Influence of the Growing Conditions in the Content of Vitamin C in Diplotaxis erucoides

Diplotaxis erucoides is an edible plant with potential for marketing. Here, we analysed the influence of the growing conditions in this species, D. tenuifolia and Eruca sativa, and studied the relation among the ascorbic (AA) and dehydroascorbic (DHA) acid forms. Plants were grown in the late winter-spring season under two conditions, greenhouse and field. The contents in AA, DHA and vitamin C (VC) were analysed by HPLC. The content of VC and AA were, in general, remarkable higher in the plants grown in the field. On the other hand, the mean percentage of DHA was less than 11%, being in this case higher for plants grown in the greenhouse. Thus, growing this potential crop in the field seems a better option in order to increase the content in VC, being AA the main form present at the moment of gathering

Use of synchronous e-learning at university degrees

[EN] Different types of Course Management Systems (CMS) are fully integrated in conventional and online courses in many Universities degrees. Although they are suitable for lecturer-student information sharing, their asynchronous nature prevents an efficient interaction, which may hamper the learning process. As an alternative, synchronous virtual learning platforms can help fill the gaps in traditional CMS. However, there is very little feedback regarding its use in higher education. The Universitat Polit"ecnica de Val"encia introduced in 2010 a synchronous e-learning platform, named Poli[ReunioN], an Adobe Connect-based online service. Poli[Reuni !oN] ! provides virtual sessions where interaction between lecturers and students is enabled by means of audio/videoconferences and software application sharing. By following this path, Poli[ReunioN] provides an opportunity for ! planning new educational experiences where technology may help to achieve new learning objectives. However, the implementation of this tool still needs to be explored. In order to check its usefulness, we have performed a multidisciplinary learning experience involving a wide range of subjects over several degrees: Private Telecommunication Systems (degree in Telecommunications Engineering), Algorithms and Data Structure (degree in Computer Sciences), English for International Tourism (degree in Tourism Management), Genetics and Plant Breeding (degree in Agricultural Engineering), and a specific course for teachers¿ training. The advantages and disadvantages of the use of Poli[ReunioN] in tutoring and in different learning activities ! proposed in the aforementioned degrees are discussed from both perspectives¿lecturers and students. These experiences may help lecturers and other education professionals to adopt similar e-learning tools.The authors would like to thank the "Vicerrectorado de Estudios y Convergencia Europea" (VECE) of the UPV for their financial support of the project Experiencias Multi-Disciplinares de Integracion de Aula Inversa para el Desarrollo de Competencias TransversalesFita, A.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Moltó, G.; Mestre-Mestre, EM.; Rodríguez Burruezo, A. (2016). Use of synchronous e-learning at university degrees. Computer Applications in Engineering Education. 24(6):982-993. https://doi.org/10.1002/cae.21773S982993246Garrison, D. R. (2003). E-Learning in the 21st Century. doi:10.4324/9780203166093Beuchot, A., & Bullen, M. (2005). Interaction and interpersonality in online discussion forums. Distance Education, 26(1), 67-87. doi:10.1080/01587910500081285Dennen, V. P., Aubteen Darabi, A., & Smith, L. J. (2007). Instructor–Learner Interaction in Online Courses: The relative perceived importance of particular instructor actions on performance and satisfaction. Distance Education, 28(1), 65-79. doi:10.1080/01587910701305319Garrison, D. R., & Cleveland-Innes, M. (2005). Facilitating Cognitive Presence in Online Learning: Interaction Is Not Enough. American Journal of Distance Education, 19(3), 133-148. doi:10.1207/s15389286ajde1903_2http://www.adobe.com/es/products/connect/Bondi, S., Daher, T., Holland, A., Smith, A. R., & Dam, S. (2016). Learning through personal connections: cogenerative dialogues in synchronous virtual spaces. Teaching in Higher Education, 21(3), 301-312. doi:10.1080/13562517.2016.1141288Huang, Y.-M., Kuo, Y.-H., Lin, Y.-T., & Cheng, S.-C. (2008). Toward interactive mobile synchronous learning environment with context-awareness service. Computers & Education, 51(3), 1205-1226. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2007.11.009Xenos, M., Avouris, N., Komis, V., Stavrinoudis, D., & Margaritis, M. (s. f.). Synchronous collaboration in distance education:a case study on a computer science course. IEEE International Conference on Advanced Learning Technologies, 2004. Proceedings. doi:10.1109/icalt.2004.13574652016 https://polireunion.upv.es/http://poliformat.upv.es2016 https://sites.google.com/site/matiupv/Cappiccie, A., & Desrosiers, P. (2011). Lessons Learned From Using Adobe Connect in the Social Work Classroom. Journal of Technology in Human Services, 29(4), 296-302. doi:10.1080/15228835.2011.638239McConnell, T. J., Parker, J. M., Eberhardt, J., Koehler, M. J., & Lundeberg, M. A. (2012). Virtual Professional Learning Communities: Teachers’ Perceptions of Virtual Versus Face-to-Face Professional Development. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 22(3), 267-277. doi:10.1007/s10956-012-9391-ySaitta, E. K. H., Bowdon, M. A., & Geiger, C. L. (2011). Incorporating Service-Learning, Technology, and Research Supportive Teaching Techniques into the University Chemistry Classroom. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(6), 790-795. doi:10.1007/s10956-010-9273-0Konstantinidis, A., Tsiatsos, T., & Pomportsis, A. (2009). Collaborative virtual learning environments: design and evaluation. Multimedia Tools and Applications, 44(2), 279-304. doi:10.1007/s11042-009-0289-5Hiltz, S. R., & Turoff, M. (2005). Education goes digital. Communications of the ACM, 48(10), 59-64. doi:10.1145/1089107.1089139Smith, M. L., & Cline, M. A. (2011). Inexpensive Options for a High-Tech Learning Environment. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 20(6), 785-789. doi:10.1007/s10956-010-9272-

Growth and antioxidant responses triggered by water stress in wild relatives of eggplant

[EN] Wild relatives of eggplant (Solanum melongena) are of interest for breeding for tolerance to drought. To assess the potential of eggplant wild relatives from different gene pools, 18 accessions belonging to eggplant and eight wild relatives were evaluated for water stress tolerance. Plants grown in pots were normally irrigated or subjected to water stress by stopping irrigation. Growth and biochemical parameters related to oxidative stress, including proline, malondialdehyde (MDA), total phenolics and total flavonoids contents, and catalase (CAT), superoxide dismutase (SOD), ascorbate peroxidase (APX) and glutathione reductase (GR) activities, were determined after 11 days of treatment. The reduction of dry matter content in the aerial part of the water-stressed vs. control plants allowed classifying the accessions into three groups: tolerant ( 35% reduction). Proline concentration increased in all accessions under water stress, in particular in the more tolerant ones, which showed an average increase of more than 30-fold over control values, compared to ca. 8-fold in the susceptible accessions. The group of tolerant accessions, which included S. incanum, S. pyracanthos, S. dasyphyllum and S. torvum, was also characterised by unchanged MDA contents and a more pronounced increase in the mean levels of flavonoids (20.6% over the non-stressed controls vs. 3.4% in the intermediate accessions and 5.0% in the least tolerant ones). The activity of antioxidant enzymes was extremely variable within groups and even within the same species. The results obtained reveal a high diversity for drought tolerance in the wild relatives of eggplant and provide insights into the biochemical mechanisms involved in the response to drought in eggplant wild relatives. The tolerant materials identified are of interest for breeding programmes for developing rootstocks and new eggplant cultivars with higher drought tolerance.This work was undertaken as part of the initiative "Adapting Agri-culture to Climate Change: Collecting, Protecting and Preparing Crop Wild Relatives", which is supported by the Government of Norway. The project is managed by the Global Crop Diversity Trust with the Millen-nium Seed Bank of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and implemented in partnership with national and international gene banks and plant breeding institutes around the world. For further information, see the project website: http:// www.cwrdiversity.org/. Funding was also received from grant RTI-2018-094592-B-I00 funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/and by "ERDF A way of making Europe", and from European Union's Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under Grant Agreement No. 677379 (G2P-SOL project: Linking genetic resources, genomes and phenotypes of Solanaceous crops) . Mariola Plazas acknowledges grant IJC2019-039091-I funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033/. The contribution of HuuTrong Nguyen to this paper has been developed as a result of a mobility stay funded by Erasmus+KA1 Erasmus Mundus Joint Master Degrees Pro-gramme of the European Commission under the PLANT HEALTH project.Plazas Ávila, MDLO.; González-Orenga, S.; Nguyen, HT.; Morar, IM.; Fita, A.; Boscaiu, M.; Prohens Tomás, J.... (2022). Growth and antioxidant responses triggered by water stress in wild relatives of eggplant. Scientia Horticulturae. 293:1-14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2021.11068511429

Wild edible fool’s watercress, a potential crop with high nutraceutical properties

Background Fool’s watercress (Apium nodiflorum) is an edible vegetable with potential as a new crop. However, little information is available regarding the antioxidant properties of the plant and the individual phenolics accounting for this capacity are unknown. Methods The antioxidant properties of twenty-five wild populations were analysed and individual phenolics present in the species reported and compared with celery and parsley. The antioxidant activity was measured as the 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl hydrate (DPPH) free radical scavenging capacity, and the total phenolics content (TPC) via the Folin-Ciocalteu procedure. The individual phenolics constituents were determined via high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) as aglycones. Results The average DPPH and TPC of fool’s watercress were 28.1 mg Trolox g−1 DW and 22.3 mg of chlorogenic acid equivalents g−1 DW, respectively, much higher than those of celery and parsley. Significant differences for both DPPH and TPC, which may be explained by either genotype or environmental factors, were detected among groups established according to geographical origin. Quercetin was identified as the major phenolic present in the leaves of the species, unlike parsley and celery, in which high amounts of apigenin and luteolin were determined. Quercetin represented 61.6% of the phenolics targeted in fool’s watercress, followed by caffeic acid derivatives as main hydroxycinnamic acids. Discussion The study reports the high antioxidant properties of fool’s watercress based on a large number of populations. Results suggest that quercetin accounts for an important share of the antioxidant capacity of this potential new crop. The study also provides a basis for future breeding programs, suggesting that selection by geographical locations may result in differences in the antioxidant properties

Use of Molecular Markers to Assist the Development of Inbred Lines under Open Field Conditions: the Case of Criollo Peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) from Mexico

[EN] Chile peppers are one of the most important crops in Mexico and a plethora of ecotypes can be found there. Most of them are ancient open-pollinated (OP) landraces selected by farmers for uniform phenotype but with an inherent level of genetic diversity, called criollos. In this work 15 pepper accessions, encompassing 2 criollo lines, their open-pollinated progenies, and 5 controls, were characterized with a set of 36 IPGRI descriptors and 23 SSR markers to assess the effect of open pollination in the inbreeding process. Heterozygosity levels were comprised between 12 and 47% in the progenies, which were similar or lower than those values from parent plants and similar or higher than control cultivars. Also, both progenies and parents showed similar levels of agronomic and morphological uniformity. Our results suggest that this OP program is efficient in terms of reaching enough agronomic uniformity in criollo Ancho peppers while preserving certain genetic diversity to confer adaptation to climate change.This work was partly financed by projects INIA RTA2013-00022-C02-02 and RTA2014-00041-C02-02, funded by Instituto Nacional Investigaciones Agrarias (Spain), FEDER funds. Also, Mexican authors thank CONACYT for financing the stay of Gustavo Chavez-Gonzalez in Spain, as well as the Programa Integral de Fortalecimiento Institucional (PIFI) de la UA de Aguascalientes (SEP-Mexico).Pereira-Días, L.; Chavez-Gonzalez, G.; Bracho Gil, M.; Fita, A.; Vilanova Navarro, S.; Luna-Ruiz, J.; Perez-Cabrera, L.... (2017). Use of Molecular Markers to Assist the Development of Inbred Lines under Open Field Conditions: the Case of Criollo Peppers (Capsicum annuum L.) from Mexico. Notulae Botanicae Horti Agrobotanici Cluj-Napoca. 45(2):365-368. https://doi.org/10.15835/nbha45210940S36536845

Recuperación y conservación de cultivares tradicionales de melón castellano-manchego

Los trabajos realizados han sido financiados por el proyecto INIARF2008-00003-C02.Ribas, F.; Cabello, M.; Castellanos, MT.; Fita, A.; Roig Montaner, MC.; Nuez Viñals, F.; Picó Sirvent, MB. (2011). Recuperación y conservación de cultivares tradicionales de melón castellano-manchego. Agrícola Vergel. 347:206-213. http://hdl.handle.net/10251/49390S20621334

Understanding climate change impacts on biome and plant distributions in the Andes: Challenges and opportunities

Aim: Climate change is expected to impact mountain biodiversity by shifting species ranges and the biomes they shape. The extent and regional variation in these impacts are still poorly understood, particularly in the highly biodiverse Andes. Regional syntheses of climate change impacts on vegetation are pivotal to identify and guide research priorities. Here we review current data, knowledge and uncertainties in past, present and future climate change impacts on vegetation in the Andes. Location: Andes. Taxon: Plants. Methods: We (i) conducted a literature review on Andean vegetation responses to past and contemporary climatic change, (ii) analysed future climate projections for different elevations and slope orientations at 19 Andean locations using an ensemble of model outputs from the Coupled Model Intercomparison Project 5, and (iii) calculated changes in the suitable climate envelope area of Andean biomes and compared these results to studies that used species distribution models. Results: Future climatic changes (2040–2070) are projected to be stronger at high-elevation areas in the tropical Andes (up to 4°C under RCP 8.5), while in the temperate Andes temperature increases are projected to be up to 2°C. Under this worst-case scenario, temperate deciduous forests and the grasslands/steppes from the Central and Southern Andes are predicted to show the greatest losses of suitable climatic space (30% and 17%–23%, respectively). The high vulnerability of these biomes contrasts with the low attention from researchers modelling Andean species distributions. Critical knowledge gaps include a lack of an Andean wide plant checklist, insufficient density of weather stations at high-elevation areas, a lack of high-resolution climatologies that accommodates the Andes' complex topography and climatic processes, insufficient data to model demographic and ecological processes, and low use of palaeo data for distribution modelling. Main conclusions: Climate change is likely to profoundly affect the extent and composition of Andean biomes. Temperate Andean biomes in particular are susceptible to substantial area contractions. There are, however, considerable challenges and uncertainties in modelling species and biome responses and a pressing need for a region-wide approach to address knowledge gaps and improve understanding and monitoring of climate change impacts in these globally important biomes.publishedVersio

Diversity in Expression of Phosphorus (P) Responsive Genes in Cucumis melo L

Phosphorus (P) is a major limiting nutrient for plant growth in many soils. Studies in model species have identified genes involved in plant adaptations to low soil P availability. However, little information is available on the genetic bases of these adaptations in vegetable crops. In this respect, sequence data for melon now makes it possible to identify melon orthologues of candidate P responsive genes, and the expression of these genes can be used to explain the diversity in the root system adaptation to low P availability, recently observed in this species