Analysis of the association among three viruses infecting hop in Australia

Associations among Hop latent virus (HpLV), Hop mosaic virus (HpMV), and Apple mosaic virus (ApMV) were assessed in five hop cultivars at four commercial hop-growing regions in Victoria and Tasmania, Australia. The presence or absence of each virus was confirmed by double-antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA). Spatial patterns of virus-infected plants were characterized using the Spatial Analysis by Distance IndicEs ( sadie ) system of pattern analysis. The association among viruses (occurrence and covariation) was assessed using the Jaccard similarity index, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, and sadie . The spatial pattern of plants infected by HpLV and HpMV ranged from random to highly aggregated depending upon the cultivar infected and the mean disease incidence. The spatial pattern of plants infected by ApMV was aggregated in six of the seven plots where ApMV was present. A strong positive association between HpLV and HpMV was found in all cultivars at all locations. This association may be the result of the viruses sharing a common aphid vector species, the presence of one virus enhancing the ability of the aphid vector to acquire the other virus either through transencapsidation or influences on virus titre, or mixed infections within source plants. Significant associations, positive or negative, were found less frequently between HpLV and ApMV, and HpMV and ApMV.     

Leaf, floret and seed infection of wheat by Pyrenophora semeniperda

Infection processes of Pyrenophora semeniperda on seedling and adult wheat leaves and wheat ears were investigated. Almost 100% germination of conidia occurred on seedling leaves, compared with 20–30% on adult leaves. Appressoria formed over the anticlinal epidermal cell walls and haloes always accompanied infection. Sometimes papillae formed within the leaves as a resistance mechanism. Infection hyphae ramified through the intercellular spaces of the mesophyll resulting in cellular disruption. The infection processes on floral tissues were similar to those observed on leaves; however, no infection occurred on anther, stigmatic or stylar tissues. Infection of ovarian tissue occurred both with and without appressoria formation. Hyphae grew mainly in the epidermal layers and appeared unable to breach the integumental layer as no growth was observed in endosperm or embryo tissues. The optimum dew period temperature for conidial germination was 23·6°C, compared with 19·9°C for lesion development, 20·4°C for the production of infection structures on seedling leaves and 23·7°C for floret infection. Leaf disease development occurred in a logistic manner in response to dew period, with maximum infection observed after 21 h compared with > 48 h in seeds. An initial dark phase during the dew period was necessary for infection and temperature after the dew period had an effect, with significantly more numerous and larger lesions being formed at 15°C compared with 30°C. Seedling leaves were found to be more susceptible than older leaves, under both field and controlled environment conditions. Infection of wheat seeds following inoculation of ears, or after harvest burial of inoculated disease-free seeds, was demonstrated. In the latter, 3-week-old seedlings were slightly stunted, whereas older plants were unaffected. The apparent unimportance of this plant pathogen as a cause of leaf disease in relation to its poor adaptation to dew periods and dew period temperature is discussed, along with the importance of its seed borne characteristics.     

Modelling Plant Disease Epidemics

An epidemic is the progress of disease in time and space. Each epidemic has a structure whose temporal dynamics and spatial patterns are jointly determined by the pathosystem characteristics and environmental conditions. One of the important objectives in epidemiology is to understand such spatio-temporal dynamics via mathematical and statistical modelling. In this paper, we outline common methodologies that are used to quantify and model spatio-temporal dynamics of plant diseases, with emphasis on developing temporal forecast models and on quantifying spatial patterns. Several examples of epidemiological models in cereal crops are described, including one for Fusarium head blight.     

Aggressiveness and host specificity of Brazilian isolates of Phytophthora infestans

The population of Phytophthora infestans in Brazil consists of two clonal lineages, US-1 associated with tomatoes and BR-1 associated with potatoes. To assess whether host specificity in these lineages resulted from differences in aggressiveness to potato and tomato, six aggressiveness-related epidemiological components – infection frequency (IF), incubation period (IP), latent period (LP), lesion area (LA), lesion expansion rate (LER) and sporulation at several lesion ages (SSLA) – were measured on detached leaflets of late blight-susceptible potato and tomato plants. Infection frequency of US-1 was similar on potato and tomato leaflets, but IF of BR-1 was somewhat reduced on tomato. Incubation period was longer on both hosts with US-1, although this apparent lineage affect was not significant. Overall there was no host effect on IP. On potato, BR-1 had a shorter LP (110·3 h) and a larger LA (6·5 cm²) than US-1 (LP = 162·0 h; LA = 2·8 cm²). The highest LER resulted when isolates of BR-1 (0·121 cm² h⁻¹) and US-1 (0·053 cm² h⁻¹) were inoculated on potato and tomato leaflets, respectively. The highest values of the area under the sporulation capacity curve (AUSC) were obtained for isolates of US-1 inoculated on tomato leaflets (6146) and for isolates of BR-1 on potato leaflets (3775). In general, higher values of LA, LER, SSLA and AUSC, and shorter values of LP were measured when isolates of a clonal lineage were inoculated on their original host than with the opposite combinations. There is evidence that there are quantitative differences in aggressiveness components between isolates of US-1 and BR-1 clonal lineages that probably contribute to host specificity of P. infestans populations in Brazil.     

Salmonella Gallinarum field isolates and its relationship to vaccine strain SG9R

1. The aim of the present study was to determine if the 9R-strain of the Salmonella Gallinarum live vaccine was responsible for having fowl typhoid outbreaks in chicken flocks from both chicken and turkey breeders as well as to verify the antimicrobial resistance of the isolates from the outbreaks.

2. The triplex polymerase chain reaction, standard antimicrobial test, beta-lactamase genes identification and Ion Torrent PMG whole-genome sequence were used in the field isolates and in the vaccine strain of S. Gallinarum.

3. The 60 tested isolates were not from vaccine origin and manifested high resistance to drugs from macrolide and quinolone groups. Whole-genome sequencing (WGS) and single nucleotide polymorphism analysis on selected isolates for core genes from Salmonella enterica confirmed the wild origin of these isolates and showed two possible sources of S. Gallinarum in the studied outbreaks.

4. S. Gallinarum isolated from fowl typhoid outbreaks in the studied period were not caused by the use of the SG9R live vaccine. The source of strains sequenced was diverse.     

河南省农村户用沼气池推广使用调查研究

针对近年来河南省部分地区农村户用沼气池推广使用过程中出现的问题,通过问卷调查、与用户和沼气服务队交流访谈等的方式,对河南省濮阳、焦作、济源等地农村户用沼气池推广使用情况进行了实地调查,认为在大力推广沼气池的同时,忽视了对政策制定、管理模式、使用对象、政府监管等方面的研究,提出了一些具有建设性的意见和措施.     

猪附红细胞体生物学特性的研究

采取新鲜血液压片相衬观察和末梢血液涂片染色镜检法,对河南省新乡地区3000头猪附红细胞体病发病情况进行了调查;并且对体温升高、镜检附红细胞体感染强度为 病猪的血液,分别用光学显微镜、扫描电子显微镜进行形态观察和血液生化指标检测.结果表明:猪附红细胞体病的发病率为46.33%,死亡率为13.88%,隐性感染率为55.93%(755/1350).在光学显微镜下观察,红细胞呈现菠萝样;染色血片观察附红体在红细胞表面及边缘呈各种形式排列,可见强折光性发亮的圆形小体;扫描电子显微镜观察.附红体寄生的红细胞凹陷区,有大、小球体,有的小球体与大球体相连.血清胆红素、白蛋白、尿素氮、谷丙转氨酶、谷草转氨酶增加,血糖、血清总蛋白、超氧化物歧化酶活性下降.     

郁闭林分中立木树高的重建技术研究

将立木分为枝下高与树冠高2部分,通过近距离获取枝下高图像对,用立体视觉方法重建枝下高不同部位直径与倾角,以此为基础估计树冠高部分,进而得到树木高度.试验地包括银杏、水杉2个树种,与实际树高相比,重建树高中最大误差是0.043 5,最小误差为0.007 2.其中3号树(水杉)单侧误差仅为0.002 6,表明与干曲线结合的立体视觉重建策略在恢复郁闭林分中立木树高是可行的.     

Prevalence of Faecal Pathogens in Calves of Racing Camels (Camelus dromedarius) in the United Arab Emirates

Tropical Animal Health and Production -     

全州县金槐病虫害调查与防治

对广西全州县的金槐病虫害种类进行了调查。结果表明,全州县金槐病害有6种,虫害有14种;总结了金槐病虫害的发生与分布特点．分析了影响病虫害发生与分布的因素,并提出了相应的防治措施。