Weed populations and pathogens

Plant:pathogen systems are complex, highly spatial and fluctuate considerably. The dynamics of their individual populations depends on factors such as their patchiness, shapes and scales of dispersal distributions, genetic polymorphism and their responses to their biotic and abiotic environments. We review knowledge of these population properties in the context of weed management and biological control and discuss their likely influence on the population dynamics of pathogens.     

Occurrence of a new leaf spot disease ofMusa sp. incited byThanatephorus cucumeris

A new leaf spot disease of banana(Musa sp.) cv. ‘Rasthali’ (syn. Silk) was observed in Tamil Nadu, in 1987. The causal organism was isolated in pure culture and identified asRhizoctonia solarii Kühn. The teleomorphic stage,Thanatephorus cucumeris (Frank) Donk, has also been induced artificially. This is the first record of this pathogen causing leaf spot disease onMusa sp. The pathogenicity of basidiospores on several other important crops was also tested.     

豚草条纹叶(虫甲)(鞘翅目:叶(虫甲)科)的寄主专一性测定

1987年从苏联、加拿大引进原产北美的豚草天敌—豚草条纹叶(虫甲),在室内用具有代表性的23科72种主要经济作物、粮食作物、观赏植物及与豚草近缘或形态上相似的植物,进行了食性测定。结果表明,豚草条纹叶(虫甲)食性专一,仅取食豚草,不取食其它任何供试植物,在我国可以安全利用。在饥饿条件下,一龄幼虫的耐饥能力为3.1天,雌、雄成虫的耐饥能力分别为14和10.2天。     

Tobacco rattle virus serotypes and associated nematode vector species of Trichodoridae in the bulb-growing areas in the Netherlands

Soil samples from the coastal bulb-growing areas in the provinces of North- and South-Holland and the North-East Polder in the Netherlands were examined for trichodorid nematodes and tobacco rattle virus (TRV) serotypes. At least one of a total of eight species of Trichodoridae, of whichParatrichodorus pachydermus was most prevalent, was found in 93% of the samples from the provinces of North- and South-Holland and TRV, including four serotypes, was obtained from 49% of these samples. In the North-East Polder one of three species of trichodorids, of whichP. teres occurred most frequently, was present in 72% of the samples, and TRV of one serotype was obtained from 28% of these samples. The TRV isolates recovered from these samples reacted serologically with one of four antisera to strains of TRV. Virus transmitted byP. pachydermus reacted to the PRN-, byTrichodorus viruliferus to the RQ-, byP. teres to the N5- and byT. similis, to the TS-antiserum, respectively.     

墨兰黑斑病的研究

墨兰黑斑病在广州地区为害严重,每年于12月中旬开始出现新病斑,翌年2—3月阴雨连绵时为发病高峰期;种植在闭风闷热及受阳光直射的环境下,病害更重。其病原鉴定为蝴蝶兰柱盘孢(Cylindrosporium phalaenopsidis Sawada),刺伤接种可为害8种兰科植物。在墨兰的生产中,加强管理,及时剪除清理病叶:在广州结合12月至翌年3月发病前喷1％波尔多液预防,发病后喷40％灭病威600倍液2—3次,对该病有较好的防治效果。     

One-step RT-PCR for the Detection of Infectious Bursal Disease Virus in Clinical Samples

A single-tube, non-interrupted, one-step RT-PCR has been standardized to amplify the hypervariable region of the VP2 gene sequence of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV). The technique standardized on purified viral RNA was successfully applied to the detection of the virus directly in clinical samples. The amplified products were confirmed to be IBDV specific by their size in ethidium bromide-stained agarose gel, nested PCR and restriction enzyme digestion. Digestion of the amplicons with StyI restriction enzyme also differentiated classical virus from six very virulent field isolates. The sensitivity of the one-step RT-PCR was found to be 0.2 pg of viral RNA.     

小麦禾谷孢囊线虫寄生范围的研究

经测试表明,禾谷孢囊线虫(Heterodera avenae)对长江中游地区栽种的小麦、裸大麦、米大麦、家燕麦、野燕麦、黑麦草、鹅冠草、苇状羊茅、球茎草芦和鸭茅均能侵染,这些植物是该线虫的良好寄主,但感染率差异不显著。该线虫能侵染玉米,但很难完成生活史,不侵染供试的红三叶草和紫苜蓿2种非禾本科牧草。在不同的寄主根内,线虫发育速度有差异,单位重量根内虫口数亦有异,黑麦草内最多,鲜根有线虫4.45条/g,鸭茅最少为1.26条/g。     

北京地区西瓜枯萎病生理小种分化研究

对在北京大兴、顺义、通县等西瓜主产区采集，经单孢分离得到的８个西瓜枯萎病菌株进行了生理小种分化研究。应用国际通用的３个鉴别寄主ＳｕｇａｒＢａｂｙ、ｃｈａｒｌｅｓｔｏｎＧｒａｙ、ｃａｌｈｏｕｒＧｒａｙ和国内京欣１号、苏蜜１号２个品种，采用全国协作组统一的苗期抗病鉴定方法，进行人工接种鉴定。结果表明北京地区西瓜枯萎病菌株均系同一生理型，为西瓜枯萎病生理小种１号。     

Resistance to foliage-feeding insects in conifers: implications for pest management

The ecological implications of insect resistance in conifers are rarely discussed. It is however a fairly straightforward plant-insect interaction and should be treated as such, making use of the increasing amount of information in this field. Work on tree breeding is usually carried out by silviculturalists who, not surprisingly, rarely consider the insect component of the environment in which the treess are growing. In all fairness, it must be stated that many entomologists, fail to consider the plant component of the interaction. Clonal forestry will almost certainly result in the loss of genetic variability. The use of clonal material has already been cited as a possible source for the diminution of the resistance against pests and diseases and if particular resistance mechanisms against forest pests are sought in the future the reduction in genetic material caused by clonal selection could have serious consequences. The ethics of clonal forestry have been questioned as have the ethics of biotechnological advances in the area of recombinant DNA molecules. The potential of both these techniques should be publicized and brought to the attention of the general public and the scientific community at large and evaluated. To improve our forest environment and to protect the environment as a whole, entomologists, geneticists, physiologists and silviculturalists must work together to produce better trees that require little, if any, chemical aid, be it insecticides, herbicides, fungicides or fertilizers. An increasing awareness of the environmental problems generated by large-scale insecticide applications to forest plantations, coupled with an increasingly chemophobic work-force and the difficulty in obtaining pesticide registration for use in forest environments, means that the forest industry world-wide must look to the use of integrated control measures with more diligence than has been shown in the past. Many recent outbreaks of pests and diseases have been linked with particular seed origins of tree crops. Host plant resistance as part of a suite of other proposed integrated control tools is thus an obvious candidate for development. Despite this, scientists concerned with tree improvement continue to select largely for silvicultural traits rather than for resistance to pests and disease. The different avenues open to plant breeders are examined and the potential of breeding trees resistant to insect attack highlighted. Using resistant trees as part of an integrated pest management system has five very important properties. Firstly, there is no additional pest control cost to the grower, secondly, it operates at all levels of insect incidence and not just when the pest is at high population levels, thirdly, it reduces the insect population cumulatively, fourthly it avoids toxic residues and environmental pollution and, finally, it usually interacts well with the other integrated pest management strategies in existence.     

Biological characteristics of maize dwarf mosaic potyvirus from Spain

Two isolates of maize dwarf mosaic virus (MDMV-Sp and MDMV-Spl) obtained from maize in the northeast of Spain were studied. Both isolates induced similar reactions on 6 sorghum cultivars, johnsongrass and oat (cv. Clintland), with the exception of MDMV-Sp which produced a different reaction on one sorghum cultivar. Thirty-three grass species were tested as possible hosts (16 previously untested) and 18 were found to be susceptible. Among those, eight were previously unidentified hosts for MDMV:Aegilops ovata, A. ventricosa, Avena barbata, Bromus alopecurus, B. diandrus, B. fasciculatus, Echinaria capitata andLolium rigidum. Both isolates were transmitted from maize to maize nonpersistently byRhopalosiphum maidis, R. padi, Schizaphis graminum andSitobium avenae. The virus was not seed-transmitted in Mo17 and B73 maize inbred lines. Pinwheels, scrolls and short curved laminated aggregates were observed in the cytoplasm of maize cells infected by MDMV-Sp or MDMV-Sp1. In addition, laminated aggregates were observed in cells infected by MDMV-Sp1.