Phagostimulants enhancing the efficacy ofBacillus Thuringiensis formulations against the Giant Looper,Boarmia (Ascotis) Selenaria,in avocado

In both laboratory and field trials, as well as in semicommercial scale applications, the minimum concentration ofBacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) required to secure satisfactory larval mortality ofBoarmia selenaria could be halved, from 0.5% to 0.25%, by addition of 1% of the commercial phagostimulant Coax. Another phagostimulant product, Gustol, was inactive. Coax did not attract caterpillars from a distance. However, individual, Coax-treated spots on the avocado leaf surface were consumed by the larvae to a significantly greater extent than control. The same difference in palatability was recorded when the spots were treated with a mixture of Coax and aB.t. formulation. This explains, at least partially, the aforementioned advantageous effect of Coax in practical control of the looper byB.t.     

Use of a self-expanding metallic stent for the treatment of a urethral stricture in a young cat

A 4-month-old intact male domestic shorthair cat was evaluated for urinary outflow obstruction after several weeks of medical management for traumatic urethral rupture. Positive-contrast retrograde urethrography and anterograde cystoscopy performed 4 weeks after the initial urethral injury confirmed a stricture approximately 1cm distal to the bladder trigone at the site of the initial urethral tear. A self-expanding metallic urethral stent (SEMS) was placed under fluoroscopic guidance to relieve the urethral stricture and re-establish luminal patency. After stent placement, the cat was able to void urine normally with minimal urinary incontinence noted. This resolved several months post-stent placement. No known clinical complications persisted other than mild intermittent hematuria.     

Methods for Determining Pythium Suppression In Container Media

Pythium damping-off and root-rot are among the most important soilborne diseases of greenhouse plants and seedlings grown in container media. It has been shown previously that composts may be conducive, suppressive or partially suppressive to Pythium diseases. The major goal of this work was to investigate rapid, practical and reliable methods for determining of the degree of suppressiveness of container media to Pythium damping-off. Several inoculation methods were tested in greenhouse bioassays, survival of propagules in suppressive versus conducive media was studied under laboratory conditions. Although both greenhouse and laboratory tests could indicate disease suppression, a bioassay with cucumber seedlings is suggested to be the most simple, effective and comprehensive method for testing suppression of Pythium diseases in compost amended container media.     

Postdiapause development and spring emergence of the european corn borer,Ostrinia nubilalis,in Israel

The European corn borer (ECB),Ostrinia nubilalis (Hübner) (Lepidoptera: Pyralidae), is the major pest of corn (Zea mays L.) in Israel. We investigated the temporal patterns of pupation and emergence of various overwintering ECB populations in Israel during 1992-94. The association between Julian date (JD) or cumulative degree-days (DD) and the rates of either pupation or emergence was studied using simple linear regression models. Differences between populations in JDs required to reach 50% pupation amounted to 5%, whereas for DD differences amounted to 26%. Similarly, at 50% emergence, differences between populations were up to 3% for JD and to 12% for DD. Two different forecasting models are proposed for either pupation or emergence. Based on these models, both pupation and emergence develop over a period of 4 to 5 weeks, and they are expected to occur between the following JDs: onset of pupation, 66–70 (March 7–11); 50% pupation, 96–102 (April 6–12); onset of emergence, 85–94 (March 26-April 4); and 50% emergence, 115–121 (April 25-May 1). Pupal development required 160 DD (confidence interval [C.I.] 141–179 DD) and it is expected to takeca 16 days (C.I. 14–18 days). The simple linear regression models obtained in this study are suggested as preliminary phenological models for the temporal prediction of postdiapause pupation and emergence of ECB.     

Indexing system for<Emphasis Type="Italic">Tomato mosaic virus</Emphasis> (ToMV) in commercial tomato seed lots

An indexing system for detectingTomato mosaic virus (ToMV) in commercial tomato seed lots is described. Factors associated with the procedure were analyzed and the following standard two-step working scheme is proposed: (i) mass screening by ELISA for the presence of the virus; (ii) evaluation of virus infectivity within the infested seed lots. A threshold of 10 ng ml⁻¹ was determined for detection of purified ToMV by either ELISA or plant inoculation.Nicotiana tabacum cv. Xanthi NN was found to be a highly sensitive local lesion assay plant for the detection of ToMV. A positive ELISA threshold (1.3 times above the non-specific background) was set for seed samples taken from commercial seed lots by testing the same samples by both ELISA and a bioassay. http://www.phytoparasitica.org posting July 14, 2004.     

Clinical signs of West Nile virus encephalomyelitis in horses during the outbreak in Israel in 2000

Between August and October 2000, 76 horses were reported by veterinary practitioners as having signs of a neurological disorder, varying from an involvement of the spinal cord alone to the entire central nervous system; 15 of the horses died or were euthanased as a result of their grave prognosis or secondary complications. At the same time, an outbreak of West Nile virus infection affected people and birds, principally domestic geese. West Nile virus was isolated from four of the horses with encephalomyelitis and five other horses seroconverted, indicating that the virus was the probable cause of the outbreak in horses. Three of the cases from which the virus was isolated are described briefly and one case is described in detail. This horse behaved abnormally and had general proprioceptive deficits in all four limbs. Its neurological condition deteriorated after two days and severe inspiratory dyspnoea due to a failure to abduct the arytenoids necessitated a tracheostomy. It died on the fourth day and histological lesions were observed in the brain stem and grey matter of the spinal cord.     

Evaluating insecticides for the control of narcissus flies under field conditions in Israel

In Israel, narcissus bulb flies (Diptera: Syrphidae) are serious pests of cultivated flower bulbs of the families Liliaceae and Amaryllidaceae. The large narcissus fly(Merodon eques) is the major pest, whereas the small narcissus fly (a new species in the genusEumerus, yet to be described) is only a secondary pest. The large narcissus fly is also considered a quarantine pest by the U.S.A. authorities. Narcissus bulbs,Narcissus tazetta (var. ‘Ziva’), were planted in an experimental field at Bizzaron during November 1995 and harvested during June 1996. Currently aldicarb (Temik) is recommended for the control of narcissus fly larvae. We compared the control efficacy of imidacloprid (Confidor) and isazofos (Miral) with that of aldicarb. These latter insecticides were applied to the soil in February, in April, or on both dates. The mean level of damaged bulbs in the untreated plots was 32%. Two applications of aldicarb, one in February and one in April, reduced the damage to the lowest level of 0.5%. A single application of aldicarb in February, and two applications of imidacloprid—one in February and one in April—reduced the damage to 5-10%. Treatments with imidacloprid in February or in April, reduced the damage to 12-13%. Neither one application of aldicarb in April, nor any of the treatments with isazofos, was effective. In all treatments, larvae of the large narcissus fly were found in only approximately one-third of the damaged bulbs. The level of infestation with the small narcissus fly in the untreated bulbs was only approximately 2%. The effects of the insecticide treatments on the small narcissus fly were similar to those recorded for the large narcissus fly .