Storage performance of clementines treated with hot water,sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate dips

Summary

The potential of using hot water (2.5 min at 45°C), 2% sodium carbonate or 2% sodium bicarbonate solutions alone or combined with hot water, for control of Penicillium digitatum (green mould) was investigated on commecially ripe clementines. The effect of such treatments on the post-harvest storage life of clementines was determined during two months analysing weight loss, increase in rind deformation and internal maturity. Carbonate and bicarbonate solutions effectively control green mould during storage but hot water does not. Compared with the control and hot-water treated fruits, clementines treated with carbonate and, to a lesser extend with bicarbonate, showed higher weight loss and lower firmness during storage. In contrast, lower increase in ripening index was found when the fruits were treated with carbonate or bicarbonate. Fruits treated with hot water alone or combined with carbonate exhibited no change in ripening during the first month of storage. Rinsing the fruit significantly reduces weight and firmness loss in the fruits treated with carbonate and bicarbonate, but did not change the ripening index. The primary finding of this work was that carbonate and bicarbonate treatments might significantly increase the loss in weight and firmness during storage. Rinsing the fruit immediately after treatment appeared to be a simple solution to avoid these losses in quality.     

Fusarium head blight and mycotoxin contamination of wheat,a review

Summary An infection of bread wheat by fusarium head blight contaminates the crop with mycotoxins, particularly deoxynivalenol (DON) and nivalenol (NIV). The toxicity and natural occurrence of these mycotoxins in wheat are reviewed. Based on 8 years data of fusarium head blight epidemics of wheat in the Netherlands, DON contamination of the grain was estimated. Fusarium head blight ratings averaged an infection of 1.7% of all spikelets; estimates for DON contamination averaged 0.9 mg kg^–1. Taking a guideline level for DON in uncleaned bread wheat of 2 mg kg^–1, in 1979 and 1982 a wheat crop was produced with estimated DON concentrations above the limit of tolerance. Human and animal exposure to mycotoxins in the Netherlands appears to be small but chronic. The information presented in this paper illustrates the need for an annual evaluation of the crop for fusarium head blight incidence and mycotoxin content, and the necessity of fusarium head blight resistant wheat cultivars.Samenvatting Aaraantasting van tarwe doorFusarium culmorum enFusarium graminearum leidt tot vorming van mycotoxinen in het graan, waarvan deoxynivalenol (DON) en nivalenol (NIV) de belangrijkste toxinen zijn. In dit artikel wordt een overzicht gegeven van de toxicologische aspecten, en het voorkomen van deze toxinen in tarwe. Informatie over DON en NIV in tarwe in West-Europa is schaars. Gebaseerd op gegevens vanFusarium epidemieën in de jaren 1979–1986 wordt een schatting gegeven van de concentratie DON in Nederlandse tarwe. Rekening houdend met de herkomst en verwerking van tarwe, blijken zowel in dierlijk als menselijk voedsel lage concentraties DON chronisch voor te komen. Op basis van een maximaal toelaatbare dagelijkse dosis DON van 3 g kg^–1 lichaamsgewicht is de schatting van de dagelijkse opname van DON in het jaar volgend op de oogst van 1982 net op de grens. Zowel een jaarlijkse inventarisatie vanFusarium aantasting en DON besmetting van het graan, als de ontwikkeling vanFusarium-resistente rassen zijn noodzakelijk.     

Variable response of open-pollinated seedling progeny of avocado to Phytophthora root rot

Phytophthora root rot, caused byPhytophthora cinnamomi Rands, is the most important disease of avocado (Persea americana Miller). In an attempt to identify root rot-resistant rootstocks that could ultimately be used under conditions in southern Florida, we screened open-pollinated progeny of avocado from the National Germplasm Repository in Miami. From 1996 to 1998, a total of 2,355 seedlings from 51 accessions were examined in potting mix artificially infested withP. cinnamomi. Most seedlings developed severe root rot, but tolerance was observed in some families (i.e., progeny of certain accessions). Although the most susceptible families developed mean disease ratings of up to 97% root necrosis, mean ratings for the most tolerant families were less than 60%. There was also a strong relationship between the racial background of the female parent and the tolerance of seedlings. Seedlings of the West Indian race and hybrids between it and the Guatemalan race were significantly more tolerant than those from other parents (P< 0.05). Individuals in several families developed < 50% root necrosis, the arbitrary standard of tolerance in this study. Twelve families accounted for 82% (188 of 229) of the tolerant seedlings, and only two of these did not have a West Indian or Guatemalan × West Indian pedigree. Broad-sense heritability for PRR tolerance was 0.45. This is the first report on the inheritance of PRR tolerance in avocado and on the influence of genotype and racial pedigree under controlled conditions.     

Genetic diversity of Pueraria lobata (kudzu) and closely related taxa as revealed by inter-simple sequence repeat analysis

Kudzu (Pueraria lobata) is a noxious weed infesting some areas of the USA. Knowledge of its genetic variation in both native and invasive areas can lead to effective biological control measures. Inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) variations were studied in P. lobata and its four closely related congeneric species (P. edulis, P. montana, P. phaseoloides and P. thomsoni). ISSR results allowed a clear separation of these five species. For P. lobata, 108 plants from China and USA were analysed. The samples from the US were genetically closer to Chinese P. lobata populations than to other congeneric populations. High genetic differentiation was found for P. lobata, P. montana and P. thomsoni in Chinese samples. High genetic diversity and low population differentiation was found in P. lobata samples of the US. This supports the hypothesis of multiple introductions into the USA from different sources in Japan or China, followed by subsequent gene exchange and recombination.     

Evaluation of non-chemical seed treatment methods for the control of Alternaria dauci and A. radicina on carrot seeds

The current study was initiated to evaluate the efficacy of physical methods (hot water, aerated steam, electron treatment) and agents of natural origin (resistance inducers, plant derived products, micro-organisms) as seed treatments of carrots for control of Alternaria dauci and A. radicina. Control of both Alternaria species by seed treatment with the resistance inducers was generally poor. Results were also not satisfactory with most of the formulated commercial micro-organism preparations. Based on the average of five field trials, one of these, BA 2552 (Pseudomonas chlororaphis), provided a low but significant increase in plant stand. Among the experimental micro-organisms, the best results were obtained with Pseudomonas sp. strain MF 416 and Clonostachys rosea strain IK726. A similar level of efficacy was provided by seed treatment with an emulsion (1%) of thyme oil in water. Good and consistent control was generally achieved with the physical methods aerated steam, hot water and electron treatment. Aerated steam treatment was, apart from the thiram-containing chemical standard, the best single treatment, and its performance may at least partially be due to extensive pre-testing, resulting in dosages optimally adapted to the respective seed lot. In some of the experiments the effect of the hot water treatment, which was tested at a fixed, not specifically adapted dosage, was significantly improved when combined with a Pseudomonas sp. MF 416 or C. rosea IK726 treatment. The results are discussed in relation to the outcome of experiments in which the same seed treatment methods and agents were tested in other seed-borne vegetable pathosystems.     

Pathogenesis of BSE

Before the emergence of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) and recognition of its zoonotic potential, the major example of the transmissible spongiform encephalopathies (TSEs) of animals was scrapie of sheep. But there is no evidence that scrapie transmits naturally to any species other than sheep and goats. The pathogenesis of scrapie has been studied most in experimental laboratory rodent species. In most experimental models of scrapie, after peripheral non-neural routes of infection, replication of the agent can first be detected in lymphoreticular system (LRS) tissue. When the route of introduction of agent into the body is localized, initial involvement will be in LRS tissue draining the infection site. Thereafter, there is a striking amplification of the agent in the LRS and spread by lymphatic/haematogenous routes, giving widespread dissemination in the LRS. This precedes replication in the CNS, but is not the means by which infection reaches the CNS. There is now substantial evidence from experimental models of scrapie that involvement of the CNS is by peripheral nervous system (PNS) pathways. In some models employing oral exposure the earliest localized LRS replication is in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) and autonomic PNS routing to the CNS has been implicated. However, the relative importance of different routes of spread of TSEs within the body is determined by a number of host- and agent-dependent factors and, therefore, generalizations from an experimental model to a natural disease across a species barrier may not be appropriate. With the occurrence of BSE and recognition of its food-borne route of transmission via meat and bone meal, has come greater awareness of the probable importance of the oral route of infection in ruminant species affected by TSEs. In consequence, studies have increasingly focused on the natural host species to examine pathogenetic events.     

Veterinary dairy herd health management in Europe: constraints and perspectives

The nature of veterinary work in dairy health management in Europe has changed over the past years and will change even more dramatically in the near future. The consumers and the media show increasing concern about animal welfare, safety of products of animal origin and traceability of animal products. Farmers in Europe have to produce under strict, often expensive and laborious regulations, while still commercially competing with farmers outside the EU and not subject to the same rules. Veterinarians should adapt their knowledge and skills to the new challenges and developments of the dairy sector. Dairy farmers nowadays ask for support in areas that go beyond clinical activities: environmental protection, welfare, nutrition, grassland management, economics and business management. Bovine practitioners should be able to advise in many different areas and subjects--that is the challenge to our profession. Veterinary education with regards to cattle health management should start with individual animal clinical work, which constitutes the basis of herd health advisory programmes. The bovine practitioner should then look beyond that and regard the herd as the unit. Each diseased cow or group of cows should be detected early enough to avoid financial losses or such losses should be prevented altogether by detecting and managing risk factors contributing to disease occurrence. Herd health and production management programmes represent the first level to optimise dairy farm performance. Expansions to that should further be considered, comprising both animal health and welfare issues, as well as food safety and public health issues. The latter could be addressed by quality risk management programmes following the HACCP-principles. Cattle veterinarians should follow recent developments and invest in new skills and knowledge in order to maintain their usefulness to the modern dairy farmer. Finally we are convinced that the cattle practitioner should evolve into this direction, otherwise the veterinarian as we know him will miss the train in the next years.     

Outbreak of clinical listeriosis in sheep: evaluation from possible contamination routes from feed to raw produce and humans

We report the results of clinical and microbiological investigations on Listeria monocytogenes infections in a flock of 55 sheep and describe the implications for the safety of the raw milk and raw-milk cheeses produced in the on-farm dairy. The outbreak was caused by feeding grass silage, which was contaminated with 5 log10 CFU L. monocytogenes/g. Clinically, although having been fed from the same batch of silage, abortive (nine ewes), encephalitic (one ewe) and septicaemic (four ewes) forms of listeriosis were observed during the outbreak phase. As the starting point of feeding the contaminated silage was known we could calculate an incubation period of 18+/-2 and 26 days for the abortive and the encephalitic form of listeriosis, respectively. Pathologically, the septicaemic cases suffered from Listeria accumulation at comparable numbers in visceral organs but not in the brain. Only a single ewe developed central nervous symptoms and a rhomb-encephalitis was immunohistologically confirmed. In this case the infection proceeded from the nasal mucosa into the brain, with no infections of the liver, spleen and other visceral organs. Sampling of the cheese production chain, the farm environment and the persons living at the farm revealed the exposure of a farm-worker to an isolate genetically indistinguishable from the outbreak clone, obviously through the consumption of faecally contaminated bovine raw milk. The cheese under processing was free of Listeria because, as a result of intensive consultations, the farmer ensured a proper acidification of the cheese. The epidemiological findings suggest that food safety matters should be assessed in any case where infection of food-producing animals with potential human pathogens is observed.