Quality Improvement: A guide for services

This guide provides information for clinicians from organisations and services participating in PCOC to use their reports and the suite of PCOC quality improvement tools for continuous improvement, and to demonstrate improvement in patient and family/carer outcomes

Native Mesorhizobium strains improve yield and nutrient composition of the common bird's-foot trefoil grown in an acid soil

10 Pág.Acid soils occupy more than 3.95 billion ha of the world soils, and finding an adequate solution for the limitation of crop production on these soils is indispensable. Using highly effective rhizobia tolerant to low pH enables successful nodulation and quality crop production of legumes in acid soils. In this study, isolation and characterization of native rhizobia associated with root nodules of bird's-foot trefoil (Lotus corniculatus L.) from Serbia were conducted. Their effects on the plant yield and nutrient composition of bird's-foot trefoil grown in an acid soil (pH 5.4), in a pot experiment were evaluated. Out of 72 strains isolated, 40 could nodulate bird's-foot trefoil when reinoculated in the test tubes under gnotobiotic conditions, and 23 isolates showed high nitrogen-fixing efficiency. Overall, all isolates could grow well in medium with a pH between 4.5 and 8. Indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) production was detected in all nodulating isolates and 24 could solubilize inorganic phosphates. The identification of selected isolates showed that all belong to Mesorhizobium genus (M. tianshanense, M. erdmanii, M. cantuariense, M. loti, M. jarvisii and M. caraganae). Four acid-tolerant isolates (1M12, 631oz, U1C, and 754) with high nitrogen-fixing efficiency in vitro and particular PGP traits were selected for the pot experiment with acid soil. All applied bacterial treatments (except 1M12) increased the shoot dry weight of bird's-foot trefoil plants (up to 50%), compared to the control. In addition, N uptake and N% were increased up to 20% by inoculation. All applied treatments influenced the concentrations and improved uptake of macro (P, K, Ca, and Mg) and micronutrients (Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Zn, and B) in the plant material. The obtained results indicated that satisfactory yield and mineral composition of L. corniculatus in acid soils could be achieved by inoculation with selected Mesorhizobium strains.This research was supported by the Ministry of Education, Science and Technological Development of the Republic of Serbia, under the contract numbers 451-03-9/2021-14/200011 and 451-03-9/2021-14/200178.Peer reviewe

Microbiota associated with pollen, bee bread, larvae and adults of solitary bee Osmia cornuta

Using cultivation-dependant method, we isolated 184 strains from fresh and old bee bread, pollen, larvae and adults of solitary bee Osmia cornuta. The 16S rDNA sequencing of 79 selected isolates gave the final species-specific identification of strains. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that microbiota isolated from five different sources were represented with 29 species within three different phyla, Firmicutes with 25 species, Actinobacteria with only one species and Proteobacteria with three species of Enterobacteriaceae. Bacterial biodiversity presented with Shannon-Wiener index (H') was highest in the alimentary tract of adults and old bee bread (H' = 2.43 and H' = 2.53, respectively) and in the same time no dominance of any species was scored. On the contrary, results obtained for Simpson index (D) showed that in pollen samples the dominant species was Pantoea agglomerans (D = 0.42) while in fresh bee bread that was Staphylococcus sp. (D = 0.27). We assume that microbial diversity detected in the tested samples of solitary bee O. cornuta probably come from environment

Guidelines and framework to assess the feasibility of starting pre-emptive risk assessment of classical biological control agents

Non-native invasive arthropod species threaten biodiversity and food security worldwide, resulting in substantial economic, environmental, social and cultural costs. Classical biological control (CBC) is regarded as a cost-effective component of integrated pest management programmes to manage invasive arthropod pests sustainably. However, CBC programmes are traditionally conducted once a pest has established in a new environment, and invariably all research needed to achieve approval to release a biological control agent can take several years. During that time, adverse impacts of the pest accelerate. A pre-emptive biocontrol approach will provide the opportunity to develop CBC for invasive pests before they arrive in the country at risk of introduction and therefore enhance preparedness. A critical aspect of this approach is that risk assessment is carried out in advance of the arrival of the pest. Implementing pre-emptive biocontrol risk assessment means that natural enemies can be selected, screened in containment or abroad and potentially pre-approved prior to a pest establishing in the country at risk, thus improving CBC effectiveness. However, such an approach may not always be feasible. This contribution defines the fundamental prerequisites, principles, and objectives of pre-emptive biocontrol risk assessment. A set of guidelines and a decision framework were developed, which can be used to assess the feasibility of conducting a pre-emptive risk assessment for candidate biological control agents against high-risk arthropod pests