Search results for "crop"
showing 10 items of 3837 documents
Mycotoxins in maize: mitigation actions, with a chain management approach
2020
Maize is the principal staple food/feed crop exposed to mycotoxins, and the co-occurrence of multiple mycotoxins and their metabolites has been well documented. This review presents the infection cycle, ecology, and plant-pathogen interactions of Aspergillus and Fusarium species in maize, and current knowledge on maize chain management to mitigate the occurrence of aflatoxins and fumonisins. Preventive actions include at pre-harvest, as part of cropping systems, at harvest, and at postharvest, through storage, processing, and detoxification to minimize consumer exposure. Preventive actions in the field have been recognized as efficient for reducing the entrance of mycotoxins into production…
Reviewing research priorities in weed ecology, evolution and management: a horizon scan.
2018
Weedy plants pose a major threat to food security, biodiversity, ecosystem services and consequently to human health and wellbeing. However, many currently used weed management approaches are increasingly unsustainable. To address this knowledge and practice gap, in June 2014, 35 weed and invasion ecologists, weed scientists, evolutionary biologists and social scientists convened a workshop to explore current and future perspectives and approaches in weed ecology and management. A horizon scanning exercise ranked a list of 124 pre-submitted questions to identify a priority list of 30 questions. These questions are discussed under seven themed headings that represent areas for renewed and em…
Continental-scale patterns of nutrient and fish effects on shallow lakes: synthesis of a pan-European mesocosm experiment
2004
1. Results are analysed from 11 experiments in which effects of fish addition and nutrient loading on shallow lakes were studied in mesocosms. The experiments, five in 1998, six in 1999, were carried out in six lakes, distributed from Finland to southern Spain, according to a standard protocol. 2. Effects of the treatments on 29 standard chemical, phytoplankton and zooplankton variables are examined to assess the relative importance of bottom-up (nutrient enrichment) and top-down (fish predation) effects. For each year, the experiments in different locations are treated as replicates in a meta-analysis. Results of individual experiments are then compared in terms of the patterns of signific…
Phenology study of Myrtus communis accessions selected from wild populations of Sicily: preliminary results
2017
Myrtus communis is a Mediterranean shrub widely diffused in Sicily. To promote the cultivation of myrtle, seven wild populations were collected from different areas of Sicily, with the aim to select new candidate cultivars in the frame of a selection program. Considering the berries value in the food industry, many efforts need to be done to cultivate myrtle as alternative to harvest from wild plants. To promote cultivation few important phenologic traits have been recorded in candidate cultivar selections from wild populations in Sicily. This study was performed in a repository field under homogeneous environmental conditions. The vegetation activity of the selected accessions begins in Ja…
Developing green insecticides to manage olive fruit flies? Ingestion toxicity of four essential oils in protein baits on Bactrocera oleae
2020
Abstract Effective and eco-friendly plant-borne insecticides for developing lure and kill control tools against tephritid flies are scarce. Herein, the activity of four essential oils (EOs) obtained from two Apiaceae, Pimpinella anisum L. and Trachyspermum ammi (L.) Sprague, and two Lamiaceae, Thymbra spicata L. and Ocimum gratissimum L., was evaluated against the olive fruit fly, Bactrocera oleae (Rossi), a key pest of olive groves. The EO chemical composition was determined by gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC-MS) analyses. The four EOs incorporated in protein baits were tested for ingestion toxicity on B. oleae adults, mimicking lure and kill assays. Results showed con…
The Sulfated Laminarin Triggers a Stress Transcriptome before Priming the SA- and ROS-Dependent Defenses during Grapevine's Induced Resistance agains…
2018
Grapevine (Vitis vinifera) is susceptible to many pathogens which cause significant losses to viticulture worldwide. Chemical control is available, but agro-ecological concerns have raised interest in alternative methods, especially in triggering plant immunity by elicitor treatments. The β-glucan laminarin (Lam) and its sulfated derivative (PS3) have been previously demonstrated to induce resistance in grapevine against downy mildew (Plasmopara viticola). However, if Lam elicits classical grapevine defenses such as oxidative burst, pathogenesis-related (PR)-proteins and phytoalexin production, PS3 triggered grapevine resistance via a poorly understood priming phenomenon. The aim of this st…
Macrophytes in boreal streams: Characterizing and predicting native occurrence and abundance to assess human impact
2016
Abstract Macrophytes are a structurally and functionally essential element of stream ecosystems and therefore indispensable in assessment, protection and restoration of streams. Modelling based on continuous environmental gradients offers a potential approach to predict natural variability of communities and thereby improve detection of anthropogenic community change. Using data from minimally disturbed streams, we described natural macrophyte assemblages in pool and riffle habitats separately and in combination, and explored their variation across large scale environmental gradients. Specifically, we developed RIVPACS-type models to predict the presence and abundance of macrophyte taxa at …
Antibiofilm activity of coriander (Coriander sativum L.) grown in Argentina against food contaminants and human pathogenic bacteria
2020
Abstract Bacterial spoilage of food and other infections are a coordinated mechanism controlled by quorum sensing (QS), which regulate the expression of virulence factors, such as biofilm. The antimicrobial, antibiofilm, anti-QS and anti-swarming properties of hexane (HE), chloroform (CE), ethyl acetate (EAE), methanolic (ME) and total methanolic (TME) extracts of coriander grown in Argentina were investigated. In vivo extracts toxicity using Galleria mellonella L. model and chemical composition (GC-MS) were also assessed. The antibiofilm activity of polystyrene surfaces coated with the most active extracts was evaluated. At non-inhibitory growth concentrations, extracts showed a strong ant…
Germination and emergence of Neslia paniculata (L.) Desv.
2019
Abstract Seed characteristics, either in size or in structure, can affect germination, hence the emergence of a plant species. In the present work germination and emergence of Neslia paniculata, a Brassicaceae species that produces fruits containing one seed covered by a hard fruit coat, was studied. Germination experiments of seed with and without the fruit coat were performed at constant temperatures from 5 to 23 °C under controlled conditions and germination was measured daily. Additionally, seeds were sown in the field and emergence was periodically followed in three sites: Almenar (Spain), Morris (USA) and Riga (Latvia). Both germination and emergence were modelled with Boltzmann and W…
Spontaneous hybridizations between oilseed rape and wild radish
1998
The occurence of spontaneous hybridization between Brassica napus (oilseed rape) and Raphanus raphanistrum (wild radish) was investigated under different density conditions in cages and open-field experiments. Hybrids with wild radish as the seed parent were identified by screening for herbicide resistance belonging to rape. Small seed size and intermediate morphology were used to screen for hybrids with rape as the seed parent. Leaf isozyme patterns and flow cytometry provided confirmation of hybrids. Wild radish in an oilseed rape field produced as many as three interspecific hybrids per 100 plants. This is the first report of such a spontaneous event. The frequency of hybrids is expected…