EFFECT OF PLANT GROWTH-PROMOTING RHIZOBACTERIA STRAIN ON FREEZING INJURY AND ANTIOXIDANT ENZYME ACTIVITY OF WHEAT AND BARLEY

In 2009 a greenhouse experiment was conducted to determine the effects of boron (B) and plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on wheat (Triticum aestivum spp. vulgare cv ‘Bezostiya’) and barley (Hordeum vulgare cv ‘Tokak’) on plant growth, freezing injury, and antioxidant enzyme capacity. Results showed that boron (0, 1, 3, 6, 9 kg B ha^?1) and PGPR application (Bacillus megaterium M3, Bacillus subtilis OSU142, Azospirillum brasilense Sp245 and Raoultella terrigena) at which 50% of leaves were injured (LT₅₀) values and ice nucleation activities in both plants were found statistically significant. Boron application with all PGPR strains decreased LT₅₀ values in wheat and barley plants under noncold stress (NCS) and cold stress conditions (CS). There were statistically significant differences between bacterial inoculation and B fertilizer in terms of root and shoot dry weight under NCS and CS conditions. Reactive oxidative oxygen species (ROS) and antioxidant enzyme activities (SOD, POD, CAT) were negatively affected CS conditions and decreased with reduced temperatures of media, but B and PGPR applications alleviated the low-temperature deleterious effects in both plants species tested. The lowest ROS and antioxidant enzyme (SOD, POD, CAT) of wheat and barley were observed with 6 kg B ha^?1 with R. terrigena.     

Development of 8-armed airflow olfactometers for measuring olfactory responses of insect predators

In the present study two types of 8-armed airflow olfactometers are developed, one is for individual test, called the individual olfactometer, another is for population test, called the population olfactometer. Both of them consist of an exposure chamber, 8 odour arms, 8 odour chambers and a sample plate or a sample chamber. In the former, the odour chamber is movable for regulating the distance between an odour source and the exposure chamber. In the latter, the sample chamber can be driven up and down to control the predator population under test to be exposed to the exposure chamber at the same time, and the odour chambers are designed for two functions viz., for placing odour sources and for catching the predator reaching them. By means of the NH₄CL smoke tests, it is clear that the odour airflows in both apparatus are separated in the outward area of the exposure chamber and gradually unified around the center to form the combination of the odour fields, from which the predator under test begins searching the odours. The control tests for random distribution in both apparatus have been conducted to provide the evidence that the same odour source in all odour chambers causes the random selection by the predator. The one-odour tests have been executed to prove the sensitivity of both apparatus for testing insect kairomone responses.     

Ecological studies on parasitism ofEretmocerus longipes Compere (Hym., Aphelinidae) on the whitefly,Aleurotuberculatus takahashi David et Subramaniam (Hom., Aleyrodidae) on jasmine in Fuzhou region of the southeastern China

Experiments on host-stage preference, influence of temperature on parasitization, and the feeding niche ofEretmocerus longipes Compere (Hym., Aphelinidae) parasitizingAleurotuberculatus takabashi David et Subramaniam (Hom., Aleyrodidae) on jasmine were conducted both in the laboratory of Institute of Plant Protection, Fujian Academy of Agricultural Sciences and in the field in the Fuzhou region, Fujian Province, PR China. The results showed that the most preferred host-stage ofE. longipes was the 3rd instar ofA. takahashi. The parasitization rate ofE. longipes was significantly affected by temperature, valuing 4.8% at 18 °C, 27.3% at 23 °C, and 55.1% at 33 °C, respectively. The whitefly immature stages and the parasitoid vertically selected all the layers of jasmine plant as their feeding niches, but the whitefly nymph preferred to gather on the top layer, which was considered as its suitable feeding niche, while the parasitoid selected the middle layer as its feeding niche. To measure the ability to utilize spatial resources, the feeding niche breadth was introduced to demonstrate that the parasitoid had the less wide feeding niche breadth among the all stages tested on jasmine, which revealed that the spatial activity for the parasitoid was smaller than that for any stage of the whitefly. The cluster analysis showed that the feeding niche of the parasitoid was more closely related to the 3rd instar than to any other stage of the whitefly. It was suggested that relation between the whitefly and its parasitoid was not only depending on the host-stage preference but also on the feeding niche similarity.     

Effects of herbage intake on goat performance in the mediterranean type natural pastures

This study aimed at identifying changes in natural pastures during the grazing season and investigating the effects of these changes on pasture feeding potential for high yielding dairy goats. During the study, 12 dairy goats were grazed on a 1.5 ha natural pasture for three months from April to June in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The goats were fed 0.5 kg/day of concentrate as a supplement during the grazing season. Botanical composition, herbage production and intake, crude protein (CP), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) contents of the pasture were determined. Live weight, milk yield, milk dry matter (DM) and fat content of the goats were monitored. The data were analyzed using a linear model, which evaluated the effects of grazing seasons in each year. Based on the three-year average, 87% of pasture was herbaceous plants and the remaining was shrubs in DM basis with Cistus creticus , Quercus ithaburensis , Pistacia atlantica and Asparagus acutifolius being the major shrub species. The herbage yield in June was significantly lower than in other months in all years ( P  = 0.001). In all experimental years, the CP content of the pasture decreased but the structural carbohydrates increased as the grazing season proceeded. While live weight was not affected by grazing periods except for 2004 ( P  = 0.001), milk yield significantly decreased with advancing grazing period ( P  = 0.001). The results of the present study indicate that natural pasture has a supportive effect in April and May on the milk yield of lactating goats which are in mid-lactation, and suggested that supplementary feeding is required in consecutive grazing periods.     

Effects of floral and foliar application of plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) on yield, growth and nutrition of sweet cherry

During 2003 and 2005, plant growth promoting effects of Pseudomonas BA-8 and Bacillus OSU-142 were tested alone or combinations on sweet cherry (Prunus avium L.) cv. 0900 Ziraat in terms of yield, growth, nutrient composition of leaves in the province of Konya, Turkey. The presence of Pseudomonas BA-8, Bacillus OSU-142 and BA-8 + OSU-142 stimulated plant growth and resulted in significant yield increase. Floral and foliar applications of BA-8, OSU-142 and BA-8 + OSU-142 in sweet cherry significantly increased yield per trunk cross-sectional area (16.3, 10.9 and 21.7%), fruit weight (4.15, 5.37 and 1.24%) and shoot length (11.3, 11.8 and 29.6%), respectively, compared with the control. In addition, N, P and K contents of sweet cherry leaves with BA-8, OSU-142 and BA-8 + OSU-142 treatments, Fe and Zn contents of leaves with BA-8 + OSU-142 treatment and Mn content of the leaves of sweet cherry with BA-8 and OSU-142 applications significantly increased. Nitrogen, P and K contents in leaves were determined to be increased from 2.00, 0.17 and 0.43% in the control to 2.19, 0.20 and 0.54% by BA-8 application, to 2.32, 0.24 and 0.54% by OSU-142 application and to 2.43, 0.22 and 0.51% by BA-8 + OSU-142 application, respectively. Co-inoculation of BA-8 + OSU-142 increased Fe and Zn contents of leaves up to 50.5 and 35.5% compared with the control, respectively. Manganese content of leaves significantly also increased by BA-8 (26.6%) and OSU-142 (27.0%) applications compared with the control. The results of the present study suggested that Pseudomonas BA-8 and Bacillus OSU-142 alone or in combination have a great potential to increase the yield, growth and nutrition of sweet cherry plant.     

Infection prevalence,seasonality and host specificity of actinosporean types (Myxozoa) in an Atlantic salmon fish farm located in Northern Scotland

A total of 28,387 oligochaetes belonging to the families Tubificidae, Lumbriculidae, Naididae and Enchytraeidae were examined at regular intervals for actinosporean infections from October 1996 to August 1998 from a freshwater salmon farm in Northern Scotland. A total of 21 types of actinosporeans belonging to seven collective groups synactinomyxon (three types), aurantiactinomyxon (four types), echinactinomyxon (five types), raabeia (six types), triactinomyxon (one type), neoactinomyxum (one type) and siedleckiella (one type) were found. Synactinomyxon type 1, echinactinomyxon type 1 and raabeia type 4 were most abundant. The overall infection prevalence of oligochaetes was 2.9%. Aurantiactinomyxon, synactinomyxon and neoactinomyxum were most common in summer and autumn. Raabeia was most common in spring and summer and echinactinomyxon in winter and spring. Siedleckiella was found only in spring and triactinomyxon in all seasons except winter. A positive relationship between water temperature and the number of actinosporean types released was observed. Most actinosporean types were found in only one host species.     

Functional responses of the parasitoid,Ertmocerus longipes Compere (Hym., Aphelinidae) to densities of the whitefly,Aleurotuberculatus takahashi David et Subramaniam (Hom., Aleyrodidae) at different temperatures

The present study dealt with the functional responses of the parasitoid,Eretmocerus longipes Compere (Hym., Aphelinidae) to the densities of the whitefly,Aleurotuberculatus takahashi David et Subramaniam (Hom., Aleurodidae) at different temperatures under the laboratory conditions. The results showed that when the initial densities ofA. takahashi-3rd instar were raised from 10 to 320 ind./leaf, the numbers of parasitized nymphs increased as well, ranging from 7.0 to 23.1 at 20°C, 9.8 to 42.9 at 25°C, 6.7 to 39.9 at 30°C, and 1.8 to 8.3 ind./leaf at 35°C, respectively. The Holling Disk Equation was introduced to build up the models of functional responses. The response curves remained type II, although the numbers of parasitized nymphs were significantly different under different temperatures. The suitable initial densities of the host whitefly for parasitization were about 80 individuals per leaf. A negative relation was observed between the initial densities of the whitefly and the parasitization rates by the parasitoid. An increase in the initial densities ofA. takahashi-3rd instars ranging from 10 to 320 ind./leaf resulted in a decrease in the parasitization rate byE. longipes ranging from 70.0% to 7.2% at 20°C, 98.0% to 13.4% at 25°C, 67.0% to 12.5% at 30°C and 18.0% to 2.6% at 35°C with a value of 0.2877 was significantly smaller than that at 20°C with a vlaue of 1.3354, that at 25°C with a value of 1.6465 and that at 30°C with a value of 1.1199, respectively (p<0.01). The handling time (Th) forE. longipes was 0.1521 at 35°C, significantly longer than 0.0510 at 20°C, 0.0289 at 25°C and 0.0320 at 30°C, respectively (p<0.01). The maximum loading number (K) of the parasitized nymphs with a value of 34.5 ind./leaf at 25°C was similar to that with a value of 31.2 ind./leaf at 30°C, about 1.8 times as high as that with a value of 19.6 ind./leaf at 20°C and 4 times more than that with a value of 6.6 ind./leaf at 35°C. It was suggested that temperature affected the functional response by balancing searching rate and handling time. The optimal temperature range for the functional responses ofE. longipes to the densities ofA. takahashi-3rd instar was 25° to 30°C.     

Determination of spermatological properties of male Liza abu (Heckel, 1843) in Atatürk Dam Lake, Şanlıurfa

The aim of this study was to determine the spermatological characteristics in male L. abu during the spawning season. Semen was collected weekly by abdominal massage from 26 males in March. In collected semen, volume, motility, duration of motility, concentration and pH were determined. In the L. abu sperm, volume (μl), motility (%), duration of motility (s), concentration (×10⁹/ml), and pH values were found 45.76 ± 3.55, 54.25 ± 2.93, 330.15 ± 37.92, 4.27 ± 0.40 and 7.87 ± 0.05, respectively. A correlation was found between semen volume and semen pH. Semen volume and the duration of sperm motility were higher in the 2nd and 3rd sampling dates than in the 1st and 4th sampling dates (P < 0.05; P < 0.01, respectively). Neither sperm motility nor sperm concentration was affected by sampling dates. Major changes in semen pH were observed in the 4th sampling date (P < 0.001). The Pearson correlation test presented significant relationships with the duration of motility, semen volume, and motility. Semen pH values were significantly correlated with the sperm concentration and semen volume. Sperm concentration was inversely correlated with semen volume. Sperm motility and duration significantly correlated with total weight. Total length significantly correlated with the duration of motility and total weight. In conclusion, these characteristics represent a valuable baseline dataset for establishing a semen quality standard and provide background information that may be useful for assisted breeding programs in this species.     

Induction of oxidants in tomato leaves treated with <Emphasis Type="SmallCaps">DL</Emphasis>-β-Amino butyric acid (BABA) and infected with <Emphasis Type="Italic">Clavibacter michiganensis</Emphasis> ssp. <Emphasis Type="Italic">michiganensis</Emphasis>

Bacterial canker is an economically important disease of tomato. Resistance induced by DL-β-Amino butyric acid against bacterial canker caused by Clavibacter michiganensis ssp. michiganensis in tomato plants was investigated. Different doses of DL-β-Amino butyric acid (250–1000 μg ml⁻¹ doses) were tested on 3-week old plants inoculated with a 10⁸ CFU ml⁻¹ bacterial suspension, and disease development was evaluated after inoculation and treatment. Although in vitro growth of the bacteria was not affected by DL-β-Amino butyric acid treatment, foliage sprays of 500 μg ml⁻¹ DL-β-Amino butyric acid significantly suppressed disease development up to 54% by day 14 after inoculation at the four different doses tested. Bacterial populations were reduced by 84% in BABA-treated plants compared to water-treated plants by day 4 after inoculation. Inoculated BABA-treated plants showed significantly higher phenylalanine ammonia-lyase activity, peroxidase activity, and H₂O₂ concentration than inoculated water-treated plants during day 1 after treatment. These findings suggest that the DL-β-Amino butyric acid treatment resulted in an increase of these enzymes and in H₂O₂ concentration in planta, and was associated with induction of resistance to bacterial canker.