.