The leaf beetle, Tricliona nr nigra Jacoby (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae), a new pest damaging pomegranate, Punica granatum

This is the first report on occurence of the leaf beetle, Tricliona nr nigra (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae) from India infesting pomegranate, Punica granatum L. Preliminary observations on general biological aspects and feeding damage of T. nr nigra have been conducted. The beetles occurred in large numbers and the nature of damage was mainly through surface scraping.     

Age,body size and sex-related feeding response of the predatory coccinellid Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of age, body size and sex on feeding rate of the predatory coccinellid Cryptolaemus montrouzieri Mulsant (Coleoptera: Coccinellidae). The body size of the adult C. montrouzieri did not influence the feeding rate in either sex and the large body size was more common in both sexes. A significant increase in feeding (4.64 mealybugs/ day) and excretion (47.91 excreta deposits/ day) was observed in females compared with males (2.47 mealybgs/ day and 25.78 excreta deposits/ day, respectively) under mated conditions. The feeding rate throughout adulthood showed an inverse trend with age in both sexes and the curvilinear relationship explained much of the variability in the feeding response in relation to age. The feeding differences in relation to age, body size as well as sex of adult C. montrouzieri are discussed in detail.     

Wild relatives of sorghum as sources of resistance to sorghum shoot fly, Atherigona soccata

The levels of resistance to shoot fly, Atherigona soccata in sorghum germplasm are low to moderate and therefore, we evaluated 17 wild relatives of sorghum under field and greenhouse conditions as an alternate source of genes for resistance to this pest. Thirty-two accessions belonging to Parasorghum , Stiposorghum and Heterosorghum did not suffer any shoot fly damage under multi-choice conditions in the field, while one accession each of Heterosorghum ( Sorghum laxiflorum ) and Chaetosorghum ( S. macrospermum ) suffered very low shoot fly damage. Accessions belonging to S. exstans (TRC 243601), S. stipoideum (TRC 243399) and S. matarankense (TRC 243576) showed absolute non-preference for oviposition under no-choice conditions. Accessions belonging to Heterosorghum , Parasorghum and Stiposorghum were preferred for oviposition, but suffered low deadheart formation. Manual infestation of seedlings with shoot fly eggs did not result in deadheart formation in some of the accessions belonging to S. exstans (TRC 243601), S. stipoideum (TRC 243399), S. matarankense (TRC 243576) and S. purpureosericeum (IS 18944). Larval mortality was recorded in main stems of the Parasorghums . Within section Sorghum , accessions belonging to S. bicolor ssp. verticilliflorum were highly susceptible to shoot fly, as were those of S. halepense . However, a few accessions such as IS 18226 (race arundinaceum ) and IS 14212 ( S. halepense ) resulted in reduced survival and fecundity. Wild relatives of sorghum exhibited very high levels of antibiosis to A. soccata , while only low levels of antibiosis have been observed in the cultivated germplasm. Therefore, wild relatives with different mechanisms of resistance can be used as a source of alternate genes to increase the levels and diversify the basis of resistance to shoot fly, A. soccata .     

森林生态系统中土壤有机质组分的固态13C核磁共振波谱表征

Forest management practices such as prescribed burning and thinning in forest ecosystems may alter the properties of soil organic matter (SOM).In this study,surface soils from field plots in the Bankhead National Forest,Alabama,USA,were used to investigate possible SOM transformations induced by thinning and burning.Elemental analysis and solid-state 13C cross polarization magic angle spinning nuclear magnetic resonance (13C CPMAS NMR) spectroscopy were used to characterize SOM fractions in whole soils,humic substances,and density fractions.Our data revealed that the changes in SOM fractions due to the repeated burning carried out in the forest ecosystem studied were involved mainly with alkyl C,O-alkyl C,and carbohydrate functional groups,implying that most prominent reactions that occurred involved dehydrogenation,de-oxygenation,and decarboxylation.In addition,burning and thinning might have also affected the distribution and composition of free and occluded particulate SOM fractions.The limited structural changes in SOM fractions suggested that low-intensity prescribed fire in the forest ecosystem studied will not create major structural changes in SOM fractions.     

Rapid and Sensitive Analytical Method for Simultaneous Determination of Imidacloprid and Thiamethoxam Residues in Soils of Sugarcane Ecosystem by Reversed-Phase HPLC

A rapid, simple, sensitive and cost-effective analytical method has been standardised to determine the residues of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in soil. This method does not require any cleanup with costly sorbents. The recoveries of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam obtained in this no-cleanup method were on par with the protocol involving primary?Csecondary amine-based cleanup. This method requires less volume of solvent (20?mL of acetonitrile/sample) and is suitable for high throughput analyses involving large number of samples. The limit of quantification of the method was 0.01???g/g. Dissipation kinetics of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam in the soils of sugarcane ecosystem was studied by adopting this rapid method. The half-life of imidacloprid and thiamethoxam was 9.07 and 6.22?days when applied at 70 and 100?g a.i./ha, respectively. The dissipation of both the neonicotinoids followed first-order kinetics with good fit.     

Ecofriendly Method for Bioremediation of Chlorpyrifos from Agricultural Soil by Novel Fungus Aspergillus terreus JAS1

The aim of this work was to study the degradation of three azo dyes, Orange II, Methyl red and Biebrich Scarlet by electro-Fenton and the effect of the electrochemical pretreatment on the biodegradability of the solutions. The electrochemical pretreatment showed that an electrochemical reduction on the carbon felt electrode was mainly responsible for the decolorization of the azo dyes. Indeed, the electrochemical behaviour of the azo dyes highlighted their electroactivity; electrolysis with and without ferric ions led to the same decolorization yield, namely 99 % at 15 min for Methyl red, and stable chemical oxygen demand (COD) values were recorded during decolorization. In a second step and owing to the absence of by-product electroactivity in reduction, the formation of hydroxyl radicals by the Fenton reaction led to the oxidation of by-products from the electrochemical reduction. It was illustrated by the decrease recorded for the COD values. The results also showed that the azo bond cleavage occurring during the electrochemical reduction was not sufficient to significantly reduce recalcitrance, as shown from biological oxygen demand (BOD)₅/COD ratio examination below the limit of biodegradability (0.4). Contrarily, a positive trend was recorded for Orange II during the electro-Fenton reaction, with a BOD₅/COD ratio of 0.81 after 28 h of pretreatment.     

Metals in Main Rivers of Azerbaijan: Influence of Transboundary Pollution

Silver, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, cobalt, copper, mercury, lead, and zinc were determined monthly during 2004–2008 at 11 sites in the Kura–Araks river system, Azerbaijan. Suspended fractions of the elements were studied at the five sites experiencing the highest load. Metal concentrations varied moderately at each site but differed substantially between sites. Sites near the borders with Armenia and Georgia were most polluted, both with respect to soluble concentrations and percentage transported in suspended form. Lower parts of the Kura river were shielded from metal contamination by an upstream reservoir acting as a metal trap. Corresponding removal was not evident in Araks, its main tributary, where particularly high concentrations of arsenic were observed. At the most contaminated sites, more than 60% of cadmium, cobalt, chromium, copper, manganese, nickel, lead, and zinc was transported in suspended form whereas arsenic and molybdenum occurred mainly in soluble form. Dynamics of metals in the Kura–Araks water/sediment system should be further studied to meet future problems.     

Irrigation water management using high resolution airborne remote sensing

This paper offers a historical retrospective on the remote sensing of crop coefficients for obtaining actual crop evapotranspiration. We present the canopy reflectance-based approach of crop coefficients and show the usefulness of high-resolution airborne imagery as a tool for monitoring the actual crop growth changes and characterizing in-field variability in an objective manner.     

Assessing the risk of mango quarantine pest Deanolis sublimbalis Snellen under different climate change scenarios

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - Considering the quarantine importance of the red-banded mango caterpillar, Deanolis sublimbalis (Crambidae: Lepidoptera), studies were carried out to...