A checklist of the outh Italian cultivated plants

Summary Ten collecting missions in South Italy together with an intensive study of literature sources allowed the compilation of a checklist of the cultivated plant species of south Italy. This checklist contains 540 taxa belonging to 520 different species. The alphabetically ordered articles for the taxa contain the botanical name, the plant family, Italian folk names, information about the distribution in the area referring to the regions, data on collections during our missions indicating the regions, too, details of plant uses and references to relevant, mostly Italian literature sources, including reports from our own explorations and papers based on the material collected. Three appendices provide indexes of synonyms and folk names, respectively, with reference to the accepted botanical names, and an index of families and genera. The information given in this checklist was extracted from a database of the cultivated plants of South Italy, a microcomputer-based system. The checklist is a useful tool for further plant genetic resources exploration in Italy, but may be also of interest for ethnobotanists and other researchers engaged in cultivated plants.

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Liste der Kulturpflanzen Süditaliens

Zusammenfassung Zehn Sammelreisen in Süditalien und ein intensives Literaturstudium ermöglichten die Zusammenstellung einer Liste der Kulturpflanzen Süditaliens. Diese Liste enthält 540 Taxa, die 520 verschiedenen Arten angehören. Die alphabetisch geordneten Artikel über die einzelnen Taxa enthalten den botanischen Namen, die Pflanzenfamilie, italienische Volksnamen, Verbreitung im Gebiet nach Regionen aufgeführt, Aufsammlungen während unserer Sammelreisen ebenfalls auf die Regionen bezogen, Angaben über die Nutzung der Pflanzen und Verweise auf wichtige, meist italienische Literaturquellen, einschließlich der Berichte über unsere eigenen Sammelreisen und von Arbeiten, die sich auf unserem Sammelmaterial begründen. Drei Register gestatten das Aufsuchen von Informationen in der Liste nach Synonymen bzw. nach Volksnamen, mit Verweis auf den akzeptierten Namen, und nach Familien und Gattungen. Die in der Liste enthaltene Information wurde aus einer Datenbank der Kulturpflanzen Süditaliens, einem mikrocomputer-gestützten System, ausgewählt. Die Liste kann für die weitere Erfassung pflanzlicher genetischer Ressourcen in Italien nützlich, aber auch für Ethnobotaniker und andere Wissenschaftler, die sich mit Kulturpflanzen befassen, interessant sein.

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Impact of fungicide application volume on ASIAN rust control and soybean crop yield

European Journal of Plant Pathology - Multisite fungicides are an anti-resistance strategy to control Phakopsora pachyrhizi. Among the protective fungicides, mancozeb is a fungicide that has been...     

Nematicidal potential of Artemisia annua and its main metabolites

Nematotoxic effect of an aqueous extract of Artemisia annua and its components caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid (5-caffeoylquinic acid, 5-CQA), artemisinin and the related semi-synthetic artesunate, was investigated on the root-knot nematode Meloidogyne incognita and the potato cyst nematode Globodera rostochiensis and on the virus-vector dagger nematode Xiphinema index. Juveniles of M. incognita and G. rostochiensis and females of X. index were exposed to 500, 250 and 125 μl ml^?1 solutions of the A. annua aqueous extract, caffeic acid, chlorogenic acid and artesunate and to 50 μl ml^?1 solution of artemisinin for 2, 4, 8 and 24 h. Egg masses of M. incognita and cysts of G. rostochiensis were exposed for 24, 48, 96 h and 1 or 2 weeks only to the extract solutions. Aqueous extract was highly effective on G. rostochiensis juveniles, whereas M. incognita juveniles were affected only at long exposure times. Adversely, egg hatch inhibition was strong on M. incognita and poor or minimal on G. rostochiensis. Females of X. index were sensitive only to long exposures to the highest extract concentration. Both caffeic and chlorogenic acid did not affect juveniles of M. incognita but were highly active on G. rostochiensis juveniles and X. index females even at the lowest concentration. Artesunate toxicity was almost zero on M. incognita and low on X. index females, but high on G. rostochiensis juveniles. Artemisinin solution was lethal to more than 50 % of G. rostochiensis juveniles within 24 h, but did not affect M. incognita juveniles and X. index females. Results suggest different roles of the tested compounds in the biocidal activity on each target nematode species. The extract of A. annua and its main phytochemicals seem to have a potential to be developed into new nematicidal formulates, though their activity should be validated in the soil.     

A versatile targeted metabolomics method for the rapid quantification of multiple classes of phenolics in fruits and beverages

Compelling evidence of the health benefits of phenolic compounds and their impact on food quality have stimulated the development of analytical methods for the identification and quantification of these compounds in different matrices in recent years. A targeted metabolomics method has been developed for the quantification of 135 phenolics, such as benzoates, phenylpropanoids, coumarins, stilbenes, dihydrochalcones, and flavonoids, in fruit and tea extracts and wine using UPLC/QqQ-MS/MS. Chromatography was optimized to achieve separation of the compounds over a period of 15 min, and MRM transitions were selected for accurate quantification. The method was validated by studying the detection and quantification limits, the linearity ranges, and the intraday and interday repeatability of the analysis. The validated method was applied to the analysis of apples, berries, green tea, and red wine, providing a valuable tool for food quality evaluation and breeding studies.     

Water and nitrogen balance of sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor moench (L.)) cv. Keller under semi-arid conditions

In the framework of the E.U. project Fair CT 96-1913 “Environmental studies on sweet and fibre sorghum, sustainable crops for biomass and energy”, a research has been carried out with the aim to study the water and nitrogen balance and determine the critical N dilution curve of sweet sorghum cv. Keller. A field experiment was performed, where three irrigation treatments (I₀ = dry control, I₅₀ = 50% ETm restoration, I₁₀₀ = 100% ETm restoration) and four nitrogen fertilization levels (N₀ = no nitrogen control, N₆₀ = 60 kg ha⁻¹, N₁₂₀ = 120 kg ha⁻¹; N₁₈₀ = 180 kg ha⁻¹) were studied. The final yield was significantly affected by the amount of water distributed but not by the nitrogen level. The treatments watered up to crop establishment (I₀) produced, in the average, 7.5 t ha⁻¹ of dry matter, against 21.1 and 27.1 t ha⁻¹ of I₅₀ and I₁₀₀, respectively. The crop determined a great reduction in nitrate concentration of soil water, irrespective of nitrogen supplied. The variation between N output and input (Δ) was negative in N₀, N₆₀ and N₁₂₀ and positive in N₁₈₀. The critical value of nitrogen uptake change in relation to the water availability. The amount of nitrogen supplied did not determine significant differences upon WUE. The crop seems to have a great potentiality in Mediterranean environment in terms of yield production.     

Aplisulfamines, new sulfoxide-containing metabolites from an aplidium tunicate: absolute stereochemistry at chiral sulfur and carbon atoms assigned through an original combination of spectroscopic and computational methods

Two new sulfoxide-containing metabolites, aplisulfamines A and B, have been isolated from an Aplidium sp. collected in the Bay of Naples. Their planar structure and geometry of a double bond were readily determined by using standard methods, mainly NMR spectroscopy. An original approach was used to assign the absolute configuration at the three contiguous chiral centers present in the structures of both aplisulfamines, two at carbon and one at sulfur. This involved Electronic Circular Dichroism (ECD) studies, J-based configuration analysis and Density Functional Theory (DFT) calculations and represents an interesting integration of modern techniques in stereoanalysis, which could contribute to the enhancement of theoretical protocols recently applied to solve stereochemical aspects in structure elucidation.     

A Sulfated-Polysaccharide Fraction from Seaweed Gracilaria birdiae Prevents Naproxen-Induced Gastrointestinal Damage in Rats

Red seaweeds synthesize a great variety of sulfated galactans. Sulfated polysaccharides (PLSs) from seaweed are comprised of substances with pharmaceutical and biomedical potential. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the protective effect of the PLS fraction extracted from the seaweed Gracilaria birdiae in rats with naproxen-induced gastrointestinal damage. Male Wistar rats were pretreated with 0.5% carboxymethylcellulose (control group—vehicle) or PLS (10, 30, and 90 mg/kg, p.o.) twice daily (at 09:00 and 21:00) for 2 days. After 1 h, naproxen (80 mg/kg, p.o.) was administered. The rats were killed on day two, 4 h after naproxen treatment. The stomachs were promptly excised, opened along the greater curvature, and measured using digital calipers. Furthermore, the guts of the animals were removed, and a 5-cm portion of the small intestine (jejunum and ileum) was used for the evaluation of macroscopic scores. Samples of the stomach and the small intestine were used for histological evaluation, morphometric analysis and in assays for glutathione (GSH) levels, malonyldialdehyde (MDA) concentration, and myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity. PLS treatment reduced the macroscopic and microscopic naproxen-induced gastrointestinal damage in a dose-dependent manner. Our results suggest that the PLS fraction has a protective effect against gastrointestinal damage through mechanisms that involve the inhibition of inflammatory cell infiltration and lipid peroxidation.     

Controlled reproduction in Anguilla anguilla (L.): comparison between spontaneous spawning and stripping‐insemination approaches

This study aimed to compare the fertility of eggs between artificially matured female silver eels that spawned spontaneously and those that were spawned by manual stripping. The effects of the two methods of spawning on ovulation and fertilization rate were also investigated. For this purpose, 18 wild female European eels captured in Bonello lagoon (North Adriatic Sea) were carp pituitary extract‐injected to undergo sexual maturation and ovulation; a final injection of 17,20β‐dihydroxy‐4‐pregnen‐3‐one (DHP) was administered when at least 30% of the oocytes were fully transparent. After the DHP‐injection, nine eels were transferred to a new closed recirculating aquaculture system, where they were housed with spermiating males (sex ratio 4/1) to allow spontaneous spawning (SPT‐group); the remaining nine eels were transferred to a 250 L tank and ovulation was checked at four‐hourly intervals by manual stripping (STR‐group). The number of eggs per female in the SPT‐group was significantly greater than that in the STR‐group. Furthermore, fertilization rates in the SPT‐group were notably higher than those observed in the STR‐group. Significantly, the best performances were obtained among eels in which at least 50% of oocytes were fully transparent at the time DHP was administered. We conclude that the fertility of eggs from spontaneously spawning eels is superior to that of eggs acquired by strip‐spawning and artificial fertilization.