Search results for "Botany"
showing 10 items of 4586 documents
Comment on “A simple way to incorporate uncertainty and risk into forest harvest scheduling”
2017
In a recent research article, Robinson et al. (2016) described a method of estimating uncertainty of harvesting outcomes by analyzing the historical yield to the associated prediction for a large number of harvest operations. We agree with this analysis, and consider it a useful tool to integrate estimates of uncertainty into the optimization process. The authors attempt to manage the risk using two different methods, based on deterministic integer linear programming. The first method focused on maximizing the 10th quantile of the distribution of predicted volume subject to area constraint, while the second method focused on minimizing the variation of total quantity of volume harvested sub…
Technology generation to dissemination: lessons learned from the tef improvement project
2018
Indigenous crops also known as orphan crops are key contributors to food security, which is becoming increasingly vulnerable with the current trend of population growth and climate change. They have the major advantage that they fit well into the general socio-economic and ecological context of developing world agriculture. However, most indigenous crops did not benefit from the Green Revolution, which dramatically increased the yield of major crops such as wheat and rice. Here, we describe the Tef Improvement Project, which employs both conventional- and molecular-breeding techniques to improve tef—an orphan crop important to the food security in the Horn of Africa, a region of the world w…
Drastic Genome Reduction in an Herbivore's Pectinolytic Symbiont.
2017
Pectin, an integral component of the plant cell wall, is a recalcitrant substrate against enzymatic challenges by most animals. In characterizing the source of a leaf beetle’s (Cassida rubiginosa) pectin-degrading phenotype, we demonstrate its dependency on an extracellular bacterium housed in specialized organs connected to the foregut. Despite possessing the smallest genome (0.27 Mb) of any organism not subsisting within a host cell, the symbiont nonetheless retained a functional pectinolytic metabolism targeting the polysaccharide’s two most abundant classes: homogalacturonan and rhamnogalacturonan I. Comparative transcriptomics revealed pectinase expression to be enriched in the symbiot…
Suppression of Phyllospheric Microbiota Alters Content of Pharmacologically Relevant Compounds of <i>S. nigra</i> Flowers
2018
Accumulating scientific evidence suggests that medicinal plant-associated microbiota has a significant role in biosynthesis of pharmacologically relevant compounds. Suppression of S. nigra microbiota by an antibiotic treatment leads to a decreased emission of volatile terpenoids from S. nigra flowers and an altered metabolome of a host plant. However, it is not known if suppression of microbiota also affects an abundance of health promoting compounds and pharmacologically relevant properties of S. nigra. The present study reveals, that suppression of phyllospheric microbiota by an antibiotic treatment affects total phenolic content (TPC), anti-radical activity (ARA) and total flavonol conte…
Toxicity and Binding Studies of Bacillus thuringiensis Cry1Ac, Cry1F, Cry1C, and Cry2A Proteins in the Soybean Pests Anticarsia gemmatalis and Chryso…
2017
ABSTRACT Anticarsia gemmatalis (velvetbean caterpillar) and Chrysodeixis includens (soybean looper, formerly named Pseudoplusia includens ) are two important defoliating insects of soybeans. Both lepidopteran pests are controlled mainly with synthetic insecticides. Alternative control strategies, such as biopesticides based on the Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt) toxins or transgenic plants expressing Bt toxins, can be used and are increasingly being adopted. Studies on the insect susceptibilities and modes of action of the different Bt toxins are crucial to determine management strategies to control the pests and to delay outbreaks of insect resistance. In the present study, the susceptibilitie…
Allelopathy and the role of allelochemicals in plant defence
2017
International audience; Allelopathy is described as the interference to plant growth resulting from chemical interactions among plants and other organisms mediated through release of plant-produced bioactive secondary metabolites referred to as allelochemicals. A number of mechanisms have been studied for the release of allelochemicals from various plant tissues including volatilization or leaching from aerial parts, exudation from roots and decomposition of plant residues in soil. Despite differences in biological activity and mode of action, related compounds commonly share similar biosynthetic pathways while some classes of metabolites can be produced using diverse biosynthetic pathways.…
Priming maritime pine megagametophytes during somatic embryogenesis improved plant adaptation to heat stress
2021
In the context of global climate change, forest tree research should be addressed to provide genotypes with increased resilience to high temperature events. These improved plants can be obtained by heat priming during somatic embryogenesis (SE), which would produce an epigenetic-mediated transgenerational memory. Thereby, we applied 37 °C or 50 °C to maritime pine (Pinus pinaster) megagametophytes and the obtained embryogenic masses went through the subsequent SE phases to produce plants that were further subjected to heat stress conditions. A putative transcription factor WRKY11 was upregulated in priming-derived embryonal masses, and also in the regenerated P37 and P50 plants, suggesting …
Effects of water stress on emission of volatile organic compounds by Vicia faba, and consequences for attraction of the egg parasitoid Trissolcus bas…
2017
When plants are damaged by herbivorous insects, blends of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are induced and released and can also be used by parasitoids to locate hosts. The aim was to determine whether VOCs induced by water stress affect the plant-herbivore-para- sitoid system represented by broad bean (Vicia faba; Fabales: Fabaceae) stink bug (Nezara viridula; Hetero- ptera: Pentatomidae) egg parasitoid (Trissolcus basalis; Hymenoptera: Platygastridae). The effects of water stress (expressed as the percentage fraction of transpirable soil water [FTSW] supplied) alone and in combination with N. viridula damage (feeding plus oviposition) were deter- mined according to: (1) the behavioural r…
The targeted overexpression of SlCDF4 in the fruit enhances tomato size and yield involving gibberellin signalling
2020
AbstractTomato is one of the most widely cultivated vegetable crops and a model for studying fruit biology. Although several genes involved in the traits of fruit quality, development and size have been identified, little is known about the regulatory genes controlling its growth. In this study, we characterized the role of the tomato SlCDF4 gene in fruit development, a cycling DOF-type transcription factor highly expressed in fruits. The targeted overexpression of SlCDF4 gene in the fruit induced an increased yield based on a higher amount of both water and dry matter accumulated in the fruits. Accordingly, transcript levels of genes involved in water transport and cell division and expans…
Olive Growing in a Time of Change: From Empiricism to Genomics
2016
Since its beginning, the olive crop has been a long-lived agricultural system in the Mediterranean Basin being well adapted to this area. Traditional olive growing, still prevalent in most producing areas, is characterized by low tree density and rainfed orchards with low yield and manually harvested. The traditional olive growing technology is local, diverse, and empirically based. New high density, irrigated, and mechanically harvested orchards has been progressively planted since the end of World War II. These plantations produce high crops at low costs, but they reduce the diversity of cultivars, increase the demand of inputs and the risk of environment unbalances. The expansion and int…